As Art and Lutin travel through Sylvorra, and heading to Emberpeak from the south. It takes them a few weeks but they eventually reach the edge of Sylvorra. As they get closer to Emberpeak's autumn mountains, hills and large plateaus. The dragon they saw from Everrao stands in front of them. Lutin says.
"Eek! It's that dragon we saw in Everrao"
It stares at them and lets out a loud roar.
Art changes Shiftnir into a sword and gets ready to battle. The dragon tramples towards Art. Art jumps over it and stabs it in the back. It starts roaring from the pain. Art then jumps off of it and starts backing up. The dragon glares at him and begins breathing fire. Art starts running around the it and gets behind it. He then cuts its tail off. It starts flailing around in. It then turns around and starts attacking with its claws. Art keeps dodging and eventually the dragon tries to fly away. But Art jumps on it as it flies in the air. He then keeps stabbing it from the back. It starts struggling to stay in the air and starts falling. Art changes his sword into a battle axe. Aims at its neck and slices it off. As Art starts free falling, he yells "Seroph!!" Seroph quickly appears and Art lands on Seroph's back. Seroph carefully flies down and lands on the ground. Art jumps off of Seroph and says.
"Thanks for the save, back there"
Seroph looks at Art and groans. Lutin looks at them and says.
"Guess someone's annoyed"
Art and Lutin decide to keep walking towards Emberpeak. They finally reach the autumn continent. As both of them travel through the massive plateaus and large hills. They start going through the autumn forest. Lutin says.
"Wow! This place is so beautiful!"
Art replies.
"Yeah, you're right"
Lutin points while saying.
"See that large mountain. It's called [Mt.Doom]. If am not wrong, there's a pretty big village near it. We should go there. Since we're already close"
Art nods and both of them head to the Mt.Doom. As both of them climb the rocky mountain. The weather is gloomy, the trees are dry and the heat is intense. Lutin says.
"Woah *Pant* it's sooooo hot!."
Art replies.
"That's strange. It's extremely cloudy, more then the other places we've been to"
They keep climbing. Seeing many different types of strange creatures along the way. Not long after, they end up near a ogre village. Both of them hide behind a large boulder, looking at one of the gaurds. Art says.
"Okay. How the hell do we get in?"
Lutin says.
"How the hell am i supposed to know. There's a chance that humans may not be allowed, but we won't know unless we try"
They both walk up to the gaurd. An ogre with a single horn in the middle. He sees them and says.
"Both of ya stop in ya places. What do ya want human?"
Art says.
"I wanted to see if we could rest in this village?"
The gaurd says.
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"Hmm, am not sure kid. You're a human"
The gaurd looks into the village and sees two ogres sumo wrestling. He looks back at Art and says.
"How about this?. If you can bring down an ogre. I'll let you in"
Lutin gives Art a thumbs up. A few minutes go by and Art is now challenging an ogre. They are surrounded by ogre men, women and children, with many different types of horns. Some have one, some two and others three. They're whispering about Art saying "what's a human doing here?" "no way he thinks he can beat one of us". The large ogre approaches Art and both of them get in their positions. The ogre says.
"Get ready ya squirt!"
Art frowns. The gaurd yells "GO!!" They both grab and start pushing each other. The ogres are impressed that Art still hasn't lost. Him and the ogre keep pushing. Art locks in his place and tosses the ogre onto the ground. Silence but then, everyone starts cheering. Suddenly they hear a loud voice "What's going on in here?!" The people start moving aside and a large red ogre with two horns appears. The gaurd says while panicking.
"Uhhh…. Big broo. I thought ya were asleep?"
The large ogre looks at the wrestler who's on the ground then looks at Art. He then says.
"Did ya win?"
Art nods and asks who is he.
He answers.
"I’m Akio. The chief of this village. Might i ask who are ya?"
Art replies.
"I'm Artorais Wolfblood"
Akio says.
"Ya smell like a wolfkin but ya don’t fully look like one. Is this supposed to be a joke?"
Art says.
"What do you mean?"
Akio tells him to ignore what he said. He then tells everyone to get back inside and tells Art to follow him.
As they enter the village. Both Art and Lutin look around, and see japanese styled houses and shops. Kids playing around and laughing. They end up walking inside a house. Akio tells the two of them to sit down. They both sit on the floor. Akio then says.
"So what do ya want?"
Art tells him.
"Well, we wanted to rest and get some information about the continent"
Akio looks at him and says
"Ya think stuff like this is free?"
He then asks.
"If you don't mind me asking. How strong are you?"
Lutin tells him.
"Well, we don't want to brag, but we did kill a dragon that got in are way"
Akio face looks surprised and impressed.
Art asks.
"I actually wanted to ask something. How the hell is this mountain so hot, even though there are clouds everywhere?"
Akio answers him.
"The mountain has a core. That core lets out heat. And that heat gives us our beautiful hot springs. That's all you need to know"
Lutin then asks. about why the mountain is shaking like it's gonna collapse.
Akio tells them.
"A few months back. We heard roars coming from the clouds. We couldn't tell who it was but we knew. It was a dragon. Its size was terrifying. Its voice echoed through the sky. The clouds became dark and it was thundering during that time. But the lightning, its colors were redish yellow. At that very moment. All we could feel. Is fear"
Art asks.
"Is there by chance it's the one causing the mountain to shake?"
Akio says.
"Maybe, who knows. The problem is, there's a flower we call the crimson tear. It's a special flower that only grows in the large field at the very peak of the mountain. The flower is used in a lot of medicines. The problem is we can't go up there and harvest it. We fear that the dragon we saw might be up there aswell"
An ogre girl enters the room and says "sorry for the intrusion" she then puts down three cups of a hot drink and says "This is tea made from crimson flowers it's good for your health" after that she leaves the room and closes the slide door.
Art and Lutin start drinking and Akio asks.
"I was wondering. Since you're pretty strong. Mind accompanying me up to the mountain's peak?"
Art asks what's the benefit for him.
Akio tells him.
"I'll tell ya everything you want know. I'll even give a letter to let you enter the [Emberwind kingdom] it’s a kingdom only for demi and non-humans"
Art looks at Lutin and Lutin violently shakes his head in agreement. Art agrees and Akio says.
"Thank you. This means a lot to me and my people. Hopefully we could see what's wrong. Tomorrow we'll be leaving you should get some rest until then. I'll get a room ready for ya"
Akio gets up and leaves.
It's midnight. We see Art sitting outside and looking at the stars. The same ogre girl notices Art and approaches him. She says hello and sits near Art. She then asks him why is he here. Art looks at her and says why does she want to know. She says that she's just curious and wants to know why a human is in Emberpeak. He says
"To simply put it. I was taken away from my family. I spent ten years trying to find my way back home. But i realized, i was weak. I couldn't go back home. I can't protect anyone. I decided that i'll get strong and keep growing until i know i can keep everyone safe."
Art gets up and says
"Thanks for talking to me. I wanted to let some stuff out. I’m heading to bed now"
He walks back into the house and goes to his room.
The girl watches the stars and smiles while thinking to herself "(maybe humans are not as bad as i thought)".
END OF CHAPTER
