“To the underground.” He spoke softly, as if he were feeling reverent also – or just was too tired to raise his voice. “It’s a healing place, somewhere I can go to recoup my energy. Plus, if I’m right, there’s water down there we can drink, places we can sleep, and gardens with food – if everything hasn’t gone totally to riot like the gardens above. Otherwise, we’re going to have a very uncomfortable night, since the spirits of my dead destroyed the Jeep and all our shit.”
“Camping rough in the desert,” Adrian joked with a wry laugh. “We never brought enough food or water on our sojourns when we were young, or warm blankets. Brings back old times.”
“That it does.” Dusk gave a wry grin, though he seemed lighter now as they continued down. “Hopefully, we won’t be sleeping too rough tonight. My bones feel like ground glass from all that energy I expended earlier. I have to thank you both. I don’t think I would have been able to do everything we did today without you two. And you, Yousry, for helping us.”
“It is nothing.” Yousry spoke with a gentle smile as he set a hand to Dusk’s shoulder and squeezed. “I would do it all again, young friend. You are an amazing man.”
Layla knew Dusk was thanking Yousry for a lot more than his help today. But she and Adrian didn’t need to respond as they moved Dusk further down the seemingly endless staircase. They all knew the Bind had saved their asses today, and for Layla, it was the first time she realized just how much they could do with their aims aligned. But she had no more time to ponder as the stairs suddenly flattened out to a wide landing. The walls of the passage disappeared, and it seemed like the obsidian spanned in an endless flow to oblivion, devouring the way before them to the very edge of the light. Brightening the fire in his palm and moving his fingers to make the fire twist between them, Adrian raised his hand, pushing more light into the space.
It was gone. Just like earlier, Adrian and Layla’s abilities held very little power here, as if the environment was made to resist all magic that wasn’t Crystal in origin. With a tired huff, Dusk pulled away, standing on his own. Setting their hands to his shoulders again, Layla and Adrian ceased their fire until they stood in utter blackness, then began pouring all their reserves into Dusk. With a deep growl that built like thunder, Dusk shuddered the obsidian floor beneath them, making everything rumble in a deep quake. And with a concussive roar, he shot that energy up and out – lighting crystals in a spreading wave far above like lighting the ocean on a sunny day.
It was beautiful. Layla stared at what she now realized was the far-away ceiling of a gargantuan cavern. Dusk’s flooding wave of light fanned out in fractal patterns as it poured through clusters of every kind of crystal imaginable, all through the ceiling of the vast cavern. It created a luminous effect like daylight, and though there was no sun, that light flooded the cavern – allowing them to see where they were at last.
What Layla had thought was an endless obsidian flow actually stopped five steps beyond where their firelight had reached. They stood upon a promontory high above a cavern so enormous, it could have held all of Manhattan. Below, an underground citadel spread, made entirely out of crystal. Classical and ancient yet alien and modern, the truly mind-boggling space was like a spaceship that had crashed underground, full of unearthly contents.
Massive pyramids of ruby led to arching walkways of hematite and towering spires of diamond. Honeycombed columns of quartz led to enormous ziggurats of emerald and sapphire. Massive waterworks of aquamarine led to emerald fountains and high-arching aqueducts of amethyst. The vastness of it all and the sheer beauty stole Layla’s breath away, and she could only stare in wonder as they took it all in.
Unlike the city above, this space was still hale. Though battle had raged above, Layla saw no broken buildings here, and no Dragon bones. From their promontory, she saw growing terraces that stepped down to the cavern floor all around the endless space. Covered by domes of clear crystal, the terraces were terraformed, the environment humid and supporting sprawling farms of fruit trees, vegetable gardens, and even massive ranges of livestock on every tier. Despite the space seeming dark when they’d arrived, as they took a winding set of obsidian stairs down to one of those terraces, Layla saw each held bio-luminescent crystals that had kept their environs lit all these years – all of the light reflected back within each biodome rather than flooding out to the cavern.
Fountains burbled within the terraces, fish swam in streams that curled through vegetation gone to riot. Birds wheeled up to the glassy crystal domes, so tall they supported entire forests inside. Animals moved within the domes; from livestock and predators to very small creatures like mice. Fully terraformed but gone wild in the past hundred and fifty years, the terraces had returned to a natural state.
“Anyone feel like hunting for dinner?” Adrian joked mildly as they arrived at one wide terrace with an environment like the African savannah. Peering within the enormous dome, they startled a lioness lounging beneath an acacia tree, which snarled at them through the dome, then raced off.
“I think if we go inside any of these, we’llbedinner.” Yousry joked back, staring as a group of African elephants idled by inside the vast dome. “These terraces haven’t seen a keeper in a hundred and fifty years.”
“It’s like Noah’s Ark in there.” Layla agreed, amazed the Egyptian Crystal Dragons had created such an incredible environment below the surface of the desert.
“Crystal Dragons get hungry in Dragon-form.” Dusk glanced at her knowingly. “Since we’re one of the largest Dragon types, sometimes only an elephant will do. The desert doesn’t support a lot of life, though the Nile basin is fertile. So over the past tens of thousands of years, we grew our own.” Gesturing further down the terraces, he said. “This way. If I remember right, there’s a temple with some healing oomph and a fountain. It’s safe, and we can sleep there for the night. It also has a small garden sans beasties, so we can probably find some dinner.”
“Lead the way.” Adrian spoke, though he was still basically holding Dusk up as they descended.
Arriving at a spreading plaza ringed by sapphire pillars, Layla saw an enormous six-tiered fountain in the center, made out of emerald and aventurine, chrysoprase and peridot. It was a calming spot, and as Dusk gestured left, Layla saw a domed temple like an Egyptian rotunda, ringed by pillars of crystal grown to resemble blue lotus. The entire temple was encased in a dome of clear protective crystal like the terraces. And though the temple was surrounded by lush gardens full of fruit trees, herbs, and fireflies, Layla saw no animals.
A burbling stream from the fountain flowed around the lotus-temple in a wide circle, and motioning Adrian over a bridge of aventurine, Dusk set his hands to the protective dome. He didn’t bring it down, only vibrated it enough to slide back shards and create a door. Mounting a short flight of stairs, they proceeded inside the open-sided temple.
Like the terraces, the lotus-temple was lit inside by aquamarine columns that gave the space a soothing glow. The circular space was deeply calming, every column and wall grown to resemble lily pads, lotus, and papyrus reeds. Giant sapphire sarcophagi decorated with blue lotus sat beneath every outer archway. The stream from the fountain-plaza ran through the floor, coming in through every point of the compass and surrounding a small garden inside. The inner garden held a variety of fruit trees, all heavily bearing, and like the gardens outside, overflowed with edible plants and herbs. Fireflies and dragonflies flitted about inside, chaises of amethyst and rose quartz acting as sleeping-beds beneath every inner vaulted arch, with three clustered beneath the center of the high dome.
It was beautiful. As Layla moved into the space, Adrian took Dusk to one of the amethyst chaises right in the center. Practically collapsing on one chaise, Dusk gave a tremendous sigh – and as he did, the dome came alive above him. Enormous stalactites carved with symbols like hieroglyphs but different had been grown from the height of the dome. Pointing down at the three chaises like they channeled energy into whomever lay upon them, the stalactites illuminated with a heavenly glow that rippled and curled with Dusk’s every breath. Some of them even seemed to beat to the rhythm of his heart – clusters of crystals lighting all around his bier now, carved with the same hieroglyph-like symbols above.
It was a healing space, and as Dusk laid back and closed his eyes, lacing his fingers over his abdomen, Layla could feel a deep ease seep into him. Like a waterfall of light and sound poured through his body, it was so soothing that Layla wandered to the center of the dome also, wanting to try it herself. Laying down on one of the empty biers, she closed her eyes, feeling a sudden harmonization vibrate all around her and deep inside her body. Her drakaina drank it in, curling up in a gentle ball inside Layla, deep in trance. And though Layla could sense the effect wasn’t as strong for her as it was for Dusk, it was deeply enjoyable all the same. As Adrian lay down on the third chaise, the effect tripled – until they all fell deeply asleep.
Layla didn’t know what time it was when she drifted awake. Feeling amazing, she sat up, stretching with a yawn. Her stomach rumbled, and she realized it had been a long time since breakfast. Not seeing Yousry, though Dusk and Adrian were still deeply out upon their chaises, Layla rose from her bier and went to the fruit trees, picking dinner.
She had a decent stash of Asian pears, mission figs, Medjool dates, and peaches, when a sound startled her. Turning, Layla thought she’d see Yousry coming to wake them up. But as she faced the arch where she and the others had come in hours ago, she found herself staring at a skinny guy with sandy blond hair, artsy glasses, and freckles in his sweetly handsome, tanned face. Wearing dusty jeans, hiking boots, and a sand-smudged t-shirt with his blond hair mussed up into a ruckus, he couldn’t have been more than twenty-five or thirty as he stood there, blinking at Layla. At the last edge of his cheekbones and temples shone thin lines of serrated emerald scales, though brighter like peridot. His eyes held the same sheen – a color that made his freckle-tanned appearance go from plain to stunning.
Opening his mouth, the guy almost said something, then stopped. Then he opened his lips again, speaking in a resonant tenor voice. “Um. Hi. I’m Trevor Sachs. And… who are you?”
“I’m Layla.” Layla blinked, stunned, wondering if she was hallucinating as she set her foodstuffs aside on a sapphire bench. “Layla Price. How… how did you get in here?”
“I mean, I just sort of followed the resonance, really.” The guy blushed, shuffling his feet as he tucked his hands in his jeans pockets. “I was in Luxor, studying the temple yesterday with my group. And last night… I just felt thispulse. Next thing I know, I’m renting a Jeep and driving way the fuck out here up some wild canyon, past a Djinn barricade to Oz with a shit-ton of dead Crystal Dragons all around. I mean… is this for real? Are you real?”
“I’m real.” Layla spoke quietly, still amazed. “And this is real. So, are you a Crystal Dragon?”
“Arizona Crystal Clan.” Stepping forward, the young guy finally overcame his shyness and confusion, offering Layla his hand. “Trevor Sachs, Crystal Architect. I specialize in crystal architectural repair and rebuilds, been doing it since I was little. I’m the Arizona Clan Third. I mean, I was. I don’t… really feel like I belong there anymore. Even though it’s my whole life.”
“You were re-imprinted.” Layla spoke quietly, amazed that the pulse Dusk had sent out had really called someone. She was doubly amazed that not just any Crystal Dragon had arrived on Dusk’s doorstep, but one who specialized in re-building and studied Egyptian architecture – something the citadel could desperately use. It was as if Dusk’s magic had called the perfect person to him for his needs, and the proof was standing right before her. Gesturing at the still-sleeping Dusk, Layla said, “He sent that pulse you felt; he re-imprinted you to his homeland rather than yours. His name is Dusk Arlohaim. He’s First of the Crystal Dragons of Egypt.”
“Fucking hells!” Trevor’s blond eyebrows climbed his forehead as he glanced at the sleeping Dusk. His bright green eyes went enormous behind his glasses as he perused the gold and midnight scales edging Dusk’s cheeks, temples, and collarbones. “He’s a Royal! Shitchrist! I didn’t even know any still existed outside of Prague. I mean, my clan hasn’t had a Royal in seventy years! How did he manage to escape King Markus?”
