Phoenix Phire

/Hunter: Jun Li: There are weapons and armor everywhere.

/Hunter: Nix: Take everything. All of you have seen what happened here, these were all very strong people.

/Hunter: Sharl: Where're all the bones? Shouldn't there be lots of bones?

/Hunter: Nix: Dragon fire is the highest tier, it turns bones into ash.

/Hunter: Jun Li: Why didn't it affect you Nix? You took a blast directly.

/Hunter: Nix: He was only a fraction of what he used to be.

Milat and Nix walked side-by-side. The streets were overgrown with weeds and moss covered the walls of every building. They walked to the edge of the city and climbed stone stairs up. The city was wedged carefully on the top of a mountain peak.

"Have you ever seen anything like this Nix?" Milat stared out at the mountain range, "they called this Everspire?"

Nix nodded slightly. "I believe this city was once part of the Sky Kingdom. I have no idea what caused it to end up here. We should put this entire topic aside for now."

"I agree." Milat turned to face Nix, the Aquarion looked rattled. Perhaps it was to be expected since the water creature had just faced off against the most fierce fire beast of all.

/Hunter: Jun Li: Nix, we've found something. Come at once.

Nix and Milat headed North, they passed the salvage crew along the way, the dragon was slowly disappearing.

/Hunter: Jun Li: Take a left at the statue, there's a courtyard with an open grate on the ground. Sharl will meet you there.

Nix cursed when he noticed the open Iron gate leading to the Courtyard. It was exactly the same as Deidra Mtui's. Sharl waved to him from the opened grate and led them down a steep stone ramp.

/Hunter: Nix: How come it's always underground?

/Hunter: Sharl: Cuz bad shit happens underground.

Nix stopped at the bottom of the ramp. "The f*ck is this?"

/Hunter: Nix: Sharl take Milat and find the House of Dragons, it should be attached to this courtyard. We need more information. Take every book, document or anything that looks important.

Nix moved beside Jun Li who appeared to be counting. "How many?"

Jun Li's pretty face was smudged with dirt, strands of her hair had worked loose and hung in her face. "Thirty-five, from the appearance of the floor it should have been more like eighty-five.

The bodies of dragonspawn were laid out in an orderly manner, each of them was encased in an amber-colored wax.

Nix touched the wax, it was sticky and warm on the tips of his fingers. "Eighty-five would match up exactly to the scales we pulled off the Tainted. He was bringing them back."

"Are these dead then?" Jun Li could see the clear images of faces through the amber.

"They must be, or else he wouldn't have used his own scales to animate them. Whatever art he was using warped their bodies and abilities. We wouldn't have matched up well with this group in their prime."

Jun Li suppressed a shiver. "This place was so creepy. One last thing I wanted to show you."

Nix followed Jun Li to a large raised platform. There were several tubes coming out of the floor when he picked up one, three feet of sharpened bone slid out. "This platform is big enough for a dragon. Draining his blood maybe?"

Jun Li shrugged, "I was thinking the same thing, only maybe mana or life-force?" She looked back toward the bodies that were still encased in wax. "What about them?"

"Go help Sharl and Milat. I will finish up here."

*********************

Nearly two hours later the group reconvened at the dragon corpse. Sometime during the previous hour, it started decomposing at an accelerated rate. Even the bones were becoming brittle. There were piles of boxes and containers of all shapes and sized. The group had to raid the surrounding shops to accommodate the incredible hoard. Nix faced the group, just the stacks of weapons and armor alone were impressive.

/Hunter: Nix: Everything here, and I mean every single piece is going to be stored in the Gemini Treasury and secured. No one can know what we found here. All the books and documents will be turned over to Ronnie, she will be researching this.

/Hunter: Jun Li: There's a lot of nice stuff here, but I see the point.

/Hunter: Sharl: What's next for us then?

/Hunter: Nix: We'll consider our actions carefully, but for now we will continue to challenge the Planar trials and prepare to raise the Greater House of Inferno.

/Hunter: Nansu: I don't even have proper recipes for most of this stuff, but I'm going to work on it.

/Hunter: Nix: Work on leveling up. The level cap in Oasis is 125, once you get there you can upgrade your Class.

/Hunter: Jun Li: Our Gemini classes can be upgraded to the 5th tier at that time.

/Hunter: Nix: Let's go, we'll store this and I'll make a report to Deidra.

/Hunter: Jun Li: Is that wise?

/Hunter: Nix: If I give her enough information it will end there. I don't want her to start investigating.

I don't think she's the enemy here, but we aren't likely to start drinking together.

****************

[Direct Contact: Deidra Mtui]

Nix sat on the throne of the Gemini Temple and opened up communication with Deidra.

The lifesize holo glanced around the room and then at him. "That wouldn't be a throne would it?"

Nix didn't bother to hide his smile. "It is."

"Were you able to find the source of the Tainted?"

Nix shook his head. "They kept coming through multiple breaches. Who was sending them?"

Deidra shook her head. "I have no idea. How many did you kill?"

"I think the number was around 120. We'd have been in trouble had I not called in my Rangers."

"Any idea what they might have been after?"

"No. When we pursued them they were fighting with an odd ferret race that burrowed into the ground. I'm not sure who started it. When we arrived the Tainted were already dead and we had to deal with the ferrets."

"A hundred and twenty dragon scales? That's quite a bounty."

Nix shrugged and suppressed an urge to give her the finger. "We're keeping all of them." He closed the communication without saying anything further.

[You've received a package from Deidra Mtui: Dragon Fir Sapling] Attached Message.

"The hell is a Dragon Fir Sapling?" Nix peeked inside and discovered a small tree sapling, less than a foot in height.

Nix,

It was generous of you to leave me such a nice Tree House in Dragonvale. Now I have the perfect place to watch the festivities next time.

Deidra.

Nix scowled at the message. "My f*cking Tree House..."

A few minutes later Nix was riding the demon mare through the tall grass of the plateau. She moved like the wind. He rode for quite some time before finally heading back to the ranch.

Shae greeted him when he walked in, she was sitting in the kitchen with Milat and Rico.

"Shouldn't you be at the Bazaar crafting something?" He ribbed his dad before giving Shae a quick kiss. All his old man did was work.

His dad nodded in agreement. "Nice work with the Flag and Guideon Nicky. I never would have thought of that."

"Yes, you would have. Going to take a shower."

A few minutes in the shower had Nix feeling like himself again. He sat on the end of his bed while considering his next steps.

[Whisper: Shana to Nix] Nix! I need your help, someone has taken my Gram.

[Whisper: Nix to Shana] Someone took Maye? Are you safe? Where is Lela?

[Whisper: Shana to Nix] Mom and I are at the Boutique in Jenzi.

[Whisper: Nix to Shana] Stay there, I'm on my way.

/Inferno: Nix: Heading to Jenzi for a bit if anyone needs me.

Nix put his gear back on and headed into the kitchen. "I should be back in time for dinner."

Shae and Milat were playing cards with his dad, none of them looked up.

Nix was tempted to snatch the cards but he refrained himself. "Right... Cya later then."

[Create Breach: Jenzi]

Nix stepped through the Breach an instant later. Shana's Boutique looked a lot better than it had in previous days. He pushed the door open and walked inside.