Dragon Realm 2 : The Ebonforge (Lesbian Story)

Chapter 8

They descended into the darkness, their eyes darting around every column and archway holding the crumbling ruin together. As they continued, they stepped cautiously over broken steps and paths, careful not to trip and stumble. Their footsteps echoed far longer than any of them would have liked.

"Seriously little brother, can you just take your human form? I swear your thunderous steps are going to get us killed." Nokiya hissed over her shoulder.

The bulky dragon scoffed. "This is my true self. I'm insulted you would think I would take a human form just to be sneaky. If it were up to me we'd be sprinting down these steps, weapons drawn." Jurgen answered.

"Dragons do not do well in caves." Nokiya retorted. "You're barely able to fit in this tunnel."

"I fit perfectly! Why don't you mind yourself and I'll worry about me."

"You're going to get us killed."

"Both of you, shut up. Do you feel that?" Mari questioned, pausing to glance around.

"It feels hot." Akiya noted, glancing down at her hands curiously. "And tingly."

"It's magic." Ariadne confessed. "There's a spell in the air."

"What's it doing?" Nokiya asked. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Ariadne gently tapped Nokiya's cheek with her tiny hand, smiling softly. "Though I don't have very good vision in this darkness."

"Well, what's the magic then?"

"I can't quite assertain the effect. But it feels like a ward of some kind." The nymph explained.

"A ward? Like a protection spell?" Mari questioned. "Why would something like that be down here?"

"Are we totally sure that Hel left Exoidous?" Nokiya asked, glancing down the tunnel.

"You don't think she's here, do you?" Akiya asked.

Mari's bow hummed in her grasp. "Hel most certainly left with the rest of the Norse Pantheon for the human world. They did not agree with the rest of the Gods, nor did they have any intention of being sealed. Hel recreated her domain there and has since been ruler of the underworld for the humans."

"And Valdis rules the underworld here?" Akiya asked.

"She did. But with Hades and Pluto back her job is much easier. From my understanding she just works with the Draconic dead." Nokiya shrugged. "But truthfully I don't care for our aunt. I've never gotten along with her."

"We can worry about family relationships later. Let's keep our focus on what lies below." Ariadne tapped Nokiya's cheek again. "Tell me what you see."

"Just an endless hallway." Nokiya answered.

"It's a staircase that leads into the bowels of the earth." Akiya answered.

"Was I the only one who noticed doorways every hundred feet leading into other hallways?" Camelia called.

"No. I noticed them too." Artemis added. "It's a very strange structure design. It likely represents descending into Hel itself."

"Hell?" Akiya questioned.

"Hel. One L. The realm is named after the Goddess." Nokiya corrected as she continued moving downwards. "I don't know what we expect to find down here, but let's hope we don't have to sprint back up the steps."

"Wait!" Mari called, taking a few quick steps to grab Nokiya by the arm and pull her back. Ariadne barely managed to hold tight as Nokiya's momentum shifted. "There's something wrong with the ground. I wasn't talking about the magic! I meant I could literally feel something."