Exploring A New (Open LW)

As the sun arose into a chilly morning Devi was already up and preparing for a trip, having organised with a few others to explore some of the deep caves in the mountain. After many warnings from his advisers for which he shouldn't go in case something happened to him or something happened while he was away, yet he simply reassured them knowing that hes regent would easily handle matters while he was away for a day at most. Devi was just wanting some time away, while exploring some new caves seemed like a good idea. Anyways as he finally finished getting ready as he placed a small pack on his side holding some basics with food and water, along with a map incase they got lost. Leaving his room he wondered down towards the hall where he laid in waiting for the others, knowing that it was early it might take a while before others started showing. While he waited he decided to start breakfast getting himself a good meal he wondered where Aakesh was, it was strange how the little dragon wasn't around yet knowing that the hatchling would jump at the chance of exploring with his father.

Despite how early it was, Mono was already there. She had nearly immediately eaten and dashed to the hall. The thought of exploring undiscovered territory excited her.
Although she was not egotistical in the slightest, she hardly found it a surprise that she was chosen for this job. She had the ability to shift into virtually anything, after all.
As usual, she wasn't herself. Little did Devi know, but there was currently an Eagle, which flew over and perched on Devi's head. She had been like this since she got here; She liked the feeling of being a bird, it was.... Different.... Than being a Dragon. You can't fly the same, and it felt really weird.
Mono screeched as she perched on Devi, hoping to get his attention and see if he recognized her colouring. If she could fool her own leader, surely she could fool anyone else.
She shifted slightly, lifting her feet up individually and ruffling her feathers, being quite casual in all honesty, acting like Devi wasn't even there.
She tried not to dig her talons into his skull, but considering that's how she stands, it is quite hard; Fortunately, she was still quite small, so it probably didn't matter anyways.

Aakesh let out an impressive yawn as he woke up from his night, rolling around in his bed with all four wings spread. At least, he did so for a few seconds before remembering what day it was. Today was the day they would do some exploration with his adoptive father ! Devi seemed to have so much on his mind lately the young dragon hoped it would help him relax his mind. And it was going to be so much fun!

Aakesh litterally leapt out of his bed, already flying as he reached the exit of the room. The little dragon easily dashed and slalom around at an impressive speed, some dragons seeing nothing but a bolt as he would go past them. Most of the guards and staff of the Palace knew what it meant though. There was only one Lightwing in the Tribe to go that fast, and it was Aakesh.
The four winged dragon reached the gathering place in a record time. There, he spotted Devi and got a grin. Aakesh suddenly dove from above, closing on toward Devi at a reckless speed. Just when everyone would think he would crash he abruptly stopped the falling with his powerful two sets of wings, landing straight on Devi's head. The fact that a bird was already there didn't even bothered him - after all, if there was a silly bird there he would flee when Aakesh arrived, right?
"Devi! Why didn't you wake me up? I thought I was late!" the young dragon complained, hugging Devi's head with all four wings.
This sure worked a few years ago, but now Aakesh was starting to get slightly heavy to be posted on Devi's head like this.

As he was waiting he suddenly heard the flapping over wings close by, only to notice a bird had landed on his head. "I'll be damned..." he softly spoke using his paw to lift the bird changing its position onto his arm. Then he realised who it was from the colour patterns, "Oh hello Mono your looking rather different today" chuckling slightly as he suddenly was landed on again by none other than his son, "Gah! Careful your getting to be quite heavy" chuckling he continued "I wasn't going leave you Aakesh, as I let you sleep in a bit longer while I was getting ready"

Mono shifted back into her normal self, as her four minutes of cooldown had already timed up. She'd been here for probably an hour or so, she just couldn't help it.
Mono hopped off of Devi, minding her claws to not dig into him as she did so. She landed 'gracefully', which meant she found it fine, but really she stumbled a bit.
She turned around, staring at Devi happily.
"What gave me away hm? I'd bet it was my colours."
Mono crouched down with her rear and tail sticking up in the air, wiggling it like a happy kitten.
"When do we go huh? Where is everybody? Why are they all soo sloooooooooow??"
As usual, Mono was acting extremely impatient due to her excitement; To be expected.

Mono tilted her head, not actually noticing the other Dragon before.
"Akesh? A....A-kesh? Huh? Who? I've never seen him before.... Then again.... I haven't seen many people in this tribe before.... Huh...."

Her face was twisted into a very confused look, her brain in a state of either short term memory, or non existent memory. She literally didn't know well over half of the people in this tribe she called home. She knew more Dragons from other tribes purely by spying on them. She'd made plenty of little shelters in her time, and those were where she usually slept, barely ever 'home', wherever that was to her now.

Aakesh had a giggle as Devi protested after him landing on his head.
"Me, heavy? Pff! No way, that's just you getting weaker! All those days sitting and doing leader stuff won't get you strong, that's why you need some exercise! Just like today. Perfect occasion!" the young four-winged dragon exclaimed.
His look shifted toward Mono as he suddenly changed shape, going from a bird to a dragon. He raised an intrigued eyebrow, which due to the structure of his face made quite an ample movement to be seen.
"Who are you? I don't think I've seen you either... I'm Aakesh, the fastest dragon in this Tribe!" he introduced himself, not without that tint of arrogance kids could have.

Atrex had decided to tag along on this exploration mission for a couple of reasons.

One, in case anybody got hurt and he was the only healer on the scene.
Two, for the chance to collect more artefacts and scrolls if there were any.
Three, come out of his shell asmall bit.
Four, he was really good at deciphering languages and reading anchient terms. He couldn't been a great scholar had he wanted to, but he was a healer. Still though, he could make himself useful if required.

So, Atrex had agreed to come along, but was confused about why he was chosen. I mean, he was seen as 'unstable' apparently, because of his irrational fears of little insects. It wasn't the caves that bothered him, it was what might be inside.

Rushing to the meeting spot, Atrex was glad he ahdn't brought much in his little pack. There were two containers, one on each side, and it looked almost like a saddle, girth and all. He had packed some decent herbs, a drawing pad that could be drawn on with a claw, and.. That was it. He was wearing that helmet he'd found with Storm. The silver one that looked quite dashing on him. He was bringing it for his own protection. He didn't want scars on his face if they got into any fights along the way.

Entering the hall, Atrex wasn't really looking where he was going, he was engrossed in the single scroll he'd brought along, the one about the Starwings. He'd got it from a shady looking NightWing he'd encountered in the woods. Creepy, yes, but this thing was rare, and Atrex loved his scrolls. So there he was, wandering innocently down the corridor towards the hall, humming a tune to himself.

The guards at the door opened it for him as he wandered through unawares. That is, until he veered off to the left and banged his head on a pillar.

"Owch!"

His yelp was quiet, but still loud enough to be heard. The helmet absorbed the shock, thankfully. Shaking his head, Atrex turned his head to see the king was already there. Shyly he approached, stopping before him and bowing deeply so his head almost touched the ground, his wings stretching slightly to increase the level of respect given. "My king," he greeted, hoping he didn't look stupid after the ruckess he'd made. "If I may, your majesty, may I warn you about the possible dangers of cave exploring?" He said, gulping at the idea of encountering a Queen ShadowLight Dragon again. That was what he decided to call the species.

"We MIGHT encounter these nasty little beasts that serve a Queen of gigantic size and has a twin that isn't real and will kill us all." Realising how stupid that sounded, he quickly rectified. "Of course, your majesty, I understand how ridiculous that sounds, but you only have to ask the SkyWing lieutenant! He was there!" He nodded. "Storm? He's a close friend of mine. I also have four pairs of eyes including my own as witnesses to this creature's appearance! Well, five, technically, since one of them has two minds in one.." He trailed off. "We also might encounter behemoths, snakes.." He started rambling about the animals they probably WOULDN'T encounter, but because Atrex was paranoid, on he rambled, keeping his tone respectful, but he suddenly started talking to himself and drifted off into loo-loo land, forgetting where he was completely as he day-dreamed, not noticing the hatchling that, like him, had four wings.

Chuckling from Aakesh's statement he replied "That maybe true but your three times as big since I first met you son." turning his focus back towards Mono he smiled towards the dragon, "Yeah Mono it was your colours, plus who else would land on my head apart from prince penguin here?" chuckling he nuzzled Aakesh with his paw to reassure him. Soon enough as they where waiting for more to arrive, suddenly he heard a loud bang as he gazed towards the strange sound he noticed that it was in fact Atrex. Smiling slightly he replied towards the healer "There's no need to bow Atrex, were all equals on this trip." Raising his brow slightly as Atrex tried to protest towards the trip, walking over towards him Devi replied with a smile "Its alright Atrex where only going into the mountain, plus I'm not as weak as you think I am" chuckling he was happy to know that spirits where high, as he sat back down close to the others as he waited for more to arrive.

// Closing OPEN in 2 days //

As Mono saw another Dragon enter, she wiggled even more. The suspense was killing her. There wasn't much more waiting, she hoped.
Once she stopped shaking around, her vision was clear enough to the point that she recognized the new Dragon was in fact the medic. Name? No. Medic? She was almost sure of it.
She heard this 'Aekesh'? Yeah, that sounded about right. She heard him introduce himself to her, so she decided to return the favour.

"I am Mono. I'm not surprised you haven't seen me before, I'm rarely ever here. In fact, the only Dragon I know here is Devi, and a few others that have slipped my mind."

Mono edged closer to Devi, acting all nonchalant about it.

"So.... When do we go?"

A grin creeped across her face, excitement returning to shake her around some more. Her normal expeditions got repetitive sometimes, so completely new ground was extremely exciting to her.

Alright I guess no one else is joining, last chance Closing //

Nodding towards mono smiling as it seemed that no one else was coming along, "Alright guys lets get going, as you are aware I'm not sure how long this trip will be, though I doubt it will be longer than a day" as he pulled himself back onto his feet he gazed at the others, gesturing for them to follow. As they left the palace they only traveled a few miles before reaching the foot of the mountain. As the enterance of a large cave stood before them, Devi waiting for the others he spoke "I hope no one is afraid of small spaces..as I'm not sure how the patch is"

Atrex slowly nodded at the request to not bow. Very well, your highness. He smiled, then he went red at his king's words. Oh! Oh no! That wasn't what I was trying to say at all, your majesty! You are perfectly capable of managing yourself, I just- He was interrupted by the sound of pawsteps. Turning his head, his heart jumped into his throat when he thought he saw an actual tiger bolting for the king, but it was just a reptilian he had never seen before.

Intrigued, he tilted his head as he watched the reptilian bow deeply. Uranus? Interesting name.
Then his majesty said it was time to go. Turning, he wiggled his shoulders and gulped, before following.

On the way there, he noticed the reptilian again, and pity reared it's ugly head inside his chest. That stuff looks heavy. Want some help? he extended a large wing towards him, offering him to place the supplies on it. His wings were large and strong, he could handle carrying some of those items.

Aakesh couldn't help but chuckle as Devi continued to protest. It was right that he had grown up quite a bit since then... but that didn't prevent him from not moving away from his perch. It was his Devi, and no one elses - and he wouldn't let that silly bird settle there again. Aakesh wasn't realizing it, but what he was feeling was a bit of jealousy - Devi was his.
"Well you can remember me as Devi's son then ! Well adoptive son, but doesn't change much." he told the other dragon.
He just watched as new dragons appeared, recognizing the reptilian and the clumsy healer.

Mono bounced around, her energy seemingly limitless.
As they finally reached their destination, Mono was trembling with excitement.

"If the path gets small, I'll just get smaller too!!"

She swished her tail swiftly, squinting her eyes to try and see the path ahead. No good. It was way too dark up there.
Out of the corner of her eye she watched the Healer. He was twice her size at least, surely. But yet he didn't look so eager for the trip. She was curious about that.
She was also curious about the little Cat thing following them. Sure, she knew it was a reptilian, and she had heard the name 'Uranus' mentioned by it, but she still had no idea who it was.
Was it even a reptilian if it was a cat?
Who knew?

Frowning slightly as Uranus appeared, "You know you don't have to bow, its just a title. Also with those here we can always share the weight." smiling slightly as he walked over towards him lifting the load off his shoulders. Mostly the supplies where made up of food and drink along with lights so they could easily see the cave's surroundings. Picking up one of the lights with his jaw he gestured for the others to follow as they finished sharing the weight. As they entered the mouth the darkness was quickly pushed away from the light, revealing a sudden cliff edge. Gasping slightly as it was a surprise having such a drop already, "Careful! Let me get some light down there first" flinging the light in his jaw down the well of darkness, only for it to disappear for a moment in till a crashing sound followed suit. A faint light shun up towards them, he really didn't want to waste his energy with creating light from himself though a sudden flash to reveal the cave wouldn't be bad right?

Within moment as he blasted a pulse of light from his mouth, revealing a massive structure above them raising his brow as he recognised the building, it was indeed an ancient Lightwing structure hidden away. "Whoa... you guys see that? Come on let get up to that ledge" as he started to fly upwards all he could think about the darkness below him, using his tail he grabbed hold of Uranus since he couldn't fly. Only a moment later as Devi landed onto what seemed to be entrance into the structure, As he waited for the others he softly spoke "Watch.. out for traps.. this might have been a home to old enemies.."

It came as a sudden surprise when the king lifted the weight from Uranus's shoulders. He wasn't use to help, but he certainly appreciated it. Not that he hadn't been able to handle it. He had trained for that kind of stuff, after all. Every day, since he was old enough to walk, he had worked for the throne, and he would likely work for the throne until he died. But it wasn't as depressing as it sounded. Uranus liked being in the company of the king. He was a very kind and forgiving king, just like all the LightWing rulers tended to be.

The small reptilian cat watched as the king would launch something down the cavern. A sudden explosion of light caused Uranus' eyes to close. Once the light had died, he blinked a few times to clear his eyes and readjust them. And what he saw caused him to gasp. It was beautiful! He had never seen anything like it! It truly reminded him of the beauty that the dragons could create. After all, more than likely, this was a LightWing ruin. No LightClaw could create something like this, right?

Then he suddenly felt claws wrap around him. He remained still, but marveled at the view as the king would lift him up, flying down towards the ruins. When the landed, Uranus made sure to stay close to the king, to protect him in case any traps would arise. He glanced back at the other dragons, watching them carefully, as well. He was too awed to speak at the moment, but then again, it wasn't really polite for a reptilian like him to speak when surrounded by dragons.

Aakesh couldn't contain his excitement as they finally started to walk toward the entrance of the mountain. He soon left his perch (Devi's head) as he started to fly around when the others were walking. He remained cautious when they entered the darkness though as he couldn't quite yet see where he was flying.
He closed his eyes when Devi produced a bright flash of light, remaining in a stationary flight until his vision recovered. And what a sight this was ! More excited than ever, the small dragon snatched one of the torches in his maw and began to fly around, revealing the walls of the ruins they had just found. He was a bit ahead from the group, but that was no problem for a fast dragon like Aakesh !

Stopping for a moment he gazed over the markings on the walls as they entered inside the structure, luckily he recognised a few. Sighing with a smile he softly spoke "Its.. an ancient Lightwing temple.. from long ago, almost 400 years ago.. as the tribe was forming." tilting his head at a certain marking which he couldn't figure out, it was clear that it was a much older dialogue. Still he kept walking chuckling slightly with Aakesh's reaction to it all. As they reached the end of the corridor the structure's size became apparent as the lights they carried only lit a small part. Gesturing towards the others that he was about to flash another light towards the centre, firing his breath into a light orb travelling at speed towards the other end. Within moments they saw a dome like room with a complete flat floor, with a pillar in the middle which... wait..tilting his head slightly at the sight it was revealed that there was in fact a light coming from the pillar, Devi gasping slightly as he guessed what it could be. "Guys.. be very careful.. the floor is dangerous, the markings back there which I couldn't recognise must be whats over there.. which means its protected.."

The slave would listen to the dragon king, following him closely behind. Despite being a LightClaw, Uranus could not produce his own light, which means if he lost the dragons or their king, he'd be completely in the dark while wandering around. So he stayed close to the king, keeping deathly quiet.

When Devi told everyone to be careful, Uranus nodded his head, angling it up to stare at the great king. He then cautiously continued, making sure not to stray too far from the dragons.

It was quite dark in this cave, darker than she would prefer it be. She didn't particularly enjoy said darkness, for it was quite.... dark....

When her King used his light to light the way, she became quite confused. Had he forgotten that she could create a stationary light in her mouth? Well, it had been quite a while, she supposed. No, surely the great and powerful Devi wouldn't have forgotten what she could do, so she decided not to question it. She couldn't see when she did it, and she'd probably just blind everybody anyways. Although, she could probably be of some use as.... A Firefly? Why had that thought come to her head? They were much smaller than anything else she could shift into. A torch? Well, that would be a great idea if a torch was alive. Maybe her light would be the best option, even though it would offend everybody's eyes. Her and everybody else would have to walk around with their eyes closed to avoid being blinded.

She noticed marks on the wall. Somehow Devi didn't know what they were, but she didn't question it. Nothing he didn't know could be important.
Mono then saw a pillar emitting light, and was about to throw herself at it when Devi told everyone to be careful, and that this area was protected. Protected by what??

(Bump)

As Devi turned towards the group he sighed slightly speaking out, "Right.. were going to need to do this slowly..As flying isn't an option as it would create too much noise. The pillar your looking at seems to hold a lost piece of the starstone.. or something very precious, so as you can imagine there's traps.. So everyone keep your eyes on the floor anything which seems out of place could be a trigger. I know your probably wondering why we would trap a holy artifact, well back then every tribe and rogue dragon wanted it so as you can guess it needed protecting in a hidden place." Turning again as he looked towards the floor, using his light to brighten the path. "If any of you can create light I would advise doing so, only if you can see though. If.. the worst does happen and a trap does get triggered don't panic and move around, inless of course you need to move. Otherwise its possible more traps would activate." Slowly making his way forwards ahead of the group he noticed a few flagstones notched as they where risen slightly, making them to the others to watch out for every time he found one. Soon enough they started to get close within 100 metres from the pillar Devi suddenly heard a click, frowning with dread as he had stepped on a pressure pad. Within moments the floor started to shake with a loud crashing sound coming from below, the floor began to collapse around them yet a few seconds past as the rumble stopped visible holes in the floor sent a shiver down his back. With a trap like this it was certain flying was the worst thing to do, with the dome like structure of the roof the sound of air being blasted by wings would cause harm above them no doubt collapsing the ceiling if they weren't careful. "Sorry... were almost there.. but what ever you do.. don't start flying" whispering carefully as they were almost in the centre