The green dragon nodded and stretched her claw in front of her. The pearl stone around her neck glowed a cool shade of white. Birdhead trailed after her as she led the way into the dark passage.

The hippogriff tilted his head left and tried to make out what was to come ahead of them. “It’s incredibly dark. All I can see is a room of lush leaves filled with light. In the middle lies a golden spire. I can sense life in it: It’s a Ellemendragon of thunder. But to get there, we must stay on the path. Melody, we’ll need more light than that.”

The dragon nodded and tried to create a large source of light.

“Aaaaah!” Zelda shrieked.

“EE-aargh!” Peachy cried.

Melody hurriedly lowered the brightness.

“You just have to believe in yourself, don’t overdo it.” Beakfall moaned, dazzled by the light.

The path was visible now. It was made of dirt and tiny pebbles, like the ones that had appeared in Dragon’s Grove. Birdhead studied the ground.

“Mythicimals have been here before. I can see the claw, tail, you know, prints.”

Myrtlelana brushed her wing against the dirt.

“Hey look, it’s paper.”

Beakfall jumped and swiftly took the paper out of the phoenix’s wings.

“Chill!”

“Sorry – look, here -…”

The hippogriff held out the paper for everyone to see.

“It’s in Ancient dragon script. It says:

Help,

I am a Ellemendragon of thunder, I seek freedom from the place in which I am concealed. A strike of lightning for all I care will give me fresh air and the once again will to move.

Note, that so, I also have 2 friends in need, of whether a burst of fire or ice to set them free.

Faroar.”

“She told me of this…” Beakfall gasped. “She wanted to wait for the next hero.”

Zelda shook her head.

“How is that possible, Beaky? You weren’t even alive then. I read about her. She lived ten thousand years ago.”

Beakfall sighed.

“Birdhead himself knows I existed and fought alongside the Ellemendragon those years ago.”

“How did you survive then?”

“The gift Deku gave me those years ago.”

“What? What did she give you?”

“A crown of golden leaves, like the one he wears.”

“A gift of immortality?”

“Yes, but also a gift of peace. It meant…if I didn’t help to bring down Ashgle or whatever evil was to come, the spell would break, and my life would be normal again.”

The occamy snarled.

“SERIOUSLY? And you never told me?!”

Beakfall snorted.

“Well, Deku never told you.”

“Where is it? Tell me!”

The hippogriff ignored her and turned to look at Melody.

Myrtlelana yawned.

“Okay, you two, stop now.”

The Mythicals started to follow Melody as she shone the light to show the path.

Soon, they reached the room of light Beakfall had described. Lush leaves drooped over black birch trees, which formed a little circle. The path forward was blocked by a solid, transparent red wall. In the middle stood a golden spire, with anonymous green text printed on.

“Lightning.”

Birdhead stared at Beakfall with his cold emerald eyes.

“What? That’s all it says!”

Lionessfire rolled her eyes and reached out her right paw. Zelda looked suspiciously at her.

“What are you doing?”

“You forgot? ALREADY?”

An amber-gold orb of energy formed from her paw. Slowly, grey clouds formed above the Dark Forest.

BOOM!

Thunder growled and lightning struck the earth. Lionessfire was brewing a storm.

“Clever. But are you sure that…that thing or spire or whatever dragon it is, can conduct electricity?” Zelda asked.

“We’ll see. The storm won’t do anything if it doesn’t work, right?” Peachu replied.

“No, but Ashgle might suspect someone is changing the weather with magic because it was incredibly sunny before and now, it’s incredibly stormy.” Beakfall added.

Bzzp.

Birdhead stared intently at the spire.

Bzzp, bzzp.

It seemed to start attracting lightning, the tip glowing with gold.

Bzzp-bzzp-bzzp BOOM!

“Ow! That was LOUD!” Melody yelped.

“Look!” Zelda announced excitedly.

The spire seemed to melt after the ear-splitting strike. An odd green light beamed from the sinking golden object. Soon, it was completely on the ground, alike to an eyelash viper and shaped like an S. Birdhead leaned over it.

“It looks like yellow slime.”

Suddenly, it twitched, making the phoenix back away in surprise. Slowly, miniscule orange pupils appeared in the fatter part of the shape. The snake-like creature lifted itself up, eyes blinking. Coral horns started to form at both sides of the chubby head, along with dark golden lightning-shaped ruffs. Lastly, two thin hazel horns grew gradually at the back of the head, above two tiny pink ears. There were no scales visible, but a blurry haze around the Ellemendragon’s sleek body.

“Fa-roar.” Beakfall greeted steadily.

The Ellemendragon tilted its head politely at the Mythicals. A little dark green horn poking out towards became visible, with lemon outlines. Connected to it was the smallest jade chain on the left, connecting to the back of the head. A petite rose was leaning on the horn, along with a miniature dandelion petal.

“Hello,” Faroar said calmly. “The crown of leaves did its job…Where is it now?”

“Invisible.” Beakfall replied. “It’s still on my head. Your jade chain seems to have kept you unhurt and powerful against Ash.”

Myrtlelana groaned.

“Why do you mythicimals get so GREAT rewards from Deku? All I can do is change my size!”

“Size is a powerful thing,” Faroar remarked. “More powerful than immortality. Do you know what immortality is? The pain of losing loved and memory, and the torture of the changing world. I would happily exchange your power with mine.”

The phoenix’s face suddenly turned from unhappy to being stunned. The Ellemendragon turned to face every one of the Mythicals.

“From my past experiences, I recommend you all to fight everything in your way. As many as possible will try to aid Ashgle during the final fight. If you have seen my note, please, remember to free Dinroar and Nayroar, my dearest friends on your path.”

Beakfall looked with worry at Faroar.

“You don’t want to come with us?”

The Ellemendragon shook her head.

“In legend, seven will rise together, or seven will fall together. It does not say eight, in which I will be the last, or the eighth. You should know this.”

The hippogriff nodded and he smiled, with real joy this time in his serene aquamarine eyes.

Faroar wished them good luck and flew off into the sky, which Lionessfire began to turn back to the beautiful sunshine. Zelda looked oddly at Beakfall, as Melody began to lead the Mythicals out of the room into the once gloom of the Dark Forest.

“Beakfall, what do you see?” Peachu asked.

The great hippogriff squinted, and his stone glowed with determination.

“I see… tall gate of black, with bloodstone snakes sleeping at the top. Each snake has garnet eyes, and they seem to stretch out endlessly. A sodalite square sits in the middle the gate, and it looks as if it is a keyhole. Beyond that, waiting Ashdragons lie ready and strong.”

“Doesn’t bloodstone have healing properties? Why are the menacing snakes made of them?” Peachu asked.

“To strike fear in other’s hearts because it’s ‘blood’ stone,” Zelda explained calmly.

“Hajime!” Birdhead suddenly exclaimed.

“WhaT?” Zelda screeched. “What about…Your non-existent brother?”

“Hajime means beginning…” Birdhead dozed off. “The beginning of what?”

“Why does it matter? It’s just his name,” Melody put in.

“It’s phoenix names we’re talking about here!”

Beakfall halted and looked down at the ground. Instinctively, the rest of the Mythicals stopped and turned to stare at him.

He lifted his right claw and started to draw on the dirt.

Slowly and slowly, a picture of a phoenix-like creature was rising from a scene of a rising Ash phoenix army. One small phoenix stood against the entire disaster, who Beakfall had made clear as the hero by placing a white rock in the outline.

“Is that Hajime?” Birdhead asked, pointing to the rock.

“Hajime is the beginning of a disaster?” Zelda asked, shocked.

Beakfall shook his head.

“Not quite right. That’s about ten percent of the answer. The other nighty percent is power, wisdom and courage.”

“WHAT?!”

“In other words…He’s the beginning of an era of conflict and legend where no one seems to be winning: Everyone seems to be causing a disaster, but no one seems to have that power to control it, the wisdom to stop it or the courage to try to.”

“Confusing…and it makes it sound like Hajime’s doomed to die. Like his name’s supposed to be Owari.”

“No, no.” Peachu interrupted.

Birdhead leapt back in terror and suddenly regained his breath.

“Birdhead, what’s wrong?”

Myrtlelana tilted her head to the side, concerned. Lionessfire cut in.

“Let’s go. We can stop to chit-chat later, or we might endanger the lives of many.”

Beakfall looked sadly at Birdhead.

“Let’s just say out of the two phoenixes I have accompanied so far; none had such strong and sudden flashbacks or visions. It seems that you are one of a kind, or perhaps you may be doomed to something of horror but miraculously saved, which will start to lead to the first light of Hajime…Somehow, anyway.”

“You sound horribly like Rauru. Always predicting things and blah blah blah.”

The phoenix glared angrily at the hippogriff and flew off, ahead of Melody.

“Hey, be careful!” she yelled. “Are you throwing a tantrum? At THIS age?”

Birdhead ignored her and growled, leaving Melody enraged.

Minutes passed as the phoenix’s rage swept over the team. They halted as when the twisted black gate barricaded their path. A golden lock was padlocked in the centre, allowing only the most minute key to enter the hole.

“Now what?” Birdhead snapped. “A gate’s in our way.”

“Patience is virtue, dear friend. I’m sure Myrtlelana can help.” Beakfall replied calmly, but still a hint of irritation in his tone.

“Aah, that’s right!”

The phoenix grinned and the stone around her golden neck glowed with sky blue. In an instant, Myrtlelana was shrinking to the size an ant.

“Wait up!” her tiny voice shouted.

“Can’t hear you!” Zelda said back.

The tiny figure zipped about but seemed to be unable to find the golden lock.

“Here, Myrtle…” Birdhead heard Lionessfire say gently.

The Mythicals waited for a few moments, until they heard a soft click. Swiftly, a growing shape zipped out of the teeny hole.

“Got it! A lot of peck work though!”

Melody’s emotions brightened.

“Let’s go!”

The black gate slowly started to creak. Gradually, from the middle of the lock: It opened, revealing more darkness.

“Careful everyone, there might be anything past there…” the hippogriff announced cautiously.