Venturing: Empty PinPoint

“The note stated where we should go,” I responded to my teammates, raising the yellow sticky note in my claw as my eyes stared at everyone else. Kyro and Zander said nothing for their eyes stared at the note in my claw. A short moment later, Kyro questioned me “Well, what does the note say. Does it say the location of where our friends are at? Or where the culprit behind it is? Or what?” “Calm down Kyro,” Zander grunted impatiently, although he was dying to know what too. I gave an exhaled sigh, a small smile appeared before my face before I split my mouth and spoke to them, answering both their questions. “It is a nearby place. Near the border of Order and the forest.” “So along the line then?” Kyro said again, tilting his head to one side as I nodded to him, “Perhaps. But we would not know unless we got there. Speaking of which, Zander.” I turned to the black dragon and shifted my eyes to him. He remained standing, arms to his side. His chest puffed out. His wings hanged behind him as he awaits my orders. I asked him, “Where is Suncea right now?” “Suncea?” Zander answered in a form of a question before he pulled out a circle device and touched the screen in the center. His eyes lowered and stared momentarily as I and Kyro hear faint beeping sounds from his device.

“Westward from our position, Yang,” Zander answered after some time went by. He blushed and gazed away in embarrassment as I and Kyro snickered to ourselves before quieting down. “Alright, let us head straight there. Take the lead Zander.” “Right,” Zander replied, shaking his head to rid the thought in his mind as he turned around and started towards the opened door behind him. He disappeared with us leaving the room shortly afterward. The warmth washed over our scales as the breeze caught our wings. The forest leaves shook and vibrated to one side, leaving a trail or pile beneath them. Some of the leaves covered the grounds and sidewalk, preventing anyone from being able to see where the road was or where it leads. The sun was high, clouds formed surrounding it. It was a quiet yet glorious day. I took a deep inhale and exhaled afterward with a smile, before shifting my eyes to Zander who kept his eyes to the screen. “Come on. Follow me.” He said without looking up and was on the move after as we try to catch up to him.

We walked straight. But along the lines of borders between the forest and the Order realm. The grass crunched underneath us as we walked moving forward and deeper into the path we were going. My heartbeat faster as I wondered anxiously about Ling, wondering if he was alright stuck inside the building that he now resided in and left along with that culprit. My thoughts swirled around my head as I pondered who the culprit might be, it might be difficult however without the proper notes. Regardless, I kept my mind upon the case we were on. About the missing dragons and the blizeon, we were following. So many questions filled my mind that my brain felt it was going to explode. Luckily, it did not, however. In the mists of my pondering, my ears perked when I heard Zander spoke out loud “We are here. “ “here?” Kyro responded afterward, his face darkened as he stared at the black dragon. “Where is here? All I am seeing is-” “Shut up and look in the distance, idiot.” Zander insulted, raising his claw and pointing exactly where he just said. I peered my eyes and blinked a couple of times, then widened them as I gasped. “Zander is right. There that building is.” “What building?” Kyro growled as I extended a claw and tapped his shoulder, before pointing to the building. He looked and frowned, “That? You are kidding.” “Nope,” Zander responded after, with pride dripping from his tongue as he smirked at the red dragon, he broke off into a run and raced himself towards the building. We race after him.

Finally, we reached the building. White and gray its bricks were as no windows were made up along the holes in the walls. As I pondered and stared at the holes, I shook my head ridding the possible explanations that reside inside of it as I hear a door opened adjacently and turned my attention to the sound, noticing Zander already heading inside. Following him was Kyro then me as we disappeared inside, the door locked behind us. We appeared in a single room. Two doors on either side of us. A light shines from above. A desk to our right and shoved along the corner of the room. Before us was a white wall. Five metal claws were along that wall. Only four of them were opened. The other was closed. I gasped in surprise and stepped forward, taking a closer look at these five claws while Kyro and Zander stared at them from a distance. They looked worried and afraid; it was perhaps as if they had been through this before. ‘But were they?’ I wondered as I turned to them, their eyes met mine then separated again looking back at the claws. Quietness settled between us which was already broken by Kyro who muttered something underneath his breath that Zander broke into a smile but hide it after when I look at them again. Tilting my head.

My eyes turned back to the claws again. I spread my wings and flapped, rising myself to meet eye to eye with them. Up close, I notice how the claws were losing their color due to being exposed to the dry air surrounding them. They were identical to the captured dragons and blizeon. Blue, black, green, and neon. But the last color I was not able to identify. As I hovered in front of the five claws, pondering in my head among the silence that surrounded me; I heard someone shouted and I turned around towards Zander and Kyro. But only Kyro repeated his question, “What did you find?” “Five claws. Four were familiar, but the last one was not.” “Why is that, I wonder?” Zander butted in, narrowing his eyes as his eyes darted from me to Kyro adding, “Why would the culprit want to do with four other dragons?” “Probably hiding something beyond the walls?” I asked, pitting my answer as they turned to me with silent gazes. I kept my mouth shut after that. We kept on staring onto the five claws for a while up until we heard something moaning close by. And turned our attention to the right, spotting a door opening on its own. Kyro looked and remained skeptical as I shivered and Zander frowned. Only Kyro moved from his spot and inched himself forward closing the distance between him and the door. For when he grabbed onto the knob, he pulled back the door further and stepped in.

“Guys! Come over here now!” He shouted startling us as I and Zander ran towards the door and entered in. Reappearing on Kyro’s side, we looked and stared at our newfound surroundings. White walls surrounded us and stretched further into the distance where a void of darkness awaits at the other end of the halls. Spikes appeared upon the windows that have no glass in them. A door to our right appeared. Surrounding it was a series of glasses, but there was nothing else beyond it. Seeing as there was only one path to go, we decided to go through the hallway before us. We walked. Our footsteps echoed our surroundings and entered our ears. Inching ourselves deeper into the halls and closed in at a distant door before us. I blinked, Zander looked confused. Kyro said nothing. We continued our way towards the door. Thus, I reached out and grabbed the knob. Tilting it to one side and opened the door until we entered inside. We made it to another room. But there were plenty of chairs lying about. All regrouped in sets of two it seems, we stared at the chairs till Zander spoke and pointed to something. We both turned to him than the chair, spotting a blinker lying on the chair. I gasped in response and ran up to the blinker, swiping it from the chair and rose it to my eye. “Yeah.” I responded, “This is ours.” “DId Suncea took off the collar as she was making her escape?” Zander questioned, frowning at us as we remained silent.

“Why then, would she do it?” I asked Zander. But he had no answer. We remained silent and kept our eyes to the blinker momentarily. As I sighed, I shoved it into my pocket and turned my eyes towards the surroundings. Looking for anything that might help out with the case. But the room was small and empty. All it had were two sets of chairs, a desk with a single chair sitting behind the desk. And two windowless doors with paths stretching beyond them. Kyro had wanted to turn back and see if there were any alternative paths or doors we missed. But both me and Zander shook our heads. “Alright. Let go through the right door then.” “It seems right so far.” Zander joked with irritation as I ignored it and walked to the door on our right and opened it. We walked right on through and reappeared into what seems to be a thin long hallway. The walls were pale; doors were locked. A picture was hanged on our right. Something twinkled behind it which Kyro walked up to it and pulled the picture to the side. Spotting a photograph, he peeled it off from the wall and stepped back. We turned to him as he rose the photograph and turned it over. Behind were words, “Four dragons and a blizeon escaped. A vixen and a fox manages to kill whoever had done this. Hiding its body in a broken hole somewhere in one of the rooms.” ‘A broken hole?’ I thought, “A broken hole?” Zander wondered and shifted his eyes to the photograph again, I followed behind.

Five same claws reappeared before our eyes. But their colors were shades of black and white. Four were opened and one was close. All five claws had red circle marks upon them. Hovering above the marks were a single word, “Rescued” “Who rescued them?” I asked, both Zander and Kyro shrugged and kept their eyes to the photograph again. We all studied it before Kyro put away the photo and rose his eyes to the horizon. I and Zander followed behind. But we were all shocked to see that the pale colors of the walls turned black. Red lines race down the walls, pooling upon the grounds below them. The doors were gone. Nothing was left in here. Seeing how we had spent too much time inside the halls, I decided to break off into a run. And raced across the halls, turning corners whenever the halls leaned to either right or left. Concluding to the end where a door was opened. I took a breath and made my way inside.

A large room appeared. The door closes behind me. To my right, I saw the opened hole and piles of bricks that laid underneath it. Between me and the hole were rows and columns of brown tables, on top of them were nests made up of straws and twigs. Inside those nests was nothing. On the opposite side, I saw a silver wall. Metal was placed over it and gave a reflection of what the other side was. As I stared on both sides, I turned my head towards the right and weaved my way through the brown tables ending up upon in front of the hole. For my eyes peered into the void standing before me as I rose my eyes to its horizon. Seeing nothing but a yellow painted line hovering at the black skies, I saw no need to enter in for I guessed it was already completed. Closing my eyes, I ran through the clues we saw, and during that time, the door opened once again. I thought of the three clues we had seen today. The five claws, blinker, and the photograph. I also thought about the hole that was before me. I tried my best to link all of them together and tie them off to Chaos’ members, the R7. But it seems that they were not the ones behind it at all. Knowing that I tried again. But this time projecting my thoughts and clues towards a different culprit.

“Could it be that the snake was the one behind all this? In connection to the forest? In a relationship between Dragon, fox, and snake?” I thought about questioning myself. Yet with no answer came, I opened my eyes and sighed. “Guess it is too early to tell,” I responded to the whispering silence as I turned to Kyro and Zander who were already on my side. “Nothing?” Zander asked with a tilt of his head glancing at me as I shook my head in answer, “Nothing.” “Guess it is too early to tell huh?” Kyro asked me as I nodded in agreement. “Regardless…” I responded to them, “I do feel we are one step closer to finding out the culprit of the captured dragons and Blizeon. As well as figuring out the connections of Order Chaos and the forest.” “So… why do we all exist in one merged realm?” Zander asked, with interest lighting up in his eyes. But I said nothing in response and gave off an exhaled sigh, “Just come on. I know where the others would be at.” I turned around and started for the hole behind me. Zander and Kyro entered afterward. We appeared in the darkness. No walls or anything that is surrounding us. But a shimmer of yellow light emerged underneath our feet, allowing us to travel forward. The path was short and right to the point. At the end stood a yellow vertex. We walked across the path and entered into the vertex with no hesitation.

We appeared at the bridge. A distant fog emerged and obstructed our views of the outside world around us. I stomped my foot against the ground, hearing the sound bounce back to my ear was when I realized everything here was real. But one question entered my mind. “Where was here?” As I shifted my eyes about, I hear Zander and Kyro shouting for my name and ran forth towards them, panting and breathing lightly as I ran across the bridge. Meeting up with my fellow teammates. They looked shocked and panicked. Their claws pointed to the grounds. I followed and gasped also. There lying upon the ground were five dead dragons and my heart pounded in my chest with worry as I hope that Ling was not one of the five...