Mindy was the first to react. "You can FLY!""Mana here is twice as dense as it is back at your KarGoth." Doom shrugged. "Ever heard the phrase "twice the results for half the efforts"? It applies here."
"Twice as dense?" Alexei perked up. "Could it be… the Source of Magic? We"re getting closer!"
"Wait a minute. Aren"t you the guy who keeps saying we shouldn"t use magic, because it"s running out?" Mindy protested. "If mana is so thick here…"
"Hey, it was thicker ten years ago. A lot thicker. It"s been draining out." Doom scowled. "So you came looking for the Source of Magic? What for, so you can steal it for yourself and keep your wasteful lifestyle?"
"Then you do know where it is? And what it is?" Alexei perked up.
"Oh, I know. But why should I tell you any of it?" Doom said darkly. "All you want to do is maintain the way of life you"ve been living, consuming endlessly, never a thought as to everyone else and everything else."
"Wouldn"t finding the Source of Magic replenish this world"s mana? That would be good for you, too, wouldn"t it? Weren"t you the one worried about magic running out?" Mindy cajoled.
"Worried because of exactly what is happening now! The whole world"s started fighting over what"s left, hasn"t it?" Doom pointed out.
"Yet you taught my brother to use magic." Remian cut in.
"His own mana, yes. Whether physical energy, or magical energy, as long as it"s his, why should I prevent him from using it to fulfill his own needs? But in digging up mana veins, mankind has destroyed entire lands. Why did you think Ecclesia moved to Mendev? It was at Itarim, before, an independent holy state where the church held power. Then they drained all the mana, and the land became a dead land. Never mind casting spells, they couldn"t even get crops to grow! They had to move to the next richest mana vein so they could drain that one too!" Doom shook his head. "Did you know, five hundred years ago, Fal"herim was surrounded by greenery? It was the most fertile land, the most famous food producer in the world! Look at it now! Look at the place you call the Endless Desert!"
Remian stared. "That"s what happened…?!"
"It"s not only those two. It"s happening everywhere, across the whole world." Doom growled. "Except at Libertaria. They"re digging up something else entirely. The way things are going, they"re going to be the greatest nation in the world, soon enough."
"But we can stop it! We can stop the killing, stop all the fighting! We just need to find the Source of Magic!" Alexei argued. "So help us!"
"Wait. Is the Source really unlimited?" Mindy cut in. "Is it really going to release mana endlessly?"
"According to the legends, yes." Doom growled. "But it is also evil. If you use it, you"ll destroy us all!"
"But we need magic!" Alexei argued. "We need mana! Otherwise, it will be the end of life as we know it! The whole world will be plunged into chaos!"
"Maybe it"s time for a bit of chaos." Doom said. "Perhaps then man will change his ways for the better."
"You"re a man too!"
"I don"t destroy the land I live on! I"m not destroying the world!"
"If you keep that Source of Magic from us, then you would be!"
"Teaching wasteful cultures a lesson in the consequences of irresponsible consumption is saving the world, not destroying it!"
"People will die for it! Lots and lots of people!"
"And humans are more important than nature and the world we live in?"
"Yes!"
Doom and Alexei were arguing head to head, meeting glare for glare. It was clear they were not going to come to a consensus anytime soon, probably not ever.
"Guys, don"t…" Remian began.
Too little, too late.
"Formation!" Alexei growled. "Storm of the Seven Seas!"
Five students leapt into a cl.u.s.ter, and began to gather mana.
Doom shouted. "Sior krav draknev!"
Sudden roars thundered on all sides. On the left, on the right, and directly in front, more Tier 5 dragons lifted their heads. Even those three caught in ice began to struggle, and cracks appeared in the icebergs. Then, farther out, a larger, Tier 6 senior dragon began to stir.
A Tier 6 Senior Dragon! That one fellow alone was ten times the size of the previous three they had fought before. That wasn"t even counting the other six that just arrived, and the three that were about to break out of the ice. This had already gone far beyond what any of them, or even all of them together could handle.
"Oh, sc.r.a.p…" Sir Ivan groaned and drew his sword.
"I… I just wanted to see the friendly dragon." One of the students quailed.
"Well, you"re seeing plenty of dragons." His cla.s.smate quipped.
"But these all want to eat me!"
"Actually, I don"t think you"re even enough to make a decent meal for any of them."
"But… why…"
"We walked right into this one, didn"t we? Went straight into the dragon"s den." His cla.s.smate sighed. "I just thought maybe… but no. I guess I"ll never see a friendly dragon."
"That, you won"t." Doom promised him. "But you"ll be able to live to see another day if you turn around and leave now. That"s the best I can offer you."
"But we"re so close! The Source of Magic…" Alexei gritted his teeth.
"Not today, my friend." Father Petrov restrained him. "Today, we go home."
Doom said no more as Mindy turned the airship around and they left.
***
Ten minutes after leaving Dragon Lake, Alexei hammered his fist on the guardrails of the airship in frustration. "What do we do now? Do we really just turn around and go home?"
"That might be best, but perhaps not yet." Father Petrov consoled him. "Perhaps there"s someone else we can ask around here. Where is this brother of yours, Remian? This Darian person?"
"He"s probably still training somewhere around Dragon Lake." Remian answered gloomily. "But if you really want to meet him, he does come around to Three Pines on the weekends. We"ll have to wait a couple of days, though."
"We"ve already come all this way. We can wait a couple days." Father Petrov nodded. "Can"t we, Alexei?"
"I packed for a long trip, anyhow." Alexei sighed.
Days since last Beast Tide: 47. Current Kill Count: 2136 (115 since yesterday).