The New Solare - 13. Chapter 13- Sweeping Bunkers

The aerial ships landed on the edge of the island and everyone disembarked. The silence that surrounded them was downright creepy. Darifer wondered if the wildlife was either cowering away or if it had been blown away.

"We need to get closer," Ruthed urged as he got a good look at their surroundings. He noted no movement in the foliage. A part of him worried that, if another tremor struck, they'd be affected a lot more since they were apparently closer to the source.

"Just how far out is that blast radius you guys saw on those maps?" Kelius asked, as if he were on the same wavelength as Gallant Ruthed. After what Darifer and Emyve had uncovered, everyone seemed to be on edge.

Gallant Emyve immediately pulled up the scans on one of the tablets. "The edge seems to be twenty miles in from where we're standing," he clarified as he studied the images. He was quite concerned about the fact that the tremors originated from an island with volcanoes. Whoever was behind the tremors seemed to be playing a very dangerous game, indeed.

"We were barely able to see much in those aerial ships," Darifer commented as he recalled the obscure glances he was able to catch from the window. "And if we use them to fly in closer we might be spotted by the bombers, if there really are actual people behind this, that is."

"You can ride on me," one of the Pure dragons, Ava, suggested as she shifted to her Pure form.

The Sentain Council had decided that the Pure dragons had a right to investigate as well, since their town was in more peril than the landmasses above. King Bale and Queen Caldrea suggested three of their most active citizens. The dragons they chose were rock climbers and explorers. They were the ones that helped gradually expand the town whenever they needed more room.

The first of those dragons was Ava. She was a solid green hue in her Pure form with orange inner wings and eyes. The second Pure dragon chosen was Talden. He was a solid red hue with yellow inner wings and eyes. The third dragon was Pier, who was a solid blue hue with green inner wings and eyes. Out of the three of them, Pier was the largest Pure dragon. He was nearly twice as large as Ava.

The three Pure dragons carried around backpacks with several sets of clothing so that they had something to change into after shifting back to Astral form. Though their new form took some getting used to, they were able to don the Astral form quite easily by the time that they had to board the aerial ships with the Gallants.

After she shifted into her Pure form, Ava began communicating to the others telepathically. 'We can definitely fly in closer without being spotted so easily, since my color can merge in with the trees.'

"The remaining trees, you mean," Darifer murmured, still feeling put-out at what he had seen of the landscape upon their arrival. The Astrals that lived on the volcanic isles really did respect nature and preferred to have an un-intrusive balance between nature and technology.

'Then, we'll follow you,' Talden suggested. Since he was a solid red hue, he had instantly bonded with Emyve and Kelius out of the Astral group, due to their similarity in colors. 'You can't carry all of them. But, if you scout on ahead, we should be fine.'

"If Ava's scouting ahead, then only Sindri and Ruthed can join her," Madhal stated. "If the goal is to blend into the surroundings, then Sindri's Wings can blend in with Ava's inner wings if he holds onto her shoulder...and Ruthed's colors can easily merge with her back.

An uncomfortable silence followed; one where the Astral Gallants shifted and tried to find a way to refute the idea. However, the Solare readily agreed. "He's absolutely right," Sindri insisted. "Ruthed and I will go on ahead with Ava. Everyone else should follow at a distance."

"You heard the Solare," Emyve called out. "Madhal, Gonuret, Darifer, and Ilohir should go with Pier. Kelius, Ansar, and I should go with Talden."

Several words of affirmation were said by all of the Astrals as they joined their groups. All of them were worried about having the Solare leading the hunt. But, in spite of their concerns, Ava's flight went uninterrupted. After every ten minutes or so, she would send messages back to the other Pure dragons for them to know that everything was still clear.

Sindri was not able to see much from his position on Ava's shoulder, but Ruthed could see where the break in the trees and the base of one of the volcanoes began. Though he didn't have much difficulty holding onto Ava in his position, the Solare did envy the lack of a better point of view. He was about to ask for them to get closer when a commotion sparked up behind them.

Ava instinctively pulled in to land, allowing Sindri and Ruthed to carefully dismount.

"What's going on?" the Solare questioned.

'Talden was attacked and seems to have lost consciousness!' Ava relayed, her voice laden with panic. Though Pure dragons seemed to care about their comrades, the female dragon's reactions were far more intense. Talden seemed to be a special person in her life. 'We need to head back!'

Sindri gave a firm nod. He was already feeling anxious about his Lunare's wellbeing, as well. "Alright. But, this time, we should use the trees as cover and remain on the ground instead of flying. If Talden was attacked in flight, then that means that the ones that attacked were looking to the sky."

Ruthed was unusually quiet as the two of them mounted Ava's back and she began to downright gallop towards the others. If he remembered correctly, Emyve was in the same group as Talden. He was nearly sick to his stomach with worry.

Ava slowed down when they neared the others. They were just in time to see the Pure dragon, Pier, throw himself in front of an onslaught of attacks to shield the Astrals on the ground. He, too, fell unconscious. Using her instincts, Ava immediately shifted into her Astral form so that the three of them could be further hidden in the foliage.

Both Sindri and Ava had to hold Ruthed back from rushing out to help the others. They looked on as a large group of Astrals wearing strange uniforms and masks rushed forward to capture their comrades. Half of them captured and shoved the Gallants down one path and the other half tossed netting over the fallen Pure dragons and began to drag them with them down another path. Even though they wore masks, they were easily recognizable as Astral dragons and not Pure dragons due to the hues of their wings and tails. Though their shades were many, none of them had solid primary colors.

"So they weren't Pure Dragon Radicals after all," Ruthed hissed.

"Around thirty Astrals, from what I saw," Ava pointed out as she quickly changed into one of the sets of clothing that she had in her backpack. In her Astral form, she had long, wavy soft orange hair. She also had many freckles on her average skin tone.

As much as she wanted to immediately rush after the men who dragged Talden away, she had the Solare to protect. The Pure king and queen seemed to hold the Astral Representative in high esteem due to all of his help in evacuating and welcoming their entire town to the upper land masses. If Ava blindly set after Talden and left the Solare behind, they, along with Talden himself, would be quite disappointed in her.

"We're more than outnumbered at this point," Sindri admitted with a frustrated sigh. The three of them could theoretically go back to one of the ships, since Ruthed could pilot them back. But, there was no guarantee that they would be able to bring back enough help fast enough. "First, we need to find out where they're taking everyone and what they plan to do with them."

"We'll follow them, then," Ruthed replied.

As soon as Ava was ready, the three of them carefully began to follow the masked Astrals on a winding path between, what appeared to be, two decapitated volcanoes. Large chunks of rubble and boulders were everywhere on the ground, so they were able to duck behind them and not be seen. As the trio neared the end of the path, they realized that it was an opening to yet another ancient bunker.

"Just how many bunkers are there?" Ruthed whispered.

The Solare was relieved when he noted that none of the masked Astrals remained behind to guard the entrance. Did they feel that they had captured all the trespassers or did they, perhaps, feel as if any stragglers weren't a threat? What if there was some kind of electronic security, instead?

"I don't know how we should approach this," Sindri wondered aloud. "We don't want to trip any alarms if they have them set up."

"Or maybe we do," Ruthed prompted. "I can rush over and try to distract them while you two sneak in."

"That would be of little help if they have a security system," Sindri countered.

"Well, if this bunker is anything like the last bunker, then it probably doesn't even have that kind of monitoring equipment," Ruthed responded. "At least, I didn't see any when I was there."

The Solare's lips thinned, but he gave a hesitant nod. They had limited options, after all. "Be careful," He insisted even as the anxiety continued to build up inside him.

Gallant Ruthed sprinted right to the entrance of the bunker. The aquamarine Astral had resolved to find Emyve and the others as soon as possible. A quick glance revealed that the bunker was very much the previous bunker's twin, only a much,much bigger version. No forms of credentials kept outsiders at bay. He saw no locks, no keypads, and no scanners. In fact, the doors merely slid open for anyone to waltz right on in. After a good peek down the bending hallway, Ruthed turned around and waved for the Solare and Ava to follow him.

The three of them were still quite nervous as they entered the bunker. But, despite their perusals, there seemed to be no visible security cameras. As colorful as they were, they knew that they could easily be spotted if they weren't careful peeking around the corners. When they came to the end of the path, the hallway opened up to two different directions. Just as they were about to decide whether to split up or not, they heard the sound of one of the Pure dragons thrashing about.

"I'll go in that direction," Ava stated with a trembling voice. "You two can look for the Gallants on the other side."

"No," Sindri disputed. "We're going together. Besides, if either of them are hurt, I'm the only one that can heal them. Just because they aren't Gallants doesn't mean that Talden and Pier are any less important."

Tears brimmed in Ava's eyes as she nodded. "Thank you, Solare," she whispered.

The three of them rushed in the direction of the sounds until they reached a balcony and a set of stairs that led to a massive lower level. Talden had a heavy collar around his neck and ankles secured by thick chains. But, three of the uniformed Astrals were still struggling to chain Pier down. The trio on the stairs were startled into action when a fourth masked Astral approached the Pure dragon with a massive electric cattle prod.

Ava didn't waste any time as jumped off the side of the stairs and shifted into her Pure form in mid-air. The sound of her clothes ripping apart was dwarfed by the sound of her growl. She quickly grabbed the nearest object, a plastic crate, and hurled it at two of the attackers, knocking them out. The green dragon then tripped the Astral holding the electric prod with her tail.

"Oh, no you don't!" Ruthed cried out as he leapt onto the back of the fourth uniformed Astral to keep him from going for the prod. Sindri rushed forward to kick it further away.

Ava then took hold of the Astral that desperately tried to fling the Gallant off his back, but before she was able to knock him out, the Solare stopped her.

"Wait! Keep that one awake. I'm going to see to Talden and Pier's injuries and then we can question him," Sindri explained.

The large, green dragon huffed. Air puffed from her nostrils onto her captive Astral, causing him to tremble in fear. 'You're lucky that he actually needs you awake,' Ava snarked telepathically.

Pier had several cuts and lost a few scales from where he struggled against the clasp of the collar. Talden finally roused when Sindri's healing touch reached a lump on his head. Ruthed helped release both of them by digging for the keys on one of the unconscious bodies on the floor.

After a quick briefing, Talden and Pier shifted into their Astral forms once more. Talden's hair was a pale yellow that reached to his ears and was fair-skinned. Pier's hair was a bright green that was a stark contrast to his ebony skin. All of the Pure dragons tugged the uniforms off of the unconscious Astrals and donned them. They then restrained all of the attackers with their own chains. Ava reached down to lift the chin of the uniformed Astral that they had left awake.

"I am Solare Sindri," Sindri began as he drew the restrained Astral's attention to him. Once unmasked, the group realized that they all really were just everyday Astrals. "I am the current Head Representative stationed at the Middlemost fortress." He pressed a hand to the gem on the center of his circlet and his staff appeared in his hand, something that Sentain Yuneza had recently taught him after his powers had manifested.

"The New Solare?" their captive gasped. He began to tremble uncontrollably. "B-but, you rescued the P-pure dragons! A-aren't they a threat to all Astral-kind?"

"What you've read and seen about Pure dragons in the past has nothing to do with current day Pure dragons," Ruthed hissed. "These guys are just like us, except for the whole shifting into a bigger form part."

Pier let out a chuckle and reached over to ruffle the top of Ruthed's head in a show of affection. In Pure form, he was undoubtedly the biggest of the bunch. So, it was nice to know that Astral dragons like Ruthed weren't intimidated by them even in their other forms. He had to admit that the stories they were told since childhood about Astral dragons were horrendously inaccurate. The Astrals he had come into contact with were had personalities and mannerisms that weren't all that different to Pure dragons. Pier liked this new perspective of them. He even looked forward to a future where younger generations of Pure and Astral dragons played together without any concerns.

"What is it that you are doing here in this bunker?" Sindri questioned their captive. "Who is behind all of this and do they have anything to do with the explosives?"

"We j-just call him the Chief," the Astral responded. "H-He said he found a whole hidden t-town of Pure dragons and that if we didn't get them first, th-then they'd get us."

The other five men looked at one another as if to ensure that they all heard the same thing.

"Well, this proves it," Ruthed affirmed. "The tremors weren't caused by Pure Dragon Radicals at all. They were caused by one of us. Hell, a group of us."

"Why didn't your "Chief" communicate this with the Sentain Council first?" Sindri asked. "I understand that we were in the middle of a new crowning, but the Sentains should have been notified first and foremost about all of this."

"W-we were told that all of this was the Sentain Council's will," the captive clarified.

Sindri held his staff tighter as his back straightened up even further. "All of this was a conspiracy," he concluded. He looked the captive in the eye. "Stay here with the other unconscious Astrals. I promise that no harm shall come to any of you. We'll come back for you after we've dealt with this "Chief" you've spoken of."

"U-Understood," the captive responded.

"Hmm, this is not a bad fit, actually," Ruthed mused as he folded down the hems of the pants that he had just pulled on.

"Ru, just what are you doing?" Sindri wondered aloud as his gaze focused on his friend. The Gallant was busy putting on the last uniform that they had confiscated.

"What? If I wear this getup, I can blend right in with the other dummies in their uniforms," Ruthed pointed out. "Unlike our Pure buddies over there. They put on the clothes since they all lost their backpacks," he continued as he pulled on the mask. "But, their colors are a dead giveaway if they wanted to use them as a disguise."

"He has a point," Talden agreed. At some point, he and Ava held hands and refused to let go.

"Then perhaps I should also wear-" Sindri began, but was cut off by all the other dragons nearly at the same time.

"No way."

"You're the Solare."

"Can't risk it."

"Just face it, Sin," Ruthed asserted as he patted the apricot Astral's shoulder. "Out of the two of us, I'm the most expendable."