I Raised A Black Dragon

Noah came to the conclusion that Lenia had been the one to witness Eleonora’s collapse, as well as Adrian’s presence. If that was the case, then where was she? 

Noah ran her hands through her hair, exhaustion beginning to set in. Her feet were killing her, and she desperately needed some food and drink. But she couldn’t rest until she got to the bottom of the mystery surrounding the hotel. 

“Pecker, please. I need you to take me to where Lenia is.” She looked over at Pecker, who was still nervously fidgeting with his hands. “Earlier, you mentioned there was a manufacturing process. Where is it?”

“This way, please.” Pecker said with his head bent down. He walked over to the wall opposite them, which had a small iron door in the bottom right corner. Noah looked at the sign that read ‘RESTRICTED AREA’, and was about to summon another fireball when Pecker blocked her path.

“No, wait! I’ll do it! It’s an automated process from here on out, designed to blow up the whole process when impurities come in.” Pecker stammered over his words. “We shouldn’t purposely break the door down or interfere in the process. Please wait, since I am one of the only people who has access.”

“Okay. I’ll just wait over there.” Noah sighed and vaguely gestured to the wall. She leant against it and watched as Pecker scurried over to the control panel and diligently tapped on the keyboard. When a password input window appeared on the transparent door, he started typing in the secret code.

A cogwheel installed inside the door could be seen spinning, while a whirring sound grew louder. Before long, the other interlocking cogwheels were also turning, and the lock on the door began to lift. When the door was fully opened, Noah kicked herself off the wall and approached Pecker. 

“Can I go now?” She asked, peering in through the door. Inside everything was shrouded in darkness. Pecker pressed a button on the control pad, causing the area to be illuminated. 

Noah was stunned at the sight that lay before her. The room opened up into a seemingly endless chasm. As she leaned over the barrier, trying not to succumb to vertigo, she could see a large pile of magic stones forming a mountain. Up ahead, there didn’t seem to be any distinguishing floors, as the area stretched from floor to ceiling.

The entire space was taken up by hundreds of pulleys hanging from the pitch-black ceiling and walls, tight-pulled belts, and claw machines that operated nonstop and automatically assembling the replicas. 

The assembled replicas, after completion, were placed into cylindrical devices sticking out of the wall. Noah watched it all unfolded, frowning at the immense heat on her right cheek. She glanced down to see a huge furnace boiling in a sunken space in the wall.

“This isn’t a dream, right?” She said, gazing at the scale of the operation. She couldn’t help but admire it, even if there was a voice in her head telling her that such a thing should be impossible. 

No matter how big the hotel was, it would have been too much to implement this kind of process. Even if the floors and such had been demolished to make room, it would still be too small. There had to be some magic involved, some kind of space distortion spell. If the wall was bent that much, what did it look like from the outside?

And how good at pure magic was Adrian Rosinell? He had to have been the one to cast a spell on this magnitude. There was no doubt that Eleonora Asil wasn’t the only genius in this generation.

“So, where is Lenia?” Noah folded her arms over the railing. “Is she around here somewhere?” 

“She’s there.” Pecker pointed his trembling hand toward the diagonal space below. Far away, they could see a cut-off path that seemed to be the original hallway. “You can build stairs in the air, but if you cross this space recklessly, there is a chance you can land on the conveyor belts.. If that happens, you will be knocked right down into the boiling furnace.”

Noah, her face blanched, turned to look at Pecker and discovered he was diligently tapping away at the control panel again. But before he could explain what he was doing, the ground beneath Noah’s feet violently jolted and caused her to lose her balance. She fell through the air until she landed on something solid with a thump. Too stunned to move, and pain radiating from her hips, she was powerless to move as she was taken on a journey against her will.