I felt happy to have at least reached the room.
At first, due to the temperature, reaching the end seemed impossible. But then once I arrived, I wasn't ready to see my friends lying on the ground, defeated. Mark's t-shirt was torn from the side and Xavier's right side of the jeans was still together just because of a few brave threads which had survived the impact. Lily faced the ground and had a twisted leg with her which was painful to watch.
We quickly rushed to them. Oliver reached for some first aid. I tried to wake Xavier up and talk to him while Amanda tried healing Mark a bit. Nothing happened quickly. It took about five minutes to get everyone out of danger. That didn't mean all the danger was gone though. Lily still had the foot half twisted. She cried out in pain when someone touched her left leg. Mark reached for his head, making sure it was in place. Xavier looked confused. He looked at us as if he couldn't believe it.
"What happened here guys?" Amanda asked as she tried to lift Lily's paining leg. Mark replied, "Drakolleus happened." It was enough to convey the message that the huge dragon had almost killed them. But where were Raptor and his army now?
"Details. We need some detailed explanation guys." I said. Xavier began. "I drove my warship up to a certain extent and then we entered the cave. We kept wandering around for some time until we found the dragon's main domain."
"But we weren't lucky." Mark sighed. "Raptor had already got there. He had sacrificed ten giants into the holy fire of Drakolleus." He pointed at the large pool of lava. Raptor didn't mind throwing a few giants into the lava. That showed his cruelty. "Drakolleus agreed to join him and we unfortunately landed in at that time." Lily said. "Raptor listed us as his enemies and Drakolleus looked raged to fight us. Fighting a dragon is not something I would ever want to do again."
Xavier voice was rough after gaining consciousness and he spoke, "Drakolleus is way too strong for any of us to fight. We three fought him together but it is of no use. I will never forget the way the dragon fights. It has high speed and don't get me started on his fire-breathing techniques. I would like to create a fire machine like that one day. On other circumstances, I would have loved the dragon."
"We barely survived." Mark despaired his lose. "Raptor understood that time was flying away and he needed to get to Mount Hysuptris. Only a day and half for King Jalaar's awakening. The dragon too left for the journey with him and they would be now well ahead of us."
I looked at everyone's state. Amanda, Oliver and I hadn't been from such a tough fight but even we looked tired. But I knew we couldn't rest. Not until the King's threat has faded. "Weapons up, DELTAs!" I ordered. That got everyone's attention. "We have a task to complete. And until the very last breath, our duty tells us to fight. We will. Yes, Raptor is on his way. He has a giant army along with an unstoppable dragon. Either we can despair about that now or get up and fight with bravery. I prefer the second one. Moreover, Colloseus has our back. The dragon has promised to show up at Mount Hysuptris to our aid. So even though it is difficult, fighting Raptor is still an option which we can work on."
The DELTAs looked at each other and their expression said the same thing: Let's do this. Xavier caught his knees and got up weakly. Mark too stood and grabbed his grappling hook on the ground. Lily needed support from Amanda but she stood straight with her left leg not touching the ground.
We walked out of the Hydra Caves. Exiting took about fifteen minutes. But we needed to hurry up with Raptor already on the lead. We came out and the morning Saphrop hit us from the horizon. Xavier took us through the trees and we reached the place where the warship was parked.
"It is not in the best shape right now." Xavier said as he touched the ship. "We need to repair it a bit. Get out the tools, people." We were already late and now we also needed to repair a warship. It wasn't Xavier's fault though. He always tried to fly the ship carefully but the threats we were facing nowadays didn't prove safe for the ship.
Mark and Amanda brought out the tools: a small hammer, a screw driver, a few screws, and a box of different tools and the tank of zartinum. There wasn't much zartinum left but Xavier considered it enough to repair the ship. We got to work, doing whatever Xavier told us.
I fixed a few screws, went inside, and tried repairing the controls. Amanda was trying to heal and calm the engine which was molting hot. Mark assisted Xavier with the zartinum part which none of us understood. As for Lily, she sat on the rock nearby as she couldn't work with a broken leg, shouting at us whenever we did a mistake. For her, everything we did was a mistake.
It was then that I understood how smart and hardworking Xavier was. He was so talented and I couldn't believe his father didn't feel so. I knew Xavier had a lot of pressure on him to safeguard his brother from becoming like his father and also save the world but he didn't show it. Slowly, everything was starting to come together again. The zartinum proved to be charging the ship with power.
As we worked, I narrated what happened at the Great Waterfall. How we got into Colosseus's kingdom, the maze, the Zantai power and Oliver's big sacrifice. I studied Oliver carefully as I narrated that part. After that incident, he didn't seem too happy.
Xavier changed his weapon, Trance into a hammer and fixed a few metal parts of the roof. He even hammered a few rocks to get some additional parts going. As the rocks were being weathered by Xavier, a large stick-like stone part rolled down to Oliver's leg. He looked at it and picked it up. He tried using it at a few things and attacking a few rocks.
The stick looked strong and Oliver smiled. "Zartinum charges things up, isn't it?" Oliver asked Xavier. The busy boy nodded in between his hammering. A wide smile crept up Oliver's face and he thrust the rock stick into the zartinum tank. Everyone looked at him with a question of: what was that all about, Oliver?
"I have a new weapon, ladies and gentleman! Don't ask me the name but this rock weapon is charged with electricity. I am like Thunder now." Oliver announced. I remembered the prophecy and understood that he was referring to himself as the Thunder in the prophecy.
By then, we had finished most of the work. Xavier considered the repairing done and told us to climb in. Amanda and I helped Lily with her left leg. We got in and Xavier closed the door. He declared, "Well, though we are out of time, let's go DELTAs! Time to punch those monsters on the face. Let's fly!"