We decided to travel to Mount Drake (half destroyed Mount Drake to be precise). There I would be able to meet my fellow hermit friends.
We reached the grasslands and I could see Mount Drake in front. We were obviously not planning to climb the mountain. As usual I wanted to get around that to the other side. We managed to meet Sounge and the other hermits very close to Mount Drake.
Sounge noticed me walking towards him and he rushed to meet me. He gave me a usual push which was more of a throw and I fell on my back. His tongue sticking out, he was about to give me a heartwarming sweep of lick. Luckily I managed to push him a bit to the side and stood up. "That is a really loyal animal right there!" Druk admitted. I always used to manage a smile when Druk treated himself not to be in the animal category himself. I caught Sounge's head in a loving manner and said, "This is Sounge, a very good friend and an amazing hermit."
I narrated to Sounge about everything that had happened in the meantime when he was not around. Though a hermit, Sounge's expressions seemed as real and easily understandable as any other person. Sounge had rage in his eyes when I told him that the other DELTAs were captured. His anger was obvious. He had lost his mistress and companion, Lily due to these monsters and now he did not want to lose his other DELTA friends. The hermit also agreed to join us and give me a ride to the Palace.
Druk had no idea where we were headed to. He had blindly agreed to come with me. "Where are we going?" He asked. "To the Abandoned Palace." I replied. "I do not know if my friends are there. So we need to scout the Palace surroundings, learn if the DELTAs are there or not."
I asked if Druk needed any help but he refused saying that he could sprint very fast with his four legs. So I sat on Sounge and Druk was right beside us. We began our travel to the Abandoned Palace. The other hermit friends of Sounge soon became the past with the speed at which we paced. Sounge was a quick racer and with the fire inside him that had been awakened, he got a boost in his speed. But I will be lying if I act to be unimpressed by Druk. He was cantering with speed I had only seen Sounge with. He was right beside Sounge all the time, not slowing down for a second. Even then, they both were not racing with the sense of beating one another but with the spirit of reaching the destination as fast as possible.
"Any idea when we'll be reaching?" Druk enquired. He could still talk while running at this speed which was impressive. "We will soon be able to see a tower approaching. That will only be one of four towers. The towers are scattered in the four directions." I answered. Druk nodded, remembering the adventures I had narrated to him.
As we approached faster, the towers came into sight. I was once again reminded of the gigantic royal tower. The tower had an elevator which would rise only when said 'Hail King Jalaar'. The Abandoned Palace seemed to mechanize the border towers to rise on the name of the evil that helps it. Before King Jalaar, the legend says, many villains had claimed the Abandoned Palace. The mysterious Palace, craving for darkness to be filled in the world, would listen to anything the evil would need. That could be the reason of the towers' password being about King Jalaar.
On the floor at the top of the tower, a beautiful and large view of the surrounding could be seen. The tower – designed to be a watch tower and to defend the Palace – had a huge canon which could once work. But now that the Palace had awakened, it was likely that the canons were active and could shoot us to our deaths. "The tower may have monster on top so be careful." I warned Druk. We slowed our pace a bit to take in the scene. There was no monster that I could see from this far so we careful moved forward. As we progressed ahead, in the horizon I suddenly got a glimpse of a humongous structure.
Druk would have sensed it too because his mouth was open. "The Abandoned Palace!" My voice came in softly and my eyes were wide open. The surroundings seemed to be foggy the more we moved forward. We soon were able to confirm that we were not dreaming. The Palace finally came into our sight in all its glory. The black and greyish walls seemed to be telling us to stay away. The other three watch towers in the three directions all came into sight. They did a great job of guarding the Palace. I could now see a few monsters on top of the towers. The four towers already looked intimidating. But there were more defenses ahead.
The Palace itself was built of three huge towers. The tower on the right was the smallest. And do not mistake it to be small! Comparatively yes, it was smaller than the others. But the smallest went about 1,150 feet in height and we looked lesser than ants in front of it. Then there was a left tower which would go up to at least around 2,500 feet. Looking at it, I was getting dizzy. My neck couldn't keep up with the height. The central tower was grander, wider and much taller than any of the two. It would at least go beyond 3,200 feet. I cannot describe it any more than that. It is too difficult for words to represent it. There were many more thin towers going around the main palace. Getting to the Palace would be a hilly journey up.
Druk wide open mouth finally managed to speak. "I have never seen something like that! We are fighting with such enemies?! Now I understand why you are scared of losing!" Sounge too looked a little discouraged after seeing the grandeur of our opponent's base. I tried to cheer up, "Guys! We are here to rescue the others and not to gaze at this sight. Let's enter the Palace, shall we?"
Saying so, we moved forward a little. That's when things went out of hand.