It took took Lumera a few hours to get everything prepared and to say all her goodbyes. Storm spent that time talking with the clan elder, discussing additional treaties and trade deals.
Once she was done, she met him by the entrance.
Aenea had been wrapped up in several layers of blankets to better protect her from the cold air.
Based on the expression on her face, she was not happy being bound at all.
They took flight by noon and flew back to the city together.
The hatchling in her arms was constantly looking around at the ground far below in wonder.
Once they arrived back at the city, Storm took her to go see Pyros immediately.
He was currently in his dwelling seated near his nest.
"Uncle... I hope I'm not intruding, but there's someone here that is very eager to meet with you."
Storm stood aside and Lumera stepped out of the shadows. They stared at each other without any words. Tears formed in her eyes as she saw him, after a moment she rushed at him and embraced him.
"I thought I'd never see you again!!" Exclaimed Lumera.
Pyros gave no response other than to return her embrace. After a moment they seperated and stared at each other.
Pyros averted his eyes after a moment.
"I'm a abomination, Lumera!"
She shook her head.
"You are not, and even if you were that wouldn't stop me!"
Lumera smiled.
"There's someone else you should meet!"
Storm stepped forward with the still tightly wrapped up Rusty in his arms and handed her to his mother. The child stared in wonder at the strange red dragon in front of her.
Pyros was at a complete loss for words.
"Wh... What is her name!?"
"Aenea. " Stated Lumera.
Pyros smiled.
"She has your eyes!" Said Pyros.
"And your stripes." Responded Lumera.
Storm smiled and left the newly reunited couple in peace so that they can catch up.
"Everyone should turn out all right now!" Thought Storm.
He hoped that his uncle will be able to properly recover now and that they are happy together. His uncle deserved it after everything he went through.
"Storm!!!" Someone called.
He looked up and saw Grombrim running towards frantically.
"What is it now?!" Thought Storm.
Grombrim stopped in front of him and tried to regain his breath. After a moment he straightened up and started speaking.
"You need to come quickly!! Our digging team found something!!"
A lot of the tunnels that led through the mountains had long since been lost to cave ins.
Omega didn't really care much about maintaining them before and instead only kept the caverns where his city was built clear. After he was imprisoned, most of the remaining tunnels collapsed.
Storm had put diggers on the task to try and excavate these lost tunnels in the hope of uncovering resources, or additional space for the ever expanding city.
It was in one of these side tunnels that they had found what was currently in front of them.
They were standing in front of a partially exposed gate of immense proportions.
The gate was made of reinforced steel.
Not even Storm would have been able to put a dent in it if he tried.
Two dwarven statues were standing guard on either side of the gate.
Grombrim was practically bouncing with excitement.
"I can't believe our Fortune!! This changes everything!!!" Exclaimed Grombrim.
"What exactly am I looking at, Grombrim?" Asked Storm.
"It's an entrance to a ancient Dwarven undercity!!" Exclaimed Grombrim.
He grabbed one of Storm's front legs and began to shake it in excitement.
Or he tried to anyway.
Because of Storm's size compared to the dwarf. All he managed to do was irritate the dragon.
"Do I need to remind you that I can eat you in this form if you annoy me enough?! What is a Undercity?!" Asked Storm.
Grombrim took a deep breath to calm down before he tried to explain.
"The Dwarves weren't always the divided race that we are today.
Ancient records stated that we were once united under a single king.
These same records stated that envoys from this king met with and even traded with the Fallen Ones.
There were 7 great undercities constructed during that time, but some unknown disaster struck the empire and it collapsed almost overnight.
The king was lost along with several of these undercities, only the undercity in the Mythril mountains is still being used today.
This is one of these lost cities, I'm sure of it!!" Exclaimed Grombrim.
"This is fascinating and everything, Grombrim. But do I need to remind you that we're not a Dwarven Historian Expedition?
How would this discovery aid our fight?" Asked Storm.
"Many secrets were lost during that time and each city was constructed for a particular purpose. Depending on which city this is, who knows what could be hidden within!!
Furthermore, each city housed an entrance to the underworld. Just think of the untapped resources we could find down there!!" Exclaimed Grombrim.
"What's the underworld?" Asked Storm.
"I trust you're aware that Dwarves aren't native to this continent? We didn't arrive by ship however. We came up from underground.
We believe that our race originated from the underworld itself but that something drove us from our home and forced us to the surface.
The underworld is exactly what it sounds like. A vast network of tunnels and caverns that spans this entire world!
Complete with it's own Flora and Fauna that doesn't exist anywhere else.
Dwarves still use the underworld to travel and trade between our cities." Explained Grombrim.
"How can there be life down there?!Everything needs light to thrive?
Which it can't get so deep underground?" Asked Storm.
"Luminous Mushrooms, of gigantic proportions.
They provide light down there, as well as providing fresh air to breathe." Explained Grombrim.
"Any dangers down there?" Asked Storm.
"Plenty, the most common one would probably be goblins.
Some believe they're the reason Dwarves fled to the surface in the first place. " Explained Grombrim
Storm didn't need to ask about this topic.
It was one that almost the entire world was familiar with. Goblins were an absolute menace for anything that made their homes in caves or underground. Which included dragons.
They were a species of small beast-kin race with green leathery skin, drooping pointed leathery ears, and mouths filled with razor sharp teeth and thin ratlike tails.
They dug up from underground and caused so much trouble that all the races had an unwritten treaty that whenever a nest would spring up, they would set aside their differences and work together to destroy it.
It was one of the rare cases where humans would set aside their hatred and work with other races.
Individually, they were a mere nuisance.
But when they swarmed, they could even wipe out a large dragon clan.
Communicating with them was next to impossible and any attempts to negotiate met with failure.