'Did you see me?' Verbena pranced a bit as Celia dismounted from Irin's back. 'I was all like woosh and snatch and the stone pillar If was in crumbled under my might!' The jade dragoness limped slightly as if one of her forearms gained a bruise during the mission. 'I was unstoppable!'

Celia laughed a bit, then trudged through the snow towards her excited companion. "You are amazing," she assured the ice-armored dragonet. When the human finally reached the excited juvenile dragon, she wrapped her arms around Verbena's neck. "Definitely amazing."

'Of course, I am awesome!' Verbena grinned with a celebratory trumpet as she continued her energetic prance and bouncing joyous leaps.

Celia laughed a bit as her nervousness settled and she finally could properly and deeply breathe instead of stressed and worried shallow breaths.

'We have all four rays of light now,' Irin observed as he carried Xan over the snow and towards the other dragon and rider pair. "I believe something good is supposed to happen if the rays of light are gathered."

"Oh, let's bring them all together!" Celia exclaimed and released Verbena, then ran over to the white-coated dragonet's sides. After she gently lifted Verbena's wing, Celia opened the bag where she left the rays of light and retrieved them from the depths of the pocketed cloth.

"Here!" Celia exhaled in excitement as she retrieved the drawstring pouch that held the other three spheres. She tore open the bag, then carefully lifted the three perfect spheres out of the cloth.

For a moment, everything seemed frozen as the exact weight of what she was about to do fell onto Celia's shoulders. She was about to place the last rays of light together and hopefully return sunlight to the world for what was probably the first time in a century.

Celia took a deep breath, then gently placed the three spheres in her possession into the snow with the newest addition to the collection. All for spheres gently tinkled against one another like a bell chime before they finally settled into the snow.

Nothing happened.

Eventually, Celia released her withheld breath with a gasp and raggedly inhaled. After she recovered her normal breathing, she looked down to the rays of light. "Why... why didn't anything happen? All four rays of light are here, touching." Her voice wavered as it continued.

"Maybe one of them is fake," Xan slowly suggested. "and we really haven't found all four." He looked down and studied the seemingly-identical spheres.

"No!" Celia paced, though the deep snow inhibited her from moving more than a quarter step in any direction. "we have seen all four of them glow, so they have to be real. They—they have to be." She hiccuped.

"Maybe Orthos swi—"  Xan started.

"NO!!!!" Celia spun on her heel and stared at Xan. Her sudden outburst startled the other three beings in the area. "He—he wouldn't! Guild Master Orthos would not do anything like that!" She trembled slightly.

Verbena worriedly nuzzled Celia, which calmed the human slightly. 'I am sure we are missing something important. This can't be the end when we are so close to restoring day to Roahla.' The young dragoness whimpered slightly.

"Ahsa could have given us a fake ray of light. She has the magic to do it, probably," Xan slowly frowned.

Celia inhaled and calmed herself. After a pause, she remembered the words whispered to her in the darkness of the dungeon. "We need to take them to the highest peak, just like the priest said."

"What!? You really want to trust that crazy person!?" Xan raised his voice slightly. "But what he said made no sense! If it exists, the white spirit dragon is evil! The black dragon is the patron of the city!"

"Well, a black monster attacks us every time the dragons near the city!" Celia exhaled and gathered the four spheres and carefully placed them into the black pouch to keep them safe. "What if it all a trick? He said that we couldn't trust the king's advisor, and something tells me that man is dangerous."

"That was the ONE thing he said that I agree with." Xan scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Konrad threw us into prison without reason. Until he captured us, I at least had a decent opinion on him." The human boy crossed his arms. "But that does not mean I trust that lunatic of a priest." 

"According to my hometown's legends, the royal family of Urre stole the light from the sun from a mountaintop that touched the heavens." Celia stared down to the four dull spheres in the bundle of cloth spread out onto the ground."What if we don't!?" Xan argued. "What if there is something else we need to do instead?

"We have to be missing something." He sighed in exasperation. "It doesn't make any sense. This should work." He grabbed the spheres and pushed them together. "Bring back the sun!" He desperately yelled to the lightless spheres as if the order would cause a reaction.

Sadly, nothing worked.

"We have to be missing something." Xan muttered as he places the four rays of light back down and released his hands."What if we need to go to the tallest peak in order to return sunlight to Roahla?"

"Do you have any better ideas?" Celia questioned as she quickly placed the black pouch into Verbena's saddlebags. Once the items of their quest were safely secured, the human vaulted onto Verbena's back and secured herself to the harness. "Because I have no other ideas."

Xan froze in brief hesitation, and when he spoke, his strained voice squeaked slightly. "Maybe we could go to the temple for advice? The black spirit dragon probably knows what to do."

"Do you trust the spirit dragons?" Celia asked slowly, unsure who or what to trust herself. "But the priest gave us a lead, why not follow it? He came from the very temple you want to go to."

'Going to the highest peak is our only lead.' Irin piped up. 'Maybe we should go to the peak before we try the temple.' The dragon shuffled his frosted wings and shook his shoulders. 'That way you don't have to climb the mountain up to the temple on foot since Verbena and I will not be able to land or fly near the temple without being shot at with magic and arrows.'

Xan paused, then admitted defeat with a heavy sigh. "I...guess...," he grimaced a bit but accepted Irin's suggestion as the better one. Soon, he recovered his composure. "I just want to put it on record that I want to try the temple first, so this is not on me if the highest peak does not work."

Celia rolled her eyes as the male human vaulted onto Irin's back and slid his feet and hands into the harness, but a frown pervaded on her lips. "I'm sorry if you don't agree, but for now I think this is our best opinion right now."

Xan huffed in disagreement, but slowly accepted the hit to his ego. "Let's just get going. The sooner we leave the faster we will test the lunatic's words and discover he was just a crazed man."

Verbena snorted, then raised her wings and leaped to the air. 'We have a world to save!' She roared energetically and in slight annoyance. 'Let's go!'

'North,' Irin barked as he sprung into the air with a few mighty flaps of his frosted wings. Once he was aloft, he immediately flew in a direction perpendicular to Verbena's path, 'To Jakol's Shoulder, the highest peak known to all dragons.'

Verbena swiftly banked and beat her wings to catch up to the male. 'The what?' She blinked and dropped to a glide next to him.

'My mother told me the mountains were formed by a large dragon whose bones turned to stone and caused him to fall from the sky.' Irin closed his eyes and inhaled the cold high-altitude air through his nostrils as he stretched his wings out into a glide as he remembered the story.

'Jakol was the largest dragon in the history of the world, able to go from one end of the world to the other in a single wing beat. His fur and feathers shimmered with immense magical power without him using any of it. Many queens desired him as their mate for his strength and size.

'But, all he cared about was himself and his strength. No females ever caught his eye, as none matched his strength or vanity. He taunted the other dragons for being weak and ugly.

'In fury, the dragons of this land gathered and cursed Jakol with the worst affliction for a dragon.' Irin paused. 'They made it impossible for him to fly.' He shuttered slightly at the thought.

'The colossal dragon plummeted to the ground and landed on his side with his back to the ocean. His limbs circled what would become a desert, and his massive shoulder became the tallest mountain.'

Irin took a deep breath and reopened his eyes. 'Mother told me that the peak was the place where dragons decided to choose each other by their souls, not by power or appearance. It was the beginning of a new age for dragons,' he hummed, 'and now, it is the site for the beginning of a new era for the entire world.'

Author Notes:

WE ARE ALMOST TO THE END AND IT IS AMAZING