23 Astronomy And Magic

Asher was cursing and knocking things over a few floors down. 'Well, would you take a look at this?' 

We were surprised; he wasn't usually one to step out of a bad mood this easily. Whatever he'd found, it must have been extraordinary. As we pulled ourselves closer to the shiny metal railing, we could see that he'd discovered yet another interactive level to Jasper's museum. Here the walls and floors were covered with star-spangled decal stickers, and more exhibition cases were dotted around, this time holding priceless astronomical artefacts.

I flashed a broad smile as I scanned across each of the descriptive plaques and read them out. 'Actual Lunar rock, fragments of meteorites-'

Violet looked up when I'd stopped talking; then her jaw dropped. 'It can't be!'

'What is it?' Asher was pressing his face so close to the glass that it was steaming up.

'It's a runestone, don't tell me you've never heard the stories?'

'Origins of magic, right?'

Violet nodded at me with wide eyes. 'Let's see,' she was collecting her thoughts. 'Archaeologists, in what was it? The early twentieth century? Anyway, they discovered the first runestone at an excavation site in the country of Iceland. And rumour has it that the magic within the stone was so powerful that fiery-red writing began to appear after the first person touched it. Then soon after came thin beams of purple and yellow light that shot out from every angle, unleashing its power onto the world in one fell swoop.'

Asher frowned. 'Fiery-red writing?'

Violet was unable to suppress a grin. 'Sounds familiar, doesn't it?'

A sudden bout of nostalgia flooded over me. 'The wall outside had it, and I remember seeing similar inscriptions on the examination building's stone arch as we walked through.'

Violet grabbed my shoulders and shook me as one would shake a rug. 'I keep saying it. Magic is everywhere!'

I felt dizzy and fell against the wall; then, I stepped up to the case again. 'This runestone looks empty, but you can still make out the fading inscription; could it be the original?'

Violet shrugged. 'If he wrote it down during the exam...'

'Then anything's possible.'

Asher was pressing his face firmly against the eyepiece of the golden antique telescope. 'I wonder what Jasper was looking at?' As soon as he asked the question, he stumbled backwards.

'Let me see.' I gazed through next, allowing a few moments for my eyes to adjust. Eventually, I realised that the picture was still out of focus, not because of a broken lens but because black blotches seemed to cover the target's entire breadth. And now, only the tiniest patches of Runazia's sun could be seen, while the rest seemed to be getting devoured one molecule at a time.

Asher was massaging his forehead with his fingertips before eventually looking back at me. 'I thought Jasper had been a bit dramatic with his reporting, but this proves he was right.'

I nodded, visibly gulping. 'The sun is dying.'

Violet had one corner of her mouth bent upwards in a lopsided grin. 'Who's going to wake up Avrae, then?' 

'Not it.'

'It's your damn dragon!' Asher sulked. He was still fuming that he'd pulled the proverbial short straw. Then he proceeded to shake Avrae gently at first, though much more rigorous when he refused to budge. 'Get up, you lazy bastard!'

When the dragon finally awoke, his face was a picture of rage, and he was breathing fire everywhere like an out of control furnace. Avrae gave the term 'waking up on the wrong side of the bed' a whole new meaning.

After telling him all that we knew, the dragon extended his wings before flapping them with so much force that we were blown out the way. 

'Damn it; he's going out the roof.'

Asher sighed. 'Then we'd better follow.'

'But there's so much here that could help,' Violet argued. 'Would you have us search blindly for Jasper? Give us five more minutes. The building's probably shielded anyway.'

'That's one hell of an assumption.' Asher fired back, already searching for the unique entrance we'd used earlier. There was no door, though; there was no opening of any kind. In all of our excitement, we hadn't even thought about a need to escape the place. There weren't any concealed lines in the building's outer walls, nor any holes where a key might fit either. We had gotten inside by accident, and it seemed like we'd have to get out the same way.

Avrae thundered to the peak of the tower while spitting out more clouds of fire as he went. I watched in horror as antique clocks quickly became melted puddles of plastic and metal. The "Museum Of Time" was no more, and at the final moment, the dragon seemed to push his head forward as if aiming to headbutt his way through the solid stone.

Crash!

Whatever magical seal Jasper had placed over his home was gone, torn apart by a dragon who cared nothing for the property of others. I knew he was a damn dragon and that unpredictability was one of his more dominant characteristics, but I thought he'd have learned to restrain himself a little by now.

The quarks making up this building were starting to unravel as its structure began to implode, sending shrapnel rain down onto our heads. I'd stupidly attempted to follow in Avrae's wake by using whatever zero gravity remained, so I fell six feet when the system failed. I held my palms out in front as I tried to protect my face, but the tremors from the impact rattled through my arms instead. And if I'd been any higher, they'd have had to scrape pieces of me up off of the floor.

'Next time, he stays outside!' Violet shrieked as she dragged me to to the side. 'Hurry up, Asher.'

He couldn't tip one of the more sturdy metal bookshelves alone, so she let go of me and began to push it with him. Then we all dove underneath, tucking flush against the wall but jumping every time we felt chunks of debris crash next to us.

Asher covered both ears. 'We can't stay here.'

I shuffled backwards as the sharp-tipped hand of a clock pierced through the backboard of the shelving unit. Having fallen from over eighty feet, it was a miracle that it hadn't shot straight through us. When the heavy metal rain stopped, it left nothing but the gentle tapping of small stones as they hit the ground and bounced away.

As we were about to roll the battered bookshelf aside, I had to blink repeatedly in an attempt to get something out of my eyes. The more I squinted, the worse it got, though, and with every second, I could see more black blotches appear. Corrosive droplets were starting to pelt all around, and I could only lie still while watching the infection spread as it turned shiny silver metal into brittle, dark rust.

It seemed Nightmouth was here, and this was to be our end.