Chapter 21: Homeward Bound

The journey on the eagle back home took several days. They followed the path of devastation over the forest, and between town to town. 

Krakatoom the dragon was merciless and left no building undamaged in all the villages and towns it encountered. Even Elendil was in ruins.

Kyra entered Cyril's Nexus bag and exited the Nexus bag left in Cyril's room to StarRock to keep up appearances at StarRock. The teachers at StarRock never even knew she was gone. There was word in StarRock however, that the dragon had disappeared. 

Although he didn't need to ride the eagle the entire journey and could spend his time in the Nexus, Cyril preferred to spend most of the time on the eagle deep in his thoughts with Thor standing vigil next to him.

Everywhere they flew, there was a trail of survivors heading to other towns, not knowing that the other towns they were heading to were destroyed too. They all looked up in fear as the giant eagle passed over them casting a large shadow.

Eventually they arrived at Westhaven. The eagle flew directly to Cyril's house. It was completely destroyed. Cyril did a quick scan and found nothing there. No dead bodies, no sign of their parents. He sighed in relief and flew to the Silkweaver Estate. It also was completely demolished. The main house was in ruins. Even the caves where they grew their silkworms were caved in.

Kyra jumped off the eagle to get a closer look, but they found nothing. Fortunately there were no dead bodies, which they took as a good sign. After Cyril made a thorough scan in and around the Silkweaver residence and his house again, they concluded their parents were alive.

They quickly formulated a plan of action. Kyra left on foot with Thor as her bodyguard to follow the trail of survivors hoping to find their parents. They would keep in touch by periodically meeting in the Nexus.

Cyril left the Dwarven brothers Sindri and Brokkr at the location to rebuild the Silkweaver and Cyril's houses, and excavate the Silkweaver mines. With their abilities, this would only take a day or two. They will then stand guard and give Cyril a mental call if anyone approaches. Sindri was given a Nexus bag so Cyril could be there in an instant.

Then Cyril left on the giant eagle directly to the north. Plenty of gold will be needed to rebuild all the towns and cities, and to rebuild the economy and allow the towns to prosper again. And he also knew where to get so much gold.... Krakatoom's lair.  

He flew for 7 days to a desolate volcanic mountain range. The air was filled with toxic fumes, and the heat was hellish. Luckily this does not pose any problems for one that can control both the air and fire. Finally, they arrived at the dragon's lair, which was in the highest mountain surrounded by the volcanoes. .

Cyril had already turned Krakatoom's body into one of his puppets. Scanning his memories, he did not see any guards or traps to be worried about. However, as a precaution, he created a portal to the Nexus and Krakatoom came out of it and the giant eagle went back into the portal. He sent Krakatoom into the lair to check if there were any unexpected visitors as he closed the portal.

Krakatoom scouted the lair and found no intruders. Cyril cautiously entered the lair and noticed that it was brightly lit by glowing crystals which reflected off all the gold in the cave. It was a large cave easily the size of a large city filled from wall to wall with gold and precious jewels. 

Cyril created a large portal in the center of the lair and summoned Nidhoggr the dragon, Fenrir the giant wolf, Ymir the Ice giant and Surtur the fire giant. Together with Krakatoom, all 5 giant creatures started shoveling gold into Cyril's dimension. 

Cyril then used his earth weaving abilities to seal the lair entrance as he didn't want any interference from outsiders. Satisfied with his arrangements, he entered the large portal.

Inside Cyril's the Nexus, gold was starting to pile up from a large portal outside his mansion. He nodded his head in approval and went into his mansion to the portal room he shared with Kyra. He went to Kyra's portal and exited her Nexus bag. In an instant, he was next to Kyra.

By now Kyra and Thor had reached Freeport. They did not have horses, and although they could fly, they wanted to walk to check everyone they came across. Kyra said that although she met several people on the way that she knew from Westhaven, none of them saw either of their parents when they fled.

This small town Freeport was where they originally met Violet. Cyril thought of the still comatose Violet, and wished he could do more for her.


As they continued looking for their parents, Cyril received a mental alert from his puppets in Krakatoom's lair. They were under attack.
"Who's crazy enough to attack my monsters?" Cyril thought to himself as he rushed to through the Nexus