The bridge was massive, just like everything else in that place. It made sense considering dragons lived there, and not tiny humans.
It took Damian and Hymot one-hour walking to reach one of the many city gates. Of course, they weren't walking fast to have the time to look out for danger and not misstep, but still, it was a pretty long bridge.
There was no life around the area; at least, they did not see it. But Damian was still entirely focused on his surroundings; as Hymot said, that was a trial, and no trial was easy.
"This is the gate. It's open, so we can go."
Hymot nodded and followed Damian closely behind, passing through a massive gate. The structure was all made of stone, but it did not look ordinary. Perhaps one only the dragons could get?
The first thing they saw after passing through the gate was a street and houses? Damian couldn't quite understand as that was considered a place for dragons.
"Why the houses?"
If Damian had any questions, he would try to find the answers with Hymot first, as she was a dragon.
"We dragons often stay in this human-like form. It is better to hide, and the ore used to make the houses is limited, so we couldn't make massive caves for each dragon. And I believe it was not uncommon for humans to visit us."
"So you do know some things."
"Of course I do," Hymot said, flipping her hair using her hand.
Damian glanced at it briefly before returning to his task: explore the dragon city. The number of houses there was massive, and it would take some time to explore all of it, but Damian decided to do so nonetheless.
Why? He had almost no clues about the trial, that place, or anything. Damian had seen from afar a huge palace — presumably the site where the king of the dragons lived — and that place was indeed where they would have to go, but why not explore some parts first?
So they started entering the houses around the gate they used to enter the city.
"So much dust and moss. How long is this place abandoned?" Damian asked as he passed his finger on the furniture, coughing at the dust there.
pαndα---noνɐ1,сoМ "No idea, but probably a lot. Like thousands of years? I don't know."
"T-Thousands? How old are you anyway? You look 19 or 20 at most."
"Me? I am not sure. The poison made me spend years and years sleeping, but a dragon in an adult stage like I am has at least 3 thousand years of age."
"Three thousand!?"
The difference between humans' pity and short life compared to that of a dragon was massive — although it was no longer the case, as superhumans could live for a long time, and some could stop aging altogether.
"Am I too old for you?" Hymot said, and once she realized it had another meaning, she blushed.
It was a good thing Damian was too focused on exploring the place that he did not think of the second meaning behind that sentence and simply said, "Nah, you look fine. Look, there's a note here!"
Damian was exploring the insides of that house, and it had the same furniture as a human place would have, so he decided to look for something inside the desk's drawer, and sure thing, he found a note.
The only problem was that it was written in an unknown language to him, "The paper looks fine despite the time. What type of paper is this?"
"Let me see it," Hymot said as she stood beside Damian, asking for the letter.
Damian could not understand a single word of it, so he handed it over to her, hoping to find out what was written on it.
She grabbed it and read it aloud:
"Dragon King Salam spoke in the public square today. It seems the giants are suffering some attacks and are seeking our help to fight against them. We have been friends forever, so we will help them. I am leaving my house with a few other dragons, seeking to help the giants. If you are reading this, it means I did not return to pick up this note. Therefore, I am probably dead. I don't know how the city will be, or what happened, or even how long it took for someone to find this, but if you are seeking answers to anything, go to the royal library within the castle."
Hymot couldn't quite understand what the letter meant — she had lost too many memories — but Damian? He was startled.
When he activated his bloodline for the first time, he learned that someone or something chased the giants and killed almost all of them, with a few running away, thus creating Damian's bloodline, for example.
'So the dragons knew about it and sent help. But I did not see a trace of dragons where I learned about my bloodline… Did they die before leaving this place or on the way? What am I missing?'
Damian stood there in deep thought, making Hymot curious, "Did you notice something with the note? Tell me if you can."
"Yes, I know something. During one of my explorations, I came across some information regarding the giants, and something killed them a long, long time ago, yet I saw nothing about dragons there, so something happened."
"So they did not reach their destination…." Hymot said.
Damian decided not to tell her about his bloodline until he was sure she was trustworthy. But telling her that would do no harm.
"Should we explore the rest of the houses or go to this library the dragon talked about?" Damian asked.
"I think we should explore the other houses. What if we find similar notes that will grant us more information? And-" Hymot stopped, closing the drawer and dragging Damian to a nearby closet.
After a few moments, a flying creature wearing a black robe passed near their house, and it glanced inside it.