Impossible. That was the only word to describe it. It didn't look like anything that any hands could have built. It looked as though it had grown from the floor of the cave until it reached the top. The cave itself was the largest open space Drake had ever been in. A dozen football stadiums would have fit inside. The ceiling was high enough to hold a good sized office building. The spire itself seemed to glow from within. It was impossible to tell if it was the material that the tower was made of gave it it's blue color, or if it was the light itself.
Drake was in awe. "I've never seen anything like it."
Edulcore searched his ancient memories. "Neither have I"
They made their way to the center of the cave, where the Spire was located. The entire surface was smooth, but at chest height there was the same symbol that was on Drake's arm. The symbol of the Dragonmasters. Drake reached out, just short of touching it. "Do you see a door?"
"No, Drake. That seems to be the only part that isn't smooth."
"Maybe if I touch it..." Drake pressed his palm against the symbol firmly. Nothing happened.
The raven spoke up. "The symbol is not quite the same! It is a mirror image!"
"I hate to admit it, but you're right. Maybe if I touch that symbol with mine..." Drake did just that and the two met perfectly, there was a cool sensation and then part of the Spire's outer wall began to glow. The light became almost blinding and when it faded, part of the wall had become transparent. "Well, we can see inside now. That's sort of an improvement."
"Touch it." The bird piped in.
Drake glared at the bird out of the corner of his eye. "I don't really trust you, but it doesn't look like we have a choice." Drake touched the transparent area of the wall, and it rippled like the surface of a smooth pool. "It's water."
Raptor was still distrustful. "But it's vertical. Nothing it holding it in place."
"Yeah, must be magic. So, I guess we walk in." Drake held his breath, and walked in, quickly followed by the others. For a few moments, it was exactly like walking underwater, except they didn't float. The wall of water was several feet thick, but they were all dry when they stepped out. The Spire's interior looked to be made of ice, but it wasn't cold. Not even to the touch. There was a large staircase on the far side of the expansive entryway, a wide pool took up most of the middle.
Raptor sprouted his wings and took off toward the stairs, Drake started to make his way around. Just as Raptor reached the center of the pool, what looked like a geyser shot up, but it stopped looking like a geyser just below him when it sprouted fingers. "A water elemental!" The raven shouted as Raptor just barely dodged its grasp. The entire pool began taking shape, becoming huge and humanoid.
"Oh, crap," Drake muttered as he pulled the sword from its sheathe. He charged at the elemental and swung at one of its legs, its makeshift mouth howled in pain but it seemed to recover quickly as it slammed a fist mere inches from Drake's quickly dodging body. Raptor streaked past the monster's "face" cutting a long slash. "Up the stairs, Raptor! We can barely scratch that thing!"
"At last! You're being sensible!" The raven commented as it shot up the staircase.
Raptor circled widely around the elemental, it seemed to have difficulty stretching far beyond the edges of its pool. "Drake hurry!" Raptor also made it to the opening of the staircase.
Drake ran as fast as he could, occasionally slicing at tendrils of water, keeping the elemental back. The stairway was too tight an area for Raptor to fly in, so he and Drake ran up the stairs as the water rose, filling the stairwell below them. "It's slowing down!" Drake shouted. Finally, they reached a point where the elemental couldn't reach.
"Well, there goes out way out." Raptor said.
Drake looked up the stairs. "Yeah. Only one way to go."
