Emperor's Reckoning

The old mole sat down on his butt as a youngling of his kin approached, "G-Great elder are you alright?"

"Hey, am I still a sacred beast?" asked the old mole as a tinge of sadness appeared on the corner of his eyes.

(Oh no! He is having an existential crisis!) thought the youngling as he acted agitatedly.

"What is the meaning of living in this world, I'm just an ordinary old mole,"

The old mole sat down as his life flashed him by. The memories in his mind played as he fell into depression.

"You are still the sacred beast of this forest, the strongest of our kin!"

The youngling's shout managed to get inside his weary ears as the old mole opened his eyes. "That's right I'm still the sacred beast, the protector of this forest!"

*swoosh

The sound of branches fluttering was heard as the leaves left their home. One could only manage to see the golden silhouette skipping from a branch to another.

*flutter

The silhouette stepped the last branch and jumped on the open field where the old mole just got up from his butt.

"Eh?! Look out!" shouted Karina as she noticed the tiny beast she was about to stomp.

The old mole raised his eyebrows as he muttered, "Too slow."

*tap

He tapped his cane to the ground and his position already shifted five steps forward, effectively dodging her landing-stomp.

*thud

Karina landed safely before she quickly turned around, "Hey little guy, are you alright?"

The old mole lowered his eyebrows as his eyes turned sad once more. He sat down on his butt as he muttered, "Little guy, she said... maybe I am just an ordinary mole in the street."

(Oh no! Twice a day?! C'mon old man!) thought the youngling who hid in the corner.

*stomp

A black silhouette ruthlessly landed on top of the depressed old mole.

(Great elder!) thought the youngling as he kept his wit not to shout. He knew that being alive was more important right now.

Crossing his hand, Lyon tilted his head with closed eyes as he said, "Where are we going, teacher? We are back in this place again, hmm? Why is the ground so squishy now?"

Karina covered her mouth in disbelief as she saw what happened.

Lyon noticed her surprise as he saw Karina point out at the ground he was standing.

*crack

Suddenly, the ground he was standing cracked as he felt something pushing his feet upward. Lyon tried to balance his figure as he let one leg as the center of his mass.

(No way) thought Karina as she saw the old mole was holding Lyon up with the tip of his little cane.

The old mole slightly pulled it down and pushed his cane upward to send Lyon off to the air. The unbalanced young man couldn't help but make a flip to steadily land on the ground beside his teacher.

Stepping out from the small crater, the old mole rubbed his beard. "Ah young man, we meet again."

(What?! He got out of his depressed mode?! Next time, I will try smacking his old head!) thought the youngling who was watching from behind the bush.

(A mole? Did he just talk?) asked Lyon before he remembered that he had his dragon as a grandfather and this new world he was in.

"I don't think we have met before? No even if we did, I would probably forget hahaha!" laughed Lyon.

"Hahaha, you are a lively one," said the old mole like an old man.

"Lyon, you should apologize," said Karina with her menacing gaze.

"Oh, right, sorry for landing on you!" Lyon apologized with his head bow. He didn't particularly do this because he was told to, he did this because he knew he was at fault.

"Forget about it, ah where are my manners, I should introduce myself first," said the old mole.

With a light cough, he continued, "My name is, well, I forgot about it."

Lyon and Karina had blacklines over their head.

"You can call me Great Elder, at least that's how I am referred to right now, hohoho."

(That lying old mole! Your name is Tama!) thought the youngling.

"My name is Lyon, and this beautiful teacher of mine is Karina, I believe, you have some type of request?" asked Lyon which sent the old mole into raising his eyebrows.

"Ho-ho-ho, you are a sharp one," said the old mole as he tapped his cane three times.

Lyon and Karina instinctively looked their right and left as the bushes surrounding them were shaking wildly. Suddenly one head of a young mole protruding out of it before another one showed up, and then another one, and then another one, until the two of them were surrounded by it.

The younglings made out of the bushes and revealed themselves. Ther exact numbers were unknown, maybe a hundred maybe a thousand. One thing that was clear, was that there were a lot of them but Lyon and Karina didn't raise any guard as they felt no hostility from them.

"These are all my descendants, we live in this forest for thousands of years, we saw the downfall of a kingdom and the rising of a new one," said the great elder mole.

"However, time keeps fleeting and so does my age, even the forest cannot live forever," there was no sadness in his weary eyes at all.

His little weary eyes turned sharp, "I am the sacred beast of this forest, and it is I who spread the rumors of my own existence."

"So you are the sacred beast? The protector of this forest?!" asked Karina. She thought that the sacred beast would be... bigger or menacing.

"Yes, but do you know what is the thing, the forest needed to be protected from?"

"Bandits? Scavenger? Don't tell me a lumberjack?" said Lyon as he made his guesses.

The great elder mole shook his head before he said, "Take three steps back."

"Good, that's enough space," said the old mole before tapping the ground.

The ground in front of Lyon shifted upward as a cave slowly appeared in front of him. From the entrance of the cave, a bone-chilling aura was emanating. There appeared to be stairs leading down to the dark depth below.