[After the fight]

Tarte Tatin Cookie had been badly injured during battle.

Me and Hollyberry Cookie were both very concerned. But probably not as much as Royal Margarine Cookie.

"Ma'am...! Are you alright?" He asked her.

He then glanced back up at the Red Dragon. It still remained strong. It seemed as if it had never taken a hit!

"Here! Look over here!" He called out. "You big red lizard! Over here!"

With that, Royal Margarine Cookie took off into the skies, catching the Red Dragons' attention. It immediately flew after him, leaving the rest of us alone.

"NOW! Go inside and take cover!" Hollyberry Cookie pointed at a cave that I hadn't really paid much attention to.

Tarte Tatin Cookie was still in pain.

"Here- let me help you..." I help her onto the back of P/N, who sniffed her.

"Thank you... Y/N Cookie, was it?"

I nodded in reply, heading towards the cave, P/N trotting close behind me.

Once we were in the shelter of the cave, I carefully let her off of P/N, who sat beside her, acting as something to lean against.

"I'm... unworthy, Hollyberry Cookie...." Tarte Tatin Cookie said, sounding very tired.

"Oh, stop with that nonsense!" Hollyberry put a hand on her friends' shoulder. "And stop moving so much!"

Royal Margarine Cookie swooped back down, landing right outside the cave entrance.

"Ma'am! Are you ok? We managed to lure through dragon away at the last moment!" He informed us.

I took a peek outside, spotting the dragon scorching the ground with its fire, as if it was still in search of Royal Margarine Cookie.

"To think I've gotten this far, only to hold you all back..." Tarte Tatin Cookie mumbled. "While the Red Dragon is still out there..!"

"Abwuu!!!" Snapdragon nuzzled up against Tarte Tatin Cookie's arm, looking up at her sadly.

"It is not wissse to persssist in your state." Pitaya Cookie nodded to himself. "Lessst you crumble."

"A-ah, what do we do now..?!" Royal Margarine Cookie asked. "The Red Dragon is sure to return..."

I sighed and pulled out my journal, flipping through its pages as I stared at all the collected info. No matter how much I had, it'd never be able to answer the questions in my head.

Just then, as I was about to put it away, a weird sounding voice came from the inner depths of the cave. I wasn't sure what it was... but it seemed to sound like Dragontongue, that's for certain... especially after the gasp from Pitaya Cookie.

Hollyberry Cookie seemed to hear it, too.

"Huh- wh- wh- what?! What is it?" Royal Margarine stuttered anxiously.

Buttercream was also in distress.

"AHHH!" Royal Margarine Cookie screamed like a lady again. "Oh... Buttercream! What got into you!?"

Not only that, but the voice seemed to catch Snapdragon's attention as well.

Pitaya Cookie let out a low growl and began to walk towards the sound of the voice, leaving Royal Margarine Cookie quite confused.

"Follow my sssteps, Hollyberry Cookie." Pitaya Cookie said. "It isss time... the contact must be fulfilled."

Hollyberry Cookie looked very surprised but soon understood, replacing her current expression with a surprised one.

"...Royal Margarine Cookie, keep an eye on Snapdragon and Tarte Tatin Cookie for me."

That's when my curious brain pulled me forward.

"You too, Y/N Cookie."

"What?" My eyes widened. "Why can't I come with you two?"

I glanced at Pitaya Cookie.

"I am sssorry, but you mussst stay here."

I felt betrayed and sad. All I wanted to do was document... well, everything! I had dedicated my whole life to it.

P/N whined and looked at me with a confused expression, tilting their head.

Once I believed Pitaya Cookie and Hollyberry Cookie were out of earshot, I have my furry friend a pat on the head. "Sorry, but I'm gonna follow them. Nobody can keep my curiosity away from what I want to learn."

And with that, I went after the two.

. . .

Along the way, I could hear their quiet voices echoing towards me. At least it wasn't loud enough for the others to hear, excluding P/N and their super-ears.

I wrote down every single thing that was important in dot points. I could write the more detailed sentences later.

Suddenly, the ground began to rumble. I nearly let out a loud, surprised gasp, but I muffled it by holding a hand over my mouth. I didn't want to draw any attention to myself, otherwise I'd be very embarrassed.

As I continued to follow them, the whispers seemed to get louder and louder. I felt as if there was some kind of heaviness in the air. All my years of adventuring Earthbread and sleeping in the wild with a literal giant P/T wasn't for nothing.

Soon enough, small glowing flames appeared from gaps between the walls and the road. It illuminated the oath, and I feared my shadow might be seen. So I decided to slow down and let them continue on ahead.

They then disappeared into a beight red light from ahead. I wondered exactly how far it would lead, but you never know until you try! So I sped up my pace, constantly reminding myself that I didn't want to be noticed.

That's when I realised I was too fast. I was right behind them. Ahead of us was a completely flat wall, but it was covered in a red or pink looking gem that was creating large cracks out from beneath it, covering the wall. Strange language or symbols were written behind it, and below it.

According to what Pitaya Cookie said, that was his throne.

I have to admit, it didn't really look much like a throne. More of a cool place to stand and look epic if this place was a tourist attraction of some silly sort for kids to run around like maniacs.

Dripping down from the rood of Pitaya Cookie's 'throne room' was what seemed to be some kind of melting substance. For a moment, I believed it was jam, but it didn't smell like it. It just smelled like rocks.

The same mysterious whisper from before rang out again; its words were much clearer and louder now, but still confusing.

"TILTHEND BREADK AHN NMOC..." It repeated, over and over.

I immediately whipped out my journal and tried to sketch what I saw. I labelled it as 'very bad thing' so I could remember what it was for later.

Turns put, it was the Seal of the Contract. It held the Dragonsworn's jam mixed with Pitaya Cookie's. Honestly pretty weird and scary sounding, if you think about it too hard.

"The Dragonsssworn is tainting thisss place, the receptacle of my life force, chanting in Dragontongue as ssshe absorbsss my ssstrength!" Pitaya Cookie told Hollyberry.

"So if we destroy that seal, will that get both your home and powers back?" Hollyberry Cookie said in a suggesting tone.

"My life force is closely tied to the throne," Pitaya Cookie explained. "One wrong move and the whole nessst may collapssse. And who knowsss if I will survive...."

I was tempted to run up and just hug him and squeal out 'no,' but that was obviously not the best and most mature response to that.

"I knew ssshe would be wicked, but to think that ssshe would go to such lengths...! Grrrr..." Pitaya Cookie continued.

Hollyberry looked confused.

The whispering came back.

"What is this whispering...?" She asked.

Pitaya Cookie repeated the words the whispers were always saying, explaining what the Dragonsworn aimed to do, which was taking away the life force in the contract.

Yeah.

...

WAIT WHAT?!

"Wha- WHAT?!" Hollyberry Cookie shouted. "Just what did you agree to?!"

"...The ssstory of five heroesss. In exchange for it, I agreed to five Words." Pitaya Cookie explained.

That's when Hollyberry Cookie realised he was talking about her and her friends.

"One of thossse wasss TILTHEND, the power of the oath..." Pitaya Cookie continued again. "Usssing the power of TILTHEND that I bessstowed upon her... the Dragonsssworn is tainting the contract. But the quessstion isss... how...? How can sssuch a sssmall Cookie wield sssuch mighty powersss...?!"

Again, the whispering came back again, but this time more intense. It made the whole place shake. I nearly fell over.

But seriously, what is going on with me and falling over?! It's happened more than three times in the span of two days! I rarely fall over this much! Fainting included!

"Pitaya Dragon Cookie...!"

Well, seems as if it ok to have a name change back to normal. After all, the rest of the group was back at the entrance of the cave, wondering where'd we all gone and what we were doing and why it was taking so long.

Oh Pure Vanilla Cookie they're basically all alone out there-

I snapped myself back out of my panic and bottled it deep inside my emotions. I could cry it all away later.

And of course I had to come back to my senses at the most crazy of times.

"Crusssh your Sssoul Jam." Pitaya Dragon Cookie said to Hollyberry Cookie.

Hollyberry Cookie stuttered, so I simply said it for her... on accident.

"EXCUSE ME, BUT WHAT ON EARTHBREAD?!" I stepped forward.

Great. I just gave myself away.