Chapter Three: The Flying Tower, Part One

As the party entered the tower, the humongous curtain solidified behind them and the tower rumbled as it gained altitude. The party tripped and felt nauseous, for they never flew before. "I'm going to barf…" Slayer said.

"Don't you fly?" Ace asked. He was perfectly fine since he flys, but he wasn't used to the rumbling of the tower.

"Not all dragonborns are gifted with wings jerkwad," Slayer said.

"My, how the dragons have fallen," Sorvex chuckled.

"One of us! One of us!" Cyprus drunkily chanted as she rested on the giant's palm.

The rumbling finally stopped as the tower finally flew up to its ideal height. The party relaxed their muscles as the tower gently levitated over the earth. Phil quickly got up and went to Zephyr.

"Why did you help us?" Phil asked. He still didn't trust the cloud giant.

"I don't have many friends," Zephyr admitted. "I thought we could be friends if I helped you people."

"So you'll take us to the location that we need to go if we became friends?"

"Sure, why not." Zephyr grinned. He had this aura of a kind old grandpa who was lovable and kind, but seemed to be a little bit confused and crazy at times.

Phil and Zephyr chatted about their adventures, about what they've been through and what they've experienced. After several minutes of chatting, Zephyr and Phil got to know eachother better.

Sorvex went up to the giant. "Excuse me, but what's up there?" Sorvex pointed up and they looked where he was pointing. There was a huge symmetrical hole in the ceiling. There were no stairs or a ladder, just a hole.

"Oh, don't go up there. There's monsters and traps and chimeras," Zephyr claimed as he started to float into the second floor. "Well, I have things to do, but I'll get you to your destination in about four days."

"Four!?" Phil and Sorvex said at the same time. The giant chuckled as he flew up to the second floor. They stared at the hole for a moment and looked at each other.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Sorvex asked Phil. They both smirked.

They walked up to Ace who at the time was weaving more material together to make clothes, blankets, and toys. "Sup Ace!" Phil said with a smirk on his face.

Ace looked up and frowned. "I know that face." He sighed. "Okay, what now?"

Phil explained the plan to Ace as they set up to go up to the second floor and the supposed third floor if there is one. Sorvex got on Ace's back with Phil.

"Ready buddy?" Phil said and patted Ace's head.

"I'm not your freaking pet," Ace replied as he pushed his wings and soared up to the second floor. The combined weight of Sorvex and Phil was too much for Ace to bare. "Hey, I'm not gonna make it!" Ace yelled.

"Eh, don't worry," Sorvex replied as he jumped off of Ace and grabbed the edges of the hole in the ceiling. The momentum of Sorvex jumping off sent Ace and Phil flying to the ground. Ledias turned around just in time to see Phil and Ace sprawled on the ground. They moaned in pain and rolled around, hugging their knees.

"Hey, are you guys alright?" she asked as she went over to them.

"Yeah…" Phil answered. He slowly got up, but stumbled until Ledias caught him.

"What were you guys doing?" She looked up at the hole in the ceiling. "Oh…" She saw Sorvex's legs dangling from the hole's edges as he pulled himself up. She sighed. "Get down from there!"

"Can't stop me, haha!" Sorvex yelled as he climbed up into the second floor. He looked around and expected something more dangerous, sinister, or insane, but it was extremely bland. There was a large bed on the side of the room with purple coverings, blankets, and pillows. To the left was a huge chest that was slightly open, and to the right was a huge locker that was also open and revealed huge clothes of purple clothing and robes. Farther right was a huge orb that glowed dimly. The giant was tending to the orb and humming a tune.

"I told you not to come up here," Zephyr hummed. Sorvex froze and sweat made its way down his neck. "Eh, whatever," he chuckled. He walked away from the orb and approached him. "I don't mind showing you around a bit!" he said with a twinkle in his eyes. He placed his palm on the ground as a gesture that he wants Sorvex to go on his palm. Sorvex cautiously took the offer and stepped on his hand. Zephyr raised him up to his own chest level and showed him around his room.

He first walked up to the chest. Inside were small toys meant for humanoids. "These are gifts people I have met gave to me." Zephyr gave a sad smile. "I haven't seen them in years. Would you like one?" he offered.

"I guess?" Sorvex replied. He was still weary around the giant since they barely met, but he was curious to see what people have given him. It could tell him more about Zephyr's personality and who he is overall. Zephyr lowered him into the chest. The chest is halfway filled with toys and just junk for kids. Sorvex looked around and saw that most of the toys were stuffed animals. He dug deeper and found a strange toy made out of "stone". The texture is definitely stone, but it was stretchy and flexible. Another toy was made out of pure leather. No stuffing, just leather.

"Did you find one you like?" Zephyr asked.

"No, but I don't need one," Sorvex answered. He climbed out of the box and jumped onto Zephyr's hand. They walked over to the lockers and Zephyr fully opened it. The clothes inside of it were literally just purple robes, shirts, and pants. "Why? Why are they only purple?" Sorvex asked.

"Because I like purple?" Zephyr replied.

"I am judging your fashion sense right now."

"Oh! I can change its color though." Zephyr touched the robe and the color changed from a dark shade of purple to a sun set pink.

"Gah! My eyes! Please put it back to purple!" Sorvex yelled. Pink looked horrible on the giant. Zephyr pouted and returned the robe to its original color. They floated up to the second hole in the ceiling. Sorvex looked up and saw a griffin poking its head out of the hole. It cawed at them. "Those aren't chimeras," Sorvex said, disappointed.

"I know, I just wanted to scare you off. These griffins have social anxiety around others except their own kind and me," Zephyr explained.

"Poor guys," Sorvex sympathized. "Also, what's that ball?"

"It's a navigation orb. It's the thing that keeps this tower afloat and directs towards locations. Now, shall we head back? I think that's all that's in this tower." Sorvex nodded and they went down to the first floor. Phil saw Sorvex in Zephyr's palm and freaked out. "It's okay Phil, he was fine with showing us around. He only told us that it was dangerous up there just to scare us off," Sorvex explained. They sighed in relief.

A knock on the stone tower's entrance alerted the party. They turned around and looked at it. "Hey, Zephyr, we're flying right?" Ace asked. Zephyr shrugged and walked up to the curtain and waved his hand to end the enchantment holding it still. Outside were four humanoids covered in black robes riding huge bat. The bats screeched when the saw the giant and fluttered their wings nervously.

"Yeah, were definitely flying!" Zephyr shouted as the wind blasted into the tower. "Why don't you fellows come in so I can seal the entrance!" Zephyr offered. The riders nodded and went inside. The giant closed the curtains behind them and waved his arm to cast Arcane Lock once more. The party stood, ready to take action if they needed to.

"Good morning, Zephyr," one of the riders greeted. It looked around and saw the adventurers. "I see you have visitors."

The giant chuckled. "They're my new friends. Want me to introduce them?"

"There's no need." The cloaked thing turned around and faced the giant. It pulled out a large pouch from his bag and showed it to the giant. "Join us."

"In what? You have to be more specific or else you'll never get people to understand you."

"Join us in the reformation of this cursed world. If you do, we'll give you this bag of pixie dust."

"Ooh, sounds exciting! ….and I do enjoy having pixie dust on hand at all times.... I accept."

"Don't!" the party yelled.

"Oh, I guess not," Zephyr stated looking upon the party.

"We'll be your friends," the creature bargained.

"Oh, then sure!"

"You have us!" Phil yelled.

"That is true…" Zephyr stood there, thinking. "You know what? How about this. I'll take the pixie dust and think about your offer, okay?" He grabbed the pixie dust out of their hands and undid the spell once more.

"But-"

"Don't worry, I swear that I'll think about it," Zephyr said as he pushed them out of his castle. "You be safe now!" he yelled as he redid the spell. "Well…. what was I doing again?" He pondered.

"You were giving us the dust" Sorvex spoke, attempting to deceive the kind giant.

"Sorvex, you jerk." Ace whispered

"What?" Sorvex shrugged, smirking

"Ah yes, here you are" Zephyr stated as he crouched down and handed the dust to Phil instead of Sorvex. Sorvex looked offended, but he brushed off the slight inconvenience and moved on.

"Who were they?" Phil asked, accepting the pixie dust and putting it away.

"Ah, they're just salesman. Don't worry about it."

"Oh, look. Drugs," Ace joked.

"Technically, they are." Zephyr said. Ace looked dumbfounded when he heard that. "One of the side effects of the dust does enhances whatever it is placed on, so I guess it counts as a drug."

Midnight sniffed the air. "A dragon's arrival is afoot….." He spook suddenly out of the blue. The party turned toward him.

"What are you talking about?" Ledias asked. The tower suddenly shook as a faint sound of indescribable noise could be heard echoing through the walls of the vast tower.

"More visitors?" Zephyr asked aloud to no one in particular as he walked towards the door. He opened it and stepped outside. Following him was the majority of the party, also combing the skies for the source of the sound, however, the ongoing storm made their job more troubling than it's worth as the darkened clouds from the ongoing storm turned the once transparent skies opaque. A flash of lightning and the clap of thunder is all that could be observed from the clouds up high.

Sorvex squinted his eyes and looked upwards, finding a small yet quickly growing silhouette of what he could only assume was a bird. Calling out to the party they all watched in intrue, soon in despair as the shadowed figure became illuminated by the light of the storm; an adult silver dragon. In its talons it held two dozen dwarves and upon its back rode a humanoid figure, their features undeterminable from so far below.

"Your end will not be swift worms, for I am Orinus, protector of the material homeland and savior of the enslaved!" The being yelled as another flash of light illuminated his face, painting the figure of a red male dragonborn falling towards the tower with the dwarven militia at his sides as the silver dragon released its clutches of them with a powerful roar accompanying the action.