Ch 45 The Flight

I found myself in darkness. This was not 'my' darkness. This was pitch black. I was unable to see anything. I stood up and reached out. I could not find anything with my hands. I slowly shuffled my feet along the surface of the floor.

I began to hear voices. Whispering. I followed the source. I drew closer but, the words seemed like they were becoming no clearer.

My eyes were focused on the direction I felt the voices were coming from. I began to see something. A light hue in the dark. Something that seemed to react to the voices. As the voices spoke, the hue became brighter. When they were quiet, the hue died down.

I began walking more steadily toward my destination.

"But what about..."

They were getting louder now.

"That ... ... your concern. I don't need ... remind you ..."

Some words were still hard to hear.

"He is here. This ... has met him. I know what this ... saw."

"Hmmm. If It's true, I need you to bring him to me. I will grant you some magic. I will not be able to replenish this allowance. Use it with the utmost precision. I need this user. It is the only way ..."

"I know mas..."

"SHH!"

I began to see large, demonically red eyes floating above. They saw me.

"It 'is' him..."

The eyes exploded in size and lit up the area. I saw two people in black robes. I could not make out faces. One was short, the other was a shapely woman.

The giant eyes zoomed toward me. Enough to wake me from my slumber.

I woke up in the hatchling sleep pile. I was breathing heavily.

"Bad dreams?"

Taaffeite was here already. From the looks of her, she was sleeping next to us.

"Sorry. I didn't expect to sleep so well. Yeah, that was an... interesting dream."

But, was it really a dream? It felt oddly real.

"What about you? Get any sleep, Taaffeite?"

"Was it that obvious? I did shut my eyes for a time."

She stood up.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah. Let me just..."

I struggled to get two of my limbs free from the sleeping pile.

"Ah! There we go."

I was keeping my voice low, so as not to wake the hatchlings.

I walked toward Taaffeite. Before I could get too close, I began to feel the ground tremble beneath me. I turned to find the large black dragon approaching. His walk had awakened the hatchlings. I was hoping that he was not coming back to fight me again.

"HUMAN..."

He did not sound angry or arrogant like before. He stopped and hung his head low.

"I COME TO SAY, SORRY. I WAS WRONG BE MEAN TO YOU. MY MATE, SHE SAY SORRY TOO. FOR BE MEAN TO YOU BEFORE."

I let out a sigh.

"Apology accepted."

I didn't know what else to say. I was just happy that he was not going to try to eat me.

The white dragon emerged from the cave behind the black dragon. She lowered her head as well. The white hatchling sleepily wandered over to the side of the black dragon. He lifted one of his claws and gently turned the hatchling toward me. He let out a huff. She seemed to understand what it meant. Her head quickly lowered before me as well.

"WHAT DO YOU CALLED, HUMAN?"

"Uh... my name? I am called Lake."

"THEN, MY LITTLE ONE BE CALLED LAKE NOW, TOO. FOR THE ONE WHO SAVES HER."

"I am just happy that she is safe."

Lake ran over to me. I think she was excited to have gotten a name. She spun around a couple of times before she jumped up on me.

"A fine name for a cute dragon, like yourself."

She made some more baby dragon sounds before I put her down. As I did, the other hatchlings showed up and pushed me over.

I wanted to laugh. I had to hold it in. For all I knew, there were lesser fire spirits here and I don't know how they could react.

I began hugging the little ones and saying my goodbyes. When I was done, Taaffeite stretched out her wing like a ramp for me. I walked up Taaffeite's wing and planted myself on her back. We quickly took off and began to fly.

As I waved at the dragons below, I saw every one of them raise their right wing. The hatchlings were not as refined as the adult pair. They tried their best though.

"Hey Taaffeite, is that a customary dragon goodbye?"

"No. That is a heartfelt fair well. It is used only for family and loved ones. It seems you left a good impression on them."

"Yeah? They left a good impression on me, too."

This was only the second time flying in this enormous cave. I recognized nothing from my first flight. Nothing except, the hole in the ceiling. It was quickly approaching.

"Hold on."

Taaffeite warned me. We circled the opening a few times. Below was a large vent. It began belching out hot air. This was the cue to start an ascent.

Taaffeite dove first. She got close to the edge of the vent and shot into the rising air. She fully unfolded her wings and let the current force us up. The heat was nearly unbearable at the bottom. As we rose, it seemed to cool off ever so slightly. I was able to see the slightest hints of light at the top.

We rose as far as the vent pushed us. Taaffeite had to manually fly a marginal amount for the rest of the long ascension. We finished the vertical climb and began to make our way out.

The sky was still dark. Dawn was imminent. The almost freezing air was like a godsend after that heated air vent. The ocean waves could be heard crashing along the cliffs.

I spent quite a bit of time inside that cave. I was glad to be out. At the same time, I will miss the hatchlings.

"I am going to grab a snack along the way. Hold tight, Lake!"

She dove down, straight toward the ocean. I braced for underwater activity. I heard the breaking of the water but never felt the wet. I heard a loud tearing and crunching. She caught a fish roughly half the size of the ones she used to feed the hatchlings. She ate it in four large bites.

"AH! That was good. Where do you wish to go?"

"Let's start with Omera."

"Okay!"

We began to rise.

The clouds became closer and closer until we broke through the ceiling. The sight was amazing. No land to be seen. Clouds and sky as far as the eye could see. The sun was on the rise, just below the greyish white ocean of clouds.

"I can't see the ground. How can you tell where you're going?"

"I have explored much more of this land than any of the others. My scales afford me an invaluable ability that allows me to fly safely."

"What do you mean?"

She said nothing. Her demonstration was more than enough of an explanation. I watched the scales beneath me as they disappeared. It looked as though nothing was below me. I was still able to feel the scales that I was grabbing onto.

She was invisible.

"This lets me fly anywhere I want without the hassle of dragon hunters. I know this land better than the cave we just left."

As she spoke, her form returned to my vision.

"That's one hell of a trick."

"One of many, Lake. But, you will never see them all."

To my right, the sun was finally peeking over the sea of clouds. The view was even more beautiful than before.

I felt content. I felt in awe. I was thankful. The people that I have met. The tortures I have endured up to this point. The women that I love.

I think this was the first time that everything that has happened, really sunk in.

I don't know if it was the sun in my eyes, the amazing sight before me, or the pains of the past. I let loose a tear. I unconsciously wiped it away with the back of my hand. Once again, my hand was smeared with blood. My face probably was, too.

After maybe an hour and a half, we began to dive. The clouds blurred my vision as we dove in. Things cleared up quickly. We were far above the Lizard Lands. I could see Omera clear as day. The other villages were further away.

"Do you want to land?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure. I wish I had a way to see what is down there before we land."

"Another 'hell' of a trick, coming up."

We flew above Omera. Directly in front of me, some of Taaffeite's scales became clear like glass. They looked like a magnifying lens. I was able to see the village up close from so far away. She began to circle the village.

"You weren't kidding. This is awesome!"

"Try touching the edges."

I gently placed my fingers around the far edges of the scales. It was easy to shift. The flesh below the scale gave way and shifted like any other flesh. As I put pressure on the right side, the focus moved to the right. It was like a controller for a video game. I was able to look around the village more intricately like this.

"How do you do it? This is amazing!"

"It works just the same as how I turn invisible. I take in light from the blue sky above me and imitate the same colors on my underside. In this instance, I am taking in the light below me and showing you what is below."

I could not see inside buildings, but I saw enough to decide not to land here.

"I don't think we need to land here. If you wouldn't mind, can we fly over Oddasa like this?"

"With pleasure."

We departed the area. I took note of the plateau near the Trials of Ages. It was covered with wooden platforms. I saw no signs of life near the entrance at the moment. The moment was quickly gone as we flew in the opposite direction.

Taaffeite went back above the clouds. We were in flight for about half an hour.

"Almost there."

She said. We slowly began to descend through the clouds. Once again her scales lit up with village scenes below us. It wasn't long before I saw something worth investigating.

"I need to land here."

"Do you need to be stealthy, or are you going up to the front door?"

"I'm not really the stealthy type. It's harder when humans are not so common around here."

"Okay. I'll bring you down."

She went full stealth. I was riding the air. It was a bit scary. Even if I am immortal, this height brought back memories of my first time in this world. The pain was imprinted in the back of my mind. I could never forget that experience.

She flew in behind a hill that was close to the entrance that I had been to once before.

"I should not allow myself to be seen. The lizard-men wouldn't harm me. That won't stop stupid ones from talking about the sight of me."

I stood up. She made some of her scales less transparent so that I could find a stable path to walk on. I found my way to the ground.

"Thank you for the ride, Taaffeite. I hope I see you again someday."

"Wait."

She stopped me.

She made an awkward movement to pluck a scale near her tail. Her form was still nearly transparent. At this distance, I was still able to make out her basic form. Her mouth opened. It was far from transparent inside, unlike the rest of her body. She bit down onto the scale and began shaping it. She was quick with her movements. It took only a short while before she handed the scale to me. It was now in an odd horn shape.

"Try it out."

"Um... how?"

"Blow on the smaller end."

So, it was a horn. I blew into it as she had instructed. I could faintly hear a similar sound, like the one that Taaffeite makes in flight.

"Perfect. If you get in trouble, I should be able to hear that from halfway across this continent. If you call me for something stupid, I may eat you."

"Awesome. Thank you. I appreciate all of your help. I promise I will only use this for emergencies."

I held up the horn made from her crystal scale.

"I must go now. The hatchlings may start getting hungry again, soon."

"Okay. Safe travels."

I held up my right arm in an attempt to imitate the dragon's farewell. I watched as her form began to beat her wings. Quickly after liftoff, she melded into the blue sky and disappeared.

"I'm not looking forward to this. I know I saw his carriage though."

I began talking to myself.

I found my way back to the main entrance to Oddasa. There were two guards I had not seen before.

"A human... HALT!"

I stopped in place about 50 feet from the door.

"Did you think you could just scurry on in? I think not."

She lifted her weapon. Her partner stayed put. She was not going to play these kinds of games.

"Look. I'm not interested in repeating an incident here. You should just go and tell your boss that the human who drank the potion of Rage is here. Otherwise, you may end up like your buddy there..."

I gave her a fake smile until that last part about her buddy. I followed up by pointing at the still pinkish stain on the wall.

The lizard that stayed by the door seemed to roll her eyes. She tapped on the door with the tip of her spear. It began to open.

"Stand down, Griji."

I heard a call out. The lizard-woman that was approaching me had stopped in place. A mellow-looking lizard-man wandered around from behind the doors. He held himself high with brilliant armor. He had an air of elegance around him. I knew right away when his 'superior' gaze found me. It was the same commander that had shown himself before.

His eyes bulged and his lips pulled back to reveal that memorably comedic look of horror. I was holding back my laughter.

"Ahhh... What brings you back here...?"

I heard him mutter something under his breath. He looked annoyed as he said it.

"I was wondering if you happened to come across any other humans recently. I heard they were coming this way and wanted to meet them. They are friends of mine."

I am sure that the carriage I saw, belonged to Butkis.

"Not that I am aware of."

His answer was not what I was expecting.

"Really? They have never lied to me before. Interesting... Well, since I am here, I'd like to speak to the King. I have some questions for him."

"Now is not the best time."

Without skipping a beat, I answered back.

"It is for me."

He was dumbstruck by my quick answer. I knew he was just a middle man, stuck between his King and a human with the power to destroy entire continents. A bit more intimidating than a rock and a hard place.

I was not about to take no for an answer.