343. Storm, 4

(Bleue)

I was climbing the mountains, always feeling out of breath.

Carrying my wings is tiring. I don't have enough strength in them to fly and gain altitude, yet. So I had to walk, painfully.

My exploration was a mixed success. I did manage to find our source of water, originating from a dam up there.

But its lake itself was dry as well, so it couldn't help.

Sitting under a tree up there, I was trying to catch my breath while looking at the very distant sea I could barely guess.

There's still so much I want to see.

Still so much from life I want to enjoy with Rose...

Days and days away, melting in the blur of the horizon, I saw a spark.

Might have been lightning there, far out there. In the general direction Rose and Ana headed to.

I trusted them. I wanted to.

Something kept me worried, betraying that faith.

Rose is more reckless than she thinks...

I hope it's only a coincidence... But I can't help but worry.

I guess I'm the mature one lately. Maybe it's a side effect of pregnancy?

I'm lying to myself. I can be pretty reckless too.

We both can be passionate as insane daiûas when the circumstances are right... Or really wrong.

That day, they were really wrong.

~

A day or two later, Ana and I met in the sky.

I was gliding from the summits of the mountains and back toward town. Ana came to fly alongside me, matching my pace. That moment we shared there, flying together in the warm skies above the land, it should have been one of the most enjoyable moments of my life.

It should have been, if not for what she told me in panic.

I felt cold. My body felt cooling down. My heart felt cold.

I could have murdered someone without losing the calm on my face, that was how angry I was.

That's not true. I would have lost my cool rapidly.

My anger exploded.

I screamed it. At Ana, at this burning land, at this infamous sun, at Rose above all and at the lord of nightmares.

I dove a little into the sky to build up speed, now with ferocity boiling into my veins. I flew as fast as I could toward our home, angry like I've rarely been.

Rose, I'm coming to get you.

Fuck maturity. I will destroy the nightmares standing between you and me.

After a few more minutes of flight at a speed never reached before, I was above home.

I raised my wings, swimming between the sheets of honey the sky and air are to me.

I broke my flight, returning this honey into air. I fell, diving toward the ground.

I reopened my wings strongly and flapped into one heavy movement, changing air into viscous honey again, through the muscles of my wings.

It broke my fall.

Like a ball thrown into the air will stop and be motionless for a short moment before falling back, I reached that situation in my movement, about one metre above ground.

My gliding and movement stopped, honey became air again, and gravity caught me back as soon as my momentum reached zero.

After a second of floating, I fell and landed hard, feet on the ground.

I was tensed, anger boiling within me.

I told Ana to wait for me.

~

Sword. Rifle. Water and food. And a hidden artefact... A good package.

But more importantly, the sap. Two bottles.

I covered myself with the content of the first one. It itches terribly. But my skin and clothes are pulling me upward now. Now, I can fly!

Ana saw me flapping my wings from standing ground, and rise in the air in a way I shouldn't be able to do under my own weight. My wings can't flap as fast as hers. It would be beyond my muscles and tendons.

But now that I'm almost weightless, it doesn't matter.

I can push myself metres up in the air with each push from my wings.

I feel overly aggressive, maybe more than I should let myself be. But I urge Ana to guide me and to hurry.

Ana complies and we fly away rapidly.

~

We dove over the sea to gain some speed. We flew over the dead city at this swift pace where wind was rushing into my ears and cooling my skin.

I fought Earth's gravitational pull with all I had, like never before.

With each angry strike of my wings, I was able to rise between a few sheets of honeyed air, gliding, sailing over them seamlessly.

I flew for hours after Ana, leading the way over the sea.

Hours of flight at a velocity far beyond anything I ever experienced in this life.

And ahead, far ahead, I could begin to see a rising turmoil of chaos, all but natural.

A thunder storm within a bowl of dark clouds, running in circles or spirals within an immense dome of bad weather.

A storm of the end of times, rupturing the earth as lightning was whipping earth and clouds alike.

In this otherwise peaceful and warm horizon, this bowl of grey, black and white weather was a stain of turmoil.

We were flying straight at it, at the highest speed I could achieve.

Flocks of birds scattering away from every side, sometimes plummeting into the sea.

Ana tried to tell me this place had become the complete opposite of what she seen before. This insanely aggressive storm, sheltered and contained inside the domain of this crumbling coastal city, it could only mean one thing.

It did not go well. Obviously...

And I mean, what news Ana brought me were bad. And what I witness in pain here is bad, not just for Rose but for the lord of this land as well.

This storm, was likely the symptom of an anger worse than mine, and of a fight.

Rose was fighting back the lord of nightmares, and things had devolved to a level of brutality only beings-like-her could achieve.

The land ravaged blind by elements unchained, screaming like storm. We could hear and see them from one horizon away yelling their wrath to the sky...

Rose...

Cornered beast... Cornered Rose... My kind Rose pushed into its last chances and defences.

I don't know what she's doing down there to fight and survive, but I can't leave her alone like that.

The nightmarish storm will not rest until the enemy is destroyed I can guess.

Meaning Rose is still fighting for her life down there.

I can't let her face her worst nightmares alone. I can't.

I'm on my way Rose, hold on.

There's too much hatred within Rose for her to face alone. Far more than I wish and hoped would be left.

Rose, I'm almost there. The angry clouds are now covering the horizon and my sight of the landscape.

We're diving inside the storm.

We hear only the screams of clouds and earth being scorched and fractured against each other.

Somewhere in this chaos, you survive.

You're facing the nightmares the lord revealed to you... I'm as angry as you're afraid.

Don't give up, I'm almost there.

I can see your invisible part through the mist and darkness. I can see you trying to fight back and escape desperately everything that surround you. I'm flying right at you.

I will save you from this place.

I will fight all the lords standing between you and me. We'll destroy this one if needs to me. But first I will save you.

I've already flown over a sea for you. The costs are irrelevant. I love you and I will not let you go down like that.

I'm piercing the thickest storms straight away. I'm using the other sight to detect you, there's nothing normal sight could do.

I see you...

I'm reaching my hand to you to grab yours.

Rose...

I love you!

~