Worst flight

'Throw the boy'—did he hear that right?

Winston subconsciously stepped backward, Noah by his side, ready to take him away. Although he wasn't confident in running from these monsters of people, he would still try.

"Rylen, can you stop teasing the boy?" Seraph said, clearly annoyed by her brother. She turned and looked toward the boy, who was desperately trying to figure out which direction would be best to run. "What he meant was that Gravon will cast a levitation rune on you and your pet, and then throw you across the river. You won't be hurt—you'll land safely."

What was wrong with these people? Couldn't they just do one thing that didn't give Winston a headache? Everything they'd done so far had been, well... not at all ordinary.

But now this? How could anyone trust a half-giant with their life? And not just that—but this was clearly something he would never agree to. Not even in his dreams. Not even in virtual reality. He was scared of heights.

"Please tell me you guys are joking," Winston said with a nervous smile. He hoped with everything he had that this was another one of their jokes. Just this time, Seraph was in on it too.

"Nope," Rylen said bluntly.

"Bu-but what if the rune doesn't work?" Winston asked, doing everything he could to make them change their minds.

"Are you questioning my capabilities?" Gravon said, clearly offended by the youngster's doubt.

"Gravon is the greatest Runesmith in the entire world of Avalon," Rylen defended his friend.

"I didn't mean to question his capabilities! It's just that, you know, even the greatest people can make mistakes. Even gods can make mistakes," Winston said, trying to calm them down nervously.

"You are questioning Gravon," Gravon said again, now looking even more offended.

Winston's mind raced. How would he get out of this situation? These two weren't going to change their minds, so he turned to the only person he had hope for.

"There has to be another way to cross over, right?" Winston asked Seraph, forcing a smile and trying his best puppy-dog face. He'd heard it worked well with girls… or maybe his friends had just told him that to see him make fun of himself. Either way, he was going to find out.

"I'm sorry, Winston, but this is the only way. And you should know—we don't have much time," Seraph said apologetically.

"I mean, you're a mage. Can't you make me fly with wind magic or something?" Winston said, a flicker of hope in his voice. He'd read somewhere that mages could use their wind magic to fly.

Seraph shook her head.

"I could fly you across. But if anything interrupts mid-cast, like an enemy ambush, I'd be guarding you—so I'd need all my focus. But if I'm carrying you or using magic on you and you flail, then I'd lose that focus. Gravon's rune locks the path in advance. So it's much safer and cleaner."

Winston blinked.

"I don't flail."

Gravon snorted.

"You flailed when that rat squeaked," Rylen added.

Winston opened his mouth to argue, then shut it.

"…That was a big rat."

Seraph gave him a sympathetic look.

"Look, I know it's scary. But Gravon's runes haven't failed. Not once. He'll make sure you and Noah land softly, I promise."

Gravon cracked his knuckles.

"I'll even add an extra rune, just for your shaky little bones."

"That… doesn't make me feel better," Winston muttered.

"And if anything did go wrong with the rune—" she glanced at Gravon, who stared at her as if she had grown an extra head—she quickly added, "which it clearly won't, I would use magic to prevent you from falling," she reassured Winston.

Now he had no choice. He didn't find any fault in her reasoning, and especially since it was in his own interest that they were doing this, he reluctantly stepped forward.

"Perfect."

The half-giant approached Winston with a devilish grin, as if he were his lab rat. He then conjured his sack and brought out four runes—two for Winston and two for Noah.

Winston glanced at them. Both were made of wood, symbols he did not recognize.

Gravon placed both of them on Winston's chest with no hint of professionalism, and the two runes disappeared. He felt nothing.

"I think it didn't—" he stopped himself mid-sentence, remembering how sensitive Gravon was about his runes, and quickly switched to, "uh… works perfectly. Feels powerful."

Gravon grunted, clearly satisfied.

He then turned toward Noah. The wolf stared back, ears twitching, already sensing what was coming. Gravon slapped two runes onto him without warning. Noah growled, low and threatening, but didn't move.

"He's fine," Gravon said, completely ignoring the fact that he'd just violated a beast's personal space.

Winston gave Noah an apologetic pat. "We'll be okay, buddy," he whispered, though he wasn't sure if he believed it.

Then Rylen bent his right knee and—

Boom!

Dust exploded everywhere. Through it, they could see Rylen at the very top of the trajectory and then heading to the other side as if a meteor were falling from the sky.

Gravon stepped back, cracking his neck. "Alright, stand still. I need clean momentum."

Winston immediately took a step back. "Wait—what?"

"Stand. Still," Gravon said slowly, like he was talking to someone deeply stupid.

"Do we really have to be thrown?" Winston asked, his voice rising again.

"Yes," Rylen said from behind Gravon. "Before you think of running."

"Physics is for weaklings," Gravon announced proudly. "You'll fly."

Seraph covered her face with one hand. "Just throw them, Gravon."

With no more warning, Gravon grabbed Noah from his belly, ignoring the fact that the beast was almost as tall as him, and lifted him above his head effortlessly. Then he thrust him in the air as if he were just a piece of stone.

The runes lit up.

Then, for the second time without warning, he grabbed Winston—placing a hand on his belly and another on his back—and gave a strong push, which was enough to shatter his spine. But he did not feel any pain. He was perfectly fine. As he flew through the air at terrible speed, he noticed that Seraph was by his side, flying with practiced ease, her silver hair flowing backward in the wind and her gaze moving in all directions.

Ahead, Noah didn't make a sound, but the wolf was glaring at him mid-flight, as if this was all Winston's fault.

They soared across the wide river, cutting through air like someone had turned off gravity just for fun. Time stretched. Winston was convinced this was going to be how he died.

He saw the ground coming and was convinced he would become a pancake soon.

Then, as suddenly as they had left the ground—they landed.

Softly. Like being set down on a bed of air. The runes shimmered and vanished. Winston hit the grass, stumbled once, and collapsed flat on his back.

He stared at the sky for a second.

"I'm never doing that again," he mumbled.

Noah landed beside him, tail swishing once, then plopped down and licked his paw like nothing happened.