Sorry for the late release, I had a bunch of classwork that took priority for a few days.
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Mid Evening - Late Spring : Home
After receiving mothers generous 'allowance', she flushed out warnings and 'life lessons' that I figured were common knowledge until morning rolled around.
Once the sun came up and I could finally relax in silence, I took a short nap. When I woke up though, I got another earful of Mothers lectures until it was finally time to leave.
"You know to stay away from strange people right?"
"Yes, Mother."
"If some man comes up and tries to lure you into his carriage, you know not to follow him right?" Although it sounded like a joke, her face was serious.
"Haha, yes Mother. I still remember everything you said last night so please don't worry."
"Have you been able to heal some?"
"Yeah, the only things left to heal are small fractures." -The healing capabilities of dragons are truly frightening..-
"Haah.. good." She took a deep breath as she calmed herself before looking back up at me with a relieved smile. "Well, it seems like I can't stall any more.." Her smile turned warm as she walked up for a hug.
The warmth of her hug was incredible so I couldn't help but enjoy it for a moment. "Don't worry mother, I'll be safe."
"I know you will but I can't help but worry.." Her hug tightened before she let me go with a kiss on the cheek.
Finally physically, and mentally prepared to leave, I turned to Ilios and Father. "Alright, Ilios, Father, go ahead and shrink down."
Once the light faded I sat up and used my arms to form a seat for them. "Sorry if it isn't very comfortable.. I haven't thought of a better solution yet."
Father looked at me questioningly before reluctantly climbing on. "Come on Ilios." He patted his lap for Ilios to jump up, but Ilios ignored him and sat on the edge.
Father wore a dejected look that nearly made me chuckle before I looked back towards Mother. "Well, it seems we're off.."
"Yes, just please be safe." She still had a bit of worry on her face, but she was suppressing it.
"I will, Mother, I promise." I gave a confident smile to see if I could ease her worry before leaving as I spread out my wings. "I'll be back!"
Seeing her lightly nod and give a wave goodbye, I leapt into the air.
The flight started slowly, but I remembered to mention something important before I started really speeding up. "Father, if you or Ilios need something, tap my stomach a few times. I won't be able to hear you no matter how much you yell at the speeds we will be going."
He seemed confused but just went along with it. "I don't really understand but okay.."
-It seems supersonic flight isn't well known...- "Well, I'm going to start speeding up slowly but it will still pull quite a lot, so be ready!"
Seeing both Ilios and Father nod, I started to speed up and climb in altitude.
Once I got a bit above the clouds, I got myself situated. -Time for the thrusters..-
Starting small, I slowly started the thrusters and steadily picked up the pace.
Not long after, I got up to around Mach 14 again and eased my acceleration. -This should be good..-
Although Mach 14 used to be my speed limit, over the past month and a half, I practiced enough to be able to control that speed quite well. -Im not comfortable to go any faster with Ilios or Father on board though..- Anything beyond Mach 14 was risky territory.
Now that I was up to speed, I could take a breather and admire the scenery.
-Wow..- The clouds below us looked like fluffy balls of cotton and the night sky looked like an ocean of colors.
It had such a surreal beauty that I couldn't take my eyes off of it for the entire flight.
Before I knew it, I felt a light tap on my underside and looked down to see a dim glow through the clouds on the horizon. -Oh, that's probably the city.-
After double checking to make sure that was the reason for Fathers tap, I started to slow down.
It had been an incredibly smooth flight up till this point, and Father and Ilios both seemed to be doing well.
As I continued to slow down, we finally got below the clouds and could see a large city on the horizon with a towering wall surrounding it. -That must be Kaelallan..-
It was quite pretty with a dim, aura-like glow peeking over the walls.
Below us was a forest Father had told me about beforehand. It was the place where we would land and change to our humanoid forms to keep our dragon forms out of sight.
Once I got just above the treetops, I continued to glide until I approached a clearing that looked like the perfect landing pad.
At this point we were only around 12km from the city, but according to Father, this forest was fairly desolate so we didn't need to worry about anything.
Once I landed, I quickly set down father and Ilios and made sure they were alright.
Father quickly jumped off and stumbled on his feet. "Maybe.. a little more gentle.. with slowing down next time.." He was a little out of breath from the somewhat aggressive deceleration.
Ilios on the other hand seemed totally fine, trotting up to me with a joyous smile as I changed to my humanoid form.
"Haha, do you feel alright Ilios?" I couldn't help but reach down and pet him as he nodded in response. "Well, we have quite a walk so let's get going shall we?"
Father stopped me with shocking urgency. "Give me one second.. Before we go.."
- Michael Cotorel ~
It was late at night when I was in the Kaelallan Adventurers Guild, hearing some long awaited words.
"Michael, head to the royal palace in the morning to finish your promotion. Again, congratulations on becoming Kaelallan's 3rd Nation rank!" My personal receptionist, a young demihuman named Ellen, gave me a warm smile as she slid a paper across the desk.
"Haha, it's not totally finalized yet." I still had to meet with his majesty and receive his approval and gifted nobility before it was finalized.
"You know that's all just formality. I wouldn't be giving you this paperwork if I wasn't confident that you would be okay." Her bright smile was as joyous as ever.
"Thank you for your confidence, Ellen." I wore a thankful smile as I picked up the paper listing my national merit and achievements that were 'of note'. "Well, its getting late so Ill be heading out."
"Alright, be sure to rest up before you go to the palace!"
"Haha, sure thing." Waving Ellen goodnight, I walked out of the guild with a deep warmth in my chest.
As I walked up the road, I started to reminisce about the past. -Ahh how far I've come..-
I reminisced of the days that I was just an average peasant boy saving up money to apply to the guild, the days of making my first friends, and even meeting who I believed to be the love of my life. -I hope she's doing well..-
Shaking the thought out of my head, I looked up and quickly noticed I had already made it to the inn I was staying at in the noble district.
Walking inside, I made my way up to my room and got a drink before walking out onto the balcony.
"Haah.." I tried to clear my mind as I looked over the bustling city streets. -Now that I've reached the top of the mountain.. Where do I go?-
Before I could think too much though, I saw a strange blue light falling through the clouds before disappearing behind the horizon. -What was that?-
After thinking about what it could be for several minutes, I was interrupted by a bright orange flash that came from the edge of the forest.
-What an odd color..- It was a shade of orange I had never seen from an explosion before, but before my curiosity could take over, I stopped myself and turned to walk back inside. -Right.. I just need to focus on resting up for tomorrow..- I couldn't risk missing the meeting tomorrow to settle my curiosity.
I gave a reluctant glance back towards the edge of the forest as I walked inside. -If it's anything new, I'm sure the guild will let me know..-
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The flight was around 1 hour 20 min for those curious.