I raised an eyebrow as the rest of my face stayed emotionless. "Would you mind telling us what the dagger of extraction is?" Theodius nodded. "Of course. It's a very powerful dagger, blessed as well as guarded by the mightiest dragon of all. This dagger is said to be able to kill anything the metal touches instantly."
I was interested to hear of such a weapon, yet at the same time wondered about the point of it. 'Doesn't that just take out the fun part?' I thought. I started to climb onto Saniel's back as I responded. "And where in Dragon Valley is it?" Theodius let his arms down to rest at his sides. "I don't know. Somewhere down there. That's your job to figure it out." I rolled my eyes. "Thanks, you really are a big help." I scoffed, sarcastically.
Theodius pointed some finger guns our way before turning to walk away. "No problem! Good luck, you two! You'll need it!" He disappeared into blue fire right after, and May turned to climb up Saniel's scales as well. I realized that she didn't fly as she sat down behind me. "Didn't Theodius dry your wings along with the rest of you?"
May shook her head and held up one of her wings. "They're still wrinkly from the moisture. I can't fly right now or they'll rip from how delicate they are. Which is why I'm wondering if we could wait a day to start the next trial?"
Saniel lifted his wings to take us into the air again and I didn't bother looking at her as I rejected her request. "We are not stopping. You're going to have to deal with it like a normal human does." May paused and shrugged with a smile. "Okay. Oo! This is going to be fun! I'll get to experience human life!" I shook my head a little and turned to see the clouds that we passed by while riding on Saniel's back. 'Human life is nothing like this.' I thought.
I remembered back before I could imagine what life was like outside the wall of Reinthoria. I always thought it was a treacherous wasteland where only slimy goblins and trolls resided. 'Now that I know what is to be expected here, it's sort of thrilling. Everything is vibrant and magical I guess. Ugh. I'm spending too much time with May. Still. I never thought I would experience riding a dragon. Now I'm having trouble understanding why my ancestors separated humans from this world.'
We rode Saniel for a few more hours and I watched as the sky changed with the setting sun. I noticed, however, that the sky was turning more of a red than its normal sunset colors. I didn't pay it much attention until I snapped out of daydreaming to see sharply pointed mountains ahead. The dark and spiky rocks spewed lava from their peaks down to the wasteland below them, and dragons of all sizes and colors seized the sky as small specks from where I could see.
I leaned forward and narrowed my eyes to the sight before me. "Saniel. Land at the edge of the forest." He huffed and started to decline his altitude. Once we landed, I jumped off of Saniel's back and approached where the trees ended. The soil became molten rock past the forest line and into the valley. We were at a far distance away from any of the mountains and dragons, and I leaned a shoulder against the tree next to me as I hesitated.
May then fumbled to the ground after me and immediately sat up with excitement. "I assume we're going to camp here tonight? I'll get started on dinner!" She paused as she realized that I wasn't paying attention to her. "Is something wrong?" I kept my gaze straight ahead as I responded. "I'm debating whether to get this next trial out of the way tonight." May stood up on her feet and walked over to me with concern in her voice as she spoke. "What? But, don't you think we should pace ourselves? One trial a day is already a lot, and aren't you still tired from the race earlier today?"
I thought about it, and even though I didn't have a tail anymore I still felt strained. I sighed and adjusted my posture so I wasn't leaning against the tree anymore. "Fine." I turned back around and knelt beside Saniel to start building a fire. I realized something and looked up to Saniel with confusion. "Can't you light this?" Before Saniel could answer with no doubt a rude gesture, May came to sit down beside me. "Out of curiosity, why do you want to rush through this quest?"
Off the top of my head, I could think of many reasons why. 'I don't know, maybe to be done with risking my life? To attain ultimate power? To never see you, Theodius, or Saniel again? To finally take over the world and kill my father?' I hid my expression of annoyance and shrugged. "I want to go home."
May pouted with sympathy and wrapped her arms around me. "Aw don't worry, you'll be home soon enough. In the meantime let's have fun." I slowly turned my head to her with a pissed expression and I didn't need to hit her this time because she quickly pulled her arms away as soon as she saw it. "Okay! I'll go get some ingredients!"
Later after I started the fire and we ate, May and Saniel fell asleep. I stayed awake for a while, listening to the screeches and roars of the many dragons we'd have to face tomorrow as I lay on my back. I held the hilt of my sword and started to drift off as I watched the star-filled sky with a red hue.
I soon fell asleep as well, and once again awoke to the sun shining over the horizon. I sat up to look at the sky which was still red even though it was morning. I realized that it was deeper over the valley, and faded back to blue the farther the sky was from it. 'That's peculiar...' I thought as I turned to look beside me. May and Saniel were already awake and May was crushing berries with a mortar and pestle as she noticed me. "Good morning!"
I raised an eyebrow as she poured the berry paste into two bowls of oats and topped it with sliced strawberries. "You brought a mortar and pestle?" She handed a bowl to me and gave me a spoon right after with a smile. "Of course! why wouldn't I bring such a necessary item?" I found it sort of amusing that she was somehow still surprising me after all the time we spent together. "How do you fit all this stuff into your satchel?"
She then tossed a handful of sparkles into the air. "With precise organization, there is no limit to how much you can store!" I moved my bowl away from where the sparkles slowly fell to the ground and started eating. "Okay then." Once we were done eating we got onto Saniel's back again. "Take us to the center of the valley."