I stayed up there for a while, watching the sun slowly disappear from the horizon, watching the sky slowly turn dark and deep, and watching the fog slowly fade away.
I let out a deep sigh and smiled.
Who was I to wish for adventure when sights like that existed right above the forest I lived in?
Satisfied with the sight and with newfound resolve to enjoy the peaceful life I had, I turned to descend, looping down in long spirals similar to my ascent, letting my sore wings lie still as I fell in a controlled glide back down to the forest.
Aavern must have already returned home. Maybe I would be able to enjoy a few roots and herbs with him before going to sleep.
A sudden flash of movement drew my attention as I looped around to face Ysk Mountain, the peak so high that it pierced the clouds and kept going higher, a lone mountain that stood tall near the forest where we lived. I let the loop carry me back around and looked hard at the shoreline near Ysk Mountain. I had seen something move there.
I almost fumbled midair and fell straight down when I saw it.
Swaths of enormous waves, not as tall as a mountain, but twice as tall as a tree, and as numerous as the plants in the forest, were crashing into the mountain range far across the plains.
The Raik Mountains, the barrier that stopped any creatures from venturing further than the Krie River.
A string of mountains that split the massive island of Falnear in half.
And yet here it was, an army of massive waves just like in the rumors Aavern told me about, marching against the mountains, threatening to bring them down.
The pure power in the waves that I saw made me stop flying for just a moment.
I quickly caught myself before I could plummet far, but the sight was seared into my mind.
I descended quickly in a fright, the awe and peace I felt from the cloud touch mixed with the dread I felt when I saw the massive waves. Now I really didn't want to go on an adventure. If things like that could happen at any moment, what's to stop an adventurer from dying for no reason other than nature deciding it?
I reached the forest floor as the light from the sun faded, and slowly made my way home, hoping that tomorrow would be a much more normal day than today. I slowly stumbled my way through the dark forest, keeping my mind clear of thoughts, aiming only to eat a few herbs with Aavern and then go to sleep.
Tomorrow would be a normal day. Everything was going to be fine.
I was hungry, so I ate a berry off of a tall, straight-stemmed, dark plant. I let it roll around in my mouth for a bit. It wasn't berry season, so it was strange that there was a berry today. I hadn't seen that kind of plant before, either. I thought for a bit, but decided it probably didn't matter and ate the berry. It was surprisingly sweet and melted in the mouth. I smiled slightly and continued walking.
When I reached the bush, deep darkness had fallen, and the light from the night star didn't penetrate the forest canopy. I saw Aavern curled up, sleeping, next to me. I curled up next to him, feeling full from the berry I ate, and went to sleep.
I'll wake up tomorrow and all of this will be behind me. There's no need to worry, I thought to myself as I gradually fell asleep.
I awoke in the middle of the night with a strange feeling. I got up and promptly fell down again. My head was swimming. The blackness of the night shifted and warped into a nauseating, sickly green color, making an eerie grinding noise that dimmed and became louder erratically. I could see through a very blurred view of the world. In my mind's eye, I staggered out. It was dreamlike. I slowly made my way over to the strange, tall plant with the sweet berry. Even through the green I could see that the plant was pitch black, shimmering slightly with purple and silver, reflecting in the moonlight, smoke gently coming off of it. The sounds of the forest - calls of small winged lizards, creaks of branches, and the whistle of wind through the blue-green leaves - blended together and distorted into a perpetual screech that numbed my senses. The figure in my mind could take no more of it, swayed slightly, and collapsed.
-
I was wandering through a ghostly, white forest. Everything seemed to leave behind fading images in my vision as I moved. Shadows of trees rose up and became more trees, layering behind and inside of the forest until I could barely tell which ones were real and which ones were an illusion. Bushes reached upwards and trees stooped down to meet me, turning and bending at unnatural angles, creaking and groaning as they closed the path behind me. I turned away from the hallucinating, wispy forest to a flash I saw out of the corner of my eye. There was a splash of color, glowing brightly. It was a bright red dot on the horizon. I suddenly accelerated, floating towards it, passing through any object that stood in my way as if it was not there. I sped out of the forest, across the plains, over the impenetrable Raik Mountains standing guard and preventing creatures from flying over it by an endless air current. With no control, I sped on, past the Raik Mountains and into a vast desert stretching so far that by the time I slowed down, I could not tell where I came from. Endless flattened sand dunes glowed in the pitch black sky, in a land nobody has seen before.
I saw the red point of light floating in the middle, just over the desert. There was no heat. The air was cold and still, the sand did not shift. Suddenly, the white wasteland turned black, the white outlines of everything showing in stark contrast. A cloud of smoke appeared on the horizon, darker than the pitch black around me, seeming to take the shape of a tall creature. It drew closer to the fading light of the orb. Two sharp eyes flashing malice beyond anything I had ever seen flashed out from the shape. The shadow reached towards the orb, engulfing it and scattering the red rays until nothing was left. The eyes then turned to me. I scrambled backwards and smashed violently into the side of the bush where I lived, snapping away with a painful headache. It was a dream. I sat up groggily and looked around. It was early morning. Aavern was gone, probably on council business. I was alone. I poked my head carefully outside. The forest looked relatively normal.
I got up and dashed out of the bush, not bothering to fly. Out of breath, I reached the tall plant. It was pitch black, steaming slightly in the morning air. I cleared the brush around it and kept staring at it. Purple veins ran up the stem, pulsing and giving off a soft, sickly glow. My pulse suddenly quickened. My fine-tuned senses realized I was not alone. I froze. There was a rustle in the bush behind me. I snapped around and watched a black draconic head appear. I started backing away and was about to run when a clear voice spoke up.
"So you ate the berry as well?"
I stopped halfway into the bush I was trying to escape into and looked at the thing that slithered out of the bush. It was a wyvern, a mythical winged dragon-like snake. Legendary fighters who had left the island with the last of the wizards. Did they return? Were the wizards back? I blinked, wondering if I was still hallucinating.
"Are… they back?" I asked hopefully.
"No, they're not," she sighed.
"Then-"
"I didn't leave with them."
"Oh."
"It's been over a thousand years. I would've expected them to come back by now."
"A thou-" I blinked. A thousand years. How long could wyverns even live?
"Unless they're all dead…" Her voice trailed off.
"Oooookay, cool! What's your name?" I said cheerfully after an awkward silence.
"I'm Dracoa."
"I'm Cyil." I rolled over playfully. "What were you saying about the berry?"
"The one that grew on that plant last night, it was suspiciously sweet and-"
"-and gave you a dream about a ghostly forest and a red orb of light in the desert which was engulfed by a scary dark shadow," I said, rolling back over, "I had that dream."
"No, it was on a high ledge on a mountain peak. And the orb was white, not red."
"Huh?"
A long, drawn-out sound resembling an amplified squawk rang through the forest for several seconds.
"Oh hey! There's gonna be a meeting," I said, looking towards Ysk Mountain. Meetings normally meant that something important was going to happen, so I was excited.
"It's been so long since one happened," Dracoa said.
Excitement was coursing through me. It was all I could do to maintain my regular composure and follow Dracoa as she started flying towards the mountain, breaking through the treetops and accelerating to a speed that was faster than even the fastest dragon.
"Wait up!" I called breathlessly, "You're too fast!"
Dracoa stopped briefly and gave me a glare out of the corner of her eye.
"Stop following me."
"But we're friends now, right?"
Dracoa grimaced. "No. What makes you think that?"
I caught up and tilted my head slightly. "What makes you think we aren't?"
"I barely know you."
"Lets chat then."
"You sound annoying."
"This is just how I am."
"I don't even want to be friends with you."
"I do, though."
Dracoa gave me a hostile glare and flew off again, this time at a slightly slower pace that I could barely follow at maximum speed.
We flew over the forest that was Qade Valley and descended to fly over a short part of the plains, like a finger that jutted awkwardly into the mountains, leading past a number of large boulders at the foot of Ysk Mountain. The mountain was the tallest on the island, so it took nearly half a day to climb it. Talking was scarce, but there was a lot of company. Streams of creatures were climbing alongside us. Many of them looked suspiciously at Dracoa.
"Do you know what the meeting is about?" I asked, about three-quarters of the way from the top.
"Me, probably," Dracoa said.
"Why?"
"I made the mistake of flying down from the mountain peak and a bunch of creatures at the base saw me."
"I saw you too!"
Dracoa ignored my comment. "It's the only reason I'm going to the meeting with you instead of watching from the roof."
"You were watching from the roof?" I asked.
"Yes."
"How come we didn't see you?"
"Nobody bothers looking up these days," a turquoise dragon suddenly said from next to us. "By the way, this mountain is massive!"
"Of course it is, it's a mountain," Dracoa grumbled.
"Who are you?" I asked.
The dragon tripped over a rock almost immediately and we had to stop and wait for her to get back on her feet to hear her response.
"My name's Qassot," she said.
I gave her a good look-over. Unlike most dragons living in Qade Valley, who had green and brown scales matching the forest, her light blue-green scales matched the color of the sea in the shallows a little ways off the beach.
"You don't look like you're from around here," I commented. "Nice to meet you! I'm Cyil and that's Dracoa."
"Nice to meet you too."
I chanced a look behind us. It was an amazing view. There was the Raik Mountain range, which split the island into civilized peace to the north and chaotic forces of nature to the south. At the base was a tall, thick forest, with the massive, shimmering Krie River winding through like an oversized snake. Bordering it was a massive stretch of plains. At least it wasn't infinite. I looked down at the rolling hills at the edge of our forest.
"Dracoa?"
"Yes?"
"What's that?"
Dracoa turned and did a double-take. Winding over the plains towards the forest at the foot of the mountain was a blindingly fast black streak. Visible even from where we were. It was made up of numerous small shapes. Below us were a few straggling creatures.
"That's danger," Qassot said.
"I know, right?" I commented.
"GET UP HERE!" Dracoa screeched down, before flying up the mountain at an incredibly fast pace.
The creatures below seemed to drag themselves up several paces before they paused, looking confused. They glanced behind them and started running up the mountain in a panic. The streak had reached the forest. I jumped and started flying with Qassot in tow behind us. Dracoa's speed already brought her to the entrance to the cave. Shouts of alarm were coming from within. We climbed up the last bit and a few dozen creatures strained to close the massive stone door behind us. It was rarely used, due to its weight, but it turned the cave into an impenetrable fortress. It slammed into place, plunging the cave into a deep darkness, broken by a small number of glowing white rocks exposed in the stone walls. There was a lengthy silence. A distant explosion. Something smashed into the door. The door tipped inwards slightly, but righted itself.
The meeting cave was a massive cave, so large that you could fly and take half a minute to reach the top, so wide that you needed two minutes to walk across at your fastest. The stage was on the far wall, with a table with five chairs in which the council was seated. The announcer held a podium at the front. This year's announcer was a dragon. The creatures were frantically moving about the cavern, getting away from the door, chattering and yelling indistinguishably, noise rising to a deafening roar.
"Settle down. SETTLE DOWN! We're safe here," the announcer shouted.