Time seemed to stop as Lilo's heart dropped into the pit of his stomach from his lurching fall.
The air around him screamed as his limbs caught the empty sky rushing past him.
He could sense the Griffen continue to fade away, with no sign of Burberry noticing his fall; or perhaps he had no intention of coming to his useless herder's rescue.
Regardless, Lilo was helpless and fear seized his heart as he knew a near death experience of traumic pain would soon follow if he were to meet the ground.
He could spot the blur of pink that bubbles was in the sky. She was swiftly slaughtering the hovering gluttons as she gracefully glided in her suit; completely unaware of his fall.
There was no point in screaming. The chaos of the raging battle was too immense to overcome with his small childish voice.
Tears brimmed his eyes, a mix of the fear of what's to come as well as the burn from the wind cutting into his face.
'Well damn. Got any helpful advice kiddo?'
Soda's voice remained silent in Lilo's soul, as if holding breath in anticipation of the utterly helpless situation.
Lilo closed his eyes. Accepting his fate as the ground rushed towards him.
He awaited the pain. Counting his beating heart to keep his mind on something to distract the impending doom.
But abruptly, the wind stopped batting into his face.
The sensation of falling left his stomach.
There was no sense of a grip though. Or an object touching him to intercept the fall.
Did the Griffen catch him? Did Bubbles? Did he… fall and meet ground?
Lilo had his eyes still shut, not sure what to make of the sudden feeling of not falling.
He didn't feel anything change other than the wind and his balance evening out.
Sounds of war still rung in the air. Squelching blood, screams of warriors, the eerie stillnesses coming from the thudding bodies of gluttons.
Yet for Lilo… his body seemed to be held hovering in the air as if frozen.
It was strange though… Nothing held him or seated him.
He slowly took a peak of his surroundings through squinted eyes, fearful of what kind of predicament he was in.
The ground was still about a hundred or so meters below him.
Mage blasts whizzed past his line of vision, causing him to jerk backwards in surprise.
Bubbles was far off deep into the fray of battle, and Burberry was continuing to pilot his Griffen into the offense, seemingly unaware that Lilo was missing.
Lilo looked down at himself. Sure enough there was nothing visible that held him in place, and yet he was there, hovering in space.
That's when he felt it. The ethereal strands all around him, tugging him upwards and holding him there, like a puppet on a string.
'Who the hell is doing this!?'
"I don't think you want to find out." Soda's fearful voice alluded to the colossal dragon before them.
There, the humanoid translucent figure remained aloof, but as Lilo squinted to make out the details… he caught an unruly sight.
On the faceless head attached to the feminine curvy body of the sentient glutton… a crease grew where it's mouth should have been.
A wide smile of jagged yellow teeth spread in eerie glee on the creatures face as its empty eye sockets locked onto Lilo's floating figure.
A deep desire to disappear crept into Lilo's heart.
' Shit shit shit! Why? Why me?! Soda, get me the fuck out of this nightmare!'
No response. But the silence in Lilo's soul spoke to Soda's paralyzing fear.
His vision blurred as he felt a rapid pull towards the figure.
Every fiber in his being told him to escape the grasp of the harrowing humanoid glutton… but he flailed helplessly as he got dragged by the invisible magic strings.
He landed on the gargantuan head of the dragon with a thud and the world spun before his eyes for a moment.
When Lilo regained his posture… he was in the embrace of the sentient glutton.
It had one arm wrapped around Lilo's stomach, and the other was resting on his shoulder as its hand stroked his hair gently.
If Lilo hadn't noticed the eerie translucent skin that glowed a subtle blue in the sunlight, he would have thought he was in his mothers arms.
'Freak!'
As quickly as the thought of the repulsive creature being within his vicinity dawned on him, he tried with his mightiest efforts to break free from its grasp.
But to no avail.
Its grip was iron clad like shackles that held him in its torturous clutches.
"Let. Me. Go!" Lilo's voice meant to come out as a demand but it sounded more like a desperate plea.
"Why? Isn't the view best from here?" The chilling monotone voice of the monster was oddly pleasant to his ear; like a distant dream that was fleeting and yet he couldn't chase away.
"Wha-" a warm and gentle hand clasped over his mouth, muffling his next question.
He was forced to witness the view.
He had already been analyzing the battlefield during the fight but from here it was… oddly serene.
It was no wonder why both the dragon and its master was acting so aloof.
The sky rained blood. The ground stained in its own flood of crimson. But here. Atop the enormously powerful beast. With not a single mage blast meeting its mark.
It was peaceful.
The hand finally loosened and Lilo was let go from the grasp of the feminine glutton.
He stepped back and spun around to face the creature.
It was tall. Much more so than Lilo but not much in this world had to compete for that discription.
The curves of its bare translucent glowing skin was just as tantilizing as the night spent at the fallen spire.
At the time, the forbidden temple was where Lilo gave up his will to Soda, allowing him to guide him out of that hell hole.
Currently, Soda was at a loss for words and so was Lilo.
The crease on its faceless head moved to speak, revealing the rows of uncanny jagged yellow teeth.
"You called me…a freak?" The humanoid put a finger to their chin, as if lost in thought.
"Wh-what?" Lilo was flabbergasted at the statement.
The head of the figure twisted and turned in unatural ways, it's skin, bone and shape reconstructing itself into a compelely different figure.
The glutton now had a full head of long pink hair, a pair of large black eyes, and her teeth was pearly white as she offered a flirtatious smile.
"Is this more to your liking?" Its voice matched Bubbles to an uncanny perfection. An exact replica of her face worn on its head.