The Unknown Realm #4 (Waverly Stump and The 7 Realms)

XX

Within the misty folds of endless clouds, the air was chilly and unbearable. Waverly had drawn a part of her cloak over her nose and kept her eyes down for the most part of their journey. Judson held onto her from behind and had his wings around them both like a protective layer. This helped prevent either one of them from catching a serious cold but the sitting position quickly became uncomfortable. There was no place to land because a bed of infinite water was all that spread out below them. In addition, Chestnut could not grow bigger whilst midair to accommodate the two of them properly. Waverly liked it better when she was small enough to lie freely on his back and sink into his fur.

Chestnut flew for hours and hours.

When she began to ache from sitting still for too long, Waverly regretted her decision of crossing the ocean but kept quiet over it. Morning came soon and she could only tell from how bright the day had become. Judson's gaze kept rotating skyward and lower. He seemed uncomfortable too but also kept quiet about it. It stopped snowing for a short while at daybreak but after a while, the atmosphere became dominated by snowdrops again.

"How much farther do you think we have to go, Jud?" Waverly asked, leaning forward very slightly to catch a falling snowflake on her finger tip.

"A really long way, I presume. It is very uncomfortable having to sit so still for this long." Judson replied. His voice came out muffled because his nose was half buried in her shoulder.

She secretly appreciated the warmth that came from his breath. "I know, but we must try to be patient. Whenever land comes to sight, Chestnut will and allow us rest a while."

"I do hope we come up to land soon." He whined.

Waverly chuckled softly as she had never heard him do such before. His arms had been locked around her stomach the entire flight and she sometimes leaned back to rest her head against his shoulder. The clouds whipped by on either sides of them but the sun did not rise. Waverly was thankful that her wolf could decipher his path clearly despite the thickened cloudage. She dug her hands into his fur and felt his skin underneath, attempting to communicate with him again.

Concentrating hard, she tried to drown out the sound of the whistling wind and the feeling of the piercing cold. When all was finally calm and peaceful, a voice spoke in her mind.

Zanaan.

Her eyes remained closed but her eyebrows lifted in surprise. She had not expected Chestnut's voice to sound as eerie and scratchy as it did. Nonetheless, she listened.

Bravery is indeed your forte.

Waverly wanted to speak a reply but felt a strong conviction that the voice in her head did not belong to someone familiar. Her eyes flew open and she stole a sideways glance at Judson then frowned when she noticed that he was intently staring forward.

"Do you hear it too?" She asked.

Judson's brow lifted. "Yes. A voice, speaking to me."

Waverly glanced around quickly and back at him. "Whose is it?"

"Mine." A masculine voice replied out of nowhere, startling the pair.

They both turned to look at the intruder. From inside the snowy clouds, the outstretched wings of an unusually large bird first became outlined then slowly and with a powerful swoop, the creature emerged from beside them.

Waverly gave a loud shriek and Judson yelped. Chestnut howled and moved farther away from the creature but the bird made no attempts to draw nearer. It simply tailed them.

"What is it?" Waverly requested. The bird was hideous and looked just like an eagle but it was twice the size of the largest eagle she saw in her old study books.