ATLANTION - LAYLA BOOK1

Part 39 Layla

Most of the way, Layla didn't remember. When she woke up, she was flying. Her stomach rumbled, and a muscle was twitching on her left side. Her eyes were heavy, the torrents of chilly air frosted her skin. A blurry image of yellows and orange filled her vision. Slowly, details came into focus and a scream stuck in her throat. Her fingers automatically dug deeper and clenched in a death grip. An echoing roar brought her to attention. She was gripping the skin of a dragon.

"A dragon! I am touching a myth," Layla exclaimed, her voice filled with wonder.

The thought jumped and spun inside her brain, making her feel giddy. They were flying above a river of lava, the stomach juice sloshed up, burning her throat when the dragon dove lower with the currents of air and her belly pressed against the saddle. Her head dangled above a pair of boots.

She giggled. Was this hysteria? Or pure joy? This was not the dragon from the Arena; that one was metallic with thundering electricity binding its carcass. This one was flesh and blood, black with enormous wings and intricate glowing runes painted on him; her sanity might have drained at the second attempt of brainwashing. There is a limit to what a human can endure. Speaking of more important matters. What dragon was she on whose boots were dangling under her nose? Or was her nose dangling above the shoes? Where are they going?

The first minutes you gaze into a deep raven you the scenery terrifies you, but you get used to it after a while.

When Layla thought she was already used to the mind-blowing speed and height, she concluded that she needed to learn more about the shiny boots' owner and her potential fate. "Would I be the lunch, the trophy, or the housemaid? It's better to clean the dust than be the dust," she thought to herself.

After the first attempt to turn around, an iron-black-gloved hand twisted her back and stopped there. "Ow!" Layla exclaimed in pain. The word backbreaking was just the right thing to describe it. Minutes passed, and the throbbing in her bones was unbearable; Layla tried again to turn; this time, the hand grabbed her by the middle so hard that all air swooshed out her nose and mouth. The dragon fell as a comment toward the land. Terrible fear clawed at her chest and gripped her lungs, trapping her breath. She was not sure if she screamed or just gasped, her ears muffled, the skin and flesh on her face blasted by powerful currents of air.

"Stay put," commanded a harsh baritone voice.

A constellation of fire islands floated around them; immense cascades poured down from a central island, forming an ocean of fiery golden clouds and fog. Everything was so mystical and beautiful.

Grand temples and notable buildings floated around them or under them. Colossal statues of warriors and legendary creatures, she had never seen or heard before, guarded the edges of the settlements. Some islands were full of life, and lights flickered on them; others were deserted or covered by unusual forests and foliage. Closer they came to the central island, thicker became the fog and clouds around them until she couldn't even see the dragon paws under her nose or barely the nose itself.

The dragon fell towards the land, and Layla felt her heart pounding in her chest as she gripped onto the dragon's skin with all her might. She couldn't see anything through the thick fog and clouds around them, but she could feel the dragon's movements beneath her. Finally, they landed on a black paved path, flanked by monumental statues of frozen giants.

Layla was deposited on her feet, and she saw that there was no saddle on the dragon at all. She couldn't believe that this man, the Dark Duke from the Arena, was so reckless. But as he patted the dragon with love and gave him something from his leather pouch, Layla realized that there was a bond between the man and the dragon that she couldn't fully comprehend.

The Duke's yellow eyes watched her with interest, and Layla felt a strange sense of vulnerability as she stood before him. He was different from the man she had seen in the Arena, somehow taller and nobler near his dragon.

As they walked along the path towards the castle, Layla couldn't help but marvel at the magnificent structure that loomed before them. Why am I here ?

It was immense, with towering dragons that spit fire, water, or lava. But what really took her breath away was the movement between the inky shadows, the veritable dragons that lurked between stone ones. She felt like she was walking through a fantasy world that she had only ever imagined in her wildest dreams.

"We do not need millennia to gaze at it from outside, when you will have all the time to watch it from inside," the Duke barked, and Layla realized that she had been lost in her thoughts. She followed him, her mind racing with questions about what awaited her inside the castle walls.