Dragon's Wings

Chapter 13

Occasionally, we saw what Shui called 'tagging'; usually a single word left by someone to remind the world that they had been there. "Illegal," Shui had explained, "but it gets around anyway."

Rashmi laughed, shaking her head. "Of course it does." Because beings were like that. They liked to do things to prove themselves, to prove that they had been there, to remind others that they existed. And the thrill of danger, the burst of adrenaline, that thrill-seeking-

Well. Rashmi remembered multiple different adventures that had been due to thrill-seeking. Her favourite had been racing Jyoti in the middle of the night with a bunch of other young preteens. It had been nerve-wracking and absolutely glorious, heart-pounding and teeth chattering, but it had been so much fun.

Other than tags, there were a few phrases littered around. Things like 'Are you happy?' and 'Find the hidden places'. And Shui's favourite, which they had quickly pointed out to Rashmi who loved it as well, 'We are all magic'.

They cut through a small alley, lit only with the scattering of light that dropped down between the two buildings. It was a skinny thing, clearly not made for much thoroughfare. What caught Shui's attention, though, was the white graffiti, harsh against the dark brickwork: 'Fuck the Magic Allies academies'. And, well, Shui could certainly get behind such sentiments based on how the academies seemed to care only for those with innate magic, but there was so much the academies can and do offer. There's no point criticising something for one downside.

You can't ignore all the positives just to focus on the negatives. Shui knew better than that anyway.

They didn't point it out to Rashmi. There was no point, after all. They both knew how it was. Shui had mentioned it at length before, and Rashmi knew people who weren't able to get into the academies—she was, in the end, from a desert tribe that didn't rely on money to make a living.

Scurrying out of the alley, they entered another main street. This one was slightly smaller than the other, less wide and with only beings walking down it; no wagons or horses. Regardless, there were smooth, flat areas of pavement that took up almost half the street. As they got closer, Rashmi spotted that there was a drawing of some sort. Possibly a chalk one; she wasn't sure.

They paused a few steps away, gazing down at the drawing. "It looks real!" Shui tapped the drawing with their foot as if double-checking that it was, indeed, a drawing.

Rashmi met Shui's gaze and grinned, leaping onto a drawn chunk of rock. She balanced on one foot and glanced up at Shui. "Does it look realistic?"

Shui nodded. From where they stood, it did look like Rashmi was about to be swallowed by a shark launching itself out of the ocean. A flash of light in their peripheral caught their attention. They twisted, turning their attention away from Rashmi, who moved to look at what they were seeing.

Relatively nearby, a figure in a dress was playing a string instrument—a violin, Rashmi guessed. But he wasn't just playing it. With every note, light glimmered, surrounding the man. He had clearly only recently set up and started playing; neither Rashmi nor Shui had heard the music earlier. They had both heard music before obviously, but they had never seen it linked so intrinsically with magic.

They drew closer, forming part of the crowd. The man played on, notes soaring and magic moved with it. As the music crescendoed, the light gathered into a white patch of glowing light and then, at the end of a long-drawn-out note, it broke, fracturing into a myriad of pieces. Each bit of light dropped to the ground, disappearing as the music grew softer. However, with every sway of the violinist's body, illusionary green grass started to grow higher and higher, until it was almost ten centimetres tall. It shifted under the influence of some invisible breeze and the music's tempo quickened. In that exact moment, a pegasus appeared leaping into the air with its feathered wings extended seconds before it rammed into the crowd. The illusion circled above their heads before diving down toward the violinist and disappeared as if it had been adsorbed by the violinist.