Perilous Arc |AU|

Jupiter [Chap. 15]

I soaked up the experience for a precious handful of seconds. It was slightly difficult to breath up here, but the moment was quite literally breathtaking. Before long though, the cogs in my brain were turning.

'If I pissed this thing off like I imagine, why would it bring me up here?' I thought suspiciously, eyeing the Wyvern beneath my feet cautiously. 'It can't have been easy. The tops of storm clouds are-'

I flinched, paling at the train of thought.

"Tens of thousands of feet!" I cursed before turning and bolting along the beast. I ran to the sturdiest spine I could see and ripped my belts off as fast as possible. I paid no attention to them tearing through various belt loops as I did it.

'Gotta hurry!' The phrase repeated in my mind on loop. I tried my best to prevent my hands from fumbling over themselves as I fashioned the two belts together and wrapped them tightly around the thinner circumference of the bone spire, towards the bottom. A massive jolt rocked the creature I was standing on, and I was forced to thud a knee against the flesh to keep from falling. My head snapped around the Wyvern, looking for anything strange. It wasn't hard to spot the difference from before.

The great wings were retracted, now resting against the body.

Panic cut through the chilling bite of the wind. My breath caught in my throat and I focused on my preparations. I grabbed the long tail of leather left over from the tied belts and made a sturdy knot around my arm with sweaty hands. Once done I tugged and yanked at the belts with panicked might, and found there was no give. As sweat beaded on my forehead I coiled the leather around my palm, right as the rollercoaster-like feeling got too noticeable to ignore.

I looked forward just in time to see the bone skull of the Wyvern dip down gracefully, and the rest of the body followed the trajectory. Wind blasted against me as we gently dipped down into the inky clouds. The sound of flapping tore my eyes away from the head of the Grimm, and I could feel my blood drop. I could make it out just barely through the dark cover in the sky, the wings were fully extended.

They flapped once, and I lost my footing.

"YOU STUPID DRAGON!" My screams were full of expletives and nearly incoherent. "SLOW DOWN!"

We burst through the bottom of the black cover of clouds, and I was blown around by the speed. My feet were flying completely free behind me as the Wyvern divebombed, the leather belts and bone spine the only thing keeping me from being carried away. I was whipped back by the strap tied to my arm and left trailing in-line with the very tip of the spine I was tied to. Weightlessness grabbed at me, and the sharp point of the bone tapping against my pauldron did me no favors. The difference in light from above to below was never more apparent than now, with my eyes struggling to adjust to the sights. The landscape grew closer with every passing second, and the buildings of Vale seemed to grow up off the ground. My teeth were grit tight, with only one hand keeping me from flying away and the other keeping Crocea Mors safe.

I watched Vale become more detailed by the second with the wind keeping my eyes forced open. I was able to make out street blocks, then individual buildings, then sidewalks, then vehicles. My heart was pounding in my chest so hard I was worried it would spill out of my mouth. The rush of adrenaline was absolutely unreal.

Suddenly, everything hit a full stop.

Blindingly bright aura flared as the razor-sharp tip of the bone spire sliced upwards along my shoulder, tearing my pauldron away from me. My body impacted the rough flesh of the Grimm with all the force of a truck, and I felt every bit of it in spite of my aura flaring to take the punishment. I groaned loudly and scrambled to my feet, only for a shuddering wail of pain to nearly knock me back down from the vibrations alone. I glanced around to see the cause of the sudden stop and found it easily. The Wyvern had extended its wings out to catch the fall all at once, but it seemed to have consequences.