The Touch of Salvation

43: The Death of a Rider

"Xion has disappeared."

"What?" Goliath and I both say at the same time.

"No one has seen him in weeks and his territory remains in anarchy. His tides have begun entering Houses Libra, Sagittarius, and Scorpius. Kallum has employed his water benders to try to contain them, but," he shakes his head.

A horn blares from the highest tower and Daario looks as though he's been expecting it. It's the call of Riders and I nod at him. His eyes snap to Goliath. "You have to start learning how to ride," he says.

"With what dragon," Lucian remarks, the meaning of Sepehr dauntingly in the air.

"Any of ours. Asha might let him-"

"A shadow rider has never ridden a light dragon before," Lucian replies.

"Well, he is the mate of Adalind and he is a rider and just because it has never happened before, does not mean it cant. He needs to be in the skies; he's too strong not to be." Daario's eyes linger on Lucian before settling on Goliath. He turns around and runs off. Lucian does the same. I know why.

Daario has called the riders. The riders always respond.

I never went where they went because I could be so easily killed. I didn't regenerate after injuries like they could. I was a liability and I only went on missions that required my strengths. Daario was right. Goliath was an excellent warrior but he could never travel to locations as quickly as dragons could. Plus, that would be an unnecessary strain on him. They were traveling two Houses away. Goliath would not only have to transition, but not stop for hours on end.

I can feel the villagers come up the mountain to watch the riders take flight. It was a wonderful sight that they often enjoyed watching.

"What is happening?"

My eyes go to the skies. "The Riders are flying out."

Shooting from behind the palace is the glorious Eiran who is ridden by Lucian. In front of Lucian, with his large black wings spread, is Daario, leading the charge. Beside him, with her wings large and proud, is Lux.

Behind my closest allies, were other Riders. Illaria remains behind Daario on her dragon Edlynne. Beside her is Alejandro on Caelistis. Behind them are more which all neatly arrange themselves in the strategic formation decided by Daario. They fly overhead, blocking out the sun. Cheers erupt from the crowds as they ascend higher and higher.

Eiran blows a firey breath to the skies which dies out and flutters to non-bright embers before hitting the ground.

#

LUX

My breath burns my chest as I struggle to take a breath. Water fills my lungs. Fear consumes me and I can taste the edges of confusion on my tongue. The need to breathe becomes so strong that  I open my mouth and take in air that isn't there. Holding my breath is killing me. Breathing is also killing me.

Water fills my lungs and burns through my chest. I become disoriented as the air in my blood dwindles. Acceptance - I accept that I am drowning and with this acceptance comes a sweet, fatal bliss.

I can feel all these emotions. And yet, none of them are mine. They belong to those under the large waves that now run rampant within House Pisces. They have run into the cities, crashed the trees to the ground, and come up so high that they almost pass the mountainous ranges.

The wind is harsh even up here as we remain high above the tides. None of us can go lower without being taken by the winds and into the water, and even if we could, there were too many drownings to save them all.