In Search of You

Chapter 8

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Co-authored by @StrangeGrounds

CHAPTER 8

Astrid squinted towards the east as she scanned the horizon. Everything was painted with the orange glow of the setting sun on the opposite side, giving the plain a subdued but beautiful appearance. It seemed almost peaceful to her now with a slight breeze blowing through her hair, carrying the low buzz of chatter coming from the column of people she was walking with… and Quil walking beside her.

At first, however, she couldn’t find was she was looking for. There was nothing that stood out of the ordinary in the horizon; there was a wide expanse of grass, a smattering of trees here and there, and a plateau even farther off. But then, as if hearing her secretly hope that she didn’t have to ride the native dragons, they suddenly appeared.

They came from the clouds above the plateau, several large, winged figures diving straight down to the ground. A particularly large shadow led the nose dive, while those behind it dove in a helical pattern at breakneck speeds. Even at this distance, the spectacle was breathtaking. Astrid counted about fifty of the danores, and she gasped as the one in the lead got dangerously close to the plateau’s surface. She thought it was going to crash, but at the last second it pulled up and started flying parallel to the ground, the others following suit. The group of danores were now flying towards them. Astrid’s heart began to race.

As the figures drew closer every passing second, the sound of their huge wings drowned the chatter of the tribesfolk. She noticed that everyone had stopped walking, and was now facing east, watching the spectacle with her with wonder and reverence in their eyes. She looked at Quil beside her, standing straight, arms folded, smiling a warm, fond smile for the creatures that were quickly approaching. He noticed her looking at him, and before she could stop herself from staring, he winked at her and nodded to the direction of the danores.

The danores crossed the expanse at an amazing speed. When she turned back to the creatures they were no longer just indistinguishable figures in the distance. She gasped when she saw what was coming towards them. She struggled to take in what she was seeing. The danores at the head of the group was now in full view, and it was all Astrid could see.

Its gargantuan size was large enough to give a 16-wheeler truck a run for its money. Astrid estimated its wingspan to be two football fields wide, blocking the ones behind it from view. It whipped up a storm of dust as it buffeted the ground below it, and the sound its black, leathery wings made was like thunder rolling through the sky. From head to tail, it was completely covered in dark scales that reflected light and glittered, making the creature seem like a piece of the galaxy was ripped out of the heavens and given life.

As if the impossibility of the sheer enormity of the danores was not enough to strike fear into anything that laid eyes upon it, the creature also came with four limbs that bulged with muscles and were tipped with razor sharp claws almost as long as Astrid was tall. It had a head the size of a monster truck, and in its forehead was a horn shaped like the blade of a scimitar. It suddenly let out a roar that rent the air around it and caused tremors on the ground, causing Astrid to cover her ears. When she looked at the creature’s open maw she saw a red tongue that forked at the tip and four rows of teeth, two above and  two below, that looked like it can shred a cow into pieces in one bite. When it finished its earsplitting roar it closed its mouth and Astrid saw its eyes. The large round eyes on its reptilian face shone silver, as if two moons were taken along with swathe of galaxy that the creature was made of. In them Astrid saw wisdom, patience, power, and fury. Astrid felt once again small and insignificant in the presence of such a mighty being, and she struggled to imagine what else in this world could be more dangerous than danores. To her they looked like they belonged at the very top of the food chain, apex predators in every sense of the word.