Elemental Heir | ✔️

Chapter 20

Flying was like dreaming. Like I'd left the real world and all of its realities on the other side of some distant consciousness that I couldn't quite remember. And much like a dream, some part of me knew that what I was experiencing couldn't possibly be real, but I clung to it with childlike glee. The absence of worry, stress and thought was pure bliss.

I could fly forever, never wake up, and be glad of it.
At least, that's how it felt at first...

Dristan had ascended higher than I expected , gliding us elegantly through the clear, blue sky just above the white, puffy tufts of the clouds, hiding us from any eyes that may be watching from the earth far below.

The first twelve hours of flight had been easy. But as we were now approaching twenty four hours of being in the air, aside from brief trips to the ground for bathroom breaks, I wasn't sure how much longer I could last before I passed out. The thought terrified me. If I fell asleep, lost my grip, I could slip off of the dragon and plummet through the empty sky toward certain death.

Everytime I felt myself begin to drift off, I would smack myself in the face. I'd done it lightly at first, but now I was full on slapping myself silly. It worked, for awhile. I found myself beginning to hallucinate, seeing shapes and objects in the sky that weren't really there. I began to hear voices that I knew did not exist all the way up here. I'd even heard my mother singing to me, like she used to... Until she started crying, instead.

My beautiful dream was beginning to turn into a nightmare. I felt that I might go mad, in the silence of the sky. After so many hours, the whistling wind in my ears eventually grew undetectable, like I'd grown so used to it that it had stopped existing altogether. The silence, along with the absence of company, was starting to drive me mad.

Of course, I wasn't truly alone... But petrified wolves and mute dragons were not much in the way of conversation. It almost made me feel even more lonely.

I'd pulled out my compass and realized that we'd been flying directly West the entire flight. The only thing I knew of that resided in the western area of the land was wilderness, mountains, and dangerous volcanos. No wonder no one had ever stumbled upon the Aviary.

Twilight was nearing, the once blue sky now turning into soft swirls of pink and orange, and I wished I could ask Dristan how much further we had to travel. If it was much longer, we would have to stop so I could sleep. And eat.

And just as I was about to shout for the Dragon to descend for a much needed break, he lowered of his own accord. We drifted down through the cold, misty clouds, and it caused my skin to dampen. It was a strange sensation. I could not see anything but white mist for what felt like ages. And when Dristan finally broke through the cumulonimbus formations, when I finally laid my eyes on the land below, I gasped in astonishment.

Surrounded by smaller mountains and a seemingly never ending expanse of forest, sat the most gargantuan volcano I'd ever seen. The peak ascended into the clouds from which we'd come, making it impossible to decipher just how tall it actually was. The black, cavernous, ancient volcano seemed to ebb and pulse with power, even at a distance.

I listened to the hammering of my heart as we drew closer, my breath coming in small gasps and my skin prickling with goosebumps at the unbelievable sight. It seemed to call to me. It was an ancient, all mighty structure, which in its very essence, screamed magic. It was like the mammoth, hollowed out mountain was reaching for me with invisible arms, urging me to come closer, to merge with it and learn of all of it's magnificent secrets. I felt as if my very soul recognized it.

Beneath me, Dristan let out a sudden, piercing cry and I jumped as it sliced through the memorizing silence. It snapped me out of whatever trance I'd been in. And my eyes widened as several, distant, similar shrieks echoed toward us, as if in answer.