Sharrag landed on the top of a mountain, taking deep breaths, trying to gather as much oxygen as he could in a single gasp. The one thing about flying so high is exhaustion sets in much quicker. His wings drooped wearily by his side; his right wing feeling a lot more exhausted then his left.
‘I’ll rest for a while,’ he thought to himself, looking into the distance.
The mountains were still rolling on into the distance. Their peeks poking through the clouds like spikes on a mace. He hadn’t seen another living things during the time he had been flying, except for the occasional insect that had the power to survive these conditions. Sharrag himself was feeling very lightheaded.
The one good thing about flying this high was he was making much better progress then if he was flying through the valleys. If he was down there he would have to continue zigzagging through the mountains and he would risk being seen. He wanted to avoid that if he could.
After an hours rest he took off again, flying over the clouds. The wind was calm up here, which surprised him. There wasn’t any rain either. The clouds below him occasionally flashed with lighting and he could here the rain down below but it never reached up that high. The sun was constantly in view, yet there wasn’t any heat radiating from it. It was like the sun had just been put there for light and nothing else.
The last surprising thing about flying this high was the land below seemed to curve, like it was round. Sharrag snorted at the thought, yet the evidence was right in front of him.
In the distance there seemed to be a break in the clouds where the mountains stopped and the clouds seemed to slope downwards. Sharrag changed his direction and headed towards it. As he got closer he noticed a mountain that was taller then the rest, and instead of a pointed top it had a creator like top instead. Sharrag’s first thought was a volcano.
As he got closer though he began to think of it as not. There was no heat radiating from the top at all. He angled his flight so he flew over the mountain, and he looked down, and stopped in surprise. In the huge creator of the mountain was a huge city. He could just see the two-legs down below, so he doubted that they could see him. He guessed it was a dwarven city because of the amount of buildings made from marble and white stone.
He could also see a lot of ruin in the city and a massive pile of dead bodies that were being burnt. There had probably been a battle recently. The Urgralgra was Sharrag’s first thought, and it appeared he was right. The smell of burnt bodies that reached him was identical to the charred two-legs he had eaten while trapped in the cave.
He studied the city for a while before starting on his journey again. His wings were getting tired after all. As the mountains fell away Sharrag debated whether or not to land. He doubted if anyone was around. There was a gap in the clouds and when he looked down all he saw was sand, hot yellow sand. In fact, the heat of the sun seemed to be returning as well.
He pulled himself in for a short dive as he pieced through the clouds for the first time in two days. The first thing he noticed was the wind. It was a lot stronger then it was in the mountains and he struggled to keep aloft as he got used to the new sensations.
The second thing he noticed was the heat. The ground radiated it like it had been set on unseen fire. There was heat in the wind as well, and the sun gave a good lot of it. To Sharrag it felt wonderful after flying in the cold confines that were above the clouds.
He landed on the ground and closed his wings before giving a huge yawn. The heat was making him feel relaxed. Shaking his head he decided to walk for a while to give his wings some rest. He could always catch up with the dragon and rider when he reached the elven forest.
‘The ground here is so flat,’ he thought to himself as he continued to walk, ‘I never new that places could be as flat as this.’
There wasn’t a mountain in sight, besides the Beor Mountains behind him. On the far end of his vision he could see as green line. He assumed that it was the forest of Du Weldenvarden, and guessed that, had he been flying, he would get there by sun down. However he decided to walk, not being in to much of a hurry. His wings were exhausted as well. Now that he had landed it became all the more obvious.
As the green dragon continued to walk he felt a pang of loneliness hit his heart. Out here in this land-so-flat there wasn’t anyone. It seemed like he was the only living thing in existence. He didn’t know how wild dragons lived by themselves. It was greater to live in a pack where they could work together.
He walked for over an hour, feeling himself getting bored, and hungry. He had eaten on the first day but since then he had had nothing. He shrugged it off, back at his pack he went for as much as a week without food. He would hunt again when he reached the Du Weldenvarden forest. He was sure there was plenty of food to go around, and that the Shrrg there would be friendly.
The sun began to dip below the horizon long after Sharrag expected it to, lighting up the desert in an assortment of different colour. The green dragon was amazed. He had never seen the great glowing orb do this before. Usually it just disappeared over the mountains. Maybe the sun liked to light up the flatlands for longer, Sharrag didn’t know, but it was amazing.
The moon rose in place of the sun leaving the desert in darkness. Freezing temperatures soon followed, leaving the dragon surprised. This desert was the strangest place he had ever been. Extremely hot during the day and extremely cold during the night.
‘No wonder nothing grows,’ he thought.
The dragon sighed and decided to sleep for the night. He burnt the ground with his fire to heat it up somewhat and give him warmth while he slept. He curled around on his temporary nest and feel to sleep.
He woke up earlier then he usually did. The sun was beating down on his scales and the desert floor around him was beginning to heat up. The dragon groaned and opened one bleary eye, deciding he didn’t like the desert. He went to sleep later then usual and woke up earlier. Only eight hours sleep he was guessing.
With a groan the dragon hauled himself to his feet, stretched and yawned. He stretched his wings as well, groaning as he stretched the saw muscles in both. He had never flown so long so high before and now his wings were paying the price.
With a sigh Sharrag took another couple of beets of his wings and lifted himself into the air. He knew that they would be fine once they got warmed up. Once he got used to the continues wind he started to fly forwards towards the green line in the distance.
He got higher into the air where the updrafts and downdrafts travelled and used them to speed his progress towards the forest. As he got closer he noticed the wind cooling down and the sun make less of an impact. It was strange how the sun reacted to different environments. It was as if it favoured certain ones and didn’t like others.
Even though the ground was flat, these trees were a lot bigger then the ones in the Beor Mountains. Sharrag frowned and flew down to them, scraping his tail along the top. They grew bigger the further he went in as well. It was strange.
He flew for a little while over the forest, before his wings suddenly stopped working. The dragon roared in surprise and tried to flap them, but they seemed to have seized up. With a growl he plummeted through the trees and crashed into the ground, groaning with annoyance.
He stumbled to his feet and shook himself. He hurriedly checked his wings for any breaks and gave a sigh of relief when there weren’t. The only wounds he got from the crash were a few scratches and a sprained ankle on his right front foot. He shook it out with a groan and stretched it.
With a frown he looked into the air. What had caused his wings to seize up like that? He flapped his wings, just to make sure that they were functioning normally. They were. Sharrag sat there in confusion for a little longer, before deciding that it may have been a spell caster. With a growl he began to make his way further into the forest and away from the point of the crash. He wanted to get as far away from that point as possible.
The tree were further apart then they were in the Beor Mountains, so Sharrag made good time by running through them. He knew how to run through dense jungle without getting his wings court or tripping over a large, upturned log.
The sound of water drew his attention and he smiled. It had been a few days since he last had anything to drink. He picked his way through the bush and to the river. It was flowing rather well and the water was clearer then anything he had seen in the Beor Mountains. He took a long draught of the water, groaning in satisfaction as the water went down his throat. It tasted amazing.
After he had taken a long drink he lay down on the riverbed to doze. The forest was a lot better then the desert, maybe even better then the Beor Mountains. He smiled as he thought back to some of the plump deer he had seen on the way to the river. They looked like they hadn’t been hunted in a while either. Easy prey was the best prey.
The dragon was suddenly broken out of his fantasies by a loud laugh coming from up river. Sharrag shot up from where he was laying and practically dived into the bush. He put himself in a well-camouflaged area, and took the roll of a plant or bush.
A few minutes later a strange wooden structure came into view. It was floating down the river at a relatively slow speed, with strange looking two-legs over it. They looked almost like humans, except their ears were pointed, like a Shrrg’s, and they looked more beautiful. That was the only way Sharrag could explain them.
There was also a dwarf on the raft, though what it was doing so far away from the Beor Mountains Sharrag wasn’t sure. The elves voices calmed Sharrag in a strange way, for they were speaking in a language he hadn’t heard before, but it ran with magic. One of the elves laughed and looked up into the sky. A shadow passed over them.
Sharrag looked up to the shadow and froze. There she was, the blue dragon he had been looking for. Saphira. She glided beautifully through the air, like it didn’t bother her at all. Her form shone in the sun, reflecting blue light over the water.
Sharrag continued to stare as the craft and the dragon disappeared around the bend. He shook his head and let out a sigh. Why hadn’t he shown himself? The whole point of this journey was to meet with her. Yet he still sat there, wondering what just happened. After an hour he shook himself and set out on foot again, too nervous to get into the air.
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Hey guys, new Chapter. I hope you enjoyed, vote and comment if you did. The next chapter will be out soon, See Ya!
Pennator^^