Chapter 11: The Horizon
Early Morning - Mid Winter : Year 3 : Home | The Nest
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*CRACK-Crrrumble* Feeling an impact ripple through the ground as the sounds of tumbling stones neared, I bolted to my feet and spun around like my life depended on it—accidentally hurling Ilios into a nearby snowbank.
Though truthfully, he didn't even cross my mind.
Looking into the wall of kicked-up snow, I found Mother's gaze—sharp, feral, and cold—piercing mine, while a shadow beneath her twitched. -What.. is that…-
It was a monster—a colossal, panther-looking creature double.. perhaps triple my size.. hanging limp and bloodied as it twitched to try and draw a breath.
Though, Mother didn't let it. *Crrrrunch*
With the blood-curdling crunch of bone and flesh, the creature fell to the ground in two halves before the veil of snow settled to reveal Mother's crimson-covered maw.
Though it wasn't her appearance that frightened me… Rather, it was the snap of her eyes as Ilios popped his head back out of the snow next to me. *Puff*
"Vasilias…" Her voice carried a chill so heartless it made me flinch. "Do you not remember what I said?"
My flared wings instantly snapped to my side as my tail curled under my paws. I was so tense I couldn't even breathe, let alone speak.
But as Ilios waddled back over to me, and Mother stepped forward with a predatory scan of the forest, I managed. "I-I thought he was cute!" Lowering my gaze, I momentarily found room to breathe. "What harm could this little thing possibly be..?"
Looking down, I found Ilios sat beside my paw, staring up at me with a heart-melting look.
But Mother didn't see what I did. "No frost wolf is going to sit idle when it has a missing cub." Walking up without taking her eyes off the edge of the forest, she scooped Ilios up with some sort of magic before continuing past me. "Its mom is probably twice your size, and would happily give its life to kill you and protect its young."
"B-But—"
"No buts." Continuing toward the edge of the clearing with her head lowered to scan the darkness beneath the canopy, she never showed even a single breath of hesitation or reconsideration.
At that point, I knew it was a hopeless endeavor to ask to keep him, but as she tossed him back in the woods, a feeling from somewhere deep within me welled… A deeply subconscious anxiety.. like something stemming from instinct…
And I spoke without thinking. "Can we at least feed him at the edge of the clearing?"
Though even with that pitiful plea, Mother's stride never stuttered. "No. Why would we do that?"
"W-Well, to make sure he doesn't starve… If his mom doesn't find him, he'll die on his own."
"And you care, why?" Her reprimanding aggression eased with a subtle glint of curiosity.
But… "I'm.. not sure…" It was truthful. No matter how deep I looked into myself, I couldn't find the answer. -I suppose maybe…- "I just don't want him to die if he was actually abandoned… He'd be a cute pet, wouldn't he?"
She instantly flinched as if I said something outrageous. "Pet?"
"A little friend." Looking out into the darkness, I felt like I could still feel that eerily familiar gaze. "Just something to snuggle or play with." It was an excuse to fulfill a desire I didn't entirely understand.
Truthfully, I wasn't actually sure why I cared as much as I did… Mother was right, it was dangerous for him to stay near here.
But… -He can't die…- I was determined, regardless.
"Haah…" Eventually passing a heavy sigh, I thought Mother was giving in, but, "No food. If you throw him any, it'll either make him stick around, or lure in other monsters." She stayed firm.
And I couldn't argue.
But it wasn't a total rejection. "Does that mean if he was abandoned, that I can take care of him?"
She paused before glancing back toward the forest, likely certain he would disappear soon enough. "I'll consider it."
At the front of my mind, I thought the same thing. Without food or reason to stay here, he would wander, and either be reunited with his family, or die.
But somehow, with her words, that unsettling anxiety that twisted my stomach vanished as if with certainty.
It felt almost.. wrong… But my conscience couldn't fight it, and Mother was quick to shift the subject.
"In any case," Turning back to Krystallo and I, she eased. "The mountain should be clear now, so let's use it as an opportunity to give your wings a stretch."
-Huh? Wings? As in fly?- Having never been taught, I was expecting her to just have us hike up there, but…. -Is today finally the day?!- After spreading my wings with a gentle flutter, nervousness and excitement surged.
"It's about time you two properly learn to fly." Looking back at Krystallo, backed all the way against the door of the nest, Mother motioned her out before promptly beginning her lesson.
It was short and sweet. With a quick briefing about posture, how important symmetrical movements were, and why not to ever panic, she bent her knees, spread and raised her wings, and in a single smooth motion, jumped and flapped.
*flap-WOOOOOSH* Bursting into the air, a shockwave akin to a nuclear blast ripped over us before rushing back to fill the vacuum she left.
It was a display of strength and power I had seen many times, but still couldn't wrap my head around…
Looking up, Mother, a behemoth weighing as much as an entire building, was circling over us as elegantly as an eagle.
-How is that even possible…- It made my head spin.
But that day, I would do the same thing.
Watching Krystallo walk out into the patch of exposed grass where Mother had taken off, she did what she could to follow her lead. "Down.. and.. UP!" *flap-WOOSH* Perfect form.
At least until she opened her wings to catch herself.
*w-w-w-w-wobble* "Uwaaaah!" Wobbling as she spread her wings and tried to find her balance, she rocked from side to side for a moment before, as she found herself gliding toward the forest, she turned and flapped again, and again, and again.
She was a quick learner.
And as it turned out, I was similar.
"Hooh…" *flap* Putting as much power as I could into my wings as I leapt into the air, the ground vanished beneath my feet, and the clearing that seemed so huge from the ground, shrank. *WOOOOSH*
Though I had more trouble with actually balancing myself than Krystallo. -W..Woah!-
"Flex your back more, Vasilias!" Mother was quick to call out. "You're too relaxed!"
-H..Huh?- Suddenly tensing so hard my claws clenched, my wings movements stiffened, and the wobble settled…
Enough to let me raise my gaze to the endless, glistening expanse of snowy forest before me.
It was.. stunning… -Woah…- Such a wide expanse of forest that seemed to be trapped between two huge bodies of water to the east and west.
Though, I only had so long to appreciate it then.
"Vasilias!"
Hearing Mother's distant call, I snapped out of my trance to turn and find her close to half a kilometer away, and with a stiff, unnatural movement, banked my body like a plane to turn around.
"Some pesky birds have been wandering around here lately. Don't stray that far from me." She spoke so firmly it felt like the air stiffened in response.
And as if echoing it, so did I. "Y-Yes, Mother."
Eventually catching up to them and receiving instructions to not get too close to her or Krystallo as to 'not disturb other dragons' air columns', we got moving toward the mountain.
From the base of it, it was truly difficult to wrap your head around just how unbelievably gigantic it was, but even some half kilometer off the ground, the peak was well out of sight.
Though, we weren't headed to the top anyway.
Gliding over to what looked like a staircase made for giants, we landed on the bottom of a huge terrace.
From the looks of things, it had indeed been farmed in the past, but not in many years, with unusually dark dirt, and even irrigation channels that appeared to still have water flowing through them. -Woah… Do dragons actually farm?-
The construction reminded me of many Roman sites on Earth, though somehow with far tighter tolerances. -This whole wall,- Spanning some hundred meters, -Looks like it's all made of one stone…- But the closer you looked, the more you could find layers of sediment or veins of ore that ended abruptly.
It was like the pieces had all just been fit back together so perfectly they rebonded on an atomic level.
No seams, and no mortar. -How fascinating…-
Though it wasn't all clean.
Looking down toward the eastern end of the terrace, broken stones, claw marks, and an exposed, cave-like entrance stood. -Is that where Mother caught that panther..?-
Seeing me staring, and wondering, Mom elaborated for me. "That is the entrance to the nest's inner-systems. The lenses that bring in daylight and moonlight, the irrigation systems, and everything that maintains the conditions of our home… Unfortunately, an unwelcome guest had come to call it their home."
-Woah…- She spoke like it was simple stuff, things Krystallo had no care to know about.. but such simple words made my mind spin. -It's so much more advanced than I thought…-
It wasn't all just 'magic', and without that easy excuse of an explanation, my mind spun with every little turn.
But it couldn't last forever.
"So, what do you think, Vasilias?"
Finally turning away from the terrace itself, I raised my head to look over the glistening forest with a sparkle quickly weaving into my eyes as well.
My answer needed no words.
I loved it. Merely looking out over that snowy expanse, my gluttonous curiosity could eat its fill.
Though, I struggle to say it had a limit at all.
"Mother," Even with everything before me, I wanted more, "Can we go up to the peak?"
Her expression visibly hitched with reluctance.. but after matching my gaze and falling victim to my inadvertent puppy eyes, she soon caved. "Haah, alright. But you two must stay extra close to me. No more than a few body lengths, okay?"
I nodded instantly.
But it was a bit harder said than done. With wind speeds compounding and air thinning more with every kilometer, the ascent wasn't as easy as I expected. Krystallo even had to land to be picked up and carried by Mother.
But boy was the effort worth it.
Finally reaching and landing on that artificially flattened peak, my breath simply ceased.
The horizon was so distant it couldn't be put into words.. and thanks to my draconic eyes, it made the sight all-the-more breathtaking.
Beyond the mountain of stone we lived in, an infinite expanse of ocean greeted my eyes.. glistening under the sun as waves larger than Earth's most gargantuan toppled, and echoed thunderous booms over the peak.
Even Krystallo.. a child as ignorant to the world as any other.. was at a loss for words.
Our minds simply couldn't wrap around the scale of it all. -Just.. how far is that horizon…-
It turned out, it wasn't just the animals, fauna, or mountains that were gigantic.
Rather.. it was the world itself…
An expanse of unknown on a scale I couldn't fathom as a human. -I wonder.. whats over that horizon…-
Sat on the top of that towering mountain at the end of that gargantuan, cliff-lined peninsula, my mind simply ran wild.
It simply felt as if I was standing on top of the world, yet instead of seeing everything, it felt like I was seeing nothing… An odd blend of sensations.
But a blend that made my mind run like nothing else.
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THE GAP BETWEEN 11 AND 14 ISN'T MISSING CHAPTERS!!!!
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