Bery looked down towards the ground as the dragon's head lifted into the air. The safety of the Earth gradually got further away, and it didn't stop there. The dragon jumped from her legs into the air, and her wings began flapping. Large gusts of wind blew up dirt from underneath them, and the trees waved from the air pressure.
The cat girl closed her eyes nervously and buried her face into the scarf around Valerie's neck. Bery waited for the dragon to climb higher and higher. The air in the surroundings became a smooth whistle, and the pressure gradually became much lower.
Bery's breath hitched before a strange warm glow coated her skin, and she slowly opened her eyes. Beneath them, the valley had become nothing more than specs of trees, and clouds sat all around them. They'd reached the zenith of the world, even higher than the peak of the mountain in no time.
Valerie's voice echoed into Bery's head. "What does it feel like to fly? Is it freeing?"
Bery opened her mouth to speak, and surprisingly her words carried. "I had no idea that we would go so high. It's a bit terrifying to think what would happen if I fell, but...you being here makes me feel safe." Bery wrapped her arms around the dragon's neck as much as she could and smiled. "What is this warm feeling? Is it magic?"
"Yes, I had forgotten what would happen to the air when we went higher. You can consider it a field of love, and it protects you from the weather. It also allows your voice to carry."
"You really think of everything when it comes to me. I wish I was good at magic…"
"Even if you're not good at magic, you can still do so many things I cannot. Don't even worry about it. Instead, enjoy the view."
Bery looked down at the rolling mountains below them. She felt like she could see so much from this height. In the distance the mountains tapered off into plains and rolling hills with beautiful prairies, and even further than that, there was the capital of this kingdom. One of many kingdoms.
It made the kitten truly appreciate how grand the world was. The fact that a dragon paled in comparison to the size of it all left her wondering what truly lay beyond the civilizations. She'd heard of entire bodies of water that stretched further than eyes could see, yet she'd never visited them.
Bery had only laid her eyes on oceans through paintings she'd seen a long time ago.
The dragon beneath her dipped into a gorge full of rushing river water. Black rocks surrounded them on all sides, yet there were magnificent jewels sparkling between them. The trench's water rushed, and turbulent waves splashed against each rock face.
Yet, even in all of that, there was life beneath the surface. A large crocodilian monster leapt from the depths, and captured fast colorful fishes in one gulp. The beast chopped down, creating a loud crackling echo and landed with gigantic splash. The sounds echoed in the gorge, and rocks fell from the wall, tumbling into uncertainty.
It was terrifying, but it was also awe inspiring. Bery yelped in excitement as they swooped even lower towards the rolling river.
Valerie spun in a circle. However, Bery was not flung from her back. They swooped, twirled, and flew out of the gorge in one long kitten breath.
Bery released the air from her lungs. She'd expected to be shaken to the core, but it felt incredibly freeing. She cheered and latched onto Valerie's horns.
"That was exhilarating!"
Valerie's laugh bellowed heartily. The voice that echoed was no longer inside of Bery's head. It was the deep timber of a fire dragon, majestic and sweet. "This is what it means to fly! Once you have even the slightest piece of it, you'll never want to go back, my dear kitten."
The kitten grinned from ear to ear as they rolled above grasslands. The rolling hills beneath them gave way to a kingdom's grand city shining in the distance.
Bery's eyes shined like that of a seasoned painter. She could already imagine the strokes of her hands painting the scene in front of her.
The capital was even more widespread than she'd ever thought. It seemed to stretched from end to end on the horizon. Bery couldn't imagine how many people made up the place. She wondered how she'd even identify a single person. From up in the sky, kings, queens, princes, and princesses looked the same as commoners.
Valerie's voice spoke lowly into Bery's head. "Anything you want in this world shall be yours, and anywhere you want to go, we will go together. This is what it means to be the wife of a dragon."
Bery's face heated, yet something in the distance caught her eye. The distinct glimmer of metal, and hundreds of armored soldiers formed rows outside of the city. At the behest of it all, a shining king, framed in solid gold.
///
Baruth watched the king lift his sword high into the sky. King Crassius whaled loud inside of his magic trumpet, playing on his voice the tone of war.
"For far too long men have been made to stand beneath the feet of dragons. Such is the way of the strong to tyrannize the weak. When a dragon moves inside of our own borders, what can we be expected to do? Roll over? Sing the tunes of our own defeat without lifting the blade?"
Baruth felt his heart pound from the words of Crassius. It was only a day ago that an emissary arrived from the elven lands, yet King Crassius did not delay. Was he a bold king? Was that why everyone was cheering? All of the surrounding soldiers lifted their weapons, answering the call of martyrdom. But what about Baruth and his heart? He lifted the sword, but he did not believe in the cause.
So what if the lives of bandits were snuffed out by a dragon. Should we not thank the dragon? Should mortals not prostrate themselves beneath their feet?
And yet Baruth had nothing. He had no family. No friends. No peerage as a noble. All Baruth had was his enlistment into the military. He'd expected to fight brigands or maybe lose his young life at the edge of their borders. Yet, this was insanity. It was so crazy that Baruth might've started seeing things.
On the horizon in the sky, he could even picture the dragon so vividly if he squinted his eyes, and he swore that her gaze bore into him. The eyes of death weighed down his armor, sinking him into the saddle of his horse. How in the world did he know it was a female dragon?
That was something that Baruth couldn't answer, yet the sounds of his comrades shouting in support of their king continued to rise above the beating of Baruth's heart. It drowned out even the eyes of death from afar. And the king's words continued like the dagger of a loud barking dog.
"The elves will not help us in our venture. So it is that the dagger-eared swine would rather cling onto their trees and aim for peace when the lives of citizens are at risk. But what will peace do when our cities are burning from dragon fire? What will happen when the lives of villagers are snuffed from under our noses? Will the elves still preach peace? Will they wait forevermore and let these monsters terrorize people?"
Even more enraged shouts sprung to life from the enormous battalion. Their words of agreement with their king spread like wildfire. They were as reverent as the people were to the saints of the holy temples. Baruth's heart wondered how the hearts of men could be swayed so easily, yet here he was waving his sword. Here he was screaming his lungs out at a phantom enemy. And most soul crushingly, the voice of their needy tyrant rang on.
"It is the destiny of people like us. Normal men like you and me. From the peasant to my very position, our deeds will echo in the history books, and your names will be sanctified and engraved into the walls of our most holy chapels. The mark that you make in the coming battle will ensure that you live forever."
Immortality. It was a word that painters and warriors dreamed about. They fantasized it, while imagining their untimely deaths. No human on record had ever reached true immortality among the people of this kingdom, yet dragons were exactly like that.
It was said that dragons were around in the time of the ancients, even before the kingdom's founders. One such kingdom was toppled by a frost version of the very thing they were meant to fell in the coming days. Yet the allure was too powerful, for dragon slaying was possible. In the History of the entire world…
A dragon was slewn by man exactly once.