The experience would have been awesome enough if the water dragon's leap from the water had only lasted a few seconds, like a dolphin. Instead, it kept climbing.
I found myself laughing like a madman as the dragon rose into the sky, the oasis quickly falling away to a green dot beneath us. It spun, rolled, corkscrewed, looped, and at some point I wasn't sure if it was trying to throw me off or impress me. Dragons were often characterised as proud, arrogant creatures in myth and legend, and I wondered briefly about this one.
For the most part, though, I was just enjoying the ride. How could any rollercoaster compare to the feeling of soaring thousands of metres in the air, riding on the head of some mythical beast, using its whiskers as reins like the world's largest horse? All along with the accompanying music of its graceful, melodious roar.
But let it never be said that I'm a man lacking in self-awareness. I was always looking to have fun, yes, but there was no part of me that really wanted to distress the creature, and it was clear to me that the dragon wasn't much appreciating the experience of having some scaleless biped riding on its head.
Activating [Levitate] once more, I released its whiskers and flew myself upwards, letting the dragon free. Below, it came to a halt. It was remarkable, seeing such a massive creature hover in the air without any obvious means of propulsion. It didn't even have wings. Well, then again, I didn't either. Maybe it had its own version of [Levitate]?
Regardless, I had expected the King of Lake Shass to immediately return to its home, so I watched it hover there with a suspicious eye, expecting it to attack at any moment. Its molten eyes stared back at me, depthless, fathomless. The sun glittered off its green-blue scales. It bared its teeth.
Then it darted upwards, going from 0 to super-fucking-fast in the blink of an eye. Its acceleration was crazy. It was like it had been fired from a trebuchet, just instant top-speed momentum with nothing in between.
But I instantly saw it wasn't going for me. Instead, it shot straight past, leaving hundreds of metres of room, and arced over my head, where it coiled back into its previous configuration, its long body undulating like a sound wave in slow motion.
Then it looked down at me, its eyes narrowed. There was a sense of superiority in its gaze. Mocking, even.
I narrowed my eyes back. So that's how it's gonna be, huh?
[Levitate] slingshotted me upwards, and I darted past the dragon before it could react, placing myself a good distance right above its head. We found ourselves back where we started, relatively speaking, though maybe a few hundred metres up.
The dragon let out one of its musical roars, and this one had an unmistakeable note of challenge. This time, when it went past me, it spiralled around me, whipping up a tornado that buffeted my sodden clothes. [Levitate] defied physics and thus the winds didn't actually move my body, but it wasn't a comfortable few seconds, let me tell you.
"So that's how it's gonna be, huh?" I grumbled aloud, glaring at the dragon when it came to a stop above me.
For my turn, I repeated the dragon's move, rocketing around it at… well, not the highest speed [Levitate] could muster, since I suspected that would do quite some considerable damage, if my previous experiences with my full strength were anything to go by. More like 10%.
Even that was enough to whip up one hell of a sonic boom, and created a vortex that sent the dragon spinning and flailing around like a wriggling worm. By the time I reached my deservedly superior position, I looked down disdainfully to see the dragon glaring back up at me. Its mane had puffed up like a cat that had just been blow-dried.
I roared with laughter. Literally. I was pretty sure my guffaws could be heard all the way back at the oasis, wherever the hell that was.
And that was how I found myself playing a game of "I can go higher than you" with a skyscraper-sized water dragon. The rules were ill-defined, the win condition was undefined completely, and I suspected the dragon had as little idea what the point of all this was as I did. All I knew was: I couldn't lose.
At some point, the game transitioned from merely going higher than one another to doing elaborate tricks in the midst of our flight. I have to admit, the dragon completely got me there at first. The bloody thing was just so big, and its body was more suited to doing graceful aerial acrobatics. It could contort itself into cool shapes that the human body just couldn't match, even with crazy dexterity.
But it didn't count on me having a [Draconic Transformation] Spell, did it? Take that, you mug.
Becoming a dragon was a disconcerting experience, it has to be said. Looking down and seeing gold and red scales covering an impossibly long serpentine body, four little clawed legs, and a flared red spine instead of the usual fleshy human bits I was used to gave me a profound sense of unease. And that wasn't even talking about the myriad senses a dragon had access to, heightening my discomfort at feeling limbs so unlike the human ones I was used to. I found it all rather strange.
For all of about four seconds before I remembered why I'd turned myself into a giant lizard and went chasing after Yinyin, roaring with defiance.
[Achievement Unlocked: Shapeshifter]
[Achievement Unlocked: Dragonkin]
The game turned into a bit of a dance from there as we showed off our moves and copied each other. It was like a game of HORSE. 'Anything you can do, I can do better,' and all that. We looped, spun, pirouetted. It fired its opalescent beam into the sky, I spouted a column of golden and crimson flames. We contorted ourselves into elaborate shapes, some of which I was sure were probably characters of an ancient dragon language or something.
It was all good fun. Great bonding experience. By the end of it, Yinyin didn't seem pissed about the whole 'grabbing his whiskers' thing at all, and was perfectly happy to let me ride on his head when I transformed back to a human. Our flight had taken us so far from the oasis that I couldn't see it in any direction anymore, but Yinyin knew the way, and flew us straight back there, diving right for the water of his great lake. He didn't even make a splash when he plunged in, the show-off.
By that point, I'd jumped off his head and let [Levitate] take me. I activated [Instinct of the Hunting God], but turned out not to need it; Sssanya hadn't moved an inch from where I'd left her at the lake's shore even though it had to have been at least an hour. Through my enhanced vision, I could see her gaping at the spot where the King of Shass had just returned to the lake.
I looked down, then arched an eyebrow. Correction: the King of Shass had surfaced again, at least partially. It was poking its massive head out, staring at me with those massive golden eyes that were probably each bigger than me. It opened its great jaws, but only to let out a melodic note that resonated within the very depths of my bones, like my entire body had become a tuning fork.
Whether it had always had the ability to communicate or I'd picked something up from gallivanting around as a dragon myself for a bit, I found I understood what it was trying to convey. There were no words to it. The dragon's mind was too vast for its thoughts to be condensed down into concepts so simple.
But if I had to translate, it would go something along the lines of:
That was fun. Come play with me again some time.
Somehow, in a way I couldn't hope to explain in a manner that would make any sense to a human being, its tone seemed oddly… juvenile. Was that huge beam it had fired at me supposed to be playful? Maybe it was. Maybe the dragon had instantly realised I was super high level, and it could roughhouse a bit without worrying about squishing me. Sssanya had said none of her people had ever been hurt 'confronting' the beast, after all.
Then again, she never actually elaborated on what was meant by confronting the beast at all. I got the vibe she didn't know. The sum total of her knowledge was that there was a great monster living in the lake which they called the King, and the warriors of her tribe liked to track it down and… something.
I chuckled to myself. The great and powerful king of the lake is a little kid, and it's been playing with them all this time.
Now I really wanted to see how big a bloody adult dragon was. What would they be able to do?
"Sure thing, kiddo," I said, giving the dragon a thumbs up.
Its eyes twinkling, it descended back into the water, the darkness below the surface quickly swallowing its great bulk. And thus, seconds later, you'd never know there was an enormous beast roaming the lake.
I let out a long breath. My body was tingling all over, something parallel to adrenaline beginning to fade now that the fun was over.
"That was awesome," I said to myself, pleased on multiple levels. Satisfied. That experience had answered a question that had been bubbling under the surface of my thoughts since the moment I'd realised there was a distinct possibility this tower would pose no danger to me.
Could I still find a thrill here? Could I feel alive even with no threat of death?
Could I still fulfil my promise?
The answer, it seemed, was yes. I just had to find challenges. Contests. There were trials and tribulations out there that would still stimulate me, as long as the scenario was suitably grand.
Elation started to fill me, a light chasing away the shadows within. The excitement I'd felt when I'd first learned what this tower was all about was returning, stronger than ever.
I'll make you proud, Ben.
With that thought, I moved towards Sssanya, intending to ask her if there was anything else fun to do around here.
That was when I noticed she wasn't alone anymore.