Timely Arrival: Page 3

Samara waved her hand in my direction, and wind currents swirled around me.

"See you at the top."

She beat her wings, soaring into the sky. I was less confident, so I took a moment to get a feel for the flight charm she'd put on me.

I jumped, and the winds kept me suspended at the height of my leap. I leaned to the side, and the winds pushed me that way. I curled my legs and mimed jumping as hard as I could. The winds cooperated, shooting me into the air. The sudden burst of speed shocked me and I panicked, pushing my hands forward as though I was going to crash.

Instantly, I decelerated, slamming to a stop mid air. I let myself float there, catching my breath.

Don't you think we should hurry?

"Oh, I'm sorry Vedra, would you like to do this?"

Pass. Have fun though.

"Lovely."

I twisted around, seeing Samara standing near the peak, with her hands on her hips. I leaned forward slowly, until I was pointed straight at her, and kicked my legs like I was jumping. The winds carried me forwards, and like the badass I am, Inleaned back up and slowed to a stop just a few feet away from her.

"Not bad, Lucas."

"Thanks."

Together we reached the summit, or rather, what was left of it. I say this because, at a glance, it seemed as though the top of the mountain had been blasted off, leaving a crater so large a lake had formed in it. The water itself was murky and grey. At the center of the lake was a massive pile of gold and other shiny things. Despite the altitude, the summer sun **** away any notions of cold weather. I shrugged at Samara, gesturing to the abandoned treasure in the water.

"Maybe the dragon's away?"

Samara pursed her lips.

"Maybe. Still, keep your eyes peeled. We're running on low power, a fight with a dragon is the last thing we want."

"Wait what? Why are we low on power?"

"Seriously? I draw my power from the fire of the Nine Hells. Being disconnected from that, all I have is what power I had reserved. And since you get your power from me..."

"Oh. That's not good."

"Correct. I'd say we've got a few big spells, but be careful. We need a certain amount of power to actually do the Planar Travel spell."

"Then let's find that stone and gtfo."

"Sounds like a plan."

I floated forwards, hovering above the surface of the water. The pile of treasure in the middle was mostly gold coins and trinkets, with occasional weapons, armor, and other artifacts. My eyes scanned for the Travel Stone, but settled on something else.

A staff, about 6 feet (1.8m) long, made of solid obsidian. I hovered over it, hesitantly feeling it's glassy surface. The whole thing had a slightly organic shape, like wood almost. But none of that is what enraptured me.

It was magical. I could feel the power radiating off of it. As soon as I touched it, I felt it. The sensation of mentally connecting to a store of magic larger than I'd ever seen. A battery the size of a room couldn't possible hold this much power.

"Gods above."

My hand moved automatically, my entire body determined to make this thing mine. My fingers gripped it tightly and pulled. But I couldn't separate it from the rest of the treasure. I pulled harder and harder but nothing happened.

"Lucas, I found it."

My mind was brought back to reality, an with some ****, I floated over to her. In her hands was a stone disk, like a coin the size of my palm. It was carved with various symbols and whatnot, all glowing bright green.

"It was really stuck in there too. Had to give it a firm yank."

She pointed where she had pulled the stone from, where there was now a void in the treasure. I had just looked away when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. Looking back, I saw some kind of glassy white orb that hadn't been there before. In a second, several very important pieces of information came together in my mind.

It wasn't an orb. It was an eye. It was looking at me. The dragon's treasure. The dragon wasn't away, it was hiding. No, sleeping. I was standing on a dragon.

A deep rumble sounded from beneath my feet.

"Oh gods."

Miri, if you're reading this, you owe me.
TC