𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗛𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 - 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙

Chapter 10

Eclipse's wings were growing heavy, and terribly sore from flying for almost three full days straight.

After lifting off from the island they'd stayed the night on, she'd led everyone by accident a little bit North instead of North-East, where they were supposed to go. They were flying North for half a day before Eclipse realized they were going the wrong way. Then the night came, after Eclipse had corrected her direction, and they didn't stop to sleep.

The fading had almost reached the middle of Eclipse's neck by then, and she knew she had to lead everyone quickly.

As they got closer to Praïsa, there were less islands to rest on. She was starting to regret her decision to not rest on a decent-sized island they'd passed while retracing their path back to the first island they'd slept on that day when Eclipse had led them the wrong way. She winced every time a dragonet cried from flying for too long, and when the adult dragons shot her grumpy and exhausted glares.

As the sun was getting low on the third day of flying, Eclipse began to wonder if she'd somehow led them the wrong way yet again. Her eyes were heavy, her wings faltering occasionally, the fading almost at her head, and her mind whirling because she couldn't see any sign of Praïsa.

Did I get it wrong? She wondered. Is Praïsa formed later? Is it just a small island right now? Or did I just lead everyone more North again? That's more likely.

But she studied the setting sun, which was to her left and a little behind her, and knew she was still on the right path.

She was relieved, but still worn out and worried if they would get to Praïsa before she faded completely. Her head drooped, her wings caught the wrong current, and she almost nodded off but was jerked awake by the wind whistling past her as she dropped from the air three metres.

Embarrassed, she pretended she did that on purpose, and pretended she was just studying some whales that were swimming in the sea below her. Then she swept back up to where she'd been flying, checked that she was still going the right direction, and flew on with what she hoped was a determined look on her face.

At last, she saw something blurry in the distance. As she got closer to it, she sped up, just making out some trees and more land.

It looked like only a big island, but as she got even closer, the fog rolled away to reveal the whole continent. Eclipse did a little loop in the air, relieved to finally have found Praïsa.

She landed on the shore, looking around, and then flapped back into the air to take it all in.

Here there were huge marshes and swamps, and beyond that there was a thick jungle that looped all the way around the continent. Then inside the ring of trees, there were flat, grassy places, and then a huge sandy desert. Inside the thick ring of desert, there were tall mountains, with really tall, snowy peaks, and windy, smaller peaks near the bottom. Then on the opposite side of the continent, which was bigger than Pyræla, were moors, forests, a giant dry savanna, and huge beaches. It was pretty much a mashup of what was in the rings.

As Eclipse looked back at the dragons landing on the shore and gleefully hopping about or hugging the ground, she knew it was the perfect place for them to live.

Queen Sunset swept gracefully into a hovering position above the beach and grinned. Her eyes flicked from the sea to the swamps to the jungle and on and on until the mountains. Eclipse guessed she was scoping out places for each tribe of her subjects to live.

"We will camp out on the beach for tonight and explore tomorrow," the queen announced.

The dragons began flopping tiredly onto the stony beach, or settling into mossy hollows, or lying in the trees, all sighing in relief as they finally got some sleep.