The Isles - Book One: Awakening

Flight

As they rested until the red-faced moon had shifted to a dull pink, Dagon thought of the things he had just been told. Instead of wondering about why his magic was different with him than with Eleanora, he focused on a plan for when they arrived in the city of Ardentis. The girl had told him of a certain tavern. A guild. It was a place that provided room and service for their members, if they proved worthy enough to be accepted. And he had a hunch he wouldn't be turned away.

They had stopped for only a moment—maybe thirty minutes or less—to quickly recover some energy, mostly for Eleanora. He hadn't noticed how hungry he had actually been, but he had learned of a few fruits that grew on various trees that were safe to eat; one of which was called a Goyo Fruit—a purple fruit that looked like the inside of a pomegranate—courtesy to Eleanora for that bit of knowledge. But right after that moment, they were hurriedly on the move once more. There was an eagerness behind each step she took, a certain dread that kept her moving punctually, but she never move to far away from him and often slowed herself dramatically to stay beside him.

As they continued their cautious walk through the forest, Dagon first noticed how bright things truly were. Shrubbery and small plants of the likes he had never seen before produced their own light, giving a low bioluminescent glow of green and pale blue like the larger moon above. But, between the darkness of the tree where the glow didn't reach, he knew things watched them, and Eleanora did too.

Had the things between the trees been more cunning and under the influence of the red moon, perhaps they would have already lunged and attempted to attack Eleanora, but if what she said was true, than her proximity to him kept the creatures at bay from hunting her. For a moment, he couldn't help but wonder how she had managed to run through these trees without being attacked at all. Even above them, he could make out the eyes of things that scuttled on eight legs. Their competence to attack was overwhelmed by instinct, a natural-born warning that something vastly more powerful than them lurked below.

Regardless, nothing moved towards them with intent to kill, so they pressed onward, keeping their talking minimal as they went to not attract any more unwanted attention to themselves. As they pushed some of the plants aside that were in their way, several shrunk in size, zipping down and into a tight ball that looked similar to a rose. He couldn't help but be amazed at the sudden action.

And after roughly three more hours of walking, they had reached a small clearing that overlooked a large spread of mountain. And just as he approached the edge with the girl, he stared in awe. Skies of pure blue hung overhead as far as he could see, dripping into a mesmerizing and saturated sunrise from behind snow-peaked mountains to his left.

A canopy of strange treetops and a forest of green stretched before him, flowing in strange ways with glowing spines that made the forest before him look magical as a strange energy fell from the blue moon above downwards onto the trees below like a mist that slowly began to fade as the light hit it. The forest seemed to be alive and pulsing with the strange energy. Jutting above the canopy of the trees were large crystals that glowed in myriads of colors that shifted and swirled as the light hit them. The same crystals he had seen around the tomb he awoke in, but much larger. He inhaled deeply, the honeysuckle sweetness that filled the air from a fresh rain giving him the sense of familiarity.

"Welcome to The Isles, Dagon."

The gentle voice of Eleanora pulled him from his daze, but only for a moment. He thought long and hard about what he was, what he would actually look like if it wasn't for the human appearance and was instead the dragon that Eleanora had explained to him when he asked.

And then he closed his eyes... and thought. A feeling that he could only explain as floating in a hot bath of water surrounded him. And it felt... oddly familiar. Like the floating he felt in the darkness before his vision returned to him. He felt his muscles shift and sinews stretch, as if he was growing larger. And soon, the bones began to restructure themselves. It was painful, not even the grotesque cracking and popping of his bones didn't bring him and pain, instead it gave him only slight discomfort.