Draconia Offline vol. 1

45.3. Celestial Desires - Part 3

"Aefener," Liana grabs my wrist, her eyes open wide. She's afraid.

The wind is playing with her hair. If she could, she would forbid me to go. But this is the one thing which is so inherent to Celestials that she can't do anything about it. Besides, I can't be stopped at this point and she knows that.

I'm already almost losing my mind, exercising the last shreds of sanity. I wanted to go flying the moment I woke up this morning but they forced me to eat breakfast first and then I had to wait for them to prepare. My wings are trembling with anticipation and the wind blowing into my feathers isn't helping to calm me down.

"I'll be okay, Li," I assure her and eye Fefnir to see how he's doing.

He's switching on four huge drones that will accompany me and it takes him forever because he double-checks everything. The deal is that the drones will fly around me in a safe distance and monitor my surroundings, especially the ground to spot any possible danger. The security scanned the immediate vicinity of AstraTech's skyscraper already, of course, but they're still afraid that something might happen to me.

"I can cast a shield now," I add because Liana won't let go of my wrist.

"You can't fly more than three hundred meters away from us," she reminds me. "Up is okay, but not away, do you understand? If you do, we'll have to punish you for disobeying a direct order concerning your safety."

"Yes, my Viceroy," I smirk because I can't imagine any kind of punishment they could do to me. Would they take away my retro videogames I don't have time to play anyway?

"Does the robe fit well?" Ayala the maid approaches me and is trying out for the tenth time that the binding won't come off even if I do pirouettes and that my hair is tied firmly.

"Much better than the previous one but not a real flying robe yet," I comment but I have to admit that compared to the full royal attire I had to fly in two days ago, this one is pretty light.

The maids took one of my current robes and adjusted it. It has one layer less, it's not as loose and I'm wearing leggings underneath. To be honest, it would be much more practical to wear modern human clothes for flying but I wouldn't put it on anymore. I'd feel ridiculous and tragically underdressed.

"Ryuu, be careful," Erik hugs me the moment Liana finally lets go. "Don't do anything crazy, okay? Just fly around a bit to stretch your wings and come back to us."

"Okay, okay," I'm nodding furiously.

"Promise me that," Erik frowns because he suspects that my head is blank. He gently grabs my chin and makes me look into his eyes. "Ryuu, promise!"

"I promise!" I repeat after him and send him reassurance through telepathy.

"The drones are ready," Fefnir announces. Finally!

It's not like he suddenly became an amateur RC fan but surveillance is part of his job now. And he had help from other Draconians, of course.

"I'll be fine, don't worry," I kiss my partner, hug him tight for one more time and then slowly step away from everyone.

I active the protective shield, wait mercilessly for the drones to take off and then stretch my wings in full. I can hear Ingri and a few others wo didn't see it first time gasping for breath, impressed by my wingspan. I feel proud about myself which is an emotion I have never felt as a human before. I'm proud of being a Celestial.

I take a deep breath and get into the air with one mighty flap of my strong wings. My mind clears of anything useless and there's only me and the sky. I have to make a conscious effort to remember Liana's instructions and stay close. It's so hard to limit myself.