Winged

Chapter 8

Stracony gazed down at the Elder who looked up to him quizzingly. Turning to Hej, the elder nodded.

"We work with these kinds. One of the people who got Healik transferred from us. They haven't been back in a while, which means the transfer was a success. There must be a place or object that passively produces energy."

"An object that can produce what a volcano does?" The Sokol asked, looking down at the rivers of lava that oozed in the sides of the road. The heat that emanated around him had lulled him to a constant sweat. He frowned,

"How do you even begin to start that process?"

"Oh, yoh know, long process. Scarring elements of the structure with magma then plunging it in dragon blood. Fuses together the natural Healik in the heat and the Healik that is made from the dragon in the dragon blood."

"How do you even get your hands on that, Hej, if you can' barely scratch a dragon?"

"Well, where do yoh think dragons go when they die? Yoh think their bodies disappear? Many days are spent harvesting, and we don't bother unless it's worth our while."

Sokol hummed, looking down at the Elder.

"So... why are you the Elder?"

"Why are you unable to fly back home, Sokol?"

"It's Stracony. And just because I have wings doesn't mean I'd be able to fly. Like how you need a cane to walk. Why don't you use your legs properly?"

"Watch yohr mouth, stranger."

The elder scowled, long flowing white hair streamed down the front of their face. Back arched, twisted black cane in hand, and a gray patch on their cheek, the age of the Grohg was clear. Their eyes had no color, as if they were blind, but looked around like they still had the ability to see. The room he was in reeked of dust and mold, a damp underdwelling of a home. Crystals were growing in every nook and cranny, which had webs and insects scuttling in the corners of his sight. The room had a purple glow to it, and in the center was a small tree that held glowing fruit attached to it's limbs. The bark of the wood was pitch black, twisting upwards and sprouting into gnarly arms that outstretched into claws.

The Elder grabbed a fruit and squeezed it between her fingers, the juice gushing from the center and streams of Healik rose to the ceiling, pooling above them. She quickly scuttled over, jumping up and rubbing it along his wings. The Healik latched on to his wings, swirling around, then diving into him. He stumbled forward, feeling like a powerful gust of wind shoved him from behind. The Elder stopped, backed away, and watched his body carefully.

Stracony shivered, exhausted suddenly. His face burned as if he had an extreme fever, while everything from the neck down was chillingly cold. Vision blurring, he slumped into sleep. However, it didn't feel very long, as energy flowed into him quickly and exploded through his veins. Crawling to his feet, his eyes panned around the room in an uncanny feeling. Like he was watching what he was doing, rather than doing it himself.

"What..."

"I'm fixing yohr wings, yoh dumb fowl."

"You... Then why haven't you fixed your legs??"

"I have! Multiple times! It's like a sponge, if you fill it up it can't hold as well! Gosh, yoh'd think they'd teach you this stuff up there."

Stunned, he flapped his wings. Incredibly, they felt lighter. As if it was less of a burden to move them through the air. He cupped them, and tried to pool air into his feather, yet to his dismay; he felt the familiar glide that didn't catch a thing.

"Still can't fly?" Hej asked, running over and feeling his feathers; looking up with innocent, worried eyes.

"Yeah. Still nothing." Stracony sighed, shaking his head. The Elder sighed,

"We'll have to do some extensive therapy then. However, if we were to pump more Healik into you now; you'd be asleep for the entire week this time.

"How long was I asleep?" Stracony asked, confused.

"Oh, about half the day. Come on, the sun's coming up now." The Elder smiled, a gleeful and mischievous smile that made Stracony shiver. He reckoned she was a nice person, in account of what she was setting out to do, but the way she was showing it made her seem insane. Watching the Elder leave, Hej turned to him and smiled.

"Isn't she amazing?"

Stracony chuckled, lowering his hand to let Hej climb up his arm and sit on his shoulder.

"It's a good thing your building are so large. Else I wouldn't even be able to go anywhere in town."

"Well, we need a place to put our machines. We have smaller rooms for sleep and such, but we have too many visitors to think so narrowly."

"I see. So how do you learn to communicate with so many languages?"

"I think it's something to do with our minds intentions, like, what we want to say. Then using Healik we can just... translate intent to a person in ways they understand."

"Fascinating." Stracony murmured, walking up the stairs and into the town above. Now, it was barely dawn, the crisp smell of char and dew flooded his senses in a warm wake-up call from the world. The Elder spun on her heel and looked at the two, sniffing briefly before readying her thoughts.

"I have a proposition to make."

"Being?" Stracony asked, his interest piqued.

"Yoh shall help us with the Dragons."

His stomach jumped in fear, stepping backwards. Heart racing, his mind went back to the terrifying beast that pierced the clouds, and immediately wanted to scream no. However, seeing the knowledge he could gain and the power to protect that he desired, he opted to hear her out. Seeing as Stracony didn't immediately run away, the Elder smiled.

"We could give yoh back yohr flight, which I presume yoh lost on your fall to our land. We shall fit yoh with armor, and give yoh a weapon we have been working on for a long time. However, yoh shall become the protector of our town until the threat of Dragons has become dormant."

"... I want to get back to my family." Stracony spoke strongly, his fear quelled and his imagination running wild with thoughts of strength.

"And yoh will. Yoh will once yoh kill the Dragon which threatens us."

"You said we'd never even scratch the scales of those beasts?"

"Well, I lied. We Grohg will never be able to. Yoh, Sokol, yoh will do it for us."

Stracony looked around the town. The Elder seemed confident, but a feeling in his gut told him she was desperate. He guessed the defenses they'd set up were becoming less effective, and the scorches on the road weren't entirely from lava splashes. Looking at Hej, her eyes were filled with a plea that reached his spirit in a way he'd never felt before. He felt important, like he was being depended upon. Flapping his wings in a small bout of excitement and worry, he nodded.

"Let's get started, then."