Glass Soldier REWRITTEN

Chapter 16

            Staring at the sky, wind beating around me, I couldn't help but frown at the crackle of a particular magic. A crackle dancing around my dragon's wings. Looking over my shoulder at the magi in charge of me I found her speaking with the griffin handler as she had chosen to ride a griffin. The weight of a dragon that had once fit in my arms brought my attention just as his purr pressed into my chest.

         "Yes yes, you still fit just fine," I laughed lightly, putting my forehead between his eyes, hands gently holding his jaw as our magic hummed. Sighing my shoulders dropped at the whole feeling he gave. "But you have to be nice," I called, peeking one eye open at the beast who had grown exceptionally well.

          He offered a snort, pulling back offended, and flicking his tail at me, trying to walk away as if I had ruined the moment. "Childish!" I shouted with a grin, my hands cupping my mask while he just climbed a thick tree with a huff. Rolling his eyes at me he laid on a branch still in sight, his clear tail wrapping around it as he did.

          "It's still young but to see it having grown so much truly does show how well cared for it is." Came the voice deadset on dampening my mood.

          "He is still growing, and yes, he is well loved," I rephrased the mask I wore leaving her just barely in view. Opening her mouth I continued, "But he is also a beast hiding in false magic," I crossed my arms staring at him. He was as clear as the day I made him, guiding the sun that met him and shining it wherever he pleased. A glass dragon born from an obsidian mage.

         "False magic?" She jumped relatively quickly on the little thing any glass mage would understand.

           "I'm an obsidian mage," I state, walking towards the tree he had climbed, my arms uncrossing and instead taking hold of the tree. "You," I grunted, pulling myself up with limited ease. "We have an image to make," I continued upward, a cool and gentle tail wrapping around my waist and pulling me up effortlessly the moment I was within reach.

            His sideways gaze a curious one. "I know how capable your abilities are, for tonight, you are to show them who we are, unrestrained, with no fear. No reason to hide," I said slowly, walking carefully along his back. With each step, I took he offered a dark shift in color, a color that rippled. The small smooth spikes along his spine grew as I continued, until finally, I found that clear and smooth face. "Our magic is not for hiding, not tonight," I grinned, taking hold of his muzzle.

          The clear gaze he offered grew murky as he stood, shaking himself free from the insecurities of a magic we did not have. Insecurities we did not have. The once clear beast now a deep black, his spines long and harsh, his claws thick and sharp, his jaws full of teeth he hides. He looked more like a dragon. Yes, my dragon.

           "How lovely you look Vitreus, why, might I ask the lovely you to accompany me to a ball?" I offered with a flamboyant bow to the dragon that gave a sarcastic growl. Raising my head, my grin sharp, a grin only he would know, I found smoke rising from his nose. "Well then, shall we?" I motioned below the branch we stood on.

         With a burst of reflected light, wide wings appeared beside him, a crooked dragon grin on his face as his eyes danced. "How fun," I couldn't help but say, reaching out to his long smooth neck and easily swinging my weight around him. Not so much as a spike touching me. "Ready?!" I called looking to the ground, his legs already crouching as a growl grew in his chest, his gaze on the griffin hesitant to near.

        I could feel the sharp warning, a dare for it to keep up. She, however, seemed to gather my asking was just a curtsy as he was already leaping into the air. Quickly scrabbling to mount her griffin I didn't bother to watch her as an excited cry left my lips and blended with his shrill. The wonderfully familiar rush of wind on my skin rough, the kiss of the clouds as we climbed higher, the bright and beautiful sun blaring against us as we neared.

         Opening my arms I welcomed the sky I missed, a laugh at my lips, the beast beneath me rumbling before a roar burst free from his mouth. A roar that shook the clouds, one I could feel against my skin. Shivering I leaned into my equally excited dragon before leaping to my feet with a hum. The wind pushing at me with a force that would send me from his back- oh to think of falling, the fall of the first time, the fall of the last time. The rush as my life was left to a pair of talons that could easily rip me to shreds at the slightest of mistakes.

        Twirling on the ball of my foot I took careful steps along his back, each spine melting into his body before my next step, the force on my back and the whistle in my mask leaving a sense of freedom I missed.

        Spotting the griffin not horribly far behind I saw what could only be explained as a shouting elite, exasperated and waving against the wind. As if she wanted me to sit. As if she was worried I'd fall. Snorting I opened my arms wide once more and threw my head back with closed eyes, the tremble of resistance in my legs disappearing as my body twisted with the wind.

         With a near tearing and rough force, I began to fall. My heart slowed as I took a large fresh breath of chilled air. Time slowed as no sound could break through the wind, as I couldn't so much as spread my arms against the weight of the sky I was falling from.

          Opening my eyes I saw the most beautiful of things, a black dragon reflecting the bright and warm sun, high and proud- unwavering. Smiling as the dragon's body turned with nothing but a shift in his wings. A small kick of his legs as that unwavering beast stopped soaring and became to fall. To dive. The large and lovely beast barreled towards me with an exhilarated shrill that left the hair on my neck to stand.

         His wings opened wide just as his talons shoot forward, the cloud I touched cold and unforgiving. His claws wrapping around me loosely, the harsh impact of my own weight slamming into his claws left me laughing. Hanging in his grasp with my eyes tightly held closed as he climbed higher once again I didn't move while my heart raced and lungs gasped for breath. Shouts brushing the back of my ear. Opening my eyes I found a griffin and its rider not far behind.

        Humming I grabbed his ankle and without a seconds delay he opened his claws. Holding myself up I dangled facing her. A laugh boiled in my chest at the face she made. The horrified anguish. An anguish she was not entitled to. Snickering I swung myself with the wind, letting go without issue, and just barely catching his tail. My body whipped around at the force of catching myself, and with the help of little obsidian handholds, I was pulling myself onto his back once more.

           His slowed pace sped up the moment I was securely in place. With my thighs tightly holding him I fell back, laying across his back as I tore the mask up to watch the sky. A blissful sigh on my lips as our mana intertwined, a feeling I hadn't thought I missed as much as I had. I wished to play more, to jump from him and see if he could reach me in time, to put my life in hands not my own.

         But instead, I had to continue on to a ball I didn't want to be at with people looking for any flaws I had, flaws I had to prove to be assets. I had to prove worth far beyond my years.