Ovolara: Claws of Darkness

Chapter 6: Journey

"So according to this map, we have to go northwest from the Forest of Death, then pass the outskirts of Treasure Hoarder territory." Hope explained.

"It looks like it." He agreed. "But the distance..."

"Yeah... my village should be around here," She pointed at the outskirts of the forest, past a line drawing where the Forest of Death stopped spreading. "So based on how long we took to get here, it should take us... about two weeks to reach the meeting area next to the ocean." She added, Abyss looking impatient.

The two stayed in the village for one more day on Hope's request so she could map it out and take notes. And after going around for a while, they found what looked to be a dragon graveyard northwest outside the collapsed village walls. It was well maintained, by Shade, Abyss guessed. And it had more than twenty gravestones with many names Abyss recognized.

"I wonder where mom and the others are hiding..." He said, staring intently at the map.

Hope pat him on the jaw. "You'll meet them again. She said it herself! You two will be reunited eventually!" She gave him a reassuring smile.

Abyss smiled back after a moment. "...You're right." He agreed. "Okay! Are you done taking notes?" He asked, now full of energy.

"Almost! Just a few details around the outskirts and we should depart by sundown." She explained.

Eventually...

After a few hours, Hope was finished with taking notes and adding more details to the map of the village, which was their queue to set off.

"Ready?" Abyss said.

"You're asking me? Let's fly already!" She declared, Abyss energetically hopping off the ground and into the sky.

Abyss could hear a bit of giggling from Hope on his back. "Someone's exited..." He said to a wide grinning Hope.

She slapped his back in response. "Duh! This is my dream come true! well... my dream starting to come true, We're gonna go all around Ovolara!" She exclaimed full of excitement that even Abyss hadn't seen yet.

A bit of happiness and excitement was oozing out of Abyss as well, having the thought that he's fulfilling his friend's dream. "Haha. You're welcome." His tone was subtly antagonizing, teasing Hope a little.

"Thanks, Abyss." She genuinely replied.

And the two continued to fly through the night sky.

After a long period of flying...

Abyss tried to look farther ahead, but all he saw was the gray shade of the Forest of Death's leaves as far as the eye could see. "Hope." Abyss called.

"Yeah?" She responded. The two were raising their voices so they could hear each other while flying.

"The forest doesn't end for a while, so we might have to land back in the forest by sunrise." He explained.

"Ugh... Can't we just fly during the day~?" She suggested, lying on his back in a childish manner as if they've had this conversation many times.

"Hope, we talked about this... we can't risk being seen by Leviathans. And other dragons wouldn't be the most friendly either." He explained.

"Leviathans can see in the dark anyways, and other dragons won't care about a single Nightwalker flying around." She kept pleading. "Come on~! I've never seen anything besides our village from the sky, can't we just do it this one time? Pleeeeeease~???" She hugged his neck.

Abyss pondered for a bit "I blend with the night sky, even for a Leviathan it would be hard to-" He started, but the felt hope hugging him even harder.

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeease~???" She pleaded with a very high pitched voice.