LIGHT ➼ Eragon Fanfiction

'Oh'

Autumn had her eyes closed when she felt the presence. It was definitely an intelligent species, though what kind she was not certain. And yet, there was an odd familiarity, like childhood lullabies sung after years of humming silence. A lost memory, or a forgotten name, but recognised face. Autumn was shocked to realise that she knew this mind from somewhere.

Nervously, she edged closer to the mind, which she could now see was barricaded with what appeared to be impenetrable walls. As she examined them, she saw they were made up of pictures and words, all related to some sort of giant tree.

Autumn prepared to figuratively knock on the mind when a swift though from Pharaoh brought her back to the present.
They were plummeting into the tree line at a ridiculous speed.

"Oh" Autumn managed to say out loud, before she closed her eyes once again. She felt branches whipping her face and opened an eye a tiny bit. She winced as one branch neatly smacked her in said eye.

'What can you see?' Autumn asked Pharaoh, after giving up on trying to see through the canopy of leaves.

'There's... nothing.. It's just the tree floor. Lotha isn't here.'

'What d'you mean? Of course she's there...'

'I mean,' Pharaoh replied, his tone cutting, 'Lotha is not here.'

'Oh' Repeated Autumn. She noted to avoid saying that word as much.

The golden dragon and his rider finally passed through the astonishingly thick tree line, and into the forest. Pharaoh pulled his wings out fully, catching the wind in them and allowing them to gently descend.

'What do you think we should do?' Autumn asked. She'd been expecting Lotha to just be lying on the forest floor, unconscious, with a sprained wing or something similar.

'We find Lotha.'

'I gathered that. But how?' The dragon and rider hovered above the forest floor in silence for a few seconds before Pharaoh spoke.

'I could smell her.'

'What?!' Autumn was rather confused. She most definitely couldn't smell a dragon in a forest.

'Not you, moron, me! Sometimes I worry about your intelligence.' Pharaoh rolled his eyes, which was a rather pointless exercise for a dragon. Autumn sighed, before agreeing on the simple plan. Even as Pharaoh lowered himself to the ground, prepared to deeply inhale, the presence appeared again. This time, Pharaoh could feel it too (she would be able to tell even without their mind link, as he growled menacingly and accidentally released a small puff of smoke).

The presence skirted around her mind and Autumn wondered if it was friendly. She quickly decided against that, as it stabbed into her mind. She managed a quick 'Oh' before slumping over onto Pharaoh surprisingly warm, sun-coloured back.