Atlantian

becoming atlantian [12] unedited

Chapter 12

When the dragons finally began their descent, night was creeping up on the windswept travellers. The cerulean blue sky was slowly bleeding into pinks and purples as the sun ducked down behind the distant mountains.

The dragons landed with soft thuds and loud flaps of their leathery wings. As Jet touched back down onto solid land, there was barely any sound as the movement was so careful and precise yet the jolt that ran through the great beast had Aubrey yelping and holding tighter. The black beast snorted out a puff of smoke as she turned her head to face her rider. A great plume of smoke surrounded the red head’s face.

Choking and gasping, Aubrey released her hands from around Jet’s neck, her eyes finally opening so that she could glare at the cause of her discomfort.  The dragon only rumbled beneath her before the giant scaled beast nudged the young woman with its nose so that she slide from her back and landed into Tiberius’ arms. Then without waiting for her to get her bearings, he planted on her feet and strode away from her.

Blinking her eyes a few times, Aubrey allowed herself to take in her surroundings. It was almost like déjà vu because of the circle of tall stone doorways that covered at least a thousand square feet of the cliff top they were standing upon, looked like a larger version of Stone Henge. With a gasp, the red head tilted her face up so that she could inspect the largest of the structures that was only a few feet away.

“This one is definitely … bigger.” She spoke after a moment of painful silence.

“It’s because we are jumping through time as well as dimensions.”

Aubrey jumped at the intrusion of the voice and was surprised to see the matriarch standing beside her in all of her smug glory. After righting herself and pulling back her shoulders, the shorter woman looked up at her supposed leader with a frown.

“You’re coming with us?”

The older woman snorted and folded her arms across her chest. Then, raising one perfectly plucked brow, she stepped closer to Aubrey so that there was barely a gap between the pair.

“of course Miss Winters, I would not miss your debut.” The matriarch’s voice was sickly sweet and sent a shiver of dread down Aubrey’s spine. “Besides, someone needs to makes sure you – don’t get hurt.”

An audible gulp escapes the young Atlantian’s lips as the cold soft hands of the matriarch wrapped around her throat and squeezed just enough to send panic into the younger woman’s heart.

“I will be keeping a special eye on you.”

At that moment, a throat cleared behind the matriarch causing her to release her hold upon the younger woman’s throat and turn on her heels to face Tiberius. He was as stoic as usual, his face unreadable except for the fire burning within his eyes.

“We’re ready to go.” He finally said through a grunt. “Come on Winters. We have some work to do.”

He grabbed Aubrey around the wrist and pulled her away from the woman. They soon stopped next to others that were also dressed like extras from Troy. Aubrey wondered whether they used that as a model for the clothing but shook the thought off. Her attention was quickly caught by one of the stone doorways. It was crackling and snapping like electricity was jumping through the air.

A ball of white mist formed in the centre of the arch just as the sun disappeared behind the horizon taking away the last vestiges of day light.

“Everyone, through the portal now, we have 30 seconds before it closes.” A deep voice barked startling everyone into action.