Shattering Reality - COLLAB WITH @AtomicDaDragon

Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20! YAY!

  Atomic's Perspective

  The icy north Scotland wind seeps into my scales. My wings flab vigorously against the wind. The sky is diamond clear, revealing the sparkling gem-like stars in the heavens, their glory displayed.

  I can feel Sera. We must be close. I pull my black leather jacket tight around my chest. My acid green hair, now grown to the small of my back, blows wildly.

  Ella flaps her golden wings just as hard as me. Her curls are frizzy. Tzarr's fur is matted, and Majirica and Alex urge each other on.

  It's not snowing, but the cold has a way of seeping into your bones. Not Sera, though. She would wear a mini skirt in freezing weather.

  In my head, a familiar song plays. It distracts me from the cold. I fly on.

  Sera feels so close now. But although I am happy, I feel a strange presence around her. Is it Elyssia? No. It feels more familiar than an elf's mind. Almost like another...no.

  Has Ella felt it too? I swoop over to her.

  "You feel Sera's mind, right," I ask her. She nods. "I feel a presence around her. It's almost like..." I trail off.

  She nods. "Exactly like that. But it's impossible. We're the last ones."

  "I know."

  I glide down low to a lake. Mist covers the glassy surface. I swoop so low I almost touch the water. I flip in circles, twist and turn.

  "What was that," Ted asks when I come up. "Warming up."

  "For the battle?"

  I nod. We know there will be a battle. It's not really a fair one with me, though.

  For a moment, I forget everything. Ted, Sera, the cold, that I need to save the world. I just float, weightless. Like a part of the sky itself. I just glide along the air.

  "Atomic! The citadel," Alex calls. I snap out of my reverie, and look at the fortress.

  It was nestled on the side of a ravine. Waterfalls cascaded down into the steep drop. Green grass looked like a rolling, silvery-green sea. There were many towers and bridges. Looking like a medieval castle, I thought it would be easy to take over.

  We all soar at it. But Tzarr and I stay behind.

  "Love you, no matter what happens," he says. "Back at you," I mutter. I hug him, and fly forward, very frightened.

  I know Sera is in there, somewhere. As I near the castle, it is no longer a castle. It is a city, sparkling and massive. The weirdest part, it's floating. The castle was an illusion.

  The bottom side of the city is like a mirror. It has all the tall, central buildings from the top, but they are upside down.

  I groan. "We'll have to search that city for days!"

  Ella shakes her head. "Start with the tallest building."

  The surrounding grasses are no longer there. It is floating miles in the sky, but we can see it with our dragon-sharp vision. The tallest building, from the top, has to be at least seven miles from the ground. We are a quarter mile up.

  "It'll take ages to fly up there," Tzarr grumbles.

  "Not for me," Alex says.

  "Right."

  "You can all climb on," she offers.

  "Sure," Ella says. We all follow her.

  Majirica reaches the city in thirty minutes. Upon closer inspection, the city is floating on a grey disk. All the upside down buildings are on the bottom of the disk. Instead of ground, there is water on the disk. It falls out of the city into a waterfall, into a floating grey cylinder.

  We land on the side of the cylinder. Gravity is altered here, keeping me on the side like it was ground. That must be why the buildings are upside down.

  "Sera is in the tallest building," I say. "Top floor."

  "How will we get up there," Alex asks.

  Tzarr speaks up. "We will fight our way through."

  I've never heard so much passion in his voice. He must really want us to succeed.

  "Alright then," I say. "That's what we'll do, no matter the cost."

  We fly up to the city. The tallest building is squared, with an antennae at the top.

  A guard, an elf, spots us instantly. Ella pushes him into a wall and gags him before he can yell.

  "Where is Serafina," she asks forcefully. The guard looks at her, nonspeaking. No duh, he's gagged.

  "Oi! Where is SERAFINA BYSTROM? You know that name, don't you? And now you'll know mine." She leans in, and whispers something in his ear. He thrashes in anger. Ella laughs. I haven't heard that laugh since I first saw her fight. "Where is she?"

  The demonic little half-dragon, AKA Ella, takes his gag out. "She's at the top floor, The Square."

  "Is that the tallest building," Ella asks.

  "Yes!"

  She brings him to the waterfall. And pushes him over, knowing he'll land in the cylinder of water.

  "Just checking," she says with a smile once the guard is out of earshot.

  We fly over to the tallest building. Another guard, wearing a blue uniform, says, "You'll need to come with us." I kick him. Ella punches. A crowd of guards surround us. Majirica roars, shattering some windows. I throw acidic fireballs, Ella; shards of sharp diamond, Tzarr; shoots missiles  and claws at them. Alex shoots arrows, and Majirica, well, is a typical scary, massive dragon from fairy tales.

  Angrily, I fights through the crowd. When we reach the door, we split up.

  "I'll take Ella with me to find Sera," I yell. "Tzarr, stay with Alex."

  He looks sadly at me. "Don't die."

  "Like I would."

  And I fly up to the top floor, Ella following me. The air is really thin up here. Ella coughs from lack of air, but It's not fatal to us. We're dragons.

  I see Elyssia briefly through a window. Her face is twisted with rage. I laugh.

  The top floor isn't far now. As soon as we reach it, I ask Ella to do the honors. She compresses the wall (there is no window), and a hole forms.

  Sera lays on a slap of stone, chained in place. Her hair is longer than I remember it. She wears a beat up cream hoodie and jeans. I realize how long she's been here. Two months.

  "Atomic," she yells when she sees us. I melt away her restraints. Then, a boy bursts through the door, leaving it in shards on the floor. He is half-dragon. Wait...what? A half galaxy, half storm half dragon. His silver-blue tail has flickering starbursts on it, and his wings, with a faint galaxy print on them, are bound, with the same starbursts on them (no, not the candy, like a supernovae).

  He looks at Sera, then to us, then back at Sera, then he asks who we are.

  "Her friends," I say, still in shock. "Who are you?"

  "Apollo, her friend."

  "Who is he, Sera," I ask her. I think I know, though. "He comes with us," she says weakly. I nod. Carrying Sera, I dive out the window, then Ella, then the Apollo guy, who's wings I cut free from the chains. Sera is free.

  But it was easy. Too easy...