Heart - A Flight Rising Novel

Chapter Four: The Eidolist and The Exalted

I was surprised with how many dragons were here in WolfSpell.

It was about the same number as the Garden, and it seemed so... Lively. I was also surprised how I recognized none of the faces in this clan. Since Lotus explained that WolfSpell was closely affiliated with the Garden, I expected to remember at least one of the dragons, but none of them clicked.

I walked on over to a nearby pink crystal, staring into my faint reflection on the surface of the crystal. I tapped my claws on it lightly to entertain myself.

"You must be Fade from the Tidrian Garden, right?"

I flinched and backed away from the crystal instinctively, thinking that the crystal had just talked. I bumped into another dragon, who stumbled behind me from my shock. I whipped my head around and met eye to eye with a bright purple Nocturne, who was wearing some Ghost Flame clothes to fit with their attire. He stared at me, wide eyed, seemingly shocked about my reaction to him. I calmed down, taking in a deep breath and backing off a bit.

"Y-Yes, that's me." I replied, still shaken by our encounter. I was naturally expecting myself to be frightened by the Nocturne's size, but he was actually just a tad bit bigger than me. In fact, my wings were almost as big as his! "Who... are you?"

The Nocturne dipped his head, as though to give me a sign of apology for scaring me. "My name's Nox." He said, shooting me a warm smile. "I'm the eidolist here in WolfSpell."

"...Eidolist?" I gave Nox a confused look in response. If my parents were here, they'd be calmly scolding me about my manners and how I should've been much more polite to Nox before I ask him questions.

But... of course, they weren't here. So... it wouldn't be too bad to break a few rules, right?

"Yeah, an eidolist." Nox nodded, still smiling at me brightly. "I'm a believer in ghosts and..." He hesitated just a little, and then continued. "...I can see them too."

I gaped. "What?!" Nox didn't even seem like the slightest bit insane, yet he was already saying some pretty farfetched things. "But... Is that even possible?"

"Apparently," Nox shrugged with his wings. "I mean... Across from here over to that specific cluster of crystals, there lives this... Kinda creepy group of ghosty male Ridgebacks. They like poking into my secrets and they make me uncomfortable." He pointed at a nearby lake with about three bright pink crystals peering out of the water. I narrowed my eyes, expecting to see a cluster of dragons on the water, but I saw nothing.

"So you... Can see ghosts?" I looked at him deep in his striking blue eyes.

"For sure," He said, "actually, I could try contacting like... One of your exalted friends from the garden if you want." He paused for a moment, thinking. "Actually wait, is it alright if I can ask you a few questions?"

As I was snapped back into reality from partially zoning out, I nodded. "For sure."

"Cool." He smiled at me. Just from this conversation with Nox, I knew that he was a really nice and kind dragon. "I'm actually from the Tidrian Garden. I was born in the Garden a while ago, and then soon enough sent off to WolfSpell. My mother is so overprotective of me... Heh... I'm just curious how Eirianell has been doing back at home? Or well... Formerly.. Home?"

I tilted my head at him, confused. "I'm sorry, but... I don't know of anyone named Eirianell in our clan." I responded, lowkey feeling guilty for not knowing any dragon named Eirianell. Maybe she was exalted before I was born... I thought with regret.

For the Tidrian Garden, as well as WolfSpell it seemed, 'exalting' dragons was equivalent to... Death. They leave the clan forever and never return, forever working with the deity of the flight they were exalted to. And then they soon enough truly die... And wander around as ghosts.