Dawn's Light

Chapter 11

Frigid wind rushed past Celia's hooded face. This was her first time on a dragon's back while in the air, and she was exhilarated. The she adored the sight of everything from above and the nearness of the sky along with the frozen air that rushed past her face. The experience was exactly like how she dreamed it to be.

The frozen, snow-covered ground passed under them like a flow of water and the clouds felt as if she could reach out and touch their snow-laden fluffy existence. Other than the clouds, the sky was empty, but Celia could see along the ground for miles. The small rarely used traveler's outpost on the north side of the mountain glowed with light from its entrance and a small amount of steam rose from the various entrances to the underground town of Rien.

Celia saw her home in a new angle as it began to disappear: the vast network of tunnels was hidden under the lone mountain in the middle of a line of smaller hills. The hills and the mountain were the only breaks from the otherwise flat land surrounded by the haze of the endlessly flat horizon.

Eventually, even The Lone Mountain disappeared behind the horizon, and Celia began to feel the chill of uncertainty once again.

There was not a single creature ahead of them in the west that they could see, and the thin layer of fresh snow was undisturbed and hid all tracks that were once there. Celia had heard that there were food sources in the tundra, but if the was true, either they were under the snow or invisible, as Celia could not see any hints of life out in the seemingly endless expanse of snow.

Celia was felt the doubt in her mind. They had already set out after gathering limited supplies from her room and a small knife along with a few food and water rations from the questing supply room. Though Celia knew going on a quest was wrong to do with her low level and the lack of permission, Celia thought it felt wrong not to go. There was something pulling at her heart to go and find the other rays of light.

Verbena looked back to Celia as she continued to fly. 'Are you alright?' The oil coating each strand of her overcoat was freezing in a white layer, which not only further insulated her body, but also gave her excellent camouflage against a cloudy sky and the snow-covered ground.

Celia blinked back into reality. "Sorry." She apologized. "I was just having a few doubts." She adjusted her grip on the dragonet's harness. "Can we do this? Neither one of us are exactly special or anything."

'We can do this!' Verbena cheered. 'We found the first ray of light, so we can find the others!' She paused. "Though I'm getting tired," she began to glide, 'I've been traveling forever and my wings hurt!'

Celia glanced up to the moon, based upon her perception of the movement of the moon, not much time had passed. "It hasn't been that long," she assured the dragonet, then paused as she felt Verbena sending the human how she felt as she continued to glide through the air.

Celia suddenly felt the soreness of outstretched imaginary wings attached to her back. At first, the rider thought the feeling was of flying was exhilarating. The wind rushed around her and the calm snowy expanse passed below them. Celia felt as if the world was no longer off limits and she could go anywhere.

Suddenly, Celia's nonexistent muscles begged for relief against the air pushing against them and begged to finally be relaxed. "If you feel this sore," Celia's voice strained slightly from the perceived soreness. After a few more moments the experience, she frowned and shook away the feeling as it faded, "maybe we should take a break. I probably need to stretch my legs a bit anyway." She gently pressed against the harness and willed her dragonet to descend faster. Verbena's soreness reminded the human of her own tiredness, though it was nowhere near as bad as what Verbena felt in the same moment .