Freezing Wings

Chapter 21

The next morning I woke up, feeling refreshed and without a sliver of tiredness. Unlike how it was in the facility, when I woke up, I didn't feel particularly tired or hungry. My body felt content and ready to do whatever it needed to for the rest of the day, a polar opposite of what it was like as a human or in the cages.

I walked over to my storeroom and picked up a diamond the size of a human head for a breakfast snack, a chunk of natural ice for a morning wake-up call.

I went out to my balcony, looking out over the sunrise and taking a moment to organize my thoughts and plans for the day.

I wanted to finish the tree sculpture today, so that would take up most of my morning. Then, Sarah asked me to come over and watch her fledgling for an hour while she and her mate, a girl by the name of Gabrielle, went out and hunted for a while. After that, I would probably hang around for a bit, talking with Sarah and playing with their daughter before digging through my storeroom and finding the right to put the centerpiece on the tree sculpture. It would probably be around five by then, and I would have enough time to squeeze in an afternoon nap before sunset.

Overall, compared to a regular old day, this one wasn't that busy. Usually I would be running around, organizing where caves would be made, helping others with finding the right materials for their sculptures, and if need be, furnishing their caves. Helping a new mother deal with her hatchling, taking naps and experimenting with different combinations of ice and gems.

I finished off my diamond and jumped off the balcony, streaking down the side of the mountain. My wings tucked in my back, free falling down. The wind whipped around me, my body accelerating. I closed my eyes, the feeling of weightlessness a thrill to me. My stomach quaked, a shot of adrenaline in my veins, causing my heart to thump loudly in my ears.

After about twenty seconds of falling I blinked, snapping my wings open and swooping up into a glide, stopping my rapid descent. I did this every morning, as a way to wake up and prepare my heart for the rest of the day. If I could get through that, I could get through whatever awaited me in the mountain.

I glided over the forest and out, over the Kymari city before doubling back, flying back towards the mountain. The few Kymari out this early looked up, watching me. I usually didn't fly directly over the city, and nobody else even got close to them. It was rare for any of the dragons to let them close outside of dusk.

I flapped my wings, the crisp morning air causing my perpetually fogged breath to thicken even more. The flight that would usually take about thirty seconds was extended to two minutes. I took my time, circling my way around the meadow before flying back up the mountain and onto my balcony.

I shook myself, walking into my workroom and siting down at my desk. There was a chunk of emerald that I had been carving sitting in the center, all of the leftover dust already blown away. The visage of three leaves was there, but without small details or texture, it was only half-done.

I picked up a small chisel from my collection of tools and set to work, ready for the long haul.

*

About four hours later I sat back, my hands cramping slightly from the delicate work. Our claws were sharp and strong enough to do it, but were too bulky. The details were too small to do with a blade twice the size of a butcher knife, and the blade on my tail was uncomfortable to use as a carving tool. So I just improvised and made a tool small enough to work.

I picked up the crystalline leaf I had just carved and walked over to my sculpture. When I had started today, it had been just a trunk and roots, no leaves or details to bring it to life. Now, there were hundreds of leaves, each sparkling brightly, various shades of green shimmering in the dark. I had covered the underside of the leaves with dust from a glowing stone, so no matter whether I was in my cave or outside, it would shine bright like a diamond.

I sat back to admire my work, looking for anything I had missed or needed to fix. I didn't want something to go wrong, that had happened way too much when I had just started out. On one particular occasion, I had finished the sculpture and it had fallen apart twenty minutes later. I hadn't bonded the ice correctly so the components wouldn't stick and it collapsed. I didn't want to make that mistake again.

After a long while of losing my vision from sparkles, I finally looked away, stopping myself from going blind. I may or may not have gone a bit overboard with the glitter, but who cared. It was my sculpture after all, and I could blind myself all I wanted.

After attaching the final leaf and moving half a ton of glittering crystals to my store room I sighed, readying my mind for the adventure ahead. The next thing I had to do was go and babysit Sarah's daughter, Jordan.

I picked up a ruby the size of a basketball and a blue sapphire the size of an oven and put it in a basket I had prepared beforehand. They would help in the bribing of the beast later.