Mystic

Chapter 21, Matthew

It had been a month since Matthew had met Amira and started their journey. After traveling across the highlands up towards the mountains, the group had gained but ten new members willing to aid Amira in her quest. Many of them seemed wary, uncertain if they had made the right decision. Amira struggled to lead them towards the mountains, where the men they had met in the forest told her to go.

After the incident with the forest demon Alkoros, Matthew, Amira, Cairo, and Farah had chosen to stay in their camp for the night. During their brief stay, Matthew had discovered that their hosts were nomadic mystics, and had come from a long journey north up into the mountain range.

When they discovered Amira's mystic descent, they told her she must go to the base of the tallest mountain in the land, but offered no clue as to why. Amira had initially said that they would head directly to Javan, but Matthew had convinced her to follow the advice of the mystics. Now, the group sat at the base of the mountain, waiting.

"What now?" Cairo asked, staring up at the steep slope. Though Amira was their leader, the others often consulted Matthew before making any decisions. His quick thinking and knowledge of mystics had saved the entire group from a mountain troll, and he had earned their complete respect. While he didn't like the attention, he was glad to know that his opinion did matter to them.

"Orion can carry two people at a time. He will need to make five trips to get all of us up there." Matthew answered. He whistled, and Orion came soaring down from the clouds. Matthew looked around the group, trying to decide how to proceed.

"Pirin, Gala, you first." Matthew said, gesturing to Orion. Gala, an unusually tall girl who wore her hair in tight braids, was able to speak Deanish, as many highlanders did. Deanish merchants and traders often wandered the roads of the highlands, having to go long distances to get to the rich markets of Yamen. Pirin had never left his village, and only knew a few curse word's in Matthew's language. He was a bulky boy, with bulging muscles and a fearless nature. He was one of the few who completely stood by their decision.

Both of them climbed on to Orion's back, and the dragon took off as fast as a bullet. When he came back down, Matthew directed two more people onto his back. This process continued until only Matthew and Amira were left. Matthew helped Amira up and signaled for Orion to take off into the clouds. Before they knew it, they were at the summit of the mountain where the rest of their group waited anxiously in the thin air. All eleven of them -- Including Amira -- breathed heavily. Matthew, however, was accustomed to the altitude and was able to breathe relatively normally. It was a little bit difficult since he hadn't flown as much, but it was very for him to breathe.

At the top was a circle of intricately carved stone pillars with a raised altar at the center. Matthew fumbled through his bag for his sketchbook, and Amira hopped gracefully off Orion's back. Matthew watched as she glided towards the altar as if drawn by an unseen force and kneel in the center of the pillars. Suddenly, the runes on the stones glowed a bright blue, an pulsed with an unnatural energy. Amira kept her eyes closed as beams of light drifted her way. Soon, they dissipated, and the pillars returned to normal.

"What was that?" Gala asked.

"Amira? Are you okay?" Renir, a wiry boy asked.

"Fascinating." Matthew said under his breath, and Cairo gave him a funny look. Pirin stood behind Matthew, breathing heavily and coughing.

"You will be alright, you just need to adjust." Matthew said. Then, Gala screamed. Matthew turned around to find an enormous dragon towering over them. It's green scales melted into blue and yellow hues, and it's golden eyes could stare right into one's soul. When it stretched it's wings, It blocked the sunlight, plunging the group into darkness. Orion stomped, then lit a low flame to help them see. He glared up at the massive dragon in challenge. Matthew tried to stop him; He knew that tiny Orion didn't stand a chance against the massive dragon. He stood in between the two, trying to get Orion to back down. Eventually, the starry dragon relented, and extinguished his flame. The other dragon roared, and the sound shook the mountain beneath them. Amira was still kneeling on the ground, oblivious to the enormous beast. It clawed it's way towards her, and when Orion got in its way, it batted him aside like he was a mere insect. Once the beast's face was inches away from hers, Amira finally seemed to come back to reality. She looked behind her into the beast's yellow eyes, and smiled.

"Hello." she said to it. 

"What are you doing!? get out of there!" Matthew shouted, watching from where Orion lie motionless on the stone.

"She won't hurt us." Amira said, stroking the Dragon gently. It growled, but did not show any signs of aggression. Matthew didn't move. Orion was still motionless where he lie.

"No..." Matthew said, staring down at his friend.

"She just hurt my friend." Matthew said as he glared at the dragon. It turned it's head to growl at him, and started crawling slowly towards him. It only had two legs, and used it's fore-wings to crawl like a bat pulling itself up a tree. Matthew stood his ground, glaring at the dragon. He had studied dragons, and he knew where their weak-spots were. He could easily kill the beast without a second thought.

"Take your best shot." Matthew challenged it. It growled and reared back, preparing to fire a burst of flames down on him. Matthew whipped a knife out of his bag, ready to attack.

"Stop! you aren't enemies!" Amira said.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't slit this monster's throat." Matthew replied, bent on avenging his closest friend.

"I can't really tell you why, but I just know--" Amira started, but Matthew cut her off, provoked by sudden rage towards the creature before him. Enraged, he spurted what must have sounded like complete nonsense to the dragon.

"It takes a dragon three seconds to prepare to fire, jab from a spear underneath the left wing reaches heart, death instantaneous." Matthew said. The world drowned out around him, and all that was left were the golden eyes of the dragon staring back at him.

"Matthew, stop!" Amira shouted. Matthew didn't even realize how tight he was holding his knife. His hand had gone completely white from the pressure.

"knife directed upwards towards brain through mouth..." Matthew muttered.

"Matthew, you are scaring me!" Amira shouted. The darkness in Matthew's vision cleared, and he looked over at Amira. He dropped the knife, and his eyes softened.

"I'm sorry, I..." Matthew stuttered, surprised at himself.

"What was that!?" Amira said in a shaky voice filled with anger.

"I don't know." Matthew said. Just then, Orion groaned and rolled over. Matthew ran over to him, checking for any wounds. His wing joint was swollen, and he would not be able to fly for a few days, but otherwise he was perfectly fine. Matthew laughed in relief.

"You scared me, buddy." Matthew sighed.

"You scared me!" Amira shouted.

"I know." Matthew said guiltily.

"I thought I knew Matthew Wilde. I guess I was wrong." Amira said as she walked away. The rest of the group followed her, leaving Matthew completely alone.

Sorry for the Massive time-skip, I wanted to get past the part where they wander aimlessly around the Highland Expanse and get to something more exciting!