A Perfect World

Chapter 21

The six of us take off into the air, the blue team, Mascherry and Claire, take off, flipping over backward into the valley below, then rising back up side-by-side. Chay and Moore, the pink team, take off straight into the air, perching on a small lip on the rock face high above us, to plan out an attack most likely. Templa and I take off into the air, then dive down towards Blue, snatching away ribbons as we pass. I’m able to get Claire’s ribbon off her left ankle as I dive just an inch or so away from her, my wings tucked tightly against my back. I tuck it into my pocket as I spread my wings to stop my descent, taking off into the air again to grab Mascherry’s ribbon off her left arm as I dive over her blue wings. I catch it, barely, and Templa follows suit, grabbing Claire’s right-arm ribbon. Claire still has her left arm and right ankle ribbons, and Mascherry has the opposite, her right arm and left ankle.

They dive towards us, each catching one of our ribbons, and each losing another ribbon, leaving Claire with only her left arm ribbon, and Mascherry with only her right ankle. Mascherry had taken my left arm, and Claire had managed to get Temmy’s right ankle, but we’re still better off than them. The two of them retreat towards the mountain, and I remember the pink team. They aren’t on their perch any more and I don’t see them, and at that moment I hear someone behind me. Temmy goes for an attack on blue, and I pull her down, away from where I know pink is attacking from. They fly past us, but continue, swarming Claire, then moving on to Mascherry, both of them now without ribbons.

They continue watching us, calling after Pink, “Good game, guys.” And hovering just out of reach from us and watching. Emory and Chay are both very agile and quick-witted, making it difficult to just dive down on them as we had with Blue, so we move on to a different tactic, one that doesn’t involve us being able to communicate much. We hover around them, using the Blue team members to our advantage. One of us hovers around Claire or Mascherry, occasionally darting around them to half-heartedly go for a ribbon, then the other attacks while they aren’t paying attention. We get each of them down to one ribbon, but they get Templa down to one as well, and me down to two. Templa goes out first, quickly followed by Emory, both falling to quick, clever moves by another player. At this point, the other four are picking sides. Templa and Claire are cheering loudly for me, and Emory and Mascherry cheer for Chay, all calling out what we should do. For a minute after Emory gets out, we just circle each other, watching and waiting for someone to make a move, the sounds of shouting no longer a bother or distraction to us.

Finally, I make a move, sharply changing direction in our circle and diving into Chay. For a minute we wrestle in the air before Chay pulls away from me, both of our ribbons still, almost magically, intact. We circle each other for a second, faking attacks until we aren’t affected anymore. Chay dives for my right ankle, the only other available ribbon other than my right arm, and it breaks away from my skin easily, leaving both of us with only our right arm ribbons left.

“C’mon, angel.” I taunt, referring to her almost angelic form when I had used The Deities’ talisman, that showed me what other gods saw when looking at her.

“If I’m an angel, does that make you a demon?” She says, her competitive spirit showing on her face.

“At least I don’t have rules to follow,” I reply with a smirk, flying high above her and diving down. Before I’m within arms’ length I shoot back up, taunting her. She reaches for my ribbon every so often, coming far too close for comfort a couple times. I dive down again, and she grabs onto me, forcing me to fight. We twist around each other, trying to get the upper hand and claw at the other’s ribbon, trying to get it.

Finally, I get her ribbon, and shout, “Finally!” Panting, I land on the outcropping where the cabin door is just visible in the stone and say, “Good game, guys. You’re really good.” Then I notice she has a black ribbon between her fingers.

“I totally won,” I say with a stupid grin.

“No way, I got yours first,” She replies with a teasing smile.

“I call a tie,” Mascherry says.

“I second that,” Templa says, waving her hand vaguely.

“All in favor say ‘Aye’” Chay says, "Aye.”

“Aye.” The others, except me, echo. After a moment of silence, I say, “Aye.” and we high five each other, our wings melting into a fog of their corresponding color, before turning gold, melting together and seeping into the little cottage to go back to their vials.

“That was awesome! We should play again sometime!” I shout, suddenly very aware of the cliff face behind me, and how easy it would be to fall without wings to catch me. The game had lasted just over an hour, but that was more than enough to get used to the feeling of flight and invulnerability to falling. I shift away from the edge, hating not being able to fly already.

“Yeah! We should play when our friends get here.” I add, really loving the idea of playing with Dan and Meg.

“They should be here in a few days,” Chay says, “Hopefully by the 28th they’ll arrive.” She says, staring into the blue sky.

“Oh, you girls are probably hungry, aren’t you?” Templa suddenly exclaims. We all give words of agreement and go back inside, going back to our studies. Templa calls me over and teaches me potions while she makes some kind of salad, summoning things around the kitchen, different things cutting themselves mid-air, then falling into a large bowl a few feet to Temmy’s right.

“In that cabinet, there are vials labeled either ‘Drakanae Freyos’ or ‘Fremona Veacta Freyos’. We need three of them.” Temmy says, summoning a small jar of a dark gray, ashy powder, and a similar jar of thick, tough rope-like strings coiled around each other inside. I grab three of the vials of different colored liquids, but all labeled the same thing, Fatalain for Dragon Blood, Drakanae Freyos, or Fire Monster Blood, Fremona Veacta Freyos.

One of the vials has pale green blood in it, and another has a dark, dark indigo blood in it, and the last has rose-red blood, like a healthy humans’. I hand them to Temmy, and she sets them down behind the two jars so they don’t roll, summoning a silver bowl from a low cupboard, and a dark wooden spoon from a drawer.

“Dragon Blood,” She says, pointing to the vials, “Phoenix Ash, and Unicorn Heartstring” She continues, pointing to the jar of gray ash and coils of stiff-looking rope in turn, “And finally, Walnut Wood. I’ll show you what the potion does when we finish it.” She says with a wink.

“Take three heartstrings, and coat one in each blood, then cover them in Ash.” She says, then adds as an afterthought, “Carefully. Dragon Blood burns if you get it on your skin.”

I take a heartstring out of the jar and realize it’s actually very flexible. I pop open the green vial, half-noticing that it had changed to an orange-yellow shade, but not bringing it up, and dip the heartstring into it, liquid dripping off the end in fat drops. I twist the Ash jar open and cover the heartstring in the thick, flaky powder, then let Temmy take it from me, setting it in a small pan with a bit of silvery liquid in the bottom that bubbles softly. I do the same with the next two, one vial turning dark red from indigo, and the other turning red-orange from its previously bright red shade.

Once the three strings are in the pan, just barely submerged by the mostly-clear, silver liquid, they glow white, fading through blue, yellow, orange, and red before fading away completely, dissolved in the softly bubbling fluid, the gray flakes of ash breaking apart into glittery particles and becoming suspended as the different substances take on a thick, molasses-like state. Temmy turns the stove off and the mixture cools onto a dark, almost black shell, the inside still visibly liquified.