About two hours before they were to land, sirens began blaring throughout the plane, making everyone jump and grab something stable nearby. Over the intercom, the pilot shouted, "We're going to crash! Brace yourselves in any way you can!" Shortly afterwards, a line of parachutes came out of the east side of the plane.
I can keep us from having to jump, I just need everyone in the same room, Stella thought as she came up with the plan to freeze everyone, including herself, in ice thick enough to take the brunt of the force from hitting the ground. "Arthur, I need you to go get the pilot. Taylor, you'll need to grab something warm for you and Arthur. Everyone else, stay with me." They all followed her orders, with Taylor grabbing two thick blankets from the bedrooms before Arthur had returned.
"How did this happen?" Ender asked, having to yell over the noise.
"Somehow the controls got overcharged!" the pilot yelled back. Sparks flew from the vents after he said it, and a bolt of lightning struck the right wing of the plane, leading to the plane tilting left and making them fall even faster than before. Shortly after, they began to see a vast expanse of snowy trees and a large, gaping hole in the earth with a trail leading to the likely path of destruction left in its wake.
That must be from Xeno! We'll know where to go, at least, when we get out of the ice, Stella mentally shouted to herself. When she saw that they were beneath more of the clouds and the ground below them became easily describable, she made a large frost nova and threw it at the floor beneath them, which immediately began to freeze everyone over in a thick layer of ice, which would serve as their shield. "Hold your breath, this'll be a hard landing!" she yelled shortly before the ice completely covered her. They all followed her orders, with Taylor and Arthur having the most difficulty doing so because of the cold, and the plane crashed into some of the trees below them, leaving a giant hole in the left side and making the plane lean forward before it fell onto the forest floor. By then, everyone had gotten out of the ice and the plane before following the trail.
A few minutes passed before anyone said a word, and before another was spoken, the plane exploded in the distance. The heat of the explosion radiated up to them, nearly making Stella faint. Heat sickness really takes its toll on her, jeez, Arthur thought. Farther along the path, they saw the remains of the trees that used to be there, splintered and almost uprooted entirely. "I knew he didn't really care about what was in his way, but c'mon, this could be mistaken for any ground dragon!" he angrily yelled, kicking a few loose rocks while doing so before throwing a ball of fire into the air, which exploded after about ten seconds of being launched.
"Arthur, calm down! We know that it wasn't another dragon, and anyone that comes out here and actually takes the time to look at it will know, too!" Johann shouted. "Besides, you need your energy for when we get to him. I don't think we'll be able to rest before then, anyway, given the situation." By this point, they had passed a frozen river, two animal dens, a cave, and still couldn't see any buildings nearby, even with Stella and Taylor checking every fifteen minutes. There had been noticeably less and less destroyed trees found while they were walking up until they noticed unusual hills and craters in the ground ahead of them. The scent of magical smoke was also in the air.
"So does anyone else think that we're not only dealing with Xeno?" Taylor asked. "I'm smelling some magic." Before long, they came across a bundle of trees burning with blue flames. Clouds suddenly formed and a lightning bolt struck the ground right in front of it, creating more of the blue fire, and, as sudden as they formed, the clouds dissipated afterwards. So we're going up against a skilled magician. Good to know.
"Anyone got their scent? We need to find whoever's doing this," Stella began, "because if we don't, who knows how long we'd have until we're their main target?" Immediately after she finished, she and Ender heard snow crunching from about twenty feet away behind one of the thicker trees moving towards them. Everyone else began hearing it soon after and prepared for a possible fight in every way they could. When no one arrived after about three minutes, they decided it was best to split into groups of four and search the area for them, one of the groups staying by the burning trees and the other scanning an outer perimeter. "Johann, Ender, Sadie and I will stay here. Arthur, use your fireball flares if you find anything. Be prepared for a fight at any spot along the search." After the other group left, they began gathering twigs and branches to use as potential bait for the lightning caster.
After about fifteen minutes of total silence, excluding the sounds of the occasional breeze, Ender asked, "Was this a territorial thing, Stella?" after noticing that her scales were slowly becoming black on her wings and that she hadn't frozen them over. "You seem pretty stressed out, and not just because of this magic person," he noted just a second before the clouds above them began converging for a third time. He heard running and heavy breathing coming from the north, signaling that the others had seen or heard it as well, and someone whispering in the distance with such a quietness that he couldn't tell exactly where they were. This isn't some novice we're up against if they can do this to us. This is either a dragon, another spirit, or a master wizard.
"Ik von nhatum, va nuri!"
YOU ARE READING
Crystal Folly
General FictionThe official re-polish of Distant Travel is here! A lot of fluff was cut out, which should lead to a better reading experience! Two years. That was how long their work break was supposed to be. That's what they hoped would be true. Well, at least af...
