Don't Forget

#54 Flying Lessons

Vikk really hates the plan. In fact, he's rather go cliff jumping. At least he wouldn't be so high up doing that. This is just crazy.
     Quinten crouches behind the Caelum sorcerer, spreading out their wings. Two other girls stand nearby with smug expressions. Another winged hybrid watches, looking pissed off.
Both princes and the General are also there to see them off. Most of the troops know the plan now. Ironically, they're using the door to Seto's old house. Azeal wrote his name on it with blood runes. Vikk thinks that part is kinda creepy.
     "I still think we should take horses or something......", Azeal's protesting is weak, and he knows it. The thought of flying again has become too tempting.
     "Are you kidding? I've been wanting to do this ever since I started the first time!", Quinten smiles. He's finally gotten Azeal's wings spread out. There's less to do since he reset the breaks last time. Quinten is still low on magic, so Vikk is a little confused on how he's going to pulls this off.
The two girls take a small pocket knife and each cut their hand open. The one with the orange eyes cuts both, and gives the knife for Quinten to cut his left. Yep, sorcerers are creepy.
Quinten puts his right hand on Azeal's back, and takes the orange eyed girl's hand in is left. She takes the other girl's bleeding hand. All three pairs of their eyes light up their respective colors.
Nothing noticeable happens, but Vikk can see Azeal's eyes widen in surprise. He picks his wings up off the ground and leaves them half way unfurled. He can actually move them now. Quinten drops his hand, smiling along with his two helpers.
     "Well? Are you gonna do a trick for us?", the green eyes girl roughly pulls Azeal to his feet. His wings flare out to help keep his balance, and then fold neatly back up.
     "Your bones are healed, but I can't build the muscle back up", Quinten explains, "You'll have to take it easy for a while. No fancy stuff, if you can avoid it".
"It doesn't matter what your wings look like, outcast. It doesn't change whatever you've done", Delini snaps, "I'll re-break every bone you have at the end of this". She doesn't trust Azeal at all. He's in exile, and therefore untrustworthy. He might as well be scum on the bottom her shoe.
"I'd like to see you try", the orange eyed sorcerer hisses.
"Personal feelings don't matter right now", Vikk interrupts, "We have a job to do. You can sort this all out later". Preferably when he doesn't have to be involved. Vikk has to try and keep the peace between the two Caelum.
     Azeal accepts the insult, and doesn't try to defend himself. He gives his wings a few experimental flaps. He never hoped to fly again. If it's only this one last time, he's still thankful. A Caelum isn't complete when they can't touch the sky. It's been slowly crushing his spirit.
     Vikk has been dreading this. He understands that he has to go with them, but Azeal isn't strong enough to carry him. Delini will have to do it. Not only does Vikk have be hauled thousands of feet into the air, but he'll be hanging off a girl the entire time. This is not one of his finer moments. At least Delini is a little more polite to him.
     "You should see the capitol if you go straight north. I'm not sure how fast you two can fly, but Dan says there's a church you can land on a few hours before dawn. A GoldenWing will light up the highest tower for you", Prince Adam explains. It's only been a few hours since he gave his speech.
     "Rest is im-important, but do not be lazy", Prince Don adjusts his mask, "The armies w-wait for your suc-success".
     Vikk and Lachlan don't have much to say to each other. It's been a month since they're reunion, and neither of them wanted to separate so soon.
     Azeal goes first. His movements are hesitant, almost afraid. The Caelum open up his large wings and looks over at them in hope. He gets a running start, sprinting forwards before beating his wings powerfully. He lifts off the ground with ease and gains more height. The three sorcerers on the ground cheer and whistle. Delini huffs.
     The Caelum girl takes a few step before jumping and beating her own wings. She gains a little height, but then wheels around back at the group. Everyone runs to get out of the way except for Vikk.
     It's terrifying to see a winged girl hurtling towards you. Vikk yelps as he's snatched up, being flipped onto Delini's back. The entire world tilts as she beats her wings to go higher. Vikk can feel her wings moving underneath his chest. If only he was taller, he wouldn't of had to do this. The ground falls away at a startling rate. Vikk won't admit that he closed his eyes until they leveled out.
     "Human, are you still alive?", Delini's words are barely audible over the wind. She's a little confused about Vikk's death grip around her neck. Caelum don't understand fearing high places.
     "I'm fine!", Vikk shouts. He doesn't feel like chatting. He can see the ground over the top of Delini's wing, and he doesn't like it. This is going to be a long day.
     Azeal flies a little lower, reveling in the fierce breeze. He feels closer to the sun and sky; he's free. That feeling compares to nothing else on the ground. His wings may not be as strong as they once were, but he's flying all the same. He owes Quinten, Valana, and Tristle for pushing him.
Long distance flying is mostly gliding. Delini is almost board, even with Vikk's added weight to watch out for. Caelum fight and play when they fly in groups, but she won't do it with an outcast.
Azeal doesn't see it that way. He grew up flying by himself. After a month on the ground, he's gonna have fun, weak wings or not.
Vikk watches the Caelum dive, falling about ten feet before his wings snap open again. He's lifted up above Delini, laughing. Vikk doesn't know Azeal well, but he thinks of him as very quiet and withdrawn. Those were only the effects of being grounded.
Delini feels like snapping at the outcast, but he wouldn't hear him. She'll just wait until his wings give out, and she has to glide them both down.
It doesn't happen. By the time Delini's pride lets her take a break, the sun is dipping below the horizon. They choose a wooded area to land and pick out a clearing to drop into.
Vikk has never been so happy to touch the dirt. He all but slides off Delini's back, his nerves frayed and stretched. It didn't get any easier.
Azeal lands after her and stirs up another round of leaves and dirt. When his wings fold up, they're shaking slightly with exertion. There's still a smile on his face.
"We'll rest hear for an hour before continuing. We made good time, but I'm not sure how far the capital is", Delini is slightly impressed that Azeal held the pace, but she still hates his guts.
"I think we're gonna get there a little early, actually", Vikk mumbles from his puddle of self pity. He was able to recognize a few landmarks that he's seen on maps. Caelum maps are probably way more accurate nacagator, assuming they even use maps.
"Alright. We should probably make sure there are no trails nearby, but we should be pretty safe", Azeal looks around. Two hybrids in the middle of GoldenEye might look a little suspicious.
"You two stay here. I'll go scout around", Delini starts to walk off.
"Let me come with you. I can help", Azeal starts to follow, but stops when Delini glares at him. She doesn't want his help, even if he is a good flyer.
Delini storms off as the two boys watch her leave. They settle down a little ways from the clearing, not having much to talk about. The other Caelum eventually comes back and lays down with them. Vikk thinks that both of them actually dozed for a while. Flying must be exhausting. Vikk has a hard time imaging what jogging for hours would feel like.
Pretty soon, it's time to go. Azeal has a harder time taking off after his wing muscles have stiffened up, but he sucks it up and flies. For Vikk, being wrenched away from the earth is a little better the second time. He expects it when his stomach wants to exit out of his ears.
Night flying is a little more daunting then during the day. Most of the land looks like one black mass. Any light that there is looks much brighter. The stars look like still fireflies, and there are little lights on the ground. They come from a fireplace or lit lantern in the cities.
     The Caelum use stars to tell directions. Delini expected Azeal to be terrible at it, since everything an outcast does is bad, but Azeal is eventually in the lead while following the starry path. He's spent years watching stars from his old home on the cliff.
     Vikk knows they're at the capitol when he sees all the torches on the walls. Delini and Azeal fly high just as a precaution, but they're ghosts in the darkness.
     "Where's you tower?", Delini asks him as they circle. Vikk looks down, but it's easy to see that there's a large church in the middle of the capital. He's been inside a few times. The highest spire is lit up like a beacon. There are large windows open to the sky on every side. It'll be a tight fit to land with their wings.
     Delini attempts it first. She's hesitant to fly so low, but she glides down so that she's level with one of the windows. She doesn't plan to fly straight in. When Delini gets close, she turns her wings up sharply and grabs the window ledge with her hands. She hangs off the tower while Vikk clumsily crawls over her to get inside. She pulls herself up afterwards.
     Azeal comes in too fast. By the time he realizes, he slams into the side of the tower. The air is knocked out of him and he starts to slip down. Azeal is surprised when someone grabs onto his arms and starts pulling him up. Delini is able to pull Azeal inside after he recovered enough to climb.
     "Um, thank you for-", he starts.
    "Forget it. If you get too injured now, this is all for nothing", Delini snaps, but it's more forced this time.
     The three find a staircase down, and follow it until they reach the bottom floor. Torches are lit on the wall, and there's a man waiting there. He shoots to his feet when Vikk walks down with the hybrids.
"Wow, your right on time!", the GoldenWing smiles, "Lord Dan said that you would come and then get an army in here, but I'm still confused about that part".
"Azeal is doing that", Vikk points at the Caelum, "We're just the escort".
The sorcerer doesn't waste time. He closes the door to the stairwell, and bites his thumb so that is bleeds. Azeal writes his name in runes, and Vikk shivers when his eyes turn pitch black. He's activating the door.
He was born with black magic. Black magic doesn't work the same as other sorcerer classes. Azeal's body doesn't make and store magic like Quinten can. His magic feeds off his own energy and the energy of anything that he touches. Powerful black magic users rely on killing living things for energy. Azeal never wants to cross that line.
Th blood runes glow when Azeal opens the door. The stairwell is gone. It's replaced by a small, as small as a closet, room. A pile of seashells and shiny rocks are swept to one side. As soon as Azeal enters the room, his energy starts to drain. It's small compared to what other things he's done.
There's another door on the other side of the room. The Caelum opens it. A GoldenEye soldier jumps, spinning to face the door.
"Come! It's open. Get everyone through", Azeal is in a hurry to get this done. This spell will eat up his energy as long as something living is in the room.
Azeal backs out as the soldier runs off. Pretty soon, they're streaming through the gate. The Caelum sorcerer stumbles a little.
The church won't hold everyone, so the attack is starting immediately. Different units are already leaving the church after coming through Azeal's door.
There's so many people. When about half the soldiers are through, Azeal's knees buckle. He falls to the ground and squrunches his eyes shut. He feels so weak, but the gate must stay open.
"What's wrong with you, outcast?", Delini looks down at him. She saw his black eyes, so she's scared to touch him.
"My magic.... I don't know if I can do it", Axeal's voice is weak. He digs his nails into his scalp and wavers before falling over.
Delini doesn't know what to do. Nobody else is paying attention to what's happening; they're just running through the doorways and taking more of Azeal's energy. He's an outcast, and she shouldn't care, but Delini does. She wants to help. Whatever Azeal did, he's never shown anything benevolent since she's known him.
The Caelum girl puts both her hands on Azeal's arm. By the time soldiers stop pouring through the gate, they're both laying on the floor and panting.
"Why...... did you do that?", Azeal doesn't bother to turn his head. It seems like too much work at the moment.
"I couldn't watch...... you die, Azeal", Delini says. She had no idea what black magic did to the user until now. It feels like she's been flying for days rather then hours.
That's first time that she's used Azeal's name. Somehow, someway, he's earned her respect. Delini doesn't see him as an outcast anymore.
The final battle has started.