Dawning Skye

The sun shined down onto the crimson-colored dragon bones, casting a reddish tint on everything within the city. The effect made Sai look like it had been pulled straight out of a fairytale. Trees, green pastures, and farms rotated every several acres all around the city walls, similar to Alcon.

Like most other castle towns, the old palace-turned-senate building was on a central hill in the middle of the city. The sides gently sloped, making it seem almost flat to those on the ground, but Skye had a bird’s eye view from atop of Zazzy’s back. As she looked over the breathtaking masterpiece that was the city, Zazzy asked if it was time to start.

Skye looked over at the crow flying next to her and Zazzy, and shouted to it; “Hey Mister Caw-Caw! How much longer til we can start?!”

The bird bobbed it’s head several times as it flew alongside them, then squawked out; “Drop that! Drop that ya dumb bird!”

Skye laughed out loud hard before yelling; “Nice ta see Ronnie’s teachin’ ya a proper vocabulary!”

“Now Momma?! Can we go now?!” Zazzy asked excitedly.

Not using their telepathic connection, Skye shouted out; “Let’s let’em know we’re up here first! Say hello ta the nice people, me lassie!”

Taking in the biggest breath of her life, Zazzy unleashed a roar that shook the heavens themselves. As she let their presence be known, both Skye and Zazzy felt a shift in the air around them. Any traces of clouds began to dissipate, revealing the living legend to the citizens of Sai’s capital; compliments of Genie’s Air magic.

.....

At first, most of the people flinched as the ground and buildings around them rattled and shook. As soon as it had registered what it must’ve been, everyone turned their eyes to the sky. An awestruck silence fell over the city as a real dragon projected a massive shadow overhead.

The daze only lasted for about a fraction of a second. After the moment had passed, the city erupted. The people cheered, cried, and started to pray as the being that their culture nearly centered around soared freely above them. As the citizens cried out for the mystical creature, Zazzy roared again in response..

Folding her wings in, Zazzy dove into a free fall. Skye laughed as most of her body lifted off of her scaly bairn, except for her tightly-gripped hands and feet. While practicing, she had realized that if she put her feet forward a bit, she could lock herself in place by straining her ankle and achilles tendon against Zazzy’s spikes. Skye’s butt still lifted up during loops and free falls, but at least she didn’t actually fall off anymore.

As Zazzy dove, the people began to panic. When her wings extended at the last moment, and a huge gust of wind kicked up around the people below her; they cheered and called out to her instead of being afraid. Flying just high enough to clear the buildings, Zazzy was perfectly visible to the citizens of Sai that crowded the streets.

Many had heard rumors that the sacred dragon was being abused by the Alconians, but that was clearly not the case. As she flew by, no one could see a single scratch on her, nor even a saddle for safety. The speculation was brought up and dropped almost instantly as the two flew higher and higher..

After doing a full circle around the capital, Zazzy and Skye had started to do aerial acrobatics. Skye had jumped off of Zazzy’s back, and was literally swinging from foot, to paw, to tail in complicated patterns. She’d let go, and fall through the air a bit before Zazzy would swoop in and catch her. It was a team effort that could easily result in Skye’s death if they made a mistake, but they both had absolute trust in each other.

Zazzy had dropped Skye several times during training at first, due to a fear of hurting her mother. The third time that they had practiced, Zazzy had accidentally crushed her mother’s hands. Skye was fine after a bit of healing, but ever since then; Zazzy had practiced gently grabbing small objects by herself until she had felt completely comfortable doing so.

As Skye went from her tail to her front-right paw, Zazzy said; “The best part is about to start! Are you ready, Momma?!”

Skye grinned cheekily; “Aye! Let’s do this, me scaly bairn!”

Zazzy roared again, although not as loudly because she was so close to the people below. If she roared like she had the first couple of times, then the citizens closest to her would go deaf. Skye was used to how loud Zazzy could get, plus she could heal herself if the noise became too much, but the people below were different.

As Zazzy climbed to a predetermined altitude, the noises for the spectators grew. Frantic shouts and cries filled the city as attacks for seemingly every direction were heading towards them. Right as they were about to be pummeled to death, Zazzy whipped around in a circle as she released an overzealous amount of fire..

Dragon’s fire was rumored to burn as hot as the sun, and the display before the people of the city gave credence to it. Water, rocks, bullets, fire; nothing lasted once touched by Zazzy’s flames. The attacks came in a rapid barrage, but Zazzy destroyed almost everything that came their way. And whatever she missed, Skye took care of.

Seeing a large boulder with an unnatural red mark on it, Zazzy knew that the finale was quickly approaching. They had only been flying above the city for about ten minutes, but the mages throwing the attacks could only go on for so long. As she started to fly lower, the attacks followed, and the two completely separated while falling..

Genie smiled to himself as he watched Skye and Zazzy send the people into a panic again. This was the part of the routine that they always had problems with during practice. It made Genie especially nervous since he wouldn’t be able to catch Skye with his magic without allowing the tons of debris to fall on the citizens below.

‘Please let this work! It has to!’

As the prayer crossed Genie’s mind, a small gap in the attacks allowed Zazzy to grab Skye before they came too close to the ground. The point was to thrill the citizens of Sai, not give them heart attacks. As Genie’s heartbeat started to even back out, something disturbed the air near the northern side of the capital..

As Genie turned his head, he saw the massive boulder for the finale launching earlier than it was supposed to. It had iron ore mixed in, making it incredibly dense. He tried to slow it down with his Air magic, but the boulder had taken three Tank mages to launch it to begin with.

“LOOK OUT, SKYE!” Genie screamed with fear in his voice.

Instead of maneuvering like she had during every practice, Zazzy shifted upward as Skye lept from her backside, and cracked the boulder in half with just her fist. After she had cleared the falling halves, Zazzy used her tail to smash the falling chunks into small pieces before diving after Skye. As Genie used his magic to stop the debris from falling onto the citizens, he prayed that Zazzy would reach Skye in time..

The wind wizzed in her ears as she plummeted towards the ground. As Skye fell, she noticed a giant water fountain in the middle of a park area. Tapping into her Water magic, she pulled as much as she could to herself. Drawing it to her extended arms, Skye fanned out the water like a sail catching the sea air to slow her fall enough for Zazzy to get to her.

The water stretched out like transparent wings, and refracted the light from the sun. As Skye quickly floated down, the water cast rainbows against the crowds, eliciting awestruck murmurs from the spectators. She looked like a fairy clad in black armor as Zazzy descended, and gently caught her on her back.

The citizens exploded with enthusiastic cheers and praises for the show, and clamored for more. As Skye let her water wings drop away, she turned her gaze towards the palace. As she stared in the direction, her stomach dropped as she lept from Zazzy’s backside again.

Zazzy’s heart dropped as she watched her mother break a giant metal spear in half, then fall. They were too close to the buildings for Zazzy to move too fast, otherwise she would collapse the ones closest to her. Thinking fast, Zazzy turned her body, and got her tail as close to her mother as she could..

Reaching out, Skye barely grabbed Zazzy’s tail in time to avoid being impaled on a building’s antenna. Since she had to keep moving to stay airborne, Zazzy flew dangerously close to the roofs of the buildings. Allowing Skye to swing up onto her tail, then climb her way back onto Zazzy’s back again.

Once positioned, they flew directly towards the center of the city; where the Senate building was..

************

“Where did that spear come from?! Did anyone see?!” Senator Lei called out, but no one had answered.

He’d known his brother’s plan ahead of time, and helped coordinate the information being spread. But there was never anything mentioned to him about the city’s defenses being used. Knowing that fact, Senator Lei glanced at Senator Tokuga with distain..

‘Is that fool trying to start a war?! It is known that King Magnus dotes upon his youngest son and his wife! Is he really dumb enough to risk a war? For what?! The only thing that I can think of is..’

As Mei’s father glanced at his enemy again, he had no doubt in his mind.. ‘That fool is after the dragon’s blood.. It’s the only explanation.. What is in the maze that has him so fixated?’

As the thought crossed his mind, Senator Lei was distracted by another Senator calling out; “Look! Up there! It’s the dragon! It’s coming this way!”

Tension filled the courtyard of the Senate building as Zazzy fluttered above, then let her weight drop. The building and ground shook as she landed and towered over them. Right before Zazzy had landed, Skye had jumped from her back, and landed at the same time as her dragon.

As Skye straightened up, so did Zazzy. The imagery was extremely intimidating, making Skye seem as frightening as the dragon she was completely in sync with. As Zazzy let a low growl rumble out, Skye took three steps towards the senators. Most stepped back out of fear, but Senator Lei smiled as he offered a hand, and said; “You’ve grown into a strong and beautiful woman, Skye Moonstone. Welcome to the Republic of Sai.”

Skye beamed at him as she replied; “Thank ya, Uncle. Tis wonderful ta see you after so many years. And thank you for the warm welcome.. I just have one question..”

“What do you need, my dear? All of Sai is at the disposal of the Dragon’s Guardian,” Mei’s father said with an uneasy feeling growing.

Skye maintained her polite expression as she answered; “Who tried ta shoot me scaly bairn with a spear? Cause whoever it was is dyin’ today..”