I gazed down at the ground at least 50 meters below me. A sense of vertigo flowed through me. I felt like I was going to throw up. My hands clutched the talons that surrounded my body tighter. Dimitri and Dr. Minos were being carried with me, the former in the same state of fear I was in.

"You know, Dʰéǵʰom, you could have gotten me a ride that doesn't have to carry me in its talons," I thought.

"It can let you ride on its back. It just doesn't want to," he replied.

"Fair enough."

A while earlier, I was discussing things with Dʰéǵʰom.

"You want to go to the dragon, but you also want to get there first so you can talk to the dragon without endangering anyone," he said.

"That's right," I replied.

"You've got a lot of people that want to protect you. Do you really want to rush ahead of them? It'll just make them mad," Dʰéǵʰom stated. "And it might not save them. If the dragon kills you, your retinue won't know. They'll rush in to join you and die too."

My body heated up. I felt my hands shake. A sense of nausea welled up inside of me.

"Oh, fuck, you're right," I admitted.

"I'll find some safe way to get everyone up there, so take some time to calm down. You can't do this on your own in the most literal way possible," Dʰéǵʰom said.

I took a deep breath.

"Gustav, are you alright?" Joanna asked in a whisper.

"I'm fine. Just talking to Dʰéǵʰom," I answered.

"You're shaking all over. Is something wrong?"

"Yes. We're about to go into a dragon's lair to negotiate with it," I said.

"I can't blame you for being nervous about that," Joanna replied.

"Gustav, I have a plan," Dʰéǵʰom stated.

"Hold on a minute. Dʰéǵʰom has something to say," I said before thinking. "What is it?"

"I can call in favors from another god. I'll have them send a few rocs over," Dʰéǵʰom told me.

"That's perfect! When can they get here?"

"Just a few minutes."

I stood up, hiding my shaking as best as I could.

"Good news. Dʰéǵʰom's sending a few rocs over to carry us to the dragon's cave," I said.

"How are rocks going to help us?" Dimitri questioned.

"I told you. They can carry us," I stated.

Dr. Minos scratched his head.

"Are they magic rocks?" Astrid questioned.

"They're no more magical than other rocks," I said.

"Is Dʰéǵʰom using god magic to make them fly?" Dimitri wondered.

"No. They can fly on their own."

"None of this makes any sense."

"I think we have a misunderstanding. They're not stone rocks, they're bird rocs," I stated.

Silence overcame the area. Everyone looked confused.

"Johannes, you know a lot about monsters. You must know about rocs," I said.

"I'm afraid not," he replied.

I pondered a moment.

"Rocs come from Middle Eastern folklore in my old world. They're probably desert animals here. Considering how rare long-distance travel is here, I doubt most people on this continent have even heard of rocs."

"Wait a few minutes. You'll see what they are," I said.

Several great shadows passed over us. We looked to the sky to see what was there.

Two massive birds flew over us. When they flapped their huge wings, wind blasted over me. I saw that their upper feathers were dark brown. Their lower feathers were light and coppery in color. Their talons were so large and long that they could hold an entire horse.

They gazed at us with orange eyes. Their hooked black beaks looked like they could pierce through elephant hide.

"The rocs are here. They haven't fully grown yet, but they should be able to carry you just fine," Dʰéǵʰom said.

"Do we just get on their backs?" I thought.

"They don't like carrying things on their backs. It makes their feathers feel weird. They'll carry you in their talons."

"What are those things?" Joanna raised her hand at them.

"Don't attack! They're the rocs," I said.

"I've never seen birds that large before," Johannes stated.

"These are young rocs. I've heard that the adults are big enough to carry elephants."

"What's an elephant?"

"A really big animal," I explained.

The rocs swept down, landing in front of us. My companions instinctively flinched away. Then, the birds gazed down at us with cold eyes. One of them made a squawking sound.

"I'll let them know when you're ready," Dʰéǵʰom said.

"Alright," I thought before speaking. "We'll need to decide who goes on which roc."

My heart sank when I said that. There was no getting out of bringing everyone with me. I wanted to keep them safe, no matter what, but I had to accept that they'll go into the dragon's lair with me. Nausea welled in my throat. I forced it down.

Stolen story; please report.

"One of them should be enough to carry us all," Dimitri stated.

"If we were flying on their backs. They don't want to do that, so they'll carry us in their talons."

Dimitri waved his arms through the air.

"No, no, absolutely not," he said. "Birds kill things with their talons. I'm not getting anywhere near those."

My retainers' eyes were filled with hesitation. Even Dr. Minos looked nervous.

"I need to do something to reassure them," I thought.

So, I walked right over to the rocs. My retainers rushed forward. I saw fear in their eyes, but I paid it no attention.

"Dʰéǵʰom, can I pet the rocs' legs?" I asked.

"Yes," he answered.

I stood next to one of the rocs and petted its legs. They felt scaly. The roc then made an affectionate bird noise. Its companion moved closer, squeaking. I petted its legs with one hand and the first roc's legs with the other.

When I turned to my retainers and Dimitri, I saw that they all had dumbfounded looks on their faces.

"Gustav, out of all the insane things you've done, this is in the top three," Joanna said.

"Dʰéǵʰom sent these rocs. They're perfectly safe," I replied.

"My Lord, I believe you. But these rocs are still terrifying. Only giants and dragons are as big as them," Johannes stated.

"You're not afraid to ride on dragons, but you're afraid to ride on rocs?"

"Dragons are sentient. They can talk to us," he replied.

"That's a good point," I thought before speaking. "Alright, fine, we have two other options. We can climb up the mountain's jagged rocks. If the dragon attacks us, we'll have no way to protect ourselves."

"That's a horrible option. What's the other one?" Dimitri asked.

"We build a giant trebuchet and launch ourselves out of it," I answered.

"Rocs sound fine! I can't wait to fly on those birds!" he forced a smile.

"My Lord, I'd be honored to ride on Dʰéǵʰom's rocs," Astrid bowed.

Dr. Minos gave a thumbs up.

"I might have misjudged those birds," Johannes said.

Joanna nodded.

"If we can fly on dragons, the rocs should be fine."

"Alright," I stated. "We'll need to decide who's riding together."

I turned to Joanna and Astrid.

"You two should ride with each other because you're both women. Johannes, you should ride with them since you're with Astrid. You two don't mind being close, right?" I asked.

"We don't," Johannes said.

"I'm happy to ride close to Johannes, my Lord," Astrid stated.

"Then you can be in the middle, Joanna can be on one side of you, and Johannes on the other. That way, you can avoid accidental touching," I said.

"That means I'm riding with you and Dr. Minos?" Dimitri asked.

"Yes. I'd have Johannes ride with us, but we couldn't fit him and Dr. Minos," I stated.

"Right, then. We might as well get this over with."

"Dʰéǵʰom, can you tell the rocs our riding plan?" I thought.

"I'm right on it," he replied.

The rocs beat their wings, sending waves of wind forward. They took to the sky. One of them clutched Astrid, Joanna, and Johannes in its talons. Then, the other grabbed me, Dr. Minos, and Dimitri.

Despite the size of their claws, we were packed in like sardines. Dr. Minos' musty scent flowed into my nose as his fur brushed up against my face. Dimitri grabbed his own nose with one of his arms. The other limb was trapped between his body and the roc's talons. He tried to wiggle it free, but Dr. Minos' body was putting too much pressure on him.

"Look on the bright side. We're not getting impaled by Dr. Minos' horns," I said.

"A small consolation," Dimitri mumbled.

There was a sudden rush of wind as the roc flew high into the air. Pressure mounted on my ears. I saw the ground get smaller below me. My eyes were pointed right at the vertigo-inducing sight.

I closed them, but that just made things worse! Not being able to see the ground at all filled me with dread. The roc's talons were the only things keeping me from falling to my death. I forced my eyes open as I clutched the talons harder.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! This is fucking horrifying!" I thought.

"Just stay calm, Gustav. You can make it through this," Dʰéǵʰom said.

25 meters. 50 meters. 100 meters. 200 meters. I felt like I'd throw up.

The rocs stopped ascending, keeping themselves level. I tried to turn my head to see how close we were to the dragon's cave, but it wouldn't move.

It felt like hours passed as I gazed down. I put every bit of effort I could into hiding my fear. Thoughts of falling to my death filled my mind. Keeping my breath steady was a struggle.

Then, I felt the rocs descend slightly. I saw the mountain under me. We got closer and closer to the cave. Then, the rocs put us down and landed in front of it. While I was certain they moved gracefully animals, I was too busy trying to force down vomit to notice.

"Does anyone need a moment to recover from that?" I asked.

"Yes. I need a few minutes," Dimitri answered.

He collapsed. Dr. Minos caught him before he could hit the ground.

"I'm okay," the boy gave a thumbs up.

Johannes and Astrid stood, but I could tell they were shaken. Joanna stayed up. As for me, I leaned on the stone side of the mountain.

"Dʰéǵʰom, how long were we in the air? It felt like hours," I thought.

"Four minutes," he said.

I suppressed a groan.

"That whole fucking thing was just four minutes?"

"Yes. Rocs are pretty fast," Dʰéǵʰom stated.

I sighed.

"Joanna, do you have any magic that can help us recover from that whole mess?" I asked.

"No," she answered. "Just give everyone a few moments."

I looked at Dimitri, who was trying to stand on shaky knees.

"Looks like you were affected the most," I said.

"Not at all!" he declared. "I'm doing perfectly fine, and..."

Dimitri placed his hand to his mouth. He then ran over to the side of the ledge and hurled. The boy held up one hand, pointed a finger at the sky, and mumbled.

"I'm doing almost perfectly fine!"

He hurled again.

"It's okay, I'm at least 60% fine."

"I can heal that," Joanna said.

Her hands glowed. She walked over to Dimitri and placed them on his back. His body shuddered in relief.

"Thank you," Dimitri stated. "I never got sick from flying before."

"I've never flown like that before," I commented.

"No one has. At least, I don't think so."

He gazed at the rocs. If I had to guess, I'd say he was wondering if these rocs carried people in their claws before.

"We can talk about that later," I said.

Then, I took a deep breath. My nerves stood on end. Fear poured into my body, and I struggled to push it down.

"When everyone's ready, we're going into the dragon's den. I'm not going to lie, our chances of survival are small. If anyone wants to back out now, then..."

"We're not backing out," Joanna stated.

"I've spent years dueling people to the death. A single wrong move would have killed me. This is no different," Astrid said.

"I never met a large dragon before. But I killed other large monsters," Johannes added.

Dr. Minos gave me a thumbs up.

"If we were going to leave, we'd have done it already," Dimitri stated. "Now, what insane plan do you have?"

"Okay. Step 1: we leave our weapons here," I explained.

Then, I held up my hands.

"Before you can object to this, we all know we can't beat the dragon. If it wants to kill us, we're dead. Bringing in weapons might just piss it off."

"That's good logic. It's like how most people shouldn't try running from monsters. They aren't fast enough to escape, and running will encourage the monster," Johannes said.

Everyone put down their weapons after that.

"Step 2: We walk into the dragon's cave with our open hands displayed. We do everything in our power to let the dragon know we're not a threat," I stated.

"Then what?" Dimitri asked.

"Then, we start talking to the dragon," I answered. "And hope it doesn't decide to just kill us."

My heart was beating like a drum played by a certain red puppet. Sweat poured down my brow.

"Let's go," Dimitri said. "We are people of courage and honor. To flee from a battle is worse than death for us."

"For you, maybe," I thought.

Dimitri stood between us and the cave mouth. He turned and made a grand gesture.

"Should we succeed, we'll have wealth, glory, and honor. Should we fail, we die. That's no different than going into battle, and we will all face war sooner or later. We march to victory or death! We march to glory or failure! We march to do something no man or woman has ever done before! Now, let us ride forward as knights!" Dimitri declared.

There was a moment of awkward silence. Astrid looked between Dimitri and I as though looking for orders. Dr. Minos scratched his head.

"What is it?" Dimitri looked confused.

"Lord Dimitri, I'm not a knight," Johannes said.

"Neither am I," Astrid stated.

"Oh...umm..." Dimitri whispered to me. "Gustav, you knighted Dr. Minos, right?"

"No," I replied.

Dimitri muttered under his breath, "There goes our morale."

He then sighed. I could see sweat pouring down his brow. His hands shook.

"Gustav, I was trying to hype myself up with that speech. Can you make one? I'm not sure if I'll be able to go in there without a confidence boost," Dimitri admitted.

"Okay, a speech," I nodded before speaking up. "Whatever happens, the flame of House Blitzburg and House Vladislav must not and will not be extinguished!"

"That was pretty good," Joanna smiled.

"I'm feeling more confident already," Dimitri said. "I'm ready to face the dragon."

"Good," I forced a smile

Then, I took a deep breath.

"Let's go."

I turned and walked into the cave with my comrades following me. There was but a single thought in my head.

"Thank you, de Gaulle. I'm glad I decided to memorize all your speeches."