She was woken by a warm beam of morning sunlight, creeping onto her face. She slowly sat up, failing to remember falling asleep in the first place. She was astonished she managed to rest at all with the aching she felt jolting through her wings and down her legs though the pain was more identifiable now. Instead of her body feeling like one blurr of pain with larger amounts of agony sprinkled throughout, some select parts of her body felt fine now, only a few remnants of pain left.
Her wings felt the worst, confident at least one of them was broken, if not both. If she couldn’t find a way to repair them, she might never fly again. She began to shrink into herself, hiding her head beneath her arms. Her legs felt better than they did yesterday and It seemed unlikely that they were broken. Though her legs still ached, perhaps she would be able to walk now but without a destination, it would be pointless. She sat in complete silence, gathering her thoughts and reviewing her options. She was surrounded by unknown land without a map or even a compass. Her mother was back home, hoping for a letter from Silah that she may never be able to send. She needed help but she wouldn’t even know where to look. Outside the barn would be a start but where would she go from there?
Her thinking was eventually interrupted by the slow plops of treading, coming from something nearby, followed by rustling. She lifted her head and saw a long, scaly tail with what looked like a cluttered cluster of spikes at the end of it, vanishing into tall grass on the other side of the barn. Silah’s entire body went stiff. She looked through the blades of tan grass, picking out the creature blending into it. At first she noticed its small beady eyes placed on top of its scaly face peering at her. It had dark markings around its eyes and down its elongated spine. It had two, long, pointy fangs poking out from its scale covered muzzle, dripping with venom.
She scanned through her mind, recalling every creature she had ever known about and couldn’t come up with one that looked quite like this. She didn’t have long to observe it as it darted at her. She let out a startled yelp, her hands snapping onto her suitcase to use it as a shield. She pulled her legs as close to her body as possible, creating as much distance between her and it as she could. The creature leapt at the suitcase, digging its claws into the leather, its fangs stabbing through the top of it, just below the handle.. Taking advantage of the creature's distracted state, she slammed the suitcase down onto the ground with the creature clinging to it. The creature let out a deep and ghastly screech as it was slammed between the suitcase and the ground. It squeezed out from under the suitcase and scrambled on top of it. It crouched down, preparing to lunge as Silah latched her hands on top of its neck, just below its head. She flipped it over, twisting her hand around to pin it onto its back with one concise motion. The creature squirmed in her grasp, screeching and snarling at her as it fought for its freedom.
“Shut up! Shut up and leave me alone! I want nothing to do with ANY of this!” She shouted at the struggling beast, tears pricking at the corner of her eyes.
Her hands shook as she held it in place, terrified of losing her grip even a smidge. She felt the creature start to squirm out of her grasp as it clawed at her hands, its short arms barely missing them. Hot tears streamed down her cheeks while she looked into the little monsters' pitch black eyes. At home, this would be an extraordinary new discovery but here, it was just a part of the nightmare.
Her gaze lifted as she heard the sound of heavy footsteps running towards her, looking through the barn's entrance to see where they came from. Their source was a figure, rushing towards the barn, wielding what seemed to be a battle axe. The figure's face was covered by a copper colored, stone mask with matching armor covering his arms and legs. The figure hurried into the room and before Silah knew what was happening, the axe was slammed down on top of the creature’s lower neck, its head rolling onto the ground. Silah’s hands flew away from the creature as the axe came down upon it.
“It bite you?” The figure asked as he lifted the axe, placing it in a holster on his back.
“...No.” She replied, looking down at the slayed creature. Its round, dark eyes stared up at her, its jaws stuck in a perpetual scream. As her fear faded, her gaze grew rueful. A truly unique creature, now slayed.
“Good, would have killed you.” The figure responded to her. She looked up at him finally, noticing the several layers of torn cloth he wore, colored with dull reds, tans and browns. His head was covered by a hood, matching the reddish brown hue of one of his layers. His most noticeable feature was his missing wings, the only thing adorning his back was the stone battle axe. His armor looked like it had talons, in a way, though they more closely resembled claws. She noticed the mask's empty gaze peering down at her, as if pondering her. She inched back from him, deeper into her corner.
“You know where food is?”
Silah shook her head. “..I don’t know where I am or even how I got here. This place looks very… Different, from my home.”
“You don’t know what’s going on either, then?” He asked before taking a seat on the ground across from her, removing his mask and setting it down beside him as he used his free hand to pull his hood back. He had pale, grayish, coarse skin and narrowed green eyes with slitted pupils dotting the middle of them. A trail of blue scales ran over the bridge of his nose, sparsely speckled with the occasional red scale that matched the ones under his tear ducts. Each of his ears looked like a pair of triangles emerging from the side of his head with more scales covering the tops of them. The color of his messy hair was a pale, faded brown that seemed as lifeless as the tone of his skin.
“Maybe we can help one another," he suggested. As he spoke, it seemed his lips failed to match his voice, as if they were somehow off sync with one another.
“How?” She asked, eyes locked onto him, reviewing his every bizarre feature.
“I need a way to find food and you’re wounded.” As he explained, Silah began to notice his mouth full of sharp, pointed teeth and long fangs. “I’ll help keep you alive and you can help me identify food.”
“...I don’t know where or… What, this place is. I’ll help, but I’m not very knowledgeable.”
“Where I come from, everything from the overlands, will kill you. Even the ‘food’. So as long as wherever you’re from has passive surface food, you’ll be more knowledgeable than I am.”
She stared up at him a bit confused for a moment before nodding. “I’ll do what I can then.” She responded, shifting herself out of the corner she squeezed herself into. “I’m Silah Ferns.”
“Reim.” He replied, grabbing his mask as he stood back up, offering her his other hand. “Can you walk?”
“Not for long… Why doesn’t your mouth match your words?”
“Yours don't match either. I bought a magic rock. I assume it’s that.”
“What?”
“Come on, we need better shelter.” He said as he placed his mask back over his face, pulling his hood back on.
“I can’t get very far.” Silah replied, looking up at him.
“I’ll carry you.” He removed the axe off his back and set it down beside him. “Are your legs broken?”
“No, just sore I think.”
Reim nodded before crouching down, facing his back towards her. “You’ll need to climb on.”
Silah gave him an uncertain glance before pulling herself onto his back with little other options. She gritted her teeth together as the movement jostled her wings. He tucked his arms beneath her legs and reached to grab his axe. He took a moment to snatch the tail of the creature he slaughtered with the same hand, and leaned a bit to grab Silah’s suitcase with the other before rising back up to his feet and moving out of the barn with a steady pace.
“Reim, do you know where we are?”
“No, not really. Some of it looks familiar, like the drake that attacked you and some of this terrain, but everything else is new to me.”
“We really are in the same vessel then.”
As they exited the barn, Silah looked around, finally able to see the landscape surrounding her in the light of day. She saw the towers made from stone and glass, each formed with perfect symmetry though they were now cracked and few were crumbling. The trees in the distance were dappled in purples and blues and further behind them. Miles away, mountains rose up into the sky, their peaks reaching above the clouds. Their bases were decorated with colors of orange, green, purple and blue gradually fading into a palette of grays as they neared the peaks. Closer to her was an infinite stretch of flat land with the occasional rather large rock formation dotting the land alongside the scarce dappling of green and purple foliage. To the right, she saw a metal, triangular tower far off, towards the horizon, adorned with webbed wings on their sides whose tips came together to point towards the skies. She tilted head at the odd sights before eventually spotting a cluster of buildings in the distance surrounded by a small forest. It seemed close enough that they could reach it by sundown.
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“I think that’s a town,” Silah commented, pointing in the direction of it.
“..Where?”
“Right up there, it’s far but we can make it there around evening, maybe sooner.”
“I don’t see it, but I won't carry you for that long, we’ll need a break.”
She let out a short, disappointed sigh in reply. “If we’re going to need breaks anyways, I want to walk.”
“You said you couldn’t for too long.” Reim said, turning his head to look back at her.
“That is correct,” She replied, clambering off of Reim’s back and landing onto her talons, causing Reim to pause and glance behind him. Silah motioned for them to keep moving, and so they did. “You said that lizard thing is a drake? What is that?”
“It’s like a dragon, just no wings. This one’s a pain with its venom.” Reim replied, placing the Axe back into its holster again.
“What's a dragon?”
“...Scaled beast with big wings. Come in all colors and sizes.”
“Is there different species of them?” She asked, nearly interrupting him.
“Uh.. There's wyverns, wyrms, amphitheres, so on. Only real difference between them is the number of limbs they have and sometimes their size.” As he explained, his voice sounded so flat and monotone, a little overly deep, reminding her of how small children act when they pretend to be serious.
“Can you tell me about all of them?” She asked, her voice rising in pitch as it grew faster. Silah winced, feeling her wings start to shift upwards before a sharp pain caused them to fall back to drooping.
“I am not a book.”
She pouted as she kept pace close behind him, already feeling the harsh aching of her legs again.
“Can you tell me where you’re from at least?” She asked.
“..Desert called Drakon. Named after its… Residents. From the sky to the underground, whole place is filled with dragons. Surface in particular, so bad we’re all forced to live beneath it.”
“That’s fascinating! If-” She cheered before getting interrupted.
“It’s not fascinating.”
“If, you live underground, then what do you eat?” She continued
“Fruit and vegetables and whatever dragons we catch that are large enough to eat.”
“How do you gather fruits and vegetables in the desert? Wouldn’t it be barren?”
“The desert is, but under it, there's plenty to eat.”
“.,.Astounding.” She whispered to herself before continuing. “Where I am from, the only thing you can eat underground is roots and mushrooms, as far as I know. What type of fruits and vegetables are there?”
“There's a bunch. If we come across an opening, you can see them yourself. No more questions.”
“Wh- But there's still so many!” She complained.
“There is. I’ll ask some now.” He replied, tone firm.
She glared at the ground as she was denied invaluable information. She wished she could continue questioning him but as she watched the headless lizard swing in his grip, she decided to comply. “Alright, what is it?”
“Did you feel the earth shake and see an orange flash before you arrived here?”
“I was flying so I didn’t notice an earthquake.. But I saw that flash.”
“Do you know anything about it?”
“No, of course not, it’s nothing like anything i’ve ever seen..”
The only reply she got was a brief nod, and then a long stretch of silence. It didn’t seem like he had anything more to say and had little patience for Silah’s curiosity. Without her precious questions, all there was left to do was walk. As she hobbled behind him, she was able to entertain herself with thoughts and hypotheses about the world of dragons and underground plants she knew so little about. In her mind, she began forming a list of questions for Reim and sorted them out from most important to least, carefully considering and organizing each and every thought she had, forgetting about the agony and misery she was in until eventually she received a reminder.
Her legs grew weaker with each step she took, every lift of her talon felt like she was pulling a brick off the ground only to place it back down onto a bed of nails. Finally, her legs had enough and collapsed beneath her. Upon hearing the thud, Reim spun around to check on her. He crouched down to meet her eyes, she felt him frown down at her from under the mask as Silah pushed herself upright.
“I just need a break…” She mumbled as she began to move back up to her feet.
“I can tell you already had a few.” He responded, doing a quick motion towards her wings, standing up along with her. “Just let me carry you.”
Silah glared at him as she felt her legs wobble beneath her while she tried to regain her balance. She fell back onto the ground only moments later. Before she knew it, the involuntary piggy back ride had continued. The two wandered towards the distant, taking a break every two hours or so, Silah estimated. During the breaks, Silah had her nose buried in her journal, occasionally asking Reim a question or two about the world he was from though she kept her focus on the drake he carried. By the time sunfall had come upon them, she learned that it was more specifically called a Viperian Drake, named for its long body and fast striking attack methods. She had filled two pages of her journal with new found knowledge and observations. During one of their breaks, Silah had also spotted a small mouse-like creature scampering across the ground that Reim seemed to recognize, which prompted more questions and more pages to be filled.
Eventually, the sun had fully set and the trio of moons had reappeared. The duo settled upon a violet colored tree to rest beneath for the evening, choosing it for its branches to build a fire with though the shred of shelter it proved was another benefit, even if it was a small one.
Reim dropped Silah’s suitcase, his axe and the lizard onto the ground before helping Silah herself off of his back. Silah settled against the tree's trunk and returned to her journal, utilizing the final beams of sunlight as it sank behind the horizon. Reim was at work loading his arms up with sticks and branches before placing them into a pile.
“This right? Never had to do this before.” Reim asked, turning his head towards Silah. She observed his pile of sticks before giving an approving nod.
“That’s fine, just put the dry leaves in there and it should be ready. Though… I’m not sure how to light it, I don’t have any flint.”
“It’s alright, I’ll take care of it.” Reim replied, already scooping up a pile of leaves off the ground.
Silah shrugged and continued her work, now putting her focus onto the tree she sat beneath.
Before long, she heard a high pitched, buzzing sound, causing her to look up. She found the origin of the noise within Reim's hand. His large, stone gloves covered most of it but she could see a small gray box with flickering lightning coming from the top of it. He held a leaf above the lightning causing it to begin to smolder. He tossed the leaf into the pile of sticks and leaves and began to softly blow on the smoldering leaf. Soon, a fire had ignited.
“How did you do that?! What was it? Can I see that thing you had?” Silah quickly sputtered out, fully sitting up with eyes wide open.
“It’s a sparker…” He replied, pausing before he offered the device to Silah. She snatched it from his hands and began to observe it. It had a rough gray surface and rounded edges with a small button on one side and another on the other. On top of it had a pair of spikes, standing across from one another. She placed her fingers over the buttons and suddenly lightning appeared, dancing between the small spikes. Her eyes were glued to the dazzling performance.
“I’ve never seen electricity up close like this. I live in a little town in the middle of nowhere so we haven’t got any yet.”
“...You can keep that if you want.” Reim replied as he tended to the fire.
“Are you certain?”
He nodded.
“Thank you. I’ll keep it safe.” She promised as she released the buttons and carefully placed it into her satchel.
“What do you plan to do once you get into town?” Reim asked.
“Oh, uh.. Find some food and a doctor I suppose.. Take some time to heal and then try to find a way to get back home.” She replied, pausing to give a concerned look up to the moons above. “...Though I’d have to figure out where I am first. What are you going to do?”
“I’ve been told to figure out what happened. Find a source.”
She nodded quietly. “Sounds like we both have quite a journey ahead…”
Silence fell upon them once again. Silah returned back to her journal, content with only the quiet ambience of the crackling campfire. Reim had chopped a leg off of the drake, skewered it with a stick he picked off the ground and set it beside the fire to roast before removing his mask and hood for the night. Whenever Silah glanced up from her journaling she caught Reim watching the skies as the moons started to rise and the stars began to reveal themselves.
Despite all the recent chaos, she found herself enjoying the peaceful moment. She set down the journal and rested her eyes, listening to the soft yet odd symphony she had never heard before, made of the chatter and chirps of insects. She quickly pushed herself back up right and looked around the grass for the insects, eager for new discoveries. She began crawling along the ground, careful not to scare the creatures she was searching for. Reim glanced down to stare at her, silently keeping his thoughts to himself as he returned to his sky watching.
Soon, Silah fell asleep and the night had ended and the morning had come. The duo continued their trek with the town quickly nearing though it was further than Silah initially anticipated.
“...When we get to the town, are you gonna find another food identifier? I haven’t exactly been any help so far and don’t intend on mending that.” Silah stated as she stared off into the distance, observing what she could of the town. The town was in a cluster of blue and green trees and the structures she could pick out from within them weren’t anything she recognized so she knew this would be another unfamiliar location.
“I’ve been thinking about that.” Reim started, “I think our goals are similar. Maybe if we find the reason this happened, you’ll find a way home.”
“Well… The source is never a bad place to look for solutions… Are you certain we should travel together? Neither of us are very friendly.” Silah responded, raising an eyebrow at him.
“We have a matching goal and after we find a doctor, you’ll be able to pull your own weight, and that’s enough.” He said. “Also you seem observant. I think we can work well together for this.”
“...I can’t exactly swing a giant axe so you might be right.” She replied before letting out a sigh. “Alright, we can be travel buddies until we figure out what caused this.”
Reim gave a nod of confirmation and the two officially became a duo, prepared to uncover the source behind the bizarre phenomenon and with any luck, revert it.