Thramuny and Drumya sat on the edge of Couraderi, floating just outside the miasma. They could barely make out the distant islands with the polluted air forming a haze across the horizon.

“It’s kind of nice,” said Drumya. Thramuny turned and looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. “Well, the air isn’t nice but being up here is nice, and this vessel is nice, and the view is nice and...”

“Sitting here with you is nice,” interjected Thramuny with a smile. She turned her gaze back to the ocean. Drumya didn’t know how to react, so he didn’t. He sat there with blood rushing to his face and stared at Thramuny’s profile. Her ever immaculate braids blowing in the wind, some moving with it. He surmised those must be the braids dedicated to wind element. He felt Vyranya groan within his being, and a small white hot spark flicked up into his sternum. He grabbed his chest and lurched forward in pain.

“Are you alright Drumya?” asked Thramuny.

“Yes, I’m fine, happens from time to time.”

Thramuny placed a hand on his forehead. “You’re very hot, but you look fine.”

Drumya smirked. “I’m glad you think so.”

“I don’t think, I know, I can feel your heat. Has Azurumene said anything?”

Drumya looked into the cloud of miasma as they slowly rotated. “He said that Vyranya and I can’t exist like this for long. I must fully assimilate his soul into mine.”

“Yet he’s a dragon, and all attempts to make a dragon druid have ended in immolation.”

“Yes, and to be honest that’s not what scares us the most.”

“What does?”

“Leaving our loved ones alone.”

“Who are you afraid of leaving alone?”

“No one, the person I care about has plenty of friends. I’m afraid of being alone.”

“You’re not alone, Vlux thinks you’re awesome, Azurumene likes you, and Angdraoni and Kartegus think you’re funny.”

“Vlux likes Vyranya, Azurumene likes… me, and the children are just laughing at me, but I’m used to that by now. I suppose it’s a good thing I can’t understand what they’re saying.”

“They don’t say anything bad, they laugh at me too, and I laugh at them. Were friends it’s what we do.”

“But they’re not my friends. I don’t know how to communicate with them.”

“Vlux can translate for you, maybe she can teach you. You don’t want me to teach you. I’m bad with words.” Drumya chuckled, Thramuny playfully pushed him away, they both started laughing. “See now you’re laughing at me.”

“No, I’m laughing with you.”

Abruptly Drumya felt his arms severe, he lost feeling in his back, and from the nap of his neck sprouted Vyranya. This was the only aspect of their new circumstances he didn’t like. The feeling of control being wrenched from his body. Thramuny stood up and took a battle stance. Drumya followed her gaze and saw people dressed similar to Sujun and Gunjin riding reddish brown bats with two camel humps. They flew from the direction of the other islands. To their mutual surprise, the glowing orbs at the tip of each of Couraderi’s thirty antennae detached and started orbiting the vessel. One assailant came too close. An orb deviated and bashed him off his mount. The assailant plummeted into the ocean, his mount dove after. The other attackers maintained their distance circling the vessel just out of range of the orbs.

“Drumya we have to fly and help Couraderi.”

“Yes, hold on to me and don’t fall.”

“I am the breeze. I will not fall.”

“Then let me be the wings that hold you aloft.” They flew past the orbs which moved to make way for them. The nearest attackers shot darts coated in a dark aura, Thramuny deflected with a palm blast as Vyranya breathed fire making them scatter. One came in range of Couraderi, who pummeled him and his mount with orbs. Thramuny threw Boa which coiled around a man, as he struggled to get the staff off he slipped off his mount. Boa flew back. Upon retrieval, Thramuny looked up to see a black dart coming toward her. She narrowly dodged, but the dart became lodged in a braid. Her black hair gradually turning a pale white, she twisted and yanked it out. A bold assailant attacked directly, coming up from below and colliding with Druvyranya, knocking Thramuny off. Druvyranya struggled against the attacker, punching, kicking and biting as they fell. Thramuny danced on the air currents and wiped her hair at a nearby attacker knocking him off, and propelling herself, narrowly clinging to the camelbat. She situated herself between the humps and directed the creature down, after Druvyranya. Vyranya blew fire onto the rider, and slashed the camelbat. Drumya kicked it in the gut, and pushed them away. Falling fast with only a few meters between himself and the water, he noticed a massive shadow moving beneath the surface. Drumya knew this was it. His entire life flashed before his eyes. He saw the kids who made fun of him. He saw Thramuny, the young prodigal warrior stand up for him. He met Vyranya the runt, whom together they trained to be strong warriors. He saw a shimmering scale being carried by the breeze and instinctively reached out for it, only to find it was him.

“I’ve got you Drumya.” He pulled himself onto the camelbat.

“I’m sorry I… "

“Stop apologizing, the Dragon needs the Breeze to fly, now fight!”

With renewed vigor, the Dragon took flight next to the Breeze. As they ascended, they saw Couraderi defend itself against the black darts. Using at least three orbs it created several malleable shields that would block, enclose, turn, and fling the projectiles back with added velocity. The vessel took out two men before, Druvyranya and Thramuny caught up. Vyranya breathed a torrent of fire, but the camelbats were too swift to get scorched. Drumya felt the fire in his soul, and through sheer force of will extinguished it, and took control of his arms. Focusing power into his palm, the time had come for him to use his training. His palm blast, while more narrow than Thramuny’s, traveled a longer distance. This technique, viewed as weak by the Pyoxien, proved exceedingly advantageous for air-to-air combat. With Vyranya handling flying and assisting with aim, while also breathing fire. They became deadly effective, knocking riders out of the sky. With only a few attackers left, victory was in sight. Thramuny on her camelbat flew up next to them and pointed to a large group of reinforcements. Seeing no other option, she activated Boa’s Anaconda form. The giant snake slithered through the sky, flying faster than the camelbats. It tail swiped a large chunk of the reinforcements out of the sky. Capturing an assailant in its mouth it returned to Thramuny, having successfully deterred the remaining attackers. They returned to Couraderi, where she had the Anaconda regurgitate their new captives a rider and camelbat. The rider turned out to be a young woman, with olive skin and short dusty brown hair. She yelled obscenities in her native language, as Thramuny and Drumya threw her down the tongue, where Euyene waited for her. Drumya came behind and restrained her as Thramuny retrieved some silk rope to bind her wrists and ankles. They threw her into a room next to where Sujun and Gunjin were being held.

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“We’ll have to wait for Vlux to come back to interrogate her,” said Thramuny.

“Let’s go back up, we have to be ready in case more come. I hope everyone else is doing alright.”

#

Universally disgusted by the sight of the Vaspdor, the team aimed to cleanse it. A land horribly crooked. Tall, thin syringe peaks thrust into the sky impaling the clouds, deep black cavities carved through the land, and dark malignance oozed from welts, while the awful miasma rose into the sky. The aroma of sulfuric disease struck their senses as they drew near.

“What have they done? I’ve never seen one this bad. They must have continued to poke and prod at this wound until it grew to this seething abomination,” said Zurtegus.

Zurtegus’s words confirmed what everyone thought. They had to purge this now. Eio guided Tial-Meh down so she could blast her purifying breath on the corrupt land. When she burned away the malignancy, It created marbled sand. They flew half the length of the island, when Vlux looked behind and noticed the corruption gradually overtaking the purified land. She heard Ang play his whale song as Zurtegus drew his runes with tracer light. A large storm brewed around them and through the combined effects of the runes and song grew to cyclonic proportions.

“Looks like the natives are here,” said Azurumene, pointing to a group of camelbats flying toward them.”

“It’s been awhile since I had a good brawl. Ang keep playing your whalesong! Kartegus are you ready to show them how to sky fight!”

“Yes Gupa!” Zurtegus jumped onto Heniptera, Kartegus boarded Nantidae. Together they flew toward the opposition. They took out spheres that upon saying an activation incantation transformed into weapons. Zurtegus brandished a crescent blade that resided between rails above and below it, with a long coil attached in the back above the handle and trigger. Kartegus brandished a circular blade with a single rail below it, and a long coil in the back above the handle and trigger. The natives fired their corrupt darts. Heniptera and Nantidae, far too swift, easily dodged the attacks and maneuvered behind. Zurtegus and Kartegus combined the coils of their firearms forming a net they spread across the sky. It engulf the natives and their mounts. They closed the net, did a barrel roll, and dropped them into the murky brine. More natives came through the miasma. Zurtegus and Kartegus shot spheres of electricity from their weapons with practiced aim. They knocked riders out of the sky while the mecha easily out maneuvered the camelbats.

“They’re spectacular,” said Azurumene.

“Yeah, looks like they got things covered, we need to figure out how to purge this thing, Ang blow harder and have Rungii eat this stuff,” said Vlux.

“That’s what we’ve been doing but I’m not getting anymore power from the song. I think this is the best we can do.” Kiliyi jumped from his shoulder, onto the conch shell and bit down. Her sharp fangs and venom cracking the shell wide. From it a small blue ethereal whale rose out. It flew further and further up into the clouds becoming larger and larger, igniting the sky with color and song. It swam over the Vaspdor cleansing the land it passed over, leaving dark toxic clay that Tial-Meh burned away. They spiraled around the land leaving a burning blue trail, as Rungii consumed the sharp peaks. Though the natives fell from great heights, the krakens are friends to their people and with their many tentacles caught the falling, while the giant sea turtles provided a surface for them to recover and witness. They watched as the whale purified the land, the great dragon recreated it, and the floral beast propagated the soil. Lichen, moss, ferns, and other plant life soon dotted the new terrain. The whale swirled the sky, the clouds, the miasma into a ball of wind that it purified. Its purpose fulfilled, its body dispersed into white clouds. Azurumene reached into his bag and threw a cylinder into the sky it burst into a spectrum of light and ideograms Vlux didn’t recognize.

“Azurumene what does that say?” asked Vlux skeptically.

“Well, according to Sujun and Gunjin it says. ‘The rains of peace have come. Let us rejoice. One world, one sky, one archipelago, Buwahutee’ and I’m sure they spelled it right. It goes along with a legend they have.”

“How did you convince them to help you with this?”

“It really didn’t take much. They already believed in you. I’m just better at speaking than writing.” Dungii flew up next to them.

“That was amazing, Kiliyi broke the whale song, but we didn’t really need it anymore. Not like it can get us into Brexcen since Brek changed the incantation,” said Ang.

“Morp morp.”

Zurtegus and Kartegus approached. “We used non-lethal fighting methods. The natives are all floating in the water and saw everything.”

“The Vaspdor is gone and now they have new land to settle on,” said Kartegus.

“Look there’s Couraderi, and I think that’s Drumya and Thramuny waving,” said Ang. Together they flew back to the vessel.

“Thank you, friends for purging it right away. I hope this restores peace to the islands and Kyxichen,” said Thramuny.

“We all knew right when we saw it, we couldn’t let it go on like that for a second longer,” said Vlux. “How were things here, did you have any trouble?”

“A few natives attacked us, but Couraderi has a defense system, and Drumya is the deftest at air combat,” gloated Thramuny.

“Is that so, I’d love to ask about your technique sometime,” said Zurtegus.

“Well, it’s not just me there’s a… uh,” started Drumya.

“I put a dragon in him. What? Don’t give me that look. It’s a long story. I’ll tell you all about it later,” finished Azurumene.

“Wait, Couraderi has a defense system?” asked Vlux.

“Yeah, I forgot to mention it,” said Kartegus. “Those balls are attached to the stalks by with an ethereal cord. Similar to how our mecha are attached to us. They can orbit around the vessel at a limited range and do all sorts of stuff. They can work together to shield the whole vessel, make small shields that can catch and throw back projectiles. If something flies too close, they can collide with it; they're very hard. It can also use the tentacles below, like if..”

“Alright Kartegus, goodness you’re just like your Gupa,” said Vlux.

“I took a native in so you can question her,” said Thramuny.

“I’m not sure, whoever they are would have any useful information,” said Vlux pointing to the camelbats next to Thramuny.

“Not them, I put her in a room below next to the other two, but I made sure they all still had a view of your message,” she said winking to Azurumene.

“Perfect, I’ll go have a chat with them and then we’ll have these uh...”

“They’re camelbats, native to these desert islands. Strong fliers adept at traversing between the islands, but not the most agile,” said Zurtegus.

“Alright, we’ll have these camelbats take them home.” They went into the vessel, took the captives from their rooms, removed the restraints, and sat them down. After Vlux had a brief exchange with each of them. The young women, who happened to be from the same island, agreed to fly them back home. Vlux saw them off from the edge of the vessel, while Druvyranya patrolled the skies.

“What did you say to them?” Asked Drumya slightly stumbling his landing next to Vlux.

“Nothing really, I just showed them a story. How they interpret and share it is up to them. I just hope they’ll inspire a better future. What’s going on? You look like you wanna ask me something.”

“I was wondering, could you teach me how to speak a language.”

“Your timing is perfect,” said Zurtegus emerging from the dark.

“Says the old man who appeared out of nowhere,” said Vlux.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to startle you. Vlux do you recall the conversation we were having earlier.”

“Yeah, you were about to propose something, and I think I know what.” She took Drumya’s hand. “Now close your eyes, open your mind, and focus on me. Let’s see if this works.”

Drumya did just that, he could feel the channels opening, see the rush of words, feel his mind expanding. After a minute of this exchange, he slumped over and collapsed.