The small woman lay sleeping, a pained expression on her face, but there wasn't much I could do for her. Observing our difference in size, my mind filled with questions. What was I doing here? The last thing I remembered was being under the rubble. Had that meteor fulfilled my wish? Was this the reality I truly desired? I had always heard people making wishes on shooting stars in movies, but that was related to comets, not meteorites. Nevertheless, I felt grateful to be unharmed after that collapse and the gunfire. However, I couldn't stop thinking about those who suffered the same fate as me. Had they been reborn as different animals like me?

Yet, we hadn't completely escaped danger. We were still in enemy territory, and they could appear at any moment and capture us. With caution, I rose and peeked over the summit to check if they were following us. The soldiers, previously scattered, had now grouped together and were advancing in our direction. On the horizon, I could even see the arrival of numerous war vehicles.

I approached the unconscious woman again and woke her with a gentle touch of my nose. The woman reacted instantly and gripped her rifle, but upon seeing me, she lowered it. I tilted my head towards the summit, and she followed my gaze, peering out to observe.

"Thanks for waking me, but I don't think I can do much more. I'm out of magical energy, and I'm too injured to escape from here."

I crouched down and gestured with my head that she could climb onto my back. The woman nodded and began to climb using my wings, which I had stretched out like a ladder to make it easier for her. I couldn't leave her, not after everything she had done for me.

"Can I suggest a place?" the woman asked from my back.

I nodded, and she seemed to understand.

"There's an allied forward camp, but we have to cross the forest. It's our only contact with the operations center."

I didn't understand anything she said, but apparently, it's our only escape route, so I didn't care much to know what she meant. I just had to fly over the enormous forest, and freedom would be ours.

I gained altitude, which was much easier now, and started to approach the forest. A whistle sounded, and gunfire began. The stealth factor had been broken, and now I had to hurry. The biggest problem was the green shooters who were now many more, and this time they were aiming to kill me. I could see some kind of tank pointing in my direction across the plains. Things got ugly in the blink of an eye.

I picked up the pace, or the wings did, and began to fly over the trees. They couldn't follow us here, as the trees would hinder horses and vehicles, so the pursuit would have to be on foot, and I was faster than them.

"We still have to fly over an enemy base!"

Unfortunately, I understood her. If it was our only way, I'd have to ascend enough to make it more difficult for them to hit us with any projectiles. But I had two problems. First, I didn't fly very well. Second, the woman would die from lack of oxygen or freezing, and I wasn't sure if I could endure it better than her.

"The only thing left is to ascend enough to hinder the aerial artillery and, if we're lucky, the enemy planes!"

She really said that. My fears were escalating. The forest was almost over, and ahead, there was another plain where a huge fortress lay.

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"I wish we could go around it, but it's the shortest path, and we might have the element of surprise!"

She didn't need to shout for me to hear her well; I had good hearing. But how do I tell her that without roaring at her? Besides, she was right. If we didn't hurry, she might die from that wound. However, having to fly over enemy territory... could kill us both.

The fortress was getting closer and there was nothing suspicious; it seemed abandoned. Suddenly, a few missiles were fired at us. We had also lost the element of surprise.

"Ascend, they won't reach you, I'll hold my breath!"

I hope we don't pass out or freeze up there. I soared as high as I could, and the missiles started falling to the ground. I turned my head to see the young woman, and thankfully, she was still clinging to my neck.

The base was gigantic but not longer than the forest, so we would have flown over it soon. Please hold on a little longer. The situation got worse now that a few planes had joined the chase. Besides, the bullets from below kept hitting my scale armor. And to make matters worse, the shots from the planes were green.

When we distanced ourselves from the base, I descended as quickly as I could. The woman was fine, for now, as she had held her breath well, but there was an even bigger problem. The planes continued to chase us.

"Now you have to do the opposite!"

She's right. At that speed, dodging natural structures like trees and mountains must be impossible. I started descending closer to the mountain range. Many pilots had abandoned the chase, except for one who still persisted.

"We have to lose sight of it! It can't know where we're hiding!"

The plane started shooting again, and the young woman almost fell off my back due to the evasive maneuvers. That pilot was very skilled, as he kept doing acrobatics and risky maneuvers to dodge everything in his path. The only thing I could think of was to stop abruptly and descend to the small forest below, but if I did, the woman might be shot off; she was flying so fast that she would be propelled. Slowing down wasn't an option; we'd be the perfect target for the enemy plane, and considering how good he was at piloting, I didn't want to imagine what he would be like shooting.

"You have to get close to the plane! It's our only option!"

Turning into the hunters might serve us at this moment. Not only would we complicate his aim, but we'd also... he's slowing down.

"Is he giving up!?"

The plane stopped chasing us and just watched us go. Maybe he just wants to follow us from a distance to see where we hide and report it to the base. I can't allow that.

"He plans to follow us! We have to lose sight of him!"

I descended enough to feel the trees against my dark grayish belly. I had a plan.

"What you're doing is risky!"

As I flew over the trees, I began to set fire to each one as if I had a flamethrower. Soon, the forest was engulfed in flames, and the smoke rose towards the emerging sun. Did I breathe fire? However, it was no time to be surprised; I had to act quickly before the situation worsened.

"We just have to stay inside until he loses sight of us."

Until that happened, she would be dead just like me due to lack of oxygen. I had to act, and I had to do it now. And I knew what I had to do next. Taking advantage of the good vision I had, I located the plane and flew towards it as fast as I could. The element of surprise had worked, but the pilot had good reflexes and managed to dodge me. Not entirely, as with my huge tail, I had hit one of the wings, and it was only a matter of time before it went into a nosedive.

I worried about the pilot's safety. This isn't a game; there's a person inside, and I had killed a person... wait a minute!

"Well done!" shouted the woman in the parachute. "You've beaten me!"

The woman pilot had survived. I wasn't a killer, but soon I would be if I didn't help her, as she would fall into the burning forest and die charred. I flew towards her and grabbed her parachute with my teeth.

"You're not thinking of saving her!" the woman shouted on my back.

"Are you planning to eat me?" the woman pilot yelled.

With the parachute in my teeth, I moved away from that burning forest and descended to a safe plain, where I left the woman pilot on solid ground. Then, I flew away.

"I guess what they said about them being evil creatures is a lie," murmured the woman on my back. There was a brief silence before she continued, "Today, you saved two people, and I killed a few. Am I the evil one?"

With a lot of luck and a bit of ingenuity, the pursuit came to an end without any casualties, at least from my side. Although my suspicious vein couldn't help but question whether the destiny, we were heading towards was better or worse than the one we had escaped from.

...