Alice looked to her feet and waited for the ground to come up and tap the soles of her shoes. The air crackled with the sound of storm sorcery, and the young man named Shane levitated nearby. The weight of her body settled down onto the landing at the top of the marble steps in front of the Church of the Lady Ghost. The sorcery surrounding her flickered out, but Shane did not land.
"Would you like to join me?" Alice asked.
The blue-haired man shook his head. "If I leave Felix alone for too long, he will begin slacking off."
"Have you been reading the Holy Book that I gave you?"
Shane shook his head again. "I read the creation myth and then I ended up getting lost in an ocean of references." He began to float away.
"Maybe some other time then."
The main door to the church was heavy, built from varnished wood, and carved with images of the Lady Ghost and the Consort Eternal. The cobblestone path leading to the door was surrounded by immaculate green hedges and potted flowers. Beyond the door, Alice entered into the Theocratic School, a small room filled with books and small tables. The chamber was completely empty. Wide windows revealed the main worship hall, but the pews were also completely empty. No priest stood at the altar.
As Alice walked down the center aisle through the dim worship hall, her shoes made a clicking sound that echoed down from the vaulted ceiling. After she reached the altar, she glanced around uneasily. Then she dropped prostrate on the ground and began to pray.
"Lady Ghost. Please hear my prayers. Today I learned that I dream of flying through the sky. I saw Felix fly away in his flying machine, and I felt a deep envy. I wish I had not been born with epilepsy. I wish that Felix would be nice to me. He sends me away before he starts the propeller."
Footsteps from beyond the altar startled her. She opened her eyes and looked up. Two eight-foot tall women stepped out onto the altar platform from the Inner Sanctum. They had long purple hair, and Alice recognized one of them as being Astrid, who was present when Felix flew that morning. The second Purple Dragon Alice recognized from artist renditions. It was unmistakable. Her name was Elvira. So they were telling the truth. They really have seen Elvira.
Alice was completely speechless. Her hands were trembling. Astrid looked down at her from behind that strange metal mask she was wont to wear.
"Do you know what I see?" Astrid asked.
"I, um... sorry, um... I do not know. Princess Astrid." She bowed her head.
"I sacrificed her eyes upon the altar of my mother," Elvira said. "The blade I used was given to us by Vaska, it is a blade that belonged to the Firstborn of Ashe."
"I see the Elemental Plane of Darkness," Astrid continued. "It takes Ashe twelve heartbeats to transition between Elemental Planes. If I see her, then we will have plenty of time to flee."
"So why have you not fled?" two voices asked in perfect harmony. With a gasp, Alice flung herself forward and spun around. Her back slammed into the altar, between the two Purple Dragons. Standing ahead in the center of the aisle, there was another huge woman. Taller even than the Purple Dragons, this woman had snow-white skin, straight raven-black hair, a white dress, and a half-mask constructed from the skull of a terrible horned beast.
"If you had come alone," Astrid said, "then we would have fled this continent."
"It is rare that the second-order consequences of our actions escape our foresight," the two voices said as the pale woman moved her mouth. The first voice was crystalline, soft, friendly, and high-pitched like wind chimes. The second voice was harsh, sinister, and conniving. But like the complexity of a choir of masters, their two voices combined with an uncanny sense of beauty.
"You are not alone in this," Astrid replied. "Not even Ingrid or Vaska truly understood the consequences of their actions."
"Indeed. This continent is lost to Ashe (me). It was a foolish project. The local populations evolved to become more violent, racist, distrusting, patriarchal, isolated, and angry. Ashe (I) grew bored with such creatures. She (I) derived no amusement from corrupting them, when they were already so lacking in light."
"Then you have decided not to interfere?" Astrid asked.
"No. We have come to offer our aid, in return for a minor favor."
"To ask a favor of such insignificant creatures as ourselves, we are honored!"
"Do not consume the soul of the Blue Dragon. When he dies, allow his soul to return to Ashe (me). That is all we ask."
"We agree to this," Astrid said. "You arrived at the perfect moment."
"Our moment of arrival was calculated with extreme precision, we already know what you are going to ask for. Three souls. Guaranteed safe passage to the city of Twin Fates for two, and guaranteed safe passage to the Pegasus Steppe for one." The pale woman looked down at Alice. "One of them is ready to leave."
"Alice, my dear," Astrid said. "I have a need for servants, and you shall be my third. I bless you."
Power. Overwhelming spiritual power surged through Alice as she trembled on the floor in front of the Altar to the Lady Ghost. She struggled to stand because of her shaking legs. Elvira reached down and grabbed her arm, supporting her until she gained her balance.
"I am not worthy," Alice said.
Elvira reached down and began to whisper in her ear. "Your soul has already been claimed by Titania. I saw this fact from the other side. Your love of flying is not lost on her. You will fly through the sky, I promise."
"They are here," Astrid said. "In the Plane of Darkness. They are making a portal to the Physical Realm. You should be happy Alice. You are about to meet your goddess."
A pale cyan ring of light began to form in the aisle behind Ashe. Foggy light began to undulate and break into an image of an alien landscape. Dark, dark streets lined with bright lights, impossibly tall buildings, heavy rain, people wearing dark rain coats. Two women stepped through the portal, but the portal remained open. Their boots clattered on the floor as they approached Alice. The room was filled with echoes of the drone sound emanating from the portal.
The first woman was clearly not the spawn of any dragon. She lacked the reflective colored scales on her forehead and cheeks that all dragon spawn shared. Her pale face was spotted with funny dark dots instead. Her hair was a reddish orange, and her eyes were a bright blue color. The second woman had brown hair and brown eyes. Both women wore black rain jackets.
"Ingrid," Astrid said, "Vaska. Welcome to the Elemental Plane of Dreams. It is good to see you again."
"Oh!" Vaska yelled. "Dragon! A real Dragon! Astrid, I am writing a book! Would you be willing to describe Purple Dragon mating rituals?"
"Vaska!" Ingrid snapped.
"Oh, did I say the wrong thing again?"
Alice prostrated herself on the ground again. "Lady Ghost, my goddess. I am unworthy to look upon you."
"The poor thing, she is terrified," Ingrid said. "Vaska, I think it was a bad idea to start this religion."
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
"Religion is the most reliable way to keep a story from being corrupted," Vaska said. "Godly men tend to copy books from generation to generation with precision, faith, and respect."
Alice felt a hand on her shoulder. "Come, stand up, give me a hug."
"I am unworthy."
"Up you go, come on." The woman with orange-red hair dragged Alice up onto her feet and embraced her. "It's ok, there is nothing to be afraid of." Alice could hardly see because of the tears in her eyes.
Vaska cleared her throat. "So, Astrid, about those Purple Dragon mating rituals. How are they different from other species of Dragon?"
"I'm not an animal in your menagerie," Astrid replied.
"This is important science! Also, would you be willing to let me draw you naked? I would like to include an anatomy diagram for my book."
"That's enough," Ingrid said. "Time for us to leave. Astrid, Elvira, please forgive Vaska. She is a bit of a scatterbrain sometimes." Her fingers reached up and touched Alice on the cheek. She wiped away the tears. "Follow us." She released Alice from her embrace and walked toward the portal.
Alice realized that Queen Ashe was gone. Vanished completely. Her shadows were still present on the floor, but they were slowly fading.
"Wait," Alice protested. "My grandmother. I cannot leave her."
"Your grandmother will be cared for," Astrid said. "Constructs will be assigned to guard her home. Even if the armies of the Blue Dragon enter the city, your grandmother will be safe. Now go, my third servant. Go to the Pegasus Steppe, with our blessing." With the snap of her fingers, the Purple Dragon produced a long black raincoat out of thin air. She handed it to Alice.
Alice followed Ingrid and Vaska to the edge of the portal. She slipped her arms into the raincoat and then buttoned it up to her collar. The Lady Ghost grabbed her arm and led her through to the other side. The portal shimmered and then vanished.
Do not be afraid, the voice of the Purple Dragon boomed in her mind. You will return to the Elemental Plane of Dreams soon enough.
Rain pattered on the hood of her raincoat. All around Alice the buildings were unfathomably tall. It was dizzying. She needed to bend her head all the way back to see the tops. The buildings must have hundreds of floors, she thought. All around her the dark streets were lit by neon signs. People walked around holding strange glowing tablets in their hands. Some people were standing on the side of the street where the portal had been, gawking at the scene, holding those strange glowing tablets in front of their faces. The glass displays of shops lined the streets. Alice did not recognize the products in those shops.
The Lady Ghost led Alice down a smaller side street to a small park lined with dark red trees. The sidewalk gutters were filled with streams of rushing water, and the grass was muddy. In the center of the grassy field there was an enormous metal machine. Alice immediately recognized the shape of the machine. It looked like an extremely large version of the craft that Felix had flown that morning. There were short wings, a whale tail with two vertical fins and two rudders, and two massive propellers facing the sky, attached to funny pylons on the wings. The door to the craft was open.
Ingrid and Vaska hopped up into the craft effortlessly. Ingrid turned around and offered a hand to Alice, leading her inside. The interior was lit by a dim red light. Vaska slid the door closed with a terrible grinding sound and a loud click. She pulled a lever and the door sealed tight with a hiss. Ingrid removed her black raincoat, revealing a white shirt and a short, black skirt. She passed through a narrow doorway to the front of the craft.
"Follow me," Ingrid said. "You can sit up here with me."
Alice doffed her raincoat and followed. The way was very narrow, and the seat in the front was tiny and cramped. There was a funny squared wheel directly in front of Alice, pedals at her feet, a console covered in countless round dials with needles, hundreds of buttons and switches on a panel above her head, and metal labels with words written in some alien language. Behind Ingrid there was a small gap, and Vaska pulled a small chair-platform out of the wall. She took a seat.
The Lady Ghost began making very rapid motions, flipping switches and twisting dials. "High Daughter of Fire! Summon two Fire Elementals, one in each engine! High Daughter of Water! Summon a Water Elemental in the hydraulics system! High Daughter of Lightning! Summon three Lightning Elementals for control, communications, and radar! High Daughter of Wind! Summon two Wind Elementals for atmosphere and noise control!"
The engines at the end of the wings began to hiss and moan. The massive propellers slowly began to spin. Ingrid flipped more switches. Long black arms began to scrub the raindrops from the windows. Alice figured that it would be best not to touch anything.
The propellers accelerated and then became a whirring blur. Then Ingrid grabbed a lever by her head and pulled it down. The engines roared. Alice felt the unmistakable feeling of accelerating upward, like when riding the Gondola Wheel. She gasped in awe as the buildings outside the window began to drop away. "Are we flying?!" Alice asked.
"Yeah," Ingrid replied.
"This aircraft is capable of taking off vertically," Vaska said. "It is called a tilt-rotor. Oh, by the way, we forgot to mention. Alice, is it? We need you to make us a promise."
"Say the word," Alice replied. "I will make any promise that you ask of me."
"You must promise not to talk about any of the aircraft that you see on your journey," Vaska said.
"I do so swear upon my faith and upon my life, I swear that I shall never speak of the things I have seen thus far, I swear that I shall not speak of the things I shall see hereafter."
"That's good enough for me," Vaska said.
Ingrid reached down, grabbed a lever that was resting between the two seats, and pushed it fully forward. The strange pylons on the wings began to slowly rotate forward. The buildings to either side began to slide backwards as the craft moved forward. They were flying very slow at first, but soon the pylons had rotated fully forward, and the two massive propellers were beating against the wind. The lights of the city below began to rush past. The needles on the console began to rise. The nose of the craft tilted up, and Alice lost vision of the city. There was nothing but darkness and rain.
They reached the level of the clouds, and then the world became consumed in fog. The fog lasted for a long time, but it eventually cleared up. Below, the clouds stretched out in every direction like a pale blanket in the darkness. A clear night sky appeared, glittering with stars.
"This is the first time you have been to the Physical World, right Alice?" Vaska asked.
Alice nodded in response.
"How long is our flight, Ingrid?"
"Three hours. Alice, if you need to use the bathroom, there is a lavatory in the back of the craft."
----------------------------------------
Vaska spent the three hours asking countless questions about Dragons and their mortal spawn. Many of the questions made Alice blush, and thankfully the Lady Ghost, in her wisdom, intervened. Near the end of the flight, they all flew in silence.
Ingrid broke the silence: "Life! Open a portal to the Elemental Plane of Life!"
Another portal began to form, though this portal was easily as large as the buildings that Alice saw back in the city. The rim of this portal was a dark green color. The aircraft overshot the portal before it finished forming, but Ingrid did not seem to be bothered by this. She simply turned to one side in a loop and crossed the threshold when the portal had finished opening. The sky beyond the threshold was a pale green color, like a minty toothpaste. The whole world seemed to be surrounded by massive brambles as big as the sky. In every direction there were dense jungles, rolling hills, shining rivers, and terrible bird-like creatures.
Alice immediately recognized the place. She had been there once before. When she was accepted as a cleric, the priests took her to the Realm of Life. This was the full Elemental Plane, the space outside the fuzzy white box where the lone Life Elemental lived.
Ahead and far below, there was an extraordinarily large plateau. As they descended, Alice got a better view. The ground looked dry, like those places in Riln that the biologists named chaparral. There were mountain ridges and a single massive city in the center, with a towering palace. It was toward this palace that the craft was aimed.
With practiced mastery, the Lady Ghost slowed the craft, rotated the pylons back to vertical, and gently landed the craft in the courtyard outside the palace. Ingrid stopped to use the lavatory before departing the craft. Vaska led Alice outside.
The palace was made from raw, natural stone, carved and cut with a facade, abodes, statues, and open windows. The ground below was made from pale green marble inset with streaks of gold and emeralds. People walked around the courtyard wearing dark green robes, shaggy and humble like a priest would wear. And there, in the sky above the courtyard, Alice saw the most beautiful sight that she had ever seen in her life. A squadron of flying horses flew down and landed gently on the marble floor. Each horse was brilliant white, and each horse sported a large pair of wings near the shoulders and a second pair of much smaller wings near the rear flanks.
One of the horses was much larger than the others. The rider dismounted and approached Alice. She was at least eight feet tall and almost completely naked except for small garments made of furs. She held a spear in one hand that was at least twelve feet long. Her pale skin was decorated with pale green tattoos, and the skin around her eyes was painted dark green.
"A strange creature," the tall woman said. Her voice was confident and commanding. "Greetings mortal, welcome to my Domain. I am the Elemental Queen of Life, and this is the Pegasus Steppe, the seat of my power."
"I am called Alice."
"Well met Alice. Come! I shall introduce you to your mighty steed."
Alice glanced back to see Ingrid jogging ahead to catch up. The Elemental Queen of Life led Alice to one of those beautiful horses. It had been saddled with a gorgeous, dark-red leather saddle that was inset with gold and pink dragons. The eyes of the dragons were made from smooth rubies.
"This Pegasus is named Mercy," the Queen of Life said. "My Immortal Worshippers will teach you how to fly. She is extremely intelligent. If you have one of your episodes while flying, she will know it instantly and she will take you to a safe place."
Alice reached up and caressed the Pegasus. The white beast looked down at her with eyes filled with knowing acceptance, but without pity. Alice leaned forward. She and the beast gently bumped their foreheads together. Then she began to cry tears of joy.