Wrath of the Dragon, page 4
“You said the Night Lands are close,” I said. “How come all I can see is that pale blue sky? I don’t see any hint of darkness.”
“You will,” the angel said. “Once we get over the ridge.”
I tried to work out how the sky would change color by going past a ridge, but I decided not to try too hard to figure out the logic in this new world. I had just beaten up giant scorpions with the help of a flying woman who could char creatures with her hands. My normal logic had already gone out the window.
“Do they have regular guys here?” I asked. “People that look like me? You said everyone has a power, but I don’t have any.”
“Hmm,” Cyra said as she glanced down at me. “That’s true. You’re extremely ordinary.”
“Aw, thanks,” I chuckled up at her.
“You should probably claim you’re something else to stop you from standing out,” she continued. “There are people who have your general form, but most aren’t as big as you.”
“Okay,” I said. “So, what exactly should I say? That I’m a wizard or something? You got wizards here?”
Cyra actually giggled, and it was the first time I had heard such an honestly fun noise escaping her lips. The sound washed over me like music, and I couldn’t help smiling up at her as she teased me.
“A wizard!” Cyra snorted. “I think that disguise would be over quite quickly when you fail to produce even the smallest of spells. Besides, you don’t have a staff. All wizards have a staff. They never go anywhere without it. You’re also about three hundred years too young to have grown into wizardly powers.”
“Small details,” I said with a wave of my hand. “I did an acting class at summer camp, I can wing it.”
“Not a wizard.” Cyra shook her head. “Something else… Ohh, I know! You will be in the Night Lands, so you can say you’re a Savior. They scour the lands taking the sick and injured back to the city doctors.”
“I love it,” I said. “Sounds like an EMT. What are their powers?”
“Super strength,” Cyra said. “But you’re already quite strong and muscular, so it would be easily believable. Besides, the Saviors’ powers are fading without moonlight, so you’re probably even stronger than they are right now.”
“Got it,” I said. “I’m a Savior to anyone who asks. I’m pretty excited to see this city, all of this sand is driving me crazy.”
“It’s not much further,” Cyra said. “I’ll show you down into the market, and you can be on your way.”
“Are you sure you don’t want help?” I asked. “We did make a pretty good team back there, and it seems like a lonely job to be taking this on all by yourself.”
“I like being on my own,” Cyra said stiffly. “Most of the time, anyway. It just makes things easier. Having someone else with me would just confuse everything.”
“Or,” I offered. “It would give you another pair of hands to fight with every time you came up against something that stood between you and Nisha.”
“You’re very stubborn,” the angel said as she glanced down at me.
“So are you.” I grinned as I met her golden eyes.
After a few more minutes, Cyra soared back down to the ground beside me, and I was exposed to the heat of the sun once more. It felt even more intense after being in the shade for so long, and I felt the back of my neck prickle under the heat.
“No wonder nobody tries to escape,” I muttered. “I already feel like I’m going mad in this heat, and I’ve got an angel guide on my side. I can’t imagine trying to navigate this place alone.”
“You’ll be wishing for the sun shortly,” Cyra said. “We’re just coming up to the ridge now.”
“Are we?” I asked as I looked around. “I don’t see anything.”
The stretch of sand ahead did look like it was starting to get smaller, and it looked like we were coming up to a hill or a sudden drop. The sky was still a hazy blue, and I didn’t see any hint of night or blackness. Maybe I’d taken the term “Night Lands” too literally.
“Enjoy the sun while it’s there,” Cyra sighed. “We’re about to go into the darkness, and your eyes might take a little while to adjust to it.”
Or not.
The angel kept her gaze straight ahead, and I took one last glance back at the stretch of desert behind us. The orange sands seemed to go on forever, and I couldn’t even see the mounds of dead scorpions anymore. It was super disorienting to stare at. I wondered how long we had been walking for and wished I had put my pedometer watch on that morning.
As we started to near the last stretch of sand, I realized it sloped steeply upwards. It hadn’t been noticeable before because of the haze of the heat in the air, but we started to trek up a serious incline in the sand. Going uphill was even harder than the flat ground, and my fireman stair climbing fitness came in handy as I forced my tired legs to climb. The heat seemed to get even more intense as I gained ground, and I couldn’t think of anything but a huge glass of water.
I was too hot to ask, but I had a feeling the temperature really had increased the closer we got to our destination, and I had a feeling this was the work of the pissed off gods Cyra had mentioned.
After a minute or so, Cyra flung a hand out in front of me to stop me, and I came to an abrupt halt at the top of the hill. The angel’s strong arm steadied me, and she gestured out to the view below.
I had to blink several times to make sure I wasn’t seeing things as I looked down.
There was only a world of darkness beneath us.
My eyes took a few seconds to adjust and see properly, and I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. The sky was pitch black, and the only light was coming from thousands of eerie, purple, glowing orbs that hung above the land. I could faintly see a stretch of buildings, and a maze of streets with figures moving along them. The sky above me was still pale, but if we went down the slope, I could tell it would turn black.
Just a few dozen more steps, and we would be swallowed up by the darkness.
Cyra turned to me and grinned as she studied my shocked face.
“I told you it was dark,” she said. “Ryan Moore, welcome to the Night Lands.”
Chapter 3
If you’d like to see a map of The Night Lands, you can see it on my Patreon (search Google for ‘Patreon Eric Vall’), or you can find it in my Facebook group (Search for ‘Eric Vall’ in Facebook Groups). It’s also linked on my website at www.ericvall.com
It was like the entire world had turned off its lights. I barely noticed the heat on the back of my neck as we stared down at the Night Lands. The purple orbs that floated above the city were all different sizes, and they gave off a very low, dull hum.
“The demons brought those,” Cyra said as she followed my gaze. “They turn the orbs off sometimes, and the whole place becomes pitch black.”
“Why do they do that?” I asked.
“To be bastards.” Cyra shrugged. “The people of this land obviously thrive in the night, but not all of them have perfect night vision, and they need the moon and stars to survive. The moonlight charges a lot of their powers, and it basically gives them a day and night cycle. They live by the moonlight and sleep in the pure dark. But the moon and stars have left with the gods, so the orbs are all they have in their skies.”
There were a few tiny dots of orange that moved around, and I figured people had made lanterns to carry around with them.
“Some of them have lights,” I said. “Why don’t they just light big beacons of fire all over the place to light their way?”
“They tried that,” Cyra said. “The demons destroyed them all and threw the market stall wares into the fires as punishment. They don’t seem to care much about the little lanterns, but I still wouldn’t want to be seen holding one if a demon strolled by.”
I could hear the faint bustle of people moving around below us, and I was suddenly desperate to go down and explore this new world. I was fully aware of how dangerous it would be, especially for someone who hadn’t the first clue about magic, but I felt ready. After defeating the scorpions, I was prepared to take on whatever this new world threw at me.
“Let’s go!” I said as I rubbed my hands together. “Anything I need to know before we head down there?”
Cyra cocked her head as she looked at me with a faint smile, and she shook her head with a sigh.
“You’re really excited about this,” she said. “Why are you so excited? Didn’t you take in anything I said about the demons?”
“I did,” I assured her. “I’m going to be careful and respectful, but I just can’t believe I get to see all of this! A completely different world to the one I’m used to, it’s amazing.”
“You are so strange.” The beautiful angel raised an eyebrow, and then she laughed to herself as she shook her head again. I couldn’t get over how beautiful her smile was, and her whole face lit up as she laughed.
Every second I spent with her just confirmed how much I wanted to go with her on her quest.
“Can you hide your wings?” I asked. “You said people don’t trust angels, so you can’t walk around like that, right?”
“I can’t hide them completely,” Cyra said. “But they can fold up right against my back enough to look flat under a cloak. That’s going to be your job.”
The angel suddenly reached into the neckline of her golden dress, and I hurriedly looked away as she rustled around for something.
“Here,” she said, and I turned back to see her holding a tiny leather pouch.
She placed it in my hand, and I pulled the string open to see a pile of golden coins.
“Where were you keeping this?” I asked, and the angel just smirked.
“That will be more than enough for two cloaks,” she said. “I’ll go down with you and wait on the hill. There’s a big boulder formation just below us, we can use that as a meeting point.”
I stared down into the darkness, but my eyes hadn’t adjusted enough to see anything that wasn’t lit up by the purple orbs.
“Okay.” I nodded. “Let’s do this.”
We started to walk down the dark side of the hill, and I was immediately plunged into a cool darkness. It felt like I had just stepped into a refreshing pool or something, and my entire body was relieved as the burning sun stopped beating against my skin.
“That feels good,” I sighed. “You said two cloaks. Is one for me?”
“Yes,” Cyra said. “Your clothes are strange, you’ll want to cover them up before you draw too much attention to yourself. If you see any different garments that will fit, then buy them, too.”
We hurried down the hillside, and the ground turned into short grass instead of sand. I already felt stronger from being out of the sun, and my eyes were slowly getting used to the darkness around us. The sounds of the city were getting louder, and I could hear various voices and footsteps in the marketplace.
We reached the large cluster of rocks, and Cyra leaned against the tallest one so she was hidden from the view of the city. I was almost at the bottom of the hill, and I could see the marketplace just a few feet away. There was a gap in the stalls that led inside, and the purple orbs were bright enough for me to finally see clearly, but I couldn’t make out much detail from this angle.
“Be careful,” Cyra whispered. “Get the clothes, come back here. That’s it, okay?”
“Got it,” I said. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
The angel nodded and folded her arms as the sounds of the marketplace drifted out to us.
“Be careful,” she said without looking at me. “I’ll feel responsible if something eats you.”
“I’ll try.” I grinned. “Thanks for worrying about me, your favorite human.”
The burgundy-haired angel rolled her eyes and gestured for me to hurry up.
I started to make my way toward the city, and I quietly snuck between the two market stalls. The smell of hot food hit me, and my stomach rumbled loudly as I took in the sweet scents. I found myself standing on a cobbled street, and there were stalls all around me covered in clothes, food, and a whole bunch of stuff I had never seen before. People were calling out and waving their merchandise in the air, but it wasn’t just people I was looking at.
There were beings that were very much not human amongst the crowd, and I found myself staring at them all as they shopped. I quickly hurried over to a crowded fabric stall so I wasn’t just in the middle of the street, and I sneakily peered around at the creatures from there.
Some of the beings looked almost human. Like Cyra, they had humanoid features but differences that set them apart. There was a group of three full-grown women who sparkled silver, and they had small, iridescent wings that came out of their shoulder blades. They glided over the ground as they chatted, and pale pink hair tumbled down over their shoulders.
Then there were creatures that were as far from human as possible. There was something walking about that looked like a dog-sized toad, and I had to force myself to stop staring as it waddled past.
Then I spotted a group of tiny humanoids that were the color of an oil slick, with black, hollow eyes. They raced under the feet of shoppers, and one of them leapt up to a food stall and swiped a loaf of bread. Nobody at the stall seemed to notice, and the little inky-black creatures raced off into the crowd with their stolen food clutched close.
I shook my head, turned back to the clothing stall I was at, and studied the fabrics that were laid out in neat piles. There were cloaks hung up on a rack to my right beside the stall, and I quickly looked through them. There were various colors with bright trims, and some that were just plain black. I picked a black one for myself and found a black one with gold stitching for Cyra. They both had thick hoods, deep pockets, and small clasps at the front, and I figured the darker hue would be more useful for avoiding attention in the Night Lands.
I grabbed them from the rack and studied the rest of the options on the table. There were loads of pants and shirts, and I figured I should get something that didn’t stand out as much as denim in this crowd.
The elderly woman behind the stall had wild, white hair and bright green eyes. She smiled at me as I caught her eye, and she carried on her conversation with another old woman who was examining a dress. I picked up a couple pairs of black pants until I found one that looked the right size. Plain pants and a cloak would be enough for me not to stick out so much, and I gave the stall owner a smile as I waved my picks toward her.
“Is that all, honey?” she asked in a raspy voice, and I glanced at the bags hanging up behind her.
It would probably be handy to have something to store my old clothes in, so I pointed to a black leather satchel.
“That, too, please,” I said, and the woman handed me the bag.
“That’s seven gold in total, honey,” she said, and I pulled out the gold coins from my pouch.
The woman nodded as I handed over the gold, and I hurriedly took my bundle of goods and rushed back out of the busy marketplace. I made my way back up to the boulders, and I grinned as I handed Cyra her cloak.
“Thanks,” she said. “Did you get everything you need?”
“I did,” I said. “I should fit in better now.”
I started to pull off my jeans, and Cyra busied herself with her cloak as I changed into my new pants. The angel’s maroon wings seemed to somehow halve themselves in size as they pressed up against her back, and she swung her new cloak around to cover them up completely.
“Looks good,” I said. “The stitching matches your freckles.”
Cyra smiled as she fastened the clasp and shook her burgundy hair over the top of the cloak. I pulled mine on, too, and was surprised at how light it felt around my shoulders. Then I stuffed my jeans into the leather bag and pulled it over my arm.
“Ready to blend in.” I grinned. “Do I look like a local?”
I swished my cloak dramatically and pulled up the hood right over my eyebrows. I’d never been a cloak man, but I’d seen enough films to know this was the generally ominous vibe guys usually went for with cloaks. I felt like fucking Aragorn, and I honestly didn’t mind too much.
“Hmm,” Cyra said as she tilted her head. “You definitely don’t stick out as much, so that’s good. What about me?”
The redhead looked gorgeous. The black of the cloak made her pale skin almost glow, and her burgundy hair stood out against the dark fabric. The clip fastened the fabric just above her cleavage, and her golden dress still sparkled despite the darkness.
“Yeah, you look beautiful,” I mumbled as I dragged my eyes off her freckled skin. “Perfect.”
“I meant my wings,” Cyra snickered. “Are they well concealed?”
“Oh!” I chuckled. “Uh… yes. All good. So what now? What’s the plan?”
“I’m going to show you around a bit,” Cyra replied. “Once you’ve got your bearings, I can leave you to it.”
She didn’t meet my eyes as she spoke, and her tone wasn’t as certain as it had been before. I wondered if she was having second thoughts about going on her quest alone, and I couldn’t help getting slightly excited at the idea. A mission to rescue an angel trapped by a Demon King? That sounded like an opportunity I wasn’t likely to get again any time soon.
“Let’s go, then,” I said. “There are some weird animals I definitely need a second look at.”
“Don’t stare too much.” Cyra grinned. “There are some species I wouldn’t like to rub the wrong way.”
“More dangerous than desert monsters?” I asked as we started to walk.
“Pffft!” Cyra snorted. “You have no idea how deadly things can get around here. Especially in the Night Lands. Come on, let me show you how to survive in this place.”
The red-haired angel led me back toward the gap in the stalls, and we stepped back into the bustling world of the city. My stomach rumbled again, and Cyra grinned at me as she put her hood up.
