Hi folks,
The feedback, encouragement, and patience has been much appreciated so here's the next chapter.
Thank you to prof_W303, WideAwakeNow, and Darksable for their time and effort with editing.
Stay tuned and I hope you enjoy.
LTPC
***
Between fight and flight, Chris was indeed in flight. Well, free fall, anyway. He plunged downward through grey nothingness, nebulous swirls of thicker shadow occasionally illuminated in passing by his purple aura.
Anger, fear, and frustration had taken him into the Ether whilst a fierce internal debate raged between his dragon instincts and his human fears.
Michelle's words were simply the trigger, the proverbial straw on top of his ever-growing burden of responsibility. Responsibility to protect and provide whilst his once simple goals in life were thrown to the wind and he found himself inexplicably involved in world changing events. In short, Chris was afraid. He wanted nothing more than to retreat from it all, to take his brood someplace safe and ride this out, even if that was the cowardly, ignorant thing to do.
His dragon had different ideas. Strength was the key to staying alive, to protecting his loved ones. Burying one's head in the sand would only work if everyone left them alone. To truly make sure that he and his beloved brood were truly safe, they must embrace their rightful power together. Too long had dragon kind been hunted. Too long had greed and short-sightedness dominated both human and Being society. Something needed to be done, they needed to help. What sort of world did he want his children to inherit?
They needed to grow stronger and Chris needed to embrace his non-human heritage rather than babble his toe in every now and then. Objectively, Chris knew his dragon was right but it still scared him. It took only a few more moments of slightly gentler coaxing and encouragement, the dragon promising guidance and friendship, a sharing of his burden. Chris ceded control, fully this time, trusting the dragon.
He merged back into the Norm. An ominous crackle of purple energy heralded his sudden arrival, tendrils of raw magic leaping between thin air molecules in a raucous flash.
A chill shiver racing up his spine was the first sensation he noticed. It was bracing but also exhilarating, it felt right. With detached curiosity, his eyes opened. He was high, high above an enormous range of snow-covered mountains, with the ocean to his left. Something buffeted him lightly as he fell, gaining speed now outside of the Ether. The air was so thin it only whispered around him. It didn't really bother Chris though, he was in the back seat and his dragon had firm control of the wheel. Trust; if they were to be one, they must trust each other.
Clear membranes slid into position across his eyes, protecting him from the thickening atmosphere as they dove earthward.
It was night but from this high up, he could see a golden glow on the western horizon.
The curve of the world stretched away to either side but was becoming flatter as he plummeted, his wings swept back like a falcon, striving for swiftness. Magic began to well up from within, the dragon burning it like a volatile fuel, sacrificing it to produce speed. He shared in the dragon's delight, their first real flight together. Now he was going too fast, way faster than terminal velocity. Instead of being cool, the air fought them, becoming warm and thick, behaving more like a syrup as they battered their way groundward. At this speed it seemed like he'd hit the ground in a matter of seconds.
Something swept up at him from the ground like an angry hornet. It raced directly towards him, leaving a barely visible hazy trail in its wake. At the last moment, the dragon contemptuously rolled to the right, narrowly avoiding the fast but less manoeuvrable object which swept past with a snarl.
Chris thought the whole thing very unusual in a removed sort of way but gave it no more thought as the approaching land marks registered in his memory. The Alaskan Peninsula stretching out into the ocean to his left. Below him, a long lake surrounded by great snowy peaks spread out, his enhanced vision let him see every detail even as he approached with unnerving speed.
He began to worry as he dropped level to the tops of the mountains, the rich conifer forest taking over from snow and scree on the great slopes. If he ditched into the lake at this velocity, it would all be over in a flash.
His dragon had other plans and his wings gradually extended. Little by little, his headlong dive turned into a glide. Wing membranes shuddered, his muscles burned under the tremendous load as speed shed and he flattened out. His whole body strained and his back burned from the effort. For several moments, all he could hear was the angry howl of the air he so rudely disturbed, reverberating harshly down the great valley. With mere moments before impact, they levelled off, body shaking in relief. It felt joyous though. The pleasure of flight was a pure, instinctual draw and the dragon made sure that his first real experience would not be forgotten.
A bellowing roar issued unbidden from his throat as he finally soared above the still, dark water. It felt too loud to have come from him, but somehow triumphant, defiant.
Low he swooped, almost caressing the water. In fact, an extended splash and an unfamiliar, cold sensation shooting right up from the base of his spine caused him to sweep his neck around in surprise. There, slicing the water and creating a small wake behind him, was a tail.
Things got weird pretty quickly after that.
He had it all wrong; his neck wasn't flexible enough to look down and back like that. His wings seemed much too big stretched out to either side. He balked, suddenly feeling dizzy, faintly nauseous. His mind questioned for familiar responses but in a body so foreign, many did not connect correctly. This body felt deeply alien and it was a very unsettling feeling.
In an attempt to calm his discomfort, the dragon relinquished some of his control, sharing the reigns with the confused young man. It would be a lengthy process for Chris to adjust. Unfortunately, Chris was not at all prepared for even the slightest role in managing flight. The strange sensations from novel nerve connections intensified, overloading his already struggling brain. His vision darkened, flight faltering, mind retreating. It was his human consciousness that needed to adjust. Indeed, in this form, even his brain was structurally very different.
Thankfully, the dragon was there to catch him. They weren't far from the lake's edge now so the mighty creature flared his great wings with two stalling flaps before plummeting into the black, frigid lake.
***
Back in Denver, everyone was still at the table. They were processing the harsh words and Chris' sudden departure but it seemed no one wanted to speak first.
Michelle's phone practically blew up, startling everyone and breaking the silent stalemate.
She mumbled a curse and picked it up off the table, looking at the caller ID. She grimaced; she really didn't want to answer right now but this was her high priority ringtone.
"Hello?" Michelle's mood did not improve as she listened to Robert Falconer splutter apoplectically for a few moments before gasping and standing from the table. He proceeded to recount that somehow, a purple, fully fledged, forty-five foot dragon had narrowly avoided being shot down over Alaska.
She tried to explain the argument between herself and Chris. That he felt cornered into this involvement in the Revelation and unready to face the dangers and responsibilities. Heated words had been exchanged and he had dramatically disappeared.
However, there was a disconnection between said argument, the deployment of a three and a half million-dollar surface to air missile, and the satellite images President Falconer was looking at of a very large reptile resting on the shores of Chakachamna Lake.
