298 Jan 1st

I stood up slowly. Stretching my stiff limbs slowly. I'd been idle too long. I needed a level or two. My muscles coiled before loosening up.

I was still waiting for that kid to come back. Seemed like his mother kept him tied down better than most. You'd think being in a wheelchair would be enough restriction for a kid his age. My wings stretched slowly once my body felt a little better. I wanted, and needed to get out.

I growled at the empty space around me for no particular reason, and opened the warehouse doors. People had gotten used to me leaving on my own so they didn't really question it anymore. My wings flared open to the maximum as soon as I cleared the warehouse doors. The guards hardly questioned my actions as Ethan came out to join me on my outing today.

"Ethan!" Bryce the blacksmith yelled as Ethan was getting ready to mount up, "I finished it."

The kid was clearly very winded, and exhausted. He'd probably run all the way here. I paused since this was something I was also interested in. I dropped my head down to pick up Bryce by the back of his shirt. Dropping him on my back, and drawing a little envy from Ethan.

I picked up Ethan, and dropped him behind Bryce. Who was too stunned to say anything as I walked through the settlement. My stride was long enough that I was going at a pace that was close to a human run. I considered this much better than getting stuck at a humans slow pace. I removed Bryce from my back as soon as we got to his shop.

My wings twitched as I thought about what was going to happen when he showed us just what he had managed to make. I was hoping it would be like my mana clothing. That I could just suck into myself whenever I wanted. Pouring mana into it, and fixing it or resizing it to the correct size at will. I wanted to be able to do the same with the saddle we'd put Bryce onto working.

I laid down against the front of the shop like the last time I'd been there. Ethan walked into the shop quietly. Slapping Bryce on the back on his way past to bring him back to the present. Bryce seemed to remember what he was supposed to be doing, and went into the shop after him. He came back a few minutes later with Ethan in tow.

Telling Ethan in great detail how difficult it was to melt down the scales since they were highly mana resistant. Then when they did start melting they took in all the mana way too quickly going from too cold to the boiling point almost instantly. I didn't listen to most of it, and honestly thought about napping or focusing on one of my elements for the time being. I didn't end up having enough time to do either as the saddle Bryce had been working on was brought out. It looked to be made out of a black leather with the color of my elements laced through it.

Ethan passed it up to me by the handle on what appeared to be the front of the saddle. I dropped it onto my back sloppily since I didn't really know how saddles worked all that well. Let alone one that was made for a creature that humans hadn't seen in hundreds maybe even thousands of years. It had four straps built in that I could see. Two were noticeably shorter then the others.

I had a rough idea of what how this thing was supposed to work just based on how it looked. There were two holes in the saddle that went around the spines, and each had a handle that would allow Savannah, and Jax to hold on better. Then there was a few buckles that would go around their legs to help secure them into place without having to hold on. Ethan set to work. First getting the saddle into place on my back then he started strapping it into place.

The two shorter straps went around the base of my wings. They were carefully padded with the fuzz of another beast so that my wings wouldn't be harmed when the straps were tightened down properly. Then there was a strap that went under my chest just barely clear of my armpits. The forth strap went above my arms, and clipped to the one that went below them. Once it was properly tightened I was certain that it wouldn't be easy to remove.

I could feel some of my mana resonating with my new equipment, but something felt a little off. It wasn't quite like my mana clothing. Something was missing. I wouldn't be able to make this disappear or reappear like my mana clothing. I wasn't a hundred percent sure I could repair it at will either.

I hissed slightly in irritation. Which startled Bryce, and made him back off. Ethan smirked at that, and hopped back on my back. Strapping himself in so we could properly test this saddle out. I stepped away from the building, and launched myself into the sky.

Jarring Ethan a bit in the process. He wasn't used to me launching myself this quickly. I'd always taken it easy to avoid knocking him off, but if this saddle worked as intended I wouldn't need to worry about Ethan getting knocked off if I flew more violently then usual. I startled most the people in the settlement by launching myself in such a sudden fashion, but by the time it even crossed my mind they were ants on the ground far below me. Ethan's fear, and excitement mixed with my own feeling of elation.

I flipped, and went into a dive. Straight down like a rocket. My wings slowly opening as I pulled out of the dive at unbelievable speed. Cutting over the top of the sparse tree cover that covered most of the planet at a speed that made racecars look slow. I couldn't see half of what I rushed past, and it was a bit scary.