29 Fleeting and Flightful Dreams

A shadow moved again with a slithering speed from behind the trees. Branches shook and twigs snapped.

I gasped.

I felt it coming near me.

Unconsciously, I had built up a layer of notes around me. I have heard from Madame Crooch about how intermediate level mages could cover their body with a magical defensive shield. I wondered if what I was instinctively doing was similar.

'I really hope this could defend me, because that shadow looks awfully huge.'

More snapping noises broke out, and I forced myself to stay still, despite all of my senses screaming at me to run. I didn't know anything about this creature, and there was a high chance that it would be faster and stronger than I was. So, I decided it would be best to keep all of my movements at the minimum.

Breathing shakily, I considered my options at lightning speed.

One. I could try my luck at running away, but again, I might just be chased down in mere seconds.

Two. I can scream for help, but the noise might agitate the creature more. Anyway, who was to say that help would come in time, or if it would even be truly helpful.

I sighed quietly. I was all tensed up with a vortex of coiled notes strengthening and shielding my body.

And then, underneath the moonlit night, I saw the most beautiful creature I have ever seen.

I suppose there's always option three. Simply stare with jaws dropped at the spectacle in front of me.

It glowed a silver light, much like a brighter, yet gentler moon. It looked much like a gigantic horse, but with a human-like face and feathered wings. Its body was an artwork of pink, orange, and silver scales, which stretched into a long, coiling tail that ended with a fluff of light pink fur. Its pure black face was feminine, yet sharp. Its eyes were closed as it approached me with feline grace.

I could barely breath, and I realized the notes around me had started growing erratic and out of my control. Yet, I couldn't make a move. My eyes and my focus were transfixed on the mysterious creature.

I felt it was wild, and I felt it was powerful, yet I couldn't imagine it striking me down. It felt too holy and pure for that. I stared as its human-like lips gently lifted into a smile. It looked like a goddess in slumber, its consciousness enveloped in sweet dreams.

It drew nearer and nearer, and the notes had become so chaotically strong that the grass started swirling around me. Soon, the creature had come so close to me that it felt like it was ready to kiss me.

Our noses touched. The notes died down, and from the chaos came a swirling sound of pure emotions. The creature, like the Music, communicated with notes themselves.

'I am delighted,' the magic seemed to say.

Around us, the notes manifested into solid balls of light and started dancing round our heads.

Comforted and elated by the burst of wonderful colors, I smiled at the creature, and curtsied. "I am glad to meet you too."

For whatever reasons we might have had, we simply started to dance. There was a wildness inside me that was unleashed as I twisted and twirled, the music so tangible that I could almost drink it in. The creature swayed from paw to paw, its hide glowing brighter in the silent night.

Then, the music grew faster, the beats angelic yet filled with humane charm. I quickened my steps and took of my boots. I felt the grass and soil with my bare feet as I jumped, hollered, and laughed in the wind. It was intoxicating, yet I was calm. The creature came bounding and leaping, graceful and nimble footed. Dangerously fast and powerful with each bounding step, yet gentle as though it was still stuck in a peaceful dream.

My giggling filled the magical night, and the purring of the creature shook the ground. Lovely.

Ah, when the the music had come so fast yet so silent, the creature bounded towards me in one great step, and we came face to face, panting and smiling. Slowly, its still closed eyes fluttered, its golden lashes shaking like tiny butterflies' wings.

'Look at me," I thought with excitement. 'I want to see your eyes.'

Slowly, the lids shook as the creature began to wake. Its eyes... Almost, I could almost see them... !!!

"Eleftherion!" a shout jolted me away from it all. The creature closed its barely opening eyes, and like wistful clouds, it broke apart and turned into the unseeing wind. The lights were gone. The music silent. I felt incredibly sad.

Everything was dark. So dark.

"Then open up your eyes, little one," I heard a light whisper.

And so I opened up my real eyes, and saw I was lying down in bed. A familiar face was standing by my side, a hand on my shoulder.

"Geez, kid." The ghost with warm hands stared at me with a rare look of annoyance. "You sleep like the dead."

At that moment, I felt like I had lost something so precious that a fat tear escaped from my eye. Janmira was shaken by my reaction, yet I couldn't stop my crying. When I showed no sign of stopping, she had called for my mentor in a panic. The old man had arrived with a calm face, and laid a gnarly and bony hand on my forehead, and then I was filled with a sense of peace.

"Did you dream of something sad?" the old man asked.

I shook my heavy head. "... It was so wonderful I had felt an aching emptiness when I suddenly lost it. Now, I do not even recall what it was like, and only know that I had purely loved it."

I can see the girl standing at a corner, shifting her weight in discomfort. My mentor simply nodded at my words, his face both youthful and ancient. "We have those dreams once in a while."

"But... I recall I had gone for a walk. I do not even remember ever lying down to sleep?" I muttered, my cheeks stinging from the moments I had wiped at the tears harshly.

For once, the man was hesitant for a long time. Yet, he still said, "Once or twice, we have those moments too."

Shortly after, reality had caught up to my dreaming, and we had to make a move. When we were properly dressed and ready, the chief brought us out into an upward sloping area I hadn't noticed in the dark. He had led us into a short hike through the dense woods, where an almost invisible pathway brought us into a cliff. During the hike, I had wondered if I would see a mysterious creature like the one I could vaguely remember from my dream. Alas, we only came upon a stray rabbit or two.

My dream flitted away in the cold breaking dawn.

On the cliff side, there stood a magnificent drakon, larger than any of the creatures we had seen in the pack. The wyvern stood tall and majestic, and was easily a creature most men would never get a glimpse of in their whole lives, yet I had only admired its beauty with a polite smile. It seemed as though my eyes had grown used to the sight of even more marvelous creatures.

"Well, lad?" Chief Darion bellowed down at me. "Isn't she a wonder?"

I looked around me to find my two companions staring at awe at the mighty creature, almost as tall as a house, as wide as five men, and longer than two noble carriages. Yet, I could only blankly agree with the proud chief.

The wyvern was to be ridden by their best tamer and rider, a youngish man called Erin. We had climbed onto its steady back and settled onto its comfortable scales. Leather harnesses and seats were provided to keep us from flying off. The chief had shouted out a brief farewell, and I knew it was time.

"Ready, girl," the tamer Erin softly urged the creature, pressing on its sides with his thighs. "Easy now."

I felt a sudden thrill as the wyvern started moving with the tamer's words. I could sense the hard muscles underneath me shifting as its wings edged open, and as it started running... and then sprinting, and soon it wings had fully opened, and we neared the sharp cliff's edge... and we lurched into a jump and with a great, mighty flap... we were up, finally flying in the cold, morning air.

I gasped out, adrenaline pumping blood rapidly across my freezing limbs. We were flying!

The wind howled and soon settled. My body came up scarily from my seat with each flap and each whooping dive, but the belts proved strong and durable. My initial terror had quickly turned into joy and then transformed into a wild exhilaration.

'This is close!' my mind screamed. 'I feel a joy almost like the one from my dream!'

I leaned back at a dangerous angle and let out a shout of happiness, and I found myself temporarily blinded by the morning sun. I shaded my eyes with a hand, and soon found it unneeded when a great shadow passed over us. We had passed right under the floating island, and I looked up to see humongous roots hanging down from the land. When we circled upwards around and around, I noticed Janmira pale and covering her mouth, while my mentor simply sat elegantly as though we weren't hundreds of feet above the ground.

I breathed in the cold wind, and found that it stung the insides of my airways, yet I still smiled during the whole journey. We flew up steadily until we had come higher than the island. And then we gently lowered unto the floating ground. One moment, I found the air change drastically, as though we had passed through a magical portal. The cold winds immediately turned gentler and warmer. The temperature itself turned comfortably cool, and the mixture of varied smells and sounds enveloped my senses.

Underneath us lied the Isle of Malaya, where all is free and neither race nor religion mattered. The colors of the island filled my sight, and I drank it all in.

"B-Beautiful!" I heard a shaky voice in front of me. Janmira had her eyes wide and her mouth even wider, all signs of fright gone from her youthful face. Farseer smiled gently at the scene around us.

I couldn't even reply as I was busily taking it all in. The Isle was humongous up close, larger than two or three royal capitals combined, and I was filled with an impulse to discover all of its hidden mysteries.

"Welcome to the Isle of Malaya!" Erin, our rider, shouted back at us. "The island that goes wherever it pleases!"