Learning To Fly

When Ra and the others returned to the Academy, he secluded himself.

He locked himself inside his dorm as he focused on harnessing the power of the dragon soul.

"Boy, your talent is quite good!"

Ra was pretty annoyed, the Dragon never shut up.

He constantly made comments about Ra's progress but never contributed anything useful.

Recently Ra had managed to manifest a pair of crystal blue dragon wings, they were translucent and thick.

They thrust out from his back and seemed to radiate an intense pressure.

When dark fell Ra had made his way to the roof of the dorms, he spread his wings wide and leaped into the air.

He flapped awkwardly trying to gain altitude but inevitably crashed into the ground, slightly injuring himself in the fall.

The Dragon roared with laughter inside his mind, finding great amusement in Ra's struggles.

"You thou- you thou-," The Dragon could not stop laughing.

"You thought because you have wings you can fly!" The Dragon fell into another fit, Ra was so annoyed he began isolating the Dragon from his mind which caused it to panic, he quickly apologized.

"One condition," said Ra.

"What's that?"

"You teach me to fly."

The Dragon roared with laughter again.

"Teach you?" the Dragon began stomping one of its forelegs on the floor of its space.

Ra once again began isolating it.

"Wait- wait- wait- no, stop! I'll do it!" the Dragon pleaded for mercy.

Ra's patience was already thin, the power he gained from fusing with the dragon soul was an insignificant speck compared to the power it currently sealed.

The Dragon sighed as he began explaining to Ra about air currents, updrafts and downdrafts, temperature, pressure and weather.

All of the things that affect flight.

Ra stared blankly into space.

"It's this complicated?"

"Oh so you understand now?" the Dragon smirked.

Ra nodded, however he wouldn't admit defeat.

"If i can't even do this much then you're my uncle." he vowed.

Ra spent the next 6 weeks studying wind patterns and weather changes.

He learned the differences in flight regarding gaining and decreasing altitude, as well as how to increase his speed by riding tailwinds.

As well as headwinds and crosswinds, Ra studied it all.

"Now you may attempt flight," the Dragon was nodding approvingly inside his space, Ra had proven himself a diligent student and was more than prepared to take flight to the skies now that he was more informed.

Ra climbed to the rooftop of the dorms, his wings spread wide behind him.

He tested the air beneath each wing, catching a small lift of wind, he flapped them gently trapping more wind beneath them.

Then with a mighty push forced the air down to the ground and rose into the air.

Ra used his knowledge of the currents of air and the steady gusts of wind to maintain his flight as he soared through the sky, his wings moved neither fast nor slow, beating only periodically against the air, he almost never flapped at all. Choosing instead to glide and soar over columns of air.

With his connection to the land Ra was able to sense where he was at all times, giving him perfect bearings, he knew where the mountains, the streams, even where forests were located, allowing him to always seek the most optimal areas for flight.

Ra stayed in the air for 4 hours before returning to the dorms, exhilaration plainly exposed on his face.

"Did you enjoy your flight on this Dragon's wings?" the voice rang in his head incessantly.

Ra ignored it of course, now that he'd managed to grasp one of the more complicated powers he could try unsealing his powers.

That was his goal as he made his way back to his room.

By this time it was already dark, and eerily silent in the boys dormitory, Ra's footsteps sounded like small explosions to his ears as he quickly made his way across the floor.