Hey ya'll, it's Ender! I hope you're having a great day and I hope to make it even better with this new chapter! NOTE: I do not own Minecraft or any YouTubers mentioned, and really, I don't own anything except this story.
Chapter 14
User smiled as he felt Taylor lie down and relax, draped across his back. He adjusted his flight slightly to make sure that the mortal wouldn't fall off. He felt a gust of wind under his wings and resisted the urge to soar upwards, spiraling around and around in the crystal clear air.
User loved flying. Of course, practicing magic was always intriguing, but nothing could truly beat the feel of flying and the breeze under his wings.
He was a longwing – one of the fastest breeds of dragons alive. He could also spit extremely dangerous acid, but he didn't often do it because it made his throat hurt for days after. Besides, the acid would be enough to burn through even the toughest dragon scales and User didn't want to risk hurting any of his friends.
"Hey User," Twisted called over from where he was flying just behind the blue-scaled dragon. Seto still had a death grip on his horns but the anglewing didn't seem to mind. "What do you think we should do about the – the problem?"
"Let Wag handle it," was User's immediate reply. To be honest, every one of them relied on Wag. He may have been the smallest dragon in the group, save for Firez, but he was the most experienced in the ways of magic.
Twisted sighed and adjusted his wings as a strong gust of wind nearly threw him off balance. User easily rode the breeze, keeping his wings in a straight and steady glide. Seto, if possible, looked even more terrified, and his face was as white as paper at this point.
User frowned as he glanced over at the sorcerer. Poor kid must be afraid of heights. That wouldn't be good – not at all. The other seemed alright with flying – Taylor was still asleep on User's back, Jordan was leaning forwards like he was about to fall asleep too and Checkers was still eagerly chatting away with Firez. Even Brute seemed more at ease now that no one was talking about his feathers. User chuckled quietly to himself. The grey copper had always hated the fact that he had feathers instead of spines like the rest of them.
In fact, the only other dragon that User had ever known to have had feathers was Emira. Even in dragon form, everyone still called her by her human name. She had been so kind and caring, like an older sister, or in Wag's case, a lover.
User wondered if they'd ever find her again. Of course, he could always tap into his powers, but using them came with a horrible price. In fact, that's what had led to her disappearance in the first place. Wag had never forgiven him and User had been flinching away from the smaller winchester for weeks after, afraid to defend himself from the dragon's fury.
Even now, things were still tense between them. Twisted had taken no side on the situation, instead standing back and watching on with a worried gaze as time and time again, Wag broke down and lashed out at User. User had fully accepted the blame and felt horrible about the situation, promising to never use his cursed power ever again.
User sighed to himself, beginning to recognise the landscape below him more clearly now. They were coming to Talon Hollow swiftly and would most likely be there in just an hour or so. User beat his wings a few times, rising up to catch a fresh current of wind. Twisted followed, riding off of the draft from User's wings.
"Do we really have to go even higher?" Seto squeaked, his voice trembling slightly. "And how much longer do we have left?"
"Not long," Twisted promised, sounding calm and steady. "We just wanted a chance to relax our wings, and there are no fresh drafts any lower than the ones we were on."
"Oh," Seto whispered. He fell silent but User could still see the terror plainly written on the sorcerer's face when he turned around.
"Don't worry, Seto," User rumbled softly. "Next time, you won't have to ride on Twisted's back. I can imagine it would be a little scary."
"Hey, not my fault I don't have any spines," Twisted grinned. "And horns are better than," he cast a quick glance at Brute, who was completely oblivious to their conversation. "Feathers."
User snickered as Brute gave them a confused glance, probably wondering what they were talking about before shaking his head and sighing. Even Seto grinned slightly at that, even though he still appeared petrified.
It wasn't long before the hollow came into sight, beautiful sloping mountains piercing through the grassy plain in what almost seemed to be a perfect ring. In fact, it had long ago been an active volcano, but now was a pristine ridge, impossible for mortals to pass because of the magical boundary surrounding it. User felt as though he was flying through a wall of pure energy and Killer's wings flickered with blue lightning.
Then, the feeling passed and User felt Taylor sit up slowly, apparently awake from the surge of magical energy. And just in time too – they had flown over the edge of the sharp mountain ridge and a lush green hollow spread out before them.
The inside slopes were a mixture of thick moss and flowing ferns, silver waterfalls running through them like ribbons on a dress. The hollow itself was huge, with a large lake to one side and a cluster of small, yet fancy houses bordering it. And on the opposite side of the hollow to the lake, there was a huge gaping hole that User knew led deep underground, to a secret cavern filled with crystals, all glinting with power.
"I-drop ang mga ito sa lawa, pagkatapos ay pumunta sa yungib," Killer instructed, speaking in a strangely high-pitched growl. User took a deep breath, knowing that they should be getting ready to Shift. He just hoped he wouldn't Shift too early, like what usually happened. He really didn't fancy plummeting through the air whilst shifting and ending up getting hurt.
Killer swooped low over the lake and User followed, Twisted and Firez right behind. Brute just flew straight into the cavern, seeing as he didn't have a rider to drop off, already beginning to Shift. User did a barrel roll, hearing Taylor yelp in surprise as he lost his grip on User's spines, falling about fifteen meters into the lake below. Twisted shook his head and Seto fell off, screaming for less than a second until he hit the water with a loud splash. Killer and Firez did the same, dumping their riders in the cool water before swooping around and flying at the cavern.
User focused and slowly, a searing pain grew on and under his scales. He flew into the cavern and collapsed in the darkness of the cave, crying out as he heard his bones crunch and knit together under his skin. By the similar sounds in the darkness around him, he was able to tell that the other dragons were Shifting as well.
His wings folded tightly against his back and melded into his skin, and his narrow, reptilian face shrunk, blinking tears out of his eyes as the pain intensified as his vision momentarily blurred. His talons softened, turning into fingers and his tough scales melted away into comfortable clothes. His tail, for some reason always the last thing to shift, scrunched up and User stiffened, finally relaxing once the pain subsided.
The Shift was complete.
"Richard?" That would be Jord. He must have Shifted back too. "You back to, ehm, normal?"
"Yup," Richard replied, easily switching his persona from a mighty dragon to the lighthearted wizard that he really was. "You all ready to meet them as a human?"
"Yup. Tom? Matt? Phil? You all good?" Jord received murmurs of consent from the other Shifted wizards and he laughed. "Well, James is already out there. He mentioned that we can't let them know that we can Shift, so Richard – no messing around, you got it?"
"Fine," Richard sighed, adjusting his gold-rimmed goggles. "You're no fun."
"Seriously Richard, this is no joke," Jord warned. "Just keep quiet about it. They may not even notice if we play it off well. So… let's go out there and meet our saviours."
You're a Lizard, Harry! XD And remeber, if you have any questions for the Q&A, be sure to ask me in the reviews!
Random Observation: I recently read a book called Talon by Julie Kagawa and so that helped immensely with inspiring the "Shifting." I would recommend it for anyone who wants a good read and loves dragons. So glad I found it at the library a couple weeks ago!
DiamondOasis37: *shudders* Snow is horrible. It's so cold and... cold.
CaptainSailer: Well, I would like to live in England, but it's just - the rain. I don't even know if they know what a "sunshine" is. XD
Phoenix-Magic: Well guess what? WIZARD DRAGONS! And honestly, you have no idea how much that means to me! *gives hug*
OstrichLord4Lyfe: Yeah, he is the youngest out of everyone. XD Only 17, but still one of the builders I look up to most!
ironhideandratchet4ever: Well, y'know, Matt's Twitter is "Firedragon04" and they do have the ability to make dragon wings and dragon tails in Mianite - it's already half-complete!
RusYRP: How did you know they morphed into dragons?! HAVE YOU BEEN READING MY NOTES AGAIN?! JK, if you were then you would know that one of the characters has a really funny fear!