Chapter 2: Broadening Horizons
'Fei… Sophia… everyone… I wonder how things are going back home…' Ignis sighed to himself while staring at the big blue sky.
"Is something the matter, Ignis?" The green Timberjack bellowed out of concern.
"Hm? Oh no, not really. I must say, this world is vastly different from the one I lived in," Ignis commented, looking at the vast oceans and seas while feeling the cool breeze sitting on a branch of the tallest cedar tree below the green Timberjack. "What do you think of all this, Jade?"
Two days have passed after his first encounter with some dragon-hunting humans. His mind is still processing all that has happened while trying to relax with a beautiful calming view of the waters surrounding the island, accompanied by the green Timberjack he named Jade— after finding out that the green Timberjack was a female of its species.
"Hmmm, I do not see anything peculiar about this world. However, I am quite curious about the world you speak of— your origin, since you say you don't belong here," Jade curiously bellowed while looking down at Ignis, perching on the top of the tree.
"Aw shucks, there's nothing much to say about it, other than how similar it is to this one. It's a messy world where mankind disrupted the balance and triggered a war with the dragons, which was called the Scouring," Ignis explains, sighing with a heavy heart. "I lost most of my family in that battle. They were one of the strongest races of dragons that are known to be their protectors. However… they were easily slaughtered when they faced few of the eight humans that slew many of my kind."
"Oh… my deepest apologies and condolences…" Jade whimpered.
"No no, that is in the past. But to think I just might relive it— now that is a different story, which I hoped I didn't," Ignis replied back before reforming his wings and spreading them out. "Man, I love the wind right now. A fitting weather for exploring, wanna go for a glide?"
"I would, but won't it wear your power out if you use your own wings?" Jade bellowed out of concern.
"Hmmm, you made an excellent point. But how could I fly without wings?" Ignis points out, receiving a deadpanning glare of annoyance from the green Timberjack. "Okay okay, I'm just pulling your tail. But I'm not riding you, since you're a female."
He then nimbly gets down from the tree, hopping on every stable branch until he is on the ground to find a dragon to fly on out of the many dragons walking, hovering, or roughhousing around the place.
"Now who could I kindly ask to come with me…?" Ignis wondered, rubbing his chin as he takes his pick, choosing the blue Monstrous Nightmare that's munching on a foot long tuna. "Aha! Zul!"
"Yes!" Zul paused from his eating and looked at Ignis from nearby, gulping down the tuna it was feeding on before walking to Ignis as a response to his call. "What's up?"
"Zul, would it be alright if you could let me ride you?" Ignis kindly asked.
"Don't you have your own wings though?" Zul bellowed in a questioning tone, looking puzzled at Ignis.
"Well yeah, but I can't keep using them because they drain me. My powers… they—"
"He may be one of us, but he is unique compared to the rest of us. Which is why he would need our help as we also would need his," Jade lightly roared and flapped her wings in a manner of explaining the circumstances.
"Uh yeah, what Jade says," Ignis adds, nervously scratching the back of his neck.
"Oh, well why didn't ya say so!?" Zul excitedly roared and slightly bows as a sign of allowing Ignis to ride him.
"Thank you, Zul," Ignis thanked and gently mounts up by sitting on his neck. "Okay then, let's try to explore the vast blue unknown!"
Finally, the three of them took off from the island, fully assured that the nasty humans won't be coming back for a while and will leave them alone. They glide along the breezy winds and scarcely pass by a few uninhabited islands.
"Waaaahooooo! This is awesome!" Ignis cried out excitedly, feeling the wind as Zul sped up.
"Oh, really? How about now!" Zul howled and tried doing an unstable diving barrel roll towards the ocean.
"Ignis!" Jade roared out of concern.
"Whoa whoa whoa! This is too much! Too much!" Ignis screamed before holding his breath as Zul dived into the water and glided over it inverted, being submerged by him in the process. "Brrghm brrm! Mmmph!"
As he was submerged, he notices something that appears to be a large and wide hollow mouth with a set of sharp teeth in front of him.
"Baaaagh! Shuuul!" Ignis hysterically screamed, roughly patting Zul's nape to make him ascend higher and flip over above the water, which is a close call from injuring a fellow Thunderdrum in the middle of their "joy-glide."
"Are you alright, Ignis?" Jade huffed close beside him and Zul.
"Ugh, ptew! Kinda, although I almost lost my head," Ignis spat and coughed before looking back at the pristine violet Thunderdrum they managed to avoid. "What a beauty that one is. Are dragons all around here so incredibly diverse in terms of shapes, sizes, appearances, habitats, and other specific things?"
"Yes. There are hundreds if not thousands of dragon species and kinds all around. There are even many that I may not be familiar with since I have yet to cross paths with them," Jade bellowed as she explained.
"That in itself— is awesome!" Ignis exclaimed with arms up high.
"Mind if I ask: are dragons in your world capable of taking the forms of human appearances?" Jade bellowed and barked in a curious tone while gliding beside Ignis.
"Yeah! Well, not exactly all of them—yipe!" Ignis yelped as he dodged a tall tree's branch. "Whew. Only those that have a sense of human intellect could transform and take on the appearance of humans like myself and a number of my relatives."
"Are there many other dragons like you and your family?" Zul barked excitedly out of curiosity, getting Ignis' attention.
"Uh huh, and they're a bit more distinct in race and abilities, but not as completely distinct like your kind," Ignis briefly explained. "Among them are the ice breathing dragons, the divine dragons, the earth dragons, and the fire breathers— they're the most common around and they're similar to you guys."
"Hmmmm, I'm intrigued," Jade huffed.
"Hey look! Another island with no trees!" Ignis pointed out before diving straight for a swift landing.
"Finally, I could rest my wings," Zul bellowed in a sighing tone.
So the trio decided to stay on the isolated island after exploring for almost half an hour, resting on the sandy shore area for a couple of minutes.
"Whew, was this world always scarce of land? I could barely find any good areas to properly use my transformation," Ignis wondered after looking over the islands that they've passed by, sitting on a rock slab on the shore.
"Why yes. This is a world that is abundant in nature, dominated by the oceans and the seas. Human civilisation are in the minority and are found in the more distant parts from these waters," Jade explains, standing on the sand with her two hooks.
"Oh, I see. So I guess we won't be meeting humans anytime soon, hopefully," Ignis thought and sighed with relief.
"Sure, humans yes, but erm, other dragons…" Zul nervously trailed off as he whimpered.
"What about other dragons?" Ignis asked, wondering what Zul meant by that before noticing the sand jiggle.
"Pardon me you two, but is it just me, or is the ground actually shaking…!?" Jade hysterically roared and hovered off from the quaking ground.
"Nope, I'm feeling it too!" Ignis quickly replied and reformed his wings to immediately lift himself off the ground. "Zul! C'mon up!"
"Wait up!" Zul roared back and spread his wings up high.
Just before Zul could flap his wings, the sounds of the tremor seemed to gradually be getting closer and louder until it paused for a moment before something violently erupted out of the rocky side of the island. Out from the hole appears to be a dragon going berserk with a huge long and white body like a snake that's covered in white scales and spikes, with small wings that are located just behind its gill-like structure. On its face were an array of sharp teeth aligned inside of its mouth and exposed outside of it; along with a pair of rubylike eyes that seem to have no pupils— the notorious of its species, the Screaming Death.
"What… on Elibe—is that!?" Ignis screamed in surprise, backing away from the white snakelike dragon.
"Ahhhh, I see that we've stumbled upon the White One's territory," Jade nervously bellowed in a deadpanning tone, flying behind Ignis.
"The White One? Who is that!?" Ignis hysterically asked.
"The most dangerous one of its kind that is rarely born in every few hundred years or so. It is better for us to leave now while we haven't aggravated it yet," Jade advises.
"You will not leave— alive!" The Screaming Death roared out loud, using its screaming ability to disorient and daze Zul, Ignis, and Jade from being able to fly away.
"Arghhh! What—was that!?" Ignis screamed, barely able to keep himself in midair while covering his ears from the Screaming Death's agonizing roar.
"...I did forget to mention that it is extremely intolerant to outsiders," Jade nervously whimpers.
"With a face like that, it's plain as day— Zul! Fly now!" Ignis cried out.
"All of you shall die!" The Screaming Death roared out loud, disorienting Zul from being able to fly before charging towards him with his mouth wide open.
"Nooo!" Ignis screamed as he dived down fast to tackle the Screaming Death away from attacking Zul, slamming him to the ground beside him. "Zul! Fly—now!"
While the Screaming Death was dazed at the moment, Zul immediately took off up high beside Jade. As Ignis was about to fly, the Screaming Death came back to its senses and attempted to pulverize him with his giant head and a set of razor sharp teeth.
"Uh oh, yikes!" Ignis screamed as he hopped off the ground and immediately flew beside Zul, avoiding the Screaming Death from chomping on his small body. "Fly away guys! Fly!"
Despite their efforts in leaving the island, it seems that the Screaming Death knows how to bear a grudge against Ignis, trying to get back at him from his tackle earlier. It chases the three of them all around the seas and nearby islands, trying to bare its teeth on either of them falling close to him.
"Man he's fast! For a giant one, he's actually not slow! Whoa!" Ignis screamed as he dodged its gaping mouth and teeth.
"This is not going to end if it keeps tailing us!" Zul hysterically roared while flying on the far left of Ignis, trying to avoid getting caught by the Screaming Death.
"Yeah you're right, let's finish this then!" Ignis quickly replies and clutches onto his dragonstone to activate its bright orange glow and transforms into his huge dragon form before roaring as if he's yelling out a war cry, catching the Screaming Death slightly by surprise.
"Hah! Petty trickery from a mere human! Think you can face me head on?!" The Screaming Death snarled and roared, riled up from Ignis' dragon form.
"We shall see!" Ignis roared back and tackled the Screaming Death with his head, ramming into its slender spiky body and flying back to its island with it before slamming it to the ground. "How do you feel, giant white worm!?"
"You'll pay for your insolence!" The Screaming Death roars back before opening its mouth and fires rapid shots of fire balls at Ignis' face, momentarily blinding him and pushing him off of his body.
"Aaagh! My eyes! So annoying!" Ignis roared and shook his head before turning to whip the Screaming Death away with his tail, stunning it again.
"Rrrrgh, you little trickster… you won't fool me with your sorcery!" The Screaming Death roared back, disorienting Ignis with his screaming roar before hurling a volley of white thorns that penetrated his tough skin and hide, inflicting numerous flesh wounds.
"Argh! Your spikes are strong, but not strong enough!" Ignis roared in pain before retaliating with his magma breath, spewing lots of hot molten rock out of his mouth, but too slow and heavy to reach or touch the hovering Screaming Death and only added more land to the island.
"Hehehehe, thank you for adding to my land, trickster!" The Screaming Death snorted with a grin.
"Then let us go! We are not here to fight you!" Ignis hysterically roars back.
"Mmmm, maybe after I tear you up legless!" The Screaming Death growled before lunging and springing towards Ignis with his mouth wide open.
"Try me then!" Ignis roared in a confident tone, waiting to take the Screaming Death's jaws head on.
"No, you can't! Its teeth could cut through rock and metal!" Jade hysterically roared, scaring Ignis from her reply.
"...Shouldn't you have told me sooner!?" Ignis howled back before seeing the Screaming Death just meters away. 'Oh archsage, guess this is it…'
"Iggy!" Zul howled.
As Ignis was prepared to endure the rush of pain, the ground below him suddenly trembled before something erupted right in front of him: a smaller Whispering Death with brighter reddish thorns, screaming towards the Screaming Death to stop.
"Son! Stand down!" The female Whispering Death screamed, flying in between Ignis and the Screaming Death.
"Mother! The Screaming Death shrieked and halted just inches away from accidentally pulverizing his mother.
"Wait, mother?!" Ignis shrieked as well upon hearing this and unintentionally reverted back into his human form. 'Crud, I didn't mean to change back!?'
"Stay out of this! All trespassers shall die!" The Screaming Death roared as he confronted his parent.
"Are you always going to be like this, even to other dragons?" The female Whispering Death roared back in a gentle and reasonable tone.
"You're saying this human trickster is actually a dragon as well!? Impossible!" The Screaming Death growled.
"He is, but he is a dragon not of this world," Jade bellows, hovering and landing on her two hooks beside Ignis.
"Jade!" Ignis called out, feeling assured from her wing lightly patting his head and Zul landing right on his other side.
"...Hmph, fine. But I still refuse to believe that this 'dragon' is any different from the humans that we've all met so long ago. This is nothing but a period of mercy, 'dragon...!'" The Screaming Death growled at the four dragons before diving and digging his way underground again to retreat from his mother.
"I apologize for the behaviour of my offspring. He is not so tame and can be hard to control," The female Whispering Death whimpered in an apologizing tone.
"Oh no please! It's actually us who should be the ones apologizing! We were the ones trespassing your home! We're sorry!" Ignis apologizes, along with Jade and Zul who whimpered and bowed their heads to show their apologies.
"That's good. But please do be careful around these waters. They are also near human territories that are found just miles away," The Whispering Death warned before diving down to her underground home.
"...Whew, well that ended a bit too well than expected, don't you think?" Ignis sighed with relief before turning to notice Jade and Zul already taking off from the island.
As he turns back, he spots the Screaming Death slowly ascending out from his hole with his usual menacing face on him.
"What are you still doing here!" The Screaming Death roared out loud.
"Gaaagh! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Ignis quickly apologizes before reforming his wings and leaves the island, following Jade and Zul back to their own.
—To be continued