Chapter 7 – Unnatural

Hollow awoke to a knock on the door. He wasn't in his own room, What? Where am I? He thought. Then he remembered. Oh right, with a smile he tried to put his hands behind his head but found he was restricted. For some reason he still hadn't opened his eyes. Pocket was lying half on him and half on the bed and his arm was wrapped around her. She looked so blissful. It brought a smile to his face every time he looked at her. Someone knocked on the door again, "Come on, Hollow. I know you're in there," It was Rage.
"She's asleep, come in quietly," He replied, quietly.
Rage opened the door. Looked at Hollow and said, "You know she's royalty, right?"
"No but so what?" Hollow replied, "Why should we change anything because of that?"
"Elven royalties are different from ours. When they… You know. It's for life. Are you ready for that commitment?" Rage said.
"Damn right, I am. Now what did you want to say? Was it just to warn me or was there a point?" Hollow was starting to raise his voice but Pocket stirred so he stayed quiet, "I think she's going to wake up. Can you give us a minute, please?"
Rage sighed and walked out, throwing his arms above his head, "Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you."
Pocket opened her eyes with a flutter and said, "Good morning, my beautiful chosen undead," with a contented smile. She snuggled further into him.
"Boy, it's a great day to be alive… Rage tells me you're royalty. Where do you come from, if you don't mind my asking?" Hollow replied with a bigger smile and hugged her. "Also, I'm not undead anymore. Gwyn's doing."
"Alright then, my beautiful chosen not-so-undead. When I left across the seas in search of a place where dragons still thrived. Where I lived they were wiped out in what we call the Dragon-War, in your tongue." She replied, a sense of loss about her," They were beautiful creatures but they were arrogant and when a foolish hunter killed one of their numbers like he would a wild animal, they declared war by attacking our land and cities. There was an organisation created to stop the war and it worked but long after the Riders were created a young boy, Galbatorix, betrayed his own and killed all but one dragon and three eggs. The eggs hatched but unfortunately they were all female. When I came here and heard that dragons were here also, I was full of joy but then you killed their last, Seath The Scale-less, here as well. It doesn't matter. He had gone insane and you freed him from his chains." She stopped to regain her composure before continuing, "I'm the daughter of the queen, Islanzadi. Her second after Arya. When I heard she'd been killed in battle in Ilirea, I couldn't go back."
Hollow sighed empathetically, "I'm sorry."
"With a grim smile, she replied, "Thank you but it's not your fault."
Rage knocked on the door once more, "Come on guys, Fluke's got something to show you."
"I've developed a new method for creating the energy crystal that won't incinerate anyone. That means the armour can be made out of it. And it turns out that if you have the regular crystal made into a concentrated tube it can create a force to propel a human off of the ground. We can fly. We can fly in a machine! I've dreamed of this for years, but never thought it plausible, let alone simple."
Hollow half opened the door, concealing most of himself and all of Pocket, "What?" he asked. Thinking only birds and dragons could fly. It was unnatural, he thought.
"We've done it. You have a way to finish the mission," He said, already knowing why he was half leaning behind the door.
"Hang on," Hollow said. He turned back into the room, shutting the door gently. "We need to go. We should get dressed now. It would be slightly weird if we went out there with nothing but a smile on our faces."
Pocket laughed, "Agreed."
Nope. Still the most beautiful sound in the world, He thought to himself.

"Alright, what is it?" Hollow asked as he shut the door behind himself.
"First, I have new sets of armour, since Hollow insists they won't stop jack squat stronger than foot-soldiers. Plate this time. I'm sure you'd all have no problem lifting these," Fluke said handing out different coloured sets; including blue, green and red. "Aaaand I have weapons for you, milady." He continued, handing Pocket some sort of iridescent round-shield, a hatchet and some sort of rifle. Fluke explained the rifle as he produced it.

As Pocket followed behind Fluke, Hollow tried to think of someone that matched her purity. There was no answer. "Boy, you did go and land yourself a mighty fish, alright," Evanz said, with a rough pat on Hollow's taught back.
Hollow chuckled to himself, heartily. "You've barely seen the surface," he replied jogging to catch up with Fluke and Pocket.

"Okay, we're here. Before we go in I must tell you that she's my baby and I refuse to let you hurt her without consequence," Fluke told them.
"Why, what can be so important that we have t-," Rage tried to ask but he was cut off by his own gasp in awe as they walked into a massive room holding a huge, gold and orange vehicle that seemed sleek and light in even its own enormity. It had four cylinders that jutted off out from the front and back of the craft. The cylinders shone a brilliant yellow. It also had two long, flat cuboid-like shapes. The only thing being that the shapes curved inward on the back edge and they held two what seemed to be those weapons that shot a beam of energy on each wing. There also hung three glass bubbles with a screen and a seat inside from the underside of the main body. On the back of the body were three more turrets. One shone a bright green and the other two were red and blue.
The entire was the length of two Drakes directly behind each other, tails included. The winspan nearly touched the side of the room. It was about the same size as if you got two Drakes and stuck half of the second drake's wings onto the other's.
"Holy moly macaroni," Rage exclaimed, "What does it do?" he asked, aghast.
After a few seconds Fluke said, "It flies. And you're going to pilot it."