After thinking long and hard about it, I've decided that I want to cancel this version of Wings of Fire: Salvation and start over again. I've learned a lot from this go around but I don't think it's quite as good as it could be, especially with the needlessly strict and complicated release format.
This next version will be the final one, of that I am sure. As such I want to make sure it is as good as it can be, so it will be quite some time before I release anything about it. I want to try and write up to the point that the current iteration is at before I start publishing at least.
I've been taking a look back at the old versions of the story and thinking about ways I could improve upon it. If anyone has any criticism or feedback that would be greatly appreciated!
Below I have what I managed to draft of Chapter 6 before deciding to start over. It's not much, but I figured I might as well share that too.
With that, I bid you all farewell...for now...
- Chapter 6 -
Xavier strolled out of the old bar, shaking dust off his wings and stretching out his neck. Ricky was waiting for him in the Zipper, its engine already running. Xavier took a deep breath.
"Ak! Bleugh!" he coughed. He'd forgotten how poor the air quality in the lower city was.
"It should take us about twenty or so minutes to get to the palace," Ricky explained as Xavier camouflaged himself, swung into the Zipper, and slammed the door shut. "We'll be taking a back route to avoid Scarlet's soldiers. From there you'll need to follow the path Rockslide drew on the map."
Xavier stared blankly ahead.
"Are you alright Xavier?"
"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine," Xavier lied.
Ricky flicked on the ignition and started down the smog-ridden street. "I know this is a lot to be putting on you. I'd go in there with you too, but…" Ricky glanced down at his rotund belly and legs. "I don't think I'd fit in the vents…"
Xavier remained silent, staring out at the city passing them by. Their route remained shrouded in the sea of smog, Ricky taking the old roads carved directly onto the mountainside. Over the cliffside loomed the silhouettes of the many skyscrapers of Solaria, barely visible in the sickening haze that choked its underbelly.
"I was pretty unsure when I first joined Peregrine and Condor. As bad as Scarlet is I still wasn't sure that I had it in me to fight against her directly," Ricky continued. "Sometimes you've just gotta put your worries aside and go with your gut. That's what Peregrine told me anyway."
Xavier sighed. He wished he could just stop worrying so much and jump right into the action. He could use a bit of Hidden's confidence right about now.
They continued along the mountain roads, slowly winding their way higher and higher up the mountainside. The smog gradually began to thin out the higher they went, the glow of the upper city beginning to pierce through the haze and blanket the mountainside. The sounds of countless dragons going about their day, advertisements crying out for their attention, and massive machines churning away echoed down from above.
Looking up, Xavier could just barely make out a massive structure looming atop the mountain they were ascending. The numerous sharp crags that cradled the roadway made it difficult to see at first, but when they crossed a bridge spanning a sharp crevice in the mountainside Xavier was able to get a clear look at it.
The palace was larger than any building that Xavier had ever seen, a mountain perched atop a mountain. Thick beams of metal were skewered into the mountainside, holding the massive disk-like sections of the structure that hung out over the city below. At the center rose an enormous, blade-like spire, more disks hanging from the sides of it and a harsh red strip of light traced along its edge that bathed the entire structure in a scarlet glow.
Countless SkyWings were flitting about, many dressed in similar armor to that worn by the soldiers who had taken Hidden. Xavier instinctively ducked below the window, even though he was completely invisible and their vehicle was still partially obscured by the smog.
They want me to sneak into there? There's got to be hundreds of soldiers guarding it, thousands even! Not to mention all the other dragons flying around!
This secret route through the vents had better be good.
Ricky pulled them up onto a flat concrete ledge beneath the lowest disk of the palace, still within the uppermost reaches of the smog layer. A towering steel wall stretched all the way from the concrete up to the underside of the disk, with numerous slanted metal chutes sticking out of it. Piles of garbage were littered everywhere.
On the bright side, there wasn't a single dragon in sight. The pungent scent of refuse was probably why.
"Ricky? What is this place?" Xavier asked, clutching his nose shut as the smell crept its way even inside Zipper.
"One of the palace's waste dumping sites, the least used one according to Rockslide," Ricky explained, also clutching his nose. "Apparently they don't guard the waste chutes very heavily."
"You've gotta be kidding me," Xavier groaned. He stepped out of the Zipper, only to gag as he was slammed by the full force of the garbage stench. He tried breathing through his mouth, but that only filled it with the taste of rotten meat.
The sound of an explosion far in the distance briefly distracted Xavier from the noxious stench. Ricky stuck his head out of the Zipper, Xavier walking over to him as he talked in a hushed tone.
"That must be Peregrine and Condor's distraction. I'd better head over there and make sure they don't get too carried away."
"So…this is it then?" Xavier asked.
"Should be. Just follow the map from Rockslide and you'll be at the server in no time!"
Ricky pulled his head back in, giving one last reassuring grin. "You've got this Xavier!" he said. And with that, he spun the Zipper around and sped off back the way they had come.
"Just follow the map," Xavier reiterated, holding up the interface pad and flicking it on. "You can do this."