Summit sat in his room with a wooden plate in front of him that was slowly filling with his own tears. Why does it have to be like this? Why should I stay here anymore? I will never leave my home again if I stay anywhere around here, maybe I should just leave. I've ruined my life here by being a dragon, now I need to let my parents go and leave them a better life without me. I need to leave for them.
Summit's tears slowed down, and Summit got to work freeing his parents from him. Now, he could not just run out the moments his parents were asleep and away, he needed to prepare a little.
First, he took the blanket on his bed to contain the essential items that he wanted to keep and placed it unfolded on the floor. The first thing he added was the first thing that he could find: his writing equipment. It was not essential to live, but it was something that he had had since he first arrived in the Indestructible City. To keep those things safe though, he put them into a little leather bag that he used to use for school, but it also was water-resistant and tough in general which would serve him well. After Summit packed up the school bag with his writing equipment, he placed it on the blanket.
Okay, now all I need to free my parents is something to eat, Summit thought. But as he walked over to the door, he could hear the yelling of his parents raging on. Oh no, I guess I'll have to wait, if my dad sees me again, I think that he'll actually kill me, Summit thought. So, Summit waited as long as it took for his parents to leave the main room. Luckily for Summit though, they were gone in about one quarter of an hour.
When the coast was finally clear, Summit made it back into the main room. Even though the lanterns and candles in the room were not making any light at all, Summit was still able to see just fine. I guess that's another dragon thing about me now, Summit thought. With his improved vision, Summit had a very easy time getting to the pantry and grabbing a loaf of bread to bring with him.
After Summit had grabbed the bread, he walked back to his room and placed it on the blanket. With everything that he needed on his blanket, he used the blanket to wrap all the items into a bundle as big as his head. To carry it, Summit decided to use some twine to tie it to his back and cover it with his wings.
Now that Summit was ready to get going, he walked over to the front door and opened it without a word; nobody cared that he was leaving. Oh my, I forgot how nice it is to see something other than my house, Summit thought as he caught a glimpse of the outside world. It was rather uncanny to see that it was empty, it never happened during the day, even when everyone was working and did not have the time to go outside. After taking a moment to admire the outside world, Summit got going towards the upper layers and his escape. Summit made his way through the winding roads and tall stairs towards the third layer, and then subsequently, the second layer.
You know, maybe I should give it another day or two, see if I change my mind, Summit continued to walk. I can think about going back for a while, I don't want to make a rash decision. Summit continued to walk.
Summit carefully finished walking up the stairs and he was now on the second layer. Summit could easily tell that he was on the second layer, even without the signs telling him so. It was the lowest layer with people of status, many stores, schools, and the like. In addition to that, Summit could also see that some of the houses were fancier because instead of being carved from stone, they were mostly made of wood which was what they did when the city was new and the people were adjusting from living on the dangerous-ow!
Summit was so caught up in his thoughts, that he forgot that he had to look out for where he was walking, and he had accidentally tripped on a pothole in the ground with a loud thump, a gasp, and a large light show that glowed from his scales. The glowing was especially surprising to Summit, as he had no idea that he could even do that. I guess I learned something from being doomed I guess, Summit thought.
Summit got up from the trip and looked around, making sure that he was alone. Maybe I should leave, Summit thought.
And then he saw something, a dot in his vision, holding a small light. It was too small to make out, but it was there, and it was approaching.
Is that a person‽ Summit thought. No, nobody's out right now, it's just my imagination.
"Hello! Who's there? What are you doing so late in the night?" the dot that turned into a figure that turned into a guard said.
Well, I guess I'm dying now, Summit thought.
The guard continued to approach, and Summit was too scared to move or say anything at all. This lasted a few seconds, until all of a sudden, "all hands on deck!" the guard screamed. "There's a dragon!"
Well, I guess I'm really dead now, time to run, Summit thought. "Ahhhhhh!" Summit screamed as he sped away from the guard and towards the stairs. Summit ran past another intersection and caught a glimpse of another guard who had launched an arrow right toward him. The arrow made a whistling sound as it glided through the air like a hot knife going through soft butter and landed on his wing.
The pain bounced and reverberated through his body like a church bell. He could feel the arrow rip through the delicate membrane of the wing and punctured a small hole in it. Summit had not experienced a single pain like it once in his life ever, it was in a league of its own. It seared, it swelled, it flared, and it tortured the poor dragonet as he ran in while screaming like a tornado.
He was not certain, but Summit was guessing that a small army had developed behind him. Luckily for him though, Summit was already at the stairs to the first layer, and all he had to go was the surface and then climb the wall to get out.
Wait, the first layer? I want to go home, Summit looked back at the army that was chasing him. Or, I guess I can just escape them now and get home later.
On the stairs, Summit was quickly climbing up the stairs in the middle of the enormous staircase, while the guards were running so fast that some of them were tripping on the stairs as they ran up to chase the dragon. The contravening track was both a blessing and a grave danger for Summit. The difficulty of quickly climbing stairs in series slowed Summit's steps severely, but it did the same to the guards, and because of the constant movement, they could not use their bows and arrows to attack from afar. But it seemed that he could still be in danger, as one particularly quick guard was only a meter away from him, and after another second, he was preparing to swing his sword right at Summit's tail.
The violent man pulled back the sword as he charged his sword ready to attack, and then, a sword swung at Summit as fast as the man could. But all of a sudden, Summit's tail seemed to come to life as it swung back before that man had made his moved, hitting him in the leg and sending him hurtling down the stairs and knocking down others like a bowling down.
Oh, no. What have I done? Summit thought as he stilly looked back in horror at what he did to the man without movement. Maybe Dad was right? I will always tend towards violence. I mean, he was trying to kill me, but if there was a dragon in town just a week ago, I would have probably done the same.
After giving the guard army an unneeded time to catch up to him, Summit continued to accelerate away from the guards, creating a somewhat safe zone between him and the guards, who were trying as hard as they could to keep Summit on his toes and hopefully also kill him while doing so.
After all that hardship and sheer annoyance that often occurred on the stairway, Summit was finally on the first layer, now he had to do that again, but only one more time thankfully. Summit was out of breath after all that running, so he decided to stop for a second, and by accident, he saw what was behind him as he panted quickly. The guards were far too close for comfort to him, being less than two meters away from him. Summit began to sprint away instinctively.
The running continued as the guards chased him without mercy. As Summit ran towards the stairs, guards ran in on both sides of the road.
Without another choice, Summit leaped onto the stairs and went as fast as he could. His talons were banged and scratched in sacrifice for his speed, but it did not last long. Summit started to run normally, and the guards began to make up for lost ground.
The guards screamed and shouted as they egged on with the chase. Summit felt his body wear increasingly as he ran up the wide stairs. His talons getting scratched on the rough stone. His back was knocked by his bag. Summit started to slow down again. In those moments of slowness, guards appeared in front of him.
Summit tried to go around them as he went as fast as he could. The speed was too uncontrollable, and Summit rammed head-first into a man's throat. Blood got on Summit's snout and the man's head was pulled back beyond what it should have. His body went underneath Summit's stomach. Summit could feel splotches of the unconscious man's blood quickly drying on his underbelly. Summit continued to run away as he processed the flash of colour and pain in front of him.
The atrocity committed by Summit enraged the mob even more, and they roared with vigor as they sped up toward Summit on the stairs. The rest of Summit's trip up the stairs was a lot faster.
Summit eventually made it to the surface, and he continued to run by building and stores. Eventually, silence built behind him to replace the roar of anger, and Summit realized that he was no longer being chased. I suppose that the guards lost me. I guess I'm all alone again. I should head home, he thought as he felt how good the cool breeze felt on his scales. I should stay a little longer, I need some time out here before I go mad.
So, Summit had a quiet stroll on the surface, and he went past the many buildings, markets, and structures. While he walked, Summit tried to use his glowing scales. Even though his night vision made it seem like it was day, Summit could still see the bits of light he managed to make to his will.
Summit decided to try to use his right talon as a flashlight, but as he did so, thoughts surged like a flash flood of doom.
"Ugh, don't show me that thing. Just eat your food and leave me alone," Oakley said.
"Summit! Close your mouth! It's disgusting!" Oakley said.
"So listen to me you beast. Get. Out. Of. This. House," Oakley said.
"I'm sorry Dad! I'm sorry for being like this, it's my fault," Summit cried to himself.
I shouldn't be so dramatic out here, the guards could still be looking, Summit though. Summit continued to walk around in search of the wall he could exit through as he tried to ignore everything "dragon" about him. I'm still not a dragon, Summit thought. I still think and act like a human, I'm still a human on the inside, I know it.
As Summit aimlessly walked around the unfamiliar passageways of the familiar location, Summit accidentally arrived at the cliff where the Indestructible City was built. The fact that it was on the cliff at all was kind of surprising on its own, but it was also the place where he chatted with Dexterous the last day he was human.
So I guess that's the last place I'll ever have a normal conversation, I guess I had a good run, Summit thought.
Summit walked over to the cliffside and sat down on it with a meter or two between him and the cliff for safety to observe the big open world he would soon inhabit. It was sprawling and large, with trees, hills, and flowers, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw guards. Guards of all kinds surrounded him from all angles. They all wore the same uniform, the uniform of the Indestructible City guard, but also the uniform that showed Summit that he was public enemy number one.
"Don't move beast! We have you surrounded! If you move, one of us will kill you right now," the guard said with dominance.
I guess they just let me go then to lead me right here, and now I will pay the price of being tricked. Why do I listen to anyone? Why do I trust anyone? Summit thought as he was frozen in place.
The guard that was talking to him before grabbed a net and started to bring it towards Summit, presumably to catch him. Summit could not object to them, because fear, like one of the men that surrounded him, had sewed his mouth shut with a thread made from an iron rod. His body shrunk to the ground as he tried to evade his capture.
But as the net drew ever closer, Summit had run out of options to get out, he needed to do something, anything. And anything he did.
Summit wound up his legs and prayed to the moons themselves, as he jumped off a cliff.
All of a sudden, time slowed down to a crawl. Summit looked down to see a small lake under where he was falling. Okay, so I won't die immediately, he thought. The air that Summit's body fell through pulled out his wings, revealing the hole to him, and showing him just how big his wings actually were.
Each of his wings was twice as wide as his own body when they were fully unfurled. He could see thin bones that made up the solid structure of the wings and kept them together like scaffolding in a building. They were a beautiful shade of blue, and there were darker parts of the wings that Summit guessed were the parts of his body that could glow.
But then, Summit saw his sack flying down with him; it had escaped him! Summit tried to swim through the air, slowly going through the air to grab the bag. Every stroke he made brought him just a little closer to his things, but along with moving him toward the bag, he was moving toward the ground too. And with just a few more moments left before Summit was in the water, he straightened out his body to minimize the impact.
SPLASH! Both Summit and his bag dove into the lake as fast as they could after the 8 seconds of free-fall they were in. Summit's body made several spasms in reaction to the frigid water that covered his body. The dried blood on his underbelly had detached from him and was freely floating around in the water around Summit. But nothing happened after a few seconds of his body getting used to the freezing water. He wasn't drowning in the water, he was just swimming freely.
Three Moons! I can breathe underwater! Summit began to swim around in the lake. But where is my stuff? It was right next to me… all I can see is blood in the water. Wait, am I bleeding? Summit looked at himself. There was no bleeding. Wait, that guard that I rammed into, did I, kill him‽ I must have, there's no way I could have not killed him like that. I killed someone. I am a monster, even if I was human, I'd be a monster.
Summit swam around for minutes in the murky water. Despite his impeccable night vision, Summit struggled to see through the lake's dirty and murky water. After a lot of trying though, Summit caught sight of the soaked bag and swam with as much grace as a cat in the water. It was soaked, but at least he had something from his old life now.
With the bag now in his talons, Summit slowly figured out how to swim out of the lake and get onto dry land again. Swimming was agonizing for Summit. He had never been taught how to swim, so everything that he tried was purely on instinct and gut feeling. Luckily for him, that was just enough for him to get up and out of the lake by grabbing a talon on the surface above and pulling himself out of the water. Summit made as little sound as he could; he did not want to be chased outside of town after all that physical activity and work.
Summit sat on the ground as he recovered from swimming for the first time as he looked out on the wilds of Pyrrhia as he panted furiously. It was mountainous, he could see a forest or two. Behind him… Behind him… did not matter. Yes, it did not matter. The view was pretty nice, except for how dangerous Summit knew it was from experience.
The cliff face towered over Summit like nothing he had ever seen before. The Indestructible City was never so inaccessible.
So Summit started to walk with the damp sack on his back once again. After about fifteen minutes of walking, Summit had found a good spot under a tree.
Summit put his bag on the surrounding ground. The blanket he used to make the bag was still too damp to use, so he slept without it. He laid down on the bare ground in a fetal position like he always did. The ground was harsh, cold, and unforgiving. The night winds sped above his small body.
As Summit drifted to sleep, there was only one thing he could think: I'm sorry. I'm sorry to my parents, I'm sorry to Dex, I'm sorry to the guard I killed. I'm sorry. I ruined everything. I'm sorry.