Mizalin-on-Sky: Thunderous
#27 of The Life and Times of Jarzyl Mintaka (Slice of Life Stories)
The field trip comes to an end, as does Jarzyl's adventure.
Jarzyl dozed off at some point in time. What dislodged her from her late afternoon nap was a gentle prodding at her shoulder, coupled with the repeated sound of her name. "Jarzyl. Jarzyl. Jarzyl Mintaka. Wake up, Jarz!"
"Ahrng?!" A firmer shove to her shoulder dropped Jarzyl all the way out of her dreams and sent her crashing back into reality. Reacting on semi-conscious instinct, she clutched at the fledgling she was still lying atop of, as well as snapping her head forward to get her teeth around his neck.
Full awareness returned almost instantly, and Jarzyl let go of Atlas' neck without biting him too hard. "Mmh. Oh. Sorry. I don't really react well to be woken up." She glanced around and discovered that she was still lying on top of Atlas and the two of them were still both in the hot spring, but Glecion and Caden had stepped out of the spring and were towelling themselves dry.
Caden had been using the tip of her tail to prod at Jarzyl. "Wake up. Drak Tasilus just came by a few minutes ago to say that it's time to go. The field trip is coming to an end--we're going to head back to the visitor centre and regroup with the class, before boarding the airship again for the return trip home."
"Right." Flapping her wings, Jarzyl slid off Atlas' back and climbed out of the hot spring. She yawned widely, and stretched herself. "That was a nice nap."
"Probably because you had a cooperative pillow," Glecion said with a grin. "Isn't that right, Atlas?"
"I guess so." Atlas climbed out of the hot spring as well, and he picked up his towel to begin drying himself.
Jarzyl smiled, and her neck frill perked up happily. "You were a great pillow." Instead of bothering with a towel, she took a few steps away from her friends and shook herself from head to tail, scattering water droplets from her body. "This was a great field trip! I had so much fun today."
"It was great to get to know you guys," Glecion agreed.
"All good things must come to an end, though," Caden said. "It's time for us to go home--and just in time too. Looks like there really is a storm coming."
Glancing upwards, Jarzyl took in the sight of the sky. The brilliant blues of the open sky were no longer as bright, gradually darkening as the sun continued to get lower in the sky. However, far more noticeable was that the large, thick clouds were increasingly started to roll across the sky and engulf the floating mountains. Instead of being a puffy harmless white, these clouds appeared thick and grey, laden with wind and water ready to be discharged. "That's interesting."
Right at that moment, a park ranger came over. "Attention, we're closing the hot springs due to weather. Everyone out of the water, please, and head back to the visitor centre!" Staff were moving about, clearing out the hot springs and getting all the dragons to leave the water.
The fledglings who were here on a field trip outnumbered the general tourists two to one, and Jarzyl could also see teachers gathering up fledglings in small groups and sending them back to the visitor centre. "I guess we should go," Jarzyl decided. "The sky is getting quite grey."
"Is it?" Glecion asked. "What does it look like?"
"Ominous and brooding," Caden said.
"Stormy," Atlas said.
"Cool," Jarzyl said, with a grin.
Glecion put her wing on Caden's shoulder, and the four fledglings left the hot spring.
The short walk back to the visitor centre was uneventful, right until they were almost back in the building. Suddenly, one of the larger, more distant clouds that was still some distance away from Mizalin-on-Sky seem to come alive, flickering repeatedly from within.
The fledglings all paused to stare, and a short while later came the rumble of thunder. "Ok, it's really time to go. Let's get our flight harnesses and hurry to find our class!" Caden decided.
"Excellent idea," Jarzyl replied.
Another park ranger was waiting for them at the building, and he waved them in. "Come on, come on. Once you four have gotten your flight harnesses, head over to the cafeteria--that's the assembly point for your field trip, got it?"
"Got it!" Jarzyl noted. The four of them headed into the building, while the park ranger continued to issue his message to other fledglings who were arriving back from the hot springs.
Inside the visitor centre, the lights were now switched on brightly, compensating as the natural daylight from windows and skylights was increasingly becoming insufficient to illuminate. Sticking together with her friends, Jarzyl returned back to the specific storage room where they had left their flight harnesses. This room was now slightly crowded with other fledglings retrieving their gear, all being overseen by park rangers and teachers. "Don't loiter about, please! Once you've gotten your flight harness, proceed to the cafeteria for assembly! Don't loiter!" boomed one of the teachers.
"They're really rushing us," Jarzyl muttered.
"Storm's coming," Atlas said.
The four fledglings made their way through the chaos of the crowd, reaching the part of the room where their flight harnesses had been stored. Jarzyl had to wait for another fledgling to get out of the way, then she darted forward and pulled out her basket. She grabbed her flight harness and slid the basket back into its slot in the wall, before moving over to a slightly less crowded part of the room to hurriedly don her gear.
Jarzyl straightened out her harness and laid it out on the ground, before stepping into the proper loops and pulling up her harness around her body. Then she snapped the appropriate buckles into their clasps, and she was once again wearing her flight harness and ready to go. She also clipped the magnetic collar around her neck, as well as slipping on the wooden-soled sandals that protected her feet against the sharp soil of Mizalin-on-Sky. Though they were just about to leave, they would still need to head out to the meadow.
Amongst her friends, Glecion was also quick to put on her own equipment, followed by Caden, then Atlas--and then they were all ready to go.
There was another bright flash of light in from the windows, following soon by the rumble of distant thunder. The sight filled Jarzyl with a thrill. "Ooh! The storm is almost here!"
Unsurprisingly enough, the cafeteria was filled with dragon fledglings and chaos. Most of the young dragons were assembled up in their class groups, herded by the teachers, but there was still plenty of chatter and excitement.
Jarzyl had been leading the way, but now she paused to look over the large room. "Where's our class?"
Atlas glanced around too, then he used his wingtip to point. "Over there."
The four fledglings went to rejoin their combined class, where Drak Tasilus and Drak Eeto were overseeing the young dragons. "There they are! The four of them makes the lot," Tasilus said. He beckoned over Jarzyl over and her friends. "Come, come. I trust everyone's had a good time today? This visit to Mizalin-on-Sky should hopefully have been a very educational experience that has given you a unique insight into the history and geography of this place," he said to the class.
Murmurs of agreement and general affirmation rose up from the seated fledglings. Jarzyl sat down at the back of her class with her three friends, and she nodded her head. It had been a good day, but now she felt ready to return home.
"We're going to have to end the field trip slightly earlier than expected because there's a storm coming. But still, I hope everyone had enough timeto explore the museum and visitor centre, as well as hike about the nature park or enjoy the hot springs. Also, I can already tell what your next question will be--the answer is yes, dinner will be soon, but not here anymore. Once we board the airship, or airships, there will be food on board for your dinner," Tasilus continued.
Soon enough, all the classes were standing up and starting to make their way out of the cafeteria. With Drak Tasilus leading the way, Jarzyl followed along with her classmates as they left the visitor centre cafeteria and walked through a series of corridors, before finally making it out through the main doors and stepping back into the wide, open meadow they had first landed in.
By now the sky was partially filled with dark, ominous layers of thick clouds both above and below the floating mountains, half obscuring any view of the ground below or sky above. In the spaces where clear sky was to be found, beams of orange-red sunset cut between the clouds and left long shadows across the mountains and the cloud formations alike.
The vibrant, many-coloured wildflowers scattered across the meadow were still standing tall and resilient, but now they were being battered by the gusting wind which made the tall grass roll in waves. The moment she stepped out of the visitor centre, Jarzyl could smell the scent of approaching rain, tinged with the sharp odour of ozone as distant lighting cracked the air into constituent, oxidizing components.
There was movement in the sky--a pair of airships was flying in tight formation, closing in on the visitor centre and the meadow. Each of the airships was slightly smaller than the big singular airship that had carried them out here, which was nowhere to be seen. And although the smaller craft still had the same general metallic ovoid shape of any airship, these aerial vehicles were sleeker and thin, shaped more like darts, with sharp, angular metal hulls that seemed to cut through the air.
"Oh!" Jarzyl made a surprised exclamation on seeing the airships, for she recognized them. "Oh, oh! Look at those airships! Those are Stormrider-class light clippers!"
Glecion tilted her head, angling her ears towards Jarzyl. "You like airships, Jarzyl?"
Jarzyl nodded. "Yes! They are super interesting, but these in particular are extra super interesting because they were built by my clan!"
The two airships appeared identical to each other except for one small portion near their fronts, where the metallic hulls had been emblazoned with white paint spelling out text--the airships' service numbers and names. The airships continued to approach, not slowing their descent to the meadow despite the gusting winds and imminent arrival of the storm.
"Mintaka Stormrider and Mintaka Cottonside," murmured Jarzyl, reading off the names. "Stormrider clippers are a new design by Mintaka Heavy Industrial which came into full production just last year. My father let me read the skyworthiness trial report--it was very complicated and technical and dense, but also cool," Jarzyl explained.
"As long as those airships can withstand the storm and take us home, that's good enough for me," Caden said. "But how are we going to get aboard? It's too windy for us to fly, and I assume it still isn't safe for airships to approach close to the floating mountains because of the... twisted flux lines, or whatever."
"That is where you have assumed wrong!" Jarzyl happily bobbed her head. "Stormrider-class light clippers are all-weather capable--they were designed for cargo or passenger transportation in regions were storms are common, with powerful responsive engines and even shield capacitors. These airships were built specifically to fly in places like Mizalin-on-Sky. Now that's the sort of things clan should do--build really, really, expensive, complicated, cool, useful things."
Even as she and the other fledglings watched, a huge bolt of lightning suddenly leapt between clouds at the edge of Mizalin-on-Sky, sending a flash of forking, strobing, brilliant white that lit up the floating mountains with electricity. The sudden flash made Jarzyl and Atlas both jump in surprise, and a few seconds later came the thunderous boom of lightning which made Glecion flinch too, though Caden was more stoic.
The airships continued their smooth decent, and they broke formation to spread out across the meadow. Bright cones of light beamed out from the airships, sweeping over the assembled dragons before refocusing down to illuminate the area directly below. Skids extended out from compartments in their metallic underbellies, and in smooth, graceful near-synchrony, the airships touched down on the tall grass.
Ramps folded down from each airship, first one, then the other, and classes of fledglings started to move forwards to board the craft, led by their teachers. Jarzyl glanced to Drak Tasilus, but he gestured for them to wait. "Don't rush. We shall not crowd, and shall wait for it to be our appropriate turn to board. It is the mark of a civilized mind to know patience."
Jarzyl impatiently tapped her paws against the grassy ground, but there was nothing to do but wait as other classes ahead of them started boarding the airships. Lightning continued to flicker from within the thick storm clouds, and Jarzyl could see that in the distance, sheets of rain had begun to pour down on some of the floating mountains at the edge of Mizalin-on-Sky. The force of the wind, the weight of the water, and the energy from the lightning must have been having some effect. Jarzyl wasn't sure if it was her imagination, but it almost looked like those floating mountains fully inside the storm were moving faster--though they moved with the slow ponderousness of millions of tons of rock, each of the floating mountains was dancing over the course of minutes--spinning, moving in one direction, or increasing or decreasing in altitude.
It was dynamism on a scale Jarzyl had never seen before. Entire mountains were shifting and moving in the distance, as they got caught up in the power of the storm. It was almost hypnotic to watch. Of course, it was only fun to watch as long as the storm hadn't reached this floating mountain yet.
Jarzyl glanced to her friends. Glecion had her wings half open and appeared to be enjoying the breeze, whereas Caden was watching the two airships as fledglings in their many classes continued to board. Atlas was watching the distant sight of the storm as it continued to approach--then after a few seconds he noticed Jarzyl watching him, and his gaze moved to her. "Look at those mountains move. The storm is shoving them around."
Jarzyl grinned. "It would be really exciting if we were standing on one of those mountains!"
"Exciting? More like terrifying," Atlas replied. "It was scary enough when we were clinging on to that floating boulder today--just imagine how bad it would be if we were holding onto an entire floating mountain that was moving."
Jarzyl nodded. "True." She glanced back at the visitor centre, where even the park rangers and other staff members were emptying out from the building. Apparently the nature park's staff members were also going to board the airships to wait out the storm away from Mizalin-on-Sky. "But it was fun today, wasn't it? When we rode that boulder. And we even manage to get that... that huge... crystal--oh. Oh no."
Jarzyl's grin vanished as a horrifying realization came to mind. She'd forgotten. Perhaps she had been feeling sleep inertia after her nap at the hot springs, or perhaps it was tired exhaustion after a long day's adventuring, or perhaps it was simply the rush they were in because the storm was coming, but she'd forgotten about the huge crystal they'd obtained from the inside of that floating boulder. When she'd retrieved her flight harness after returning from the hot springs, the crystal had been in a separate pouch that she'd detached from her harness and stuffed deeper into the wall slot, back in the storage room.
Jarzyl moved her paw to touch her lower back, feeling from the harness pouch that she already knew was not there. She'd forgotten to take it. "Oh no. Oh no."
"Problem?" Atlas asked, raising an eye ridge.
"No, no, no." Jarzyl frantically ran her paws across her body, checking the various mounting points of her flight harness even though she knew that the pouch wasn't there. She spun around, glancing back at the visitor centre. "I forgot... I left one of my harness pouches behind, back in the storage room. The pouch with that big crystal we found. I left it behind!"
"Oh. Should we.... Should we go get it?" Atlas asked uncertainly.
The meadow was increasingly emptying of fledglings as most of the groups had boarded the airships. Their school group would soon be boarding. Nervous panic made Jarzyl's tail flick from side to side, and she rapidly ran through possible options.
Option one--just forget about it and leave her pouch behind, along with that gorgeous, sizeable, hard-earned needlemir crystal. It wasn't really that valuable. Artificially grown crystals of comparable size were easy to find back in Avaeria's markets. Nevertheless, that didn't sit well with Jarzyl. After all the effort it had taken to get that crystal, she couldn't just leave it behind. And Atlas had helped her obtain it! But now it would be her fault that this shared souvenir of their adventure would be left behind, never to be seen again? No, that couldn't do. The value of that crystal wasn't in its usefulness as a store for magic, or even in its beauty--the value was in the hardship it had taken them to find and retrieve it, and in the memory of their adventure togther.
Option two was therefore obvious--she had to go get it!
"I should... I have to go get it..." Jarzyl mumbled, solidifying the decision in her mind by stating it out loud.
"But we're about to board the airship!" Caden countered. "It's just a shiny kind of rock, if you think about it. There storm's almost here and we really should leave."
As if timed perfectly to accentuate Caden's point, another flash of lightning struck one of the floating mountains in the distance. This had been a small floating mountain, perhaps more suited to being called a floating hill, but the energy of the lightning bolt energized the needlemir buried deep inside the floating hill and sent it shifting in one direction away, to collide against the side of a larger floating mountain. The movement was slow and gradual, yet the amount of mass and energy involved was colossal as rock smashed against rock.
Jarzyl gulped nervously. She really had to rush. Scampering forward, she ran up to Drak Tasilus and waved her wings for attention. "Drak! Drak! I forgot something! I left one of harness pouches behind!"
Her teacher didn't seem particularly surprise or even disappointed. "Jarzyl Mintaka! You left something behind in the cafeteria? I specifically reminded everyone to check your belongings. Make sure you check properly next time. Don't always be in too much of a rush."
"Not in the cafeteria, but in the storage room..." Jarzyl mumbled, but Drak Tasilus had already turned away and was speaking to the other teacher who was sharing the handling of their class today. "Eeto, can you get the rest of the fledglings boarded? I'll escort Jarzyl to go get her things."
The other teacher nodded her head. "Very well. Class! Follow me, please!"
Drak Tasilus turned back to Jarzyl. "Come along, then, little one. Let's go get your things."
Jarzyl was too nervous about having left her pouch behind to be annoyed over being called a little one. Instead she broke out into a sprint towards the visitor centre, not even bothering to slow down to let Drak Tasilus catch up as her teacher followed along.
Left behind, Atlas, Glecion, Caden, and various other classmates watched as Jarzyl ran back to fetch her lost belongings. "Jarzyl just ran off back to the visitor centre," Caden muttered to Glecion, letting her know what she couldn't see.
Glecion raised a wing and waved it over her head in an encouraging gesture. "Good luck Jarz! Come back quick! Be safe!"
"Should we... uh...?" Atlas glanced around. "Someone should go with her, right? Caden, aren't you her field trip buddy?"
Caden opened her wing and used it to pull Glecion closer, hugging Glecion's body against hers. "Didn't we swap? Even if it we never officially confirmed a swap, I feel like it was very strongly implied that we swapped field trip buddies. Atlas, _you_go with Jarz. I'll take care of Caden."
Atlas hesitated for a moment, then he ran after Jarzyl, moving slower with his asymmetrical, three-legged trot.
Glecion chuckled, and she bumped her snout against Caden's neck. "Heh. Caden, did you really just send poor Atlas, a three-legged cripple, to chase after Jarzyl and take care of her?"
Caden was unremorseful. "Yes? That's always what he does. And you know it will work! If I was the one going, I would at best be doing a brisk walk while Jarzyl sprinted ahead and left me behind in the dirt. But Atlas will try his hardest to catch up, and Jarz will slow down for him."
Jarzyl slid to a stop in front of the visitor centre's main entrance, which was now sealed up by a solid metal shutter that had been rolled down from the roof. She tried to pull at the shutter, but it was either locked or just really heavy, and it barely budged.
A group of staff from the visitor centre had been waiting nearby, and now one of the drakes strolled over. "Hey there. What are you doing?" asked the park ranger as he walked over.
"I need to... I left behind one of my harness pouches inside and I need to go get it!" Jarzyl explained. "Can you open this?"
"Oh. We're already locking up the whole visitor centre... The storm's coming and with all the mountains moving about, it isn't safe to stay here." The drake tapped his claws against the heavy metal shutter sealing off the entrance. "This whole building is reinforced, and we use these just for extra protection of the doors and windows. Protection against the wind, the rain, the lightning, and even against whatever rocks, pebbles, boulders, or other things are flung by the storm," he continued, breaking into an explanation that rolled off his tongue with a smooth, practiced grace of someone who talked for a living.
Jarzyl would in most any other situation have been curious to listen to the park ranger explain more, but not right now. "Ok, but I really need to get my harness pouch. I'll be quick! Please?" Glancing back, Jarzyl saw that just at that moment, her teacher Drak Tasilus arrived, trailed by Atlas. "Drak! Tell him!"
Tasilus nodded respectfully towards the park ranger. "Ahem. Pardon me, but one of my students has forgotten her belongings inside. Would you be so kind as to let her back inside to go retrieve them?"
The park ranger glanced at the storm and made a gesture that was both nod and shake of the head. "That's... alright. But make it quick! The storm is coming. Even with how well built this visitor centre is, you won't be safe here if a fissure opens up below the meadow, or if another floating mountain or hill comes crashing into this spot. It hasn't happened yet, but it always could. That's why we evacuate when big storms come to Mizalin-on-Sky."
"I'll be quick! I'm so quick!" Jarzyl anxiously insisted.
The park ranger turned to the shutter and made a broad, waving gesture, spreading his wings. The glow of magic surrounded his limbs, and the metal of the shutter creaked as it started to move. He clearly had a magical affinity towards rock or even specifically to metal, for he was able to control the metal shutter and make it very slowly roll upwards.
As soon as the shutter had even opened up a crack, Jarzyl dashed forward. She kicked off her sandals since she wouldn't need them for indoor use and they would slow her down, and then she started squeezing her way through the small gap.
"Jarzyl Mintaka, you excitable young drakka, you really must wait for the shutter to open fully! It is safer that way!" Tasilus admonished her, but Jarzyl was in too much of a hurry to listen. She shimmed her way under the shutter and into the dark inside of the visitor centre. Jarzyl didn't wait for the shutter to open enough for the teacher or the park ranger to come inside as well, but she did pause for the brief moment it took Atlas to squeeze his way inside too.
Both fledglings exchanged an understanding look, then in unison they both sprinted into the visitor centre's depths.
Whereas earlier in the day the visitor centre had been welcoming and open, now it was deserted and foreboding. All the windows and skylights had been sealed off with metal shutters. The sound of the wind was eerie as it howled, blowing against the outside walls and whistling as it snuck in through the tiniest of gaps in the windows.
Jarzyl sprinted forward through the visitor centre's museum and science zone, which were now quiet and lifeless in the face of the approaching storm. The lights in the ceiling were still on, throwing down steady illumination, but all the display panels or science exhibits were deactivated. As quickly as she could, Jarzyl tried to retrace their steps, heading back to the cafeteria, then the next series of corridors that led towards the side of the visitor centre closer to the hot springs. She needed to get back to the storage room where they'd earlier kept their equipment while at the hot springs. The only time she slowed was to let Atlas catch up.
Even as Jarzyl circled around a corner, she misjudged the distance and struck her shoulder against the corner. The collision sent her tumbling to the ground, and sharp pain jolted through her shoulder joint. "Nuh!" Jarzyl grunted and grit her teeth, but the flare of pain faded away quickly--it was just a bruise to her scales, not any deeper damage.
"Are you alright?" Atlas asked.
"I'm fine." Jarzyl shoved her way back upright, and immediately broke out into another sprint only to again quickly stumble and crash into the wall. Dizziness seemed to overtake her, and her panic escalated a notch higher than before. Why couldn't she walk straight? But even as she got back to her feet, Jarzyl realized what was happening--she was walking straight, but the ground was the one moving. The whole entire floating mountain and the visitor centre sitting atop the plateau was no longer still and was moving or turning. It was a very subtle effect, but it was just enough for Jarzyl to feel off.
Atlas was right beside her. "I feel it too. The storm is beginning to affect this mountain. We really should hurry."
Jarzyl started running again, though slightly more cautiously and anxiously than before. Mentally she recalled the rooms, corridors, hallways, and places she passed through only so recently until finally she made it.
Her imagination was running on panicked overdrive, imagining all sorts of unpleasant scenarios ranging from the storage room's door being locked, or perhaps somehow her harness pouch just not being in the room where she'd left it, to even more outlandish scenarios like the large needlemir crystal having been smashed to bits, or somehow becoming energized and levitating around the room.
Reality was more mundane. The storage room's door was still wide open, and Jarzyl sprinted in. She scampered up to the slot in the wall and yanked out the basket before sticking her paw in deeper, where she felt the reassuring sensation of fabric. Pulling out her pouch, Jarzyl flipped open the flap and saw that the large needlemir crystal was still sitting neatly inside. The crystal was fully intact, and though it was glowing faintly with magic from within, it was certainly not levitating or even moving.
Jarzyl breathed a long sigh of relief, and she smiled a toothy grin at Atlas, tilting the pouch so that he could see it too. "It's still here! Ok. It's fine. I got it. We got this. Whew. Everything is great. Yeah!"
"Excellent," Atlas concurred.
Jarzyl clipped the pouch onto the harness belt running over her lower back, and Atlas helped her to pull the adjustment strap tight. Just as they were doing so, however, the rumble of thunder echoed across the visitor centre, shaking the walls. With how loud the thunder was, the lighting strike must have been close by--perhaps it wasn't yet striking this floating mountain, but it at least must have striking one of the nearer mountains as the storm rapidly approached outside. Jarzyl had calmed down from her near panic now that she'd retrieved her harness pouch and the crystal, but hearing thunder made her anxiety spike back up. She couldn't see the storm outside, but she knew it was coming.
"Let us be away," Jarzyl said, and then the two fledglings turned and ran back the way they had come from.
They made it down one corridor, then another, but before they'd even come back to the cafeteria, thunder echoed through the visitor centre again. This time the ceiling lights flashed simultaneously, then flickered off. Jarzyl had been sprinting right beside Atlas, but now she let out a concerned chirp and stumbled to a quick stop. "Eep!"
It was dark. It was _so_dark. Without the ceiling lights, and with the metal shutters sealing off the windows and skylights, there was no source of light inside the visitor centre. Jarzyl blinked her eyes a few times and turned her head, but there was really nothing at all for her to see. An inky, all-encompassing blackness surrounded her all around. "Oh no. Oh, no, no, no, no."
Jarzyl hesitantly took a small step forward, but then fear made her stop. She no longer knew where she was! She could still remember the route back to the cafeteria and then the main entrance, but she couldn't see the corridors or signs anymore that would have led her out of the building.
Stretching out her wings and waving them so that she would at least know before walking into something, Jarzyl made small cautious steps over to the side of the corridor, towards the only remaining light source she could barely see as he pupils tried to adjust to the darkness. Metal shutters had been rolled down over the windows, but at the edge of each window there was a tiny crack where scant light could filter in.
On reaching the window, Jarzyl tried to feel for a handle or knob to open it up. Her hope had been to just leave the building via a window and run around the outside to find her teachers and classmates again, but this proved impossible. The window was sealed tight, held in place by the metal roller shutter.
There was something instinctively terrifying about being in the dark. A shudder ran down Jarzyl's back, and she tried more forcefully to open the window, to no effect. In the dark, she'd gotten lost. She was lost and trapped inside this building, on a floating mountain that was growing unstable in a storm.
"Aii-ah!" Jarzyl let out a panicked yell and jumped as something touched her side.
Her panic lasted for a mere split-second. "Jarz, are you ok?" Atlas asked. He was standing right beside her, and it was his wing which had brushed against her side.
Jarzyl shook her head. "We're stuck. We're stuck here in the dark, trapped in this building, in a storm, on a floating mountain that could become unstable. What do we do...?" she asked in a small, quiet voice.
"Mmh. First, you should calm down. And then we'll get out of here," Atlas calmly replied. Even right beside the window, the tiny amount of light filtering in wasn't enough to let Jarzyl see anything more than a vague, shadowy outline of her friend as he stood beside her. However, she did still feel his paw as he reached for her back and stretched out her wing to place it on his shoulder. "You really can't see at all, can you? Just stick by me and I'll lead us out of here," Atlas said.
Confusion overtook Jarzyl for a moment--how could they make it out of the visitor centre if they couldn't see?--but then a huge wave of relief crashed over her. "Oh. Oh I forgot. I was in such a rush to get the crystal and get out of here that I forgot for a moment that you were a nocturnal. Hah..."
"I suppose you didn't bring a torch light?" Atlas said.
"It wasn't in the packing list!" Jarzyl immediately replied, with a tinge of defensiveness slipping into her voice. "This isn't my fault. You didn't bring a torch light either."
"Yes, but then I don't need a torch light to see in the dark," Atlas replied drily. "Really, what would you do if I wasn't here?"
"I do not know. Thank you..." It was quite hard for Jarzyl to describe the amount of ecstatic relief she felt, and she just wanted to grab Atlas and hug him. That could wait till later.
Atlas led them forward through the darkness, with his night eyes able to use that tiny, insignificant sliver of light slipping in through the cracks in the window. That was all he needed to navigate through the visitor centre, taking them down corridors and through the building.
Jarzyl still couldn't see anything. The only way she could tell that they had left the narrow corridors and were moving through the wide, open areas of the museum and science exhibits was that the floor carpet felt like a different type of carpet. Otherwise she was completely reliant on Atlas to guide her through the dark. "So this must be what it feels like to be Glecion, just all the time," Jarzyl commented.
Atlas chuckled once. "Hah. That's one way of seeing it. Or not seeing it."
Side by side, the two fledglings continued to make their way out. It took them longer than before, but finally Jarzyl saw the lights in the cafeteria, which were still on. "There! I can see again! Let's go!" Lifting her wing from Atlas' shoulder, she broke into a trot, then a run. Jarzyl glanced over her shoulder just to check that Atlas was following her, and he was.
Drak Tasilus had been pacing around the cafeteria, and he hurried over to the two fledglings as soon as they arrived. "Oh, you two rascals! Running off like that! How mischievous!"
The park ranger from before was by the side of the room, fiddling with some sort of control panel box in the wall. "You made it back! That's a relief. I was worried you two might have gotten lost after the power went out."
"We almost did, but we didn't, so everything's fine. And I found my harness pouch!" Jarzyl jumped and turned sideways so that she could show off the pouch now strapped atop her lower back. "Yeah! I found it! Yes. Now should we... um... leave?"
The park ranger gave up trying to mess with the control panel and pushed the box's door shut. "We should very much leave."
"I concur. You two, stick close by me and don't run off again!" Drak Tasilus beckoned for the two fledglings to stay near him, and he even mantled out his wings in a protective gesture over them. From past experience in school, Jarzyl felt like Tasilus was one of the teachers who did try to encourage young fledglings to be more independent and confident, but apparently she had pushed him to the limit he was going to let them run around.
The four dragons left the cafeteria and headed back out to the main entrance. Stepping out of the visitor centre was like stepping out into another world entirely--thick grey clouds covered large portions of the sky, but the clear sections showed spectacular blue and orange gradients as sunset approached. Over towards the west, a gap in the clouds allowed the amber sun to shine--barely over the horizon and nearly obscured by the storm.
A fierce wind slammed into the dragons, and Jarzyl turned her head into the wind so her neck frill wouldn't be blown over her eyes. Drak Tasilus still had his wings over the two fledglings, with Jarzyl by his right side and Atlas to his left, and he kept his wings over them as if worried they were hatchlings who might be blown away by a strong wind. Or perhaps he was just making sure that Jarzyl didn't run off again.
The approaching storm was no longer a distant sight--though the clouds were still spread out in patches instead of completely covering the sky in all directions, the storm had clearly arrived. Just as Jarzyl was watching, a tremendous bolt of lightning flashed out from the closest storm clouds and struck the peak of this floating mountain. With a tremendous bang, a violent spray of rock and dust exploded out from the point of contact--but instead of falling, the freshly extruded rocks all remained floating in the air and started swirling around. It looked almost like a tornado was forming, but the rocks moved much slower and were shifting under the influence of invisible magical flux lines, not a vortex of air.
"Oh wow," Jarzyl murmured.
The park ranger who had stayed with them let out a quiet hissing whistle at that sight. "Tss--phew. Rocks in motion! That could be the start of another floating mountain, or maybe just another alteration to the landscape of this mountain, but either way we should not be here." The park ranger turned around and gestured with his paws, and by the power of his magic he began pulling down the metal roller shutter over the doorway they had just passed through.
By now the meadow was empty, with all the other fledglings, teachers, tourists, and park rangers having boarded the airships. Except there was one problem--the airships were gone too. Both the metallic vehicles had lifted off from the ground, leaving behind nothing but some flattened grass to mark where they had been landed. The aerial craft were now hovering at different altitudes above the floating mountain, holding steady position despite the strong winds that must have been battering them too. The airship at a lower altitude had its ramp open, and Jarzyl could even see some of the aircrew waiting inside, looking down at them.
Jarzyl nervously bounced in position, tapping her paws against the ground. "They... left us?!"
"No, they're still waiting for us." Tasilus watched the park ranger as he continued to work on the roller shutter. "I'll take us up whenever you're ready."
The park ranger spared Tasilus a quick glance. "Ah, you're a displacer? Otherwise I can use my radio set and call down for one of my colleagues to pick us up. We have a few displacers on staff."
"No need. I can do it." Drak Tasilus shifted Jarzyl so that she was standing under the mantle of his left wing, right beside Atlas. He extended out his other wing towards the park ranger.
The roller shutter slammed down to the ground with a loud clunk, and then the park ranger walked over and stood beside them. "I'm ready. Bring us up to the airship if you please!" With Tasilus' wings mantled out around them all, it almost looked like they were in a group hug, but Jarzyl knew this was no such thing.
There were many different types of magic that a dragon could have, but in Jarzyl's opinion, this one specific type was the most useful. Displacers were dragons whose affinity let them teleport about, but this ability could be extended to people or even things that were close by.
Tiny sparks of magic flickered across Tasilus' wings, and then the magic started to spin around them in a whirling sphere, tracing out mesh-like patterns in an invisible grid around them. Jarzyl couldn't help but giggle, and she spread open her own wings in an imitation of her teacher's posture. "I really wish I was old enough to use magic!"
"Hold on," Tasilus said, and the magic around them intensified.
Atlas was standing right beside Jarzyl, and she grabbed onto him and held him close, both of them still under Tasilus' outstretched wing. Another bolt of lightning struck nearby, and Jarzyl could feel the ground shaking. "Jarz," Atlas said quietly, in what might have been a question or simply a statement. Then the weaving mesh of magic flashed into solid colour for a brief split second, and then they were elsewhere.
"Yeeahhh!" Jarzyl exclaimed, jumping up and down excitedly. Her claws clicked against the metallic ground of the airship they had just teleported aboard. "I really hope that my affinity is displacement! It must be so useful to teleport wherever I want!"
Drak Tasilus folded in his wings, and he straightened up and took a few deep breaths. "It's usually almost as tiring as just walking or flying the distance."
"Ok, but it's still cool!" Jarzyl declared. She grabbed Atlas and hugged him again tightly. "Oh, your scales are still damp! You weren't kidding when you said a nocturnal's scales took longer to dry."
"Umm, yes..." Atlas nodded, looking slightly awkward until Jarzyl let him go. They were now standing just on the inside end of the large, lowered ramp of this airship--Jarzyl could see various other young fledglings already seated in the cabin areas, but this part of the airship only had a pair of aircrew.
The aircrew were wearing flight harnesses inscribed with the Mintaka logo, and Jarzyl grinned happily at them even though she didn't recognize her clanmates. Then again, it was no real surprise she couldn't recognize them--Mintaka was one of the biggest clans in the city, with more than a full tenth of all dragons under their insignia.
"Bridge, bay. All aboard! I say again, all passengers are aboard," said one of the aircrew, directing her voice into a speaking trumpet in the wall. She then turned back to them. "Welcome aboard. We will be leaving Mizalin-on-Sky shortly. Please step off the ramp so I can close it up."
The park ranger, Drak Tasilus, and Atlas all obediently stepped off the ramp and onto the proper flooring of the airship, but Jarzyl paused for a moment. Staring down over the landscape of the floating mountain, with the sealed up visitor centre and the meadow directly below them, she let out a happy sigh. "Huuh. I've always wanted to stand on an airship ramp as it flies away, watching the scenery pass by beneath me..."
The aircrew drakka snorted. "Just be careful not to fall out."
Jarzyl took about a dozen seconds to stare dramatically out the open ramp, watching as the airship started to pull away from the floating mountain. "Ah... That's one of my life goals accomplished. Airships are so cool."
The aircrew drakka looked mildly amused. "If you like airships, then Transportation Division is always hiring. We could use young blood." The drakka tapped her radio set, then her flight harness pouches, which were filled with tools. "Join up with Flight Engineering. We keep airships in the air."
Jarzyl tilted her head, and she glanced at the drakka, then at Atlas, and even at Drak Tasilus. "I don't know if I want to fix airships... I want to fly them!"
The aircrew drakka nodded, and she made a vague gesture towards a different part of the airship. "Fleet Command, then. They have officer scholarships for fledglings."
"Hmm..." Jarzyl blinked, and her imagination briefly swam with the idea of being an airship captain.
Drak Tasilus interrupted her thoughts. "Jarzyl, much as I would highly encourage you to pursue your career ambitions as much as you can, you will have plenty of years more of schooling to decide your calling in life. For now, step off the ramp--it's not safe."
Jarzyl obediently hopped off the ramp and into the airship proper, and the aircrew drakka pulled a lever which made the ramp start to fold upwards with the dull grinding sound of moving machinery. "Anyway, you three--" she gestured to Drak Tasilus, then Jarzyl and Atlas, "--should head over to the passenger cabins. I think they'll be serving dinner soon, and I'm sure you kids must be hungry."
"Yes, let's get you reunited with the class and seated again," Tasilus decided. "If you're still curious, you can always come back and ask more questions about airships and Transportation Division after dinner."
"Oh, yes!" Jarzyl agreed happily. She nodded happily to Atlas, who grinned faintly in return. "This is truly the best day ever!"
This airship was configured differently from the one that had carried the fledglings out from the city. Instead of just being broken up into large, open rooms with rows of seating cushions for dozens of dragons, this airship instead had many smaller individual cabins which were sized for far fewer dragons each.
Jarzyl grinned as she walked past open cabin doors and caught glimpses of other fledglings lounging about on the beds or cushion seats inside each cabin, usually eating food from meal boxes that had apparently been given out. "I don't think we were supposed to be on this airship..."
Atlas was trotting right beside her, as they both followed after Drak Tasilus. "Probably not. I suppose since the storm was coming, they just sent whatever airships were available to come take us home," Atlas guessed.
Tasilus went to talk with several other teachers who were also aboard the airship, seated around in a small lounge area. He got a pair of meal boxes of Jarzyl and Atlas, then he led them to another section near the front of the airship, also filled with cabins.
Drak Tasilus looked in through one of the open cabin doors, then he withdrew his head and nodded to Jarzyl and Atlas. "Here we are. Our class is spread out across these few cabins. Go find someplace to sit down, and then eat your dinner. We'll be back in the city within a few hours."
"Ok!" Jarzyl chirped. She carefully adjusted the meal box that she was balancing on her back between her wings, then she stuck her head into the first room and waved at the occupants--four of her classmates, who were sitting down in a circle and eating from their meal boxes. "Hello!"
"Oh, it's you!" replied one of the other fledglings, Pyxis. "I heard you two got left behind!"
"Nope!" Jarzyl replied. "That would have been fun, but also scary." Turning away, she waved for Atlas to follow after her as she trotted down the corridor, looking for a cabin that wasn't so filled. Eventually they found Caden and Glecion.
Caden had been eating her dinner with Glecion, but she perked up. "Well, hello." She leaned in close to Glecion. "It's those two clowns who ran off in the middle of a storm."
Glecion smiled. "Atlas! Jarzyl! You made it! Did you manage to find your harness pouch and the crystal?"
"Indeed we did," Jarzyl confirmed. She briefly opened up her back harness pouch to show off the crystal. "You can even still hear it humming! I bet it'll get quieter once we leave Mizalin-on-Sky."
The cabin was a small compartment which had plenty of space for two fledglings, but it did become cramped with four inside. Most of the space was taken up by a large double bed, which Glecion and Caden were sitting upon even as they ate from their meal boxes. Jarzyl hopped up onto the bed, but then she stopped. "Wait, where's the window?"
All four walls of the cabin had no windows. One side was a large mirror, and there was a doorway that led to a small connected bathroom, but there was no view to the outside of the airship. A horizontal light field projector was embedded in one of the walls, showing a small display of the world outside, but it lacked the detail of a real window. Caden shrugged. "It's an inside cabin. It doesn't have a window."
"Uggh, no I want to see the mountains. Let's find somewhere with a view." Jarzyl hopped off the bed, and she used the tip of her tail to tug on Atlas' flight harness and pull him after her. "I'll see you guys later!" she added to Glecion and Caden.
Caden took another bite of her dinner, and she nodded, looking unsurprised. "You do you, Jarz. Bye, Atlas."
"Byeee..." Atlas muttered.
Scampering down the corridor, Jarzyl managed to find a cabin that had a window and was empty--but not just empty of other fledglings, but also empty of most furniture, with no bed, no table, and only several large stacks of seating cushions leaning against the wall. But that was enough.
Jarzyl put down her meal box on the metal floor, then she climbed up onto the piles of seating cushions and tossed down two--one for her, one for Atlas. Jumping back down, she grabbed the seating cushions and dragged them over to be in front of the window, then she sat down and watched the view.
Atlas came over and he glanced around the room. "Uh... I'm not sure this is even a cabin. I think this is just a storage cabinet that happens to have a window in it."
Jarzyl just grinned. "It's got seats, it's got a view, and it's got us. What more do you need?"
"Fair enough. It won't be that long of a journey back to the city anyway." Atlas sat down beside her, and he opened up his meal box and started eating his dinner. Jarzyl glanced at her friend, but she put her meal aside for now. Even though the food was hot and she was hungry, she wanted to watch.
Outside the window, the sun was a glowing ball of red touching the horizon, and long shafts of light spread out across the sky through gaps in the storm. Clouds were everywhere and rain poured down in intermittent sheets and showers of liquid, creating temporary rivers or even ponds on top of the floating mountains. Sunbeams radiated out through the clouds, lighting up the rain in spectacular, sharp contrast.
Every now and then there would be a flash of lightning and a bolt would strike one of the floating mountains. With every strike, the energy in the lightning did something to the needlemir contained within the mountains, disrupting the rock crystals and making them explode out. Blasts of water and rock sprayed out into the air, only to hang in position and swirl around--sometimes the floating rocks and boulders blew away in the wind or dropped back to the ground, but other times the rubble began to pile and coalesce together into larger clumps that might eventually grow and merge with other such rocks to become new floating hills and mountains.
It was a natural fireworks display, with flashes of lightning followed by bright, colourful bursts of radiant magic and moving rock. Jarzyl found herself captivated by the sight. The airship powered through, flying steadily on its course out of Mizalin-on-Sky without being disrupted by the fierce winds or the disruptive energy that filled the skies. To the side, the second airship was just barely visible, flying in steady formation. And as they were leaving the natural park, the mountains and the sky were putting on a show to bid them farewell.
Jarzyl felt Atlas nudge her side with his wingtip. He was seated back on his haunches, holding a roasted chicken leg with his forepaw, which he'd been biting from. "Jarz, you should eat," he said to her.
Jarzyl let out a happy sigh, and impulsively she threw open her wings and wrapped them around her friend to pull him into a tight hug. "Hnnng!"
Atlas didn't really react, other than to put down his food so he didn't get sauce on his own scales or hers. "What's with the hug?" he asked, though not in a complaining voice.
Jarzyl didn't answer for a moment, she just hugged Atlas even tighter. "It's for sticking by me all day, and for being a great friend. Thanks. Thanks for everything you do." Then she let go of him and picked up her meal box, opening it up to get her own food.
Jarzyl casually leaned against Atlas even as they sat side by side and ate their dinner. Even as the airship pushed its way out of Mizalin-on-Sky, the two fledglings enjoyed the view together. "Best day ever," Jarzyl murmured, and Atlas nodded silently.
END