The Hidden World

Yuki loved flying. When she was training with Sophie in her mana dimensions, she had a taste of what flying was, but it was inside a simulation. It couldn’t match the feeling she had right now as she cut through the air with her wings. With her second eyelids down to protect her sight, she saw the land zooming beneath her. Every pump of her wings propelled her even faster, feeding the urge within her to test her limits.

She resisted it though. She knew that the passengers on her back wouldn’t be the most appreciative of such testing. With Erica and Yuna on her back, she needed to make the ride as smooth as she could. She already had forgotten about them once before and was reminded with piercing shrieks as she dive bombed a herd of deer for fun.

‘It’s not my fault they’re so light,’ Yuki thought. The combined weight of both Erica and Yuna was like an empty backpack where the saddle was the straps. She only remembered when she actively thought of them.

Now she was gliding through the air, riding the winds as they helped propel her forward. Ember was beside her, edging forward here and there. Yuki could tell that she was holding herself back as well. 

Craning her head back a bit, she checked on her two passengers. They seemed fine for the most part. The saddles that Ember brought were working wonderfully. From what Yuki could tell, the enchantments placed a barrier around the riders that blocked any flying debris as well as the wind. It also stuck to Yuki, not allowing any slippage or movement.

Getting the saddle on proved to be a bit of an ordeal. The size of the saddles was a problem as well as the people they were being placed on. Yuki had to stay as still as a rock as Erica and Akira put the saddle on as Ember called out instructions.

‘My neck is a bit stiff,’ she thought.

They’ve been flying for a little over two hours now from Yuki’s count. She wasn’t certain on the distance they’ve traveled, but it had to be quite far. Ahead of them, the mountains loomed, taller than anything Yuki had ever seen. Ember said that the dragons were beyond the range.

‘How far out are we?’ Yuki asked, sending her thoughts to Ember whose ear flicked at the message.

[We’ll be at the mountains in a few minutes,] she replied. [We’ve traveled about a hundred forty miles. They’ll be here in about three miles.]

‘We could have gotten here faster,’ Yuki said.

[Yes, but I don’t think our passengers would appreciate that,] Ember laughed. [The saddles can only take so much. After a certain point, something will break through the barrier or the stabilization will fail.]

‘I see. Well, the pace we have right now isn’t the worst. Will getting through the mountains be difficult?’

[Depends. Weather and time will play a big part. Luckily, there should be more than enough light to make visibility not a problem,’ Ember said. ‘Though, a storm would throw that out the window.]

‘It’ll depend on the storm, no?’ 

[Yes. Time of year, we might need to contend with snow as well as rain. No thunderstorms though, so that’s good.]

‘We’ll see when we get there then.’

They flew in silence after that. Yuki still looked around at the ground, spying on the animals and landscape as she zoomed by. She knew that Akira was scanning the area constantly for them as they flew, so she didn’t worry about looking for enemies or potential hazards.

Around three minutes later, they arrived at the mountainside. The towering spikes of sheer rock dwarfed Yuki even in her dragon form. Soft white clouds floated above her and pine trees reached up, trying to touch her. 

‘Ember, we should take a break,’ Yuki suggested. ‘Recoup our energy and maybe scout out the path forward a bit to see what we have to deal with.’

[Good idea. There’s a valley nearby that we can take shelter in. Follow me.]

Ember dove down and swooped around to her left. Yuki followed right behind as they went in between two of the mountains. A dark green blanket of trees met them with a blue river cutting the middle. Ember landed at the river bank, folding in her wings as she dropped down a few feet in the air. Yuki landed a bit further.

“Why are we landing?” Yuna asked.

“We’re taking a break and we’re to scout out the skies ahead to see if it’s clear,” Yuki replied. “Hop off.”

The two on her back followed her instructions and slid off of the saddle onto the grass beneath them. Yuki swung her head around and looked over at Ember.

“Do you want to go together, or just one of us?” she asked.

“I can go,” Ember said. “I have more experience with this. I’ll be back within the hour.”

“Alright. Can I change forms?”

“Go ahead. The saddle will stay on you like your clothes,” Ember said. She looked down at Akira and Mathali. “Can you two clear out for me? I need to take off.”

“Have a safe flight,” Akira said as she stepped away to give Ember room. 

“Find a place to camp. I’ll find you all.”

With that, she spread her wings and with a few mighty flaps of her wings, lifted herself off the ground before soaring upwards. Yuki transformed back into her elven form and joined the others as they grouped up.

“I saw a place we could camp while we were up there,” Akira said. “Follow me.”

She went into the forest as the others followed behind her. Yuki began scanning the area for any monsters or uninvited guests but found none. When Akira stopped, they were in a thinner area of the forest. Tree leaves still covered the sky, but there was room to lay down.

“We should start thinking about what we should do when we’re finished with the dragon business,” Yuki said as they all sat down. “I want to start doing things immediately after.”

“We might have to change anything we plan out if we get new information once we go back,” Akira replied.

“That’s fine. I just want a baseline so that we can have something to go off of. We can also have something made right now so that when we go to the dragons, we can entertain the possibility of asking them for advice or help.”

“Alright. Where do you want to begin?”

“I think we should think about how to limit the Shikaku’s power. They’ve been reaching out during the time I was gone. We’re going to need to trim them to make them a little more manageable,” Yuki mused. “I know you guys have a list of where they’ve spread their influence into.”

“Do you want us to take them out?” Erica asked.

“No. Well, not that fast. I don’t want to create a power vacuum,” Yuki explained. “We need to see who is next in succession before we decide to eliminate anyone.”

“True. We have people everywhere as well, but not nearly as many,” Erica said. “So we can keep an eye out, but we won’t be able to go in there and take the seats left behind.”

“That’s why I don’t want to be too hasty. All I want to do is slow them down and maybe lessen their hold like we did for Mason Incorporated. But we can’t keep doing that. It’s only a temporary solution.”

“You want to strike them at the roots?” Akira asked. “That will be difficult.”

“It will be, but it’s necessary,” Yuki replied. “We can’t let that much power be in the hands of a single group especially a group like them.”

“The Shikaku are like weeds, though,” Akira said. “They’ll keep coming back unless you rip them from their roots and destroy their seeds.”

“Yes. The seeds, we can’t do anything about. They’re too small and too numerous. Those we’ll deal with should they grow to be a problem. But the roots, we can and must deal with.”

“What are you thinking of?”

“We need to find where the Shikaku are based,” Yuki said. “Then go there and destroy their leadership. That will cripple them.”

“Um, Yuki,” Yuna spoke up, her voice soft and in thought. 

“Yes?”

“Why not go for the king?” she asked. “He’s a puppet for the Shikaku. If we can put a fit king in his place, then our lives would be easier, wouldn’t it?”

“It can be. But then we might go through a cycle of having to fight for the kingship and it will draw resources away from us. That is a good idea to have though. It might be a viable strategy for us to use later down the line.”

“Do you have an idea about how to locate the Shikaku’s base?” Akira asked. “We’ve been searching for it ourselves, but we don’t have any leads. No one that we know associated with them has ever gone to the base it seems.”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Yuki smiled. “It involves where we’re going to right now.”

Akira’s eyebrow rose.

“You want to ask the dragons?”

“Mhm. I know they’ve been watching the Shikaku,” Yuki said. “I just need to be able to get them to help me. Then with that, we can go right at them.”