Gilded Ashes: When Shadows Reign

The dragon angled down toward the platform where Alan had landed, wings beating hard enough to shake the air. Below, he was still alive, still whole, and still very offended.

He sat up as they approached, one hand braced behind him, the other raised in a slow, exaggerated thumbs-up that somehow managed to look rude.

Raizen didn't know whether to feel relief or pure humiliation.

Elin, of course, looked delighted.

"See?" she called down, voice bright. "Perfect landing form Alan!"

Alan pointed at her with one finger, then pointed at the cloud, then made a twisting motion near his temple like she was crazy.

Even through the wind, Raizen could hear it.

"You're all insane!"

The dragon hovered over the platform for a heartbeat, then dropped with a controlled thud that made the wooden boards creak and groan.

Elin leaned forward, palm pressed to the seam of scales near its neck.

"Pick him up" she said, softer now. "And this time, don't drop him again."

The dragon huffed like it didn't like admitting he was wrong, then lifted one claw again.

Alan stared at it.

"I'd like to negotiate" he began.

The claw closed around his torso.

He was lifted from the platform with the dignity of a sack of potatoes.

Alan's coat flapped, legs dangling. His face tightened into the expression of a man who didn't really want to negotiate anymore.

"This is still undignified" he muttered.

"It's traditional" Elin said. "Ukai welcomes guests with claws, no?"

"Whatever you say, Sovereign…"

Raizen kept his mouth shut, mostly because he didn't trust himself not to say something that would make Elin laugh again, and he wasn't sure he could survive a third round of being pushed off a dragon.

He slid into place behind her, hands hesitating for a beat before settling at her waist again. He hated that he was doing it willingly now. He hated even more that it felt like the only sensible option.

Elin didn't tease him this time. She stayed forward, eyes fixed on the dark ring.

A few moments ago, she'd laughed like an idiot.

Now her shoulders were still.

Her voice, when she spoke again, had gone careful.

"Hold on" she said.

"I am" Raizen replied.

"No" she said, and there was a thin edge to it. "Hold on like you really mean it."

The dragon dipped, four wings angling.

Up close, the darkness wasn't just color. It was thickness. Weight. It pressed against skin and breath, dulling sound the way deep water did. Even the lantern light ahead looked muffled, like it had to fight to exist.

Raizen felt his own lungs tighten, like the air itself was squeezing them. The sensation was like faint pain. But it felt more like… interference. Like someone had laid a heavy cloth over every sense, covering them.

Elin's hand stayed on the dragon's neck.

Under her breath, so quiet Raizen almost missed it, she repeated his words.

"I do it because I know what it's like when no one can." She murmured. "And I don't want anyone else to learn how it feels to fall alone, huh?"

Then she exhaled, and her voice went flat again.

"Go."

The dragon pushed forward.

The cloud made everything vanish at once.

Ukai's green crown, vibrant wood and lanterns became a smudge of colors. The cloud, mist… Whatever it was held shape, uniform and stubborn, and the deeper they went, the more the darkness took on a faint bluish tint, like cold light trapped inside shadow.

Raizen couldn't see the dragon's wings anymore.

He could feel them. He could hear the deep, rhythmic thunder of each beat, but even that sound was muffled.

Alan shifted in the claw again, trying to angle his head.

"I can't see a thing" he called.

"I think that's the whole point" Elin replied.

"Whose point?"

"How should I know!?" she snapped automatically.

She didn't laugh. Not because she hated questions, though.

The dragon made a low, uncertain rumble. Its body tensed. Raizen felt it through his legs. It wasn't fear, exactly. More like confusion. Like an animal walking through a room filled with unfamiliar scents, trying to decide which one was danger.

It adjusted its wings.

A second later, there was a scrape.

Wood or bark.

Close.

Too close.

Elin's head turned slightly, eyes narrowing into the darkness like she could see through it. But she gave up shortly after.

"A bit higher" she said.

The dragon obeyed, but not perfectly. It rose in a quick correction, then dipped again, as if the air currents inside the cloud were uneven.

Another scrape followed, softer this time.

Raizen caught the sound of something splintering.

Elin's jaw tightened.

"Stop kissing the trees" she muttered at the dragon.

The dragon huffed.

Alan, hanging in the claw, swore under his breath.

Raizen swallowed, trying to keep his voice steady.

"Where are we?" he asked.

Alan answered before Elin could.

"Outer ring" he said, quick and certain. "Still outside the main trunk. We're close to the civil level but not over it. You can tell by the smell."

Raizen blinked.

"The smell?"

"Wet sap" Alan said. "Old rope, lantern oil, stuff like that."

"I can't smell anything, this cloud is too thick!"

Alan didn't answer. Elin stayed focused ahead, fingers pressing more firmly into the seam of the dragon's neck, like she was anchoring it through touch alone.

Alan continued, voice sharp with concentration.

"Elin. Keep the line. Don't drift right."

"I'm not drifting" Elin said.

"You are" Alan contradicted, and Raizen could hear the wince in his tone like he expected her to bite back.

The dragon tilted slightly.

Elin's eyes flashed.

"Left" she shouted at the dragon, a bit louder than he needed to.

The beast corrected, wings shifting with a heavy push.

For a heartbeat, the darkness thinned, and Raizen saw a shape looming out of nowhere.

A branch.

Not a small one. A massive branch, thick enough to hold platforms and bridges, appearing in front of them like a wall.

"Duck!" Alan shouted.

Elin didn't duck. She didn't have to.

She raised her hand, not even a full gesture, just an absolute command through her fingers.