Gilded Ashes: When Shadows Reign

The dragon dropped.

Wind slammed into Raizen's face. The branch rushed over them so close he could've sworn he felt leaves brush his hair.

Then they were past it, plunging deeper into the bluish darkness.

Raizen sucked in a breath and realized his arms had tightened around Elin without him noticing.

She didn't react in any way.

Alan exhaled hard in the claw.

"Good" he said. "Good. Keep that height. Now forward, but slow. There's an arch."

"An arch?" Elin repeated, unimpressed.

"Bridge arch" Alan clarified. "A big one. Old wood. Wide curve. You hit it, you'll peel your dragon like fruit."

The dragon let out a low, offended rumble.

Elin's lips pressed into a line.

"Your city is ridiculous" she muttered.

"It's trees. We did our best." Alan said. "And we didn't grow them."

Then he made a risky move. "Or… Try to modify them with our Eon."

Elin's back tensed, but she didn't react.

They kept moving forward, slower now, the dragon's wings beating with a controlled caution that still felt violent. The cloud swallowed the sound, but it couldn't swallow the feeling of speed entirely.

Raizen couldn't see the arch.

He could only trust Alan.

He hated that, but he also knew that there wasn't any other choice.

Alan leaned his head slightly, as if trying to remember something.

"Now" he said. "Up. Two meters. No more."

Elin's hand tightened against the scales. The dragon rose.

Something dark curved under them.

A huge structure, this time. Round dome made of dark wood.

Raizen's pulse spiked.

The dragon cleared it by less than a meter.

Then, immediately after, the air shifted again, and the dragon's right wing clipped something with a sharp scratch that sent a shiver through its body.

It growled, wings flexing.

Elin cursed under her breath.

"Sorry" Alan said quickly. "Forgot that one."

Elin's head snapped back half an inch.

"Trees don't move."

"Welcome in Ukai. Wind swings branches, platforms sway… You can't treat it like a stone cave."

Raizen expected Elin to snap at him. Another risky commend from Alan

Instead, she went quiet again, and her silence felt worse than anger. And the dragon corrected itself, wings pulling tighter.

Raizen tried to steady his breathing.

He forced his thoughts away from the fall, away from the fact that he'd screamed like an idiot, away from Elin catching him like a pretty princess. He focused on the only thing that mattered.

They were flying blind through a foreign city wrapped in condensed Eon.

Alan was their eyes.

And the dragon - living, stubborn, and disoriented - was the only reason they weren't already giving a trunk a French kiss.

The cloud grew colder as they pushed deeper.

The bluish tint now intensified, faint but undeniable, like something about this section was denser, more controlled, more deliberately packed.

Raizen's skin prickled.

He leaned forward slightly.

"Alan" he called, "how do you know this so well?"

Alan didn't answer at first, too focused, voice counting under his breath.

"Three seconds. Hold. Drift left. Don't climb. There are vines straight ahead."

The dragon obeyed. Raizen felt the air change, sensing the invisible presence of hanging bridges by the sound.

Then, when they cleared whatever obstacle Alan had been talking about, he replied.

"Because I was born here" Alan said.

Raizen blinked.

"In Ukai?"

"Yes."

"You don't talk like it."

"I left" Alan said shortly, as if the word carried weight. "I always loved science and biology, so I went to Kelperion for study. After that, Neoshima."

Kelperion.

The name sounded strange, like a stone dropped into deep water. Raizen heard it before, but he couldn't remember where.

"You left before Velarion fell?" Raizen asked.

"Right before" Alan replied. "I wasn't here when the city broke itself trying not to starve. I wasn't here when the hunger war happened, either."

Alan really was pushing his luck with these comments

Elin's shoulders twitched under Raizen's hands.

Alan kept going, either oblivious or careless.

"I came back later. After everything. After being forced to do research I'm not proud of. After the Luminite stone inside me. That's when the Ruler's eye saw me. That's when he took me in, and I became… Useful."

Elin made a sound that wasn't quite a laugh.

"Useful…" she repeated, dryly.

"And that's why I know where we are even when I can't see" he said. "Ukai doesn't change its structure. It can't. You can add bridges and platforms, but the trunk stays the trunk. The old routes stay old routes."

He leaned his head again, listening.

"Now" Alan mumbled. "Down. Slow. We're close."

Raizen felt the increasing tension in the cloud, sharp and contained.

Alan hesitated for a few seconds, then they started descending.

The dragon's wings slowed, shifting into a heavier hover.

Elin guided it with small touches now, her hand steady, precise.

"Platform ahead" Alan said. "Wide one. No ropes. This is where the Ruler is."

Raizen swallowed.

"You sure?"

"I'm sure" Alan replied.

The dragon dropped.

Wood creaked beneath them, solid. This platform was huge, wide enough for ten beasts to land side by side. Even wrapped in cloud, Raizen could tell it was maintained. The boards were oiled and intact. The lanterns, though dimmed by the darkness, were placed neatly and evenly, not just for show, but for function.

Not poor. Not neglected.

Humble.

Just a place built by someone who didn't care about looking impressive.

The dragon lowered itself, head still turning as if it expected something from the cloud to suddenly attack.

Elin slid off first, boots landing quietly. Raizen followed, body a little stiff from gripping and embarrassment that still refused to disappear.

Alan was released from the claw with less ceremony than before, dropped onto his feet.

He straightened his coat.

Then he looked at the dragon.

"Never again" he told it, like it could understand.

The dragon blinked, like it was slightly offended.

Elin looked at the dragon, then sighed "Please stay here, and try not to get noticed."

Then she turned towards the cloud, eyes wide, and Raizen realized she was sensing the same thing he noticed a few minutes before. His own Eon felt slightly suppressed now.

"You feel it?" Raizen asked quietly.

Elin didn't look at him.

"Yes" she replied."

"What is it?"

She glanced at him, and her gaze carried something like a warning.

"Later."

Alan stepped forward, taking the lead.

"This way" he said.

They moved across the platform toward the trunk, where a wooden staircase climbed upward along the bark, built tight and simple, rail ornamented with simple flowers or patterns. But it didn't spiral dramatically, it was just practical.

The cloud stayed uniform as they walked, still heavy, still with a bluish tint, still controlled.

It didn't move or react, it simply existed, like a curtain thrown over the city with skillful hands.

Halfway up the stairs, Raizen felt the shift again - that pressure against his body, that dulling of senses. But here, it was calmer. More contained.

At the top of the staircase, tucked into the trunk itself, was a door.

Small.

Barely enough for one person to fit through at a time.

No carvings. No gold. No guards.

Just wood reinforced with simple metal, the handle worn by use.

Raizen stared at it.

This was where Ukai's Ruler lived?

Elin stopped behind him, silent, eyes fixed on the door like it was a memory she hadn't wanted to touch.

Alan stepped to the front and placed his hand on the handle. His posture changed, shoulders squaring, expression smoothing into something formal and controlled.

But he didn't open it yet.

He looked back at Elin and Raizen.

"Welcome" Alan said, voice even.

"Ukai's ruler is waiting."