While Azaviel and Exalt prepared to head deeper into the Cloudpoint Citadel, Issac and Marry were heading deeper into more dangerous territory. The castle of the Sky King, while once a distant monolith, was now a giant whose sized casted the surrounding land in a large shadow.
Its upper spires pierced the blue void above and the castle itself easily dwarfed any of the nearby cities and towns. Occasionally, when Issac looked at the castle, which was now only a couple of days away, he could occasionally see a large shape fly out of the castle, encircling it with two gigantic wings and a large serpentine tail that flew through the air gracefully without resistance.
Issac, without ever hearing about dragons other than in storybooks, knew what the shape was. A dragon, and a large one at that. According to Marry, it would be the toughest obstacle yet, but if defeated, victory would be more than possible.
Victory would be guaranteed if I manage to absorb it. Thought Issac. Right now, his current form was incredibly reptilian, with two large wings and a slithering tail, his body’s outside layers composed of mostly pure white cloud scales and the occasional frozen vine or molten granite jutting out. When regarding his body, Issac often wondered if it was simply a coincidence that his body was incredibly dragonlike or if fate was a stickler for irony.
Although Issac loved the mobility of his body, it’s size which was around the nine foot mark, made it especially hard to be stealthy, although he was incredibly light, it’s sheer largeness made him incredibly noticeable. Especially in a dark grey cloud forest like they where in now.
It was nighttime, the moon below causing the ground beneath them to glow with a gentle blue light that casted the landscape in a strange almost otherworldly brilliance.
“We should be getting closer to one of a major city, Rainvale if I am correct, if we temporarily divert east we should be able to avoid any patrols.” Marry suddenly said, interrupting Issac’s thoughts.
“I see, anything I should be aware of?” Issac questioned, a slight amount of suspicion in his voice. Marry, a woman who he had at first known as a simple but daring farm girl, had detailed knowledge about the surrounding landscape, the Sky King’s military forces and patrols, and as well as being a competent warrior from what Issac had seen in brief moments. Issac knew that Marry was hiding something, but was waiting to learn more before fully confronting her.
Marry either ignored or didn’t notice the accusation in Issac’s voice, simply answered “I am not sure whether I have mentioned this or not, but the Sky King’s dragon has a large of lesser brood that are used a mounts for the Sky King’s soldiers. While only weaker versions of their broodmaster, the lesser dragons are not to be underestimated.”
“Understood, however, you have yet to tell me where we are heading, surely we are not planning on staging a direct assault to the castle as soon as we get there?”
“You have nothing to worry about, before your arrival my village Elder and I made preparations for a hideout close to the castle, we’ll be heading there before we start making plans for the assassination.”
“Assasination isn’t a word a paladin like myself would prefer to associate with.” Issac commented.
Marry visibly shifted in her walk, she didn’t answer for a moment, but when she did, her voice was virtually unreadable
“I hope you understand that my people would never have wanted to have it come to this.”
She continued walking through the forest, Marry using a nearby stream as a guide, not saying a word, Issac realizing he had accidentally hit a nerve, kept quiet as well.
The two walked in a tense silence for the rest of the day, only stopping for an occasional break.
Finally, after about two hours, the pair made camp for the night. They didn’t light any campfires and didn’t unpack anything from their travel bags in case they would have to make a quick escape.
Issac wordlessly took first watch, Marry sleeping on the soft cloud ground.
Issac sat against a large tree, his wings tucked in behind his back and his tail wrapped against his legs.
Issac sighed. Strangely enough, without Ilvir, Issac felt quite lonely. Even though Marry was with him, he barely knew anything about her and could only theorize about what she was hiding. Ilvir despite being unwilling at first, something that Issac still feels slightly guilty for, had become source of comfort for Issac, someone familiar, a paladin who had trained for most of his life to fight the corruption, just like him, even if Ilvir only did it to get corrupted in the first place. It wasn’t exactly a romantic longing to anything like that, but Ilvir was something Issac could understand. Not like this place. Where everything was made of cloud.
Issac gave another sigh, his voice now much deeper compared to when he was human, making the sound a far more menacing noise. There was something else wrong. Issac couldn’t place it though. The distance between Issac and Ilvir caused their mental connection fade, and while Issac could still vaguely feel Ilvir’s thoughts, recently they had gone quiet.
Before Ilvir went quiet, Issac could feel another connection form. It was as if a new presence had formed from Ilvir, making Issac connected to it as well as Ilvir.
It was strange and Ilvir’s complete absence in his mind worried him. However, all he could do right now was believe that Ilvir will get the job done and find Nathan. Then, while Ilvir does that, Issac will have to play his part as well.