However, the fox’s paws stopped Perak again, followed by Elias’ intimidating lightning force.

Perak became more aggressive in his attacks, even though he could no longer retrieve his stone. But only after a portal opened behind Aira and swallowed her in an instant did he seem to have lost hope.

Aira suddenly found herself in a garden, similar to the one she saw in her previous dream, a beautiful abandoned place, ruins scattered everywhere, its paths almost completely covered in overgrown tress, grass and flowers.

Her feet were bare. She must have lost her shoes while swallowed by the portal, which she did not mind because it gave her a pleasant feeling as she walked. She saw different statues arranged in a circle with paths behind them.

The one she came from seemed to have vanished. She chose one of the seven behind a strange giant statue of a bird resembling a phoenix.

 Except it was not crimson as we know it, but silver. At the end of the path there was a door attached to no building. It just stood there, lonely, with a chain and a rusty lock.

“Where is the key?”, she asked, dazed, then suddenly felt something heavy in her hand. It was as she manifested it because a key that fit perfectly into the lock appeared all of a sudden in her palm.

The door opened and, once she stepped inside, she was floating in the air. As she looked bellow her, she saw nothing but clouds and, above her, the endless sky.

She woke up from her daze, startled by the realization that her feet touched nothing, then started to fall between the fluffy clouds. Screaming and moving her hands chaotically, her heart beats accelerated and multiplied. Different thoughts ran through her fearful mind.

“This has to be a dream.”, she said to herself. “This is a dream! This is a dream!”, she repeated. “I can’t die a second time. Aaaa!”, she screamed endlessly.

The thought of meeting her end persisted while she hoped for a hand to rescue her. That hand did not fail to arrive and pull her to the chest of her savior, whose warmth calmed her down.

“Feathers? Did Elias grow feathers on his chest?”, she wondered, spiting some out as they made their way inside her mouth.

She lifted her head just to realize that her savior was not Elias, but a half-human and half-bird creature.

His wings flapped fiercely through the strong wind and although she did not know what and who he was, she still held onto him, afraid she might find her end id she let go.

“Master is waiting, Arasayia. We need to hurry. Hold tightly onto me.”, the creature said as he increased his speed, cutting the wind apart.

Aira held her breath until she felt her feet touching something cold and solid.

“We have arrived.”, the bird man said, pulling her gently away from his embrace.

“Wait…a minute!”, Aira barely spoke, then proceeded to throw up. Yet that minute turned into more as she continued wasting all the breakfast she had before she ran away from home.

“Who are you? Where are we?”, she asked, looking at him then at the large palace in front of her eyes as if she did not commit a shameless act in front of him, unbefitting of the daughter of a noble, a few moments before.

The sky was painted in countless stars although the sun was still up and the moon shone brightly opposite of it.

“This is Kadakala. The land of a thousand winds.”, he replied, trying to forget the scene, thinking that he would need to quickly send someone to clean the mess. “Let us enter. Master is waiting.”, he then took her hand, leading her slowly inside, through long, wide corridors filled with giant statues which she could not help but admire with her mouth wide open

“Welcome, Arasayia.”, a woman’s voice resonated through the chamber as if an angel spoke from heaven above.

Aira found herself before a throne on which a beautiful woman was seated. Just like her feathered savior, she had a half-human and a half-bird body.

Although the creatures had wings, they still had arms, partially covered in feathers, claws and talons for feet. Only their hands resembled those of humans.

“You must have many questions but we are in a hurry, you see. The door can only be kept open for a short time. I will answer just a few for you.”, the woman said before Aira had a chance to utter a word. “This realm was once a part of Asteria, but once the bridge collapsed, we were left behind between Oria and Asteria, unable to get out unless the chosen ones arrived. And you might be one of them, a chosen one of this time, we believe.”, she added, then approached Aira.

“Chosen? For what?”, Aira asked.

“The chosen ones need to open all seven gates, in order for the seven realms to connect once again to Asteria. The Lord of Darkness is trying to destroy the Great Heavenly Pillars to prevent it from happening. After opening each gate, you must take the relics from each realm and activate the pillars yourself.”

“I don’t understand… What are you…?”

“There is no time. You need to go. Take this  and search for the Pillar of Wind! You will know what to do when you find it.”, the woman said, placing a strange silver ring on one of her fingers then kissed her forehead. “Now go!”, the woman urged.

Upon opening her eyes, Aira found herself back in the dungeon. Elias was still fighting the silver dragon while the fox was guarding her, baring its teeth, ready to jump at the neck of the menacing lizard who still had his eyes on Aira.

She opened her hand to see the relic given to her by the bird-like woman and instantly hid it when she noticed Perak’s desperate attempts to reach for her.

“Why so desperate?”, Elias taunted him.

“How presumptuous, although you depend on a weapon. You humans  were always like that, never trying. That is why dragons are superior. We always worked hard, always seeking to evolve, while Orians stood behind just glancing enviously at our mightiness and success.”

“And yet you were defeated by them. The closing of the gates had nothing to do with the fall of the dragons. You celebrated in your success and shut your eyes, failing to notice that Orians started to evolve, too. You were the ones who fell behind because of your limited mindset.”

“Silence!”, Perak rumbled. In his frustration he gave up on his human form. The wind created by his wings almost swiped everyone off their feet.

While in his true dragon form, he opened his mouth, releasing a gigantic ball of air, aiming for Elias, Aira’s heart racing wildly.

“Elias!”, she shouted.

“I appreciate that my lady is worried about me, but I would rather hear some words of encouragement.”, Elias said while dodging.

“Just move those hands and unnecessarily long legs and defeat that perverted lizard!”, she said, annoyed.

“As you wish, my little lady!”, he grinned.

Elias released his spear which vanished into thin air, then he extended his right hand towards the sky.

The fluffy, white clouds started to merge together and the sky turned dark in no less than a second. Thunder roared and the menacing lightning stroke indiscriminately across the realm. Strangely, no lightning hit where Elias and Aira were. Instead, they hit wherever the dragon moved.

“Lightning Master! It seems that he did not leave the world of the living without passing his skills to his descendants.”, Perak said, frustrated even more.

Elias did not pay attention to anything he said. Instead, he gathered the lightning in his palm in the shape of a sphere, which turned dark,  and threw it at the dragon without a second thought.

Perak dodged, but did not remain unscathed by its impact. As he had no intention to drag the fight any longer, he gathered all of his power into a single wind ball.

Elias was ready to take it on. However, as he was prepared to move towards it, multiple silver chains crawled from beneath him like snakes, rooting his legs together like a tree, in one place.

He ascertained it would be pointless to struggle as the chains seeped into his skin with the smallest move. Thus, left with no other choice but face his enemy where he stood, Elias stabbed the ground with his spear, waiting to embrace the dragon’s ultimate power.

“No! Elias!”, Aira shouted, hopeless.

Nothing was left of that piece of land, but a giant hole, as if hit by a meteor, and Elias was nowhere to be seen, as if he was turned to dust, carried by the oppressive wind wave.

Perak rejoiced in his success, laughing like like a demented beast and soon set his eyes on Aira who could not believe her eyes. She kept looking at the hole in the ground, hoping it was just an illusion and expecting for Elias to show up with an annoying grin on his face to tease her.

“He’s no longer here to take you away from me, child.”, Perak said. “Give in to me while am still being kind. You may have taken my precious stone, but I am willing to forgive you if you allow me to borrow your body for as long as I need it.”

“...”

Aira did not utter a word, still shocked. She believed until the end that Elias was stronger, so how did he allow Perak to kill him? She fell down to her knees, slouching on the edge of the giant crater, the fox growling while shielding her, now as her sole protector.

“How did it all come to this? I only wanted that stupid Acarasa to awaken my core.”, Aira said, swallowing the tears falling down her rosy cheeks. 

Author notes:

QUIZ:

What would be the best advice you would give a young lady with her face buried in the feathered chest of a half-human half-bird creature?

A. Pull out his feathers until he’s left featherless.

B. Create a shirt with the power of her mind and make the creature put it on.

C. Blow into the feathers because it’s fun.