Chapter 3

The streets were filled with chattering, shouting, laughter, crying and much more. Families were packed into each and every stall lining the street, chattering about what to buy. Giddy kids caused trouble on patches of grass, playfighting with wooden swords and petty magic. Steel-clad knights laughed their way down the street with a drink in hand and the hilt of their sword in the other; some tall and sturdy, others small and lean. Robed mages rushed between the library and magic weapon smith; the ones with pointed ears were uninterested in the wands and staffs that came out of the smith. Hulking beasts, from almost naked bears to wolves strapped with chunks of armour, stomped down the street on their hind feet; some whilst devouring raw meat with maws filled with sharp teeth.

The crowd filled the air with a cacophony of smells: freshly baked bread, the cool sea breeze, sweet strawberries, stale beer, unwashed bodies, and even animal faeces.

Sagil scowled as the nice smell of baked bread was shoved away by a beastly bear stomping past.

He huffed and puffed, struggling down the packed street as many adventurers shoved past him, the odd kid kicked him, and some of his toes were treaded on. Some were accidental but most were taking advantage of the packed street to give Sagil grief. It was thanks to this that he had barely moved since leaving the inn and could still smell the freshly baked bread if he tried fighting past the bad smells.

Wait? Sagil stopped wrestling through the crowd and looked back. His sister was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she was hidden behind the people behind. “M-Misaka?” He shouted as he bumped into more people that weren’t his sister? “Misaka!?”

A reply didn’t come. She might not have heard amongst the crowd’s racket.

“Misaka!?” He shouted louder, trying to fight the wave of people to get to where he came from.

“Yahello?” She simply answered.

“Where are you!?” Sagil asked in relief.

“H-Here…” She said, struggling for breath as she pushed past the families at the bread stall. “Catch.”

A chunk of bread flew through the air, bouncing between Sagil’s palm and fingers before falling to the floor.

“Uh… Shit,” Knight cursed, belatedly picking it up. “Sorry, thought you disappeared.”

“Ehh?” She let out with the tilt of her head. “Well, that’d be your fault stupid for running away from me. Minus 1 point for that. And minus 100 for that bad catch!”

“Heh,” Sagil grinned with relief. He was still annoyed at her but he was glad she wasn’t sulking anymore. “Did you get this for me?”

Misaka’s smile wavered, “um, yeah,” and her face-tinged red. “It’s an apology gift for taking the sword!”

“Ah,” Sagil let out with a smile. Are you actually maturing? He asked silently, careful not to say it out loud, and instead saying, “why only minus one?” out loud.

“Uh…” She averted her gaze and messed with her twin tails as her face went bright red. Then suddenly, she slapped her cheeks, smiled brightly and grabbed Sagil’s hand whilst struggling ahead in the crowd. “Because you acted like a brother…”

“Eh?” Sagil grew red like his tunic.

“Kinda.”

“What do you mean kinda!?” He let out; his red face replaced with a slight frown. “I am your brother...”

Misaka giggled. “And I’m your sister that you just now showed care for.” She paused, pulling Sagil back, “for the first time in 5 years…” she pinched his arm.

Sagil yelped in pain, “That’s why I kept running ahead of you!” With that lie, he wrenched his hand free and muttered, “Imp,” before continuing down the street again. This time, however, he walked close to his sister, who gripped the edge of his grubby red tunic.

“And just now showed care for? Are you already over being nice because of your stupid mistake?” Sagil wondered with a raised brow.

“N-No… I was just trying-”

“I’m kidding!” Sagil interjected before she started sulking. Kinda.

“Hmpf!” Misaka puffed her cheeks and crossed her arms. “Minus one point for making me flustered!”

Sagil sighed, “You minus one anything I do since we reunited… Your point schtick was good when we were younger but now…”

“Seriously? You don’t seem to understand ANY-OHMYHOLYFAIRYMAIDENITSTHEDRAGONSHIP! THE DRAGON! LOOKLOOK! IT'S HUGE! WHAT THE ACTUAL FAIRYMAIDENELDERDRAGONGREATWOLFAND EVEN…” She finally took a second to breathe and then yelled, “I DON’T KNOW BUT SAGIL JUST LOOK AT HOW COOL IT IS WE DON’T HAVE THESE AT HOME. IT’S SO MUCH DIFFERENT THAN A WYVERN! AND IT’S CARRYING THE SHIP! OR SHOULD I SAY WEARING IT! HAHAHA!”

“Yeah, yeah,” he couldn’t help but laugh at Misaka’s sudden change of attitude at what stood before them and hundreds of other people. “We don’t really have them here either, I mean pretty sure this is the only dragon of this size. I think it was the first-born dragon amongst the four wise? Well, one of the few, I think… I don’t know but…”

“The son of the Wise Wyvern King, who governs over the black desert?” A voice croaked.

“Ah, yeah, when did you…” Sagil turned his head. A hooded old man with a beard as white as snow was hunched over a shoddy wooden staff. “Y-you’re not-”

The old man cackled and lifted a weathered finger towards a girl pushing past the crowd towards a wooden barrier.

Sagil rushed through the gap she created with a mutter of thanks to the old man before shouting “Misaka!" He broke past the living wall to reach the wooden barrier that separated the street from the edge of the island. Luckily, its wood was entwined with magic that prevented most people from jumping over and falling thousands of metres into the ocean below. The barrier also separated people from the plateau adventurers were gathered on to the left, funnelling people into the gateway. The plateau separated into many beams of the same white stone that protruded off the cliff. Only one docking station of the air wharf was used, however. "Sometimes you act like a kid on that shit from the alchemist continent," Sagil said as he caught up to his sister.

Misaka ignored her brother's words, still awestruck by what loomed before them. Her emerald eyes glistened with joy, her twin tails and white skirt wafting in the air as she hopped excitedly on the spot. "Just look at it though! It's five times as big as a wyvern carrier."

With a sigh of jealousy, wishing again that he had her energy, Sagil turned his head towards the Dragon Ship. "I think it's more than that."

Right in front of the plateau was a gigantic blackwood ship. It was docked on an entanglement of elder tree roots protruding from the floating island; there was many more empty docking areas like this between the beams that split from the main plateau.

The deck of the ship was split in half by crimson spikes from top to bottom which were used as equipment wracks for the adventurers boarding.

The strangest thing was the fact that there were no masts or sails. Instead, enormous red wings protruded from the centre of the ship, a few metres from the spike spine, and folded down the side. The spikes also cut through the back of the deck, adorning a tail that drooped down from the roots the ship wrested on and hung in the air.

On the other end, the red spikes largened onto a chunky neck connecting the body to a scaly skull the size of a mansion. A multitude of reigns tied around red spikes at the edge of the ship where the neck protruded out. They lead around the skull, wrapping around two tree-sized horns curling off the head and pulled down to thread through a gaping maw holding hundreds of fangs.

That giant maw roared and a booming voice coursed through the streets of the port town.

"Ten minutes before the expedition begins."

Just the dragon's voice alone was enough to send slight tremors across the ship it held. The adventurers hanging around the plateau quickly flooded the deck. A big crimson eye glared at the stragglers from the dragon's head resting on the edge of the plateau.

"Welp, let's go, Misaka." Sagil tugged at his hyper sister to follow him to the gateway and registration point.

They pushed through the crowd and eventually stumbled into an opening that the crowd had somehow restrained themselves from overflowing into. The wooden barrier came to an end as well, showing passage to the plateau and Dragon Ship. The last couple of adventurers were passing through, one of which wore a robe with a colour scheme and sigil that matches the two banners posted on top of the wooden barriers.

They were light blue with golden thread embroidered in the middle, forming a proud dragon. It spewed bright twine that clashed with a black blotch with two slithers of red thread poking out of it. All of this was wrapped in a circle by more gold thread in the centre of the banner.

Misaka quickly ran ahead before two spears slammed down in front of her.

There were two tall and burly steel-covered guards. One was a muscular man and the other was a bulky humanoid bear.

"Name?" The man demanded.

Misaka almost fell backwards in surprise but was held by her brother who sighed, "Sagil and Misaka."

The two guards didn’t respond and instead made way for a small man who appeared from behind them. He pulled his circular glasses down with one hand whilst the other snapped a scroll into the air and began scouring it for something with his beady eyes. it for something from behind his circular glasses. The suspicious-looking man clicked more scrolls into the air until his eyes finally settled on something.

"Sagil..." He creased with disgust, "…Yuudai. And a plus one." He pulled his round glasses down, looking the young girl up and down. "Misaka Yuudai."

Sagil tapped his foot and glanced around impatiently.

The man responded with a scowl and a jaundiced eye. "Rank D adventurer. Rank Ds aren't welcome-"

Just as Sagil was about to blow his gasket, a warm hand clasped his shoulder.

"Everyone, including D ranks and even non-adventurers, are welcome aboard," Cerrin stated with a fiery glare. Then, shrugging off the intense demeanour, he patted Misaka's head and said, "Especially the two children of The Queen of the Spriggans and the Sylphs."

The suspicious man struggled to get his words out as he stumbled back.

Cerrin stepped forward and snatched an ear hidden within his black mop. They were large, sharp ears. "As a spriggan yourself you should know."

"S-S-Sorry Grand Master!" he stammered before glancing back at two siblings, attempting the hide his disgust. "Y-You are good to board."

"Ha-ha-ha! Don't tell me!" he roared with laughter and shoved the man to the side. "Let's go kids. Just a couple of others loading equipment and this beauty will have us on our way." Cerrin pointed towards the dragon’s crimson eyes before setting off to speak to it. "I'll be on board in a minute. It'll be a long journey to the edge of the world so get comfy."

Sagil scoffed. The last thing he could ever do when not alone was 'get comfy'.

The two siblings lunged over the gap between the plateau and the blackwood ship and steep aboard.

A couple of minutes passed as the two looked for some space to set up when the dragon roared, followed by cheers from the crowd. There were no kids playfighting; no families shopping at the stall; there weren’t even any drunkards creating chaos. They all stood to watch the great dragon, carrying a beautiful blackwood ship around its body, fly off into the distance. They stood to watch it fly towards the black splodge on their world maps. They stood to watch the heroes risking their lives to free the DragonLands from the abyss.

The ground shook as it stood up and repositioned itself. The air was slammed against the adventurers sprawled on the deck as the giant wings spread high in the air like the masts and sails of a ship.

"The expedition past the edge of the world has begun."

But unlike the mast and sails of a ship, they propelled off the floating island and into the dark fog.