Chapter 3

The Orc Chieftain straightened up as if he was awakened from a daze. He hardened himself and stood up as straight as he could. With a quick glance, he sneaked a glance towards Moca and then back at me, giving me full attention.

“The half-elf has come to find our Stargazer.” He boldly replied, trying to match his bravery, but I could tell that he was tensed and afraid. The way he fidgeted made it that much more apparent, even though he was trying to hold it in. “They left together three years ago to meet the Fire Hammer’s chief.”

“Stargazer?” I tilted my head, not sure what he was talking about.

“Stargazers are like seers, young mistress,” Moca explained. “They can see the future by reading the stars, though that doesn’t mean that they are hundred percent able to correctly guess the interpretation of the future.”

“I see.” I nodded. They were like seers. The thought of putting my everything into a possible future wasn’t something that I shouldn’t believe in; I believed that I made the choices of my future, and if I liked the Seer’s possible future, I would strive to go after it like a madman. They were just markers, a goal, that gave me a clear definition of a vision of what I could make into a possibility.

“So, where exactly did they head off too?” I turned towards the Chief, waiting for an answer.

The Chief grunted a bit, mumbled something that I didn’t understand in his language that sounded close to a curse word. Luckily, it seemed that Moca caught it and gave the Chief an evil glare that shut him up. Being overwhelmed by my presence irritated the Chieftain. It was usually him who was supposed to do the intimidating, not the other way around. I noticed off the bat that Orcs had a tendency to be overly prideful of their strength. What they disliked but at the same revered was power, but mostly from their own kind. I could tell that he respected me to a certain degree, but at the same time wanted to chase me away, so they can go on with their daily lives.

“They went back to the holy sanctuary of our land.” The Chief quickly stated, trying his best to hurry me along.

“Where exactly would this holy sanctuary be?”

“Pass the White River, past the holy tree, and into the teeth of the tiger.”

I looked at him funny. His sense of direction made me frown, showing off a bit of my white teeth. The Chief unconsciously took a step back and gulped. All he gave me were landmarks that made me want to pull out my hair. I thought I was bad with directions, but this whole landmark thing that encompasses the whole world made me want to blast him on the spot with a fireball. How pathetic can I be not knowing which way to go?! Ugh, this really infuriates me.

Moca saw my expression; he coughed and took a step forward before I would do anything stupid. I think he felt the pressure that I was giving off that made him take the initiative, in which I was quite glad. For a moment there, I could feel my stomach bubbling to blast that Chief. “We would like one of your people to come with us and show us the way.”

Way to go, Moca! I thought in my head of thinking of such a solution.

“What?!” The Chief exploded out in disbelief. “W-w-why so suddenly?”

I snorted, annoyed, dust picked up and whirled around the Chief. He grimaced at my expression, tensing up even more.

“I mean,” the Chief coughed and cleared his throat. “Stryd!” He bellowed out and motioned for someone in a hurry.

“Yes!” A human-size Orc pushed through the wall of Orcs that surrounded the Chief. He wasn’t as buffed out as the other Orcs, but comparably leaner and more human-looking. The ugly scowl that the other had been a lot more intimidating than him, making me wonder if he was possibly a half-human. His skin was normally greenish to gray, black hair ruffled all over his head into curls. Only a small tusks appeared at the corner of its lip, making it the only similar distinctions between them. Even compared to the short Orc that was next to the Chief, he didn’t even compare in size or bulkiness that a regular Orc had.

Not only that, he looked pretty decent, which meant a lot in my dictionary. The past years that I have been with amazing looking guys had pampered out my eyes a bit too much that now I was finding half Orcs decent.

The other Orcs gave him a pitying look, while the majority of them scoffed at the Stryd, who ran past them in a hurry. They didn’t give him much of a second glance and just shook their head in understanding why he was chosen.

“I’m here.” Stryd painted as he came next to the Chief. His ruffled hair looked even messier than before.

“Took you long enough.” The Chief scowled at him, grunting and shaking his head in disapproval towards Stryd. He tapped his feet on the ground a couple of times, annoyed at how slow he took.

“I’m sorry, Chief. I will make it an effort to come faster.” Stryd said as quickly as possible to reassure the Chief that he wouldn’t fail next time. The Chief snarled, showing off his canine teeth, disliking the runt.

I could tell that there was some kind of animosity between these people, especially against Stryd. The only thing I could think of was that they just didn’t like him.

“Go with them and show them the way towards the holy sanctuary back on the mainland.” The Chief took off his necklace and pushed it into Stryd’s chest. “This is an order.”

“Yes,” Stryd took the necklace from the Chief, he then glanced over towards me in fear as he took a gulp of air. Shakily, he fumbled as he shooked. “But, why me, sir?”

“What do you mean, why you?” Chief glared, not liking how he was being questioned. “Who else would go do this job but you?”

“Well.” Stryd glanced down, embarrassed that he asked such a question. He wasn’t too quick on the uptake of the thought of him just being thrown away like useless trash. “I’m not really allowed to enter into the Holy land because….of what….I am.” His voice became smaller.

The Chief raised up his eyebrows, stared for a moment, and scowled at his answer. He then growled at what Stryd had said and gave him an angry response. “I gave you my crest, which would allow you to stay. Now leave.” He ordered towards Stryd, growling again as he bared his teeth. “Now go before I say anything else.”

I disliked how the Chief was misplacing his anger and frustration on the wrong person. Mostly because I really hated seeing him being looked down on. Just when I was about to scare the crap out of the Chief one more time for being a bully, Moca raised his hand and shook his head.

“Young mistress,” Moca replied in his best gentleman’s voice. “We should leave.”

Moca’s words caught the Chief by surprise. The Chief then gave us a toothy smile, happily complying with the idea of leaving. Rubbing his hand together, he coughed and pulled Styrd to the side and pushed him forward.

“He'll show you the way.” The Chief replied, “I am sure he could also be a good bag carrier to help assist you on your journey.”

Bag carrier...as if. I thought at how easily they were just throwing him away. Oh, how I wanted to beat the crap out of him right here and now, but I didn’t. A strange feeling that Moca having something up his sleeves made me stay silent. Strangely, I wanted to know what he would do, mostly because he was such a quiet type of butler, and it was scarce to hear him speak so much.

“That would be fine,” Moca replied, waving his hand gently in front of him, welcoming Stryd to come over.

Tart snorted and examined Stryd up and down. Shaking his head as if he was a big disappointment.

“Young mistress.” Tart frowned. “He smells so weak.” He turned away with his nose turned up in the air. “Do we need to take him?” The way he said it made me feel bad for Stryd at the same time; we really needed a guide. Without having one, I was certainly going to get lost in this world, it was definite. Especially with their crap of directions that really didn’t tell me which directions I needed to go.

“Tart,” Moca spoke towards Tart with a very stern voice like scolding a child. He then gave him a deadly glare told Tart should not say anything else any further.

Tart cringed when he saw Moca’s gaze and shuffled his feet towards me. Coughing a couple of times as he looked away from Moca. I couldn’t help but watch with amusement at Tart’s and Moca’s reaction, mostly how easily Moca quickly handled Tart. I had to now wonder why Moca was acting like this, but I couldn’t ask him now.

“Alright, Moca. Let’s go.” I replied, getting up as I waited for them to hop on. “Get on,” I ordered Stryd, who stared at us with worry.

“Get on?” Stryd asked, completely confused at what I was going to do. “I don’t quite understand.”

Tart was appalled Stryd even asked such a question. He then turned towards Moca and then back at Stryd as if he heard things. “Young Mistress has allowed you to ride on her back.”

“We’re flying?” Stryd squeaked, he started to tremble in fear.

“How else would we get there?” Tart snorted at Styrd’s answer. “You think we’ll just magically teleport there?”

“Uh….no. I guess?” Stryd replied, embarrassed that he just realized how they were going towards the holy land.

Tart sighed. He then shook his head and jumped up onto my back. Sitting between my spikes, he made himself comfortable.

“Young mistress, excuse my rudeness.” Moca bowed, he gracefully scaled my back and made himself comfortable.

I turned my head towards Stryd and cocked my head towards the side. Staring at him, I wondered what was taking Stryd so long to hop on. Standing there forever was something I wasn’t going to do. Stryd glanced up towards me, he gulped and started to shake. For someone who was well-toned and looked like he could kill a human, he sure was quite a scaredy-cat.

Getting tired of waiting, I opened my mouth and reached over towards him to pick him up.

With a squeak, Stryd stumbled backward and fell onto his butt. He scrambled onto his knees, trying to get away as fast as he could. I reached over and nabbed him by the back of the collar and lifted him up.

“Nooo! Don’t eat me!” Stryd screamed in horror as he dangled up in the air. He squirmed hard, trying to get out of my hold as best as he could. His hand threw up in the air, reaching over to get my teeth off his clothes. The harder he struggled, the more his clothes tore. “Please! I don’t taste that great!”

I rolled my eyes, thinking that this kid was really going over the top unnecessarily. Was I really that terrifying to scare him this badly? I mean, I’m not going to eat him for food. The thought of eating Orcs made my stomach twirl. There was always a preference for what I liked to eat, and Orc wasn’t one of them.

Now that I think about it, this Orc does have a strange smell on closer inspection. The Chief had a stronger body odor that smells close to old socks, in which it made my stomach want to hurl. Luckily, Styrd didn’t smell so bad. His smell wasn’t as ripe as the old angry face that was giving me a deadly glare.

When I turned towards him, I gave him the shut-up-and-don’t-stare look in which the Chief glanced away as if he saw nothing.

“Oh shut up,” I growled in between my teeth. Annoyed that he was struggling so much. “If you don’t stop, I’ll eat you.”

Stryd froze. I gently brought him over towards my back and dropped him. He scrambled, trying not to fall off my back as he gripped my spikes on my back.

“Hold on tight,” I replied, opening up my wings to its full wingspan.

The Chief and the other Orcs faltered back, pushed away by the gust from my wings being opened up. With a flap of my wings, I pumped it up and down, causing the wind to pick up even faster and faster. Sand picked up and swirled around me, and my feet started to hover off the ground.

The orcs all stood back in a hurry, trying not to get swept away by the wind itself. Some of them ran and hid behind their tents. The tent flipped over, the Orcs fell backward, and even their lizard-like horses that they had near them tied together started to hiss out loudly as they were roughly pushed back from the turmoil from the wind.

“Is the dragon leaving?!” Quite a few started to yell, some quite bewildered at the sheer size of my wingspan.

“Get down!” Others screamed, trying not to get blown away. “You’re going to be blown away!”

“Quickly! Get the Fire Lizards from fleeing!”

“She’s going to destroy our camp!”

I picked up higher into the air, they started to get smaller and smaller in view. Everyone was scrambling around, trying hard not to get blown away.

All of a sudden, I heard a half shout and angry words directed at me. “Damn, she-dragon! I hope you break your wings and fall!” The Chief Orc, who was tumbling around on the ground, attempting to get up off the ground but was failing.

I snapped my head towards him, ready to hurl an ice mist to freeze him up, but Moca completely beat me to it. Something white and sticky flew through the air and smacked the Chief in the face, arms, and legs.

Spiderwebs covered his mouth, his arm and legs were stuck to the floor, unable to move. Not even a second later, Moca formed around his right hand made out of spiderwebs. It twisted and turned into a large sharp spear, and with fluid motion, he threw it downwards with force. The first spear landed right next to the Chief’s cheek as blood seeped out from scratch. The Chief gulped, staring at how close the spear impaled a hole in his head.

Moca threw another one that came hurtling down from the sky, each one a centimeters away from getting perfectly impaled. Right now, the Chief looked funny like a puppet with all the spears sticking around him.

I stared, amazed at Moca’s control; he wasn’t missing a single throw but was perfectly-getting them in place, allowing him to control how the Chief looked. An amused chuckle rumbled in my throat, making me want to laugh at the strange look that Chief was in.

“Disrespecting young mistress.” Moca snarled in between his teeth. “If these low intelligent species don’t know any better, I would’ve killed them here and now.”

“Why didn’t you?” Tart asked, watching with glee at Moca’s aim. “I would.”

“Because I don’t want young mistresses to see blood any more than necessary.” Moca twirled his last spear, and this time hurtled it downwards in between the Chief’s legs.

It was then, I heard a painful yell, causing me to cringe. Tart face became pale while Stryd whimpered as he crossed his legs in pain as if it was his own. Though the last one, I gulped. It was horrifying. I knew for certain that the Chief would definitely not be able to have children after today. The other two shuddered when they saw what Moca had done. I looked away, chanting in my mind that nothing had happened. Now I understood why the One Hundred Face Spider was considered scarier than a Coco or Tart combined.

I actually started to get a bit scared of Moca, especially when he snaps. The thought of his diabolical acts that he would play if anyone offended him was terrifying. Tart was vicious and protective, Coco was hands down the coolest maid ever but was scary in her own way, but Moca was a whole different story from either Coco or Tart. He was someone I never want to truly offend, especially because I didn’t know what he would do.

Torture was probably his forte from what I saw, while Coco was killed them outright without a second thought. Tart was still too young to be either as vicious or scary as either Coco or Tart, so I didn’t quite know where he stood.

“Young mistress, don’t you ever worry. No man or beast shall ever say such rude things to you when I am here.” Moca clarified with a dignified voice as if he did something extraordinary.

“Thanks, Moca.” I gulped. Pumping my wings even harder to get away from the screaming pain and horrified yell from the Orcs.

We quickly got up high into the sky and flew away from the places as fast as my wings could carry me. Still, the image was fresh in my mind, making me falter for a second, causing everyone to lurch forward.

“Are you okay young mistress?” Moca leaned over with concern and patted my shoulders. “I hope I didn’t disturb you too much.”

I coughed a couple of times as smokes escaped my lips. “No. No. Absolutely not.” I replied, trying my best to cover up my paled expression. “If you didn’t do it, I might have blown fire at him.”

“Ah, yes. The fire torture.” Moca shook his head with understanding. “If you have done that, I would’ve made sure that the fire lasted a long time so it wouldn’t go out.”

Stryd hiccuped and whimpered, becoming smaller when he heard what Moca had said. I was even scared, which made me cringe. I already thought that it lasted as long as it was.

“How?” I asked, without realizing it. The moment I asked, I regretted it immensely. Me and my stupid mouth that couldn’t stay closed. Why couldn’t I just ask something else?

“I would’ve thrown oil on him.”

I held in my breath as I faltered and fell a good two feet or more. “You have oil on you?” With a squeak, I flapped back up and steady my flight.

“Young mistress, I have everything necessary to deliver my service to the best of my ability.”

“Oh,” I whispered. That’s scary.

“Same! Same!” Tart waved his hand over his head, excited. “I’m always ready as well! Are you hungry young mistress?” He asked, hoping that I would say yes.

I shouldn’t have looked over my shoulders, because what stared back at me was Tart’s sparkling eyes. He already had cooking utensils out on my back, ready to cook something up. The thought of him cooking on my back made me feel weird, but I didn’t say anything. Without even saying yes, he was cooking up something very delicious that I couldn’t say no.

“Young mistress. I’ll make you the best steak ever~.”

The hot grilling sound of steak cooking on the pain could be heard as Tart placed it on the pan, making my stomach grumble loudly. There was no way I would say no to free food, especially something that Tart makes. He always makes the best food that I love and knew my taste way too well.

“You guys are eating?!” Stryd shouted out as his voice cracked. “On a dragon?!”

“So?” Tart gave Stryd a funny look, staring at him as if nothing was wrong with everything he was doing.

“Don’t you see what’s wrong with this picture?!” Stryd asked again, shaking his hand up in front of him in disbelief.

“Don’t shout.” Tart growled, “I can hear you just fine.” He flipped the cooking steak, letting it nicely sizzle.

I was wondering how Tart was cooking on my back, but that question was quickly answered. He was using magic with his right hand, keeping the flames from going out. On the other hand, he quickly stirred the gravy juice onto the steak, giving it a nice smell. He even put some kind of blueberries with it and some onions, because it made my eyes slightly water.

“This is crazy!” Stryd said in half hysteria. “You guys are all crazy!”

“Why, thank you.” Tart replied with a smug grin. “If we weren’t, we wouldn’t be alive today.”

“I’m not that crazy.” I snorted at what Stryd had said.

“You're definitely crazy,” Stryd replied without even batting an eye.

Moca coughed, glaring at Stryd to keep his mouth shut about calling me crazy.

Stryd didn’t take the hint, and he continued. “You actually allow all this to happen! You’re a dragon. A dragon from the legend, the wise one, the powerful dragon that boasts of destroying cities!”

I understood him perfectly. Right now, I wasn’t dragon-like at all and allowed Tart to cook on my back. Honestly, I didn’t mind it; food was food. Especially, I trusted Tart on not burning my back, even if that’s even possible in the first place. My scales can withstand fire, so it shouldn’t matter.

“I haven’t destroyed a city yet,” I replied, a bit offended that I was seen as some kind of monster. “Though, the last war was a bit intense.”

Just remembering about it made me shudder. The horrible screams, shouting, burning of flesh, and the loud clanging sound of the sword echoed in my head. The worst part of it all was the death, the horrible blood being spilled all around me as people were dying in droves. I had become a mass murder, killing without a single hint of remorse.

In my past life, killing humans wasn’t something that I would normally do. Actually, it was something that I would never do. The thought of killing someone so quickly was something I couldn’t get used to initially, but now it seems that I could do it with just a snap of my finger.

Now that I think about it, this was something I should be very concerned about. I didn’t want to become someone who would kill for no reason and become a psychopath like the black dragon. That was something I needed to stay far away from. When I was about to burn that Chief Orc out of anger, it made me realize how my self-control has decreased over time, making me more animalistic and emotional.

I realized I needed to have more control over my bloodlust, anger, and especially my thoughts. It wasn’t until now did I truly understand that I was getting powerful as the day went by. There wasn’t just human Berry, but Dragon Berry that killed hundreds, thousands of people with just a swipe of my claws and the burning inferno of my flames.

Being able to hold someone’s life and extinguish it with a snap of a finger was very enthralling and exciting. I could quickly destroy their life as if it was a small bug on the side of the road. The more I killed, the colder I got.

I shook my head, trying my best to get such dark thoughts out of my mind. I needed to go back to my calmer self, not the girl or dragon ruled by emotions.

“Still,” Stryd replied, his voice became louder, allowing me to focus back onto him. “Are you always like this? So relaxed? So….not a dragon?”

“Not a dragon?” I thought it over; he did make some sense. I wasn’t dragon-like all the time,

only when I wanted too. “Well, sometimes. This is my real self.”

Stryd shook his head, not quite believing what I said, but he couldn’t refute my words. Especially because of how chilled we were about the whole thing. He gave up halfway and just sat there defeated.

“You're lucky you're a dragon,” Stryd said with a longing sigh, his face fell into a depression. “I wish I was like you to go wherever I want to and even become powerful to do anything you want without other people telling you no.”

His words made me realize how fortunate I was. I thought I wasn’t strong enough, but there was someone out there that saw differently.

“I’m guessing you have trouble with your tribe?” I asked, there was a feeling that the Orc didn’t see Stryd as part of them.

“Well…..yes.” Stryd wasn’t so open up with his problems and just let it sink in.

“The other’s don’t see you as their own?” I poked around, trying to see if what I thought was correct.

Styrd didn’t say anything. Instead, he slouched even further. His hand was picking at his nails, ready to tear off a piece of his skin. “Kind of.” He then sighed deeply as if it was the end of the world. “Yes, they don’t think I’m part of them. Being half an Orc and half-human makes me bane to the people. Some say I’m bad luck, or I bring it because of what I am.”

“That’s completely bogus,” I sharply replied. Such superstitions had no truth to it, mostly because it was out of hate for the other species. “Back where I used to live, there were mixed people left and right, and there was no such superstition.”

“Really?” Styrd perked up when he heard what I had said. “How were guys able to get along?”

I thought it over, realizing that not everyone got along. “Well, it’s a bit complicated. Yea, many people live together from different races, but there are some differences. I personally think it’s the younger generation that is more acceptable to the new changes, than the older ones.”

“Wow. That’s the first time I ever heard something like that. Where exactly is this place?” Stryd brightened up at the thought of such a place.

On the other hand, I realized that I couldn’t really tell him that it was on Earth. If he went there like how he is today, he might be seen as a monster or some kind of person who likes dressing up in a Halloween costume every day. When I didn’t reply, Styrd started to get disappointed that I wouldn’t tell him.

Quickly replying, so he won’t get disheartened. “It’s in the Dragon Kingdom, located inside the Forgotten Forest.”

“Forgotten Forest?!” Styrd asked, alarmed. “Did you actually s-s-say the F-f-forgotten Forest?!” His voice went up an octave.

“Uh, yes?”

“The city that completely pushed back the human army and has the famous Wonder Shop and the number one Academy for the magicians?!”

“Yes….”

“I can’t believe this!” Styrd stated excitedly to the point where he was jumping up and down. For a moment there, I thought he would fall off. “What is the Wonder Shop like? Is it true that the city never sleeps? I heard there is hot and cold water and even a sewage system, isn’t that luxurious? Where do you live? Are you the guardian of the city? Have you seen Grand Magician Berry?” He shot off questions one after another in rapid succession.

“Woah, Woah, Woah. One at a time.” I chuckled. For some reason, I was getting caught up in his enthusiasm. “Wonder Shop is a great place to buy some interesting items like the lamps or potions. Every few months, there is always something new. Though, you can say that the lights never go out in the city, so yes to that question.”

“What about the sewage or the hot waters?”

“Every household has them.”

Styrd was shocked. “The city must be rich.”

“I don’t really think so, even the low-income households have them.”

“How is that possible?!”

“It's just the way the city was designed. Don was the architect who laid out the foundation of the city itself. He’s quite amazing at it too. Without him, we wouldn’t have the skyscrapers going.”

“Skyscrapers?”

“Twenty stories and up buildings.” Tart replied, getting annoyed at Styrd’s curiosity. He flipped the meat and let it sizzled. “Our young mistress is the ruler of the city and the Great Magician Berry.” He proudly stated.

“You are?!” Styrd asked, dumbstruck, and in awe. He saw me in a new light. For a moment there, I think I’m way too idolized by the way he was looking at me. It kind of made me feel uncomfortable.

“Well, kind of. I’m just standing in for an image. Other than that, someone else takes care of the city. Honestly, I’m not much of a ruler type.”

“What are you talking about, young mistress!” Tart gasped as if I’ve said something strange. “You are the guardian and the ruler of the city!”

I sighed. Being a guardian is one thing, a ruler was another. I wasn’t queen material, or did I want to rule. Plus, large responsibility would chain me down, and that wasn’t something that I wanted. I just let Tart think of however he wanted, for now, there just wasn’t anything to say against him. It just was too much of a headache.

With Styrd still looking at me with respect, Tart spoke. “Young mistress.” He pulled the meat off the pain with a large metal fork. “Your food is ready.” He threw it towards me, I snapped my head backward.

Perfectly, I caught it up in midair before it fell down. Knowing full well that I would have to dive downwards to catch it before it landed. I don’t think the others would like it if I went into a full dive for a piece of meat.

“Here you go!” Another one flew up into the air; I had to do a weird swivel where I almost went into a dive. It caused Tart's utensils and portable stove to be thrown up into the air. Moca and Tart did a perfect synch where they were able to grab everything without much trouble. It was like they were dancing on my back, moving without a single hiccup.

Stryd stared at them with complete disbelief at how easily they could get everything back to its original place as if nothing happened. Even their clothes didn’t have a speck of dirt. The only one who was utterly disheveled and frightened was Stryd, who was holding on for his dear life.

Eventually, we were able to go through the whole day without much trouble. The only problem was that it was getting hotter and hotter as time went on. Even for me, the heat didn’t affect me as badly as the other. Stryd didn’t seem to be as severe as affected, but Tart was panting really hard.

Moca was sweating quite a lot, but he didn’t show it. Nobody could really tell because of how stoic he was. Only the glistening drops of sweat that fell down his face was seen, but he quickly wiped it away as if nothing was wrong.

It wasn’t until it hit night that the temperature dropped low, making almost all of us shudder in the cold. Even I didn’t do so well under too much cold, making my wings slightly sluggish. Still, I pushed forward through the night. I wanted to get there as quickly as possible.

The scenes quickly changed from open plains with quite a few trees to the desert's rolling sand. Making the whole area hot as hell. Up in the sky, it was still a beautiful sight to see the endless sea of sand. There were barely any clouds up in the sky, giving me a good view of everything that was in front of me.

A few times, I saw a herd of the Gazelle looking monster sleeping together huddled up in a large herd. It was as if I saw an endless sea of these animals. I think it took a good ten minutes before we passed them and continued onwards without seeing another life form.

I didn’t stop until the moon was high up in the night sky, and the wind was blowing hard, I stopped to rest. We couldn’t find any shelter. The trees were thinning out, making our last tree that I saw an excellent hundred miles back.

Landing down, both Moca and Tart jumped off first as I thumped onto the ground loudly. Sand picked up around me, giving us a light shower until everything started to settle down. With a sigh, I just flopped down, letting the hard ground take the whole weight of my body. For a moment, I actually started to sink into the sand, but luckily I didn’t completely fall in like a sinkhole.

Finally, sleep overtook me as I tucked my wings around Moca, Tart, and Stryd hid under my wings for cover. It was going to be a cold night, and I didn’t want them to be cold.

#####

Another day went by as we continually flew through the hot weather. Moca and Tart somehow magically pulled out a sunscreen and even an umbrella out of nowhere to block out the sun. Stryd looked at them stupid as if he saw an illusion. I would’ve believed it was all an illusion if it wasn’t for Tart's rumbustious argument of being too hot and then squealing pleased at the large umbrella that Moca had conjured up.

I had to wonder how the umbrella was even staying on my back without being blown off. “Moca,” I asked.

“Yes, young mistress?” Moca asked, sitting underneath the umbrella with his back straight and reading a book with a tea in his other hand.

“How is that umbrella staying up on my back?” I asked a bit dumbfounded at the logic of this world.

“It’s a rare item, young mistress.” Moca put down his book and started to explain in great detail so I would understand. “It’s been blessed by the fairy queen spirit that allows it to buffer any type of wind. Either it be a storm or a typhoon, it wouldn’t budge a single bit. Not only that, but it also keeps the surrounding three feet cooler in temperature, allowing anyone who sits underneath to not get a heat stroke.”

My eyes twitched. Such cheat-like umbrellas actually exist. I swear that if such an item was taken to Earth, it would sell like hotcakes in the summertime. Actually, maybe I should see if we could take a few and sell it. A smug grin started to form in my mind, thinking about ways to sell the umbrella.

“Young mistress, such items can only be created every one hundred years,” Moca replied as if he was reading my thoughts.

“Huh?”

“You won’t be able to sell many, though maybe auction it off in the black market of the magical community,” Moca said with a stern expression. “It would be best that you sell it moderately if you want a high return in gold.”

“Fufufufu, Hahaha!” I burst into laughter, startling everyone. “I love the way you think!”

“Thank you, young mistress. I am only doing what is best for you.” Moca respectively nodded towards me.

I really had the best butlers and maid in existence. Not only were they strong, a bit scary, but even intelligent. Well, I always thought they were unusually smart, though I had to wonder about Tart. He’s great at everything, but he gets straight 0’s on his test scores when it comes to certain subjects. He must be that genius that forgets everything else to make extra space for what he’s really good at. In which case, I had no qualms about that. Geniuses were rare to come by, and I had three.

Moca then fiddled around in his pocket and pulled out a golden pocket watch. Made with a mixture of gold and silver, I didn’t have the urge to eat that pocket watch at all. When he flipped open the clock, they were about six different hands, ticking away.

He reached over, twirled the three dials, and something popped out on his hand. I was awed at the strange device that he had, and when he twirled it again, another item came out and landed on his laps.

Now upon closer inspections, these two items were an ice pick and a pail. I looked at Moca funny, wondering what he was going to do. The only thought was that the pocket watch was a device that stored items and tell time, I think. One didn’t need six hands to tell time, so I guess the other four were for something else.

“Tart,” Moca ordered.

Tart, who was splayed out on my back like a miserable dog, tilted his head towards Moca. He was dying from the heat as his cute tongue was sticking out. “What?” he gloomily replied.

“Get up and make some ice cream.”

“Ice cream?!” Tart literally snapped upwards, pushing himself up with his arm. If he had a tail and an ear right now, it would’ve been wagging.

“Yes, I have some ice that I brought with me.” Moca handed him the ice pick and pail, he then took out a large amount of ice in both of his hands. I could feel the sudden weight from my back because it wasn’t just a small handful, but the size of a boulder.

The beat of my wings was a bit faster, just to keep all of us afloat. Having a giant border on my back wasn’t something I expected, and it seemed like Moca planned the weight of it as well. I had enough power to stay flying without too much trouble, but if he had brought anything larger, I was sure to fall tumbling down from the sky.

Moca got up; he held the ice in both hands. Then I started to hear something crack, at first slow, then eventually speeding up. With a powerful clasp of his hand, he broke the ice cleanly into many pieces. Any tumbling ice, he snapped out his sticky web or kicked the pail that was in Tart hands to catch the flying ice.

The way he moved was a way to perfect that Stryd jaws dropped in complete disbelief. Even I, who was peeking over my shoulders a couple of times, was amazed. The only words were incredible.

Moca wasn’t the only one; Tart moved in perfect synch; he pulled out an ice cream maker and started to grind the ice as if he was on fire. His hands were in a blur, almost impossible to see with the naked eye. The only thing I could hear was the grinding of the ice that moved in a crunching motion as a bowl of ice cream was made.

“Impossible.” Stryd worded as he watched, unable to say anything else but that one word.

Moca finished collecting and handing it to Tart, who whipped up a miraculous ice cream in the middle of the desert. I was surprised that it didn’t melt right there and then, but it kept its shape in the bowl that Moca fished out. Everyone got a full-size hand bowl, while mine was the whole bucket. There wasn’t just one, but over twenty that Start had made.

“Young mistress, how would you like to eat this?” Moca asked, he stepped over towards my head.

I had to crane my head to get a good look at the ice cream. It wasn’t on a popsicle stick but reminded me when they were in a Tupperware, but this time in a bowl. There wasn’t a spoon, because there was no need for it. With my dragon claws, I reached over to take it from him with just one hand. It was small, even in my own palm, but I didn’t care. The thought of eating ice cream made me excited.

“Thank’s Mocha. Tart.”

“My pleasure.”

“You’re welcome!” Tart slurped up the ice cream, he let out a yell that told us that he had a brain freeze.

I couldn’t help but chuckle as I used my tongue to take small slurps. It took about twenty licks for it to disappear, but right after, Moca appeared on my arm, putting more in my bowl. Seeing him balancing without falling was quite an achievement that a couple of times when he wavered, I thought he would fall.

Stryd just sat there silently, eating away at the ice cream as if it was the most luxurious food in the world.

I flew leisurely, enjoying the day as the sun slowly started to set.

“We’re almost there!” Stryd got up and walked over difficulty over towards my neck. He wasn’t a big fan of heights, and he kept his body low as much as possible for fear of falling off.

“Finally,” I sighed, flying for hours on end got really a bit boring. Maybe it was the constant view of the sand dunes, and nothing changing was the reason. It reminded me of flying on an airplane, especially when we had to go for long distances. My mind starts to tone out, giving me that slight buzz where I don’t even think about anything until we reach close to our destination. The pumping of wings, gliding, and just riding the wind was all I ever did the majority of the time. There weren't any flips, sideway movements, or some other fancy flight; the reason was simple, I burned many calories to just stay flying. The less energy I used, the longer and further I could travel.

Eventually, I saw off in the distance a small oasis with a city around it.

“It's over there!” Styrd stated as he pointed towards the city. “That is our Holy land!” He replied with a pleased smile at the arrival of the Holy Land of the Orcs.