“You sure we had to listen to that guy?” Azavel asked as Crane stood ankle-deep in water. It had been a few days since they met with the corpse in his dream and started to travel south. Finally, they had reached the sea. Only to see it stretch endlessly towards the horizon.

“He was evil.” The spirit continued.

“Considering where we are, he might as well be the most virtuous person around.” Crane stood where the blue waves met the crimson sand. His eyes were closed, and his arms stretched to the sides, standing like a cross.

“And the evilest!” Azavel revolved around Crane’s head in frustration.

“Can you please calm down?” He took a deep breath. “We have no other choices.”

“But…”

“Azavel.” Crane gave Azavel a tired look and the little spirit stopped flickering around.

“Yes?”

“Can you please be quiet? I’m working here.”

After Azavel finally shut his invisible mouth, Crane focused on the heat of the water. He took deep breaths, and in each, he soaked the heat from the water and released it into the air. As he kept repeating this, the water around slowly started to freeze and turned into a sloppy raft of ice. As the depth of the raft reached the span of a hand, he covered it thick with his mana, insulating the heat and putting a reinforcing layer.

After he was done with his glorious ship, he tried to wake Arash up. He patted her on the head and felt the cold scaly skin on his hands. Arash barely opened her eyes and gave a half look at Crane.

Understanding that she wouldn’t be able to get up herself, Crane pulled the raft out of the water and pushed it under the wyvern like a shovel.

The raft looked flimsy, but it was strong enough to hold Arash and Crane for a while. How much that while would last was unbeknownst to Crane, but they had to make do with it.

“But how are you going to move it?” Azavel asked again.

“With goodwill, my friend.” He jumped on the raft and a wind started to sweep the raft away from the shores. “And a little bit of magic.”

***

The ride went fine for a few days. The sky was clear, and the sea was still except for the waves Crane created.

After the first day, they could no longer see the crimson dunes and were pressed between two blue veils, one dark beneath and another pale above.

It all could have been frightening to be in a lonely spot in the vastness of the sea and the long ride could have been boring, but Crane never had the time to be lost in those feelings.

He hid beneath Arash’s sole wing and meditated under its shadow. He had to concentrate to keep the winds going and the waves flowing. Other than him stirring it, both the sea and the sky were as still as a painting. The man in the diary was right to call the sea dead.

On the third day, right as Crane was scraping the bottom of his mana reserves, they saw the land in the south. An endless patch of shores stretched from east to west, rising from the horizon as they got closer.

It was also that day when he found out that the sea wasn’t always as merciful or indifferent as the past two days.

The land was seen but still, they had hours of way to go, and Crane could no longer maintain the integrity of their raft. It had started to melt hours ago. Any more travelling and the raft would shatter under their weight even before sinking.

They would have to rest for a while and a small rocky island on their path looked like the right spot.

He pushed the raft towards the island with a small wave and stepped onto the barren rock. It was twice the size of their raft and had plenty of space.

Crane looked at the wyvern and Arash raised her head. She was still frail but now had the strength to move at least from the raft to the isle.

Arash stepped onto the island and the island sank, leaving Crane knee-deep in water. The ground shook and wobbled like a boat. Like it was afloat.

Crane looked at Arash, but the beast didn’t seem to care. Not until they heard the grumble beneath their feet. The rocks vibrated and slithered like a rope knotted into a ball, unravelling. They hurriedly jumped back onto the raft but this time, without Crane holding it together it shattered like glass. As Arash and Crane tried to stay afloat, the rocky island raised a serpentine head above the two.

The grey stones covered the skin like petrified scales and the long serpentine body lay on the water's surface in a spiral, surrounding them in the process.

The serpent studied them with a hint of intelligence in its yellow eyes. Evaluating them, deciding whether to attack or not.

“Ezrag!” Crane called the serpent. In the diary he read to Mefdet, they were the ones to eat the son of the Kinslayer had the sea not refused his body. They slithered; this one was a serpent. They looked close enough.

Serpent’s eyes narrowed, and it got closer, with its forked tongue creeping out of its stone-like mouth. It licked its face and then Crane’s. The dark purple tongue was surprisingly soft and squishy.

“Eilarî,” The serpent stood still, and its curse echoed in Crane’s head. Devil, it roughly meant. Or more like the denizen of hell. It needs to improve its way of cussing. Crane thought. After living with Anem his all life getting called Eilarî was just plain. It had no taste. “You know our name.”

“How could one not know of the children of Maw’adril?” Crane had to read the rest of the diary as soon as possible. He never guessed it would be this useful.

“You know his name too.” The echo in Crane’s head continued. “But not yours.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your kin has a blessing Eilarî, you forget too easily. You know our name, but you don’t know the tale.”

“Yes.” Crane admitted. “Then tell me. I will remember for all those who don’t.”

“You killed our father, Eilarî.” The serpent hissed. “We live to avenge.”

The serpent hissed and jumped at Crane, who was now standing on top of Arash’s back. He could not dodge, Arash would certainly take the hit even if he survived, and taking a hit was the last thing Arash needed right now.

So, Crane pulled a wave and yanked it out of the sea. The water rose in a wave moulded into the shape of a serpent and caught its grey foe on its neck. The Ezrag bit the water serpent back and the stone-like jaws ripped the water and Crane’s mana that held it together apart, severing the head.

Crane, however, kept control of the body and continued clashing with the Ezrag. The water hit the cold scales and Crane depleted his leftover mana like a paper set ablaze.

His body tried to find balance on the back of the wyvern and his mind was completely focused on controlling the water. He was too occupied. Too occupied to notice.

The serpent’s tail rose like a second head from his back and struck Crane like a whip. This time, however, it was Arash that stopped the blow. Before it reached Crane, she bit the tail and exhaled flames directly upon the scales, making the serpent let out a shrill screech and leaving charred but still intact scales on the beast.

Though he was lucky enough to avoid the strike, Arash’s movement made him lose his ground and in a moment of remiss, he fell on the cold waves, emptiness lying beneath him in blue darkness.

Facing the darkness that was the endless depth of the sea, he held his breath and looked at the serpent’s body that was hidden by the water. It was massive. He felt like a rat facing a snake. Body as thick as twice his height slithering in water, bent, and twisted.

He swam up and took a deep breath. He needed an answer. He needed it quick.

Arash’s teeth had barely sunk in and her flames left nothing but a dark shade on the scales. The water serpent was also useless, not that Crane had the mana to create another but still, it was useless. No matter what he did, the scales were too thick, too hard. He had to go around.

“Arash,” Crane called the wyvern. “On my mark.”

He then raised himself onto the serpent’s body with a wave with the last drop of his mana and he was out. Rest was up to muscle and flesh.

So, he ran. He ran on the path paved by the greyscales and the serpent grumbled beneath each step. Then, Crane saw it. All of it.

Under the water it was he couldn’t see it all amidst the shades of water. Now above, he saw how colossal the beast was. He almost felt like he was standing on top of a maze’s walls.

The serpent had circled the wyvern many times with its long body. Arash had no way of leaving without flying. The serpent knew it too. It was toying with them until now and the furious look on the yellow slit eyes made it sure that its attitude was changing.

He circled the head running on the body and the beast launched at him several times. Each time getting closer and closer. It was hard to dodge the attacks when the ground you are standing on was the aggressor.

After the third failed strike, the serpent hissed in fury and jumped at Crane, brinded by rage. Crane simply slid behind from the edge of the serpentine body at the last moment and the serpent struck itself in Crane’s absence. Right before the sea swallowed him again, he saw Arash roaring and breathing flames upon the head that was screaming in pain.

Lost amidst flames and bitten by itself, the serpent dived deep. The flames went out in an instant, but the beast did not return. It went deeper and deeper. As it slithered into the darkness under the sea, the winds above the sea grew stronger and stronger. For the first time in three days, waves rose, and the sea started to wake.

***

“Hang on buddy.” Crane gently gripped Arash as he tried to pull her massive body ashore. “We’ll get you to the land.” His voice echoed with despair. Cold waves washed them back into the sea in each stroke. He was chest-deep in the water and dead tired. He had been casting spells nonstop for a day and had already reached his limit even before seeing the land.

The Wyvern was too heavy to lift, it was like he was trying to pull the sea from its bed. His fingers failed to grip the scaly skin; his arms were too weak to pull on the beast. Azavel had been silent for hours. He too had spent all his mana. Crane was all alone, about to lose what his master entrusted him. About to lose a life. The serpent was gone and the storm it left behind almost died out after hours. So close to the shores, he couldn’t die. It was not the time.

He wished to have the mana cast another spell, a wave to wash them to the land, an enchantment to give his strength back. However, he had neither as Arash slipped from his grip. His bare feet hit a big rock underneath the waves. At least that was what he thought as the pain of broken fingers paralyzed his feet and drowned him in pain.

He reached out to Arash, but his hands failed to reach her as he was submerged in water. Saltwater filled his lungs along with despair as he sank deeper into the sea, further away from the land.

Just as he thought all hope was lost, a serpentine whip wrapped him around his abdomen, gripping him tightly. The wyvern had woken up and wrapped her tail around the young man, pulling him towards herself, towards the land.

He coughed and gasped for air as Arash pulled him out of the water, and as he took his first breath after a while, he saw his saviour. Arash raised her proud dark grey head out of the water and roared victoriously. She was alive, they both were. If she had been a few seconds late, both would have been lost to the cold and calm waves of Maw’adril. So close to salvation, yet dead, nevertheless.

I will never get you hurt again. Crane promised himself as he watched the moonlight reflecting from the drenched dark grey body as it slowly crept into the land.

Seeing her startled each time she tried to move her nonexistent wing broke something in Crane. Something heavy got stuck in his throat each time Arash writhed and moaned in pain as she limped on the shore. Arash was meant to be proud and soaring through the sky. She wasn’t supposed to be crawling in the middle of nowhere, pulling a nobody with her.

She doesn’t deserve this misery. He thought as he lay on the wet sand. He tried to get up, but his weak limbs failed to lift his body. So, he stood still and Arash pulled him from his collar, biting the cloth gently. She dragged him under a tree and curled around him like a cat to break the cold breeze descending from the hills inland.

She was still curled around him as Crane woke up deeper into the night. He was hungry and his foot was killing him. Surrounded by Arash’s body, he tried to call the gray cloudy flames from the necklace but the spirit within didn’t answer. He tried to look at his feet, but the clouds had covered the sky, blocking the moonlight. He could barely pick out where his feet were in the dark. So, he lit a fire in his hand and hung the orange mage fire into the air like a chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

Under the yellowish light, he saw the reason why his right foot was killing him. His pinkie was bent at a weird angle, swollen and purple. It was dislocated. At least that was what he hoped because otherwise, he had no way of mending it for a while.

He put his sleeve into his mouth and bit on the cloth as hard as he could as he gripped his toe, yanking it hard to put the bone in its place.

As the pain somewhat subsided and the immediate need for survival left his mind, Crane wanted to explore the place and find some help. He was going to depart, however; he didn’t want to leave Arash alone on the shore. His mana had been restored to a degree, but it was still nigh impossible to move her. Instead, he called out for Azavel, and a warmth welcomed him.

“Keep her warm.” He ordered his familiar spirit and ventured deeper into the land. He had to find some help. He didn’t know how long Arash would last after losing her wing. Her breaths felt slow, eyelids heavy. He needed to be quick.

After walking for a while, the fine sand left its place to the coarse dirt, then to the fertile soil where the bushes and small scrubs veiled the land. A few more hours later, he found himself in an unknown forest as the sunlight started to paint the sky a warm shade of pink and orange. The sun was rising, and a new day began.

The new day however hadn’t washed all his problems away. He was leaning on a long stick he found in the woods like it was a cane, limping as he walked bare feet. They hurt. Lord’s thunder! They hurt like hell. His stomach growled in hunger, and he felt weak.

Thinking of Arash, he walked without knowing what was ahead, his back turned to the sea. He could still vaguely feel the wet and empty aura of the sea. It was his guide along with the newly risen sun.

Though in pain and miserable, deep inside he liked the new experience. He now had everything he had yearned for a lifetime. Freedom and a world to explore and no dragons or serpents itching for a taste.

He felt a bit of remorse as those thoughts brushed his mind. Even though he was carrying the weight of countless lives on his shoulders, he was too enamoured by the songs of unknown birds and the winds gently caressing the autumn leaves.

Lost in these conflicted thoughts and the forest, he heard a voice. Something that didn’t belong to the harmonious tune of the forest. A scream cut the peace in two, echoing in the woods.

Without even thinking a second, he followed the shrill wail. It sounded so weak and in pain that it made Crane want to help the creature.

Soon, he found what was making those noises. A small figure half his size was sitting right next to a big tree, its back leaning on the thick body. With its legs tucked in and curled into a ball under the green branches of the tree, it looked tiny.

It must be a child! Crane realized. He had seen many cubs on the island, but seeing a human child was a first for him.

“Are you alright?” Crane asked the little one, crouching as he entered her sight. He was approaching the child like he was approaching a timid little bird. He didn’t know what else to do. “Do you need any help?”

The little girl roared with a ferociousness one wouldn’t expect from such a little package and jumped at Crane like a little wolf, baring her teeth and claw-like nails. Crane instinctively raised his arms to protect his face, and gladly he did so. The little girl buried her teeth deep into his arm and scratched all over him like a little demon from Eilar. If he hadn’t managed to raise his arms in time, he was sure that she would rip his windpipe out in a flash.

Crane tried to yank his arm out of the girl’s mouth, but he failed miserably. The more he shook and waved his arm around, the deeper the teeth sank in. The girl didn’t let go. Soon, Crane fell on his back as he struggled to break free. He tried to open her mouth with his free hand, but no matter how much he tried, the jaws didn’t open. He scratched the outer gums of the girl and pushed her as hard as he could, but all was in vain. Crane’s blood flowed like a river and wetted them both in a crimson shade.

Finally, as the bone of his arm broke like a twig under the pressure, Crane snapped. He punched the girl right in the nose with his free hand. The girl seemed fazed but the teeth didn’t budge. So, he sent punches one after another until finally, the girl let go of his arm.

Blood dripped from her broken nose and now being separated; Crane saw a broken arrow penetrating her shoulder.

She roared again and jumped at Crane once more. Her pale face was covered with blood and dirt, and her green cloak bore a stain in a dark shade of red around the arrow. She had been bleeding for a while. She needed help.

This time Crane was ready. He caught the girl in the air with his mind, his mana tightly wrapped around the girl holding her steady.

Amongst the screams that deafened him, Crane took a deep breath. His arm was properly broken unlike his finger, and he was bleeding. This was not the help he wished to find.

As the girl continued to scream and tried to get out of the invisible grip, Crane tore a part of his shirt and wrapped it around his arm to stop the bleeding. After trying for nearly ten minutes to tie the cloth with one hand, he finally managed to do it and lay on the ground. He was probably supposed to steady the bone as well, but he had to make do with the bandage for now. There were other things more urgent.

He wanted to bash the girl’s head with a big rock and leave her without looking back but he quickly brushed the thought off after casting a spell to ease his pain. Numbness swallowed the arm and his senses lost focus on his left arm.

Now able to properly think, he pulled the floating girl towards himself, observing her as he ignored the screeches. He tried to reach out to her with his fine arm, leaning forward, but the girl roared again as she bared her teeth and knitted her brows like a feral beast.

The girl tried to jump at him again, but a surge of pain stopped her. Her voice got weaker and weaker with each breath. Her rage was dying and so was she. She tried to shout again between her heavy breaths, but no sound got out between her bloodied lips.

“We can continue later.” Crane got closer and inspected the piece of wood sticking out of her left shoulder. It was stuck right under the outer edge of her collarbone. The place it landed wasn’t lethal, but the wound looked like it had been days. The girl was nearing her limit. “Now, just let me take a look at you.”

He touched the broken arrow shaft and numbed her body with a spell. Suddenly, the tears rushed out of her little eyes with coal-like pupils and she gave out a deep breath.

Now relaxed and more at ease, she stopped trying to push the young man away in vain attempts and let her stiff shoulders down.

Crane closed her eyes and infused his mana into what was left of the arrow to figure its shape out. If the arrowhead was barbed, it would be nigh impossible for Crane to pull it out. The two tips of the arrowhead pointing at the back would be stuck in the flesh, refusing to go out.

As soon as his mana touched the arrowhead, the metal tip sucked his mana like a siphon and shattered into pieces until it could siphon no more.

“Damn it!” Crane cussed; his eyes still closed. Now he had more pieces to work with. At least, he could sense the pieces as his mana took hold of the wound. They were small enough to pull out from the entry wound and the metal no longer acted weird.

He grasped the metal shards with his mana and slowly tried to get them out, but the body rejected his powers. Dark and corrupt mana kicked Crane’s own, making him open his eyes.

As he opened his eyes, he saw the little girl, smiling with eyes of red. Not just the iris, but the whole sphere was pitch black. She smiled like a demon, trapped in the body of a child.

She got up as the wound spit the shards out and instantly healed right after. As she stopped healing herself, the white of her eyes returned and she collapsed.