Chapter 14 Lightning

Chapter 14; Lightning

We were in orbit above the 5th planet. Their long range analysis was correct. It looked form orbit anyway there was life down there. There was a single large continent and the rest of the planet’s surface was covered in an ocean. It was a beautiful place, a peaceful place to lay to rest for eternity. My thoughts were broken as Deakon came up behind me, wearing a space suit and carrying the last body. I broke my stare away from the glass of the outer airlock, glimpsing my purple scales through the visor in my reflection. We had evacuated the air between the corridor between the crew quarters, along with the main room in the center were the airlock was located, to prevent the stale smell of death from lingering after we finished our sad task, and to keep everything sterile. All 12 bodies were now in the airlock in a pile, wrapped in sheets. Deakon and I stepped out and locked the inner door.

The other 12 were split among the two labs at the side of the main room, some watching through the windows as we completed our work to fulfill our promise. Not everyone was here, Olach had a ship of his own he was trying to get up and running to live in, like we now had, and was taking the time to fix it up while he also watched over the station with Argin. Argin said he got to go places more often, so it was more special for everyone else to go.

“Ember, you can re pressurize now” Deakon said over his mic.

“Yes, Deakon” She replied and the room started filling with air again, along with the airlock and corridor. Once we were back in an atmosphere we removed out suits and the others left the safety of the labs to join us in the main room. From my perspective it was now packed, shoulder to shoulder was the other 12 dragons and the 12 ghosts of the Phoenix. The dragons stood around solemnly with their heads low, while Deakon and I stood at the head of this large table in the middle of the room and gave I gave a short eulogy. It’s strange, you know, giving a eulogy when you can see the people you are speaking for.

“Thank you for taking time from your trip to be with us while we lay to rest the spirits of the humans who allowed us to keep this blessing of a ship, the Phoenix.” It was strange I had thought of the words before hand, but I really wanted her crew to be proud. “We have brought them to this destination so that their spirits can quench their thirst for knowledge. We will release them into the atmosphere of this planet, where they will be cremated as they fall, as per the captains request, and prevent any contamination for this planet’s future life. I will read their names and roles now.” I paused for a moment, picking up a notepad I had found on board where I had written all their names.

“Ayan Choi, Pilot,
“Min-jun Park, Ship Mechanic,
“Dr. Dax Bass, Exobiologist,
“Dr. Cynthia Cortez, astrophysicist,
“Dr. Jacop Hensley, astrophysicist,
“Dr. Zhrui Sheppard, astrophysicist,

“Tekpreet, Kanpur, onboard communication and software specialist,
“Mavis Owen, warp drive specialist,
“Micheal Burke, life systems and controls specialist,

“Dr. Kelly McCarthy, nuclear physicist and engineering lead,
“Dr. Sandra McCormick, astrophysicist and mission lead,
“And Captain Harmon Singh, Ship Captain and mission command”

“E.M.B.E.R.” Deakon spoke up after a moment of silence. “Unlock the outer door and remove safety protocols”

“I release you all to your goal, and wish for you the eternity of knowledge you seek” I added “Thank you, and goodbye”

“Airlock is now under direct the control” said the ship’s AI

“Release your first crew, Ember” Deakon said, his voice cracked.

The outer door snapped open, the explosive decompression carried their corpses into the planet’s atmosphere. Then a moment later it closed back up, leaving the airlock empty. One by one the ghosts of the crew gave us a bow and disappeared until only Singh himself remained.

“Thank you, and may God protect you” He bowed to me as he faded, and my face filled with tears.

“May the universe welcome you back with open arms.” Glavous said, I think I saw his eyes also watering.

Another moment passed, aside from my soft sniffles, then Deakon put his hands on my shoulder “It’s time to go, and let them have their peace” We made our way to the bridge, pausing to open the large door we had closed to keep it pressurized. Chickadee was bounding around excited we were back. I mounted the controls and we took off from orbit toward Sandpit.

Captain Harmon Singh was a man of science, in life, and even in death. He was correct in his assumption, the bodies burned up before ever getting to the surface, reduced to sterilized dust, their light mass added much less than space would add in dust and debris to the planet that day. Their presence would never make any sort of difference to the developing world they sought to study in life.

The crew of the Phoenix was now at rest.

A day later were entering the atmosphere of Sandpit again. The Phoenix was rated for atmosphere, but her front was covered in scientific instruments, not heat shielding, meaning we had to enter very slowly compared to other ships. We flew over the monument to human sin, it still stood in the desert, now small dunes against it and desert plants growing from under it. It’s giant roof had some sand blown on top of it now, making it blend in more with the planet. I tried to pay no attention to it, I didn’t need more bad memories coming back. Something did occur to me, and I suddenly veered away from the city for now.

“What are you doing, Exodus?” Duke was the first to ask.

“Deakon and I need to stretch out okay?” I put the Phoenix down for the first time, there was a little bump, but it was a first, room for improvement, but overall not bad! “Something I can’t do in the city” I explained as I got off the mount “I can’t fly with my flight suit on!”

“Oh not this flying stuff again!” Valthy tried calling us out “No one can really fly!” I would think another pilot would get it, flying a ship was just like gliding after all!

The Phoenix had a second exit, down the front of the nose, where most dragon ships had their airlock, the Phoenix had a secondary internal airlock on the lower deck, then a stairway that lowered, I assumed it was for planetary exploration should the opportunity arise. Deakon and I were the first on the ground, both of us stretching our wings wide. The others followed us out, Jake and Glavous knew what was about to happen, it was time to find out if three years of wing exercises helped us keep the ability to fly. I ran about three steps while spreading my wings then leapt into the as I leaned forward and pulled down, going airborne for the first time in 3 years.

Deakon stepped up to his brother and placed a hand on his shoulder “Sorry you can’t come with us anymore, Jake”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s been long enough, I’m used to it now” Then he chuckled, “Go on, piss off Mom and Dad for us both okay?” Deakon nodded and took off behind me, flying into the air as nature intended.

The group stood in awe, realizing we weren’t lying about flying all this time. Just to surprise them more, Glavous came from behind them, turned back for a moment and smiled at the group, before turning away. Unlike us Glavous didn’t need a running start, he stood a standing leap spread his large golden wings and took to the air following us up.

Valthy was the most bewildered, she regained he composure and walked up to Jake. “So, before you lost them” She nodded to his back “You could too?”

“Yea, since we were kids, all the dragons hatched on Earth learned to fly for some reason, Mom said it was because there was nothing to hold them back” He paused, fond memories filling his mind “Deakon and I used to fly up onto Dad’s barn and goof off up there. We’d play with wooden swords and take turned seeing who could glide the furthest without flapping before hitting the ground. Mom and Dad were so worried about us hurting ourself” He was smiling, instead of being sad he couldn’t join us, he chose to live a moment in those happy memories.

The three of us flew around for nearly half an hour, laughing, diving, doing little tricks, enjoying the open air. It was fun to see Glavous carry on like us, even though he was always so serious he was a dragon like any of us, and giving in to the primal skill of flight was bringing him into a joyful state. Finally getting the sense the others had seen enough, it was time to move onto the city, I glided down, landing beside the Phoenix. Valthy ran up to me, the first words out of her mouth were “Teach me!”

“Sure! You already know how to fly a ship! You’ll see, it’s really similar, but you need to strengthen up those wings first!” She tried spreading wide like us, but even though she was the only other one in the group that used her wings for anything, she had trouble getting them all the way open. “See? Atrophy!” I explained to her gently “But don’t worry, we can work that out, it happened to Deakon and I during the Prison ship!”

Glavous and Deakon came down a few seconds later, Deakon landing next to Jake, who placed his hand on this brother’s shoulder this time “Had fun?”

“Yeah! That felt really nice after being in the station for so long!”

We had found out the space port was full, seems like the lightning festival was catching on! The city authority, whoever that was, designated an area for overflow for the week, luckily it was close to Clay’s, but unfortunately it was the same side of the city as the prison ship. Once we landed and I put on my flight suit to cover up for our stay, and ventured out the front of the ship. Sadly, I could see the container that brought us here in the distance again.

We headed into the city, using the same road we entered it in for the first time 5 years ago and started immediately to Clay’s as a group, even Chickadee bounding around my feet. Everyone from the station knew and loved the guy, and we were all excited to see him again. We passed by Sorah’s stand, or rather were it stood on that night. I stared the space, I was even more powerful now, just to see if could sense anything. The space was still empty, but I could not feel anything otherworldly. If something supernatural did happen that night, it was long gone now. I decided not to say anything to Deakon or Jake, I would leave it up to them to decide what happened that night.

We all made our way to the first place every one of us wished to go, off to Clay’s! Duke had given him a heads up we landed and once we reached his place we were greeted out front by the cheery large dragon. He gave his round of hugs to his “favorite bunch of scrappers” and when he made his way to us we got extra strong hugs form him, lifting Exodus off the ground.

“How’s my favorite street rats huh?” He looked at Exodus “Must be doing pretty good to get a suit like that. I must say it’s a great improvement over how I saw you last time!”

“Yeah! We’ve got to learn a lot too!” I said, following everyone into his place. It was busy, just as is always was before the lightning festival. “Clay, when are the storms supposed to come?”

“Oh, any day day Exodus, I wish we had better ways of forecasting, but the air is heavy, I think it might be tonight or tomorrow night!” He explained as he walked behind the bar. He pulled out a lot of glasses then a couple bottles. “HEY!” he shouted to our group “As always, first round is on to me! Welcome back!” They cheered along with Deakon. The doors to the kitchen swung open and a skinny green dragon came out, whispering something in Clay’s ear. “Okay! Bring it out then!” he looked at everyone as the dragon went behind the doors again.

“Who’s that?” I asked

“Well, since you’ve been gone, I’ve adopted a few more street rats like yer selves!” He smiled “You started a trend, giving young dragons down on their luck another chance to make it in this mean universe” He shouted again to the group “I got some food ready too! You must be so hungry!”

Fried torla, just how we remembered, a giant plate of it for me and Deakon. I couldn’t resist! I wrapped my wings around myself, making a my own little private booth, unclipped the helmet from the body and unzipped the bottom, just enough to get a few of them in my mouth, then chased it with some of the ale Clay set down in front of me. This was enough to get some food and drink into me, I just have to be sure to get everything done back up properly! After two ales and finishing the plate with Deakon, that was becoming harder to accomplish.

Catching up was nice, once Duke had some time with Clay, then he sat with us for a while. He wasn’t surprised to learn we were now a couple. “I could see it in your eyes back then, young love!” he said. We learned about his new employees and even talked with them for a but too, but they were trying not be distracted, helping out during the busiest time of year.

I’m a small dragon, and drinks hit me hard! After three of those ales I was ready for a nap! It was really busy and it had grown late into the night. We all wandered back to the Phoenix to get some sleep, and wake up for more adventures the next day. I watched the sky to the west, where the storm always came from, hoping to see some flashes, but the stars were out, the sky was clear, it wasn’t tonight, but you could feel it in the air, likely tomorrow night!

The next morning I poked my head out of our door of the captain’s suite. I had been a little loud during our morning “routine” and was a little embarrassed after the fact. I slowly made my way to the large center room to find the others already awake, some had also already left, to ventured into the city. Nobody was saying anything, I guess the Phoenix was more soundproof than I had thought. I started making a morning cup of char as I greeted the others with a simple “Good morning”, smiling.

“Had a good sleep?” Asked Valthy

“Yeah! And a nice wake up” I studdered “Fo-for the hot morning char!” She winked at me “So where did the others go?”

“Some of them went to get new cloth” Duke spoke up as he leaned back, cracking his spine “Next time we do this, I hope those crew quarters are cleaned up, these hammocks and floors are killing my back!” He leaned back to normal “Kelly and Sash went for a private breakfast together, Olto wanted to look at new tools” He chuckled “Even on vacation she needs to check out tools”

“New cloth sounds like a good Idea!” Deakon came from behind, getting himself some of the hot char before turning to me “Why don’t we go get a few things today while we wait for the storms?”

“That’s a good idea for you! But I only wear the flight suit!”

“How about around the station?” Duke butted in “that way you can have something other than the suit tied around your waist!”

I though about it, maybe it was a good idea. After a some food along with the Char we made our way back to the market. Deakon found a nice blue top that had a lightning bolt embroidered into it. A fine choice for the festival! I found a special place. It was set back behind the market stalls, and as I approached there was a sign on the door labeled “No kids”. A little odd but once I opened the door I suddenly understood. The outfits in here were not meant for public wearing! I found a couple things I liked, well, a few. Things that were just for me Deakon! I paid, packed the things into a cloth bag and got out. Another good reason for wearing the helmet, my face was likely red the whole time!

I did shop around for some normal things to wear around the station as well. Basic things, simple cloths for around my waist a couple tops in vibrant colors that matched. I was excited though when I found more bags for my tail, just like the ones I had on Earth! They had fallen apart long ago, but these were made of a sturdier material. I actually put it on as soon as I bought it, right over my suit!

After a few hours we made our way back to the Phoenix to drop off our new collection of belongings. Deakon had a great idea while we were there. “Let’s go enjoy the desert again, just you and me, just like the old days!”

“Old days?” I laughed “We’re not even thirty yet!”

We walked out into the desert, it was busy in the city but quite out here. I stripped down out of the suit and we stashed our things just like we used to. I noticed Deakon’s face spikes turn a little pink “So, synced up to the climate already are you?” I teased

This time his response was honest, maybe he wanted to say this back then? “You’re so sexy and I fricking love you” He smiled. We took off, spending nearly an hour in the air together. Gliding and touching wing tips, doing rolls around each other, laughing something getting closer in the air than we likely should.

Being up in the air gave us a good look to the west, and I saw the clouds first. Barely visible in the distance. “Deakon! Look!” and I pointed, in case he couldn’t hear me over the wind in his ears.

“YES!” he yelled in excitement “Let’s go back and tell the others!” We flew back to our stash, I put my suit back on, we hurried back to the Phoenix to find she was empty, so we ran off to Clay’s place. Sure enough everyone was there. Deakon broke the good news first “Clouds to the west! It’ll be tonight!”

The bar erupted in cheers, not only our group, most of the place heard him too. I could feel the energy building from them all, and it made me excited. This was one of the benefits of being a mage of the mind, feeling the positive energy in a situation like this, the raw unfiltered excitement, no one was holding back! It was still early afternoon, the storms were far off, but not long after Deakon said it, the body paints were out, clothing on the floor and on the tables.

Just as the years before we left, the place was nearly drank dry, but there no fights, nobody excessively drunk, there was just that many dragons celebrating the new season. I watched everyone from a seat in the corner, Deakon was getting excited, telling Jake all about the ritual he was about to see for the first time. He had chosen his new blue top with the lightning bolts on it, hoping it would bring the storms, and well it seemed to be working. I stepped outside a few hours later, early evening now, and peered to the west. Dark clouds were on the horizon, but very much closer now, it was still too bright and too distant to see the lightning, but I could feel it in the air.

I thought about the rain, and how I wished I could enjoy it with everyone. Maybe I could cast a veil like Glavous did the day we met, I knew how, at least in theory, but doing it over such a large crowd for the first time might be tiresome, if it was even successful. I went back inside to let everyone know it was close. Jake and Deakon together as brothers, Duke and Clay chatting it up as usual. Others from the station mingled with the local dragons. I sat with Jake and Deakon, the three of us talking about the future, things to do to the Phoenix, Jake aspiring to climb more in rank. We all talked about our power, and what we might someday be able to do. Jake was enjoying a few drinks again, aware that only in a few more days he would be returning to the militia.

A couple more hours of chatting went by, then the first rumbles came. Not a single big boom like the first time, it was distant rumbles. Still, the place cleared out quickly. Everyone poured into the streets, fireworks and cheering, the excitement level was so great! I was hyper myself from it, absorbing everyone’s energy.

“You guys really weren’t lying, this is one hell of a party!” Jake said, a little tipsy he held up a bottle and cheered, where he found it outside the bar I don’t know.

The breeze was next, the suddenly flow of cool air from the front of the storm rolled into the city, much to everyone’s relief, the desert heat would be gone for the next week as the rains replenished the lands. The thunder was growing closer, every boom and rumble was growing louder and the crowd grew louder with it.

“This is it, Jake!” I told him “It’s coming soon!”

It wasn’t longer than 30 seconds after I spoke, the first large heavy drops started dropping. The crowd grew silent, wings and arms spreading, heads all pointing up. Jake took to it naturally, spreading his arms and facing up, letting the first few drops hit him. I wished I could do it, but I retreated under the awning as I did every year, hiding to keep my suit dry.

There was a loud boom, lighting striking very close by, and a couple seconds later the true downpour started. The silent ritual of renewing themselves in the rain had absorbed everyone. The lightning seemed to be picking up, the roar of the thunder was now constant. Jake opened his eyes and smiled at me. It was very sweet to finally be on his friendly side. Someone hollered down the street, and within second the crowd was back to party mode again. Fireworks were being set off again nearby, igniting in the rain and adding to the beautiful lightning.

I don’t know what came over Deakon, if he had a couple too many drinks, or was just feeling energetic from all the partying going on, the festival itself. But out of the blue, he decided to jump, and with two flaps of his wings he was on the edge of the building across from Clay’s. There was some shocked gasps from the crowd, but then followed mostly by cheers at the athletic feat. Deakon stood at the edge, stretching out his wings and arms, absorbing more of the rain. Clay chuckled at the feat “Wow, I didn’t know he could do that!”

And then the lighting hit him.

Suddenly everything was white. Really? Is it the afterlife THIS time? You know I experience a LOT of near death experiences, so it would be really nice to know what the afterlife is REALLY like, so I know wether or not I’m dead. Pretty sure I am this time. The top of my head stung where the lightning hit, at least, that’s what I think happened.

I turned and looked around, 360 degrees of the same. White, nothing else, no horizon, no light source, no up, no down, this wasn’t natural. Definitely dead, yup.

But then there was a voice behind me. “Deakon!” I turned to meet the gaze of a white dragon who wasn’t there a second ago. He had no cloth on him, yet he was adorned with piercings on his face and body. He had nothing except a bow, which was glowing with etheral blue, to which an arrow was nocked, and pointed right at me. “How have you been breathing fire? That’s not what you’re meant to do!” He released. I was expecting an arrow to piece my chest, but instead a bolt of lightning came form the bow, hitting me square in the chest, knocking me back, but now down. “Oh, you ARE very powerful!” He paused, lowering the bow for a second. “Any other should be dead now, even an advanced mage!”

“DEAKON!” Both Jake and I yelled in unison, I expected him to drop dead off the side of the building, but instead, he kelt in pain. I don’t know how he was alive, and I could see from here his spikes on his face were glowing brightly blue.

Glavous pushed his way through the still crowd towards us and then started up at Deakon. “I’ve been such a fool!” he exclaimed as we all stared in shock.

As the words left Glavous’s mouth, and another bolt of lightning hit my mate, I yelled out for him, the crowd gasped, and there was a couple growling screams.

“OKAY! I get it! I’m dead!” I yelled at the white dragon “You don’t need to shoot me again!”

He nocked another arrow “You’re not dead, young champion to be, but I do need to knock some sense into you.” He let it fly, lighting hitting me in the chest again, pushing me back and hurting a LOT. “This has been a big mistake on his part, never in my centuries have I seen him make a mistake this big” He nocked another arrow and let it fly, lighting hit my chest again. “Aside from his mistake with me”

I saw him struck again, the crowd gasped, how was even alive? He tried to stand up, but as he tried another bolt hit him. He didn’t scream, he just struggled to move. That was 4 now. “Glavous, what the hell is this?” Jake yelled

“I was wrong about him, that’s what this is! And now someone has taken the lead to show us both how wrong I have been” His face was turned to concern “We need to stop this or find who it is before they kill him!”

“Who?!? Who made this mistake? What is the mistake?” I yelled at this blue dragon in this white void. “What even is this?”

He nocked yet another arrow “How can someone this powerful be so obtuse?” He let it fly, hitting me again in the chest, but this time I didn’t move back I was defiantly ignoring his shots now. The assailant smiled at me “There you are!” he nocked another arrow and pulled back, but didn’t fire it. “I think you’re starting to get the point”

“Who are you?” I asked

“I’m Sar’Dorin, the First Champion of Lightning” He let the arrow fly, this time laughing as the lightning hit me, it still hurt, but I could stand my ground. “Ask your teacher about me, Glavous probably thinks I’m dead, or abandoned him.” He drew the bow one more time. “In fact, if he asked about me, let him have this!” he released, and a final bolt hit me in the chest.

I watched Deakon try to stand again, but another strike of lightning took him to his knees. “Deakon! If you can hear me, get down from there!” I couldn’t tell, it was almost like he wasn’t in there. He tried to stand again, and again as he did a bolt struck him again, but this time he didn’t fall back to his knee.

“I can’t believe I’ve done this to him!” Glavous shouted “I have been such a fool!”

“Glavous! Tell us what’s going on!”

“The fact he even could learn the fire element speaks to his true power!” Glavous was lost in his own mistake. He stared as Deakon stood again, taking one more bolt, but this time completely unaffected.

Deakon raised him arms and suddenly his eyes opened. They were glowing, electric and alive! He dropped his hands in front of him as the clouds around the city came alive with lightning all at once. Cheering from others streets nearby erupted form those who were not witnessing what was happening here. Deakon raised his arms again, and when he dropped them down quickly another show of lightning erupted. This time a few cheers from around us filled the air.

“YES!” He yelled, barely audible over the thunder. He raised his arms and spread his wings, this time when he lowered them quickly the clouds erupted and bolts even struck nearby. The crowd went wild, I think many believed this to be some sort of show or act now!

“Deakon!” I screamed up at him. “What is going on!?” He looked down at me from above, expecting him to come explain or at least say something, he suddenly took off and flew to the west. Glavous Jumped out of the crowd and took flight after him to many oooos and aaaas from the crowd, leaving Jake and I behind.

“Let’s go!” Jake grabbed my arm for me to follow him and started running through the crowd. I couldn’t fly in my suit, and Jake just couldn’t fly. We ran out of the city, I thought for sure he had gone back to the Phoenix, but when we reached her, she was unlit, empty, and still closed up. What we did see was lightning in the nearby desert. Striking over and over in the same place. That definitely wasn’t natural.

“Over there, Jake!” I pointed and he nodded. Jake’s military training had him great shape, I was having trouble keeping up in my short body and flight suit now heavy from the rain.

We reached the place the lightning kept striking. Deakon stood on a large rock and Glavous stood beside the rock smiling up at him. The lighting wasn’t coming from the sky, it was coming from Deakon’s mouth!

“I’m so sorry, Deakon! We spent 3 years training you improperly! This is why you struggled!” Glavous proudly spoke. “Look at your true power now! I knew you had it inside you!” Glavous turned to us as we approached “Jake! You and your brother together are the strongest champions I have trained in centuries!”

“Glavous what happened? What is all this?!?!” I asked

“I think it should be obvious now!” he smiled gleefully, he was nearly giddy “I first saw fire in Deakon, because his mind was blocked by his worry for his brother! Once he found his brother the mourning of his parents clouded his mind next! Now someone has taken it upon themselves to fix my mistake. Deakon’s true element was never fire, it was the element of electricity, lightning!!” He laughed “The fact we got him as far along in fire as we did speaks to the powerhouse that he will become!”

“He called himself Sar’Dorin” Deakon spoke up from on top of the huge boulder. “he said you’d probably think he was dead.” Deakons paused and smiled, thinking wrongly that was he was told would have been a tease “He said to hit you with lightning for him.”

Glavous’s happiness left his face, his face lowered to the ground in the rain “I did think he was dead.” His shoulders slumped, his voice deepened. “Training you in the wrong element was not the first mistake I’ve made in my life, but, hopefully my experience will make it one of my lasts” He stood up straight and suddenly started walking back.

“Where are you going? Glavous?” I asked him.

“To bed!” he said calmly. “Deakon, your training in the element of lightning begins tomorrow, try to be well rested!”

“Glavous, don’t you want to find Sar’Dorin?” Jake asked

“No, if he is on this world, that is all of him I need to know” and with that he walked off in the rain, leaving the 3 of us with even more questions. We changed looks in the heavy rain as flashes of the natural lightning from the storm illuminated the world around us.

I woke up next morning to an empty bed. Deakon had woken up before me, but instead of waking me up he had left. I made my morning char and ventured out the front of the ship, staying under her nose out of the rain. Duke was sitting on the step watching the spectacle. Glavous was leading about half the crew in wing stretches, naked in the rain. Even when it was raining, it was still warm in Sandpit. The warm rain made it feel muggy, you felt like you could nearly drink the air. I sat down on the steps with Duke. “What’s going on?”

“He laughed “Glavous said he could teach them!” Valthy was front and center in the group, excitedly stretching with Glavous’s lead.

“Oh, I see, but why is everyone naked?” I asked

“Glavous said learning to fly is primal, and it’s important to be in a primal state” He laughed again “Then he said ‘no one likes wet clothes anyway’ and dragged them all outside”

“Where are Jake and Deakon?” I asked, noticing their absence from both inside the ship and out here.

“They went into the city, Deakon said he’s getting something pierced” Duke laughed at that thought too.

“WHAT?!” I nearly dropped my char

“Something about lightning and metal, I don’t know for sure” Duke said, getting a little more serious now “By the way, how did he do that show last night? Everyone is talking about it!”

“Turns out he’s nor supposed to be a fire breather like his brother, he breaths lightning bolts” I explained. “When I get struck he had some sort of vision”

“So that wasn’t some effect? People thought he was just putting on a show! They hoped for even more next year!” His voice had some worry or fear to it now, but I found it a good excuse.

“That just means we need to make it back next year!” I sipped on my char, it was nearly gone now. “We need to think about leaving soon, Jake only has a few days of leave left, so we need to get him back.”

“You’re right. Besides, it’s only rain from here on out. After Glavous is done we’ll gather everyone to go say our goodbyes to Clay and get any last minute things we need.”

We watched silently as the others get their wings nice and wide. Watching gave me an idea. “Duke, you wanted to expand the station right?”

“Yeah!” he suddenly took interest. “Why?”

“We should fit a gym in there. Get some exercise for everyone who doesn’t work the physical stuff, like me and Pike, Sash too!”

“That’s not a bad idea actually” He paused “Oh, I bet you want wing exercise stuff to huh?”

“Yes! That would be a great addition!”

Another hour went by of simple wing exercises before we all made out way into the city to say our goodbyes to Clay until next time we had business on Sandpit, or the next festival at the latest. Th pleasant though that we now had our own way around meant that we could really come see him anytime we wanted now came to mind.

It wasn’t long after we got to Clay’s Deakon and Jake showed up. He now had a ring in his Left nostril, one in his eyebrow, and a large one in each wing, near the top were the “fingers” started. I think the one that was most fitting was the ring in his ear were the food tag was attached on the prison ship. Those had left a scar in our ears, and this was a way for him to mark that he was moving on from the past, decorating his scar to mark it as a part of who he was. I of course thought my mate was handsome before, but the metal did add a certain appeal in my opinion, but the additions would take some getting used to. I was also surprised he got it all at once!

The two brothers sat with me. “Why so much at once?” I asked my mate.

He lifted his hand to his nose, resisting the urge to touch the new ring that was there. “Sar’Dorin had even more than this! Glavous told me the metal helps a master of lightning attract the power, then he said it might also be a placebo effect. Either way, it’s something I wanted to do for a while, so I just got it all done while we were here!” That made sense I think. It may be a few months or even next year before we get back, though there was likely other places to get more piercings on other worlds we’d be seeing too.

Clay’s server suddenly came to our table with a tray. One more serving of our old favorite, the fried torla, and three ales. “For the road, Clay says!”. I did decline mine, I’d be flying a ship soon, Jake and Deakon drank theirs as we all chatted. Once Deakon finished his, the drank mine as well. It was early afternoon still! I was honestly becoming a bit concerned for the amount he drank during our little vacation. I also knew for a fact he had stocked up a little with the money from his “vacation share”.

We did convince the server to sit with us. It was quiet today, the steady rain had most of the public staying in their homes. The festival was over now, the streets quiet except for the steady pattering of the rain. We got his life story out of him, all three of us were becoming interested in knowing people’s stories. His name was Sidi, and like a lot of dragons in our territory, not just the wastelands, he was struggling just to keep himself sheltered and fed. Just like us Clay caught him in his garbage, but after the experience with us, he offered him help right away. He live here now with Clay, like we did. He was about our age too, maybe a little older.

The time flew by! Clay and Duke spent most of the afternoon getting caught up on the stories of the station and things that happened around Clay’s bar. Before we knew it was time to take off. Jake needed to get back to the militia, and we needed to get back to work with the station. Jake told us of a base orbiting Solaris, a planet not far from here. From there he could get in touch with his ship and be picked up.

We made our way back to the Phoenix. I hung up my now wet flight suit to dry, and took off my polished black boot that now needed a good cleaning, the rain had made them a little muddy. Then I put on one of my new clothes and top I found at the markets. Once I was on the bridge we did a quick roll call to make sure everyone was on board and got ready to go. Valthy had brought a portable radio, since we didn’t yet have a system to talk with the spaceport authority. We were in the temporary “overflow” but just to be sure, and to not cause any accidents, we did call, and then patiently waited our turn to leave. The Phoenix lifted flawlessly, and after an hour of climbing we were in back in space. I pointed the Phoenix roughly towards Solaris and let the autopilot take over, then I pushed up the large red switch. We were underway.

After a few moments Ember popped up “At current speed, we will reach Solaris in approximately 22 hours” Great! We could all get some sleep along the way.

“We’re about halfway there” I said as I sat down with a hot cup of char. Jake, Deakon and I had gathered with Glavous in the right side “Lab” for one more group training session before Jake left us for now.

“You have your Candles, Jake” Glavous asked him.

“Yes, of course”

“Light them three times a day as I instructed! Your power can atrophy just like yo-” He caught himself “Our wings. So you also have the copies of the scrolls to study?”

“Yes. Glavous don’t worry! I’ve taken a keen interest to this and I’ll continue to practice and study while I’m away! Keep in mind it may be a long time before you see me again, maybe even years!”

“Very good then. And remember Jake, it may be for the best to keep this power secret for the time being. This world is more modern than when these powers were common, and it may not be so well received!” Glavous explained his worries.

“Don’t worry, I’ll only practice and study in my quarters” Jake assured him.

Glavous nodded once slowly in affirmation, but then spoke again, he had one more idea. “Before you leave us, Jake, would you help me test a theory?”

“Sure! What is it?” Jake asked. “I’ve seen so much the last 3 months, I’m genuinely curious”

“Deakon, I’ll need your assistance as well!” He said as he looked over at him.

“Of course, but what is it?” Deakon replied.

“I know you only learned your true power a day and a half ago, but your ability to use your brother’s element to great power surprised me.” Glavous glanced between the two “A long standing theory of mine, is that as blood relative with a strong bond has given you both the ability use use the other’s element, though to a lesser degree than your own.” He reached beside himself, picking up an object on off the floor beside himself and set it on the lab’s table. It was a piece of metal, crudely glued or stuck somehow to a small sheet of rubber, to insulate it form the surrounding metal. Then he looked at Deakon. “We are going to build you a better version, but this will now be your version of a candle. Several times a day you will breath an arc onto it, instead of lighting a candle as before.” He slide the object towards Jake, then looked at Deakon. “Deakon, you and I will guide him. I have more experience with lightning, but you will be stronger.”

I hated to butt in, something was getting to me. “Glavous, if each dragon has only one element, then how are you able to practice them all? Do you have an element that is stronger than the rest?”

Glavous took in a deep breath and contemplated for a moment before speaking. “Yes, though I will not yet reveal my true element, I am indeed extremely powerful in a single element. Over centuries of studying and practice I am able to control every element to some degree, some better than others. But my talents in the other elements will never reach the level of a champion in their own element. I trained myself so that I could fully understand each element to train champions such as yourselves.”

“CENTURIES!” I explained “Glavous how old are you?!”

He chuckled. “There’s a great deal I have to reveal about myself. But this is a topic for another day. We have limited time now before Jake leaves us, and I would like to try this before he disembarks” I nodded in agreement, the Glavous turned to Jake. “There is no need to open your third eye again, you have seen the abilities of your brother, though only briefly and without discipline. You are already a mage of the element of fire, now the only difference is to reach withing yourself and envision the lightning. Now close your eyes and concentrate, control your mind as we have before, but instead of flame, see the powerful bolts”

Jake slowly nodded as he closed his eyes. The room was silent. After a moment Glavous slid the piece of metal closer. “Now, when you are ready, envision a bolt form your mouth to this metal.” Jake stayed silent again as a few more moments passed, but eventually he leaned forward, opening his eyes and brought his mouth close to the metal. He opened his mouth, yet nothing came out.

“Don’t worry about it, Jake” Deakon came in with some encouraging words “It took me a few times to breath fire the first time, and even a couple tries the next time I tried! Just don’t give up!” His brother gave him a thankful look and nodded. He closed his eyes and tried again, this time was a little more exciting for us all. Jake’s face spike took on a hint of the electric blue color that Deakon was displaying that night. Jake leaned forward again and opened his lips, displaying the same face he had when blowing a small flame. But again nothing came out.

“Perhaps a demonstration may help” Glavous Slid the metal towards Deakon.

“Sure!” Deakon leaned towards the ‘thing’ Glavous made, his face spikes instantly starting brightly glowing the electric blue from two nights ago. He exhaled and a huge powerful arc came from his mouth and struck the metal, the loud bang making all of us in the room jump. “Ops! I guess I’m still getting used to it” He said as his spikes faded back to normal.

“You are simply not yet disciplined in your element, we will fix that very quickly. But your power is also very intense, just as I have told you.” Glavous pulled the metal thing towards himself. “Observe, both of you” Glavous inhaled, his face spikes turned the same electric blue and as he leaned forward a small controlled arc came form within his mouth and reached out to the metal, making a small zapping sounds. As he leaned back he slide the metal back to Jake, his face spikes quickly fading back to their natural white color.

Jake leaned forward toward the metal, he closed his eyes and concentrated hard. After a moment his face spikes started taking the hue again, he opened his mouth and tried again. This time a small bolt, not much more than a static shock from a dry environment came from Jake. It actually took him by surprise as he jumped back, but after realizing he did it, he smiled at us as his spikes faded back to white. Glavous jumped out of his chair.

“Yes! This is very good news!” He looked around and regained his composure, sitting back down. “I learned a long time ago, that anyone can train in any element given enough time. But it may take weeks or months before the element they are not natural to presents itself. Like Deakon, you were able to do it on your third try! That proves at least a small amount of a link to the element!”

“So what does this mean?” Jake asked.

“It means you are both very powerful, perhaps even someday you may learn to gain power from each other.” Glavous smiled with sort of a cheeky look “It also means my theory is correct. I’ve trained a lot of champions in my time, but you two are the first blood related brothers.” Glavous paused for a moment to think but then continued “Jake, your first priority is indeed fire, please practice that element first! If you feel up to it, you may and perhaps try to grow yourself in your brother’s element as well, but only after fire!”

“Okay” Jake said, seemed like he was maybe a little overwhelmed, he was quiet now, just like when Deakon learned to blow a flame for the first time. “Fire first” he confirmed.

The four of us spent the next few hours in the lab, Deakon and Jake taking turns shooting arcs a the piece of metal, it was slowly becoming charred and melted as time went on. Jake was trying to make 5his arcs bigger, Deakon was having the opposite problem, his bolts were large and almost out of control. His years of channeling the wrong element was tricking him into putting more effort into it than he needed to. Eventually, Glavous brought out his famous candles, and also had them both lighting and extinguishing them. I mostly took the time to meditate, much to Glavous’s pleasure, he didn’t even need to tell me what to do anymore. Taking breaks to observe my mate his brother practicing.

Several hours went by when Ember interrupted us in the lab. “We are 10 minutes from our destination.”

“Thank you Ember!” I said, I think I was the only one nice to the alien AI that lived in our ship. Deakon talked to her too of course but used her more like her purpose, a tool for running the ship.

We arrived in orbit of Solaris to be greeted by a mess. Militia ships were indeed everywhere, they seemed to be gathering for something. There was a large station in orbit. Jake asked for Valthy’s handheld radio, luckily it had the right frequencies! He got a hold of the station’s docking coordinator and explained who he was and who he was looking for, we were given permission to dock, but no enter the station, except for Jake of course. It wasn’t any sort of warm welcome, but soon we would learn why the situation we arrived on was very dangerous.