B3 – Chapter 24: Into the wild!

The first thing that struck Tristan about the Wild Realm was the heat. It was palpable and all encompassing. Thanks to his glut of fire dragon blood, he was very resilient – but he immediately began spinning and venting his crucible to provide a cool breeze in an aura around him.

The skies above were the second thing that caught his attention. They were deep, blue, and vast. Almost like the ocean, with cresting clouds that undulated in billowing waves; the breakers causing areas where the sun did not shine through.

They had emerged outside a large city. Massive stone walls dredged up from the earth, covered in metal plates with spikes sticking out protected the place. A huge gate was open before them, and was absolutely filled with market stalls.

Bertram rode up alongside Tristan and briefly explained, “They do their market outside the city, and seal up at night when things get really dangerous.” He chuckled and turned his white, pristine unicorn to the left, heading south. “Come.”

“Where are we going?” Felicity asked excitedly.

Rory rode up alongside Bertram and replied, “Into the wild, as they call it. The Wild Realm is…odd. It does not have a structure, per-se. Not like the Mortal Realm. It is constantly fluctuating outside of certain locations.” She pointed back to the walls with her spear, “Like that city. Look at the ground at the base of the walls.”

Tristan narrowed his gaze and did see a brief color shift from the packed, brown, cracked stone as it shifted ever-so-subtly to a light grey hue. “I think I see what you mean. Stone shifting colors?”

Rory nodded, “Good eyes on you. Yes. The grey stone does not shift along with the Realm.”

Bertram seemed keen to kick the unicorns into a full gallop, and he looked back to Tristan with a smile on his face. “I want to see how fast we can go. Do you mind?”

“Onyx?” Tristan asked as he leaned forward.

The unicorn replied, “We can gallop for miles upon miles.”

“Then let’s go!” Bertram said before letting out a whoop and gently nudging his unicorn with his heels. The majestic creature did not need the motivation, as it let out a neigh before rushing forth.

Tristan scooted up more towards Onyx’s front shoulders, and ducked himself down low toward his mane as he gripped tight, deep into the hair. “Go on. Really let loose.”

Onyx let out a snort of affirmation before taking off, kicking up dirt clods and stone chunks as the trio raced across the badlands.

Felicity held onto Tristan’s head with her front paw-claws and was letting her wings flutter in the breeze. “They can run so much faster than I can fly!” she shouted.

The trio of riders traveled for miles before the world began to distort and warp around them. Bertram shouted out, “This is going into the wild! Focus on what you want to find! Unique dragons!”

Tristan nodded and focused his intent on the idea of finding a dragon that he had not encountered. Ideally, he thought, I’d love to find a mind dragon. Giving myself resistance to mental spells seems like something that is going to be really useful.

Bertram glanced back at him, “What we hunting, brother?”

“Mind dragon,” Tristan shouted back.

Bertram nodded, “Haven’t hunted one of those before.” He turned to face the front.

Tristan kept focusing on the idea of finding one of those dragons and the ground beneath them became a texture less, flat surface that expanded to infinity. The sky was the only constant.

Then, it shifted. The ground beneath turned to sand, and an ocean appeared to their right. The deep, rolling, purple waves glistening with green, glowing creatures off in the distant surf. Onyx slowed alongside the two other unicorns.

Bertram dismounted and drew his sword, “Well, we went into the wild. Why a mind dragon?”

Tristan dismounted as well as Felicity flew off his head and turned invisible, flying high up above him to scout. “I don’t want what happened to grandfather happening to me.”

Rory nodded tersely as she unfolded her spear and locked it into the lengthened configuration, “Makes perfect sense.” She began sniffing the air, “I do not smell much aside from the salt air.” Tristan shot a curious glance at her to which she replied, “Those with Drakonid heritage can sometimes sniff out dragons.”

Bertram reached into a hip pouch and withdrew a small, metal stick.

“What’s the stick for?” Tristan asked.

“It’s got some divination spell stored inside.” Bertram tapped the slightly pointier end, then set it flat on his palm. “You push some essence into it, and…” The metal rod spun to their left and pointed inland. “There we go. Dragons be that way.” He pocketed the tool and began walking that way.

Tristan looked back to Onyx and the other unicorns, “Keep us in line of sight, but stay out of harm’s way.”

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“Of course, Lord Tristan.”

The trio of warriors headed up the small, sandy beach and up the lip where some short, tough grass that gave way to a field of strewn boulders. Bertram glanced back to Tristan, “Why don’t you take the lead. Let me see what you’ve learned.”

Felicity flew down and landed on Tristan’s head, making her paw-claw biscuits. “I found something that might be a dragon. It was u-g-l-y. Long and purple- like a worm!” She made a disgusted noise. “Bleh. Nasty.” She pointed out in front of his face, “Over that way, the boulder that looks like a bell. About a thousand feet away.”

Tristan drew his sword and nodded, “Right. Take off and circle above. If you see me needing it, force feed me elixirs.”