Page 43 of Forgotten Arcane

Neith

We’re all silent for a moment.

“I wonder what this means?” River asks. “I mean, I’m reasonably sure that you aren’t a reaper now,” he looks at Raiden, “right?”

Raiden shakes his head and smiles, “No, he’s not a reaper. He’s still very much a dragon.”

“Thank fuck for that,” Coen says immediately, and then adds, “no offense, but I love my dragon, and I have no desire to be a reaper.”

Raiden chuckles, “None taken, man. I don’t think many people would voluntarily choose to be a reaper with the reputation that they have.”

“Probably not,” Coen agrees with a smile.

“I guess we don’t really know what it means,” Doc says. Looking at Coen, he asks, “Is it a gift that dragons have? I know that we know it’s got something to do with your new gifted magic, but if it’s a known gift of the dragons,then at least you would be able to talk to someone about it, and they would hopefully be able to help train you in it.”

Coen shakes his head, “Yeah, that would be helpful, but as far as I’m aware, it’s not a gift that is normal for dragons to have.”

“Well, there goes that theory then,” Doc replies with a frown.

“We’ll just do what we always do, we can add it to the research pile, and we can wait and see what happens. We’ll figure it out,” Van suggests.

“I recognize the magic now, so hopefully I can just pull it back and not go into the Spirit Realm until we figure out a need for it, and I can control it better. I definitely don’t want to get stuck there again, and I also don’t want to end up on one of the levels that I shouldn’t be on, and end up getting myself in trouble,” Coen replies.

“Good point,” Griff agrees. “Maybe don’t go back to the Spirit Realm until we’ve figured out how you can get back.”

Coen nods in agreement, “Agreed.”

“It’s good that you can recognize the magic that though, that will stop you from accidentally going over again, hopefully,” Doc replies.

Coen nods, “Yeah, hopefully.” He lets go of me as he says, “Alright, let’s get you flying properly.”

I grin at the guys. I’m pretty sure that they’ve all caught on to what I did by this point. I think the only one who hasn’t realized it is Coen, which is a testament to just how worried about flying he really is.

“Okay,” I reply simply as I turn around. Coen’s eyes narrow slightly as he clearly sees something in my expression.

Before he questions what I’m up to, which is absolutely going to be the next thing that comes out of his mouth, I run and launch myself up into the air, flying steadily, and without nearly as much difficulty as I had been pretending that I was having, and then grin down at him proudly.

“Sneaky little Love,” Coen grins, calling up to me.

The guy’s chuckle as he launches into the air shifts within moments, easily lifting his big body into the air.

I absolutely adore Coen’s dragon. He’s huge, covered in black scales that shimmer with the colors of an oil slick in certain lights. His wings are enormous, and have a single giant spike on the tips, that I’ve seen him eviscerate fuckers with, and he has two horns on his head that are a burnt red color, so dark that they are very nearly black.

For the first time, I get to test how fast my wings can go as I speed away from a quickly approaching Coen. I can hear the guy’s laughter below me, and soon Raiden, Griff, and Reed have all leapt into the air and joined us as the others yell out for us to duck, and dive, and all sorts of things that I think are supposed to be helping us escape each other, but in reality aren’t actually that helpful. It’s really fucking fun though.

I manage to last a bit longer before my wings start to get tired. I’m obviously not used to flying, and I think it’s going to take a while for me to build up the muscles in them so I can fly for prolonged periods of time like Reed and Griff do. I have no idea if Raiden can fly for as long as they can yet, since he’s still relatively new to flying.

“I’m going to head back down. My wings are getting tired,” I announce.

“Okay, it’s a good idea to rest. You don’t want to push it too far on your first flight, and you’re already doing great,” Griff replies.

I grin proudly, “Thank you.”

“We can try flying while using weapons and things tomorrow. We want to get you at least comfortable with it, so that you can use it to your advantage when we go back to working,” Reed adds.

I nod, “Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I’m sure Coen will help, and if it’s okay, when you teach your class Griff, I’ll join in.”

Griff smiles, “Of course, it is. The students will be really happy that you’re there, they love you.”

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