Listening to the horns in the distance finally trail off due to the swirling winds, Mike continued exploring the cliffs away from the town he'd discovered.
He stood at the edge of the cliff for a long time after shouting himself hoarse at Bahamut, staring out over the endless, slate-colored water. Waves smashed themselves against the rocks far below.
His new situation didn't give him any clues where he was other than the town seemed primitive with bronze and iron metal. Wood and stone buildings lit with fire and not electricity.
Mike considered going into the town but he couldn't change this body into human form. He didn't understand the language he heard them speaking and finally a dragon flying into town would just cause chaos. A part of him thought chaos would be best to get the attention of someone who could provide answers but could also create more problems. Mike flexed his hands slowly, claws scraping stone. His body still felt right. Power coiled beneath his skin, vast and heavy, like an hurricane of fire waiting for permission to move. His wings were folded tight against his back, membranes twitching slightly in the breeze. He could feel the heat in his chest, the endless furnace that never dimmed. But he also felt weaker, the movement of this body was more cumbersome and something he didn't know how to describe was missing. He was sure he could flatten that town, burn armies of men or even demons, but a feeling of unease at the missing piece made him hesitant to unleash chaos.
Bahamut was gone. Not distant. Not quiet.
Gone. That was new, but was not the missing feeling that kept gnawing at him.
"Okay," Mike muttered, dragging a hand down his face. His scales rasped faintly beneath his palm. He froze for half a second, then forced himself to keep moving. Stopping now would mean thinking about it too much. "Okay. We're going to have to do this differently. Fine."
He turned away from the cliff and took in the land behind him.
It rose in broken terraces of stone and scrub, dry grasses bending low beneath the wind. Just rock, sparse trees twisted by weather, and a faint trail worn into the earth as if by countless bare feet and hooves over centuries.
Stopping at another outcrop he straightened slightly, gaze lifting and froze.
The sky had changed.
Clouds were gathering to the east, tall and slow, their undersides purple and gold by the setting sun. At first, he thought it was just weather rolling in off the sea.
Then a shadow passed across the land.
Mike's head snapped up.
Something moved within the clouds.
The air pressure shifted as it passed overhead, wind surging outward in a broad, rolling wave that flattened grass and sent dust spiraling into the air. Birds erupted from the cliffs in panicked flocks, screaming as they scattered.
The shadow resolved.
A creature emerged from the clouds, wings spread wide.
Mike's just stared in disbelief at the odd creature..
It was shaped like a lion, massive, muscled, its body covered with short brown fur but where a lion's head should have been was the sharp, regal visage of an eagle. Its eyes burned gold, keen and intelligent, its hooked beak catching the last light of the sun. Feathers rippled along its neck and shoulders, blending seamlessly into fur and scale along its back.
Its wings were enormous.
Each beat sent thunder rolling across the sky. The creature soared, riding invisible currents with the ease of something that had ruled the air in this land.
Mike felt it then. His essence stirred, heat rolling through his chest in a slow, powerful surge. Something deep within him responded to the creature's passing, a resonance like two massive bells struck miles apart.
"What the hell are you?" Mike whispered.
The creature circled once over the city.
Below, chaos erupted.
He could hear it even from this distance, shouts, alarms, the frantic ringing of bronze bells. People poured into the streets, pointing upward, some dropping to their knees, others running for cover. Priests in pale robes emerged from a central structure larger than the others, its columns carved from weathered stone and raised their arms toward the sky.
Mike watched, stunned.
The creature did not attack.
It did not descend.
It simply looked down at the people of the town. Its gaze swept across the city, across the land, across the cliffs where Mike crouched.
For half a second just one Mike was certain it saw him. He noticed the creature had stone tablets with faint markings curled in one of its paws. He tried to look closer but the creature's wings shifted, angling eastward. With a final, powerful beat, it climbed higher into the clouds and vanished into the dying light.
The city below slowly quieted down as the bells quit ringing and people returned to the buildings.
Mike remained frozen long after it was gone.
"…Okay," he said hoarsely. "That was a creature with power like the titans and giants I'd fought. What the fuck is this place."
He rubbed at his chest, where the resonance still lingered like an echo that refused to fade.
"Flying around may not cause the chaos I thought," he muttered.
He glanced back toward the city, where fires burned brighter now, people clustering together in tight knots. He could sense it, their fear, their awe, the way their belief surged and twisted in response to what they had just seen.
Mike didn't like the feeling this place gave him. The way those people in robes ran out gave him an unsettling feeling.
He turned away from the city and moved inland, keeping to the rocky high ground. He needed space. Time. Somewhere to think without a few thousand terrified people deciding he was either salvation or the end of the world.
He kept moving.
He found shelter in the ruins of an old structure near the coast, a broken stone building half-collapsed, its walls carved with faded symbols worn smooth by time and salt. It might once have been a shrine, or a watch post, or something else entirely. Whatever it had been, it was abandoned now.
Mike ducked inside and laid heavily against the stone wall. Grumbling to himself "Why do I sleep in ruins.." A low growl and sigh filled the air as he made sure there wasn't a dragon statue looking at him. He replayed the last moments in Sanctuary over and over, the ripples in the sky, the falling pylons, the crushing pressure that had wrapped around him. Then light. Then this.
"I didn't die," he murmured. "Didn't get erased. This isn't a prison."
The thoughts kept swirling in his head.
So what was this?
A punishment?
A containment strategy?
A place to strand him where the gods thought he couldn't interfere?
Mike snorted softly.
"Good luck with that. I will still find all of you."
Outside, the night deepened.
Somewhere far off, he heard drums this time instead of horns.
Slow. Rhythmic. Ritualistic.
He tensed, senses flaring, but the sound remained distant. Human. Not a threat. Yet.
Mike leaned his head back against the stone and closed his eyes.
Kelsey's face flashed in his mind as he grimaced at the feelings of being trapped away from her again, were slowly creeping back into his mind.