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3.Ezu (Eh-ooh): Heaven

Chapter fifty-seven

AURELIA

The rain had embedded itself into the soil, making the greenery of the forest a lot brighter. The life of it made me happy, knowing there were still parts of the kingdom that the Deathlies hadn’t touched.

We all got up, and everyone circled around on the wooden planks again, eating some wild berries that Luella had found this morning. “Thanks, Lu,” I called out, graciously accepting her offer.

“Well, looks like you didn’t hate each other enough not to share a tent. I was worried that you would be sleeping out in the rain, Damian,” Angie called out, plucking the maroon berries into her mouth. She was mocking us intentionally.

Damian and I looked at each other, and I fought a blush from rising to my cheeks. “Something like that,” Damian nonchalantly said. My gaze shifted downward, focusing on the berries in my hand.

“Lia, you excited to train again today? I really want to know what yourmaxz1 is,” Luella pleaded, bouncing up and down.

“You and me both,” I said, unprepared for another long training day. I was worried we would run out of time, but Abner kept telling me it was better for me to figure out mymaxzbefore battling, so I didn’t learn it while in war with the Deathlies. An unknownmaxzcould be unreliable and even dangerous when put in anxious situations.

We finished our berries, and then we were on our way. The closest mountain that we could go to train at was near the one that Clemmy used to live in. The Shamla community. She told everyone that today she would stay back at camp and get some rest. We knew this meant, “I don’t want to go anywhere near my old home that rejected me.” And I didn’t blame her.

Our dragons perched through the hole that was opened up in the trees above us. We mounted them, their wings flapping generously, lifting upward. With one hand beneath Clemmy’s chin, she waved at us with the other, closing the hole with vines and leaves as we left.

It was a quick trip toward the mountain, our dragons landing at the base, having us climb the way up. I sighed, exhausted from the previous day. Angie, hopping offWashailameii2, made a ‘hmph’ sound. “You can’t be tired already, Aurelia. We have a long way to go,” she said as she grabbed her leather pack off of her dragon,Washailameii. They lifted off the ground, joining the other dragons in the air. They made their way to their top, letting us prove ourselves for the day of training.

Wanting to snap back at Angie, Luella’s voice pierced my mind.“Don’t let her get to you. Don’t let her mood lower yours.”My heart softened, thinking that if Luella could overcome Angie’s issues, then I should be able to as well.

“Thanks, Luella,”I said, swinging my satchel over my shoulder as well, opening it to take out the leather flask of water.

“No problem. They all tend to get more tense after long training days like we’ve had recently.”

We followed Loker, Abner, and Damian as they started up the spiraling trail of the mountain. Glancing upward, my stomach grew queasy noticing how far up it was. We had a long way to go.

Walking side by side with Luella, I asked,“How did you find everyone?”

“Well, it was luck, really. I wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for Tanaleiiman3. He saved me. I was further in the mountains past Zodac. I slipped. It was raining.”She started to choke up and paused.“Anyway,”she said, changing subjects.“Tanaleiiman swooped in and saved me. My parents had been killed prior, leaving me alone. I was so grateful for Tanaleiiman.”She paused again.“Anyway,”she repeated.“We were flying and ran into everyone training on one of the mountain peaks. They took us in and we have been with them since.”

“How long ago was that?”I asked, noticing that Luella walked closer to the mountain, with her hand constantly along the rock. Intentionally, I stood between her and the edge of the cliff.

“Only a month or two. I bonded with Tanaleiiman about a month prior to that.”I realized that the death of her parents must be fresh. However, from the sound of it, most everyone here had experienced something similar to what she had. Parents killed. Left alone.

“I’m sorry,”I stuttered.“About your parents.”

She gulped, not looking at me.“They weren’t my real parents. But they might as well have been,”she said, the pain in her voice still fresh.“This is my family now.”She turned to me, the water glistening in her sweet golden eyes.“You are my family now, Lia.”

I smiled, reaching my hand out to meet hers.

***

After over three hours of making our way up, exhaustion filled our bodies. However, I was ready to find ourmaxz. We didn’t have much time. Everyone else was also becoming antsy, acknowledging that we couldn’t spend any more days out before the Deathlies got stronger. We had to defeat them before the pit got deeper, making it even more difficult to get them killed off.

The next step was to go to the castle and look for the connection.

This mountain was more of a spiraled hike, making me nauseous as I swirled around the harrowing terrain, on my way to the top. Tripping here and there, I would barely catch myself. The path to the peak was full of rocks, not meant to be traversed. Other parts were slippery from the damp moss that clung to the sides and the trail.

We reached the apex of the mountain, where all our dragons were waiting. They were playfully nipping at each other's tails and wings, spitting out fire and ice, and creating flurries of wind.

Belle was curled up asleep off to the side. As we approached, her wings shook, her legs stretching as her eyes slowly opened.

Everyone else mounted their dragons and plunged into the thick air. The clouds were still full and sad, the air still muggy from the rain the night before. The sun could not be seen, which was nice for walking up the mountain without the higher amounts of heat, but would be a disadvantage if ourmaxzhappened to be anything to do with light.