Clive's stomach lurched as Azura's wings caught the air. The ground fell away beneath them. The wind roared in his ears, and he felt a rush of blood through his veins.
[HP +50]
[MP+50]
[Power level+50]
[Clive Weston]
HP:425
MP:345
Power Level: 340
[Companion Acquired: Azura]
- Species: Sky Dragon
- Age: 400 years
- Bond Strength: Nascent
[New Achievement: Sky Painter's Partner]
[New Abilities Unlocked]
Aerial Illustration (Passive)
- Paint and Draw abilities can now be used while airborne
- Wind and sky-based creations receive +25% effectiveness
- Enhanced AoE large-scale atmospheric effects
Clive blinked away the notifications, focusing instead on the world spreading out beneath him. The volcanic crater receded, becoming just another feature in the landscape. Beyond it stretched the ocean, painted in shades of blue that looked different from the ground level.
You see it now, Azura's voice whispered in his mind. The colors change with altitude. Down there, the ocean is merely blue. Up here, it's cerulean, azure, cobalt, and a hundred shades between.
"It's beautiful," Clive breathed.
This is only the beginning, she promised. Wait until you see what sunset looks like from above the clouds.
For several minutes, Clive relaxed, letting Azura carry him through the sky. The other dragons formed up around them. Ignis leading with Sion, Miranda and Lieutenant Guma flanking on their bonded drakes, Lucia clinging white-knuckled to Verdania's neck. They flew in loose formation, heading back toward the mainland.
But gradually, Clive became aware of something. The previous time he'd ridden a dragon, Guma had been in control. But now Clive sat alone on Azura's back, the reins of partnership entirely in his hands.
A gust of wind slammed into them from the side. Azura tilted, her wing dipping sharply. Clive's grip tightened on the ridge of scales in front of him as his body slid sideways.
“Turbulence!” Miranda shouted. “Hold tight.”
Steady, Azura's voice came. Feel the wind. Guide me through it.
"How?" Clive gasped.
Trust your eyes.
Another gust hit them, and this time Clive felt something shift in his vision. The air itself seemed to shimmer, revealing patterns he'd never noticed before.
[Your bond with Azura has upgraded Artist’s Eye]
[Etheric Vision unlocked]
Suddenly, the sky wasn't empty. Currents of air ether flowed around them like rivers. They twisted and braided together, forming invisible highways through the atmosphere.
A broad stream of lighter blue rushed past them on the left, flowing in the same direction they were headed. Meanwhile, directly ahead, a darker current pushed against their path.
"Left," Clive said, leaning slightly. "That current there. It's moving with us."
Good, Azura replied, banking smoothly into the tailwind.
The moment they entered the current, they sped up. Azura's wings beat less frequently, yet they moved faster, carried along by the flow of etheric energy. It felt like slipping into a faster lane on the highway, or catching a boost pad in Mario Kart.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Clive grinned. He could see it all now, the eddies and streams, the places where currents collided and created turbulence, the smooth channels where wind flowed unobstructed. Ahead, a tight spiral of pale ether marked an updraft. To the right, a dark knot indicated a downdraft that would pull them toward the ocean.
"Up ahead," he said. "That spiral. Can we use it?"
You tell me, Azura said, and he could hear the smile in her mental voice. Where does it lead?
Clive followed the updraft with his eyes, tracing where it connected to a higher current, one that glowed brighter, moving even faster than the stream they currently rode.
"Higher current. Faster. We angle into the spiral, let it carry us up, then catch that upper stream."
Then guide me.
Clive adjusted his weight, leaning forward and right. Azura responded instantly, tilting toward the spiral. The updraft caught them like a hand, lifting them in a tight corkscrew. Clive's stomach flipped, but he kept his eyes on the currents, watching the pale blue stream approach.
"Now. Level out!"
Azura's wings snapped open wide, but instead of catching the current cleanly, they overshot slightly. The faster stream hit them at an angle, and Azura's body slewed sideways. her momentum carried her forward while the current tried to push her perpendicular.
Clive felt the instinct to correct Azura back into alignment. But something about the way the currents flowed gave him a different idea. The sideways drift wasn't a mistake. It was an opportunity.
"Hold this angle," he said.
They skidded laterally through the air, Azura's wings angled to maintain the slide.
The drift continued until a new current caught them. They shot forward, faster than before, leaving the other dragons behind.
[Level up]
[Dragon Riding Level 3]
[New Skill Learned: Aerial Drifting]
- Allows controlled lateral momentum during high-speed maneuvers
- +15% turn efficiency when changing currents
- Enables access to parallel air streams without losing altitude
"What the—" Guma's voice carried across the distance. "How is he outpacing us?”
"He can see it already,” Sion responded. “Look at how he moves. He’s riding the air currents."
Clive barely registered their voices. His focus had narrowed to the streams of ether flowing around him. Another current approached from the right. He guided Azura into it.
Well done, Azura said. You learn quickly.
"It's like those arcade racing games," Clive said, already scanning ahead for the next optimal path. "Find the boost, avoid the obstacles, take the racing line."
A game?
"Never mind." He spotted another current merging with theirs from above. "Can we reach that one? The white-blue current, two hundred feet up?"
With you guiding? Yes.
They banked upward, Clive calling out adjustments as they wove through the invisible rivers of air. The sky had become a three-dimensional puzzle, and his [Artist's Eyes] gave him the solution.
After several more minutes of flight, the currents stabilized into a broad, steady stream. The formation tightened as the other dragons caught the same flow, and the urgent maneuvering gave way to smooth gliding. Azura's wings beat in a relaxed rhythm, and Clive found he could sit back slightly without constantly compensating for shifts in the wind.
You've found your balance, Azura observed. Good. Most new riders take hours to stop fighting the motion.
With the immediate demands of navigation easing, his mind turned to other possibilities.
Aerial Illustration
- Paint and Draw abilities can now be used while airborne
- Wind and sky-based creations receive +25% effectiveness
- Enhanced AoE large-scale atmospheric effects
He pulled his paintbrush from his belt and flipped open his color palette with his free hand. The wind immediately tried to rip both from his grip, but he held firm.
He loaded his brush with white and cyan and began painting. On the ground, he would have painted a static image first, establishing the form before releasing the magic. But up here, the whole sky was his canvas. As he glided through the air, each stroke stretched and elongated with Azura's forward momentum.
What started as a handful of painted ice crystals became dozens, then hundreds. The white-cyan mixture fed on the moisture in the clouds below them, drawing it upward and freezing it. The hailstones materialized in cascading waves, each one spawning three more, like a constellation expanding across the sky.
[Aerial Illustration - Hailstorm]
Effect: Area of Effect increased by 300%
The hail began to fall. Thousands of ice stones plummeted toward the ocean below, creating a curtain of white that stretched wider than the crater they'd just left.
"Whoa!" Yarra's voice carried over the wind. "Did Clive just make weather?"
Guma sounded less enthusiastic. "That hail is the size of my fist! He nearly hit Emberwing!"
Clive watched the cascade with awe. The hailstorms he created before were small and localized. No one would mistake it for actual hail. This was on a completely different scale. The range of it was large enough that it felt like he'd created an actual natural phenomenon.
Impressive, Azura said. Though perhaps warn your companions before you summon a blizzard in their flight path.
"Right. Sorry." Clive called out, "Clear skies ahead! That was just a test!"
"A test?" Miranda scoffed. "That 'test' could have downed a drake!"
Sion laughed. "I think our pictomancer just became significantly more dangerous."
Clive felt a rush of adrenaline. With the whole sky as his canvas. What could he paint next?
I can feel your thoughts, Azura said. You're already planning your next experiment.
"Is that a problem?"
Not at all. But perhaps wait until we're not flying in formation with five other dragons. Some of whom might object to being caught in your 'art.'
Clive grinned. "Fair point."
But he kept the paintbrush in his hand, and his eyes kept scanning the clouds ahead. The sky was waiting for him.
The sky does not limit the artist. It liberates him. For what is a canvas but a prison of edges? Give a painter the clouds, and he will paint the wind itself.
—The Legendary Moonlight Artist