Chapter 19: Skydiving without a parachute is not fun.

After letting the magical rope of rebonding go, I start wondering how I spoke so freely about my feelings a few minutes ago, about my past, what Ellie said…

I start blushing, so I turn away from Ellie and Jern.

The dragon statue explodes in a million pieces. I cover my face.

"Ad! My friend!" Jern screams as he runs to hug the dragon in front of us.

His scales are way thinner than Jern's and shine with a sapphire hue. He's way slimmer than Jern's dragon form, as well as shorter. His two emerald glowing eyes look disconcerted at the situation.

"What 's going on?" he asks. "Who broke the seal?"

"Those humans did, Ad," Jern says as he climbs up the dragon's back.

"Jern?!" Ad says, bewildered. "Is that you?!"

"Of course it's me!" Jern says as he pats Ad's head. "Now turn into your human form and come to render thanks to your saviors."

The filouk pack starts howling and something seems to click inside Ad's head.

"So this is not another dream?!" Ad says. "Woohoo!"

He throws a flare to the cavern's ceiling and flaps his wings.

"Oh! Sure," Ad exclaims, looking at us.

The giant creature transforms into a slender, forty-year-oldish man. A bit shorter than Jern but with an imposing gaze.

Ad turns to us, but before he can say anything, he's tackled down by the pack of filouks.

Ad laughs as the pack licks him and snuggles with him. After a few minutes of playing, they circle him and remain quiet. Ad and the pack close their eyes. They stay in silence for a minute, as if they were communicating by the power of yoga.

Ad opens his eyes and stands up. He says. "Thanks, my friends. Now you can go back to your beloved grounds."

The pack howls and runs out of our sight, happy to go back home.

Ad turns to us again. He is a little teary-eyed, emotional after the pack's parting.

"Can I know the names of my saviors?" Ad asks.

"Inoue Ellie," she says.

"Sasaki Rin," I say.

"Ellie, Rin. I have a debt with you that I'm afraid I will never be able to pay," Ad says, kneeling. "From this day on, I, Adhair the sagacious, am at your service."

"Well. If everything goes as planned, that'll be just two days," Ellie says.

"Two days?!" Adhair asks confused.

Jern goes on to explain to Adhair our current situation. Adhaur listens carefully, stopping Jern now and then for more details.

"Then we must hurry," Adhair says with severity, looking at the map."Gaol and the gem are somewhere around the capital's castle. They must be under good protection."

"Don't worry," Jern says to us. "We'll help you."

"I'm afraid that we don't have time for that," Adhair says.

"What?!?" the three of us shout.

"We'll need to be as efficient as we can with the leftover time you have," Adhair urges. "While Jern takes you to the capital, I will go with Ignis. I have to start figuring out the way to break her prison. Jern, once you leave them in the capital, you'll have to come too. I'll need your strength and energy. This way, Ignis will be ready to send you back to your world right after you break the last seal. If you do it on time, of course."

"Hey!" Jern says, patting Adhair 's shoulder. "They're gonna make it."

"If we leave now," Adhair says as he transforms into his dragon form and blasts a flare to a cavern's wall, creating a hole in the mountain. "You'll be able to make it to the capital before dawn. You must rest before going for the third seal. Jern, be sure to come to Ignis' place as soon as you can."

"Understood!" the three of us say.

Adhair starts flapping its wings.

"Can I ask you one last thing?" I shout.

"Go ahead," Adhair says, turning back.

"If you were able to control the dogs while you were petrified," I say. "Why didn't you try to break the seal on your own?"

Adhair looks down, thinking. Then he looks at me, seemingly analyzing every detail of my persona.

"The mind, young fellow, gets easily tired without the heart," Adhair says as he starts flapping his wings. "Don't forget that."

With a strong flap of wings, the sapphire dragon blasts away, flying into the sky.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jern says as we start walking out of the cavern through Adhair's newly created exit.

Once outside, Jern transforms into his dragon form. Ellie and I get on our now usual spot.

"If no one has noticed that the dragons are back, today we're going to give a spectacle," Jern says as he swaggers. "The skies are clear, and the sun is shining. There's no way I go unnoticed."

"Time for your deserved comeback, my friend," I say, patting his back.

With a joyful jump, Jern dives into the blue skies of noon.

We fly over snowy mountains covered with forests. A forest that turns into meadows. Plains and rolling hills covered with green and golden grass dancing with the wind that Jern's wings create.

A small town pops up every now and then with picturesque houses. People come out of them at the sound of Jern's flapping. Amused faces are all we see as we pass by.

"Passing this mountain is the capital city," Jern says. "It's better if I don't land there to not create a hustle. You'll have to jump."

"What?!" Ellie shouts.

"The landing spell is simple," Jern says. "You just have to say 'float' to your ontes when you're a couple of meters before the ground."

We pass the mountain, and a huge walled city appears before our eyes. Its towers shine under the setting sun.

"Guys, be safe," Jern says as he turns upside down in the air.

Ellie and I are unable to keep our hold on Jern and start falling.

"Aaaaaaaaa!" we scream when we start falling.

"Good luck, I'll see you in two days!" Jern says as he turns and disappears the way we came.

We keep falling.

"You tell me when to cast the spell!" Ellie screams as she falls with her eyes closed.

Okay. The round still seems too far away.

Not now.

Not now.

Not now.

"Ellie, now!" I shout before we get to the level of some trees.

"Pom. Float!"

"Rurn. Float."

We stay suspended in the air, a meter above the ground, for a second. Then we fall again.

I land with my butt, Ellie with her back.

I laugh.

"That was crazy!" I say.

"Remind me of punching Jern when we meet again," Ellie says.

We stand and start walking through a meadow as we get to the city's doors.

"Reason for visit?" A guard asks at the entrance door.

"We're coming to meet my uncles," I say to the guard.

"Okay," the guard says and lets us in.

That was easy.

We walk through a bustling market. Selling all kinds of strange vegetables and items.

"Ula! Ula! The king sets a reward for whoever has information about the two adventures that broke the seal of the lake." A man shouts as he passes by, handing tiny fliers. "Ula! Ula! The levels of uncertainty rise in the kingdom as speculation over the dragons' alignments bustle."

I take one flier. It only portrays a couple of hooded shadows. It could be anyone. We shouldn’t worry too much about being spotted.

As the sun sets and the shops around start to close, we start looking for an Inn.

“That place looks fine,” Ellie says, pointing at a two-story rock building next to a fountain.

“Looks good,” i say as we go to the building.

I read the signboard on the entrance, Salmir's Inn is the winning place.

We have a good meal in absolute silence before we go to the desk to get a room.

Our room is good, gratefully, with two separate beds.

I sit in the one next to the window. I take my shoes off with relief. Oh my! I really need to rest.

"Tomorrow morning…" I look back at Ellie, but she's already asleep.

I go and cover her with a blanket.

"Thank you for today," I say and give her a kiss on her forehead.

I go and lay on my bed, turn off the lights, and start thinking about tomorrow's plan, but I'm so tired that I just fall asleep.

…

The morning sun peeking through my window wakes me up. Someone is standing next to my bed. I sit quickly, rushing to my backpack, but a soldier grabs me by the neck and pushes me to the wall.

Ellie awakes and stays frosted in her place, looking at me with worry.

Do we just screw up once again?

"Sachino Nelly! Ipoki Tim! You're arrested under the name of the king!" the soldier shouts as the rest of his squad drags us out of the room.