335 Skipping the Valley Floor (1/2)
'Tralon, go ahead. We'll make it as quick as possible.'
On Jack's order, Tralon took a deep breath and gathered spatial energy around him to force open a rift between two spaces, one in front of the mage and the other at the top of Glacier Peak.
”Come on, Dradich! Let's see what's on the other side.”
Though he didn't show it, Dradich was also nervous. He and the other wyrms only knew stories about the outside world and their Great Ancestor. For there to be a chance that he'll see both of those things made the massive beast nervous.
”Hurry up! We can't hold that rift open all day!” shouted Jack. ”Don't tell me your scared, are you?”
Without any more hesitation, Dradich grunted, blowing Jack over within his mouth. Then, the giant wyrm stuck his head through the rift large enough for a single wyrm to enter.
Pain never came as Dradich lunged his large head through the rift, almost startling him as badly as what he found on the other side.
There was a great view of the clouds and the frozen world below. Dradich understood that he was truly in a separate location.
”Ah! There's the rift!”
Dradich then looked up to see a woman, followed by a man, jump down from the tip-top of the mountain the wyrm was now on. But before Dradich could say another word, the woman's form shifted and expanded at an outrageous rate. In seconds, the woman gained nine serpentine heads and a body larger than Dradich's.
'G-Great Ancestor!' Dradich immediately bowed, forgetting that he was giving Jack a rough time in his mouth.
”Lift your head,” ordered Lunara. ”What is your name?”
'Dradich, your Holiness.”
”Why don't you speak with your mouth, Dradich?”
'Oh…' Dradich quickly opened his lips, letting Jack tumble out.
”Jack! So that's where you were,” Lunara laughed. ”I'm glad to see my son doing so well for himself. What level are you now?”
”I'm… lv. 49. I'll be in the fifties real soon.” Jack shook the snow off him and climbed up to his feet with a smile. ”Dradich is the leader of the other fourteen wyrms, but he'll be helping me personally and won't be staying here.”
”Fine by me. I hope that Dradich will perform according to my son's expectations. What do you say, Dradich?”
'Yes! Of course, your Holiness!' Bowing yet again, Dradich removed all doubt from his mind about what Jack had said before.
”Did you never learn human speech? Allow me.” One of Lunara's many heads extended and touched foreheads with Dradich. Then, a bright light grew between the heads and gradually faded away. ”That should make things easier.”
”Then let's get the other wyrms across before Jack's companion tires. It was a pleasure to meet you, Dradich. I'm excited to hear of your accomplishments from Jack.”
The giant wyrm nodded and rescinded his head back through the portal.
”And Jack, be careful,” Lunara added as the hero neared the rift. ”Your father and I are depending on you.”
”Of course.” Jack nodded and prepared to step through the rift. But he did a double-take. ”Do you prefer being called Mom or Mother?”
”...Mom”
”Okay, then I'll see you later, Mom.”
Jack stepped through the portal with his goodbye, putting a tender smile in Lunara's heart, which was hard to see fully with her current nine-headed form that shook King Wilheim to his core.
The wyrms began to hurry through the rift with great speed. Though they could only enter one at a time, they were much faster than the shadow goblins. Tralon only needed three high elixirs this time, allowing the mage to rest while conscious so long as he did nothing for a day or two.