57 Fligh (1/2)

Li phased through the forest at blinding speed, countless tree trunks passing through his ethereal Elder Leshen form. He didn't so much run as he floated, and he felt as light as a feather, as if moving by the power of his will alone. It wasn't like physically running where he could feel the muscles of his legs moving and his feet crashing upon earth – there was no sense of impact anywhere, just movement.

He felt free in this form, more powerful than ever. There was just so much his human form lacked. He could sense so little and he felt so constrained, forced to cram the entirety of his existence into a vanishingly small box.

But he knew he couldn't get addicted to this sense of belonging too much just yet. He had only shifted to activate his [Forestborn Sense], and he would try to tune everything else - all the life that spoke out to him and the dark whispers of eldritch powers - out.

Soon enough, his [Forestborn Sense] picked up the Lerneas's location. Thankfully, it worked like it did in the game. So long as the tracked creature was within the range of the forest, it didn't matter how high it flew, it still got tracked since it still counted as being in the same area.

The Lerneas flew at around the height of one hundred meters. Relatively low, as far as flying heights went, and as it massive wings flapped to propel its body forwards, they cast shadows across the forest trees. Li could feel the panic of the forest creatures around him. All the birds and rabbits and even the dire wolves and giant spiders all scrambling to get away as they sensed the invasive presence of the Lerneas.

Within a minute, Li had caught up to the Lerneas. He was directly under the shadow its body cast, and that was when he decided to fly for the first time since he had come to this world.

\”[Shapeshift: Wings of Simurgh]\”

Li jumped into the air, far above the trees as he didn't want them to break apart. If he estimated correctly, then these wings would be a little too big to unfurl on the ground.

He was right.

Li felt pricks of sensation at his back as two wings sprouted from where his shoulder blades would be. They unfurled in an instant, their scale so large that they utterly dwarfed Li – he was essentially a tiny little point engulfed in the colossal scale of the wings around him.

When Li mentally commanded the wings to push down, he propelled more than a hundred meters up. Wind blasted forth from the single beat of the wings crashed into the forest, shaking the trees and loosing their leaves but leaving them unbroken.

Now, Li was higher than the Lerneas. As his wings spread out, they completely dwarfed over the dragon, covering even the sun, and as the sun's light beat upon the wings, they emitted a tricolor radiance – green, blue, and red.

The Simurgh was a mythical creature of immortality, the symbol of the union between the heavens and the earth. It roosted upon the colossal tree of life and its wings carried seeds that bore life to the earth for many thousands of years.

Its inner layers of feathers were those of nature, laced with vines that bloomed with vibrant flowers that shimmered like precious gems. The second layer of feathers were blue, symbolizing the oceans, and they seemed to shine in that almost mirage-like manner that the ocean's surface did under daylight. The final and outer layer of feathers were a blinding bright red, the tips of the giant feathers immaterial and flickering like the destructive flames that nature oft used to make way for life anew.

The Lerneas twisted four of its heads back to look up at Li. Its eyes widened in unmistakable fear, and it doubled down on its efforts to escape, putting all its heads forwards and flattening them together, trying to be as aerodynamic as possible as it furiously beat its wings.

\”Flight is quite an enjoyable experience, but it is time that this little chase ends,\” said Li. He kept track of the Lerneas's trajectory, figured where it would end up, and flapped one of his wings to shoot out a single green feather.

The feather, almost a dozen meters in length, sliced into the Lerneas's back and protruded out of its chest. The Lerneas roared, but it did not stop its flight. It would probably just regenerate from the blow too, but Li didn't intend to put it down for good.

Perhaps it was because he had assumed his true form again, but he was reminded that he was a keeper of balance, and a creature like this did not encroach on such a peaceful forest without there being some severe imbalance in the world.

Vines grew from the feather embedded in the Lerneas, latching all around the dragon, tangling around its wings, and seized it up as if it had been snagged in a giant net. Li merely wanted to stop the creature from flying, and when he saw the Lerneas falling, he pushed power into his wings and flew right beneath it.

Carefully, Li raised an arm and grabbed at the end of the Lerneas's tail and pulled, stopping it from slamming unceremoniously into the forest below. He slowed down the beating of his wings, lowering his elevation until he found a clearing big enough to toss the creature onto without doing much harm to it.

The Lerneas squirmed against its restraints, but the vines bound it tight, folding its wings and flattening its limbs and heads to its body.

Li landed on the grounds and cancelled his shapeshift, the Simurgh's wings receding into his back as quickly as they had emerged. As he approached the Lerneas, its nine heads hissed at him in unison, their forked tongues flitting out and dripping with venom.

\”You still have yet so much fight in you,\” said Li. \”Despite understanding my power.\”

\”It doesn't matter what you are,\” said the Lerneas, the voice distinctively female. \”God or demon you may be, you won't find me and my child to be easy prey.\”

Li paused. For a second, he was surprised the Lerneas could talk, but then realized it made sense.

Even wyrms were social creatures that could communicate at a basic level, and a dragon was far more intelligent. He noted that the creature's mouth did not move. It communicated with varying pitches of grunts and growls, but Allspeak allowed him to understand.

\”I do not consider myself one to orphan children, nor do I consider lowly species such as yourself 'prey'. Killing you would yield me nothing of benefit.\”