Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening/Night(whichever one it is in your part of the world),
Hi! I'm Kate and I'm here to leave a quick review!!
First Impression
Well this is quite the situation to handle here. I will say the pacing of the chapter is a bit fast. I know you definitely want to keep progressing the plot but personally I think keeping their recovery to its own chapter by having this one a bit shorter than usual would be better. Given the stone giants are their own big problem, it feels like we don't end up getting nearly as much rest as we ought to from the massive Aurora situation before the giants flare up.
Anyway let's get right to: Kate's Line by Line Reactions;
Shadow, Boulder and Aurora slowly made their way down the mountain until they were safely among the trees before sitting down to rest.
Boulder explained everything to Aurora the best he could. Though she was shocked that she had died, she never questioned whether Boulder was lying either. She also seemed more worried about what had happened to the others after splitting up.
Hailstorm was probably searching on his own somewhere, and they had no idea where Gale and Tempest had gone either. There were still many monsters in the Mountains of Rain and Night that could harm a dragonet. Especially one as exhausted as they were.
Well looks like Aurora is being slowly brought up to speed while the main problem at the moment is the others having split off and gone about their directions. They certainly must be quite worried now especially if they're waiting for a storm dancer that's never going to come.
After resting for a while they decided to return to the cliff where Aurora had collapsed. The rain had lessoned slightly though it still made flight difficult. Boulder once again carried Aurora while Shadow flew close by in case something happened.
As they landed near the cliff Boulder and Shadow took a moment to stretch before heading to the nearby treeline. But as they approached something large emerged from among the dark and twisting pine branches.
Well looks like Shadow and Aurora are definitely out for the count energy wise but Boulder appears to be back in good enough shape to fly around a little from the looks of things. That's a good sign even though they all definitely need to take a long rest.
Shadow tensed, ready for a fight, but then he noticed the pale scales and delicate spikes of a familiar Ice Wing. His bright blue eyes seemed dulled with weariness.
“Hailstorm?” Boulder called.
Hailstorm nodded sadly. “I couldn’t find anything at all. I knew it was too late by now, so I decided to come back.”
“It’s not too late. You did everything that you could,” Aurora whispered comfortingly.
Well looks like poor Hailstorm wasn't able to find anything at all, worse even than Gale and Tempest with their false hope. Luckily Aurora is right here to make sure he doesn't manage to slip too much into sadness there.
Hailstorm sniffled. “But it wasn’t enough! Now Aurora will…” He trailed off as his ears perked up and his eyes widened.
Boulder set Aurora down and she walked over to Hailstorm with a kind smile. Hailstorm seemed to be frozen with shock as his mouth moved but no words came out. His thoughts were also a mess as Aurora simply came up to him and embraced him.
Warm… She’s warm… Alive. Hailstorm thought as his trembling arms slowly returned her embrace. Then he hugged her tighter as he finally accepted that this was really happening.
Well this is a beautiful moment. Hailstorm probably reaching on of his lowest moments as he thinks there's nothing he can do only for Aurora to be able to embrace him. I think you show that shock to just happy acceptance really well there.
Shadow wished he had someone who cared about him this much. He knew he had Jarid, but he wished he had someone here that he could turn to and share his emotions with. But he didn’t want to ruin the moment between the dragonets, so he just kept his feelings to himself.
After a while of emotional embrace, Boulder once again shared everything that had happened with Hailstorm. He was fascinated by the actions of the storm dancer but even more grateful that what he had read turned out to be true.
Well poor Shadow once again realizing quite how alone he is. Now that we know what's up with Jarid, we know he can't exactly just get away either, so he's definitely going to need to find a few friends among the people here.
Rather than trying to search for Tempest and Gale they decided to wait for them to return. Thankfully it didn’t take long.
Shadow felt them coming a little while before they appeared through the fog and rain. He didn’t hear many coherent thoughts from them. Just Gale repeating, “again, again, again…” over and over to himself.
Tempest’s mind seemed to be drenched in a deep pit of despair. Her anger completely burnt out. As she came into view she seemed buffeted by the wind despite her earlier ease in the storm and her landing could almost have been called crashing as she barely took a few steps before collapsing to the ground.
Well here we are. It looks like waiting for them was the right call although as predicted they have definitely reached a moment of despair now that its been probably a decent while even since they decided. Hopefully at least mentally they can recover somewhat with what's about to happen next.
Hailstorm had gone to fetch something to eat while Aurora and Boulder had fallen asleep next to each other with Boulder covering her with his wing. Tempest dragged herself closer until she was right next to them. Shadow went to tell her the wonderful news, but something held him back.
He looked over to see Gale land close by muttering to himself.
“I was wrong… I messed up… I should have listened… My fault again. My fault again…”
Well looks like Shadow is on the case to try and comfort them but he's stopped by the force of their own thoughts. Looks like both of them are feeling very guilty which given how badly off they were before this is very much to be expected at this point.
Shadow went to go comfort him but then he heard Tempest speak and turned back to her. She was now sitting over the two sleeping dragonets with her wings hanging limp and her head drooped in sorrow.
“Surge was right. I couldn’t protect you. Not even from my own stupid decisions. I was given a second chance and still messed it up. I pushed away everyone who was trying to help me.
“Now I’ll never get the chance to make it right. Thank you for always trying to encourage me to be nicer. I promise not to hate others quite so much anymore. For your sake… Aurora.”
Well looks like Tempest is making a small concession there on the not quite as much thing. Joking aside, it looks like this one's scarred her badly enough to want to change. Not that she wasn't feeling guilty in general already but I think its heightened even further now.
“You had better keep that promise. Otherwise, I’ll get really mad,” Aurora replied with an amused smile.
Shadow had noticed her waking in the middle of Tempest’s little speech, but she had patiently waited for her sister to finish.
“Aurora?!” Tempest shouted in shock as she pulled her from underneath Boulder, waking him in a panic.
Well Aurora choosing to wait a moment is beautiful there. Love how it does make sense to Aurora's character but its also perfectly timed for a small spot of drama in this moment.
“Huh? What? Oh, Tempest. You’re back.”
But Tempest didn’t even notice as she pulled Aurora into a fierce hug. “You little dummy! How could you scare me like that? I thought I’d never see you again!” Her voice was a mixture of relief, anger, and joy.
Shadow smiled and looked over at Gale expecting him to rush over and embrace Aurora as well. But he merely looked at Aurora from a distance with a strained kind of happy expression.
Well looks like Tempest is mostly just glad about Aurora being back but poor Gale's too deep into the guilt to be able to do much about that. You really feel for her on that one.
She’s alive?! No thanks to me. I should be happy. She didn’t have to be in danger in the first place. All my fault again. Couldn’t even make it right.
Shadow pulled himself away. He couldn’t let himself be swallowed by Gale’s depressing thoughts. It was ruining his own gladness at Aurora’s revival. Still, he felt bad and hoped Gale would come around to seeing that it wasn’t all his fault.
Hailstorm returned soon after and Gale seemed to pull himself together enough to warmly hug Aurora, though Shadow could still feel the dark cloud hanging over him.
Well Gale definitely has quite the dark cloud hanging over him right now. Its not going to be easy to overcome a moment like that. This is definitely leaving some deep scars here and some well learned lessons continuing on from this particular moment.
After hearing the explanation from Boulder, Tempest apologised to Shadow. Shadow had never seen her so humble and sincere before as she bowed to him in thanks for saving her sister. Gale also apologized for misremembering Hailstorms instructions which darkened his thoughts a little but at the same time gave everyone a chance to encourage him for trying.
After that, they all decided to rest in a cave Hailstorm had found on his hunting trip.
Getting out of the constant rain felt wonderful as Shadow was beginning to feel more like a salamander than a dragon. The cave was made of moist grey stone covered in moss. Though it was dark inside and a bit cold, it was also out of the wind and protected from lightning and rockslides.
Well this is definitely what they needed for a while now, glad they're finally getting and that everyone's able to have a moment to reconcile after everything that just happened there.
Shadow could see that the cave went back a long way and there were tiny pieces of poop in the moss. He hoped whatever lived here wouldn’t mind them resting for a bit just inside the entrance.
The other dragonets quickly slept in a big pile, but Shadow felt awkward laying so close together, so he decided to find a nice mossy spot further in. The moss was damp but not much less comfortable than the grass back in Dragon Valley and he quickly fell asleep.
Well looks like they're able to get a bit of rest finally and some much needed sleep even if it is in the cave of another creature which does make things very awkward in the moment as far as them potentially waking up to reappearing is concerned.
Shadow was still half asleep when he noticed a strange tingling sensation all over his body. Slightly annoyed by this he rolled his shoulders to shake off what he thought was sleepiness. At the same time, he noticed a chittering clicking sound. Then he felt a sharp pinch on his wing and quickly rolled over to swipe at whatever had pinched him. As he did so he felt a crunching, squelching sensation as well as more pinching and chittering.
“Ahhh!!!” Shadow, now fully awake, cried out and jumped to his feet.
Oh dear, well it looks like they're about to be attacked not by something large and unfriendly, but more along the lines of many somethings that are small and unfriendly. Dragons would definitely not be fans of bugs given they're ability to get rid of them would be even lower than us.
He could hear the clinking sound of thousands if not millions of insect legs crawling on stone. At first he questioned what his eyes were seeing as it looked as though the ground itself were moving and pulsing. Then he noticed it wasn’t just the ground but the walls and even parts of the celling were covered in a writhing mass of centipede-like insects.
Now he could feel them crawling all over his body and up his legs.
“Ahhh! Ewww! Egh! Ahhh!” Shadow cried as he started hopping from talon to talon crushing dozens of the disgusting insects with each step. He quickly looked to find a large mound of insects where the others had fallen asleep, though they were also quickly waking as his cries filled the tunnel.
Well looks like they found the cave's inhabitants. I'm honestly trying to avoid visualizing that image fully because that just gets more an more horrifying the more you think about it and waking up to being covered in insects is just...*shivers* That's enough said about that.
Hailstorm and Gale quickly burst from beneath the pile sending little creatures flying in all directions. Tempest and Aurora were next as their respective cries of surprise, fear and revulsion briefly joined the chorus.
Then, suddenly, Shadow heard a piercing squeaking sound coming from deep in the cave. The insects seemed to vanish like a wave retreating on a shore as they burrowed into every tiny crack or tunnel they could find. Boulder also woke and shook off a few that had tried to hide among his scales while at least a dozen more scurried out from beneath him.
Well looks like maybe they're actually going to get some help from some large although maybe at this point we can't call it unfriendly. We'll see how this pans out here. Something is definitely about to go down in the moment.
“What’s going on?” He asked groggily. But no one had time to answer as another wave of screeching came from the tunnel and as it grew louder the flapping of wings could also be heard.
Shadow looked deeper into the cave and saw movement. A lot of it, and getting closer fast.
“Get out of the cave!” Shadow almost screamed as he sprinted for the entrance. He had barely made it a few steps when his vision was obscured by dark leathery wings and small furry bodies.
Well looks like the entire animal kingdom is inside this cave at this point. Just different kinds of animals at different terms. I'm honestly just very amused at this point by the sheer number of things.
Bats covered the entire tunnel, digging into every crevice and battering the dragonets with their wings as they poured through the tunnel.
Shadow continued to stumble forward and eventually made it out before quickly taking off. He looked around and noticed the other dragonets emerging from the cloud of bats while shaking a few off or spitting them out of their mouths.
Thankfully the bats didn’t stray far from the cave and quickly disappeared back inside while the dragonets regrouped outside.
Well looks like somehow bat is not something that they eat. That's an interesting point to note, I would've thought while the insects were bad, maybe bats would actually be not the worst food source. At any rate looks like they managed to breach their way out of that horror too.
“Well, that was disgusting,” Boulder commented while picking bits of bat from his teeth.
“At least we’re safe out here,” Tempest replied.
“Not really. There are still monsters in the forest, not to mention the lightning itself,” Hailstorm interjected. “The only safe place in these mountains is probably the home of the Night Wings. We shouldn’t be too far away by now.”
Well looks like they're just trying to get a small handle on their bearings at the moment and things are just a little bit confusing which is putting it mildly honestly given how many things just happened to them at once. I doubt they've managed to get all the rest they needed either.
“But are we ready to go yet? I’m fine but some of us might need more rest.” Tempest looked cautiously at Aurora, but she shook her head.
“I’m fine Tempest. After that nap I feel like I could go all day no problem.”
“Just don’t push yourself, ok? If you feel anything off or if you want to rest for a little while don’t hesitate to ask. It doesn't matter how long it takes us to get there so long as we all make it in one piece.”
Well looks like the attitude has changed at least on the getting there part although I'm not entirely confident about them going right away. I feel they should at least try to have something to eat before continuing, unless dragons aren't really in need of feeding every day like humans happen to be.
Aurora nodded. Boulder sighed and stretched with a yawn. “Alright, let’s go.”
Sticking close together the dragonets resumed their journey. This time they stayed closer to the valley floor. The further they went the more strange sounds they began hearing from among the dark pines below. Sometimes Shadow would catch glimpses of deformed creatures, moving trees and rocks or the occasional wolf.
Well looks likes most of the things in this area are very much not normal and pose a lot of danger too from the little descriptions we're getting. I think that's a nice level of description there by the way, just enough to know that thing are not normal and they are dangerous but not breaking the flow of the main story to describe a bunch of random creatures.
There seemed to be fewer and fewer goats, elk and other normal creatures, and more of the magical and monstrous kind. There were even a few times Shadow picked up the twisted mutterings of some semi-intelligent creatures. Even if they wanted to land it looked far too dangerous to attempt it, so they continued on.
After another hour or so of flying Shadow noticed that the cries had quieted. In fact, it had been eerily silent for the last few minutes. He drifted closer to Hailstorm.
Well looks like the creatures out there are getting steadily more terrifying as we continue on here. This is going to be quite the doozy to try and make sense of on the whole. We'll see how this will pan out. I think we're definitely not done with surprises any time soon.
“It’s so quiet. Did the scrolls you read mention something that might stop the monsters from getting near the Night wing territory?”
Hailstorm frowned. “Now that you mention it, it is a lot quieter. I can’t think of what might stop the monsters though. Perhaps there’s just no food for them here?”
Then Tempest, who had taken the lead for the moment, called to Hailstorm.
Hmmm this is a good question to ask here and for once no one seems to be passing snide remarks either at the moment. That's a neat little change, some of the direct influence of earlier coming into play just a little bit an I like to see that.
“Hey Hailstorm. You said this valley opens up into a larger valley where the entrance to the home of the Night Wings is, right?”
“Yes. That is correct.”
“Then why is there a wall of mountains blocking the way?”
Shadow looked ahead. The rain had lessoned once more and now they could see almost to the end of the valley where a wall of black stone rose into the sky, almost as tall as the mountains on either side of the valley.
Well that doesn't look good. I mean I could be reaching really far here but the way it seems the mountain's weren't previously there by how Hailstorm and Shadow are talking about it and the name of this chapter it makes me think the mountains are living and I'm getting just that little bit more scared for them.
“If we try to go over them we’ll get too close to the storm. I can scout ahead but I think we might have made a wrong turn somewhere.” Tempest called.
Hailstorm nodded to her but muttered to himself. “I was sure we were going the right way. This valley is exactly like the one the scrolls described.”
As they continued to approach Shadow noticed that the way was blocked by three distinct peaks. The one on the right was a little shorter and stouter, with a wide, round, top and two thick pillars for a base.
Well it looks like they're mostly suspecting this is a wrong turn but I can't imagine that's the reason. There's no way it would've taken them until right up to the mouth of the valley for them to notice unless they got massively turned around in that storm there somehow but that feels like a stretch at best.
The one on the left was the tallest and had a wide base, thick middle and two pillars on either side that connected to a central pillar on top. It’s peak even had a few trees on it.
The center mountain seemed to be leaning on the shorter one and had a broad center with two pillars laying crossed on it while another two thicker pillars extended from the base like avalanches of stone into the valley below. The peak was almost an oval if not for the square base that rested on a pillar connecting it to the center.
Well okay I think we have our answer from those descriptions. There's no way you'd describe a mountain in that shape with that particular attitude if it wasn't for the fact that they were actually just giants all along. Some sort of stone giant I'm guessing.
They had almost reached the base of the avalanche connected to the center mountain now, and it was looking more and more odd by the minute. It was almost oval shaped with five boulders that looked intentionally placed there laying on top.
Shadow was looking up at the towering mountain, in awe at how nature had stacked the stones together so precisely, when suddenly the large boulder at the top moved.
Well looks like they're about to get their reveal here. This'll be fun to see how they react, specifically if they're aware of the fact that such giants exist or not, because if not this is about to be one very serious panic for all of them to comprehend creatures like that.
Shadow’s eyes widened and he prepared to warn his friends about the massive boulder falling towards them… but it wasn’t falling. It was being lifted as if of its own accord. Then all the dragonets stopped as the earth itself groaned and rumbled.
What had looked like an avalanche of stone retreated up the mountain in one single piece while Shadow noticed a similar one in the distance being dragged around in a circle away from them. Then the entire central mountain groaned as it leaned towards them. Birds flew away cawing in fear.
The large boulder that served as the peak of the mountain leaned down until it was close enough for Shadow to see that the rocks on its surface seemed to form a human-like face.
Well here we go. We're about to learn right now I'm sure of how things will react. This is definitely an incredible moment. Which I don't think I mentioned it earlier but you do a wonderful job showing them to us and making it easy to picture a creature that is for us humans not exactly something we'd find easy to think of the scale of but I think you've done a great job here.
“A stone giant.” Boulder whispered in awe.
“An earth elemental to be exact,” Hailstorm corrected. But any further comments were drowned out by a deep and ominous voice that shook the ground.
“Who… goes… there?” The giant asked in the human language as it blinked and rubbed the glowing crystal caverns that served as its eyes. It was now kneeling on one knee as it inspected the dragonets.
Well looks like thankfully they are intelligent. I don't know why I didn't think of that, I guess I just assumed humanoid things like this would be intelligent but if they'd been mindless monsters that would've been one heck of a battle that I mean the only option would be to escape. Five dragonets can't do a lot against a sentient mountain when stone is unaffected by almost all the attacks that they can hope to do.
Shadow was shocked. He couldn’t read this creature’s mind, but it obviously had intelligence. And it spoke human!
Perhaps they could avoid being squashed, and if these creatures served as guards to the Night Wing kingdom, then perhaps he could negotiate safe passage through!
This was his chance to be useful to the dragonets and earn their trust. This was his chance to meet the other Night Wings. This was his chance to be the hero once more.
Just watch Jarid. I’m going to be just as great as you are!
Oooooooooh that is an interesting thought there actually. Shadow being the only one that can speak human and this being a human language speaking giant. Well, it could be quite a moment although this reminds me I need to read more of wing 2 to find out how well they actually know each other.
Aaand that's it for this oneee!!!
Overall
Overall it looks like that incident there proved to be quite impactful in the end and we're about to see the effects of it impact everything which is definitely a good thing. And well we'll see just how much Shadow manages to shine in this moment here.
As always remember to: Take what you think was helpful and forget the rest!
Stay Safe and Have a Nice Day!
Kate
Kate
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