Masters of the Sky

Epilogue - The New World

To cross the sharp peaks of Thundering Massive, Percy had to fly higher, diving into heavy storm clouds again. The wind was howling in strange harmony with dragons' roars, but when Celia was sure the whole ship would come apart, they pierced the heavy veil and came out on the other side of the mountains.

The sun had almost set, painting everything in orange and red hues, but Celia just stared at the landscape below them as her brain had difficulty processing what she saw.

Everything was so... green.

Giant trees covered the steep mountain slopes as some enormous blanket. As far as the eye could see, the land was covered in lavish verdant vegetation peppered with blooming flower varieties that Celia had never even heard of.

Every crew member was gaping around with their mouths open and eyes wide.

"That's..." It didn't happen often, but this time, Abner was clearly lost for words.

"Beautiful," Lyra finished for him, her green eyes bright. "It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. And it was right here all this time!"

Percy's deck filled with excited chatter as people leaned over the railings to get a better view of the brand-new world they had entered. A roar from the closest dragon brought Celia back to reality. Their escort pushed towards them, decisively forcing them to follow. She took a deep breath. The air tasted different here, free of any pollution that brought their old world to its knees. Even though this new world looked like paradise, Celia knew better than to let her guard down.

For one, they were not welcome guests here. Despite all the pretences she put up by returning the Stranger to his homeland, they were still intruders. Maybe not the immediate enemies, but she wasn't so naïve to expect they would be treated as potential allies. Their escort led them somewhere, so they must have orders to bring them to a specific place, probably to face the judgment of whoever was in charge. And once again, it was on Celia to talk her way out of this precarious situation. Although, she wasn't sure how she would achieve that, considering they didn't even speak the same language.

One of the dragon riders floated closer to Percy, and once he got her attention, he gestured with his spear downwards. Not far from them, in a vast valley between high hills, was a lake spacious enough to make a safe landing spot for a ship. Celia nodded and moved the helm correcting their course.

"Get ready for landing," she announced to the voicepipe leading to the engine room to give Theo and his engineers a heads-up.

The Sky Guardians' riders kept their distance while Percy slowed down and lowered her flight to land, but they never drifted too far away, ensuring the pirates were going exactly where they wanted them to. Once the ship's hull almost kissed the lake's surface, Celia noticed that on the lake's shore, more armoured soldiers awaited them. She wasn't surprised, but at the same time, it wasn't a good sign.

When Percy finally landed and the rumble of her engines silenced, Celia's ears were assaulted with an utterly foreign cacophony of sounds: rustling leaves on the wind, chaotic singing of some exotic birds, snarls and roars of animals hiding in the dark green depths around them. She always thought that if she left Iron Shore behind, every place would be quitter without the ever-present thunder of various machines working in the factories. But this place... was just as loud, only the noise was different.

One of the dragon riders jumped off his mount and, with a whisper of feathers, landed softly on Percy's deck. He wielded a spear but did not raise it against suddenly tense crew members. He pointed towards the shore, where more of his people awaited. There was no point in stalling.

"Gather up, everyone!" Celia commanded. "Prepare rowboats. We are going to the shore."

Celia's hands itched to reach for her revolvers as the crew busied themselves with preparations. Her skin prickled under the watchful stares of winged soldiers, but she knew better than antagonise them in their lands.