I Guess I'm a Dragon Now (Part 1)

Recovery

Flailing around in the air as he fell, Ergen desperately attempted to expand his stiff wings so that he could glide to the other side of the ravine. Behind him, what looked like an enormous castle that was built into the mountain range was rapidly disappearing as he fell, blurring as Ergen couldn't quite get a good look at it. However, even though he'd escaped the forest of titans beyond both the castle and it's attached mountain range, it was all meaningless if he fell to his death here.

Turning again and again as his body awkwardly twisted in the air, Ergen attempted to stabilize himself so that he could spread his wings, but it was to no avail as one would catch a random gust of wind and fold before the other was able to extend. The air howled in his ears as he fell, and he was just about to pass the point where he could no longer glide to safety anymore before his wings thankfully both caught the air at the same time and he managed to correct himself.

Now that he was somewhat stable, Ergen realized that it hadn't only been hadn't only been his stiff body that had been effecting his wings, but the wind itself as it blew all around him. It seemed to come at him from all directions, hitting him from both the sides, upwards, downwards, front and back, and all the while tossing him around as if he were a pair of dice in a gambling game. While he glided towards the other side of the ravine, Ergen's back was filled with pain as the soreness of the bite wounds blended with the poison still inside of his body, making him almost want to scream from the pain before he quickly started approaching the other side.

Not bothering to fly slowly as didn't know how, Ergen attempted to put his feet out in front of him to cushion his impact before he hit the ground hard and skid to a stop while using his claws against the stone in order to make himself slow down. However, even though he managed to stop, Ergen was nearly blown back into the ravine thanks to the fierce winds that were blowing in irregular patterns around him. Though, in his current state, Ergen didn't even attempt to get out of it. Instead, he moved his body as close to the ground as he could so that he could recover from his ordeal.

Ergen didn't know how long he laid on the side of the side ridge, but he stayed there as until he finally felt his body beginning to recover from the acid that was still inside of his blood. He felt absolutely tortured as the howling of the wind taunted him from above, threatening to blow him back into the abyss. Though thankfully he managed to ignore it until he eventually felt strong enough to start moving again. And ever so slowly, he crawled forward until he eventually left the rocky ridge of the ravine behind and started crawling across the sand that was at the edge of the desert.

As he continued, the howling of the wind lessened, and Ergen started to feel stronger before he was eventually able to start walking again. His progress was almost at a crawling pace as he stumbled forward, but he couldn't help it seeing as all all of his joints were still incredibly stiff. Though, as he walked, they started loosening until he was eventually able to walk normally again. Gradually, the pain was fading, and Ergen was growing more confident that he might actually survive the ordeal. He made sure to move each limb, including his wings and tail, as much as he could in order to loosen them up. It was a tiring and painful process, but eventually Ergen felt as if all of the stiffness had left his body before he looked at what was in  front of him.

For miles upon miles, nothing but sand and blue sky was visible. There were no plants, no forms of life, and worst of all... no water. Despite being completely barren, Ergen thought that it was most likely still a much better place than the one that he'd just escaped, though just the idea of a water dragon like him being stranded in a desert did make him hesitate. Though even with some hesitation, Ergen continued along his path regardless before looking around to try and find some kind of road. He was sure that he'd seen humans inside of the castle that he'd passed underneath, so surely they would need a road leading away from the castle and to other nearby villages, right?

As Ergen searched, he become completely clueless as he could see the tops of the castle sticking through the mountain behind him, yet there were no roads leading away from it at all. He'd expected to find something like a bridge leading across the ravine and into the castle so that they could supplies, but there were absolutely no crossings anywhere nearby, and Ergen wondered just how the castle was surviving until he had a grim thought as he looked toward the top of the mountains.

With the ridges being completely flat on top, Ergen sighed to himself as he realized that they most likely had farms up there. They'd obviously dug down into the mountain, so metal possibly wasn't an issue either along with the water that they allowed inside. It was possibly a completely self-sustaining structure, and Ergen sighed inwardly as he turned and started walking across the desert. Already, he could feel the heat of the sand rising up through the bottoms of his scaled feet, and he really hoped now that dragons couldn't get sunburns as he continued walking. And as he continued, he guessed that the desert actually wasn't completely lifeless as there seemed to be several snake trails through the sand around him. Though while they were large, none of the trails seemed excessively large to the point where they would be they would be a threat to him. And thankfully, he didn't spot any signs yet that there were any snakes that were as large as the last one that he'd met. He never wanted to encounter anything like that creature again, even after he was fully grown. If he could survive long enough to make it until he was fully grown...

With that sobering thought, Ergen continued along his path, hoping that he was heading in a straight direction and that there would be water up ahead of him. Thanks to being a dragon and the fact that he had a great sense of smell, he knew that he would be able to find water far easier than any normal creature other than perhaps a normal resident of this desert. And after thinking that if he did find an animal that he could follow it to an oasis, Ergen wandered off farther into the desert with only the hope of safety in mind as he explored the unknown. As he walked, little did Ergen know that a group of gods was watching him from above him with mild disappointment, almost certain that the end of both their game and Ergen's life was near when it had only just started.