Vice and Virtue

Chapter - 19

It was depressing, to accept the death of someone so close but to move on forward is the only thing that’s left to do. Death was physically the end of a life but in this day and age, we die mentally or emotionally , as many times it takes for us to feel alive. We bury embarrassing parts of ourselves in order to feel better, change ourselves into something better to achieve some kind of superficial stability but there are very few who don’t mind their true selves to be seen by the world, the ones that accepted themselves as is, so that they could live in reality. Some people call this practicality, some call it stupidity but I think of it as just living. Accepting ourselves is different from liking our present selves, for accepting is to get back to reality and to like is to be happy. People say family stands by your side, no matter the situation but what if complete strangers that are in no way related to us help us to get through life. What if these so called strangers turn into someone we like to call our friends end up standing with us through everything even when our so called family doesn’t even bother to know who we really are, who we have become due to the various circumstances in our life. Thoughts like these are beautiful but scary a the same time but to imagine these kinds of strangers passing away before us, ends up making us sad and frustrated. To not be able to stop their death or all the regrets we’re left with, just because we always thought we would spend more time with them, thoughts like these might sound bad but sometimes, they keep us going forward and these kinds of types are just too damn special, since these thoughts turn into powerful feelings that fuel you to do something that you never would otherwise.

For Nina, this was one of those moments that she wouldn’t be able to get through alone. Having her in my arms, so fragile and vulnerable, only strengthened my resolve to get the Order to spill its secrets. Standing there, with my chin resting over her head, I thought to myself, ‘Whoever was behind Jason, would pay dearly for their crimes’. ‘I hate to ruin you young lads fun but we should get going already’ Harold chimed in while patting my shoulder. I was lost in my own moment till then, so I was bit taken aback by his sudden interference. ‘Uhh, yes yes! Sorry, let’s get going’ I said as I let go of her. She quickly wiped away her tears and quickly apologized for acting like that, as she turned away toward her dragon. ‘Oh and By the way, he’s called Glaze’ she proclaimed, patting his scaly neck and mounting him. I wasn’t expecting her to rebound that fast, so I admit I was a bit surprised by how strong she was emotionally. It reminded of how Renae would have thrown a big tantrum till she’s exhausted. ‘Glaze? I don’t know if it’s a fitting name for an ice dragon like yours but it definitely mirrors that of your own, young lady’ Harold commented nut I just smiled weakly at her. ‘How did you manage to get past all those scouts for this long though?’ I asked her. ‘That’s what I’ve been thinking about’ Harold supported me. ‘Just get on him and you’ll understand it yourself in a while’ she chuckled. ‘I’ll follow you guys on foot, that’s the safest way to travel for now’, ‘Makes sense, but be careful. Off the ground is more dangerous than on the ground, where we’re headed’, I jumped on Glaze’s back and we took off. I still have no idea, how Harold managed to keep up with us. He said, he used something called a skip-step but I have no idea what it was. Soaring through the skies but keeping close to the ground, we made good headway, making up for the lost time. Soon, I realized how Nina made it this far, safe and sound. After a few minutes since we took off, Glaze accelerated steadily but just enough to not injure us and in a few more minutes, he disappeared, like literally, physically disappeared, us along with him. The world was still visible to us but us not so much to the rest of the world. At first, I couldn’t notice it myself, till I saw Harold take a few extra turns while following us. I noticed Nina, smiling as she slightly tilted her head back, as to brag about her pal saying ‘He’s the one I brought up myself’ like a proud mother. I couldn’t help but laugh a bit, when I thought of her acting like a proud little mom that saw her kid win in the sports meet.

Soon, we reached the volcanic land, the village was situated at. We landed near the outskirts of the village, I figured it was best not to let any misunderstandings arise, flying straight into the village. ‘Young lady, that’s a pretty unique pet you got there. I never knew ice dragons could turn invisible and that too along with their riders’ Harold exclaimed with a big smile on his face. ‘That’s because he’s not just any ice dragon. At least, not one we know of’. ‘I hate to stop you guys but Harold, I think it’s best if you stay outside. Since they hate the Order and the rebels alike, anyone else except me and my group would trigger them’ I interrupted. ‘Then maybe, you can introduce me to them as a part of your group, can you not?’, ‘I’m not keen to lie to my one friend that stays out of all this pointless farce, just so you guys can take advantage of her to get in touch with the tribe’. ‘If that’s what you fear, I might inform you that we’re already in touch with land and water tribes. How else do you think we were able to get Leviathan all the way to the Capitol, without its devoted protectors interfering us’ he boasted. ‘If you really want to get in, I’m not going to stop you but I’m not having your back either’. ‘That’s enough for me now’ he agreed. We started to walk into the village and few steps in, Snow leaped over us, tackling Glaze to the ground. A wolf and a dragon playing together? That’s another one of those things that I never could have imagined before all this. I don’t know how it made sense but I guess they like each other. We just smiled at them rolling around on the ground, glaze lifting her off the ground into the sky and dropping from up high and swooping in to catch her before she touches the ground, Snow headbutting him as soon as she got on the ground, sure it was weird but I guess everything’s weird at present. Most of the tribe were back at the village but as we walked through it, most of them stopped their work and kept staring at us.