Chương 56: Flying Witch

As soon as Brandy's door closed behind them, Moeldywn once again whisked Melia away in a teleport. The destination wasn't the original curated woodland the group had wandered into in the palace and first ran into the princess, and it wasn't wherever she sent the rest of [Sunrise] to either. Melia looked around the new clearing they found themselves in and her eyes lit up with recognition.

The small courtyard with a single tree and a manicured lawn overlooking the ocean had the same bones as it did in the game, but in real life, it was so much more fleshed out. Each blade of grass had vibrant texture; the trunk of the tree grew in uneven clumps and patterns, rather than being a mostly cylindrical pole. Melia tottered over to the wall protecting observers from falling off the cliff and scaled what would have been a waist-high obstruction for a human.

"Oooh!" she gasped. It wasn't her first view of the ocean; she'd seen it back in Gold Coast when she hunted those floating jellyfish. But the view from the top of the spire, looking down on the crystal-clear waters and the nearly blindingly white rocks, was another tier entirely. It was the difference between driving up the coast of California and getting off at a random exit, versus going to an actual resort in Malibu. Without the sea lions.

It was mid-afternoon in the summertime, so the sun wasn't going to set for hours, and if left to her own devices, Melia could have stared at the ocean all day long. Waves from the ocean broke upon the rocks encircling the harbor, where a great big lighthouse perched to warn incoming ships of the danger.

"Magnificent, isn't it?" Moedlywn sighed as she slid beside Melia.

"To think that this world of ours is full of such beauty, if only you take the time to look." Melia nodded absently. She had time now, and she wanted to see it all. She'd sat on this vista countless times before, but never in the game had it felt so real. The sun kissed her face, and the wind played with her pigtails, making her hair tickle her face; it was calming and serene.

"This was where we first met," Moeldywn continued nostalgically.

"Do you remember?"

"I do," Melia agreed. How could she forget?

"You were so timid that very first time," Moeldywn teased. Melia narrowed her eyes. Was she?

"You sat there and answered my questions only when asked, and ate my cookies when you weren't. At least that never changed," Moeldywn laughed.

"You insatiable glutton. A far cry from when you revealed your true colors." Melia turned to face Moeldywn as she leaned against the barrier. She had Melia's full attention.

"I'd ask for stories about the happenings in the world beyond my cage, and you gave me exactly what I wanted to hear. I remember being enraptured, captivated and hanging on your every word as you described distant lands, terrifying beasts, and heroes overcoming impossible odds. And then, slowly, as you visited more often and grew more comfortable, you branched out. Put a more personal spin on them. Told them from the eyes of an observer, rather than what I might find in a history book.

Ahhh," Moeldywn sighed, "I remember the first time you told me how the heroes really act." A mischievous light glinted in the princess' eyes.

"I was so scandalized! How could you profane such venerable people like that? [Saints] and [Braves], the lot of them! And yet, you showed me a side more…Human. Their foibles, their failures. And, oh gods, their misadventures!" Moeldywn laughed.

"I used to think adventurers battled for a noble cause, fought for the weak, and selflessly sacrificed themselves for the greater good! Imagine my surprise when I learned they, too, could be small and petty. Not to mention somewhat braindead." Melia resisted the urge to gulp. Did this princess actually remember every single time she griped about a dungeon run that went south early? When a dps pulled a mob without the tank knowing about it just to try and speed up a run? Or when somebody ninja'd some loot?

"How could we ever forget the ill-fated time, where surely they took leave of their senses, and nearly an entire army of under-one-hundred's marched all the way from Deepholme to Serenity to confront [Bruin the Barbaric]… while wearing nothing but their smallclothes." This time, Melia covered her eyes fully behind her hands. Truly, that was an infamous event that had no business reaching the ears of a sheltered princess.

[Bruin the Barbaric] was an elite, level 11, gigantic brown bear that made its den at the edge of Serenity Forest and Gold Coast. It was the first elite mob most players encountered, lower than any other elite by at least 10 levels, and meant to give players a taste for pre-dungeon combat and grouping up, since usually it would be impossible to solo-kill the bear while at an equal level.

The monster quickly gained a reputation as a "noob-killer," claiming the lives of many, many foolish players who either thought they were better than the game's limits, or perhaps simply wandered into the wrong area without knowing and found themselves two-shotted. Of course, in the grand scheme of the game, a single level 25 or 30 player could easily solo the elite mob, especially if they could kite it around and pepper it with attacks from outside of melee range, but the lore of [Bruin the Barbaric] deepened.

One day, a whole host of players (probably starting from a drunk bet or challenge) decided they were going to take on [Bruin]… while naked. At level 1. Over 80 players jumped on board, created new toons, made their way to the dwarven capital of Deepholme, and stripped out of their starter gear. Of course, the game wasn't rated adult only, so nobody was truly naked, but two full 40-man raids eventually set out to walk the entire way toward Horizon in nothing but their underwear. It was called The Nekkid Mile.

Most players ended up being level two or three by the time they reached the bear simply due to exploration exp, but still, the question remained: could a raid of freshly created characters with no gear take down [Bruin the Barbaric]? It was a bloodbath. In the end, they did succeed, but over half the attacking army died before they could chip away its health.

Strangely, Melia found it more absurd that apparently she was the one to share this story with the princess, rather than this bizarre whim of the playerbase making it into world-canon. Moeldywn's smile told Melia she was clearly enjoying the gnome's squirming discomfort, but she was also in full reminiscence mode.

"And then there came the day you did the unthinkable," Moeldywn said in a small, bittersweet voice.

"You leapt up on the table…and you hugged me." Moeldywn paused to stare Melia completely in the eyes.

"At first, I was so shocked that a lowly adventurer would dare touch me, let alone latch onto me so…intimately. And yet, never before had I felt so…loved. You shattered my worldview that day, and I think the kingdom at large was better for it." Melia stared at the princess, open-mouthed. Moeldywn, for her part, gazed over the ocean wistfully.

"I think that small, hesitant hug shook me more than any time you flung yourself at me later with gusto, or even when you first revealed your true form." Melia was at a loss for words. In her mind, she wasn't ever able to actually touch the princess… just like she couldn't physically touch most npcs. Normally, she'd phase right through them. However, that never stopped her from craving comfort, nor did it ever keep her from emoting "/hug" whenever she first entered the princess' instance.

And yet, Melia had to admit, as the years wore on, she grew more animated and exuberant in her greetings and storytelling, especially after starting to learn role-play. Moeldywn glanced back down at Melia from the corner of her eye, and the edges of her mouth twitched.

"You've already given me a hug," she teased, "Are you going to turn back into a dragon?" Melia looked around the courtyard. It was… small. And she was not. Back in the game, she never really fit in this small space, and she supposed she was only saved from falling off because there were invisible walls that wouldn't let players pass through.

Melia supposed not much testing went into these particular boundaries, since she was the only player with the dragon race, and the devs didn't see the need to test every little thing. For better or worse, her in-game transformation functioned nearly identically to summoning a mount, which included being unable to mount (or transform) indoors. Most instances and dungeons counted as indoors, due to their usual nature of being in mansions, cathedrals, and caves, even if they had small bits on balconies and courtyards.

There were three notable exceptions: one mid-game dungeon in the desert and two end-game raids that were so big players needed to mount just to get to the other end of each area in a reasonable time. Moeldywn's courtyard slipped through the cracks, and it took Melia several weeks to find the exact position where her geometry could fit inside the boundary just enough to stop her transformation from failing.

Half of her body was clipped out of bounds, and it was only due to the fact that her dragon form was immobile that she didn't fall through the world. Here, in real life, she couldn't exactly clip through the tree and the entire balcony.

"Umm, I don't think I'll fit," Melia laughed sheepishly. If she had to guess, from the changes of what she used to be to how big her body was now, she might be able to fit her head and some of her neck inside. The rest? No.

"What do you mean?" Moeldywn teased.

"Have you eaten too many cookies and gotten fat? Don't think I didn't see how chubby your tail is." Melia swooshed her tail away from a prodding finger before it could poke her too many times. Fine. If Moeldywn wanted to play that way, Melia could be mischievous, too. She had a few tricks up her sleeve. Melia gave Moeldywn a playful pout before quickly leaping up… and over the edge of the cliff.

Moeldywn gasped, but before she could reach out or even look down, she had to shield her eyes from a blinding white light tinted with pink and purple. She blinked away the stars rapidly, but when she was able to see again, she was met with the gigantic visage of a dragon grinning at her toothily, floating in the abyss. Her breath hitched, her eyes grew wide as saucers. The face greeting her spanned nearly the entirety of her balcony.

"O-oh my," Moeldywn gasped.

"Meliastraza, you've grown."" And you said I ate too many cookies!" Meliastraza cackled, before remembering to check her voice.

"I'm really surprised that worked!" Melia grinned with her massive, fanged snout. And yet the princess was not frightened by the scaly visage in the least. If anything, she grew slightly flustered and annoyed once she fully processed what Melia just said.

"What are you saying?" Moeldywn scolded, hands on her hips. Nevermind the fact that Melia's left nostril was like a small cave in front of her.

"Did you just jump off a cliff without knowing if you could transform on the way down? What if there wasn't enough time and you crashed into the rocks below?"

"Eh, I'd have figured it out," Melia continued to grin.

"Figure it out," Moeldywn scoffed.

"You don't just figure out gravity. No, I take that back. Gravity has long since been figured out. Things fall, and silly gnomes that drop from too high go splat."

"Are you sure?" Melia teased.

"I think the rocks might have come out worse. I think I could beat 'em. Should I try again?"

"Let's not," Moeldywn said flatly. She took a moment to compose herself and studied Melia coolly.

"So," she said.

"I did not think it was normal for dragons to grow so…prodigiously. Then again, as a level 2000, I don't think normal applies."

"2000?" Melia asked curiously. For a second, she blanked. Where did that number come from? Melia couldn't place it. If she considered her original level when she first visited the princess as a storytelling npc, Melia would only be level 80, which was the maximum at the time, and only for a single class, because the dragon race would not be released for several years.

Even if she considered when she initially reached maximum reputation with the princess, she would only have been around level 120, since it was a different expansion and a different character. Maybe, if she combined the two characters, her first class and her next, then it would reach 200, which in this world might translate to 2000, but that seemed like cherry picking to Melia. Why wouldn't it pick from any of her other classes she visited the npc with over the years before her dragon became a thing?

Some of those characters never reached full reputation, and most of them she never visited with once she reached their max level. Technically speaking, the first time she visited the princess as a dragon in disguise, she was only level 12. She'd done the required starter quests from the dragon lands, which hadn't gone very far in terms of experience, and she was bored with leveling for the moment and wanted to load in town. If that was the baseline, she could see what the system might put her at level 120…

or else she should be something closer to 444: 12 levels for each of her 37 base classes. Melia supposed it didn't really matter, and guessed she might never know.

"I'm not level 2000," she said, coming back to her senses. And for some reason, she didn't feel any of the trepidation of telling Melody her real class and level that she had when bringing it up with her party.

"I'm level 3700."

"Three…thousand?" Moeldywn's eyes dilated. She stared off into space for several moments before collecting herself.

"I see," was all she eventually said.

"No wonder you've grown so big." Interesting. Perhaps her size was tied to her level, and that was why she was so much bigger now than she was in the game, if whatever governed this world thought she was originally rank 20 instead of 37. But maybe that was a thought for another time. Melia could float in the air all day if she wanted, but that didn't really allow her to interact with her princess as much as she'd like. Or so she thought.

All this time, Moeldywn had been assessing Melia's form, taking in her giant, beating wings and her smooth, shiny scales. Small human eyes roamed over gigantic draconic ones, and they lingered for a suspiciously long time on the set of enormous horns piercing the heavens before traveling down the ridge of spikes trailing Melia's spine. Eventually, she could take it no longer and began tapping her foot impatiently.

"Well?" Moeldywn demanded.

"Take me flying."" Eh?" Melia blinked, confused. That wasn't what she was expecting. Moeldywn slammed one hand into her hip and thrust the other one forward, first pointing her tiny hand at Melia's face before pointing it to the ground.

"Lower your giant snout and let me climb up. Take me flying."" You…want to fly?" Melia asked, just to confirm. This didn't sound very princess-like.

"Of course I want to fly!" Moeldywn threw her hands in the air.

"Who doesn't? You turned me practically immortal and left me as a child for over fifty years. The least you could do is let me fly." Presented with such flawless logic, Melia could only lower her stunned face slowly onto the grass, where Moeldywn proceeded to very un-daintily hitch up the skirt of her dress and clamber up Melia's snout like a kid climbing some monkey bars at a park.

Melia trained her eyes on Moeldywn as she scaled the bridge of her nose with laser focus, making sure to stay absolutely still so Moeldywn wouldn't fall. Once the tiny princess reached halfway above it, Melia was so cross-eyed she began to get dizzy, so she blinked. When she opened her eyes, the princess was gone, but she could feel tiny little feet pattering up her browline like a solitary ant scouting a new hill." Be careful," Melia fretted, to which Moeldywn only laughed.

"Fu fu fu," she giggled with glee, and Melia could just imagine the back of her palm covering her mouth like one of those useless rich girls in a villainess anime.

"I know you better, Meliastraza," Moeldywn confidently said, "You'd never let me fall." There was a slight pause.

"Besides, you're actually quite large. Did you know? There's plenty of room to wander around. Never did I dream I could explore the top of a dragon's head." Clearly, this girl had issues, but so did Melia, so she wisely kept her mouth shut. She felt a tiny hand plant itself on the side of her horn and slowly pat around on it in circles, satisfying Moeldywn's curiosity.

"Oh?" Melia heard, and she felt the girl do a little jump. Melia's heart jumped too, wondering what this reckless woman was up to, but she landed half a second later.

"There's a nice little divot here," Moeldywn said conversationally, not caring how Melia might take it, finding out the top of her head had a divot.

"Yes, this will do perfectly. Onward!" Melia closed her eyes and used her situational senses to envision the princess' exact position. As much as she didn't want to admit it, Moeldywn did look perfectly comfortable, happy, and safe, though Melia would be the judge of that as soon as she started flying. But that was another thing. Flying? Over the palace, in Horizon, during the middle of the day, in plain sight?" Melody,"Melia sighed, opening her eyes." Aren't you worried people might see?"

"Nonsense," Moeldywn waved a hand impatiently.

"Join my party. I'll cast [Invisibility] on us." A system prompt appeared in front of Melia's right eye… and a very silly thought consumed her. As a dragon, her eyes were on the side of her head. Technically, she wasn't really looking straight forward, was she? It was all a trick of her brain normalizing what she saw for her? So did that mean if she closed her right eye, the system screen would go away? It did.

For almost a full second, as if whatever controlled the system realized it got outplayed and popped it in front of her left eye. Unobtrusively, of course. Melia chuckled to herself and hit accept. Suddenly, she was in a party, without any of the shenanigans Jessica and the gang described to her when she sent the invite." Melody, I want to try something,"Melia said on a whim." I've been told when I invite people to my party, it's not normal. I've only done it with the others, what do you think?"

Moeldywn said nothing, but her intellectual curiosity was piqued as Melia left the party. Melia sent out her invite and immediately felt the girl tense.

"Well, that's…problematic," she said after a beat. Melia could practically hear her furrow her brows.

"Do I hit yes or no?" Jessica would be totally validated if she ever found out the Royal Spymaster and Queen of Intelligence had the same conundrum as she did, so Melia resolved to never let her know. In Moeldywn's defense, she figured it out much faster, and after another second, Melia was back in a party. She could feel the princess study her intently, but she said nothing about her class or level and instead kicked her heels against Melia's skull like a cowboy might spur on a horse.

"Forward!"" Invisibility?" Melia sighed. She could cast [Stealth], but she wasn't sure how that mechanic might play out with a rider, and right now wasn't the time to test it. She could feel Moeldywn grow flustered as she cast a spell onto both of them, coating them in a shimmering layer of mana that reminded Melia of a soap bubble. She assumed, since Moeldywn obviously knew her business, that they were now invisible to the rest of the world.

"Forward!"

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Technically, they moved forward. Melia was understandably worried, since this was her first time flying with a passenger. Said passenger was not okay with traveling slow, and heckled her mighty steed ruthlessly until Melia flew far enough away from the cliff face that she could actually level out her body.

When she was maintaining altitude in her "hovering mode", her body was vertical, with her head held high, her wings sweeping powerfully on her back, and the rest of her body dangling below. But as soon as she gained a little bit of momentum, her body began to draw even in a horizontal line, and she found it difficult to slow down, even if she wanted to. Despite magic clearly keeping her aloft, some things apparently needed to follow the rules of physics.

"Faster," was all Moeldywn said for the first four or five minutes as Melia continued to gain speed, eventually leveling out in what she liked to think of as her cruise setting. She could see the waves zoom past them as they flew, the edge of the coast shrinking behind them as Horizon was reduced to a blip. Likewise, she could feel Moeldywn's building excitement, her joy leaking out in child-like giggles and squeals of glee.

Melia didn't know the waters below her, so she eventually settled into a large, gradual arc that would take them in a circle. The last thing she wanted was for them to get lost… though once she thought about it, she supposed both of them had the power and capability to teleport them back home. Moeldywn seemed satisfied for all of 10 minutes until she realized Melia was holding back.

"Come now, Meliastraza," the girl pouted.

"We've come all this way. Surely you aren't content to flap in a circle? I want to see real speed!"" I…have never pushed myself to the limit," Melia eventually said. She could hear the surprise in Moeldywn's voice.

"Truly? Even as the instrument of the gods?" By now, Melia understood that the princess, and indeed probably all mortal minds, saw the [Destroyer of Worlds] as some sort of godly reset button. Like a tactical nuke, or a pillar of fire from heaven." Do you think such measures are to be taken lightly?

"Melia asked with a surprising amount of solemnity." I have never, not once and hopefully not ever, used any of those skills."

"Not even when you were attacked?" Moeldywn asked. While Melia considered that play-fighting, with her and her friends following a script, this world thought differently. She tried to envision how that fight should have escalated, if everything eventually followed her friend's final plan. Would she have to destroy the world? She hoped not. That wasn't what she signed up for. And her friend assured her that she wasn't. Even so, the skills she ended up with were not to be joked about.

In response, instead of telling Moeldywn about why she didn't think it would be a good idea to practice any of her new skills, she decided to reveal her skill screen instead. Melia figured somebody like the White Witch, who turned into something of a world boss herself, might understand.

Three skills. That's all her class, [Destroyer of Worlds], gave her. Just three. And those were more than enough.

[Wrath]. [Ruin]. [Extinction].

[Wrath] Infuse your breath with the unholy vengeance of the dead gods to channel black fire. Any living thing the flame touches atomizes; render any inorganic material inert.

She breathes deep.

[Ruin] Crack the planet in half.

There is no mutual. This is simply 'assured' destruction.

[Extinction] Draw on the ley lines of the entire planet, turn your body into a conduit, and redirect them into the closest star. Extinguish the sun.

And then the gods said: let there be night.

Melia herself never wanted to know what she was supposedly capable of, and for a moment, she regretted inflicting that knowledge on someone else. But, strangely, it made her feel much lighter, like weighted chains were hanging around her neck and had suddenly been removed, knowing it was no longer her secret to bear. She could feel Moeldywn tremble atop her, but the princess mastered herself.

"Oh," was all she said, and Melia agreed." Now do you see?" Melia sighed. Why did she always do this? They were having fun, and she smothered the mood like a wet blanket. She shook her head. She could fix this. She would fix this!" Faster?" Melia asked, hoping to bribe the excitable princess.

"Yes!" Melody perked up and yelled with glee.

"Faster!"

So Melia pushed herself faster. So far, she had always traveled under "natural" means, which was probably not entirely accurate since Melia was certain she needed magic just to function. But when she actively forced magic through her body, strengthening her wings and streamlining her flight, she found she could move much, much faster.

"Yes! Yes!!! AhahahahawheeeeeeeEEEE!!!" At least Melody was having a good time. Her laughter was infectious, and Melia grinned like an idiot, caught up in the childlike glee. The fact that they were accelerating at a rate normally reserved for aircraft and jet engines never crossed her mind regarding the tiny princess' safety. Melody was nestled safely behind her horns, and that was where she would stay. Melia's magic made sure of it.

She could also feel the magic seeping into the world around her, protecting not only herself and her passenger, but the world as a whole. She didn't know how fast exactly they were moving, but there was no sound, no ripple, no shockwave of energy. Melia could feel a small protective bubble form around her passenger, much like a pressure-sealed cabin of a plane, keeping her safe, stable, and, dare Melia say it, comfortable. At the very least, she had more legroom than the classic commercial aircraft of old.

Melia found that traveling in her original small loop was no longer economical. She was moving too fast for the current circuit and turning slowed her down, so she straightened her course and followed the coast south. Miles passed beneath them in the blink of an eye, and no sooner had they left Horizon behind than it felt like they were leaving Gold Coast behind, too.

Melia continued to accelerate until she hit the next milestone of speed, where a shimmering blue-ish purple cone warbled into existence in front of her nose. She could feel more of her mana being drained to sustain the protective bubble surrounding her, but her mana pool was so vast it hardly seemed to matter. Faster and faster they flew, and while Melia could hear (and feel) Moeldywn's exuberance behind her, she knew their trip had to end soon.

Doubly so once the golden plains of wheat and grains abruptly ended at a mountain range and turned into the grey, cracked dirt of the harsh and desolate demon lands. They had been flying for nearly 2 hours, all things considered, and had traveled over a thousand miles. While Melia still had energy to spare, Moeldywn's excitement wore off, and now she was just along for the ride.

"T'would be amusing to drop in, unannounced," Melia heard the girl mutter to herself, and on the horizon, she could just make out the faintest hints of a dark and dreary-looking castle. Deciding it might not be wise to cause an international incident, Melia turned around. When they finally got back to Horizon in the human lands and landed back on the balcony, Moeldywn was fast asleep. She'd magicked herself to Melia's horn and couldn't be pried off even when Melia shook her head side to side.

She didn't want to risk tearing her beautiful dress by prying her away with a claw, so Melia gently nudged her until she stirred.

"Are we back?" Moeldywn asked sleepily.

"I didn't mean to doze off."" All that yelling must have tired you out," Melia grinned, finally turning back into a gnome once the princess was back on solid ground.

"Like a kid on a carriage." It wasn't quite the same as saying a kid on a car ride, but the thought did carry over. Moeldywn pouted slightly and stuck her nose up in the air with a sniff.

"Allow me some frivolity, Meliastraza," she said, but once again, she couldn't stop the grin from forming on her face.

"I must say: I haven't felt that young in years. It's about time I was allowed to act the age I look."