Ansgarde was an insignificant toy in the hands of an unseen force of nature. The wind was like a playful child, reaching down from the celestial plane to torment the fools that dared to enter its sandbox. She couldn’t fight it, so she tried to work with it.

Steering was difficult, but she was learning the wind's whims. Her worst fear was that it would take her too far from the Cloud Empire, and she wouldn’t be able to make her way back. She aimed at the closest landmass - a small island with a glowing, purple center - a beacon of hope in the endless night.

The wind did not relent during the entire descent, lurching her sideways, testing the last of her strength. She was coming down fast, the gravity working against her, and aimed at a sheet of what she thought was water.

Whether her eyes deceived her in the dark, or the wind swept her too far from her target, it wasn’t water that greeted her. By the time she noticed the solid ground, it was too late to stop.

Pain like nothing she had ever endured met her at the landing. She rolled a few times on a hard, uneven surface, the world still spinning even after she had stopped. She sprawled on her belly on the rough, curved ground, unsure if she created the little crater or if it was there already. She clutched Spinel’s form in her cupped hands. Her little friend looked unharmed but also unmoving.

“Spinel?”

How could she have slept through all of that?

She put her on the ground and tried to push herself up on elbows but fell back down with a cry. Everything hurt.

Her cheek touching the rough ground, she breathed heavily and tried to assess her injuries. Broken and stranded here was a death sentence. Several spots hurt her the most. Her elbows and hands, but she could move them. Her wings - she stretched them to check. They were sore, but more from the effort than the fall. She wiggled her toes and bent her knees. One leg hurt more than the other but likely was not broken.

“We’ll be okay, Spinel,” she tried to assure herself. “We survived. We’ll be okay.”

She turned to her friend who laid on her side, her chest rising and falling in a very slow, uneven rhythm.

“Spinel? Spinel!” she crawled over and gently shook her little body, but it did not rouse her. “Did those Lodolites do something to you?”

They were trying to steal her. They likely put her to sleep, so she wouldn’t put up a fight.

“Spinel…” Ansgarde’s voice shook as vision swam in front of her.

Her loyal friend was the spark of light in times of hardship. Spinel wouldn’t have been here if not for her. None of it would have happened if she wasn’t such a fool. She should have listened to the voice of reason that warned her against going on this quest. She was no hero. She was no warrior. She was weak physically and mentally. She overestimated her flying ability. She knew nothing of the outside world. She was a spoiled brat who let her juvenile fantasies fuel her actions and endanger her only friend.

Her mother was right. She let fantasy obscure reality. And her grandfather was right. She should have listened to her mother. And now… it was too late to take back the mistake. And Spinel...

She wiped her eyes and tried to wake her little friend again.

“Open your eyes, Spinel. Open your eyes for me. Please...”

The wind howled around her, blowing hair into her face. She was alone in this frigid world, surrounded by darkness, rocks, and dirt, muddy from her tears. She had no one to call for help.

Call. She could call.

“Lamassu. Lamassu. Lamassu!” she wailed at the top of her lungs.

Nothing happened. Only the wind answered her back.

Maybe she mumbled it too much. She wiped her eyes and got on her knees, the rocky surface digging into her scraped skin. She had to have clear intentions to summon someone. She took a couple of breaths to steady herself and called out loud and clear.

“Lamassu. Lamassu. Lamassu!”

She waited, the wind turning her ears numb, but Lamassu did not come. She knew why. She would come only when dragons were ready to leave.

“Somehow, she knows that I failed.”

Ansgarde straightened up Spinel’s little jade dress and smoothed out her feathery hair.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice hoarse from the yelling.

Tears obscured her vision again, and she was about to collapse in the little crater next to her sleeping friend when she heard a shuffle.

She turned around and saw a large figure approach on two legs. No! No one would take her friend. She would fight Tiamat herself to protect Spinel from further harm.