Songs of Reamere | Nacht: Chapter 4

Nacht is honestly quite impressed that the small human, Wayre, was it? Is still managing to somehow cling onto the sodden scales of the large sea serpent. She’s almost tempted to just sit back and watch how this plays out, wanting to see how long the human can keep holding out for, but Trysta would be most upset if he were to sink under the water and drown or freeze to death. She waits until her companion has broken from her stupor and has climbed back onto her back again, before she races after the serpent. The thick ice is enough to slow down the sea serpent’s movements, despite how powerful a creature it must be to be breaking through. For some reason, it continues on its path, determined to break through rather than diving under or changing direction to head somewhere else.  

After a few minutes of leaping from broken piece of ice to broken piece of ice, easily able to keep her grip on the slippery surface by digging her large claws into it, Nacht is almost alongside the sea serpent. She’s so large that her weight causes several of the little iceburgs to sink dangerously below the water, the cold water lapping at her feet and wings. Taking to the air might have been an easier option, but Trysta wanted to remain close to the ground so that she can try and reach for the man.  

When they catch Wayre’s attention, the man reaches out to Trysta, who is dangling upside down from her saddle in order to reach him. For a moment, Nacht thinks that they won’t be able to save the man and will need to regroup for another attempt, but then the human finally grabs a hold of Trysta, being lifted from the back of the massive beast. Keeping herself in position long enough for the man to be extracted is difficult, but she continues never the less, praying the serpent doesn’t suddenly decide to change directions.  

Trysta is strong enough to lift the man up into the air and high enough for him to pull himself up onto Nacht's saddle, before pulling herself up afterwards. The moment she’s settled, Nacht leaps from the ice and back into the air again with a hissing shriek. She’s glad to be out of range of the sea serpent, safe in the air among the clouds once again. She hears Trysta talking to Wayre, ensuring the man is alright, but she gets no response and for a moment Nacht is insulted on her companion’s behalf, only to quickly forget about it the moment she sees what is ahead of them.  

She stops her forward movement, pulling herself back and hovering in place while she stares at the huge wall of thick fog that stands before them. It looks opaque enough for it to almost be a solid object or barrier preventing them from continuing. She growls, watching as the large sea serpent slinks its way into the fog and out of their sight.  

Nacht can hear Wayre muttering to himself, sprouting curses and some sort of nonsense about them having finally reached the very edge of the world. She mentally frowns to herself, watching as the water continues to flow in the direction of the mysterious fog, tilting her head as she considers this. Surely the world cannot simply end if both the ocean and the sea serpent have both managed to pass through the ‘wall’. Normally, she wouldn’t be so interested in finding out what may or may not be on the other side, but she’s still feeling a little spiteful towards the serpent and wants to find out where this creature comes from. Would it just be more of the same or will there be some sort of strange world beyond? 

Abruptly, she hears what must be the sea serpent, moving on the other side of the fog. She hisses again, only for Trysta to shush her, gently swatting at her head to get her to quiet down for a moment. She’s confused, before catching onto what Trysta must have heard, something that sounds similar to people cheering? She’s deeply confused, surely no one would want to cheer for the sea serpent... unless perhaps they were trying to gain the creature’s favor and not get eaten by it. She gives another huff when the very vague silhouettes in the distance start to vanish. It seems she will need to actually go into the fog if she wants to figure this out.  

With another few flaps of her wings, she draws closer to the fog, reaching out with one of her feet to gently touch the mist. It does nothing other than make her toes feel a little damp, so she figures that it can’t actually be that bad inside.  

She moves further, slowly drifting through the fog. She starts to lose all sight, only the surrounding white and the cold moisture thick in the air. She opens her mouth, letting out a burst of flame deep into the fog, only to huff in annoyance when the fire does nothing to help improve her vision, disappearing with a puff of smoke. Normally, fire proves to be an excellent solution to almost any possible problem Nacht could be having, for it to fail her now is more an inopportune.  

“Don’t worry, Nacht, just keep moving forward, we’ll get to the other side eventually,” Trysta says softly, gently stroking at the soft feathers surrounding Nacht’s neck. She’s not sure if moving further into the fog would be a good idea, especially if they end up getting lost. It’s impossible for her to tell left from right, let alone if she’s still heading in the correct direction. At least, she can still tell which is up and which is down should they need to land at some point.  

She tries once more to blast the fog with her powerful flames, before giving in and deciding that she’s just going to have to trust that she’s going the right way.