What dragons see when they fly.

 When dragons and Riders soar above the clouds, I'm not inventing the sights from scratch.

For years, I flew between Orange County and San Francisco. Occasionally, the weather would force us to circle through layers of clouds at sunset . . .

Sky blue above,

Darkness below, and in between,

Floating islands of orange, yellow, and red clouds.

Each circle dipped into an entirely new layer of clouds and a new experience. It remains one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

 Years later, when I wrote Astria and Zephyr flying above the clouds, those memories found their way onto the page. An excerpt from Zephyr’s Flight captures part of that for me.

 For Riders, flying isn’t about getting somewhere. It’s about freedom.

 

(A short passage from Zephyr’s Flight …)

 

He soared again to carry her through the layers of clouds that shrouded the valley, first the reds and oranges that set the glaciers ablaze, and above them to hazy yellow clouds. Above them all, the sun still shone, while far below them, torches blinked in the shadows of the Spine through breaks in the cloud cover.

As the clouds changed from rose to dusty gray a thousand feet above the peaks, she found peace, at one with the sky and the night. When the setting sun left them in shade, moonlight from Lon and Elein lit the valley.

In the clear air above the smoky valley rim, she was closer to the stars than to home. Within them, she found the constellation Nidhogg and her wishing star. “Thank you,” she said and hugged her dragon tighter.

She belonged here, and she would have nothing less.

“Olim willing, you will ride,” her father had said. “And when you do, the world will never be the same.”

She smiled. And he was right.

 

(end)

 

If you'd like to recreate some of the feelings I had while writing this passage, here are a few pieces of music and imagery I return to:

·       the picture below (or sunset vids here or here)

·       listen to Ivan Torent’s Crimson Flight (here)

·       listen to Thomas Bergerson’s Promise (here)

 

 

Enjoy,

Ray