Mason huddled behind two large boulders, on the edge of the volcano, trying to get as much shelter against the howling wind as he could. His stomach growled a bit, but it wasn't too bad yet, and he ignored it.

How fucking long can this storm last? Taking another look around, all he saw were towering waves, lightning bolts, and dark grey skies. Suppressing his rising anxiety, he stepped backward, dropping into the volcano. With a quick unfurling and flapping of his wings, he stabilized his fall and landed on his ledge.

He curled up, inches from the lava, and dipped the tip of his tail into the lava. Still not quite there yet, he grunted when he felt a slight pain, like putting your finger in tea, too hot to drink.

Staring listlessly at the softly bubbling lava, he groaned. How unlucky can I be?

After he got back to the volcanic island late at night, he had gone to sleep, planning on checking the surroundings in the morning. But when he woke up, it was almost pitch black outside, and a massive thunderstorm raged.

As he saw some of the golden red energy particles drift by in the noxious fumes, he sighed. If he had to wait, he better practice some more. Focusing on the grain-sized particles, he flexed his mana-muscle. He didn't know if that was the proper term for it, but he needed to name it something!

With a shudder, the particles froze and began gravitating towards him. Upon touching his scales, they flowed inside, melting like snow on the hood of a running car. Mason felt the streams of energy chaotically coursing through his body, looking for a way out. Now came the hard part. With a grunt of effort, he forced the flow into his muscles as he tried to picture them all in his mind. Stuttering and halting, the energy moved inside, and he felt his muscles expand and grow taut.

He stood up, his claws clenched together, the tips of the nails carving through the hard black stone. Ignoring the grinding noise, he felt more powerful than he ever had, but at the same time, the energy started to buck and resist his wishes. He managed to keep the flow constant for almost ten seconds, and then his concentration faltered, and the mental image shattered. With a sudden rush of weakness in its wake, the energy flow stopped. Angry, he released the excess energy from his mouth before it could run rampant.

A small ball of fire, almost entirely white, save for a red haze shot out of his mouth and exploded into the lava. Thick drops splattered around, while a deep depression slowly filled up again.

I hate these meditation-based skills. Mason snorted, lay down, and closed his eyes.

Two days later, the storm finally stopped, leaving clear blue skies and a calm black ocean with barely a ripple. Mason stared around, stunned. His belly felt like a big empty pit, but he had a lupine grin on his draconic face.

He stood on his hind legs, with his long neck stretched as far as possible, and gazed in the distance at a small spot on the horizon. It was barely noticeable, and so far away that he knew it would cost him days to reach it. But it didn't matter! Land meant an opportunity, a chance to get away from here, and back to Jake and the others.

Half a day later, with a belly full of centipede flesh, he took off from the edge of the volcano. A cloud of red energy particles was floating around him, held there by sheer will. It was one of the tricks he had learned in the days waiting for the storm to pass.

As he soared up into the air, the volcanic island rapidly shrunk until it was no more than a coin, and he felt a pang. For some inexplicable reason, he knew he was going to miss the place. With a last look at it, he angled towards the direction where he had seen the land, or he hoped that was what it was. He couldn't see it now that the sea wasn't as calm anymore.

Knowing he had to conserve as much of his energy as he could, he calmly flew forward, every move deliberate and with the least effort. Even like this, however, he was moving so fast that the wind howled as it rushed past him. Far below, the sea loomed. Dark and dangerous, and not somewhere, he wished to go again. Even the prospect of swimming caused him to shudder.

It was hours later when he finally saw a speck in the distance. As he got closer, the lingering fear he had been suppressing disappeared. The speck grew, and more dots appeared until halfway through the afternoon he was looking at a line all along the horizon.

That's no island!

At first, the thought made him delirious with joy, but then realization struck him. "It's not an island!" he groaned. If it wasn't the island, then he wasn't heading to where Jake and the others were! So, where the hell was he going?

The closer he got to the coast, the clearer it was he was flying towards a continent. A giant, sprawling continent with an enormous volcanic mountain range separating it from the sea.

Mason soared forward, no longer flapping, but letting gravity slowly drag him down. He was still high enough that he could see the desert on the other side of the black mountains. It seemed to stretch on indefinitely, its reflective sandy-white surface only marred by the occasional giant boulder and hill.

The mountains and volcanoes, many of which seemed active, continued on the left and right. On the left side, countless plumes of smoke trickled up into the air, while on the right side, there was one immense volcano. The side of the volcano bordering the sea was caved in, and from the steaming swath of stone that ran into the sea, Mason guessed it had erupted not that long ago.

As he descended further, movement and small patches of vegetation caught his attention. Yellow grass and orange bushes dotted the mountains, seeming to thrive in some areas while absent in others. One-horned goats moved between the patches of grass. They were easy to spot with their orange striped and purple hides sticking out from the black and grey rock.

As he was still a hundred meters up in the air, Mason saw a shadowy object slither between some boulders. It headed in a straight line for one of the goats. Curious, and trying to keep his mind away from the subject of his friends, Mason circled down. He might be here for a while, and it couldn't hurt to know what predators were here beside him.

The grey shape reached the border of the grassy area, still hidden in the shadows of the boulders. It was roughly twenty meters from the closest goat, a massive and muscular one with a scar on its back.

Now what? He is going to spot you if you move! Mason thought, feeling pity for the foolish predator. How was it going to move-

Like a bullet, something streaked from between the boulders, bridging the gap between the rocks and the goat so fast Mason would have missed it if he had blinked. It collided with the goat that had noticed the predator too late to get out of the way.

Mason swallowed as he stared dumbly at the serpent that seemed entirely made of rough grey stone. It was wrapping itself around the muscular goat, strangling it. Mason knew that if it attacked him that fast he would never be able to react in time.

The goat was bleating loudly, trying to angle its horn towards the snake, but it had no chance. Wrapped as it was, in three coils, its struggles ceased within moments. Under Mason's watchful eye, the snake brought the tip of its tail close to the belly of the goat. A crack appeared on the edge that opened up like a flower. Inside there were rows of teeth that slid outward like blades, and the horrendous mouth began gnawing at the goat's belly.

That's one creepy snake... Repulsed, Mason took a last look at the snake as it wriggled the tail with teeth inside the belly of the goat. Shaking his head, he wondered for a moment if he should take it now that it was preoccupied. Then the head of the stone worm stared up at him with two rows of three closely cropped white eyes. Mason shivered again. They reminded him of the three-dotted side of a die.

"Yeah, I'll be on my way now. Have a good meal, yes?" Mason muttered before taking his eyes off the snake and looking for a place to land and think things through. Preferably as far from the stone snake as possible.

The large volcano immediately drew his eye, and with a few flaps, he soared towards it. The land below flitted along below him, dotted with more goats. He didn't see any more stone snakes, but he had the feeling that wasn't because there weren't any. He was flying lower than the top of the volcano now, and he flapped up towards its edge.

"And where do you think you are going, young Dragon?"

Mason stopped mid-air, flapping himself back as hard as he could. A giant ridge of stone around the edge of the volcano moved, uncoiling itself, and a head the size of a dump truck reared up dozens of meters above the crater. A larger version of the stone snake, with the same solid white eyes, stared at him. Its rugged stony face had a slight smile on it. Mason would never have ever thought it possible for a stone snake to show that much emotion, but he could swear it was sneering at him.

"So? Did your nest mother not tell you to answer your elders?" The snake's voice sounded venomous.

Mason swallowed and quickly answered as his mind spun like crazy. "Sorry, elder! I wanted to rest in the volcano! If I had known it was the lair of one such as yourself, I would have gone elsewhere!"

A burst of deep, rolling laughter came from the snake for a moment, but it quickly stopped and snorted. "Good with words, I see! Must be one of Vascolorin's brood. That is good. I always hated that stuck up golden scaled bastard!"

Mason heard something from behind and folded his wings without a second thought. He dropped several meters down, and something rushed above his head. Looking up, he saw the tail end, lined with teeth the size of his limbs rush through the air above him. Flapping twice, he tried to head towards the sea.

"Come back, little snack!"

Something hit him in the back of his wings, and scales cracked and broke. Luckily his wing membrane wasn't penetrated, and he angled away from the sea, along the side of the volcano, rushing down. Two stone boulders, the size of his head flew through the air towards the sea. He took a quick look between his legs and saw the serpent make a sort of spitting motion. Dodging to the side, he dodged more stones, and flew away, zigzagging as best he could.

A minute later, he finally got a chance to fly up, and soon the stones the snake spat his way fell short.

"Fucking hell, you stupid overgrown snail!" Mason growled as pain lanced through his back and one of his wings. Angry, he took a last look at the giant snake that was staring after him before he turned towards the smaller plumes further away. Slowly, he flew towards them, keeping an eye out for anything that might try and shoot stones at him.