“You ready for this?”

“Been training since last year. You’re not telling me you forgot all those times I carried you up to the clouds, right?”

The dragoon and rogue were preparing themselves, physically and emotionally, for the journey to the clouds. The two were on the roof of the dragoon’s humble abode, a two-story house, rare among the nobility circle. The pair had made sure to dress appropriately, not for the dangerously low temperature that forced them into long sleeve shirts and pants, but for the clouds which boast a genuinely chilling climate.

“We’re a year older. Hopefully whatever we face hasn’t been training for a whole year too.”

The rogue laughed to herself, the thought of some large bear doing jumps and running miles in order to be ready to fight them had filled her mind. She recalled the dragoon’s assumption the beast could be a dragon, but she dismissed the idea as the lower pressure getting to him.

“You ready? Hop on my back and we’ll take off!”

With a little hesitation in order to avoid stepping on his hands or arms, she piggy-backed the short blonde who then raised himself up before squatting. “And a one, and a two, and-“ Brian lifted off, able to far surpass the horizon of the city ring, his momentum able to carry the two more than half-way to their destination.

As their acceleration began to slow, Brian began his rhythmic fire blasts, now far stronger and without taking considerably more energy. Once the pair were within arm’s reach of the cloud barrier, it was the rogue’s time to shine, transforming them both into a bolt of lightning that tore through the thick blanket of clouds. In a second, the duo had reached their destination: a field of clouds that were solid enough to walk on.

“It’s gorgeous.” Adriana was enamored with the vast expanse of white, varying shades of grey, and infinite sea of blue sky.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool. Don’t let your guard down though, that whatever it was could be anywhere.”

When Brian turned to his partner, he could see his words were only for the clouds. The rogue had flown over to the large white bear, its stomach inflated to let it gently float across the sky. Feeling a sudden weight on her shoulder, she turned to see a bug had leapt on it, a bright white grasshopper that left as quickly as it came. Following the bug, she was surprised, horrified, yet above all else, fascinated when she saw it was caught in a web. The creator of this web had greeted its unfortunately guest, wrapping it up in a fluffy blanket.

“Hey Adriana, what did you find?”

“Some kind of cloud spider” the rogue pointed to the web composed out of the same condensation and fluff they were standing on. “Cloudweaver.”

“What now?” The dragoon tilted his head.

“The spider, I’m calling it a Cloudweaver.”

“Oh, well while you were enjoying the creepy crawly show, I…well I found nothing. I was hoping to maybe find people.”

Adriana stood up, taking her attention off the Cloudweaver to assess the horizon ahead. “Wonder if there even are any people around here. I kind of doubt it, but let’s go and see.”

The two walked down the bumpy plains, miniature hills decorating the white-gray field. The wind was erratic, sometimes harsh, cruel, and cold. Other times the wind was calm, gentle, and warm. The only constant was the whipping of the breeze that never stopped, where it came from was always a mystery.

Brian led the way, feeling like a veteran that had lived in the area for years, despite only briefly touring once. He hadn’t remembered seeing clouds that rose above their current height, nor could he recall how far outward he ventured. In truth, beyond the small stretch of land the two previously explored, the dragoon was just as lost as the rogue.

Still, despite the unfamiliarity of it all, he felt safe with the open sky and plains. That safety quickly melted when he no longer heard the air whip. ‘Okay, that’s weird. Actually, it’s probably normal, I shouldn’t worry since last time I was only here five minutes.’

Brian’s rationalization was beginning to help him calm down, but a sudden change had his nerves flair up again. He hadn’t immediately identified what changed, instead he instinctively spun around to his partner, her face one of confusion rather than fear. “Did it suddenly get dark?”

Looking up, the dragoon could indeed confirm the darkening of the sky, the gray-black ceiling above sealing off the sun. “I don’t like this Adri, I think we should head back.”

“Are you scared? Brian! I thought you were a brave dragoon, the bravest dragoon who saved the princess.”

Her mockery had the dragoon at an impasse: was he to run and fear, possibly saving both their lives, or face what might be coming? He didn’t have time to answer, his choice was made for him when a violent, erupting roar echoed through the plains. The beast that had found Brian before was back, its roar unmistakable.

The beast in the distance was a large, wiggling dragon, thin as a snake with no wings in sight, at least none visible from far away. The beast’s most defining feature, however, was its two heads, one breathing fire, the other a stream of lightning.

“I told you it was dragon!” The dragoon could not muster another though in his head as he was frozen stiff by the oncoming threat.

“Quick, split up!” The rogue ran away from her partner, figuring that even with two heads, it was still a single body animal, and thus it would be forced to chase one of them. To her despair, the two-headed dragon chose Adriana, leaving Brian to stand stiff as a board.

The rogue screamed for her friend to do something, but he was lost to a fear induced coma, leaving her to face the dragon alone. Dodging lightning strikes and fireballs, the girl couldn’t focus on a plan of action, instead her undivided attention was just on surviving the barrage.

Shaking his head, Brian finally came to his senses, his attention set on the beast attempting to fry his friend by electrocution or burning. Rushing forward with a bounce, the blonde felt his fear dissipate as he harpooned his spear at the dragon. The projectile bounced off harmlessly, the dragoon recalling it while still chasing his target, this time launching his own fire at the monster.

The monster had turned its left head to face human assaulting its back, shooting a stream of lighting that was easily avoided. Brian answered back with several fire blasts, avoiding every attempt to shake him off until the reptile swerved its body and focused both heads on the smaller human.

“That’s right you overgrown mutant lizard, look at me! I’m the one that’s going to kick your tail.” Using the wind, he began pushing himself so that he kept a consistent distance from his predator, making sure not to discourage it from the chase. When the right head attempted to burn him, he returned fire with his own flame breath. When the left head tried to shock him, he pushed himself to the side. Looking down, he could see the rogue looking up at him; with a knowing nod, he outfitted his spear with a solid head of pure energy, tossing it down toward the rogue who disappeared shortly after.

“Let’s see how you fair against this.” Brian rose straight up, his pursuers following right behind him. As he reached his apex, he raised his hands up to the sky, summoning all of the fire he could muster into a microscopic sun, which was still roughly the size of his house. Bringing down the great sphere of fire, the two heads of the reptile attacked it with all their might, unable to prevent the brunt of its fury.

Despite his success, Brian could see his foe was still floating, even if reeled back from being burnt up. The scales now blow, the monster’s anger was off the chart as it lunged for the dragoon who narrowly avoided a chomp from the right head. Having not forgotten about the other head, he turned to see it dangling on the body, its pupils unfocused and jaw flapping in the wind.

In his shock and horror at the dead head, he had forgotten about the other head that was now lined up for a perfect strike. Just as his hearted stopped, the beast yanked its head up in agony, a girl letting loose a battle cry as her spear sliced through the upper half of the remaining dragon head. The rogue hopped off the body as it plummeted from the sky, the dragoon following suit.

“Phew, thanks for the save there. I almost began a Yvern meal.”

“A whyvern? Like, why is a wyvern here?” Adriana was still trying to catch her breath, this was not the conversation she was expecting.

“No, like the letter y, because there’s what the shape of its body and heads remind me of.”

“We just killed a dragon, not really a wyvern, and this is what we’re talking about?!”

“Well I think we should save the not-stupid discussion for when we see the others again.”

“Fair enough. Hopefully that’s the only one, though being a dragon slayer for a living would be a hell of a job.”

The dragoon let out a laughing exhale, “Why don’t we take a rest on the ‘ground’ then? After all, we can only get here once a year, and I’d rather not have it be wasted by a Yvern.”

“Much like the ‘Yvern’, I should have cut the head off these puns before they got out of hand.”