Hex drew up on the ledge next to Trisky. A valley stretched before them, long and green, untouched by the early winter they had left behind on the surface. A placid lake, its waters deep and blue, filled much of the valley. The odor told Bitterwood the waters were saltwater, not fresh. In its center sat an island speckled with flowers of every color. Thick forests covered the island, the tree branches sagging with fruit. In the center rose the marble pillars of a temple. Bitterwood recognized the structure instantly; it resembled the temple that had stood in his home village, only on a much larger, grander scale.
Jandra studied the valley, feeling dizzy as her enhanced senses struggled to catalogue the scents, colors, and sounds before her. The songs of countless exotic birds filled her mind with images-parrot, canary, gull-though the birds were only specks of color in the distance. The walls of the valley were sheer rock covered with vines, stretching so high that it seemed as if the sky was merely a painting resting upon them.
"Daylight!" said Hex, sounding joyous. "I thought we'd never leave that cursed tunnel!" Jandra dug her fingers into his neck fringe as he suddenly bounded toward the edge of the cliff.
"Wait!" shouted Adam. "It's dangerous to fly here!"
"It's dangerous to fly anywhere," Hex answered, as he leapt into space and soared toward the blue above. "Every dragon lives with the knowledge that his next flight could be the one where gravity wins!"
Hex said the words with such defiant joy that Jandra felt joyous herself. Hex seemed utterly fearless as he climbed upward. Jandra clenched her legs tighter around his neck as he spiraled toward the upper reaches of the stone walls and the open sky beyond. The hairs on her neck rose as her eyes began to pick apart the sky racing toward them. Suddenly she realized that the expanse above was mere illusion.
"Watch out!" she shouted, thrusting her right hand forward, willing the blue sky to vanish. As she willed it, the sky obeyed, parting in a wave, revealing the valley to be capped by the same stone as the tunnel, a solid ceiling now mere yards away. Hex twisted in the air, nearly dislodging Jandra. She fought to maintain her hold, grateful for her improved strength and reflexes. Hex had pulled his head back in time to avoid a collision, but there was a terrible jolt as his tail smacked into the stone. He fell toward the water, seemingly in complete surrender to gravity.
Then, Hex's wings caught the air and their descent quickly halted. Hex soared over the lake in a long circle, turning back toward the cliff they'd leapt from. The bright sunlit room was growing dim. The sky continued to ripple like water into which a heavy object had been dropped, the waves growing in violence. In places the sky was ripping, with large fragments of blue sloughing away in sheets. A snow of silver dust filled the air as the sky crumbed, revealing that they were still completely encased beneath rock. A moment later, only a few shards of blue sky still stubbornly persisted, carrying on as if unaware that the illusion was now pointless.
Jandra let some of the silver dust settle on her outstretched hand. They were part of a Light-Emitting Nanite System-a LENS-something she herself knew how to use to create images from light. But, the sky had covered miles… Who could possibly have the concentration to maintain such an illusion?
Hex alighted next to the long-wyrm. It coiled backward, skittish at his approach.
"Steady," said Adam, stroking Trisky's neck.
"What witchcraft is this?" Bitterwood said as he stared wide-eyed at the shattered sky.
"This is no witchcraft," Adam said. "The goddess transformed this cavern into the paradise you see. Have no fear. The sky will repair itself."
Jandra had a hundred questions about the goddess. Before she could ask even one, however, there was an angry shout from the island, loud enough to be heard even though it was miles away.
"My sky! Who broke my sky?"
A woman emerged onto the stone steps of the temple. Jandra again found her eyes confused by the strange perspectives of the cavern. Either the island and the temple were much smaller than she'd judged, or the woman was at least twelve feet tall. The trees around the marble columns must have been half the height Jandra had assumed. The woman looked toward the cliff where Jandra stood. She walked toward them, growing with each step. After two steps, the trees were no higher than her waist. After four steps, they were at her knees. Then, she had left the trees entirely and walked across the lake, her body now hundreds of feet high, her eyes at the level of the cliff where they stood. The lake water dented beneath the woman's footsteps, yet the waters held her.
"The goddess, I presume," said Hex, his body tensing as if preparing to fight.
Jandra suspected Hex had good reason to anticipate combat. The goddess didn't look happy. Her face was mostly human, but her eyes glowed like twin bonfires. Her skin was the color of new spring grass, with her lips a darker, mossy shade. Her hair was a tangle of kudzu, the locks draping down her shoulders to cover the nipples of her otherwise bare breasts. Whether the draping was due to modesty or chance was debatable, however, for there was no such cover for the lower parts of her body. Her pubic mound was a tangle of thick, dark ivy. Her broad feminine hips rested upon shapely legs, long and artful.
Jandra was used only to her own, girlish proportions. The goddess was of a more womanly shape, heavy-breasted and lushly curved. She walked with a hip-swaying gate that Jandra found slightly obscene. As the goddess drew near, the heat radiating from the fury of her eyes caused Hex to step backwards. Jandra raised an arm to protect her face. Beside them, Trisky lowered herself to her belly and Adam dove to the ground, pressing his face to the stone in either fear or reverence. Bitterwood had drawn his sword and was crouched low beside the great-wyrm.
"A sun-dragon?" the goddess said, sounding both puzzled and pleasantly surprised. Her voice was powerful yet not overwhelming and, save for its volume, not that different from the voice of a woman of normal size. The flames in the green woman's eyes faded, revealing orbs of a more human structure, albeit still over a yard across. The irises were made of brilliant turquoise. Within the dark circles at the core, stars twinkled in the void.
"I haven't seen one of your kind in my little kingdom in centuries," the goddess said, focusing on Hex and ignoring Jandra. "I've taken precautions to keep you away, in fact. How curious that you overcame your fears to come here."
Hex stepped forward, drawing up into the normal two-legged stance of the sun-dragons. Jandra leapt from his back, not wanting to weigh him down if he was about to do something risky. Hex inhaled, puffing out his chest in a manner that reminded her of Albekizan, and announced, "My name is Hexilizan. I have no fears to overcome; I'm of royal blood. Courage is my birthright."
"Aren't you the bold one?" asked the goddess. "Boldness can be dangerous here, dragon. You've discovered that things aren't always as they seem. I'm curious… How did you break my sky? Mere collision shouldn't have caused such chaos."
"I don't know," said Hex. "I was flying when it parted of its own will."
Jandra stepped around him, facing the goddess, raising her hand in a shy wave.
"Actually," she said, "It was my will. I, um, sensed what it was made of at the last second. I didn't mean to cause so much damage. I just lost control."
The goddess narrowed her eyes. It was difficult to tell due to the scale of her gaze, but it seemed to Jandra that she was focusing on her helmet.
"That is an interesting toy, little one," the goddess said.
"Perhaps we should sit down and talk about toys," said Jandra.
"That could be amusing," said the goddess, the corners of her mouth pulling into what Jandra assumed was a smile. It was difficult to read facial expressions when that face was too wide to take in all at once. "Very well. Meet me at my temple."