The sylvan green coastline in the distance marred by high-rise resorts insulted her senses. Had it been so long? The humans had spread even here on this remote island chain. Their smog and noise assaulted her senses. She cast her awareness abroad, seeking the chartreuse glare of the Sorcerer’s energy field.
Ah, there he was. She banked hard to the northeast, rising high above the heat waves of the spewing volcano, calling a greeting to the great goddess Pele. A burst of crimson lava and plumes of acrid sulphur answered. The dragon laughed at the thought of people, once settled like cats before the fire, running in terror.
The Sorcerer’s field shifted from its resting greens to active cerulean blue: he had seen her and was rising to meet her. But where? She cast about with her extraordinary sense of space across the surface of the planet, seeking his exact location. Suddenly she had him: he was aloft! Fool! The skies were her domain. Now, finally, she would put an end to this.
Beneath her, cetaceans rose for air, and dove again, grey backs like seashells in the undulating waves. Their minds sent messages of fear and anger. The humans were interfering with their birthing grounds, pouring their filth into the seas at an ever increasing rate. She sought for their minds’ images and saw huge underwater ships spewing sound waves, disrupting communication throughout the underwater worlds. Her rage rose in her throat, her tail lashing in fury. How dare they, puny worthless beings on two legs! What had the Gods been thinking when they created these vermin? Well, she would tend to that later. For now, she sent her strength.
Suddenly, a twinge of recognition, a memory of a tin pot full of earth and pungent herbs. He was here! But where? There was no land, no ship to carry him this far to sea. And then it came again. She veered left, and dove, but it was too late. The bolt dug into her flank like spurs, sending a cascade of scales steaming into the water below.
The Sorcerer stepped out from behind the clouds, huge in spirit, though small in form. His feathers shone rainbow in the sunlight. He had taken the form of a phoenix! How had he gained such power?
He struck again, with less intensity, and the blow skittered away, harmless. What game is this, she thought, then banked suddenly coming up underneath him, melting the cloud with her fiery breath. His arms raised, he gestured to the sun as if to say, I’ll meet you there, then vanished into the light.
Her wingbeats carried her after him, following his gleaming trail. She laughed out loud to think of how she would embalm him in flame when she caught him, ending this challenge for once and for all.
At once, she realized her mistake. He had been following her, hidden again behind the clouds! Too late, too late, she banked.
His feet came to land on her back, and he reached forward, grasping the tips of her ears like reins.
“Tag! You’re it,” he laughed into the wind, then vanished.
She shrieked with fury, and careened after him into the sky. "Sorcerers!"
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