Mike flew until the coast disappeared behind him.
The salt wind faded, replaced by dry currents that carried dust. The air grew warmer the farther inland he went, thick with the scent of sunbaked earth and distant vegetation. Below him, the terrain shifted in slow, sweeping transitions, rocky coastline to rolling hills, hills to wide plains cut through by winding rivers that gleamed like molten glass under the sun.
He didn't slow down.
His wings cut through the sky with effortless power, each beat launching him farther than the last. The strength inside his body still felt… stronger. Like something that had always been there was finally allowed to stretch.
"Okay," he muttered to himself, scanning the land below. "Where the hell do gods live?"
Villages appeared in the distance.
Small clusters of mud-brick homes surrounded by crude wooden fencing. Smoke curled from fire pits. People moved slowly through the streets, farmers, herders, families going about their lives.
Mike banked slightly lower.
The moment they saw him, everything stopped.
A man dropped the bundle he was carrying.
A woman screamed.
Children were yanked backward into doorways as others pointed up at the sky in horror.
Mike winced.
"Now it starts."
He pulled up again, climbing higher.
No point landing there. Just people who would run or worse, try to attack. He had no interest massacring villages of normal people.
He kept flying as hours passed.
The sun climbed higher, then began its slow descent. Shadows stretched longer across the land, turning rivers into dark veins and cities into clusters of flickering light and shadow.
Cities caught his attention.
Larger settlements began to appear as he pushed deeper inland. Stone walls instead of wood. Watchtowers. Roads cutting across the terrain in deliberate lines. Trade routes, maybe.
Mike slowed slightly.
Now this was more like it.
If gods were walking the earth, they wouldn't be hiding in villages.
He angled downward.
The city ahead sprawled across a wide plain, surrounded by thick stone walls and guarded gates. Banners snapped in the wind from the towers with symbols he didn't recognize, painted in deep reds and golds.
Even from above, he could see the difference from the villages with the order and structure.
"Finally," he muttered. "Now to get their attention."
He descended lower.
And the reaction was immediate.
Horns blared from the walls.
Guards scrambled along the battlements, shouting and pointing upward. Massive wooden ballistae were dragged into position, their crews working frantically to aim them at the sky.
Mike hovered just outside their range.
"…seriously?" he said.
A bolt launched anyway.
It whistled past his head.
He blinked.
Then started laughing.
"Can't blame them," he admitted. "That's fair."
More bolts followed.
None of them hit.
Mike drifted sideways through the air, letting them waste their shots. The projectiles shattered harmlessly against his scales when they got close enough.
He exhaled slowly.
"Stop," he called down, voice carrying easily across the distance. "I'm not here for you."
That did nothing.
More shouting.
More panic.
More weapons being raised.
Mike sighed.
"Fuck..."
He rose higher again, out of range.
The city wasn't the target.
But it told him something important.
Word would spread.
A dragon flying openly across the land would get attention.
Mike grinned slightly.
He turned away from the city and continued inland.
Let them talk.
Let them panic.
Let the stories spread.
If the gods were watching and he was starting to think they always were then this would draw them out.
"Come find me," he muttered.
The land changed again.
Mountains rose in the distance, jagged and ancient. Forests thickened beneath him, dark canopies stretching for miles. Rivers carved deeper paths through the terrain, their banks lined with settlements that looked more established and older.
Mike felt it before he saw it.
A subtle shift.
The air… pressed differently here.
Not like the overwhelming weight he'd felt from Enki but enough to notice.
Enough to make something inside him stir.
Mike slowed.
"…there you are."
He hovered, scanning the land below more carefully now.
At first, nothing stood out.
Just forest.
River.
Stone.
Then he saw it.
A structure rising from the trees.
Not a city.
Not a village.
Something older.
Columns of white stone, partially overgrown but still standing. A temple, open-air, circular, built around a central platform. Smoke drifted upward from braziers that burned with steady, unnatural flame.
And around it…
People. Kneeling. Praying.
Mike's grin widened.
"Found one," he said softly.
He descended slowly this time.
The first scream came before he even reached the treeline. Followed by another.
The crowd scattered almost instantly, people fleeing in every direction as his shadow passed over them.
Some stayed.
A few dropped to their knees instead, pressing their foreheads to the ground.
Praying harder. Mike landed just outside the temple.
The ground cracked beneath his weight.
Heat rolled outward from his body, bending the air slightly around him.
The braziers flickered.
Then flared.
He tilted his head.
"Interesting."
The flames weren't normal.
They reacted to him.
Mike stepped forward.
The people still kneeling didn't move.
Didn't look up or speak.
"What the hell," he muttered. "That's creepy."
He moved closer to the temple.
Each step echoed against the stone.
The air grew heavier.
Like something watching from a distance instead of standing in front of him.
Mike reached the edge of the platform and stopped. Something was there.
He could feel it pressing against his senses.
Testing.
Measuring.
"Alright," Mike said, cracking his neck slightly. "If you're a god…"
Flames curled faintly from his jaws.
"…come out."
Silence.
The braziers burned brighter and air tightened.
Then a voice.
Everywhere at once.
"You have insatiable hunger."
Mike's eyes narrowed.
"…always talking," he said slowly. "I've been hearing that a lot."
The presence shifted.
Curious now.
"And yet you are not him."
Mike smirked.
"Glad one of you finally noticed."
A pause as a gentle wind blew through the air.
"Why do you walk openly?"
Mike shrugged.
"Looking for gods."
The air went still.
"And what do you do when you find them?" the voice asked.
Mike's grin widened.
"I eat them."
Silence again.
Longer this time.
Then a ripple.
The air above the platform distorted slightly.
Not a full manifestation like Enki.
Just a fracture in a suggestion of form.
Mike leaned forward slightly.
"Come on," he said. "Don't tell me you're scared."
The presence didn't respond immediately.
But the pressure changed.
"You have already consumed two," the voice said.
Mike blinked.
"…word travels fast."
"Nothing goes unseen."
Mike snorted.
"Yeah? Then you already know how this ends."
The distortion in the air flickered.
"No."
Mike paused.
"…no?"
"You do not understand what you are walking into."
Mike laughed.
"Pretty sure I do."
The presence pressed harder now. Like it was trying to peel him apart layer by layer.
"You are not the first to believe that," it said.
Mike's smile didn't fade.
"Yeah," he said. "But I'm probably the first one who's right."
The air cracked for a second.
A flicker of something more solid trying to form before stopping.
Mike noticed as his grin sharpened.
The presence withdrew slightly.
Not gone. Just… further away.
"Others will come," it said.
Mike's eyes lit up.
"Good."
"And they will not hesitate."
"Even better."
A pause.
Then the final words:
"You will learn."
The pressure completely vanished.
The braziers dimmed as the air returned to normal.
Mike stood there for a moment.
Then exhaled slowly.
"…finally."
He rolled his shoulders.
That was different. Not a fight.
But confirmation the Gods were here.
Watching and waiting.
Now they knew exactly where he was.
Mike turned away from the temple.
The people were still kneeling frozen in terror.
He ignored them.
"Others will come," he repeated, smirking.
He spread his wings again.
The ground trembled beneath him.
"This is gonna be fun."
With a single powerful beat, he launched back into the sky.
Leaving the temple and his message behind.