The Hidden City

by Adrian Tanase

  They walked through narrower and larger cobbled roads, some with the same stone color, some with stones that followed patterns of colors in them, accompanied by simple houses and tall trees on the sides, and occasional parts with green grass and short fruit bushes, that grew in front of the houses. In some portions of the city, the houses were really small, maybe to accommodate just one person, in some they were bigger, maybe even 2 or 3 stories. In most of them, green grass was growing between the stones that were placed the first layer of the houses, and Margaret loved that mix of nature and man-made creation.

  After roaming for more than one hour, they have finally reached the Council’s building. It was close to 7 o’clock, and the door of the City’s Council was opened. Right inside, there was an Elder, dressed as usual in his white thick robe.

  “So, how was your day today?” asked the Elder.

  Margaret and Philp were all dusty, tired, but happy.

  “It was awesome! We are so glad that we have been part of the work in the City, today,” Philip said, with a sincere voice.

  “I assume you want to go back home. Tomorrow it is your dragon flying training, don’t forget. If you want, you can postpone it, but let us know in time. We assumed that if you want to help us so soon, a dragon flying training is really necessary for you, because our City extends far and wide, and with a dragon, you can reach any destination in a matter of minutes,” said the Elder, kindly.

  “Really? A dragon flying training tomorrow? We’re definitely up for it, right Phil?” Margaret said looking at him.

  “I see you have been already given the Mappers,” the Elder said and pointed towards the devices that they had on their arms. “They’re really useful, and they’re all yours. They are not much more complex than the technology that you are used to, I presume, and they are really useful if you want to roam around all the little forgotten roads, that happen to be far away from your home location. Keep them, and make good use of them,” said the Elder, kindly. “By the way, here you have 10 credits, for each of you,” the Elder said and gave them each one paper bill.

  “These are for us?” Margaret said, with a surprised voice.

  “Yes, because you helped today. We told you that you will be compensated. You can spend them tomorrow in the City Square Market to get a few little things that you like,” said the Elder, and bowed gracefully. “At this hour, there are no many shops left, as most of the merchants have closed.”

  “Thanks so much,” Margaret said and bowed to him.

  “Have a great evening, the sun is almost setting now,” said the Elder and saluted them.

  The day was almost done as the night was approaching, and they were really close to their home. They crossed the pinkish-hued market, where only occasional people could be seen at this hour, some still looking to buy items, and most of them packing up their mobile shops. They took the cobbled road that led to their guesthouse, walking hand in hand, talking about little things.

  When they finally arrived home, they both landed on the couch. They were rather tired but really happy. Their dinner was brief and they fell asleep quickly. The night felt slowly upon their house like a blanket filled with myriad stars, that was keeping them safe from harm in their wild and fascinating dreams, in this wild and ancient City. They were living the adventure of their lives, on a planet far away, at the end of the Galaxy, in a City that no one would suspect that would exist.

  Chapter 10 – Above the city

  The next day, Margaret woke up early. She dreamed of flying up in the sky, upwards through realms of angels and birds of many forms and colors. She saw countless lands filled with green vegetation and beautiful mountains from above and she continuously flew upwards, until, at some point, she woke up from her dream. When she woke up, she had a strange sensation that there was an orange gloom inside the room: it was as if every little thing was reflecting this golden color around, forming a yellow tint to everything that she saw. And more than that, she felt like her dream pushed her into her current reality. When she looked closely next to her, Philip was still sleeping, with a cute smile on his face.

  She got up and she took silently and reverently her breakfast. Her delicate hands were enjoying every piece of goodness on her plate as if she had nothing else to do today. Each and every one of her moves was as if she was doing a ritual, where everything was calculated, and where awareness of the moment was all that she knew. As she was having her breakfast, she let her mind wander, marveling at the world that the Elders manage to build here, on this secluded planet. She thought that every day spent in the City transformed her more into the woman that she always wanted to be all her life, the woman that needed to have time for herself, that needed to have time to receive the love that existed everywhere, that she now found in this beautiful City. She now had all the time in the world to simply enjoy her life, to enjoy all the little things that existed around her, and that brought her a feeling of great contentment and much fulfillment, through each of her days.

  After she quietly finished her breakfast, she grabbed her blue robe and went outside. The coldness of the morning and her white cup of coffee was enough to wake her up. As she was looking to the forefront of the garden, she saw an Elder appearing. The Elder approached her slowly and greeted her.

  “Good morning, Margaret. Since you live close by, I came to visit you on foot. Are you ready for your dragon training?”

  “Ah, indeed! Good morning to you too,” she said, reverentially, “There is much peacefulness in the air this morning, don’t you think?”

  “Ah, yes, that’s true, Margaret, you are sensing it very well. Today is a perfect day for you to see the city from above”, replied the Elder, kindly.

  Out of nowhere three small dragons appeared and landed right in the house’s garden, before Margaret’s eyes. They were so beautiful, with their blue-silver tinted skin, and their lovely thick tails and large dark green wings made Margaret feel she was in a surreal world. Their blue-green big eyes and their peaceful way of being were something Maggie loved a lot about them, as she went to caress their faces and play with them for a while. The groomers decorated their soft skin with beautiful textiles of all colors, which made them look like they just appeared from a fairy tale, and each of them wore a green emerald stone, over their chest.

  “I am your dragon trainer today,” the Elder said. “My name is Til’shar.”

  Margaret waited with anticipation their dragon training, and now that Til’shar was here, she was elated with joy.

  “I am going to go take Philip out of the house, he needs to see this!”

  Until she reached the house’s entrance, Philip already appeared in the frame of the door. He was still asleep, but when he saw the dragons his eyes become larger.

  “Are these our … dragons?” he managed to say, with pure excitement.

  “Yes, Philip. They are yours. Take your time, have your breakfast and then come outside to drink your coffee with us. We can leave whenever you are prepared,” said Til’shar.

  Philip went back into the house, ordered some breakfast quickly, and ate in silence with anticipation for their training day. He imagined himself last night in many ways riding the dragons, but the fact that the actual experience was about to begin, made him a bit anxious.

  Outside, Margaret and Til’shar were talking over their steaming cups of coffee about little things such as the city’s administration, the water system in the city, the different shops, and the strange material that they saw yesterday on the top of the buildings. Til’shar told her that the spongy material over their houses was used mostly to protect them in the case of rainfall, but it also holds a visual value. She also learned that the actual economy of the City was growing through the development of all of these new vegetable markets, shops, bakeries, book shops, and even clothing stores, where you could find from different types of fabrics of different colors to full clothing, that could be bought with their local currency. When she asked Til’shar more about their currency
, he told her that any citizen of the Emerald City was rewarded for his or her actions by receiving a certain amount of the local currency, daily, as compensation for their work. She found out that the local currency could also be gained by opening up a store and creating things for the community, and she knew that Philip was really intrigued by the idea of opening one. Soon after, Philip joined them with his cup of coffee, and they continued the small talk about myriad other little things that made the City so enjoyable.

  After half an hour of chatting, they all decided to start their dragon training session.

  “It is going to be a quick 40-minute training,” Til’shar told them, “and today you will learn all you need to know to fly your dragon.”

  Til’shar went first and saddled his dragon. Then he showed them how to saddle their own, and taught them how to safely lock their feet into the saddle’s sockets. He went up in the sky and waited for them. Maggie and Philip climbed on their dragons and they all flew upwards, maybe 30 feet above their house. The view gradually changed from being just above the house, which was an outstanding view of their garden, to a greater one, where they could view all the area in which they were located. You could see large and small houses with their gardens everywhere, split one from another with small wooden fences. They were mostly painted in white, red, blue, and green and that gave the city an extraordinary aerial view.

  Margaret waived carefully at Philip, with one hand. They flew pretty close to each other, as the dragons seemed to be careful not to fly too further apart from each other. The two dragons that they rode, were following carefully to a certain distance Til’shar’s dragon, who led the party.

  “Philip, can you believe this view?” asked Margaret, with a rather loud voice.

  “I can hear you good, Maggie. No need to shout. I’m amazed as well. Do you feel comfortable riding your dragon? I clung to mine very tightly and I can feel it follows my very thoughts in the flight path,” said Philip.

  Margaret nodded.

  “Same with mine, Philip. They are lovely creatures and I already feel a strong connection to mine,” she said, hanging tight with her hands, as in an embrace, on her dragon’s neck.

  They were both riding in very comfortable soft saddles, their feet were locked in their sockets, and they were both tied with a string to their dragon, so they could not fall on either side. Til’shar gave them a sign from his front location to where they were going to go, pushing their dragons a little more upwards in the sky, and to the West. He dragged his dragon a bit up from his neck, and he went upwards, maybe 120 feet high. The other two dragons followed him, going upwards, slowly. Now they could see the houses rather small, but the field of view increased proportionally and the view was spectacular: they started to see now how the occasional trees that they saw while walking on foot formed the forest, and the City Council, the Main Market, and the houses near it were now little patches of color immersed in a sea of trees.

  The following 25 minutes Til’shar drove his dragon in the most interesting flight paths, and the other two followed them, to familiarize Maggie and Philip with many forms of flying. Riding in circles, swirls, descending quickly, and then going upwards again. Margaret was feeling that her dragon was more and more connected to her, as she almost felt her pulse and her whole being, talking to her, through her intuition.

  “Now you two try to guide yourselves your dragons, and see how it goes,” shouted Til’shar. They were flying at a rather fast speed, but the flapping of the dragons' wings gave them a sort of safe feeling. Margaret started nudging her dragon on her neck slowly to the left. The dragon followed exactly the path that she had in mind. Then she grabbed her gently and pulled, so she can signal an upward move. Before she finished, the dragon was going upper, in an ascending path. Philip was experimenting as well with short moves and nudges on his dragon’s neck, and he was amazed at how quickly he responded.

  “They are surely connected through our amulets now, as well, Maggie. My dragon seems to sense the flight path a second before I gently press on his neck,” shouted Philip.

  “Mine too. They are awesome, aren’t they?” Margaret said and dragged her dragon down by the neck. “I’m going to do a dive, to see if I get it right this time.”

  Her dragon was descending fast, at a 45 angle, but he was also flapping his wings so the descent would be comfortable for her companion as well.

  “I tried all the move I can think of, Til’shar,” shouted Philip. Til’shar was closely following the two, to see how they manage to apply what he quickly taught them in the 25 minutes of flight preparation.

  “Then fly away for a while, and feel your dragon, Philip,” Til’shar shouted, so he can hear him. “Try flying and sensing how your dragon wants to fly as well.”

  Philip complied and began to align his intentions with his dragon. He quickly learned that this way, the flight was smoother and that he could relax more and watch the scenery from above.

  “How are you coming along with your dragon flight, Maggie?” asked Til’shar, from the back.

  “It’s going great, thank you, Elder. I think I just made a new friend, and we both love flying,” she answered, joyfully.

  They all continued to fly in very simple paths above the city for a while, as their dragons seemed to show them that they do not need to be tight or rigid when they fly. The dragons seemed to be very intelligent creatures, which adapted very well to befriend the humans. Margaret and Philip relaxed after their first 20 minutes of dragon training, and now were riding smoothly, making long trails or large circles around one of the areas of the City that had small houses and gardens, similar to their neighborhood.

  After a while, Til’shar stopped in the air, with his dragon, and said.

  “Your training is done now, my beloved. We’re now going for a city tour. I can feel your dragons, and they feel comfortable with you already. You just need to guide them by pressing their necks gently with your hands in the direction that you need to go, and they can also feel and understand mentally the direction that you wish to go if the intention is strong and pure. The flight is all about being friendly with your dragon, understand them, and just enjoying the ride.”

  The city tour was rather impressive: houses, towers, markets, more tall houses, with cylindrical and hemispheric towers with flags fluttering, tall trees of the forest, even uninhabited zones and areas with beautiful ponds and gardens, Philip and Margaret were enjoying the flight of their lives. They didn’t know the city was so beautiful from above, and now they were seeing it like a mini-map, where everything was laid down perfectly: in some areas, houses were built in perfect square areas, whereas in some, the roads were winding, beautifully creating meandering patches of land. It must have been around one hour that they flew above the city and the dragons gradually started to feel a bit tired. They landed in an uninhabited area, in one of the forest openings.

  “Well,” Til’shar said, “this is most of our city. At least this is how it looks right now. What do you think?”

  “I had the experience of my life,” said Margaret with joy. “I really love everything I saw and I really hope the little dragons are not too tired after flying that much.”

  “Me too,” said Philip, “I still can’t believe that the city is so beautiful from above.”

  “It is, Philip. We have spent a lot of planning to make it look like this. And as you mentioned your dragons, they are now just a bit thirsty and they feel a bit playful. I will give them some water,” he said and reached his hand inside his bag.

  “In time, you will learn to connect better to them, and you will understand what they need or feel, as a small nudge, or an intuitive feeling, in your mind, and in your heart. They love to eat grass and berries from the bushes, and the stop in this plain will help them a lot. Now, let’s eat some of the treats I took in my backpack this morning. I have freshly baked apple cakes, sandwiches, and a few other delicious things here.”

  They gave their dragons plenty of water and then they
sat on the mossy grass, in the forest opening. They ate in silence. Til’shar brought them fresh food from his favorite bakery, and Margaret was enjoying the apple cakes a lot.

  “It seems so easy to fly now, once you get to know your dragon,” said Margaret after a while.

  Til’shar approved.

  “They are lovely creatures, and they all wear their green amulets. They connect really quickly with their masters, and their bond is usually very strong,” he said, indulging in a forest berry pie.

  “And their skin is unbelievably strong and soft at the same time,” Margaret noticed.

  “It is, it is. I love them a lot myself. After all, this is my job here, I’m a dragon trainer. I train people to fly and take care of their dragons.”

  “You mean … we get to keep these two?” asked Margaret.

  “Yes, they will remain your dragons. We have plenty of them, but it’s better to keep them because the bond between you and your dragon strengthens during the time.”

  “This is awesome, Phil. We get to keep these cute creatures. I think we will have to name them...”, said Margaret, with a really happy face.

  Til’shar approved and smiled. The dragons were eating some violet berries from the bushes of the forest, and were really quiet, waiting. The sky was blue and there were a few traces of white clouds, but other than that, the day was really clear and sunny.

  Philip was just about to finish his last sandwich when Margaret looked at Til’shar and asked him with a rather quiet voice.

  “Til’shar, I don’t know if this is too much to ask … but … we’d like to take our dragons by ourselves on a trip over the City, that’s if you really think we have completed our training.”

  Til’shar looked at her with gratitude.

  “Of course, Margaret. You can now fly your dragons wherever you want. Just make sure you lock your feet first very well into the saddle sockets, don’t venture too much over the forest, and stick closer to the City.”