Free Immortal Darkness: Shadow Across the Land by Alex Rey Page A

images of himself falling as a younger
griffin fill his mind. Just as he had done after being pushed by
Caeo, Molar furiously pounded his wings against the air. Within
moments, however, did his screeches of fear turn into cries of
laughter—vibrating in the air—as he realized he had just succeeded
in learning how to fly.
    Flying like a bird, Molar flapped his wings
again and again as he became one with the sky. Images of flying at
many high altitudes flooded his mind. He could only imagine the
places opened to him now—and all the sights he could see. Where
will I go from here?
    In the midst of his thoughts, Molar flinched
when he heard the teacher remind him, “Remember to stay here until
everybody is done!” Taking a glance over at the eagle, Molar gave a
quick nod. Upon doing so did he take notice of another flying
creature—whom he narrowly missed with a quick shift to the
left.
    To pass the time, Molar and most of the other
flying creatures glided around and around in circles. To anyone who
was used to flying, this would have seemed a most boring
exercise—but to any flying novice, such a practice induced great
fun. Such were the thoughts within Molar’s head.
    It had not taken long for the last flying
creature—a bat—to find herself flying with the rest of the
enthusiastic fliers. Once so was done, the teacher gave them all
some time to enjoy their new flying abilities. Little did he know
of how much it would hurt the children to take away their freedom
to fly.
    After only a short time, the teacher let out
a screech, which drew the other fliers’ attention to him. Almost
every one of them scowled at the sound of the high-pitched cry,
stopping in midflight all the while. Floating in one area, each of
the students locked their gazes on the eagle.
    As silence penetrated the class, the flying
teacher continued, “Well—now that you’ve all learned how to fly,
we’re going to go to the Mapharaux so that Yofel can congratulate
us.” Some of the flying children exchanged excited glances, but one
of them—a small crow—asked the teacher, “What’s the Mapharaux?”
    At the sound of these words, many of the
fliers—Molar included—turned their heads toward the little crow.
Each of them wondered, How can he not know about the
Mapharaux? Almost half of them looking at the crow gave a glare
toward the little bird.
    After having received a moment of grief, the
crow hearing of the flight teacher when he told him, “The Mapharaux
is an enormous tower that lies in the center of Mocrano. Not only
is it really big, but it’s also where Yofel lives and gives out his
speeches.” A pause occurred as the teacher placed himself in front
of the other fliers.
    “Everybody follow me!” he commanded,
beckoning the others with a talon. He then gave his wings a flap as
most of the younger fliers stumbled to catch up within the first
heartbeat of flight.
    Molar tried his best not to accidentally run
into any of the other fliers. The last thing he wanted was to cause
mayhem in the moment of everyone’s peaceful excitement. Before he
knew it, his peaceful moments soon became worrisome moments when he
thought of one of the other fliers running into him.
    Thankfully, Molar’s worries faded into
nothingness when he took sight of the Mapharaux’s graceful figure.
While he hadn’t ever been within this building’s presence, Molar
had heard multiple stories about it—all of which sprung from
Carpla’s mouth.
    From where he’d been flying, the Mapharaux
appeared tiny to his eyes. Such a sight brought forth wonder into
his mind. Surrounding the tower’s entrance were over a hundred
Mocranians; one of which was Carpla.
    “Congratulations to you all!” the fliers
heard Yofel cry from the Mapharaux. The sound of Mocranian cheers
split the air at the sound of Yofel’s flattering words. Each of the
young fliers felt a shock fly through their spines when they
realized that the cheers had come from what appeared to be a