Xadian walked above the clouds, standing on a platform fifteen feet in diameter. He was five hundred feet above the ground and the platform was still rising. There was only one person on the platform with him, a vampire. Well, sort of a vampire. She was actually a Night-Wing, a vampire with wings. A thousand years ago a sect of vampires had given up their powers for the ability to fly. Over the centuries they had become more and more removed from vampire society, until they had found a way to create floating cities, which flew through the skies. They were kept in the air by the magic that the Night-Wings had acquired to replace their normal powers. This magic was also what was lifting Xadian into the sky at this moment, cast from minute to minute by the Night-Wing that was accompanying him. This was another reason vampires, and most races, avoided the Night-Wings. Most couldn't handle the journey into the sky. Seriously, the Night-Wings didn't even put railings on the platforms. More than one traveler had gotten height-sick and taken one too many steps in a wrong direction. It was a long way down. Not to mention a one way trip.
Xadian himself was a little put out by the height, trying to stay calm by pacing around the platform. It didn't help that the Night-Wing accompanying him, who would also serve as his tour guide, hadn't said one word to him since telling him her name. Alida. She was small for a vampire, only five and a half feet tall. She had black hair, like Xadian. Like most vampires of the winged variety she forewent the usual sword that most carried, instead opting to wield a metal staff, with a spike on the end. It was forged in the usual vampire way though, quenched in vampire blood to make it almost indestructible. She wore her wings proudly, stretched out to either side. They were black, seeming to almost absorb the light. With Alida standing in the middle of the platform, her wings stretched out to cover more than half the platform, both easily five feet long. Every now and then the feathers rippled, moving like a wave down the length of her wings. She almost seemed to be flirting with him. Understandable, vampires, even flying vampires, loved power, and he was one of the most powerful vampires in the world. Okeana would kill him though. And besides that, he had more pressing matters to think of than Alida's attempts to seduce him. The reasons for his journey into these damn skies for one.
In the last hour, his destination had arrived in view. It was the Capitol of the Night-Wing state cities. Ciudades del Cielo. It meant City of the Sky in one of the many languages that the Night-Wings spoke. And its name fit. It was a giant circle, at least two miles in diameter. Again, there seemed to be a distinct lack of hand rails, frustrating Xadian. But more than that, the city stretched into the sky another hundred feet above the circle itself. There was also a large bump in the middle of the bottom of the disc. Alida noticed him looking and informed him that that was where the vampires currently casting magic to keep the city in the sky were. As they got closer he saw that there was a series of windows in the bump, and hands were poking out of each. The sky keepers casting the magic.
The city had apparently moved in the hours since Alida had left to meet him, as instead of rising straight up to the city, they instead floated a little to the left of it. They'd have to move horizontally to meet up with a hole in the disc, which was where Alida's disc platform had disembarked from. It was made even more complicated by the fact the the city-disc was rotating. He hoped Alida knew what she was doing, or else they could be crushed between their disc and that of the city. Or, if the edge of the disc caught on the edge of the hole, it could flip the disc, sending them both falling to the earth two thousand feet below. She would survive of course, but he would have quite a bit of time to contemplate his hate of flying before he hit the ground.
Alida caught him looking over the edge and poked him with the tip of her wing.
“Vertigo?” She smiled. He glared at her, wondering if dying would be worth pushing her over the edge. Probably not. She looked upwards and her smile disappeared. They were getting closer to the city-disc. She tensed and the disc tilted a little as it moved to line up with the hole. The tilt, small as it was, almost threw Xadian off his feet. They lined up, and Alida tensed again. The disc flew a little faster, knocking Xadian off balance again. Luckily, before he fell, the disc flew to the right a little more and met up with the hole in the city-disc. A perfect fit. They had arrived in Ciudades del Cielo.
