The creature soaring beneath them was a monstrous fusion of bird and reptile. Its body stretched long and sinewed, a tail like a coiled whip of scaled muscle, and a head shaped like a proud, avian predator. Its wings were impossibly wide, each one layered with feathers pale as clouded sky, shimmering faintly with every beat, as if the creature itself had been stitched from the very sky it flew through.
And it was massive. Not just large. So enormous that when it passed overhead, the land beneath vanished into shadow. A beast that defied natural law, flying not through instinct or evolution, but by sheer will of Gaia Force.
The most viable place to jump, the only viable place, was the base of the tail. It was where the body narrowed, and where they could avoid the dangerous claws or shifting legs mid-flight. More importantly, it gave them time. Time to reach the ledge. Time to prepare.
