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Enchantseeker’s twilight blue and night-black scales glimmered in the setting sunlight as if they were the gloaming sky. The young adolescent dragon’s eyes, that were the color of the falling sun, read the words of the scroll that he was entrenched in. He sat outside his house in Possibility, a faint warm wind carried the smell of the far off market. He took a small pause to his reading. He looked around the dimming sky, the stars starting to appear, and the long shadows that were now fading into the dark. It was peaceful. But a feeling arose in his chest; a familiar and strong feeling. It was of yearning and something like homesickness. It plagued him. Each time he put down a scroll to do anything else, he felt it deep with in his chest. He had read stories of NighWings who could read minds, tales of dragons with Animus powers, great heroic battles, and thus he longed to be in those stories. Not for power or fame, but for some sense of wonder. He yearned for the impossible; for the possible had been made dull. He put himself back into the narrative he was reading. A great amount of time passed, he didn’t notice the cooling of the air due to the lack of sun as he read by lamplight.
“Enchantseeker...?” He jolted in his wooden chair with a yelp.
“Oh! Hi.” He turned to his mother, Starwanderer. Her expression was something of light concern as she spoke in a calm voice.
“Dinner is ready Enchant.” He nodded and rolled up the scroll as he headed inside. And as he did that all familiar feeling found its way to him again.
His mind drifted as he ate with his family in the warmly lit sandstone home. His parents and his sister bickering about something or other. It was hard for him to pay attention to them as his mind wandered through enchanted forests, hidden grottoes, and vegetation-laden ruins. He thought of the dragons of his stories. He thought of their struggles and torment, their victories and celebrations, their amicability and kindness, their primal vitriol and regal disdain. Such greatness and wounder, such--
“Pass the bread.” He was thrust out of his daydream by his father’s neutral but dull request. He nodded and listlessly handed the basket over to Grandtalon. Dinner soon wrapped up and the family retired to bed, apart form Enchantseeker of course. He sat outside on the porch of the house as he had done before dinner. And again he was reading by lamplight. He read for a short while before he decided to take a stroll around the rough area of his house. The house was on the desert edge of Possibility. Yellow-green sage brush dotted the area, growing out of the dry dirt. A scant few other houses were in this area. Each one had its widows dark or its wooden shutters closed. He trekked out into the desert, about hundred dragon-lengths from his home. He laid down on his back, wings splayed out, and gazed into the stars. The yearning soon came to him, and thus, he began to daydream. He gazed at the cosmos and imagined. Yearning to fill his soul with the splendor of the impossible, he imagined that his wings suddenly thrust him upwards. That he shot skyward to the pitch-black star-filled vault of the heavens. He grunted with effort at each great beat of his wings. He flew higher and higher as he tried to reach stars. He knew that it was folly and foolish, but he still beat his wings to cast him higher and higher. His muscles started to burn and his wings started to slow. He grit his teeth and kept reaching. Just as he was about to give out his claws brushed the glowing spangles of stars. Each one the size of a dust particle, swirled around his claws. With renewed vigor he kept beating his wings and flew into the sea of light. He soared within the heavenly river, diving and swooping in the glimmering dust. He played around like this, laughing to himself, until something strange happened. One of his right front claws caught on the dark vault of the sky. He halted himself and reached out. The dark void moved as he pushed on it, as a curtain would. He took in a breath and sundered the void. The stars fell away and so did the void, and so did everything. The world below him vanished, the world he knew vanished. He stared into infinity, an uncountable number of luminous stars lay within. He saw planets that laid within shadow and ones that were bathed in light. He saw mystical green and gold lands and comforting dark blue and gray storms. He saw what he sought. But then he aroused himself from his phantasms. With in an instant he was back on the desert floor looking up at the stars. He sighed wistfully and stood up. He took a moment to focus his mind on the mundane. He listened to the faint sounds of the dry, brush riddled plain. The faint churning of wind and sporadic clicks of insects. It was times like this were he found the mundane world enjoyable. Something caught his eye. Out in the far dark of the dirt and dust, on the top of a fault-block mountain ridge, was a speck of light.
Who would be out there?
His curiosity got the better of him and he took off and flew toward the warm shimmering light. He flew high as to bled himself in with the night sky. He took a long sweeping bank left and flew down as he got closer. His landing was about two-hundred feet way from the ring of light. With his night-vision, he saw through the dark, a group of two SkyWings and a SandWing, all siting around a fire.
They look peaceful enough… a group of friends?
He too far away to hear anything from them, his mind told him to listen in on their conversation. He slowly crept nearer to the circle of light until he was about ten dragon-lengths away. The Sandwing’s age made him speak in low tones.
“It’s funny, you know?”
“What is?” Responded the SkyWing across from him, her voice was younger than his but still older than Enchantseeker’s.
“Being out here among the stars,” he took a deep breath of the smells of the dirt and dust, “its a nice break from the usual stuff.” Enchantseeker felt his blood freeze as the SandWing directly made eye contact with him. “But even here, someone is still chasing us.” He gave Enchantseeker a smile that lived somewhere between a playful grin and a sinister showing of teeth. The male SkyWing to the SandWing’s left spoke up.
“It’s your eyes NightWing. They reflect the fire. Come on out of the dark, were not planing on hurting you.” The SkyWing across from them spoke.
“We might as well be with words and a tone like that. Come on out, just a group of friends here.” The dark and orange eyed dragon gingerly came into the light.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you.” The SandWing squinted his eyes at him.
“Your quite young to be out in the desert by your lonesome.”
Should I tell them were I came from? I don’t know why they are out here, but Possibility is decently big… “I’m from Possibility,” he gestured off into the dark, where only faint coruscations of the town’s light appeared through the murk, “I was resting out near my home when I saw your fire’s light. I was only curious, I did not want to intrude.” The SandWing nodded and asked.
“What is your name NightWing?”
“Whats yours?” The SandWing smiled.
“Ha! Can never be to careful can we? I’m Esker,” he pointed to the others, “she is Maroon, he’s Evenstar.” The SkyWings nodded.
“I’m Enchantseeker.” Maroon blew air out her nostrils and smiled.
“NightWing names.” Esker spoke before Enchantseeker could respond to her.
“I know you NightWings like the dark but… why rest in the desert?”
Am I really going to tell these dragons that I wanted to daydream? That I feel a yearning to live within my dreams and the stories I read? They’ll laugh at me, I’ll just tell them a little.
“The desert offers the best view of the sky, unbroken by anything. I just find it nice to lay down and gaze at the stars.” The SandWing tilted his head at him.
“That’s true but…”
“Its not the whole truth, is it?” Finished Evenstar.
“Your welcome to keep your secrets. No need to tell us if you don’t want.” Spoke Esker.
I need to tell someone, or I feel like I do
“This more than you asked for but; I...daydream and read far more than I should. I sometimes feel like I live life mostly in my head. The expanse of the desert night sky, helps me imagine and dream better. I long to be within stories of victory and danger, to be in worlds of enchantment…” As he trailed on the SkyWings and SandWing shared looks of awkwardness. “…Where dark rain clouds and golden beaches mix, where old forests grow thick and vast, were unknowable wisps of light dance through the undergrowth. I seek more than just this.” The silence lasted for awhile, until Maroon spoke.
“Well… certainly a NightWing with a speech like that.” She walked over to him. “So it’s excitement you want?”
“I guess, but more so wonder.” She nodded.
“You tell anyone that your out here?”
“No. Don’t think my parents would understand.”
“Yeah I get that.” She suddenly tackled him to the ground. He yelped and tried to push her back but it was futile.
“What are you doing!?” Esker walked over to Enchantseeker’s pined form, holding a small glass bottle with a dark liquid inside.
“Just doing what we do NightWing. We’ve all got to make it in this world somehow.” Spoke Esker. The SandWing splashed the connects of the bottle on Enchantseeker’s face. Within mere moments he felt his eyes grow heavy and his limbs go numb.
He slowly woke up as his eyes adjusted to the light. He lay alone in a forest, dim golden light trickled in past the needles and leaves. And it seemed that fog had gathered in the lower parts of the wood. His ears heard the blustering wind through the evergreen trees and a far off babbling brook. Will-o’-wisps gently twirled and danced through the trees and verdant grass. He slowly stood up and stretched out.
Where…? This must be a dream, whatever the SandWing did to me knocked me out. Or...am I dead? Did they kill me? Is that why this is so potent and vivid? If I am not dead what do they plan to do with me? He swiveled his head looking around and saw more forest and more forest. Just then he heard the tolling of a bell from somewhere in the woods. It was a beautifully haunting sound. He smiled and simply bathed in it. He enjoyed things such as this; mysterious ephemera. Whether it be the tolling of a bell in a fog-strewn wood, ethereal lights on the desert horizon at gloaming, the laughter of a far group that quickly faded into the wind, or the outline of a vanishing shape at sea that was hidden by layers and layers of pouring rain, mist, and dark caused by churning storm clouds. Bring himself back to the forest, he started walking to the source of the bell tolling. A small ruin soon came into view, and the tolling stopped. Thick green vines twisted around olden and cracked black stone brick. The walls were almost completely gone, only the stone skeleton and a few scant pillars remained. A tarnished warm-gold bell hung at the ruin’s center.
“Hello.” Enchantseeker nearly jumped out of his scales as he rapidly turned to the source of the voice. “Sorry! Did not mean to startle you.” The dragon that stood before him seemed to be made out of stone. Moss grew on him and small yellow flowers poked out between his scales. He seemed to have the rough body shape of a SkyWing and IceWing hybrid.
“No worries… sorry but what are you?” The stone dragon chuckled.
“My name is Bourgeon. I am simply a dragon who lives here.”
“Where is here?”
“This is the Land of the Impossible.” Enchantseeker tilted his head at him, his tone skeptical.
“Really? As much as I would like this to be real, I know it to be a dream. This is all within my head and longing heart.”
“Oh yes, a dream it is. And that yearning in your chest is your pull to this place. It does stem from your head, but it is not in it.”
“I don’t quite understand.” Bourgeon simply gave him a closed-mouth smile in response before continuing.
“I understand your a bit of trouble, are you not?” The NightWing nodded. “I can wake you up a bit earlier than they are expecting, see if that I’ll give you a wing-up on them.” He reached out and touched Enchantseeker’s head. With a sudden lurch he came to, in the land of the waking. He looked around. He lay in a dusty cell, the creaking of wood and scattering of sand by the wind were the only sounds he heard. He was in a small dim room, the only light being beams of sunlight that shot through the cracks of the old wood of whatever building he was in. He strained his ears to see if he could pick up anything. He heard the faint chatter of dragons just outside, one of them sounded like Esker, the other, a corrosive male voice. he did not recognize.
“I did not bring this NightWing all the way here just to get scraps of pay.”
“This is what you get for now. The rest will be given to you after it is in my possession. Speaking of where have you stored him?”
“Just through there.” He heard steps getting closer and laid back down on the ground, pretending to still be knocked out. The door opened and a wave of heat billowed through as two dragons stepped into the building. “Here he is Scoria. He’ll be out for another two hours or so.” He heard the two SandWings stalk around him like vultures as they spoke.
“His scales look very nice. Not to much struggle with this one?”
“Oh, he came to us.”
“Did he?”
“Yeah. To keep it short he’s… got his own unique aspects, even for a NightWing.”
“Hmm. Maybe I’ll get to know him before I descale him. By the way does he posses any of those NightWing powers?”
“Far as we know he does not.” The conversation paused and he heard steps getting closer to his cell.
“Can I see him more up close?”
“Sure.” A rustling of metal followed by a turn of a lock.
Not yet. He felt the vile presence of Scoria over him.
“Such wonderful scales.” He felt his guts twist on themselves. His breath, that smelled of brimstone, rolled over Enchantseeker’s face. It was hard not to move away, even more so as he felt claws feeling the scales that his jugular vein lay under. The claws of Scoria felt as if the SandWing had been made from fire. His presence felt like a shadow that was crawling up Enchantseeker’s spine and that was slowly wrapping its stygian tendrils around his head before slowly twisting it off, tearing the skin and scales like damp paper.
Now. With a burst of vigor he shot up and slammed into the SandWing. The dragon crashed against the bars and yelled in pain. Esker, who was caught off guard, failed to snag the NightWing as the dragon slammed out the door and rocketed into the sky. He shot a glance back down to see the two SandWings taking after him. With his glace he saw that the building he had been in was part of a very small village that sat around an oasis. He beat his wings faster and climbed higher, all that he saw was dunes upon dunes. He picked a random direction and went as fast as he could. He glanced back to see that Scoria was gaining on him and that Esker trailing them both. Scoria’s dark-gold and ashen scales stood out against the sky as he pumped his wings with force. He got closer and closer until…
“Got you.” Enchantseeker felt claws suddenly wrap around him. Both of the dragons turned into a mess of wings as they fell to the ground. In the ensuing landing the SandWing promptly pinned him to the ground and wrapped his claws around Enchantseeker’s neck.
“S-Stop.” Croaked Enchantseeker. Scoira grinned at this plea with all the world’s evils.
“You’ll live.” He started applying pressure to the NightWing’s neck. Enchantseeker’s vision started to fade, his vision grew dark as the cruel face of Scoria slowly gave way to darkness.
He awoke in the mist-shrouded ruins, the gentle wind of the woods blowing through them. Standing up, he looked to the sky hidden behind the trees.
Need to get a better view of this place.
He lifted off the ground and emerged through the treetops. He saw that he was not far from a coastline, the forest went on for a short while before suddenly becoming a lusciously large and vast cliff that dropped down to a black sand beach. He spotted a purple-flaming light down in the distance on the fog-laden coast. Out of curiosity he flew down to it. Punching through the as he dove down, he landed by the light. An armor-clad IceWing sat by the lavender campfire. His armor was rusted and covered in vegetative rot. Enchantseeker approached the IceWing carefully, his eyes darting around the area.
“Enchantseeker?” The IceWing’s voice sounded like distant thunder, with an accent the NightWing had not heard before.
“You know me?”
“A bit. Have a seat.” He gestured to the other side of the campfire. The NightWing sat across from the IceWing on the black sand. “Name’s Dreich.”
“How do you know me, Dreich?”
“The gray one told me about you.” The conversation lulled for a moment.
“What is this place?”
“He told you didn’t he? The Land of the Impossible.”
“That does not tell me anything. Is this even real? Am I just going mad?”
“Its real enough. This place can only be found and reached by those who’ve still got a bit of dreams up there.” He pointed to Enchantseeker’s head.
“So… this is real? It not some random thing made by my dying mind?”
“Yes it’s real. Would be quite boring and dour if it was just your dying mind.”
“Then is the waking real?”
“Yes as well.” The Sun slowly dipped down on the horizon casting warm-gold hues upon the mist-addled beach.
“Why wouldn’t I just stay here then? Right now, out in… wherever, I’m about to be killed. Out there it’s dull and painful it’s… prosaic.” Dreich thought for a moment.
“You shouldn’t hide here. This place, it’s only meant as a counterweight. If you hide here you will lose yourself. You’re a dreamer, so unlike others you have this place, use it to your advantage. But if you value this over the waking, you soon wont be able to dream at all.” The wind blustered around them as the Sun fell, carrying smells of green and wood.
“But what am I to do? I can’t escape him.”
“This place and the waking, are more connected then you realize. Your connection is strong enough.” He pulled a rusted spear from behind him, it gently thrummed as he did. “Just grab this when you need it.” With a sudden lurch he was awoken to being in chains, his wings were bound and so was his hind-legs and forelegs. The smell of sand filled his nostrils. He was back in the cell, in the small wooden building. It was dark in the room, only lit by two candles sat that sat on a stand near the door.
The Sun has gone down. How long was I out?
“Looks like your awake.” Scoria’s voice cut through the dark. He walked into the candlelight staring at Enchantseeker. “I decided to wait until until you woke up.” The NightWing’s voice was meek.
“Until…?”
“Until I take off each of your scales one by one.” Enchantseeker instinctively struggled against the chains at his words. The SandWing only chuckled at this struggle. He walked over and unlocked, and opened the door. Out of desperation he spoke to Scoria, trying to find something normal within the dragon.
“You don’t have any tools.”
“I like to use my claws.”
“Why are you doing this?.” All he got back was a smile. The SandWing towered over him and pushed his head down onto the floor of the cell. He felt claws start to puncture the back of his neck. He yelled out in pain. A voice in the back of his head whispered to him.
Spear. Spear. Spear.
Despite the pain he focused in on the other world. The sights and sounds, the smells and feelings. The felt the refreshing cold of the mist-covered land wash over him. Just then the pain stopped. He opened his eyes and saw that half of the cell and room had turned into the black sand beach, with the rusted spear laying in the sand. He looked down to see that his chains had rusted. He broke them apart with ease and leapt for the spear. Scoria had been left dumbfounded.
“What is this? NightWings don’t have powers like this.” He then saw Enchantseeker grab the spear and before he could move he was stabbed clean through his neck. Enchantseeker broke the rest of his rusted bonds and fled into the desert night, seeking a way back to his calm and warm, home.
Dawn broke as a rage-filled father shouted on the plains of the yermo.
“Where is my son!?” Grandtalon threw the bloodied Esker to the ground and started clawing his sides. The SandWing shrieked, his recently-stinger-absent tail drew semicircles of blood at it thrashed.
“I don’t know! We dropped him off at Hard Water!” Grandtalon’s claws went deeper.
“To who?!” The SandWing yelled.
“Skies above! Scoria! Dropped him off for Scoria!”
“SCORIA?!” Esker now saw that this was the wrong thing to say, due to Grandtalon picking up a nearby rock and smashing into his face. Blood spattered onto the desert soil as the SandWing twitched before going limp.
Kidnap and bring my dragonet to SCORIA?! Vile excuses for dragons!
Grandtalon slowed his breath and thought of his next steps. Starwanderer is getting in touch with the authorities so hopefully any sightings of a NightWing will be reported. As he thought to himself he looked up to see a dragon flying, silhouetted against the rising Sun.
Do they know anything?
He shot up and flew towards them as he got closer he saw more detail. Their frame was a bit small and their scales were black. They turned to look at him, their eyes were a graceful sunset orange. He nearly faltered in air at the realization.
“Enchantseeker!” He barreled into his son and held him close to his chest as they spiraled in air. His anger and fear turned into joy and concern as he felt his dragonet’s breath on his chest. He held back his tears the best he could and asked, “Is anyone following you?” Enchantseeker shook his head. “Then let’s get you home.”
It was times like this that Enchantseeker found the mundane world far more than just enjoyable.