Beyond

not a bird, not a plane

At some point as he hovered closer to the planets atmosphere he felt its gravity pull him downwards slightly. With little effort he maintained his posture . He then descended quickly to the surface of the planet. He landed with a large noise that made the ground shake and as he stood in the crater his landing caused he made a mental note to slow down or stop his descent before he hit ground the next time he was in a similar situation.

The first thing that he observed was the noise. After flying through the vacuum of space for months this was his first time he heard anything he listened closely and discovered he could hear everything around him for miles. The sounds overwhelmed him for a few seconds before he adjusted to it. He floated above the ground just enough so he could get a good view of his surroundings. The landscape around him was comprised of tall mountains. He was in some kind of valley with trees everywhere. Through the trees and by using his hearing he discovered numerous life forms around him. Giant insect and beast like creatures. Most of whom had began to get as far away as possible from the huge crater he just made. A few he discovered were approaching him quickly while trying to make as little sound as possible. They might have been successful if not for his ridiculous hearing. After a few minutes a few shapes began to emerge from the trees. Upon seeing them the first thing he thought was how different they looked from the people he saw in his flashbacks… there were about a dozen of them covered in the skins of various animals and riding reptilian creatures that stood on two legs. The reptiles were of different shades but he could only assume they were of the same species judging by their similar sizes. Their average height was about 6 feet tall and with razor sharp teeth and claws they looked menacing but for some reason he didn’t feel threatened. He calmly observed the mounts before he moved to their riders. He couldn’t tell how tall they were while they remained mounted. They bore some resemblance to the people he remembered in his flashbacks except they had no facial hair and red skin and had two sharp canines protruding from both ends of their lower lip . Some he observed had 4 arms and others just two. They were all also very muscular. Thick veins could be seen bulging from beneath their skin.
They eyed him suspiciously for a few seconds until one of them made grunting noises to the others and pointed at him. Suddenly they all became agitated as they began to point repeatedly at his feet as he hovered a little above the ground. One of them at the head of the party descended from his mount. He had four arms and a huge scar across an eye and as his feet touched ground and he stood straight he was just as tall as his mount. He made some noises at the others and they all stopped talking. He then slowly began to walk towards the floating man.
Calmly observing them as he floated above ground he moved forwards slowly towards the man. There was only about a dozen meters between them when suddenly a large roar sounded and a huge beast emerged from the thick trove of trees to their right. The beast was huge it stood on four legs and was at least 6 meters tall with claws and fangs that made the previous mounts claws look like blunt knives. With every step it took it made the ground shake ever slightly and as it eyed the other creatures in the clearing it unfurled 2 massive wings behind it and roared at the sky as hot red flames poured out from its jaws. As the floating man stared at this new creature one word came to mind, surfacing from his subconscious : Dragon.

It’s huge wings were on full display as the creature began to flap them rhythmically. Each of its wings had a span of 7 meters and as it began to ascend to the sky the previous creatures still on their mounts began to scurry desperately to the safety of the forest. Except for one, the rider who had dismounted from his mount and was almost halfway to the floating man. As the dragon roared and began to fast approach him while spewing fire in its path the floating man clenched his fists. He looked at the dismounted rider who had a terrified look on his face, the fire breathing dragon was now close enough for it to feel the heat of its flames any closer and the rider would be burnt to crisp. As though resigning itself to its inevitable fate the rider collapsed on its 2 knees and hung it’s head waiting for the sea of flames to devour it when suddenly there was a loud bang and then silence.