Sands of Time

Chapter 8

He was weightless.

Beneath his talons, he could feel nothing; there was nothing there to feel. He stood in thin air, stars swirling above his head and vanishing into the endless shadows. In the distance, he could hear crickets, though it made little sense without a forest or creek to support their habitat.

He was dreaming. This was all a dream. It had to be. There was no way he could be dead. This wasn't the Dream Realm he knew. Something here was very wrong.

"Hello?" he called, hearing his voice echo back from the walls of the silent void. He tentatively inched closer to the stillness, his footsteps like those of a ghost's; as silent and cold as death. "Is anyone here?"

A rush of unanticipated wind whipped past his snout and he whirled to follow. As he did, the whiteness of the heaven-like land disappeared, molding into the distinguishable scene of a forest and a valley overlooking a quiet ravine and a small settlement of thatch-roofed houses. It was very different than the desert and Sun frowned, padding forward; ears alert and wings spread defensively. 

Where on Dragnaple was this?

Why was he all alone? The Dream Realm didn't have civilizations. There was no need for a bunch of dragons who were already dead and this certainly wasn't reality; which had to mean he was trapped in someone's dreams. But that was just as impossible! He wasn't a Leaper! That was Meadow's thing and he had no idea where the sea drake was right now (hopefully a thousand years in the future where he belonged, far away from Snowfall and danger and all of this insanity).

So, how had he leaped, and who's dream had he inadvertently intruded?

Almost as an answer to his unspoken questions, a bush to his left rustled, and before he had a chance to turn, a large bundle of dark scales barrelled from the foliage, wings parted as though preparing to attack the first thing that dared to get in his way.

Well, Sun was not going to be that unfortunate thing. He yelped, swinging himself out of the way, his talons sinking into the pebbled sand as he curved back to face the oncoming front, but the drake did not appear to see him, winging right past the sand hatchling and throwing himself into the outstretched talons of another drake who had been waiting further down the ravine--

--a drake that Sun recognized.

"Cloud?" he gasped, and it was indeed Cloud; a younger, gentler, fully-able-to-see version. Possibly just past his thirteenth cycle, definitely a form Sun was not familiar with. It had to be. The sapphire was just too distinct, too him, to be anyone else. 

"Coal?" the young Cloud exclaimed, his voice cracking. He toppled back onto his hindlegs at the force of the Monterrian's impact, trying to steady his crazed best friend. "Whoa! What's gotten into you, dude? You look like you've seen a ghost!"

"Cloud, it was horrible!" the black hatchling wailed, burying his snout in the taller drake's scales. "I felt something watching me from those bushes! And it spoke to me! It was scary! I'm so scared, Cloud! What if it comes back?"

The team's leader blinked, grasping Coal's shoulders and pulling the black hatchling away from him. "What kind of ghost?" he asked and Sun blinked. Why would he ask what kind of ghost it was? Couldn't he see how freaked out the little dragon was and--

Wait, no, he scolded himself. This isn't real. This is all in your head.

Yes, that was it. This was all some kind of messed-up dream; more of a nightmare, honestly. This had to be Cloud's viewpoint, a deep memory the drake's worrisome brain kept playing on repeat. Sun was a psychologist, but even he had never experienced anything like this; something so close to home. Normally he just heard the second-hand recounts from others, he didn't step into their talons to feel it first-hand.