Among Dragons (Editing)

Chapter 3

"Where are we?' My voice was weak, and it wavered with the pathetic sound of recent fear.

"The Realm of Dragons," Niram said. A wide smile broke out onto his face. It was the first time I had seen him really smile before, with such a vibrant gleam in it. A smile like that could send even the worst of storms rolling in another direction. "Welcome to my home, Eris Kindler."

"Your home?" I looked around at the wide, open field around me, but it didn't look anything different. The only thing I could tell was that the air was much more refreshing and sharper than where we had just left. I breathed in deeply, letting the cool feel of it slide into my blood and run under my skin.

It did little to take away the shock of what had just happened. I pulled out my cell phone instinctively while Niram looked around at our surroundings, my heart dropping at the sight of no signal connection. The screen began to flicker sporatically.

"That won't last much longer," Niram noted while pulling out a compass to check for direction. "Most items can travel between realms easily, but since yours has isolated itself, its severed its connection. No type of mechanism you bring from there will work for long.

Just as he predicted, the screen flickered into a black, showing my scared reflection in the glass. My sharp features just made my bewilderment enhanced all the more. I dropped my phone back into the discreet pocket of my skirt reluctantly.

"What happened to those people?" My eyes looked around, but I felt like they weren't really seeing anything. I couldn't even think straight. "Where did we go?"

"We left them behind. I used a portal to travel to my realm, the Realm of Dragons." He glanced at me warily, but I was too busy taking in the rolling hills that rose and fell all the way to the horizon. The hills were covered with grass the color of the richest emeralds and spotted with a shock of color every now and then from patches of wildflowers.

"Are you okay? You look a little pale." He continued to study my face skeptically.

"Is this some sort of joke? Are you pranking me right now?" I could feel my cheeks flush in frustration. "Because this isn't funny. None of this makes any kind of sense." Panic began to well up inside of my chest the more and more I began to think about my situation.

Niram let out a small sigh. "Listen, Eris, I know that all of this is a lot, and its overwhelming for you to be here, but you have to trust me." His green eyes were pleading.

Overhead, shadows of passing clouds drifted over the hills lethargically, making the landscape a mottley of shadows and light. Bird calls rang in the distance, where a line of trees was smudged on the horizon.

"There's a baby dragon about to be born," Niram said while glancing briefly over his shoulder. "I need your help to get there on time, or else it'll destroy everything it can until we stop it."

"What?" I gave him a look of bewilderment. I still didn't fully believe him, even with the surroundings screaming the truth in my face. "Aren't baby dragons normally too small to do any damage?"

The amused smirk he gave me set a sense of dread to twist in my stomach again. Exactly how big could these dragons be? Every story I had read or heard about them made them seem young and vulnerable when first born. Were they really capable of large scale destruction?

"You'll see when we get there. But for now, we have to hurry."

His hand was cold against my skin when he grabbed my wrist. I began to protest, but the pleading look he gave me broke my already shattered and confused will. I followed him absently, too preoccupied in wading through my own confusion and awe to worry about the direction we were going. All I focused on was the sound of my breathing and the softness of our footsteps in the grass.