[Raxatia – Realm 69]
In a dark environment with only a soft light flashing from above, muffled sounds echoed, and the place shook with unbridled excitement.
"Pull out!" a voice pleaded.
"Not yet... wait for the signal." another voice responded, equally pleading.
"It's tight in here."
"But..."
There was a roar outside and the dark cave fell silent. A large reptilian descended in front of the cave with a menacing aura. "PULL OUT, Dragons!"
In cue, numerous young dragons burst out from the cave, their scales shimmering in the sunlight. They were different colours with most red, dark blue, and most bi-coloured. A swarm of fifteen young dragons flew to the sky.
They roared triumphantly in relief and breathed in fresh breath. Some tried breathing out fire, but only smoke came out.
They laughed amongst themselves as they flew around in the sky, enjoying the newfound freedom after they had to wait in the cave for hours.
One of them, a female dragon with dark-red scales and slightly larger than the rest, soared higher and commanded. "Let's go! The winner takes the Captain title from me, along with my first kill after graduation!"
Instantly, she bolted to the skies – piercing into the cloud. Her comical laughter rang out, and the others joined her, reaching for her height.
The large dragon that gave the command smiled, looking at the young students. She made a quick headcount, and her smile faded. She looked into the cave and inhaled.
"Eryx Ryuu Zephyr! If you don't come out now, I'll chop your wings and feed it to you!"
Her roar emitted high-pitched sound waves that caused disorientation in the young dragon sleeping inside the dark cave.
He fluttered his wings, hitting the ceiling of the cave and bumping into the walls. His eyes adjusted, and he flew out of the cave as he flapped his wings desperately.
The sun hit his scales; crimson red, with an orange underbelly and in an orange patch at the tip of his tail. He had a small size but was sturdy.
"Faster! Don't stop! You can do it!" The teacher urged since he never put enough effort in his flying. The young dragon tried to obey, but the events of his dream hadn't faded, and the mountains around him looked like large pieces of meat.
He bumped into a tree and shook his head.
The teacher growled. "Zephyr!"
He shifted his amber eyes to the teacher.
"This is a competition! Can you not co-operate ever! Why are you always the one fooling around?"
His eyes lowered as a different thought came to his mind. "If I win this competition, you'd give me meat twice my size?"
The teacher paused, but accepted. She knew his potential and how he only needed motivation. Her wings rose to the air, as she promised. "You have my word!"
Zephyr's eyes widened in determination, and he positioned towards the skies. With dashing speed, he launched into the horizon like a meteor.
He passed his class, and their laughter subsided on seeing the lazy dragon moving like that. The captain frowned, and sped off, leaving the rest of the class she'd been guiding.
It turned to their competition as they challenged for the leading spot while the rest cheered. The two young dragons went past the clouds and only then did the cheers subside as they were no longer in view.
The Captain was annoyed. "Since when did sleepyhead move so well!" She yelled as she went past him by a foot.
Zephyr only smiled, trying to hide the fact that he just discovered that he could go that fast under the right motivation. He'd never want to compete with the Captain because he'd never perform her roles with his lazy nature.
The Captain looked away from him, focusing on leaving him in the dust. Something caught her attention, and her frown faded when she sensed it's an obstruction.
Her expression slowly turned confused when the obstruction moved faster than a meteor. "Is it…"
"A meteorite!" Zephyr hit her with his sides, moving her away from the blazing rock that nearly crashed on her.
It was a near miss, and his right wing would've burned off. Zephyr couldn't shake off the fear that ignited his body from being in close contact with the meteor, despite being a fire dragon.
He snapped his head behind him. Cold sweat broke out on his scaly neck. "The class! They can't see it with the clouds above them!"
The Captain dived down to catch up, obviously not having a plan in mind. Zephyr followed her while his mind raced with many thoughts.
How did a meteor break into their realm? What was more was this one had something attached to it.
"Nixara, don't get too close!" He tried to warn her as she caught up to the meteor. "Nixa—"
A loud roar erupted through the skies, and a breath of fire burned off the clouds, making the meteor clearer to those below. The captain panted softly after that release.
The meteor broke to smaller parts as it broke into the atmosphere and a frenzy started as the other students started the path down back to the teacher.
Zephyr went for Nixara, who grew weak after forcing a breath of fire. She was also a fire dragon, but too young to produce flames.
"Mother..." an image of the most important person flashed through Zephyr's mind in his state of urgency.
He dived down, wrapping his tail around Nixara's arm and heading for the creature tied to the meteor. That'd give him an answer that'd save everyone, including mother.
He released Nixara and got closer, muttering words of Grace to himself. His eyes were half closed when they sighted the creature, flaming red with eyes as blue as the ocean.
"A phoenix?"
Another weird occurrence. A phoenix in their realm without any formal announcement. Zephyr reached for the metallic lasso tied on the creature and, using his claws, he snapped it off.
The phoenix let out a high-pitched screech as it fell off the meteor. Zephyr went after it wondering why it didn't just use its wings.
Then yet another weird occurrence happened, the phoenix's feathers burned off and smooth skin grew out. Slowly a creature with hands and legs emerged, with no scales or feathers.
"A human!" Zephyr stopped chasing. "I-It's lower half turned to a human form!"
A sorrowful screech permeated the clouds and Zephyr flew back to protect his ears. His vision became blurry as the phoenix screeched and his tail let go of Nixara.
There was a large blast as the meteorites landed, shaking the ground and making everywhere black on contact. The plains flattened and the only sounds echoing were cries.
[DING! Host Dead.]
[Searching for a new host...]
[DING! New host found.]
[Registering… Assimilating…]
[Complete.]