Beasts of the Dreamers Realm (Part 1)

'''The Beasts of the Dreamers Realm. By Smudge'''

Hundreds of feet above the ground above the layer of fluffy clouds Armin Cloudsworn was checking his scouting balloon for the final time before beginning his mission. Armin was the son of Egar Cloudsworn, admiral of the Iron Eagle air force of Cashen Damaar. He had worked his way up the ranks through years of hard work and was determined for his son to do the same. Armin had never wanted to join the military, he had instead enjoyed the finer things in life such as art and poetry, however his determined father had enrolled him into military school and had even use his influence to ensure that he passed every exam. On more than one occasion Armin's tutors had stated that he was not cut out of military life but with his father at his back he was eventually made a scouting pilot, and so here he was. Armin heard the gruff voice of his officer over the crackling radio. "Armin, you are to fly west to the dangerous realm of Starrlywon. Scout the area and create a report in your logbook. We need to know strength, weaknesses of the dreamers realm. Do not disappoint me." Armin flicked the radio switch and replied "Sir, yes sir." His voice wavered nervously, from the pressure from his captain and from the swaying of his balloon. Armin took a deep breath and kicked the engines into gear, both hands at the helm he began the journey into the unknown land of Starrlywon.

Much of what he knew about the dreamers realm came from rumors and legend. In military school he was taught it was full of wild beasts and vicious creatures that want nothing more than to kill. Armin flipped open his compass to check his coordinates, he had indeed crossed the border into the other realm, thick cloud rolled in around his small balloon encapsulating him in a bubble of white. The sun had risen high in the sky and occasionally peeked through the clouds to check up on Armin. By this point he was on edge, eyes scanning the horizon, he was in uncharted territory he had to be on guard. He span around nervously as a shadow passed over the ship, swallowing all the colour momentarily. He was so high up, how could anything be above him? he thought, and how big was it to cast such a great big shadow. Looking up he squinted against the sun without being able to see anything. Turning his attention back to the helm he gasped and quickly threw the wheel to the right, sending the ship veering violently. Outlined by the clouds was the peak of a mountain. How? How was this possible. he tapped his altimeter in disbelief, he was higher then any mountain was possible. Creeping gradually closer he peered over the edge of his ship to see ground below, covered with evergreens and crisscrossed with flowing rivers. Armin took a moment to catch his breath, perhaps to high altitude had effected his perception, rubbing his eyes he took another look. It was indeed land, solid grass covered land. Armin was about to pull the balloon up when the shadow returned above him, nervously he decided to land, lest share the sky with whatever beast was tracking him. He spun the wheel and pulled the balloon to the ground tying its land anchor around a solid tree.

Armin quickly flipped open his logbook and began making notes. "Upon reaching the Dreamers realm my balloon must have lost altitude for I found land very quickly despite believing myself to be way above the cloud layer, I noticed shadows in the sky above me and decided to land to avoid the beasts of Starrlywon. the land is much greener than Cashen Damaar and the water much clearer." Armin knelt down and splashed his face in a sparkling flow of water, looking up he noticed the river ended very abruptly before him. Perplexed he got up and cautiously walked over. The river cut off the land into the clouds below. (Wait, clouds below?) crawling up to the edge of the rock Armin gasped as he looked over the edge of the world. There was nothing from that point on, just endless clouds and space.A strong gust of wind whisked away Armin's logbook when he began to write down this discovery, the world ended in Starrlywon. Panicked at losing his logbook he hasitly made his way back to the balloon. As he was untying the land anchor the shadow returned once more was a loud crash, another gust blew Armin's hair back over his face, looking back to his balloon he was left speechless to find it in the talons of an enormous jaded dragon. Armin quickly dropped to the floor and fumbled with his sheathe. He could hear the rumbling of the dragon and was very much afraid. (Dragons hadn't existed to Armin until just now!). He finally managed to wrestle his knife from its hostler and held it up triumphantly to face the dragon. Remarking at its sheer size and majesty Armin quickly dropped the feeble knife in despair and began saying his final farewells. The dragon was perplexed and quite amused at watching this strange individual rolling around on the ground muttering to itself in strange cries. he knew it was not from this realm from the cloths that it wore and the way it spoke. Slowly the dragon began to speak so as not to frighten the small person. "You're not from here are you?" The dragon asked in a deep grumbled tone. Armin's eyes were wide with fear, he shakily raised his head to meet the dragons steady gaze. "N, N, No...." Was all he managed to whimper before his eyes rolled back and he slumped to the ground.

The darkness parted and blearily Armin opened his eyes, his head span with fear and confusion but was set on fear when he noticed the serpentine eyes looking down at him. Armin scrambled back against a tree and started at the dragon, his scales were emerald green and reflected the sunlight like torches, small emeralds were actualy set in between the plates the armored the body of the dragon, smoked puffed and curled from his nostrils and his lips had slit to reveal rows upon rows of deadly razors for teeth. Razors that had curled into an almost smile. Gazing into the large elongated eyes Armin felt relaxed as a puff of warm smoke washed against him. "You're not going to kill me" Armin squeaked, flinching as he did so. "No, of course not. I am an emerald Dragon of the sky islands, not that you would know as you seem to be from Cashen Damaar." 'Sky islands' Armin thought, so the world didn't end, this island was actually floating! The dragon readjusted himself and drew closer to Armin, his eye scanning him closely. "Yes, yes, you wear the uniform of their military. Do you not?" Armin felt guilty rembering his true purpose for coming here, "Yes, I am from the Iron Realm." Captivated by the sheer majesty of the dragon Armin decided he could trust this once fearsome creature and told him his purpose for coming including everything he knew about the coming invasion. The dragon nodded in understanding and shuffled back pondering his next move. "Return to your homeland, let them know what you have seen. tell them that Starrlywon will not be so easily taken and that our strength lies unseen. I suspected you didn't even believe Dragons were real." The dragon huffed, sounding almost pleased with himself, "The iron realm seeks to conquer this world, it would do wise to remember that it is not the only great power in these lands. Now go, take your little machine back to where you came from and tell them."

Armin thanked the dragon fro sparing him and quickly leapt back to the helm of his ship, steering her away from the island and back towards home. Armin returned to the capital of the iron realm and was quickly debriefed he pleaded with the generals to belive his story but they would not listen. When he begged to call off the invasion they branded him a traitor to the throne and locked him away from the rest of his days. Whilst Armin slumped in a cell swearing retribution a green dragon flew high above the eyes of mortals, listening and watching....