Perilous Skies; Wayward Royalty, Playing with Fire

Chapter 5 You can tell at a glance.

"AAAAAAWWWWRROOOOGGHH!!! CLEAR OFF WYRMS, I'M LANDING!!!" Howled a booming tremendous voice from behind us, shaking my entire body like an explosion. While the words were clear, this wasn't a human voice. It was a great howling torrent of language that better matched a raging beast or a natural disaster than anyone I ever knew. The jolt sent me scrambling in Natalia's arms for an escape, eyes locked to the sky. What in the unholy heck was that!? I'm sorry, please don't kill me!! But immediately a great shadow overtook the space. As if time slowed down to a crawl for a moment I saw every detail at once. The truest form of majesty and wonder in the natural world, it's a dragon!

Its wingspan was massive, greater than any bird, pterosaur, griffon I had ever seen. The wings were membranous, extending down the body and ending only just before the tail. The structure looked much thicker than most flying creatures as no light could break through the silhouette, save for a small hole on the lower left side. It wasn't a dark figure, however, the opposite actually. Every inch of the dragon's hide, spikes, and great-keeled scales were a lustrous gold that gave the creature an ornate and prestigious aura. Every inch I could see, of course, it wore a small vest-like saddle. And judging by its robust frame and twisted blue ramshorns, this is a Regal GreedLong.

It soared gently above us with a few shallow wingbeats and swooped past the fence, stopped with a few quick flaps, and disappeared into a... I rubbed my eyes and adjusted my glasses to make sure I was seeing this right.

"SWEET LORD OF IMPERIAL SERPENTS, IT'S AN ARMY OF DRAGONS!!!!" I shouted to the high heavens, my heart was slamming against my chest like a beast in a cage and I doubled down on my protests, "Lemme go, Natalia, I need to get to them!!"

Natalia was struggling to keep me under control, "Shhhh!! Keep it down will you?

St-stop moving, I am going to drop you and you're embarrassing me enough already!" I stop and glance about, no one is looking at us. In my moment of distraction, she gently lowered me down. As soon as I felt the ground beneath my boots again I pulled myself from her grasp and bolted for the fence. I could only hear Natalia's voice faintly before it faded into the ambiance, my eyes were trained on the skies above.

Only a dozen or more of the dragons were still airborne, I suppose as a consequence of our late arrival. The fliers were all small Ave dragons like LoftLobbers, but there was a solitary red and pale-bellied feather-tailed stormdrake; I don't remember seeing that one in the book. They were content to remain far above the earth and their grounded peers. So high up their delicate silhouettes resembled stretched-out swifts as they flipped and dived about, playfully taking nips at their marginally larger companion's tail who seemed unmoved by the harassment. Perhaps GreedLong was trying to get away from them? Come to think of it, why didn't I notice the dragons immediately when I got outside? Well, I couldn't have been out for more than a minute before the gold one showed up so- suddenly reality literally came crashing in.

"Oof! ACCKK!!" I fell straight onto my back, barely managing to stop my glasses from falling off. The backpack was able to cushion the landing, but at what cost to my belongings? I have to check! Not now, what did you just run into? As I tried to get my bearings, I saw a pair of dark shoes with pale legs in front of me. Oh no, of course, I ran into someone. I briefly averted my gaze as I found my feet again, doing my best to excuse myself, "Sorry! Sorry, I didn't see you there...

It was an accident I... wait," There was no response, despite running into them at full speed they seemed completely unmoved by it. Instead, I found them staring over the crowd in front of us like a statue. The person I blundered into was an Ermanthyian boy, no older than me judging by the looks of him. He wasn't particularly fit or tall next to his peers, but that didn't stop him from towering over me. His bag that he carried is notably more stuffed than mine which would have cushioned the impact on his end. But still, how did he not notice that? Is something wrong? Reluctantly I announced myself, "Hey, I am sorry I ran into you, are you ok?"