It was cold when Robert woke up. Gingerly, he stood up and got aware of his surroundings. He was in a small, circular clearing in what looked like an endless forest. Suddenly, he heard something, not with his ears, but with his head.
Ugh, I'm so hungry. Where the heck are those goats and sheep? Seems like I've been flying up here for hours, the voice said.
Now, this startled Robert. One main reason is that the thing the voice belonged to was obviously hunting, and not just anything. This thing was hunting big, fleshy animals, which, technically, Robert was, although he was rather thin. [At this point, you're probably wondering what Robert looks like. Well, let's just say he's 14, 6', has dirty blond hair, decently large muscles for his age, and practically always wears a T-shirt and genes. His personality is mainly that of an introvert, which is kind, shy, considerate, compassionate, passionate, and sometimes short-tempered. I'm going to leave the rest up to your imagination.] If he wasn't careful, he might be the thing's lunch. Another reason this frightened him is because it seemed as if he just heard the thought of another being, which, he thought, was impossible. The last reason is, obviously, that he was on a dam one minute, and in a forest in the next.
Hey, look! There's something that resembles a Scavenger, except... It's a little tall... I'll check it out, the voice said again.
Quickly, Robert spun around, looking for the speaker of the voice, when as last, he found it.
It was like nothing he's ever seen before. Before his eyes was a huge dragon (or dragonet, but Robert didn't know what that term meant yet), with scales shining like gold. The dragon swooped down into the clearing and landed.
Wow. I have never seen a creature like this. I wonder if it'll taste good, the dragonet's inner voice said.
Oh no, this can't be good, Robert thought.
"Please don't eat me," Robert said out of desperation.
Wow, it can talk! I wonder what my friends will think of this.
"Can you understand me?" Robert recited.
"Yes, I can," the dragon replied.
What should I do? Bring him to my friends? Eat him? Bring my friends here?
"You can let me be on my way and depart with peace," Robert suggested.
What the—It's like he's reading my mind, like Moon does.
"Who's Moon?" asked Robert.
This startled the dragon. His jaw dropped in awe.
"How are you reading my mind? What are you?" the dragon asked in confusion.
"Um, I'm a human, and honestly, I don't know... What's your name?"
"Qibli... And... Yours?"
"Robert."
There was silence for a moment. For both parties, the situation was extremely confusing. For Robert, he had teleported and gained telepathy (or so it seemed). For the dragon, Qibli, he saw and met a new, strange being for the first time. Not only was it foreign, it could read minds, so if it was hostile, things could get messy.
Silence.
Suddenly, there was the sound of wings flapping high in the air. Not just one pair, but numerous. Four dragons came into sight and flew into the clearing. Their colors ranged from midnight black to tropical green. Along with the noise, there were also the voices.
Who and what is this? most of them thought.
"Who's this? What is he? Is he a Scavenger? I thought Scavengers were smaller," the green dragon inputted.
"He's a human, and he can read minds." Qibli foolishly answered.
Of course, this caused even more silence, followed by faces with the look of disbelief.
Qibli is nuts, once voice said.
"Qibli isn't nuts," Robert uttered.
The blue, webbed dragon, probably the one who thought that, now looked shocked.
"How are you...?" He managed to say.
"I don't know. I don't know where I am or how I got here. Please don't eat me." Robert replied.
"How do you not know where you are? What, did you drop outta the sky or something?" the blue-ish dragon sassed.
"I could have. I don't know. All I remember is I was about to—" at this point Robert remembered he was, in fact, about to kill himself, when he was teleported. At this thought, the dark colored dragon looked sad to the point of tears (although she managed to hold back), opened her mouth, and closed it.
That's awful... To have such regrets that you'd want to— her voice spoke. Wait, can he read minds?
"Yes, I can," Robert replied sheepishly.
Silence.
Crickets chirping.
Robert broke the silence by asking, "What are your names?"
"Mine's Kinkajou, the RainWing," the greenish dragon said.
"Er, 'RainWing'?" an embarrassed Robert asked.
Dang, this guy's dumb.
He doesn't know what a RainWing is?
Three moons, and I thought I was stupid.
The voices haunted Robert. It was like taking an arrow to the knee. His expression probed Kinkajou to say, "Um, did you hear that?"
Robert nodded with sorrow. The other dragons seemed to get the memo and muttered an apology.
"We could teach you terms you probably don't know, if you'd like..." the dark dragon stated.
Robert managed a nod.
"Well, first, we should introduce ourselves. I am Moonwatcher—I prefer to be called Moon—the NightWing," the midnight dragon said.
"I am Winter the IceWing," he vocalized.
"I'm Turtle the SeaWing," the webbed dragon voiced.
"Nice to meet y'all. Now can you teach me the terms please?" Robert requested.
Moon took the initiative. "Of course. As you probably don't know, you're in the land of Pyrrhia, inhabited by dragons. There are seven tribes—SandWings, MudWings, SeaWings, RainWings, SkyWings, IceWings, and NightWings—that live here. [If you know the tribes, you may want to skip this part, dear reader.] Each tribe has a different ability. SandWings have a poisonous barbed point on their tails and can survive a long time without water. MudWings are very muscular, can breathe fire, and can hold their breath for up to an hour. SeaWings can breathe underwater and can use their glow-in-the-dark scales to communicate underwater. RainWings can change the color of their scales and can shoot deadly venom out of their fangs. SkyWings fly and fight easily and can breathe fire. IceWings exhale lethal frostbreath and can survive extremely low temperatures. NightWings can breathe fire, and some of them—like me—can read minds and see the future."
Robert tried to retain as much information as he could, which was most of it. Then he realized...
"Wait, you can read minds too? And see the future?" Robert asked with a hint of shock.
"Yeah..." Moon replied sheepishly.
"Also," Qibli began, "dragons under the age of ten years old are classified as 'dragonets,' which we all are."
"Oh," Robert uttered. "Okay."
Silence.
What's going to happen now? Robert heard Kinkajou say in her mind.
"What Kinkajou said," Robert asked.
Of course, the dragonets didn't hear her. Robert looked to Moon for guidance.
You heard her, right? he asked.
"I can't hear their thought while they're holding skyfires," Moon replied.
"Oh, that's weird," Robert said, and then thought for a moment. "If you can't hear them, how come I can?"
Silence.
"That's weird! I guess it's a mystery!" Kinkajou inputted.
"Anyways, what's going to happen now?" Robert asked.
"Well, you could come with us, if it's okay with everyone else," Moon replied.
Various "Okay by me"s and "Let's do it"s followed.
They were all very excited. For the dragonets, they had found an alien with powers, befriended him, and were going to travel with him. For Robert, he had encountered dragonets for the first time and had telepathy!
At once, they set off toward the Rain Forest Kingdom. Since the dragonets had flown a lot, and because Robert didn't have wings, it was decided that they would walk part of the way. And off they went...
NOTE: If y'all are enjoying this, please leave feedback. I don't really wanna continue if no one likes it, and I want to write a story about a zombie apocalypse.
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