Clenching the rock behind me, the creature lands on the platform. A slight shaking of the ground rattling my bones.
With nowhere else to go, I sink further into the rock face.
Darkness envelops the large creature in front of me, and I try to disguise my breath, letting out only small, shallow exhales.
“Human,”an unfamiliar voice growls within my mind. Paralysed by the possibility of an ancient, immortal creature, I continue my statuesque nature.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I repeat the mantra…This is not real, this is not real. It’s not possible. It’s not what you think it is.
“Little human, you cannot hide from me.”A puff of smoke hits me in the face, and I hack up a lung.
My feet stumble over themselves as I rush to get away from the suffocating cloud. Without warning, a rock places itself in front of me, and I topple over the offending stone.
Hands flying out, I hit—nothing…
My hands move frantically around my body, trying to grab onto rock. Anything.
“Little Human needs to work on their balance.”The gravelly voice hits me again just before a large, coarse talon has me in its grasp.
Without a second thought, I let out my second scream of the night.
“Enough of that,”the unknown speaker says.
“Wh-whooo’s talking to me?” I shout out in desperation.
It’s official. I’m crazy.Sure, I knew I was unbalanced, a bit unhinged with my inner friends, but now I must deserve insane village lady status. You know, the kind who lives by herself in the woods? Actually, that sounds kind of nice. I could sing to my wisp friends, and we could—
“You Little Human, me Saff.”
“Saff?” Gliding through the sky, the large creature holding me lets out a purr of sorts.
Looking up at the sound, I shout above the wind. “Is your name Saff?”
“Yes, Little Human,”says the voice, in a tone that sounds like it’s rollingtheir eyes.
I have so many questions—like, most importantly, is this giant creature going to eat me? But, since it hasn’t tried to take a nibble yet, I will give it the benefit of the doubt.
Maybe it is friendly? Like Argus.I laugh at myself.Argus isn’t even real.The agitated dragon within blows smoke on my coals, and I apologise to the beast for my insensitivity.
I am insane.
Without warning, the creature—Saff—lets go of me, and I’m caught in a plume of dark dirt. The strange grain fills my nostrils, and I sneeze loudly, a strong, saccharine fragrance hitting the back of my throat.
“Do you not like the Silver Sands, Little Human?”
“Silver Sands?” I question.
“Right, your kind do not know of this land’s existence. We are beyond the void. Osear rules these lands.”
My mind threatens to combust at all the strange new information. “Void? Osear?”
As I get to my feet, dazzling shards of grey mist begin to settle around me, and I take in the creature before me.
It strikes me instantly that this isn’t just any creature with wings, but a dragon—a red dragon. As described in the old fae books, an immortal creature that has lived on these lands long before the coming of the fae. A creature I thought was surely a myth, a legend. But aren’t legends and myths always created in reality? I just never realised how close to reality this legend of old lay.
Another rumbling purr comes from the dragon. Surrounded in moonlight, its wide, ruby eyes swim in my vision as it stretches theirneck out towards me. Leathery wings fan out behind Saff’s silhouette on the grainy floor below.
I fall on my bottom and push tangles from my face. “What do you want with me? I promise, I’m not good eating.”
