Island in the Clouds

The time had come. We were running away. I looked around my room, seeing my posters and the sign above my bed. Lucienne, a name I would leave behind. My friend Alex would meet me outside the property gates. All I had to do was get there. I grabbed my bag that I had packed the night before and climbed out of the window. My feet hit the ground, and I ran to the meeting spot, dodging a security officer along the way. The city was densely packed during the day but became a ghost town after dark.

It was dark in the forest that night. I had finally reached the meeting spot when I heard Alex shout from behind me. "Run!" I started running and heard Alex catch up to me.

"What are we running from?" I asked, but Alex didn't reply. We burst into a clearing. I turned around to see a blue dragon towering above me. The look in its green eyes was not one of hate or hunger. But of knowing and curiosity. I stopped because I felt drawn towards it somehow. Alex grabbed my arm and pulled me towards a cave in the distance. We ran as fast as our tired legs could carry us. Once we reached the cave, Alex pushed me inside. "Stay here where it's safe! I'm going to go to fight it!" He yelled as he ran towards the dragon. As I hid in the cave, I felt a hot gust of air from behind me. I looked back and saw a large red eye the size of my fist behind me.

Meanwhile, in the clearing, Alex was busy dodging the blows of the blue dragon. "Leave us alone, you big beast!" He shouted as he slashed with his sword.

"Alex! Stop!" I shouted as I ran towards him, "They don't want to hurt us!" I stood in between Alex and the blue dragon, who was sitting with a curious look on her face. I thought I saw subtle waves of darker blues rippling through the dragon's scales.

"What are you doing? And what do you mean by "they"?" inquired Alex, with an edge as sharp as the sword he held. I walked back to the cave and motioned for him and the dragon to follow.

"Come here, and I'll show you," I explained as I walked towards the cave I was hiding in before. I stopped outside of the cave and whispered, "You can come out of there. The fighting is over." A large black dragon stepped out of the cave and loomed over us. He was taller than the blue dragon, but not by much.

"What?" Alex gasped as he stepped towards the black dragon. "It's you," he exclaimed, "you're the dragon in my dreams!" He walked over to the dragon and locked eyes with him.

There was a shriek from above. We looked up to see another dragon, and this one seemed to have a rider. The dragon and rider landed beside us, and we saw a girl about nineteen years old on a green dragon.

"Looks like we've got some new riders," the rider stated, "the name's Ava, and this here's Jade." She hopped off Jade and walked towards us.

"Nice to meet you, Ava, my name is Lulu, and this is my friend, Alex," I answered. "And this is Skye, my dragon." I motioned towards the blue dragon.

"This is Nightmare, my dragon." Explained Alex as he motioned to the black dragon.

Suddenly, Alex and I heard the loudest roar we had ever heard in our lives. "He's here!" yelled Ava. A massive gray dragon came thundering through, crushing trees and boulders in its path. Close behind was a silver dragon, who was slightly smaller but seemed to have had the upper hand.

"Come on! We have to help!" I exclaimed.

"We can't," Ava replied.

"Who are those dragons anyway?" Alex inquired, "And why are they so huge?"

"Those are the oldest dragons alive today. The first one is Platinum. He's the evil one. The second one is Silver, the eldest of the two, and the complete opposite of Platinum." Explained Ava, "They have been battling for millennia, each trying to beat the other. I'm on Silver's side. Whose side are you on?" A long metal staff appeared in her hand. Electricity crackled along the length of it.

"We're with you. We want to help!" Alex protested.

"We can go. I'm keeping an eye on you two." Ava warned. The staff shrank to the size of a quarter in her hand, and she put it in her pocket.

We climbed onto our respective dragons, Alex and I clumsily and Ava quickly and expertly. We followed the two colossal dragons to a field, both with wounds on them. Ava's voice became magnified, and she shouted, "Platinum! We've come to tell you that you have no chance. We have more riders, and the numbers will keep growing!"

A booming voice came from Platinum, "You puny foolish humans, you think that because you have a few riders that you have a chance against me? Ha! No." He flew off and disappeared.

"I don't think he'll be back for a long time." Bellowed Silver as he turned towards us. The giant dragon was already healing from his fight. "Take them back to the island."

Ava took us to a floating island above the clouds. "This is our current training grounds, it's not much, but it'll work for now." She explained as she led us towards a common area. The island was beautiful! There was plenty of room for riders and dragons alike, and we hadn't even seen half of it.

"Ava! You're back!" A young girl came running out from a small hut and gave Ava a giant hug.

"This is my little sister, Annie." Ava explained, "She already has a dragon, but she just hatched about a month ago." A tiny white dragon came wobbling out of the hut after Annie. "That's Aura. She's one of the rarest kinds of dragons because her psychic abilities are powerful. We're all accepting here." A guy about seventeen, the same age as Alex and I, came out of a workshop and walked over to us with a large red dragon.

"This is Flame. I'm Josh. It's good to see new arrivals here." Josh cheerfully said.

"Train hard." Shouted Ava as she walked away. "Good luck!"

Josh suddenly looked at his dragon and frowned, "We have to go. There's trouble below." He looked back at us and smiled as he walked away. "Feel free to explore!"