Chapter 7 Did you really have any doubts?

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Oh, sweet Imperials! He's coming down! I am not ready! What do I do!? What if he really is my dragon? How do- I shook the sense back into myself. No, shut it! You do nothing but watch! I was frozen, my eyes were glued to the shaping that was already rapidly gaining speed. His head was pointing straight ahead like an arrow towards the Earth. It wasn't even ten seconds into his descent and already he was swiftly returning into clear view. I could hear the crowd murmuring with excitement around me.

As he dove, I noticed his outline was starting to somehow become obscured. Straining my eyes to the best of their ability, I saw that a thick mist was emanating from all over his armor and wings. In seconds, the great feathered giant was almost completely enveloped in its mass. The only thing still visible was a bright orange light emanating from the front, its margins merging with the rest of the cloud. He's turning into a shooting star!!

The comet's tail stretched far behind as a trail of mist, white as the solitary cloud in the sky. As it drew closer, the wings' silhouette emerged from the mass and started to spin in rapid succession causing the trail to swirl as well. That's when I heard it, a faint whistle faded into earshot and steadily grew in volume with the closing distance, its pitch rose and dipped in tandem with his motions. In response, the grounded dragons bowed to the ground, some partially shielding their faces behind wings and tails. What's about to happen, is he going to crash? Is he going to explode? Is my dragon exploding!? What the heck is going on!? Is that my dragon? WHAT IS ANYTHING ANYMORE!?!?!?

The speed at which he was traveling seemed impossible, in the space of a minute it had gone from what had to be over a mile up and was now right on top of us. The crowd was growing restless with excitement and cheered with a feverish vigor. I, however, began to feel mania winning control over my mind, my body now tense bracing for the inevitable WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING!? HE'S ABOUT TO CRASH!! HE-

"AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOGGGGHGHGHGHGHGHG!!!!!" The living comet howled as it hurdled past the edge of the landing strip and struck perfectly in the center. The entire mass exploded on impact, sending a great grey wall of dust, smoke, and mist straight towards us at blinding speed. The other dragons ducked behind their wings, and a couple of small ones scrambled for shelter behind their larger peers. Suddenly Natalia grabbed me from the back of my shirt and pulled me away from the fence.

"Winter, get behind me and hold on!!" She shouted I bothered to listen to whatever she may have said after or even look at and wrapped her arms around her waist. I couldn't see the blast coming, but with my goggles on so I didn't need to close my eyes. In the sliver of time I had left, I looked at my classmates. Some looked excited, others looked frightened, but all were stricken with the same amount of awe.

Then it struck, ash-colored plumes blew past the fence and blanketed everything around it in the cool darkness. I could feel my feet leaving the ground gale force winds as I clung to Natalia for dear life. The wind howled and roared as loud as all the dragons combined. My eyes shut involuntarily. It's so cold!! I can't let go! How is it so cold!? Wait it's slowing down... is it already over? The blast had passed and the air was now still and cool, I opened my eyes and noticed my goggles were hazed from the vapor. I rubbed my face cleaned Natalia's back and let go of her. I spun around to see what had happened, but I could only see so far through the mist.

Many kids were still standing or were just getting back onto their feet with or without help from their friends. All of them had frost clinging to their clothes and hair, I looked over myself in response. Thankfully it only seemed to be clinging onto the edges of my dress and was easy to brush off. I looked back at Natalia, I believed she was vigorously shaking and brushing off all the frost she could, taking short breaks to blow on her hands. I don't think's ever been legitimately cold before, she told me she's never been out of Ermanthyia. Relax, it's not that cold really, honestly, this is a pleasant Autumn breeze back home. I should probably check on my backpa-

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