Argent Eye III

10

I was walking through the naval college of the university, the skies dark and filled with stars. The moon was full, a glowing orb hanging in the sky, casting strange shadows over everything. It was silent, save for the crunching of gravel beneath my feet. Nobody else was here.

Or so I thought.

I stopped walking, an odd feeling making its way up my spine. I looked around, expecting to see somebody there, but there was no one.

I kept walking for a bit, but then stopped when I thought I saw something ahead of me. I narrowed my eyes, trying to figure out what it was in the darkness. Was that... smoke?

As I continued to stare at the strange accumulation of smoke, I noticed that it had an unusual, bluey tinge to it. It seemed to linger in front of me, just a mass of smoke in the air, but then it started to change. It grew upwards, elongating and twisting and spreading out, but I wasn't scared of it. It didn't act as though it was a threat to me. Something about it was familiar, but I didn't quite understand how. After all, it was just smoke.

Wasn't it?

After a moment, I began to see what it was transforming into. At first, I thought it was a snake, but it continued to evolve, spreading a pair of huge wings and growing four legs and clawed feet.

The dragon huffed. Like, the smoke figure actually huffed, puffing out yet more smoke from its nostrils. Then, its eyes rested upon mine. They were a brilliant blue, glowing bright in the darkness.

Again, I wasn't scared. I was more intrigued than anything.

So I stepped closer.

The smokey dragon continued to stare at me, standing on all fours with its wings resting on its back. It looked relaxed. Not as if it were about to bite my head off or anything.

At least I hoped that was the case. I wasn't exactly an expert on smokey dragons and their behaviours.

I stopped in front of it, close enough so that if I reached out, I could touch it.

It huffed again, enveloping me in a cloud of smoke. It didn't smell of smoke, though. In fact, it felt cool and refreshing against my skin, not really smelling of anything other than fresh air, if that even had a smell. I guess it was more like an unnatural mist than smoke.

Its eyes were even bigger up close, each about the size of my head, and were a mesmerising kind of blue. They almost seemed to shimmer in the moonlight, and continued to stare down at me. I wondered if it was dangerous, even in its smokey form. Did it have a physical form? I almost laughed out loud- of course it didn't. Dragons weren't real.

Were they?

The question played on my mind, and it was then I realised that I was dreaming. But it didn't feel like a normal dream. It felt almost real. Like the dragon before me was visiting or something.

I decided to reach out and touch it- after all, it was just a dream. It couldn't hurt me even if it wanted to, and I was sure it didn't want to hurt me. It watched as my hand got closer and closer to its snout, but then the moment I touched the strange mist, the dragon form was lost. For a moment, it was just a cloud of smoke again, and then it vanished completely.

I stood confused for a second. Perhaps I was even a little disappointed that it had gone.

I woke up.

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