Snippet #1472498

As Duran lay on the ground, his eyelids became heavy as the exhaustion of the day had caught up with him. As he drifted off into darkness, he heard the voices of his family and teachers. Their voices rang loudly, yet by some strange paradox, he found himself falling deeper and deeper into sleep. One after the other, he heard their collective wisdom bit by bit. One particular phrase resonated with him in his dreams.

“Nature teaches us one fundamental lesson. Adapt or die.”

As those words sounded, an endless plane stretched out before him. Darkness as far as the eye could see stretched out into infinity. Duran was all alone in this void. Suddenly, from the horizon, a great battle came into view. Primah and Civee fought with each other. A storm brewed overhead. Lightning flashed and thunder crashed. A violent wind blew in, and on it a sick heat that swept over the battlefield. Slowly but surely, the battle halted, as warrior after warrior began to fall, grasping at some invisible combatant that had slain them with neither sword nor spell. From the horizon, a great black dragon rose to fill the sky, spewing fire and cackling wickedly. It hovered above Duran, and spoke words that he could not understand. Immediately, the rest of the life on the battlefield died. The trees, the grass, any warriors that were lucky enough to survive the sick wind of death that had fallen upon the battlefield. Everything was dead.

Duran fell to his knees, and before him, a single flower grew in front of him. Again, the dragon cursed the battlefield, but this time, nothing happened. It roared furiously in an upheaval of fire, but the more it thrashed about in the sky, the more futile it became. More and more flowers began to bloom from the bodies and bloodshed growing almost violently in opposition to the evil beast looming above. In the darkness above, the sun came into view, starting as a small point of light, but growing brighter and stronger.

A blinding explosion ripped through the battlefield from the sun above, and a pillar of fire pierced the dragon's heart. One final roar sounded into nothingness as the it was incinerated completely. From the fire, a great winged humanoid appeared. Duran was awe-stricken and fell to his knees almost instinctively. As he looked up, he was nearly blinded by the corona of light it shed.

---

Duran woke up with a startle. He was breathing hard, and a cold sweat covered his brow. He looked around the tent, only to get an inquisitive look from Goma. He looked down at his hands; they were trembling. He stood up and exited the tent, with only one thought on his mind.

"That was just a dream, right?"