Thorne sighed and remembered how tired he was. He had been outside all day, running through the newly grown spring that had suddenly come to life not too long ago. He flipped the brown blanket back over the window, no glass within the frame. He made his way to his small bed at the rear of his house and lay down under the course sheets. He gratefully accepted the warmth.
His eyes began to droop as sleep came to his weary bones. Soon he could no longer keep his eyes closed, and the view of his small cottage was replaced with the complete darkness that came when his eyelids fell. Soon his breathing slowed and became regular. His mind drifted and soon his mind became blank and dark, sleep finally complete and in control.
***
Thorne woke, and sat up in his bed and rubbed his eyes. He felt he had slept for only a few minutes, the same feeling he always had when he woke up. Sleep always sped up time for the quiet mind. He looked around him.
The curtain over his window was draw back and he could see the dark sky covered in clouds. Strange, he was sure he had put the cloth back over his window. He quickly dressed and made his way towards the front door. He looked back over to the window, a brief glance to check the weather one more time. The curtain was pulled down. Strange�
He opened the door and stepped outside into the newborn day.
And found himself up to his knees in snow. What the�? But�? How�? Questions unanswerable ran through his mind and he stared about him, unsure of what to do. When he had gone to sleep, spring had been laying across the land. How had the weather changed so drastically at such an incredible rate? He decided to walk to the edge of the forest, maybe there he would be able to see more of this strange new day.
He walked towards the edge of the forest, creating a path through the cold snow that lay so deep over the hard ground. He made good time even though the snow slowed him down.
The wind began to blow, warm, quite strange for snow. Warm breezes while the ground itself gave off so much cold? The sky and ground competing for dominance of the temperature and yet, the sky won even though the ground usually did? Why were so many strange events taking place on this day?
He made it to the edge of the forest and looked out towards the horizon. Mountains lined the horizon, making the scene before him seem even stranger. The mountains to his right were covered in a light green cover of newly grown plants, the color of spring with a splash of the summer flowers. The mountains to his left were covered in a brown cover of dead plants, the color of the foreboding fall. The mountains straight ahead were covered in the white snow, the sun shining brightly upon the clean, frozen water.
And the strange mountains were not the only weird sight. He looked up into the sky. The north side of the sky was covered in dark gray clouds, darkness covering the area below. The south side of the sky, the way he was facing, held no clouds and the sun shone brightly.
Also, the trees around him were of the different seasons. Some trees had small leaves, the leaves not fully grown back yet. Others were covered in small blossoms surrounded by fully-grown leaves. Others had red and yellow leaves that dropped onto the snow covered ground. Others had bare branches, no color touching the gray bark, which blended into the dirty snow.
How could these sights be in the real world? These sights could not happen naturally, and magic could not work at these great magnitudes at such a short time. Thorne came to the only conclusion he could think of. He was still sleeping in his small bed, dreaming a dream which reality could take no hold upon.
But wait a minute! Was he not to aware to be dreaming? In dreams you can barely control your line of thoughts. In dreams you could not see with such clarity. In dreams the cold did not affect you so much. In dreams you could not feel the cold bark beneath your skin, could not feel the roughness against your flesh. If he was dreaming and not dreaming at the same time, then what was he truly doing?
Snow started to fall from the divided sky, quickly and quietly. Wait, no�the snow was not falling down, but was falling up! The snow on the ground floated up to the sky where clouds quickly absorbed the frozen flakes of water, darkening the sky as the snow came. But, this was opposite the total pattern of nature! Not even his dreams would go this way.
Soon the ground was bare of all the snow. He walked away from the forest and into the small meadow just outside the edge. Dust floated into the air as his feet disturbed the now dry ground.
He looked at the position of the sun. As he watched the sun moved faster than the bright star�s normal pace through the eternal sky. Soon the sun disappeared through over the horizon to be replaced by the moon. The sky was still bright, but now the moon stood in place of the sky. No stars followed with the arrival of the moon, leaving the moon all alone in the bright blue sky of a warm summer�s day.
Sanity seemed to take the place of reality, warping the minds of all who witnessed this sight. Thorne looked up to the sky and yelled out his answer into the heavens, �What is this place!� He cried out in exasperation and frustration, not really expecting an answer to his question.
�Why, you are in the Kyuumu, the ancient dream.�
�Who has spoken?!? And what do you mean by �ancient dream�?�
�Why, I spoke.� The voice was soft and high, almost shrill. He looked to his right and not far off he saw the wheat in the meadow moving faster than the wind was. Soon he saw a head pop above the dry plants. The head looked was of a hummingbird, but the head was larger than the normal variety.
�What the�?� Thorne said in his confusion. He took a step back and tripped over himself. He lay on the ground, a bit stunned, as the creature walked nearer to him. The sunlight was blocked from his view as the creature stood above him.
�Are you all right? You are acting a bit strange even for a creature of the Kyuumu.�
�I am not from Kyuumu!� Thorne quickly gathered himself and scampered to his feet. He stared at the strange beast. �What are you?�
�Me? You do not know what I am?� The animal looks at you strangely. It�s eyes widened and it seemed to remember something. �Oh, yeah, you are not from the Kyuumu. Well, I am just a regular hummingbird, though I am larger than what you may be used to. My name is Griff. Well, since you do not know much of this world, I shall tell you a bit about it.�
The animal walked to Thorne and looked closely into his eyes. He did not know what the creature was looking at, but he felt that the creature was staring right into his soul. The creature seemed satisfied with what it saw, and then turned towards the moon in the far distance.
�Climb upon my back, I shall explain the Kyuumu to you as we fly.� The bird-creature turned its head to stare back at Thorne. It cocked its head, urging with its eyes. Thorne approached the beast slowly, unsure about exactly what to do. The bird head moved up and down, urging for him to climb upon its back between the wings sprouting from the colorful back.
He carefully climbed onto the back of the massive creature, nestling between the bright colors and light feathers. Not long after he was settled, the Griff jumped and spread his long, brilliantly colored wings.
The bird flew into the sky, towards the moon that shone brightly in the day sky. He could feel the powerful wings beating beneath his legs. He bent closely to the animal�s back, letting the wind slide over him.
They soon reached the mountains that he saw in the far horizon. They passed over them, and looking over, he saw a valley that stretched as far as the eye could see. Mountains, lakes, meadows, forests, deserts all had their own part within this valley.
�Kyuumu, the ancient dream, is a dream and not a dream. The dreams of people create this world to be what it is. The dreams have created another world where creatures of fantasy live. The valley we are flying above is the Valley of Dragons. Dragons of all kinds live here. Here they are able to make contact with their bondmates within the real world. Many a time, dragons will bring their bondmates into this world while they sleep.�
Dragons�dragons�dragons� He had always like dragons, always liked their grace which came so naturally to their wings. He looked down into a small thicket, and saw movement down below.
�Hey, Griff, do you think I could go see these dragons?�
�I do not see why not. Hey look, there is Ajax, we shall go say hello to him.� Griff circled the thicket once and dove down through the trees toward the moving shape. Griff landed lightly on the ground, near the edge of a small lake. Opposite of them was a blue dragon laying on the ground next to a girl of about his age, reading from a book.
�This is Ajax and his bondmate Desiree, and this is Thorne,� Griff told Thorne. The girl looked up from her book and smiled at the two. �Welcome Thorne. Griff, you are always welcomed. May I inquire as to the reason of your visit?� �Thorne here wanted to see a dragon.�
�Aah, so he is interested in them. Yes, just by his wide eyes, I can tell he has a deep interest for dragons. You know, our adoption agency is accepting applications for the newest clutch. Would you wish to adopt?
Thorne nodded happily and Desiree stood up. She walked over and handed a small paper to Thorne.
�Fill this out and send it to my friend, Deborah. She will then set you up for your egg.�
Thorne thanked her, and at Griff�s request, climbed back onto his back. Griff then flew him back to where his home was.
�Make sure you fill out the form. You will be waking soon. I shall come and see you once you fall asleep again.� And with those last words, Griff flew back into the air, off into the unknown. Thorne walked back to his cottage. Once inside he lay in bed and stared at the ceiling. What a strange night� His vision blackened. When it came back, her found himself laying in his bed, under the sheets, still in his pajamas, the paper in his hand.
***
Thorne stands before, the dream world changing back and forth around. In the dream world he still lives near his home, a home that changes with the dreams. "Hello traveller. Yume has recently grown from a teen and into her adult stage.. She is a white dream dragon and I hope that her upbringing is happy within this world."
Dragon Stats!
Name: Yume
(means dream in Japanese)
Stage: Adult
Color: White
Element: Dream
Gender: Female
Mate: Not one yet!
Adopted from Darkelf Dragon Agency