The sea stretched endlessly beneath a pristine sky. Its surface glittered like diamonds against the sun's light. A silver dragon with four feet and claws as sharp as a new blade, cut through the warm air peacefully as his scales caught the sunlight in mesmerizing patterns. Four-point antlers crowned his noble head. His ocean-blue eyes surveyed his domain. His whiskers and flowing manes danced in the wind, each silver strand rippling through the air in harmony.
But his serenity shattered in an instant. Suddenly, the once blue, calm sky darkened as if night had swallowed everything. Everywhere lightning crackled angrily, turning the world into a strobing chaos of light and shadow. Then, as quickly as it began, the tempest vanished, leaving behind a young woman with curly dark blue hair, lying motionless on the white sandy beach below.
The dragon blinked, then he circled once. His keen eyes noted her strange attire. As he stared at her, something about her presence felt unsettling, both wrong and right at the same time, like a puzzle piece that didn't quite fit yet somehow completed the picture. In all his centuries, he'd never encountered anything quite like this. With a decision made, he descended gracefully and gathered her gently in his claws.
***
Nestled deep in the ocean floor stood the dragon's mansion, a magnificent structure of silver and gray. Inside an extraordinary large chamber, deep within the mansion where walls of enchanted stone gleamed with inlaid crystals of gold and silver, Luna lay unconscious. The bed beneath her was covered in sheets of white silk, their unusual soft glow lending an ethereal quality to her appearance.
A woman with dark brown hair, secured in a perfect bun, stood from Luna's bedside and stepped away. Her graceful steps carried her to the ornate room divider a few feet away.
"Sir," the woman spoke softly as golden runes flickered across her skin, the marks of a dragon realm healer. "The young lady's condition is stable. Her injuries are superficial. Mainly bruises and minor cuts, but she is exhausted from whatever impact she may have encountered. I've applied our strongest healing ointment and cast a sustenance spell to maintain her strength until she wakes up."
"Thank you, Doctor Garienn," a deep, resonant voice answered from behind the divider. "You may go," he said.
After Doctor Garienn's departure, the silver dragon emerged from behind the divider. His movements carried the fluid grace of his true nature. As he moved toward Luna, his attention caught on her strange jumpsuit again, which was now carefully folded beside the bed. He ran a finger against it. The synthetic material felt wrong under his claws, a material manufactured by means unknown to his world, to him. Regardless, every detail about this young woman deepened his interest and the mystery of her arrival.
"Please, stay with her tonight, Tia," the silver dragon said to the calm mannered young woman standing patiently nearby, who looked to be about Luna's age. Her pearl-white scales marked her forehead. Though her expression was calm, her gaze said otherwise - filled with questions and excitement as she waited quietly for Luna to wake up.
Tia gracefully bowed her head to him. "Understood Master," she said, maintaining her post as he moved away.
***
When consciousness finally returned to Luna, it came in waves. First, the sensation of impossible softness beneath her, then the strange light filtering through her eyelids. Once her focus became a bit clearer, the otherworldly beauty of her surroundings startled her fully awake. In her panic to get away from this unfamiliar place, Luna managed to tangle herself completely, tumbling to the cool stone floor with a soft cry, meant for only her own ears.
As Luna struggled to untangle herself from the mess, strong hands lifted her up. "You should be more careful," a voice said, amusement warming his rich tones. "The floor isn't as soft as it looks."
Luna's instinct was to push away, but as she brushed her unruly hair from her face, her thoughts froze with its intention. Instead, she found herself staring into eyes that contained an entire ocean -deep, mysterious, and impossibly blue. The face they belonged to seemed crafted from the finest marble and framed perfectly by sleek black hair. "An angel," she whispered, her hands reaching out to touch his handsome face on their own accord.
"I'm afraid not," he replied, remaining perfectly still as her fingers hovered near his cheeks. A playful smile curved at the corners of his mouth as he gazed at her.
Reality crashed back at Luna like a wave. Heat rushed to her cheeks and instantly, she snatched her hands back, covering her embarrassment with a nervous laugh that sounded forced even to her own ears. "How embarrassing," she whispered softly to herself, ensuring he wouldn't hear.
As luck would have it, Luna's embarrassing moment was interrupted by Doctor Garienn's sudden entrance. Before Luna could pull herself together again, she was sat gently back down on the bed. With a subtle wave of his hand, the doctor approached Luna.
Doctor Garienn reached for Luna's hand, but Luna instinctively pulled away.
"Don't be afraid dear," Garienn said, her voice gentle but firm. "I'm a doctor. You can call me Garienn." With a warm smile on her face, she extended her hand again, but more slowly this time, as she waited for Luna's approval. "I just need to check your pulse."
When Luna was sure Doctor Garienn wasn't a threat, she extended her hand out for the doctor. With practiced efficiency, the doctor's screening of Luna's condition was completed in no time. Her presence was both commanding and comforting as she checked Luna's vitals.
"You're as healthy as can be," Garienn assured Luna before turning to face the young man patiently standing by.
"Sir," Garienn said simply, bowing her head slightly down to him before meeting his gaze again.
He looked at Doctor Garienn with an understanding and waved her off silently.
Gathering her courage like a shield after the doctor left, Luna finally managed to ask the man before her. "Who are you?... Where am I? What is this place?" the questions kept coming even when she knew she should slow down.
"My name is Sien," he answered, his voice carried the same gentle amusement from before. "This is my home. I found you unconscious on the beach four days ago."
"Four days... ago?" she repeated hesitantly. Luna searched her memories, but only fragments and blanks filled the void where the missing memories should've been.
"Don't worry. You're safe here... Though I imagined you have many questions. Perhaps, as many as I have for you, MegaHuman," Sien said, studying her with those impossible eyes.
"Don't worry... safe..." Luna repeated the words quietly in her head. And gritting against her teeth, the words tumbled out louder than she'd intended, "Those are words that should scream run." But another word Sien had said caught her ears - MegaHuman. The strange term shattered her tentative grasp on the situation.
"A what?... what did you just call me? We're both humans here... aren't we?" Luna asked, confusion washing over her even more. As she spoke, her eyes searched his face, looking for something solid to anchor to, but instead, she found something else. Her eyes fixed on his ears, elegant points, sticking out from underneath his sleek black hair, that no human could possess.
"Umm..." Luna mumbled a sound that died in her throat when Sien's voice interrupted.
"What should I call you?" Sien asked politely, ignoring the confusion painted all over her face.
"Lu... Luna... Krin," she said, her gaze finally darted away from his ears back to his face.
"I called you a MegaHuman because you are the only MegaHuman here, Ms. Luna," Sien said simply. "Are you... not familiar with the term?" he asked, looking at Luna with a subtle skepticism.
A chill raced down her spine. "No?... not exactly..." Luna said, letting out a nervous chuckle. "What do you mean by that? What are you then?... those ears..." She looked away for a quick moment, remembering it was rude to stare at people like that, and to question his looks so openly.
"A dragon," Sien said proudly.
Luna's laugh came out brittle at his words. "Dragons aren't real."
But just as her comment ended, the handsome young man before her shifted, his human form dissolving into light that reformed into the magnificent silver dragon who had found her. He was both beautiful and impossible but very real. Sien lowered his massive dragon form to meet her level. Against the invisible wind, his manes flowed freely around his dragon face, and those same ocean-deep eyes stared at her with intelligence and curiosity, waiting patiently for her to get accustomed to his transformation.
Moments after what felt like forever, wonder slowly replaced fear. Luna slowly reached out with trembling fingers to touch his silvery manes. They felt like furs of a giant teddy bear or perhaps even more, like a living cloud, soft and dense against her skin. "You're real" she said, the words slipping out like relieved breaths. "Actually, truly real!" Her sounds changed from fear to wonder to excitement.
A smile flashed through his dragon gaze with a low rumbling sound of agreement, then he shifted back into his human form. Sien chuckled at her reaction. "I figured showing you would be better than trying to explain. You're different... you might not believe me. I hope I didn't frighten you, Ms. Luna," he explained.
"Who? Me?... Scare?" Luna said, trying for bravery, but still, her voice shook slightly. "You look magnificent as a dragon. I'm sorry I doubted you. Clearly, everything we thought we knew about dragons was wrong."
Pleased with her acceptance, Sien's expression softened as he relaxed the worry tension hidden away. "You must be hungry after such a long sleep. Please, make yourself at home. Refreshen up. The bathroom is just through that door." He pointed toward the smaller of the two doors across the room. "I'll have food brought up."
Before Luna could form a response, Sien strode out, disappearing behind the large door. Luna was finally left alone with the realization that her world had just become infinitely larger and more magical than she'd ever imagined.
As silence settled around her, something glinted at the edge of her vision. Perhaps, it was just a reflection in the room's enchanted walls that didn't quite match her own. But for just a moment, Luna could have sworn she saw another face, familiar yet unknown, watching her from the shadows of the walls.