Atmasi the Dragon Mimic (special preview)

A long time ago, in what almost feels like a different world, I grew up with my grandparents. My grandfather owned and operated a small airport on the island where we lived. The island of Blackforte was a tourist destination, and the airport had two planes going in and out at all times. My grandfather flew one of the planes, while an old war friend of his operated the other. It was my dream to be a pilot like my grandfather one day.

I was practically raised inside that airport, often at my grandmother’s feet as she sold tickets and checked bags. When I got bored I would play outside, as there was a small garden with seats where passengers could sit and wait if they liked. I used to like pulling weeds, and as I grew, I started sneaking plants into the garden. The forest was pretty close by and I would go there to snoop around, bringing back plants I found with me.

One time when I was doing just that, I was exceptionally bored. It was a particularly busy weekend for the airport and, as such, my grandmother insisted on me leaving the airport so she didn’t get overwhelmed. Because it was so busy, there were a ton of people at the airport, especially in the garden. This was irritating to little me as it felt like these people were overrunning my home. Rather than stay annoyed, I left. I went into the woods with my bucket and shovel, and decided to stay there for a while.

I went further into the forest than I had before. It seemed like the best thing to do, considering I couldn’t get close to the airport. As an adult, I realize how bad an idea this was, but back then it was like a whole new world. I searched around for interesting plants or cool patches of moss I could take back to the airport. As I was digging, I heard a noise near me. I should have been scared, but I was annoyed that something was ruining my ‘me time’. I kept working, intent on ignoring everything. The noise continued until finally, I had enough. I wandered towards the sound of it, ready to tell whatever it was off.

Something was caught in a net, and from the looks of it, I could tell it was a mermaid net. Whatever it was must have gotten caught down at the beach and dragged itself here. It was struggling to free itself, only making the net tighten and become worse around it. The string had cut into them, causing lots of bleeding in various places.

“Are you stupid?” I snapped.

The creature stopped moving.

“Stop moving!” I stomped towards it, taking the old army knife my grandfather didn’t know I took and extended it towards the net. The creature inside hissed and screamed, but I managed to cut the net enough that it started to free itself.

I huffed. “There, isn’t that better than before?”

The creature scurried out, going up the side of a tree and falling down because its hand was cut. It flopped around then got up and looked at me with these bright red eyes that started glowing.

I’ve always been a bit of an asshole, I won’t deny that. But as a kid, had I not been taken in by my grandparents, I could have gotten so much worse. Whatever untapped power I had, they put it to good use. But at that point, I was still a wild asshole and was known to swing in different ways. I hit the creature with my bucket.

“Don’t look at me like that!” I snapped at the creature.

They fell back and covered their head with their hands. They were pale in color, with black markings over their limbs. “Stop,” they whined.

“Oh, you can talk,” I lowered my weapon and waited.

“Stop,” they sniveled again.

I sighed and knelt down before them. They were quite small, and I wasn’t exactly sure what they were. “Are you scared? What happened?”

They looked at me with those big, red eyes. They had scales that flared out around their brows and under the eye socket. Their hands had webbing between the fingers and fins along the top of their head. Blood smeared across the pale of their body and I could even see the pink inside some of the cuts.

“I think I have some bandaids.” I started searching the pockets of my overalls. Each pocket always had a purpose.

The creature sniffled.

“Here.” I extended a fistful of bandaids to them. “These will help your cuts.”

The creature looked up at me, extending their weird little hand. They took the bandages and sniffed them.

“Put them on the cuts,” I instructed. “Ugh, here.” I knelt back down beside them, taking bandages to cover cuts I saw. They sat there, looking like a pudgy scaled cat. They must have been young, I thought. I felt bad for them.

“Are you alone?” I asked.

They simply blinked at me.

“My name is Beatrice, but no one better dare call me that!” I huffed. “Call me Bea or don’t call me at all!” I thought I was clever, I really did.

They stuck their tongue out.

I frowned as I looked at them. “So what are you? Do you wanna go back to the ocean? Is that where you came from?” The sound of a plane overhead made them look up, gazing through the trees. Their mouth opened and their tongue slipped back inside. Their eyes glowed again and they reached up to the sky.

“Can you fly?” I asked.

They made a small garbled noise that sounded almost like a plane engine.

“I’m gonna fly one day,” I told them. “My grandpa flies those planes up there. When I’m old enough, I’m going to become a pilot like him.” I smiled up into the sky.