A chorus of howls erupted around her as she ran alongside multiple shadowy figures. For some odd reason, she felt no fear in this situation. Surely it would make sense to be scared of the gnashing teeth, growls, and thundering paw steps around her. Instead she was filled with immense joy. It was as if she they were one and the same under the light of the moon. She reveled in their feelings without even knowing who they were. They seemed to be celebrating, but she didn't know why.

The lush undergrowth felt soft against her feet and she could faintly smell the earthy scent of the forest. She didn't recognize this place, but it was so familiar that she knew exactly where to go. It was as though she had done this a thousand times. A smile adorned her face as trees passed by her at a speed she didn't think was possible, trying to race against the others off instinct alone. To her, it felt as if she were free for the first time.

Finally, a longing, lonely howl shot through her ears and echoed in her mind, causing her heart to twist and turn in discomfort. Abruptly, she stopped, not even noticing the forest had gone quiet as well. She wanted to answer that howl. She wanted to find its owner. She needed to. She had to—

"Attention all passengers, we will be landing in Asura shortly, please prepare for a bit of turbulence."

At some point in time, Caroline had fallen asleep, her long blonde hair draping over her face. She blinked her eyes open and found that her hand was clutching her heart.

Strange.

For some reason, that howl in her dream still echoed freshly in her mind. She had never experienced a dream like that before. Everything had felt so real, so pure, so free. But that howl sounded dispirited; sad. And somehow it had cause her own feelings to dampen. It was like she had found something she was looking for just to have it suddenly disappear.

Caroline tried to brush her thoughts away. It was only a dream. Dreams didn't follow much logic in her experience.

As if to help distract her, the sun from her window was blotted out by some sort of darkness, causing her to sit up in confusion. Caroline turned her head to look out the plane window and was shocked at what she saw. She was so shocked that she completely forgot about her incredibly vivid dream mere moments ago.

Many scaled beasts with at a wingspan that was at least the size of the plane they were on were flying right outside, as if circling them. Even from here, one could see their jaws filled with sharp teeth. Each dragon seemed to have a different set of horns and spikes. Some even had fins. They were all the colors of the rainbow along with some platinum white, earthy brown, and jet black ones.

Caroline gripped her seat for dear life as the other passengers began to voice their anxieties in a panic. One guy even wet his pants. He probably wasn't thinking about the bathroom when such fearsome creatures were so close and Caroline couldn't really blame him for it.

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'Are those… Dragons?!'

As if to answer her, the pilot spoke on the intercom again, "Please do not panic. The creatures outside are not monsters nor devils, but true dragons that serve as the sky patrol for Asura. They are expecting us and will not engage. In a moment they will clear the path for us and help us to land."

She looked around at some of the other passengers in astonishment. The majority of people mirrored her own face while a few nodded as if they expected such a crazy development. She would have liked some forewarning! 'R-real dragons?!' So it was true that mythical creatures now roamed their world! Not only that, these ones had been tamed by Asura! To her knowledge, no other countries had tamed the apocolypse monsters yet.

The girl sitting in the seat next to her looked to be about 20 years old. She had beautiful tan skin, striking blue eyes, and a purplish blue streak that dyed the front of her curly, dark brown hair. The curly-haired girl let out an audible gasp, "Asura has dragons patrolling their skies? How?" She looked at Caroline as if searching for an answer, but she didn't have one.

Instead, she spoke with rounded eyes and a slight smile, "Do you think other crazy creatures are here too? Like, from the stories?" They had grown up before the New Dark Age. Because of that, seeing such creatures made them remember famous stories and movies with fantasy creatures as characters.

The younger girl seemed to get giddy with excitement at Caroline's line of thought, "I kind of hope so! Asura seems like it's going to be filled with surprises! OH! Look, look! We can finally see through the dragons!"

The wonder and amazement of Asura didn't stop with just dragons. Now that the dragons' large bodies were out of the way, the passengers could see Asura in all of its glory. Phoenixes burned through the sky alongside soaring griffins and hippogriffs. Forests upon forests of giant, unidentifiable trees stretched out for miles and even into the mountains in the faraway distance. There was no telling what those forests were hiding in their depths.

Caroline wasn't sure she could believe that all of this had been underwater until a few years ago. A unique ecosystem like this couldn't have grown in such a minuscule amount of time. Not to mention, the creatures she had seen so far needed land to survive. That land also had to have lots and lots of suitable prey as well or else they would die. She hoped she would be able to learn about these mysteries. It would surely bring some excitement to her future life as a servant.

The intercom activated again as the pilot spoke, "Welcome to Asura, folks. We will be landing outside of the Acelana Forest before a shuttle takes you to your final destination in the capital. Until then, please remain seated. I repeat. Please remain seated."

And with that, after many hours of flight, Caroline had made it to Asura—her new home and the pillar of power in the New Dark Age.