Clouded

There weren’t always dragons in the valley. Smoldering piles of dreams and DNA now litter what was once a vibrant oasis of life and opportunity in the world known as ‘Extremity’, a microscopic world that lived inside the mind of a gentleman named Jude. He named this mysterious yet beautiful world Extremity, after the way in which he thrives, in the extremities of life. The first ten years were beautiful, they were full of the most magnificent beams of sun streaking through pillowy clouds that could be shaped into whatever you imagined with just a thought. It smelled of summer at dusk just before it rained, yet it never stormed. Instead of thunder, audible memories of laughter and comfort echoed through the sky. You had the power to change the landscape to exactly what you wanted to see and build a road to anywhere you desired in an instant. It was a world of wonders, dreams, excitement, and mystery that never ceased to fascinate Jude. Perhaps, he visited too often, for the outside world for Jude was not as mystic and when ignored, would collapse in around Extremity creating small cracks in the sky where bad things lived.

Ten years ago, Jude had let those cracks grow beyond repair and through them from the outside world seeped dense and murky clouds that blocked the beautiful rays of sun. The sky turned nearly black, and a rolling fog had settled on the ground blocking you from seeing what lie ahead. Jude could no longer change what he was looking at or build a road to escape, no. Now when he closed his eyes in the hopes of hearing that wonderful laughter and lighthearted conversation from his past, he heard what sounded like grumbled breathing that roared like deafening thunder through the sky. In any direction he looked he could see just the fog that would wisp around his silhouette as he cautiously moved about desperate to see the sun again and make shapes with the clouds. It was a mystery, even to Jude, why he kept coming back to Extremity after it had fallen. Desperate to rebuild what to him was his heaven, he refused to abandon Extremity, choosing to venture into the complete and utter unknown of the fog, somehow reach the sky and close the cracks once and for all.

Walking through the fog was terrifying for Jude. He had no depth perception and could see no more than a few feet in front of him in any direction. Undeterred but scared, He decided to move towards the garbled breathing to investigate its source, thinking surely it must be a clue on his trek to save Extremity. The sound of rubble and loose rock crunched beneath his boots with every step. The breathing became louder, almost deafening. As he inched closer at a painfully slow pace, he could no longer hear his steps and the thunderous breathing began to rattle his chest. With nearly all his senses gone he felt as though he was floating uncontrollably toward something terrible. Every step he took was accompanied by outward arms and inquisitive toes lightly tapping the ground and air around him, desperately wanting to touch something so he could feel as though he was making progress. He’d been inching across the landscape for what seemed like days when to his disbelief he saw a cloud! His beloved clouds! Ecstatic and yet scared at the same time, he closed his eyes and wished it to change into the shape of a dog hoping somehow all of Extremity was not scorched. To his shock, when he opened his eyes the cloud began to move. Jude couldn’t believe it! Maybe this endeavor wouldn’t’ be as horrid as he had believed. Cold, hungry, and exhausted he ran towards it with no regard for the mystery of what lived in the blank space that engulfed him. As he approached, he began to realize the cloud was no longer changing shape, it didn’t resemble a dog and didn’t quite seem to be above him at all. Before he could stop himself, his right heel made an awkward landing on the loose rock beneath him, and he began to slide towards the growing object.

Jude slammed into the cloud and instead of going right through it, he was met with a violent crash into it. In a daze and now on his back Jude looked up to see the silhouetted fog that had blanketed this creature begin to wisp away. With a loud ‘whoosh’ and a cold gust of air emerged a massive scaly creature dripping ooze from its mouth. Jude was in complete shock and couldn’t believe what he was looking at and had no idea what to do. In complete panic he scrambled on his hands and feet away from it seeking anything to hide behind. The fog was still so dense he thought he had made it far enough away to escape. Jude laid there holding his breath, afraid to make a sound. Another ‘whoosh’ and gust of wind roared through the air spraying him with dirt and loose shale. Still, Jude lay quiet. Cautiously opening one eye to look about, he could the creature flying away. It was massive. With each flap of its wings a plume of fog swirled away making just enough of a hole in the sky to see where it was headed.

While straining his eyes to see where it was going, the fog began to settle again but seemed to be creating another shape. A shape not like the clouds he could change at will, but something familiar that he didn’t want to see. It was the image of his father who had died several years before. It was then that he realized what the creature was. It was death. Something Jude had allowed to seep into the cracks and fester. Surely, Jude thought, this is one of the cracks I must fix. It was at this moment he realized not only would he have to slay death but that there were certainly more of these creatures he would need to defeat that had crept in from the outside world and he knew what they were. Now, it was up to Jude to find them, kill them and save Extremity. Jude stood up, dusted himself off, took a deep breath and exhaled. Dragons, Jude said aloud. That was the dragon of death. Looking towards the direction it had flown, Jude squared his shoulders stuck out his arms and took his first step to go kill the dragon of death. He had no idea how he was going to do it, how far it had gone or how long it would take. But one thing was for certain, when Jude decided to do something, he was going to get it done.