Dragontopia-short Story

There is a line, a line that separates the real world from the dream world. Both are equally existent, both live in harmony. But every so often the line becomes blurred, dreams become reality, and reality reverts to dreams. It doesn’t happen to everybody, and those it happens to are the only ones that know it happens. This is the story of my world, my dream, and my struggle to keep the grasp on the line of reality that was all but non-existent to me.
It all started when I was nine, yes, I had a vivid imagination, and it had led to so many of my creations. It would also be my downfall when it came to grasping onto reality. In my younger years, I had made a world of my own, a world that, when I fell asleep, was as real as the air we breathe. When I closed my eyes and drifted off, I would wake in a world that seemed so realistic, that when I woke up, I would still remember everything about it.
My world… my sanctuary… the air was oxygen rich… the land was unsoiled by the evils of pollution and technology… towns would be in harmony with the forests of the land… it was perfect and it was mine… all mine and no one could take it from me. And no one ever would.
As I grew older, the world grew, my world evolved. When I was thirteen I would meet the first inhabitants of my world. They were a draconic race, they walked like us, talked like us, but they weren’t like us. They had scaled skin that seems to be wet all the time but wasn’t; their noses, if I could call them that as they were more like snouts, were elongated. I didn’t know what to think of them when I first saw them, were they aliens? I actually thought aliens had landed in my world. It wasn’t till I was fourteen that I realized that, if I made this world so I could live in it, then others had to be here too.
I called my world Dragontopia, a very childish name, believe me I knew it was, but it fit, and it felt so natural. I didn’t know if I named it because of the inhabitants, or the figures that suddenly started swooping across the sky with grace and beauty. They were dragons. They came in a multitude of colors; gold, green, brown, red, blue, a magnificent purple, and my favorite, opal. The opal dragons showed all the colors of the rainbow on their delicate looking, but tough, scale, they were a truly magnificent sight. I would watch in awe as they flew above me.
Three months after the first dragon appeared, I encountered an old inhabitant. He told me of the legends of the land of Dragontopia. I knew them all already, he had been impressed with my knowledge and then he asked me an odd question. He asked me if I was the Creator. I said no, but he insisted that it was me who created this world, that I was the Creator. I remembered shaking my head and saying no, that this world was a small idea and outgrew my imagination. The old one just smiled knowingly at me as I woke up that morning.
Four months after I met the old one, I found that Dragontopia had its dangers. As I got closer to my fifteenth birthday, I saw the evil side of my sanctuary. I didn’t believe it at first but I eventually had to face the sad fact that my sanctuary was tainted, by my own imagination no less. From then on I used the legends and stories to my advantage. With the help of the inhabitants I was able to get rid of everything that tainted my world, well at least for that part of time. They would come back eventually, I knew it.
My fifteenth birthday rolled around, I had asked my parents to let me sleep in that day; I wanted to enjoy my world as long as I could. The expression ‘Everyday could be your last’ popped up in my mind as I walked around a village I called Ty’arc. For me that expression went from that to ‘Everyday could be the last day in Dragontopia.’ I eventually woke up that day. I enjoyed my birthday but waited for it to end also. I went to bed early that night.
That night was almost my last. I slipped into a comatose state while I was sleeping. My parents didn’t know it, but I was struggling to keep my grip on reality. I wanted to stay in my sanctuary forever… I never wanted to leave… ever.
I spent two days in a comatose state, while in Dragontopia though; I was exploring more of my world. Then the old one came to me. He told me that it was a dream world; he told me that I had to make my choice to stay there, or leave and go back to my regular life. I was hesitant, that world was my creation, my sanctuary. It was the hardest decision I had ever made. The old one convinced me to leave… he convinced me that staying in the world I belonged was better for me.
I believed him, and I left the world behind me. I never quite forgot it though. In my dreams, I visited in my dreams. Eventually… the dreams stopped… and I found myself missing my world… but… somehow I knew it would be alright without me.
Today, I still think about it, and sometimes, if I’m lucky, my dreams send me back to that sanctuary, where I silently watch how it has developed. I smile to myself seeing how it thrived, and even stayed pure. As I spectated some events of my world, I would meet the old one. He would look at me and give me that knowing smile.