I run towards a tall fence, darkness slowly trying to consume me as I run. It's too tall for me to climb; I'm trapped.

I turn around to see the darkness coming towards come to a stop, almost as though it had a mind. I take a small step back, though it's as far as I can step back.

I look closer into the darkness, seeing a pair of light red eyes staring right at me.

"Who are you?" I ask it, scared.

It comes out of the darkness a little more, just enough to see it's face. It was nothing like I had imagined it to be like, though.

It had beautiful red scales, a hint of fire coming off of it. It's eyes which seemed like they could poke through your soul were actually quite nice. They reminded me of flowers.

It looked as though it was a dragon, though, so there was no point in hoping it would talk back. At least, so I thought.

"I am you, Niah," It spoke, shocking me, "as you are me. There is no escaping me, even if you think you can. I have already traced every possible outcome, and it all ends with the same thing."

I look at it, puzzled, "And what is that?"

It smirks evilly, sending shivers down my spine, "You die."

I back up, falling to the ground. The tall fence that stood there was gone, disappeared into thin air. I look back up at it, laughing at me. I couldn't tell what it was laughing about; me falling, or the fact that whatever she means by 'possible outcome' is my dying.

It jumps up in the air, it's large wings flapping, causing dirt to fill my eyes. My vision's now blurry, but I can still see 'it'  as clearly as before.

"Well, Niah, you now know that you are doomed! Hah, I've dreamed of this moment for over 300 years! Thank you, Niah, but there is no hope in going to the West; you're already too late."

******

I wake up, gasping for air and rubbing my eyes. Although it was a dream, the feeling of dirt lingered in my eyes.

I look around to make sure my vision's good. I look at the campfire to see it's now dimmed down to ashes. I grab a thing of twigs, throwing them on the fire.

"Niah, you good?" Yoshi asks me. 

I turn around, surprised to see he was awake at this hour. "Yeah, I'm fine."

He looks at me, sensing I was lying to put him at ease. I thought he was going to sit next to me or something, trying to help me feel better, but instead, he just shrugs his shoulders and lays back down.

"That's it?" I say, him turning to look at me confused, "No pep talk? No conversation to say 'it's okay? Or... anything?" 

He gets back up, chuckling softly. "Well, I wasn't going to try and dig deeper. You're the kind of person to keep everything to yourself, you know? I wasn't really sure if you wanted a 'pep talk'."

I grab my shoulder, realizing how silly I just sounded. Honestly, with the response I just gave him, I'm surprised he even responded.

We both stood their for a couple minutes, unsure what to say. We both kind of wanted to go to sleep, but he could see right through me. He could tell I wanted to talk to someone about this.

"I- I think..." I don't seem to be able to get any words out, "we're too late."

Yoshi looks at me puzzled. I would probably do the same thing, I mean, sense when do people wake up with news this big?

"What do you mean?" Yoshi asks me, now frightened because he noticed I'm being serious.

"My dream, there was this weird creature in it. I asked it what it was, and it responded 'I am you'. Then it said something about every possible outcome, and... and..." Tears start filling my eyes.

"Hey, it's okay. What did it say?" Yoshi asks.

"What's going on?" Lani asks, waking up.

I glance over at her, focusing my view on Yoshi once more. I take a deep breath, still trying to process the dream.

"It said every possible outcome resulted in me dying."

Yoshi sits down, putting his hands on his face and taking a deep breath. Lani stands there, confused and terrified. 

"What's going on? What's this about you dying?!" Lani asks, a new expression spreading across her face.

I shake my head and try to ignore the dream, mostly so Lani doesn't have to worry about me. With everything that's happened and is happening, I don't want to put more worry on her.

First, her dad was killed. Then, she practically lost her whole village! And on top of that, now were going to war. Were all stressed and worried, but I can't imagine what Lani's going through. 

I'm shocked at how Lani's behaving, honestly. With all that's been going on, she's been awfully calm about it compared to Yoshi and I. 

"It- it's nothing, Lani. Nothing you need to worry about. Let's just get some sleep for tomorrow, we need to leave as early as we can."

"Niah," Yoshi says, "if you think we're too late, we should leave right now. The sooner we leave, the better."

Lani's now more confused then she was at first. "What do you mean 'if you think we're too late'?! What is happening, Niah? Just tell me."

I look at her with a sad face and sigh, telling her all about my dream. Yoshi listened, also, scared.

"Wait, so you said the thing that was in your dream was a big dragon with red fiery scales? And how big would you say it looked?" Yoshi asks.

I shrug my shoulders, unsure how big it was. All I know is that it was big; very big. "If I had to guess," I say, "I would say at least 6 times the size of the Roc."

Lani shivers at the thought, while Yoshi looks deep in thought.

"What are you thinking about, Yoshi?" I ask him.

Yoshi's eyes widen, "I think I know what it is."

Lani's eyes dart towards Yoshi, eager for an answer. Yoshi stands still in fear, barely being able to get any words out, and the ones he did get out, he slurred.

"Get it together, Yoshi. What do you think it is?"

Yoshi takes a deep breath, in through his nose and out his mouth. "I remember reading about it in a history book on national dragon day," He says.

"Ha, they have a day for everything, no matter how stupid. I mean, dragons aren't stupid, it's just-" Lani stops, "Never mind, please continue, Yoshi."

"Anyways, I read this book called 'The Phoenix's Fiery Side'. It told about a dark side of a phoenix, one that must be tamed. It said that the phoenix could summon a thing called a 'Phoenix Dragon'." Lani interrupts him again.

"Ha, what kind of a name is that? Seriously though, 'Phoenix Dragon'? So creative. Like, what about-" 

"Lani, not to be rude, but shut up." Yoshi says, not another peep coming out of Lani's mouth. "Thank you. Anyways... the Phoenix Dragon is a dragon that has a mind like a human. A dragon that could burn the whole Mythic Isles if it wanted to. A dragon that could..." Yoshi stops talking, almost choking on his fear.

"Yoshi, what's wrong? What else can it do?" I ask him, terrified.

"We have to leave, now." He says.

"Yoshi, you're scaring me. What else can it do?" Lani asks him.

"I know what Nimroth is really after. He's not just after the Isle," He says, shocking me and Lani, "the dragon can teleport between realms, including Earth. Nimroth wants to take over both the Isle and Earth."

Lani and I look at each other, terrified. "Wait, Yoshi," I say, "doesn't he need me for that?"

Yoshi sighs, "Yes, he does. You know what, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this is all just a big misunderstanding."

Lani and I sigh, but I was still scared. 

If he wasn't after the dragon, then why did it suddenly show up in my dream? Why was it saying we were too late? Why did I have this sudden chill go down my spine?