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“Yes. I will head there right away.”

That was how it went, and it was the reason that he was currently above the East China Sea. Unfortunately, it seemed like his life was about to end before he even got to Thailand.

He had lost count of how many times the plane suddenly dipped down. But it was happening again, and the air was filled with screams.

(Aaahhhhh!)

It felt like an arm had been shoved down his throat and was pushing at his insides. He wanted to throw up. Still, Taketo held his head and curled up in his seat.

(No. Shit. Shit. I can’t do this. I can’t be here! I don’t want to die. I don’t care who it is, but help me! Take me to the ground right now!)

He wanted to cry. No, maybe he already was crying. His face felt wet, but he hadn’t noticed it until now. A madness had taken over the other passengers. Some were shouting and others had gone limp or were weeping.

That’s when it happened. It felt like the ground was suddenly floating up. What had felt like an eternal fall suddenly relaxed, and the plane regained stability. Taketo took in a deep breath.

He had been so scared that he’d forgotten to breathe.

Taketo was sitting at an economy class window seat towards the back of the plane. The window to his left was very small. On the other side, a foreign businessman seemed to be unconscious. He had been shouting something incomprehensible earlier, but perhaps he had fainted from fear. As his heavy body was leaning against Taketo, he pushed him away towards the next seat. Then he looked out of the window.

Outside, they were surrounded by such thick darkness that it was hard to believe it was still midday. Were they inside some thick clouds? He did remember that the plane started to shake once they entered some dark clouds. Within that darkness, there had occasionally been cracks of lightning.

He could still hear the roars of thunder and the flashes of lightning tore through the air right next to the plane. But during that brief moment, everything outside was illuminated.

(Huh…?)

Taketo blinked. It seemed to him that he had seen something in that moment. Something impossible.

(What…the…)

It was just a second. Everything was washed in darkness again. But when the lightning had struck, Taketo had thought that he saw what looked like the head of a giant reptile between the clouds.

A giant creature that was flying alongside the plane.

Yes, it looked like a…

(A dragon…?)

Was his fear causing him to hallucinate now?

When the lightning flashed, he had seen a dragon flying next to the plane.

(No, that’s ridiculous…)

Perhaps he had been watching a movie before the plane started to shake. The images that remained in his head were mixing with reality as he started to panic. When he thought about it, it had been a western fantasy movie about going to other worlds. It had been quite popular a while ago.

Still… It seemed so real for a hallucination.

Taketo sat up in order to look out of the window again. Everything was still bathed in darkness. He could see occasional flashes of lighting in the far distance. But it would have to be closer to the plane to give him a good view of what was outside his window.

In order to get a better look, Taketo unlocked his seatbelt. Then he put his palm on the glass and moved his face closer…or he tried to.

However, he did not feel any resistance against his hand, and it went right through the glass as if it were water. 

“What…”

This was odd. But it was too late.

“Huh!? Ah?! What!?”

As he was leaning forward with his whole body, Taketo lost his balance and fell. His body went right through the window and the walls of the plane until he was outside. He had been thrown into the pitch black sky.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!”

Without mercy, the plane passed him by. He reached out towards it as he fell, but it was no use. And like that, Taketo fell upside down into the darkness as lightning struck all around him.

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