Prologue: Will
“Mom, Dad, what are we doing here?”
The Bermuda Triangle is as mysterious as ever, but the day is one I will never forget. I’m a five-year-old Water Dragon, and my parents and I just stumbled upon this miraculous tropical island. It smells like coconuts and seawater, but is in the middle of a ship graveyard. The sand is fluffy and white, like the beaches we find in the South Pacific.
I’m a tiny being, about the size of a surfboard, who loves the Ocean just as much as my parents, but I’m starting to think they don’t want me anymore.
I can’t fly yet. Instead, I rest against a smooth, gray rock on the beach. Mom and Dad—two enormous, bioluminescent dragons—growl at me.
Mom is smaller than Dad, but not by much. “Stay here,” she whispers in our language. “Your father and I will be back soon. Until we return, hold onto this for us.” With Dad behind her, she hobbles to me and puckers her lips. A small, blue flame escapes them. It wisps around my head, taking the form of a necklace with a cyan seashell pendant. It shimmers in the early morning sunshine and claps itself around my neck.
“Mommy, what is it?” I ask.
“Something only the Beast of the Bermuda Triangle—the Guardian of the Seas—can wield,” Mom answers.
“Guardian of the Seas”? What on Earth is that? I open my mouth to speak, but Mother shushes me. She and Dad huddle close so they can give me a quick bath. Their tongues remind me of the warm waters of the Atlantic and the South Pacific.
I rub my forehead against theirs, but it isn’t long until they pull away. Mom and Dad slide back into the crystal-clear Ocean, leaving me to chase after them. I hop over the rock, sliding on all fours, and approach the shoreline. Waves rinse the sand from my scaly toes, and my necklace pendant glows slightly.
“Don’t follow us, Will. We’ll be back before you know it,” Dad explains. “Your mother and I are going to hunt for a little bit, and then we’ll return to the Water Clan.”
Though nervous, I nod. “Yes, Father.”
Only Mom and Dad don’t return. I wait all day on the beach, pacing back and forth until I can no longer feel my paws.
“Mommy! Daddy!” Very slowly, I open my little wings and flap them. I can’t get more than five feet off the ground before I fall and splash into the Ocean. “Mommy! Daddy!” Rays from the setting sun crash into my necklace pendant like a tsunami. My body glows bright blue, and my wings disappear from my back. Now, instead of a dragon, I’m a small human boy. My hair is chocolate-colored, but my eyes are blueberry blue. I wear brown pants, a white, puffy-sleeved shirt, and a vest.
Walking on two legs feels strange, but I can’t help but be fascinated by this gift Mom and Dad gave me. Where are they, though? Have they left me to die? If so, why? Well, I’ll show them!
I make my way into the island’s green jungle, picking up seashells along the way, and find myself trapped in an endless supply of ferns and trees.
Seagulls soar over my head, their white feathers glistening. They lead me to an enormous canopy in the heart of the island. Leaves and branches hover over me like the Ocean when it’s having a good day.
I’ve found it. This tree will be my home from now on, or at least until Mom and Dad return if they choose to do so. The only thing I can do is wait.
My name is Will. I am a ten-star, bioluminescent, blue dragon who so happens to go by another name, the “Myth of the Bermuda Triangle”.
