Chapter 1
The little voice, sounding not quite so strong, said, “That I cannot do.”
“But-but I’m lost and, and I’m lonely and-” Tears were dribbling down her face as she squeezed her eyes shut.
Everything around her was silent, still, almost like she was the only living being there. Maybe I am, she thought. But just then she heard the voice again, and she knew it wasn’t her own.
“No, no,” the voice said suddenly. “Don’t cry. Please.”
Drying her eyes with her sleeve, she looked up curiously. “Why not?”
The answer came, a little flustered: “... Well…. it hurts.”
“That’s why I feel like crying,” she gasped, frustrated.
“Oh, no, I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m sorry.”
“Why can’t you show me who you are?” said Mia
“If I show you it will reveal what I’ve worked so hard to hide. Not from you, from others.”
“Who? I don’t understand.”
“I can’t tell you. It’ll put you in more danger. That’s all I can say. Now I have to go.” Then the sounds of the mysterious person running are made. Mia follows as fast as she can. This person is not going to run and not help her.
While the mysterious person is running in the forest and thinking of how she will escape this girl, she doesn’t notice the sound of her necklace falling. Thinking to herself, How can I get away from this girl without leading her deeper into the forest? Trees! I doubt that she can climb a tree! Running to a tree, she starts climbing it.
Down below, Mia tries to keep up with this mysterious person. Panting hard Mia thinks, I should take a break, but I can’t lose her! Not watching where she was running, she ran right into an animal trap. The rope swings her up by her foot. As she swings back down, her head almost hits the ground. With all the blood rushing to her head, hanging less than a foot over the ground, she can barely make sense of what has happened. When she does make sense of it she can hardly believe her luck. “What have I gotten myself into!” cried Mia.
Looking around her, she notices the necklace of the mysterious person, although she doesn’t know whose it is.
“Pretty, shiny thing. What is it?” As Mia grabs the necklace the rope snaps and she falls onto the forest floor, bruising herself. Wow, I’m free, she thinks, mystified, this necklace must be magical. I wonder where it came from? Mia wonders. Firmly, Mia says, “Well whatever this is I can’t let it distract me I have to find that Mysterious person.”
So Mia keeps on running, 16 minutes later Mia’s vision is so blurry she ends up running into a tree. Then she falls into the tree. Wow, this tree is so big! I wish Mom and Dad were here to see it. Uh-Oh, I’m falling! I’m falling! I’m going to die! Mia, terrified, thinks to herself. But, where am I? What feels like hours later but is only about five minutes later, Mia is still falling. Becoming more scared every second she falls she closes her eyes. Realizing she has stopped falling several minutes later, she slowly opens her eyes.
Thinking she’s dreaming Mia rubs her eyes, this can’t be real! But rubbing her eyes does not erase this beautiful place. A place that has no dead thing, not even a blade of grass is dead. Looking around she sees no path.
“What! Where am I? What is this place, it’s so beautiful!” Mia surprisingly spluttered.
I wonder where I am. Maybe this is where the mysterious person went, maybe she wanted me to come here, Mia thinks while she searches for the mysterious person. Sometime later while Mia is exploring this beautiful, and hopefully, magical place. A door appears out of nowhere! No house is in sight. No shed. Nothing, just the door. Mia walks around the door, inspecting it. Cautiously and slowly, Mia opens the door. Seeing nothing she leans a little further into the now open doorway. She leans through a little more, farther, farther. The only thing keeping her from falling into the door now is her feet and her hands on the doorway. Gasping at how she could see nothing, Mia scrambles back out of the door. In her hurry she loses her footing and slips into the door.
“Ahhhhhhhhh!” screams Mia, thinking to herself I’m falling again! This is the end of the world! Mia falls for a few more minutes, then, annoyed Mia thinks, Wow I am really going to die, because I keep falling! It has to have been at least five minutes now! To her surprise she sees a dragon flying towards her, panicking now because she has no idea if this is a friendly dragon or not, she closes her eyes. For the second time that day she's not falling, peaking an eye open, she notices she is on the back of the dragon.
Opening both eyes she realizes that the dragon caught her! Excited and surprised Mia looksg around at the majestic dragon. She notices that the dragon she is on is not the only dragon in the skys. On a few of these dragons there are people on them. Looking at the neck of the dragon that is carrying her, she sees a silhouette of a person, but can’t make out many details of the person. Mustering her voice Mia yells, “Excuse me, who are you?”
“Well, um, I’m not really supposed to say. You should save your voice though, the wind up here tries it out quickly.” Mia barely heard the words.
“Will you please tell me so I know who saved me?” Mia asked instead of heading for the person’s advice. If the person gave any response, Mia didn’t hear a word. Having nothing but her thoughts while riding the dragon to wherever they were going Mia starts to process everything she has gone through today. Meeting the mysterious person after the car crash. Losing the mysterious person and then getting caught in the animal trap. Finding a pretty necklace then the trap breaking, probably the necklace doing. Trying to run after the mysterious person but falling into a tree. After falling, finding a gorgeous place with no dead things. A door appears in the middle of nowhere, slipping into it then being caught on a dragon with a rider. Who is the rider though?
After sorting through the events of the day Mia decides to figure out who the person is. So she starts slowly climbing up the dragon. When she finally gets to the top she looks over and does a double take. What she sees can’t be real! But then again she is on a dragon, but mermaids can’t fly dragons, right?
“You're a mermaid! How is that possible?? And how are you riding a dragon?”
“Is there a problem with me being a mermaid and riding a dragon?” She retorts.
“But, aren’t you supposed to be in the water,” asks Mia.
“No, I don't need to be in the water,” The mermaid says.
“Well why not you are a mermaid and mermaids are supposed to be in the water, I thought. What's your name?,” said Mia
“Well this place is not a normal place. My name is Lina,” says Lina
“Is it not!?” says Mia, “Pretty name.”
“No it is not, surely you’ve noticed?” said Lina
“Well, then, what is this place?” Mia asks
“This place is called the magical Dragons and Mermaids kingdom.”
“Wait! So you're saying that I am in a Dragons and Mermaids kingdom?”
“Yeah I am saying that, how did you know?” said Lina sarcastically
“Wow! This is so cool!” Said Mia, missing the sarcasm.
“Tigress Enchantress rules all dragons big and small and keeps everyone in line to keep the balance in life,” Lina explains.
“Tigress Enchantress? That’s an interesting name. How did she get it?” Mia asks.
“Yep, she was born into this world with unimaginable power and the biggest heart. How does anyone get their name? But there are a few rumors, some say she gave it to herself, others say that her parents gave it to her. No one knows, except herself. A fair warning: do not ever cross her or her children; you'll regret ever breathing. Her last child is known as ``Miracle from God.” Lina explained.
“Woah, would she ever hurt me if I ever went near her children?” Asked Mia.
“Yeah probably, thus her name, Tigress.” said Lina.
“Huh, so you are saying that if I were ever to talk to her children she would hurt me?” Asked Mia.
“Yeah I am, how did you know that,” said Lina sarcastically.
“Wow so I should not go near her or her family at all then,” said Mia.
“Yeah well anyways we are here so you can get off,” said Lina as the dragon landed smoothly.
As they were getting off Mia asked tons of questions about the kingdom while they were walking towards the kingdom. Her voice starting to hoarse, Lina reminded her what she told her on the dragon, not to talk while riding the, or any dragon.
“Okay, but where do I go, and, woah, is that the kingdom over there across the river? Asked Mia.
“Yeah that isn't so pretty,” said Lina.
“Yeah, so how long has this place been here?” Asked Mia.
“This place has existed before I was even born so I don’t know,” said Lina.
“Wow! So you’re telling me that this place has existed for years and years?” Asked Mia.
“Yeah isn’t so cool anymore,” asked Lina.
“Yeah it is,” said Mia.
I wonder what would happen if I were to go to the kingdom, thought Mia
“Okay well I am gonna go have fun walking around. I will meet you by the kingdom doors,” said Lina
“But-but I am gonna be alone,” said Mia quietly.
“It will be okay I will be back before you know it,” said Lina, “I just need to do my report and then I’ll be back.”
“Okay, I will see you at the kingdom doors. Wait, are you sure that we should even be going over there, and how am I supposed to get there without any help?” asked Mia.
“Yes we will be fine. I know Tigress Enchantress would be delighted to meet you. And you will find a way there,” said Lina positively.
“Okay see you at the kingdom doors I guess,” said Mia, her voice trembling a little bit.
Watching Lina walk, if that is what you should call a mermaid walking on their fins, makes Mia a little more nevous. Mia is alone, as she makes her way to the doors, she thinks about what Lina said and how she is alone and has to navigate this new kingdom, as she is walking to find a path to the kingdom doors as she is walking all by herself she runs into a girl.
“Hey what’s your name?” Mia asks the girl.
“My name is Miracle from god but I normally go by Fayetta,” says Fayetta.
‘Woah that’s a really pretty name,” said Mia happily.
“Thank you, my mom picked it,” said Fayetta.
“Wow, cool! So who is your mom,” asked Mia.
“Oh my mom is the ruler of the dragon kingdom,” said Fayettea
“Oh wow, so your mom is Tigress Enchantress?” asked Mia
“Yeppers that’s my mom,” said Fayetta
“Wow! That’s so cool so are you magical too? And will I get in trouble for talking to you?” Asked Mia
“Yeah I am. If I tell mom not to get mad at you, she probably won’t,” said Fayetta
“Probably? That's better than a yes, so are you a magical creature too? Asked Mia
“I am not supposed to say that,” said Fayetta
“Can you tell me? I promise I won’t say a word,” says Mia pleadingly.
“Well umm, umm, okay only if you won’t say a word. To anyone, my mom will get really mad if she finds out.” says Fayetta, “Okay so I am a part of a fairy kingdom,”
“Wow! So who are you in the fairy kingdom?” asks Mia.
“Remember, not a word, but I am the fairy princess,” said Fayetta
“Wow! So who is the queen?” asks Mia.
“The queen is on of my older sisters who is named A New Beginning but she normally goes by Taneisha,” said Fayetta
“Woah! That’s a pretty name too, your mom comes up with the prettiest names!” Mia exclaims.
“Yeah well anyway I got to go. Oh, I put a spell on you. So you won’t tell anyone what I am,” Fayetta casually says.
“What? Oh, before you go can you tell me a path to the kingdom?” asks Mia.
“Which one?” asked Fayetta.
“The dragon one,” says Mia.
“Oh, ummm, well you will figure it out, if you are really meant to get there you will get there just trust in yourself.” Fayetta says confidently.
“Okay if you are sure it was nice meeting you hope to see you again, and I would like to know more about the spell you put on me next time we meet,” said Mia.
“Yeah same goes for you, the seeing you again part, not the spell part. And I will tell you next time,” said Fayetta.
Then Fayetta flew off as fast as she could. I didn’t notice if she had wings, a dragon, or if she could just fly. I’ll have to ask her next time I see her. Mia thinks. Mia is back to being alone and trying to find the kingdom
“Okay let’s do this!” says Mia confidently.
As Mia is walking around she sees a pathway to the kingdom but it is across the river.
“Hey, look, I found a pathway!” says Mia happily to herself, “I knew I could do it! Now, how am I going to get across the river?”
I wonder if there are any boats around? Mia thinks. She starts to look around. Time passes by and Mia can’t find a boat. I can’t keep wasting time, what if Lina is already at the kingdom doors? How deep is the water? This is a magical place after all. Getting ready to cross the river, Mia pulls off her socks and shoes and rolls up her pants. Okay let’s do this we are going to try and walk through this river, Mia thinks confidently to herself. As she puts her feet in she starts to have some doubts, pushing the doubts away she decides to walk through it and as she is walking in it her feet do not get wet at all. With this revelation she confidently walks to the otherside. Taking only a few minutes and almost slipping a couple times, she makes it to the other side.
This is so weird my feet are completely dry, Mia thinks to herself, Well at least I got across it safely. Looking around, Mia doesn’t see any sign of Lina. I wonder where Lina is, wonders Mia. Soon doubt begins to fill Mia’s mind again, but soon enough Lina shows up and all the doubts are forgotten.
“Hey Lina,” says Mia happily.
“Hey I see you made it. Told you you could do it!” said Lina confidently.
“Yeah you were right I could do it alone,” said Mia, matching Lina’s confidence.
“Yep so now let’s enter the kingdom,” said Lina, walking towards the doors.
“Okay if you are ready let’s do this!” Mia shouts with a new burst of confidence, then realizing something she asks, “Wait though, how are we going to enter through the kingdom doors without getting into trouble?”
“Oh that’s easy I can say my name and say that you are with me,” said Lina confidently after a brief pause.
“Okay sounds good let’s go in then,” said Mia, confidence returning.
As Mia and Lina enter the Dragon Kingdom they come across a beautiful room that is a garden. Huge flowers run most of the garden but they can still see a regular garden in there.
“Woah! Look at this,” Mia exclaims.
“Yeah it’s so pretty here, one of the prettiest room you will come across here” said Lina, “But we can’t linger here.”
“Yeah it is, so where is Tigress Enchantress’s room at or throne at?” asks Mia.
“OhTigress Enchantress’s throne room is just two more halls down,” said Lina confidently.
“Okay, so what is she like? From what you’ve told me about her, she sounds really scary,” Mia states as they are walking down the last hallway almost to Tigress Enchantress’s throne.
“You’ll soon decide for yourself. She is different for everyone. Okay we are here,” says Lina.
“Okay let’s get this over with,” says Mia with a little tremble to her voice.
As Lina and Mia walk into Tigress Enchantress’s throne room. Lina looks around to see if there are any threats lurking in the shadows.
“Who is Mia?” asks a lovely woman on top of a throne who could be no other than Tigress Enchantress.
Lina responds for Mia, “Mia is this little girl.”
“Hi, I’m Mia,” said Mia timidly.
“Nice to meet you Mia,” says Tigress Enchantress smoothly.
“Yeah it is very nice to meet you too,” said Mia, timidness leaving her, as other feelings gather.
“So what brings you two here?” Asks Tigress Enchantress.
“I wanted you to meet Mia and see what she is like. And I also wanted to show Mia around the kingdom,” said Lina.
“Okay so where are you from,” said Tigress Enchantress
“Oh I’m from America. Idaho Falls, Idaho to be exact,” said Mia
“Umm, never heard of it,” said Tigress Enchantress quizzically, “Did you make it up? Are you a fugitive?”
“You haven’t!? What! How could I make America up? Am I a fugitive?! I’m only 7!” Mia said surprised and a little annoyed.
“Nope I have not what is it like over there?” asked Tigress Enchantress
“Well it is like a normal place just it is not magical. We have technology, no mythical creatures, not magic. Umm, some people like to travel. Me and my parents were traveling when we crashed and now I’m here,” said Mia
“Okay. Sounds boring,” said Tigress Enchantress, yawning
“Well if you were to compare it to this place it is not. I think these places are so different that they are both boring and both interesting,” Mia said.
“Sure, that makes sense,” said Tigress Enchantress.
“Yeah so how long has this place even existed?” Asked Mia
“Well it has existed for about 1000 years” Said Tigress Enchantress
“Wow! That’s a long time! I wonder how old Earth is? Wait on we on Earth?” said Mia
I wonder who was all alive at that time wondered Mia
“What is Earth? I would love to hear about it next time we meet but I have got to go take care of the kingdom. It was nice talking to you Mia” said Tigress Enchantress.
“It was nice talking to you too!” Mia replied enthusiastically.
Tigress Enchantress pulled Lina aside and spoke softly into Lina’s ear. Lina nodded. Mia and Lina respectively said bye to Tigress Enchantress then left. Mia caught a glimpse of Tigress Enchantress getting ready to take care of the kingdom, a big table getting pulled into the throne room.
“Alrighty would you like me to give you a tour of the Dragon Kingdom?” asked Lina.
“Yes I would love a tour of the Dragon Kingdom! Will the tour include the whole kingdom!?” Mia exclaimed.
“Yep. We better start moving so we can be done before it gets dark,” said Lina.
“Wait dark? It gets dark here?” asked Mia.
“Yeah. Doesn’t every place get dark?” asked Lina.
“Well I thought that maybe since it a Dragon kingdom that it wouldn’t get dark because of all of the magical things that are here, sorry,” Mia explained
“Ahh, okay, I guess I can see your point,” said Lina.
“Yeah so does it get darker here faster than other places?” asked Mia.
“Well, ummm, I don’t really know because I have never been outside of my place at night,” Lina replies.
“Well, what time does it normally start to get dark?”
“Well it normally starts to get dark around 5 and 6.”
“Wow! That’s so short of time to have in America we had until 6.”
“6 what? Why 6? That’s too late,” said Lina matter-of-factly.
“Because that’s normally the time the sun goes down.”
“Oh, okay, I see. Wait what color is your guy’s sun in America?”
“Oh our sun in yellow bright yellow, why?”
“Oh that’s way different than ours.”
“It is?”
“Yeah it is ours is like a bright purple, sometimes it’s blue. If you look to your right you will see the hatchery. All the mother dragons lay and hatch their eggs here. This is one of the most heavily guarded places in all the land. Many dragon families visit daily. On your left there is the training academy for the teenager dragons, dragons believe in training earlier. Of course they don’t train them too early that they are robots. But they start training as soon as they learn what they would do best in. Some dragons are messengers, others are transporters, some are healers, a few are spies, but most are fighters. Some of the fighters have a partner that they train with, or their rider. Most of the dragons choose their riders but on occasion the rider chooses the dragon.”
Like Lina said, on the right is a huge rock with multiple caves that look like they would open into a bigger inside. The whole thing is a reddish brown, and many dragons can be seen flying in and out of the rock. What must be dozens of dragons sit on top of the whole things. From what could be seen they looked like they were looking around. I wonder what the inside looks like. And I wonder how big it is! Mia’s thoughts are all over the place.
On the left is an open field. The field seemed to be split into a few different sections. The biggest section has what reminded Mia of soldiers training in lines, essentially it was the same thing but instead of people it is dragons, and rather than the same weapon, their weapons varied. Some had their natural weapons, others had some extra things, such as bottles that when thrown on the ground create smoke to confuse, and other various things. Another section looked like an obstacle course, except with things flying at the dragons. One section looked like some dragons were trying stealth, probably the spy dragons.
Some other dragons rushed from section to section checking on the dragons that have scratches, some of those dragons were working on dummy dragons, most likely trying to fix the dummy dragons up. I bet some of the messenger and transporter dragons are everywhere so that they know the basics of everything, Mia thinks. Several dragons drop down in front of a big dragon, riders sliding down.
“Woah! That’s so cool! The part about your sun and the dragon stuff! What planet are we on?”
“Yeah it is and it’s really pretty. Dragons could tell you more about their stuff but we want to be done before nightfall so we can’t waste time. Planet? What’s a planet?” said Lina curiously.
“You don’t know what a planet is? What about space? Do you know about space?” Mia asks.
“Space, we have space for you. Is that what you are asking?”
“No, not that kind of space, like where the sun floats around? I don’t know how to explain it, forget it,” Mia says as she tries to explain, “But it sounds like the sun is really pretty. Can I see it?”
“Sure but you will have to wait until tomorrow. Above us you can see a party of about 20 coming back from a successful hunt. Often times the fathers or the oldest son will go on these hunts with other families and will find a flock or herd of animals to bring to their families. Everyone carries as much as they can.”
Big dragons of all different colors and sizes flew above. Some of them carried dead forms of deer, elk, sheep, cow, and other animals in their feet. Others were carrying them on their backs. They split up once they got to the hatchery, some dragons went to the hatchery, the others went in different directions.
“Okay. Tigress Enchantress is the Queen of the Dragons too, right?”
“Yep, she is. But for the most part she lets the dragons do their own thing as long as they follow the rules and don’t make the other kingdoms angry. Okay let’s go find a place to go and get some rest. We will do the mermaid kingdom the tour tomorrow.”
“Okay yeah let’s go. Thanks for the tour.”
A few minutes later they found a small hut. Lina knocked on the door, when no one answered she walked right in. Confused Mia followed her inside. Inside there were a few small beds with a nightstand next to them. The floor is dirt. In a corner of the room there is a smallish table with 4 chairs sitting around it. On the other side of the room, right by the door is a jug of water. There is a cabinet right next to it, from what is visible on the cabinet there is some food there too. Once inside, Lina dropped the few things she had on the table. Looking around she nodded.
“Mia, this is where we will sleep tonight.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, this is one of the guest houses the kingdom has. There are bigger ones for the dragons too, but the smaller ones are for the dragon riders.”
“Guest houses? What do you mean by that?”
“When there are guests, for anyone, guests can stay in any of these guest houses. Guest houses are placed strategically around the kingdom, so that anyone who needs one can find one. The reason I knocked before coming in was because guest houses sometimes have guests, like the name implies. I didn’t want to barge into a guest house that has a guest in it. Sleep. I’ll lock the door so people know this house is being used. No more questions. I’ll answer them tomorrow.”
“Ok, goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
