Nature's Treasures

Sequence 1: The Attack

The sun shined overhead in the village in the forest. The people were preparing for the day ahead of them. Everything had been going very smoothly so far which was unusual for these times with the recent attacks from our longtime enemies the Greulocs. They are creatures with a dark essence. They have muddy brown bodies. Claws as long as knives and their faces look as if they have been squished together to form a mutilated blob. They travel very quickly on their hands and feet. We are Tremians. We have lived in this forest for ages, always at war with the Greulocs. My name is Grace. I am 15 years old and this is my story.

I woke up this morning with a feeling of dread. My body ached from archery lessons the previous day and I longed to take a nice cold bath in the lake. Luckily, there were two lakes around our village. The one to the left of our village was for the males and the one to the right of our village was for the females, like myself. It was strictly forbidden for a male to go over to the right lake or vise versa and the punishment for it was ten lashings for the guys and five lashings for the girls. I still remember staring in fear at the people as they received their lashings. It was simply horrible to watch their faces writhe in pain. I remembered wishing for them to stop but no amount of pleading in my mind would cause them to stop the torture to those poor people.

I got up from my bed and walked into the kitchen. Despite us living in the forest, we still had a lot of technology that people in the city had. The only difference was we were a small village and we had no cars or indoor plumbing. We preferred to stay as close to nature as comfortably possible. My mother was already preparing breakfast when I entered the kitchen and I could smell the bacon and eggs the second I walked in. I smiled and said, “Good morning, mother.”

My mother smiled back at me and said, “Good morning, Grace. Breakfast will be ready soon and your father should be back from his duties any moment now. Today is a wonderful day to go spend time with your friends.“ My mother always tried to make the way things really were now seem as if they were not that bad as if to protect me from the horrors. However, bits and pieces still got through to me. I still was able to see that things were not as good as they could be but I had no idea of the true horrors that were facing our village every day and I would not know about them for some time.

I looked at her and trying to keep my mask of not knowing that anything was going on said, “Your right, as soon as I eat breakfast and go take a bath at the lake I’ll go see if my friends are doing anything.”
Just then my father got in from his duties and the way he looked at mother seemed like someone had died but he didn’t say anything except, “Morning, Grace. How are you feeling today?” He had a smile on his face now and everything.

I looked at him and said, “I’m feeling pretty well. I just feel… different… You know? There’s something strange about today.”

My father looked at my mom and my mother put her hand on my shoulder awkwardly and said, “Now, Grace it’s about time you heard about this. When a girl becomes a woman…”

I cut her off after rolling my eyes and said, “I’m not talking about that, mom. It’s just something feels strange like something in the air is different. It feels as if something big is going to happen today.”
My mother looked a bit disappointed, as if she couldn’t wait until she’d be able to tell me all about puberty for women. I chuckled to myself at the thought. Were they really so oblivious to not realize that I was already going through it and had been for two years now?

I then sat down and my mom brought breakfast in for my dad and me. I ate it hungrily. I really wanted to hurry up and get started on my day. I then walked outside in my sleepwear with my clothes for the day. I headed outside of the right side gates which were being guarded by Terra and Luke today. Terra had auburn hair like me but she had blue eyes while mine were emerald. Luke was a man of 21 and he had dark brown hair that was almost black and midnight blue eyes. As I reached the lake I heard some noises in the distance. I couldn’t make them out but I decided to shrug them off because they didn’t sound too important.

I took off my sleepwear and got into the lake. I smiled as I began to feel my muscles relax. I ducked my head under the water so that I could clean my hair. When I came up I heard the voices coming closer and they sounded menacing and angry. I quickly got out of the lake and went behind a tree with my clothes making sure that whoever or whatever was coming would not be able to see me when it reached the lake. I then saw them. The horrid looking things we knew as the Greulocs. They had swords on their backs and there were massive humanoid creatures, that I had no idea what they were called, carrying torches. They were heading towards the village. Luckily, they didn’t see me.

I waited until they had completely passed and then I quickly got dressed in my clothes. I then climbed up the nearest climbable tree and started heading back to the village using the branches for travel. I jumped down when I reached a stream and some birds flew away from me. When I reached the village I met with Luke and Terra. I apparently got here before the Greulocs did because if I had not there would most likely have been chaos going on. I said to Luke, “The Greulocs! They’re coming! I saw them out by the lake!”

Luke nodded and said, “They must have amassed during the night. Thank you, Grace. Go get yourself and your family somewhere safe.” With that I ran to into the village to go get my mother and father.
Meanwhile back where Luke and Terra were the greulocs were starting to make their way onto the scene. Terra looked at Luke and he told her, “Listen to me Terra. Go get reinforcements. I’ll try to hold them off as long as I can.”

Terra looked at the greulocs. There must have been at least a hundred of them now. She said to Luke in protest, “But-“

“Go!” Luke shouted cutting her off. The Greulocs started advancing even more. They just kept on coming.

Terra nodded and said, “I’ll come back for you.” She then ran off into the village. Luke stood his ground waiting for the greulocs to make their first move.

Now, back to where I was. I ran until I reached my parents. I told them, “Quick, we need to leave. The Greulocs are coming. They’ll kill us all if we don’t hurry.”

My father looked at my mom and said, “I knew that it was only a matter of time until something like this happened. We need to go, now.”

My mother took hold of me and my dad took hold of her. He started to lead us out of the house until he was interrupted by one of the greulocs standing in front of our door. The greulocs stood on its hind legs, unsheathed its sword and stuck it clean through my dad. I watched horrified as my dad crippled to the ground holding his wound.

My mom then said to me, “I’m going to run towards the greuloc so you have a chance to escape. Here take this. It was always meant to stay in our family and my mother passed it down to me when I was your age.” She took an emerald pendant off of her neck and placed it around mine. I then tucked it inside of my shirt and then my mom charged at the greuloc.

The greuloc took its sword and stabbed her but while it was preoccupied with my mother I hopped out of the window and started running for my life. The village was on fire now and debris was falling everywhere. Embers flew through the air and the smoke was thick. I coughed, hardly able to breathe. When I had escaped the village, I continued to run until it was dark. I couldn’t see any signs of the village anymore and the sounds of the monsters were not to be heard.

I climbed a nearby tree and then sat down on a high branch. I leaned against the trunk of the tree and cried. I had nothing. My mother and father were both dead, all of my belongings were lost forever or destroyed, and on top of that I was completely alone in a part of the forest that I had never been in before.

The moon rose high over the trees and strange sounds could be heard around me. The sounds frightened me and I could not bring myself to get up and try to find a better form of shelter for fear that something might attack me as I walked and it was too dark to jump from tree to tree.

Somehow, I fell asleep though. I slept soundly but tears leaked out of my eyes as I slept. I had a dream in which I was in a completely black area, sort of just floating there. Suddenly, I heard a voice that said, “Grace, you have suffered much. That I cannot change. Also, you will suffer much more in the times to come. However, don’t lose hope. You will find someone when you awake that will help you. Follow him and he will show you the way to reclaim part of what you have lost.”

I looked around but I couldn’t see anything. I called out into the darkness, “Who are you? Where are you?” I was freaking out. I had never had a dream like this before. Someone was talking to me as if they were real but nobody was really there.

The voice spoke again but this time more distant. It said, “I am a human and I am not. I am a bird and I am a cat. I am everything you see, hear, and feel. When you are troubled I will be there for you to rest your head on. Just call to me and I will help you however I am able. I must go though. Good luck, Grace.”

I woke up to the noise of a horse walking around down below. The sun was shining and the plants and trees were green as ever. All that was visible of the terrible event that had occurred was small patches of gray smoke in the sky near where our village would have been.

I climbed down from the tree and saw a man on the horse I had heard. He came over to me and said, “You look like you’ve just been through a storm. Is there anything I can do to help you?”

Maybe this was the person who the voice had said would help me. I said, “Yes, my name is Grace and my village was just destroyed. My parents were killed and I have no food or shelter.”

The man looked at me sympathetically and said, “You poor thing. You must be scared out of your mind. Here, let me help you up and I’ll take you back to my base.”

He held out his hand and I walked up to him and took it. He picked me up and swung me around to the back of him. He then said, “You’re lucky I found you. There’s supposed to be a huge lightning storm in these parts tonight. I think you’ll like it at the base. I’ll help you get settled and make you feel nice and comfortable.”

I smiled as the horse started walking and I said, “That sounds nice. It will feel good not being alone anymore.”

The man nodded and said, “My name is Richmond by the way but you can call me Ritchie if you want.”
I nodded too worn out to talk despite my night’s sleep. I held onto him so that I would not fall off as we rode on. I was glad that things could actually be starting to turn around for me. The voice in my dream was right and very helpful. I looked down at the pendant my mom had given me and thought to myself ‘One day, I will avenge you, mother. You too, dad.’

I like it. It's a very original idea :)

We continued along on the trail until we reached a town. The town was a lot bigger than my village was. It had houses that were a little more advanced and there was a giant castle in the middle of the town. The castle seemed to loom over the city as if exerting the control it had. There was a cliff surrounding it on all sides and there was a bridge connecting from the main part of town to the castle.

When we reached the stables he got off of the horse and said, “We’re here.” He helped me off and I started to look around the town. People here seemed like they were preparing for war. They were wearing all kinds of armor. As they walked I looked back at Richmond.

Richmond stood smiling at me and I said, “The town is very… big.” I blushed. This always happened whenever I was talking to someone that I found handsome. Its like the words would be in my mind but I just wouldn’t be able to get them out.

Richmond chuckled to himself and then looked out at the town he then said, “Well, let’s go eat then. I’m starving.”

He took my hand and together we walked out into the town. I followed him to a sort of cafeteria type thing where there were tables and chairs and at the back was a place to order food. He let me sit down and then said, “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

I nodded and he went off to go get some food. While he was gone, I thought about the day’s events. I was an orphan now. That much was clear. My village was destroyed and whatever remnants were left of it were probably overrun with the Greulocs now. If I was to one day get my village back there would be a long fight laying ahead in my future and I would be ready.

He came back with some food and we began to eat. While we were eating I couldn’t keep my eyes off of the castle. Richmond seemed to notice this because he said, “What do you think of it?”

I snapped myself back to reality and said, “It looks very regal. Does a king live there?”

He nodded and said, “Yes, a king does live there though I fear for his well being. You see he’s getting old and his two sons are fighting quite a lot lately. It’s always like this. A king gets old in his days and any heirs he has start bickering for the throne as if they can change their father’s decision. It can lead to murder sometimes but that hasn’t happened in a long time.”

I listened to what he said and responded with, “It’s awful to even think that it does happen, though. If I had a brother or a sister I wouldn’t be able to even think about hurting him or her. It would break my heart to actually kill my own brother or sister if I had one.”

Richmond sighed and said, “Sadly not many people think that way. It would be nice if they did but in times like these the niceties of kinship have almost been erased completely. It’s kind of ironic, though. You’d think that in times of war the people would want to stand together and become a stronger force than if they were on their own.”

We continued to eat our meal in silence. When we were done eating he bussed our table and said, “I’ve got a question for you.”

I looked at him curiously and said, “What is it?” I was curious as to what his question could possibly be.
He said to me, “What is your best form of combat? Do you use bows, swords, staves, or daggers? Me, myself I use swords mostly and sometimes go for the occasional dagger.”

I laughed and said, “I’m a good archer. Why do you ask?” He was acting curiously as if this topic was a big secret or something.

He smiled and said, “No reason, I was just curious. Anyways now that we’re done eating I’ve got to go do a few things. You should explore the town a little bit. Get comfortable with your surroundings.”

I nodded knowing that this really was most likely the best idea. If I was going to be staying here for a while it would probably be best for me to learn as much as I could about the place.

He got up to leave and said, “Meet me at the drawbridge to the castle at sunset. I have something that I want to show you.” I agreed to meet him and he left. The air was getting colder on my skin but I was used to it. It was always like this out here in the forest. Even if I was in a town right now, the town was still located in the midst of the forest. I got up and began to walk around.

I passed many buildings while I explored. One I recognized as some sort of blacksmith shop, which must have been where all of the weapons for the town were made. There were also some shops selling food scattered around. There was a church building for those who were religious and there was even a public swimming pool. I wondered where the bathing areas were. They weren’t anywhere that I could see so I wondered if they had indoor plumbing here. After I had made my way back to the drawbridge it was nearing sunset. I had purchased a nice hat to keep my ears warm. Well, it was more like a beanie with pink and white zigzags and laces that hung down onto the front of my shirt. It did accomplish its job though and kept me warm.

I sat down and after a little while, Ritchie arrived at the drawbridge and said, “I see you’ve made yourself quite comfortable indeed. I like the hat, by the way.”

I smiled, happily acknowledging the compliment and said, “Thank you. It didn’t cost very much and it has kept me warmer than if I didn’t have it.”

He reached out his hand and helped me up and then asked, “Well, are you ready for what I have to show you?”

I nodded and said, “Yeah, I can’t wait.” He walked with me over to a shed and opened the door he flicked on a light and inside were a large assortment of weapons. What really caught my eye, though, is at the end of it was a group of weapons including throwing knives, a bow with a quiver, an axe, a sword, a mace, and many others. The thing that made them stand out above the rest though is that they were all covered in gold. I walked up to the bow and quiver that was a art of the group and picked it up. I felt a strong feeling surge through my body and it looked as if the bow glowed a little bit but then it was back to normal the next second so I wasn’t sure if it was just my eyes playing tricks on me.

Richmond stepped forward and said, “Do you like it? We can try it out if you’d like.”

I smiled up at him and said, “That would be wonderful. It just feels weird because when I picked up a strange feeling coursed through me.”

Richmond looked at me curiously and said, “What do you mean? Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”

I nodded and said, “Yeah, I’m fine. Forget I said anything. Let’s just go see how I do with it.”

I walked with Richmond to a room that looked like a training hall. Around it were dummies and targets that were used for all the different types of weapons. I chose a target board for me to aim at and stood at the marker. I took an arrow out of the quiver, which, like the bow, had a golden tip at the end of it. I strung the bow and pulled back lining it up with the target. I let go and the arrow flew straight into the bulls-eye. It just felt so right using this bow.

I looked at Richmond and he seemed completely shocked by what I just did. I wondered what he was so amazed at. I told him, “I usually shoot that well. It’s nothing to be surprised about.”

He shook his head and said, “No, I’m not surprised at the fact you are able to get bulls-eyes. It’s that bow. Normally whenever someone shoots that bow they miss terribly even when with other bows they’re able to hit the target perfectly. That is the prince’s bow. Only two people have been able to shoot a bulls-eye with that bow. That is the prince and now you.”

I took in the idea of what this meant and then realized that since this was the prince’s bow I would have to put it back. I said to him, “Well it doesn’t really matter then because it isn’t like it can be my bow, right?”
Richmond then chuckled to himself and said, “Not exactly true. You see, I’m the prince. I didn’t want to let you know right away because I wanted to see what you would think of me, without the knowledge of my status. I wanted to be treated like a regular person. Not very many people can see me and just act natural around me and it was nice to finally be able to meet someone who would.”

I opened my eyes wide, shocked that I had actually been spending time with the very prince, or at least one of them, that he had been telling me about in third person earlier. I felt the urge to bow to him but figured that he would not want that. I smiled at him and said, “It is an amazing pleasure to have spent this amount of time with you and gotten to know you.”

He smiled and shook his head saying, “The pleasure is all mine and about the bow? You can have it. Like I said, I’m more of a sword and dagger fighter. Now I was wondering would you go with a walk with me please? You may not have known this but the town is actually very close to a beach.

I smiled and said, “Sure thing.” He must have been the better of the two brothers that he was telling me about. I slung my new bow over my shoulder.

He offered me his hand and I took it, happily. He smiled and together we walked out of the hall and through the shed. We walked out of town through an exit, which was at the opposite end of where we came in. After about half a mile of walking, we reached the beach.

We walked out over to the shoreline and I felt the nice cool sand against my feet. I looked at Richmond and saw that he was intently looking out across the water. He looked as if he was thinking about something. I asked him, “Hey, what’s wrong?”

He shook his head and said, “It’s nothing. It’s just… Sometimes I wish, I don’t know. Sometimes I just wish things could’ve been different. I wish that I wasn’t a prince sometimes. Then I wouldn’t have to face the quarreling with my brother everyday and I wouldn’t have to try so hard to live up to my father’s expectations and become the kind of ruler he wants me to be. To be honest, I envy you.”

I laughed quietly and said, “Why would envy me? You can practically have anything you want when you want it. I’ve lost everything, my village, my family, and my home.”

He looked down at me and said, “But you have something I don’t have. You can have a future. Me, I’ll be stuck here ruling the kingdom. I’ll never be able to go anywhere and I’ll always be looked at as some all powerful being rather than just a regular human being.”

I nodded and looked out at the water. I told him, “I see what you mean.” We stayed silent for a little while, just watching the waves come in and go out. The water sometimes came up to my feet, which felt nice after a long day of walking.

I then thought about something and said, “Wait a minute, who says that when your king you won’t be able to go anywhere?”

He looked at me and said, “Well, someone has to keep things in order. The kingdom can’t run on its own.”
I shook my head and said, “It wouldn’t have to. I think I’ve found a way to end the quarrels with your brother as well. You see, whenever you wanted to go out and get some fresh air you could just get your brother to rule for you. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind and I think he’d even be happy that you would let him do that. Then you could have a future and you wouldn’t be stuck in boredom.”

Richmond thought about this and said, “I’ll think about it but I don’t know if it will work. Thank you for helping me.”

I smiled at him and said, “Don’t mention it. I’m happy to help someone in need. Especially if that person is someone nice like you are.”

He then opened his arms and I hugged him. He hugged me back with his warm arms. I smiled as I took in the feeling of happiness. After a bit I let go and so did he. I said to him, “That was nice.”

He smiled and said, “If you want you can stay at the castle tonight. I’m sure my father won’t mind. He is very open doors policy as long as it’s okay with me or my brother. I nodded and said, “That would be good considering I don’t really have anywhere else to go.”

He then replied saying, “Alright, let’s go back to the castle then.” We walked back to the town under the guidance of moonlight and when we got to the castle the doors were opened. His coat was taken by one of the two people that were standing ready at the door and the other person said, “Greetings Prince Richmond.”

He looked at the man and said, “This lady here is Grace. She is to be treated with the same respect you would show me while she is here. I’d like an extra bed brought up to my room, if you will.”

The man nodded and said, “Is that all, sir?”

He nodded and the two men went off. He then said to me, “So what do you like to do in your free time?”
I thought and said, “Well, I like to read. I used to read a lot back at my village. It was one of the few things I was able to do when I wasn’t training. We weren’t nearly as advanced as this place is.”

He smiled and said, “Follow me.” He led me down a staircase and through a doorway that was at the bottom of it. We walked through a hallway that opened up to reveal a huge cavern of books.

I looked all around me, shocked at how many books were around here. I had never seen so many books located in one place before.. I looked at Richmond and said, “This place is amazing.”

He said to me, “I’m glad you like it. I’ve read a large quantity of the books in here but it would take an entire lifetime and more to read absolutely everything here.”

I could imagine what he meant. I walked ahead to get a closer look at the books. I noticed that some of them had weird names such as, White Magic and Healing Spells, The Dark Side of Magic, and The Art of Conjuring Creatures. I laughed at some of the titles thinking them ridiculous and then said to him, “These can’t be non-fiction, can they? I mean, I know there are things such as Greulocs and giants which the rest of the world seems to not know about other than the other villages and kingdoms but how can there actually be magic?”

Richmond smiled and said, “Like this.” He held his hand forward and the book called White Magic and Healing Spells came flying into his hand. I just stood there amazed by what I’d just seen.

I walked up to him and said, “This shouldn’t be possible.” Never before had I seen magic like this. This, I knew was no illusion. It was real magic.

He said, “Ah, but it is. You see, most people don’t think its possible because they never take time to actually try to learn it. Now, some people are able to learn easier than others because their minds are more open. It might take someone whose mind is not very open an entire five years to learn a simple spell but its possible for anyone to learn to do magic. If what you were saying about the bow when you picked it up is true then you might be able to do magic quite easily.”

I beamed at him, excited by the fact that I might actually e able to learn to do magic like him. If this was possible I might actually be able to get my village back easier than I had originally thought. I took the book from his hand and looked at it. I could definitely read it even though it seemed to be in a totally different language.

Richmond took the book back gently and said, “By the look of things you can read it which is a good sign. People who aren’t able to do magic very easily have a hard time reading the spells but it seems as if you can read them quite easily. We’ll work on them tomorrow if you’d like.”

I nodded and said, “That would be wonderful.” Richmond was so nice. He was actually offering to teach me how to do magic; something that I didn’t even know was possible until five minutes ago. I, then, felt my tiredness catch up to me and felt myself starting to lose my energy.

He chuckled to himself and said, “You should get some rest. You’ve been through a lot today. Come on, I’ll take you to my room.”

We walked up the staircases to the second floor and walked along a hallway until we reached the second door on the right. He opened it and let me inside. When I walked inside I noticed two beds next to each other only a couple of feet apart and a dresser in between. There was a bathroom that was placed in front of the beds and I looked at him asking if he had any nightclothes for me.

He said, “I’m sure we can find something.” He then pressed a button and said into a box. Could we please get some nightclothes brought up here for Grace?”

The man on the other end replied, “Right away, sir.”

The clothes came quickly and Richmond handed them to me. I went into the bathroom with them and got into them. They fir me loosely but well and I came out smiling. He looked at me and said, “You look beautiful, Grace.”

I told him, “Thank you.” Richmond was always so quick to compliment me and I liked it a lot. It made me feel special to him.

He then said, “I’ll just be a second He went into the bathroom with his things and came out a few minutes later ready for bed. I got into bed and so did he.
I looked at him and said, “You really know how to make somebody feel special. Like they actually mean something.”

He smiled and said, “You do mean something. To me, at least.” Then he turned off the light and said, “Good night.”

I closed my eyes and said, “Good night, Ritchie.” I fell asleep quickly, as the bed was so comfortable.

I slept late the next day. I didn’t notice that Richmond had gotten out of his bed. He had gotten dressed and went out into the hallway only to be told that his father was requesting to speak with him in the throne room. He quickly went off to thethrone room and opened the door. He walked up to his father’s throne and kneeled on one knee before him, as was custom. He then got up and said, “I was told you wished to speak to me.”

His father nodded and said, “Yes, let us get right down to business, okay?” He paused as if to let something sink in and then continued saying, “I’ve heard that you have a guest in our castle.”

Richmond nodded and said, “Yes, father. Her name is Grace. She’s very nice. I’m sorry I didn’t have time to introduce you to her last night. It was late when we got in.”

The kind nodded and said, “Hmm, I see. Now, son, you know that normally I would not question your actions but I can’t help to think about the fact that you met this girl just yesterday. We are in a time of war, Richmond. You seem not to realize that the Greulocs could have sent this girl as a spy so that they can infiltrate our kingdom and strike when we least expect it. You were a fool in your actions of bringing her here.”

Richmond furrowed his eyebrows and said, “She is not against us, father. Her village was attacked by the Greulocs and I found her cold and alone while I was out on horseback yesterday.”

His father responded saying, “That is what she told you is it? If she was against it is obvious that she would want you to believe that. I will grant you that I’ve been receiving reports lately about a village being destroyed but who’s to say that this girl didn’t betray her village. As it stands she could very well be a traitor and I will not have a traitor in our castle.”

Richmond glared and said, “Father she is not a traitor. Forgive me but you are being paranoid. She doesn’t have a single traitorous bone in her b-“

The king cut him off and said, “Enough! I will not here any more of this. She will leave the castle and you will escort her out of our village!”

Richmond held his arms out on both sides of him and said, “And then what? Let her starve to death? She’ll die out there!”

The king said firmly, “If she does then its all the better. We will have one less enemy to deal with.”

Unbeknownst to them I had heard the entire conversation and just then I opened the door hoping I could change something but not knowing what I could possibly say. But then I heard Richmond say, “Very well.”

My heart burst then and I could hardly keep the tears from my eyes. I had trusted him. I had put all of my faith in him and now he had betrayed me. I turned and ran out of throne room and, as I was completely dressed and had everything of mine with me, I ran out of the castle not caring who was in my way. I ran to the outskirts of the town and into the surrounding forest I climbed a tree and sat down on a branch crying.

While this was happening, Richmond said to his father, “I’m going to go after her. You have crossed the line from loving father to terrible ruler and I cannot have that as my father. I hope you will be happy with Darian as the next king because I am never going to come back”

The king said, “No, Richmond, wait” but it was too late. Richmond was already out of the door and running to the stables. He got onto his horse and started riding around town calling for me.

I heard him but I did not want to speak to him so I did nothing. If he really cared about me like I thought he did he would not have agreed to get me out of the town. If he didn’t want me around he could just have his castle to himself and I wouldn’t bother him anymore. I sat there crying feeling the pain in my chest.

After a while his calls seemed to be getting closer and I looked behind me, with my now bloodshot eyes, and saw him about 20 feet away looking worn out but still worried about me. He saw me then and went up to the tree. He climbed up it expertly and I scooted over so that he could sit down because it would only have been civil politeness to do so. He sat down next to me and said, “Grace, I’m sorry it came to this.”

I looked away from him and said, “No you’re not. I heard you agree with him and you didn’t care at all.”

He shook his head and said, “That’s not true at all. Yes, my father wanted you out of our town and kingdom but I would never leave you. You mean too much to me.”

I looked down and said, “You should have fought harder for me then. If you really cared you wouldn’t have given in.”

Richmond said, “You don’t understand, Grace. If I had argued further my father could have imprisoned me and had me put to death. I can only push him so far before it gets to a point of no return.”

I looked at him then and said, “So, you really do care about me?” I wanted to believe that so much but from what I had heard at the castle it was hard.
He nodded and said, “I do, Grace. You’re the first person I’ve ever met that I can honestly say I have an attachment to. I would give up everything for you. I have already given up my place in line for the throne.”

I was shocked and said, “You didn’t need to do that for me. I’m not so important to give up your entire life for.”

Richmond looked into my eyes and said, “Grace, my life is nothing without you. I’ve been feeling this way since yesterday and now I know it to be true.”
I looked at him in awe and saw the angel of my dreams. I said to him, “I feel the same way about you. That’s why I ran out of the castle so fast when I heard what you had said. I couldn’t stay. It would have been too painful to stay and have you walk with me out of the town and see you leave me there.”
He then hugged me, wrapping his arms around me. I felt safe and warm, like everything would be okay. He made me feel like everything around me could be blowing up and yet none of it mattered except that we were together. He then let go and said, “We should probably get moving and find a shelter. Luckily I brought my horse so we have a faster form of travel than walking.”

I nodded and said, “That sounds good but what about the Greulocs? They explore the forest at night. If they find us they’ll kill us for sure.”
Richmond shook his head and said, “Not necessarily. I know some concealment spells. Like I said, “I have read a lot of the books that were in the library.”

I frowned and said, “I guess I’ll never be able to learn magic like I was hoping.” I had really wanted to learn how to do the kind of magic that Richmond had been talking about but now it seemed like that would never happen.

Richmond said, “No, sadly you will not be able to learn magic as you hoped… Instead, I will teach you.”

I opened my eyes wide and said, “Really? You’d do that for me? That would be absolutely wonderful.”

He smiled and said, “Grace, I’d do almost anything for you. All you have to do is say the word.”

I laughed at how good that sounded and said, “Well, let’s head out of here. I’m ready to go find a place where we can stay.”

Together we rode off in search of a place where we could make our temporary home. We came to a cave and got off of the horse. We tied the horse to a tree and I went to look around a bit. Richmond lined some rope out from his pack as a boundary for our encampment and said some words, which sounded like an enchantment, at each of the four sides of the camp.

I walked around and found some plants that looked like they could be cooked and eaten. I brought them back to our main camp and set them down in front of our stuff. He came back and said, “I see you’ve found some food. However, we need to cook these and we have no way of making fire. Or do we? This will be your first lesson, you are able to make fire with using magic. All you have to do is picture the energy flowing through your body and try to concentrate it all into your hands. After that push your hands forward and you should be able to make the thing you want to catch on fire, catch on fire. I’ll be right back.”

He came back quickly with a bunch of sticks and placed them in a pile after moving all of the leaves and grass out of the way. He placed rocks on the bottom and around the pile. I then sat down and tried to do what he told me. I tried to picture my energy flowing through my body and a surge went through my body that felt warm. I focused on the feeling and the energy in my body and moved it to my hands. I then pushed my hands forward and instead of making fire just an ember came out. I looked down and said, “I can’t do it.”

He shook his head and said, “Don’t give up you almost had it.” He must have thought I was really close or something.
I tried it two more times and on my third try I actually got the fire going. I looked at the fire and said, “I did that. I can’t believe I did that.”
Richmond smiled and said, “I knew you had it in you, now let’s get cooking.” We easily cooked the food and when it was done we ate. Now that it was dark and we were both happily fed we went to sleep. It didn’t matter to me anymore that we were stuck out in the forest. I had lived in the forest most of my life and now I had Richmond here with me. Things were going to be alright after all.



I woke up to the sound of bushes rustling but it wasn’t the wind causing them to make the noise. I heard footsteps and whispers as well. I looked around and saw figures moving around us outside the barrier that Richmond had created. I heard one of the figures growl and gasped covering my mouth. I went over to Richmond and silently shook him awake.

He groggily asked, “What’s wrong, Grace?” He rubbed his eyes, looked around, and then saw them. He got up quickly and said quietly to me, “They’ve found us. I’m not entirely sure how they found us but they did. Hopefully, they don’t know that this barrier is here and won’t be able to get through it. It’s supposed to ward off anyone who gets close to it but I’m not sure it will affect them.”

I watched the Greulocs quietly as they scoured around our campsite. I then noticed one of them in particular. It had some white markings around its neck marking it as different than the others. It had had those markings the day of the attack on my village as well. I glared at it feeling all the anger at the pain it had caused me swelling inside of me. I picked up my bow and quiver and took an arrow out of the quiver. I placed it in the bow and pulled back ready to fire when I heard Richmond say, “Don’t! Grace don’t do that. They’ll catch us.”

I almost wanted to shoot the Greuloc anyway but Ritchie had a point. If I were to shoot the arrow at it, I would most likely be the cause of our deaths. I loosened the tension on the bowstring and put the arrow back in the quiver. I walked over to Richmond and said, “What do we do?”

He smirked and said, “Use magic, of course. They won’t be able to detect where the magic is coming from.” He then went over by the edge of the barrier and pushed his hands in the direction of a Greuloc. The Greuloc burst in flames and started running around screaming. Its allies watched it in fear and then continued their search more frantically this time.

He walked back over to me and said, “Now, you try”. I walked up to the barrier, not sure if this would work. In all honestly, I was scared. I couldn’t bear to think what would happen if they found us. I looked at the one that had killed my parents and focused all of my anger on it. I raised my hand into the air and then brought it down quickly. The Greuloc seemed to double over and then quickly exploded with its insides flying everywhere. I stood there shocked at what I just did. I fell to my knees as the Greulocs ran away terrified. I looked at my hands. How could I have just done that to something? Even if they were evil creatures they didn’t deserve such a harsh death.

Richmond walked up to me and asked, “Grace, that was very advanced dark magic right there. Even I can’t do something like that, nor would I really want to. I’m not sure how you picked it up but we need to find out why it happened. Follow me.”

He took me over to his pack, which somehow held a lot more things than it should have been able to. He took out some test tubes and some needles. He asked, “You’re not afraid of needles, right?”

I shook my head no and then said to him, “I’m not sure how I did that. I just know that I felt a great surge of anger come through me and then the Greuloc had exploded. That Greuloc was the one that killed my parents. It would have killed me had my mother not sacrificed herself to save me. Before she died she gave me this pendant.”

I pulled out the emerald pendant that my mother had given me just before she had been killed. Richmond looked at it curiously and said, “No, this can’t be. I haven’t seen anything like this, except for in books. What I’ve read on them says that they disappeared five hundred years ago along with the dragons.”

I thought about what he was saying and said, “It has been in my family for a very long time. I’m not even sure how long but my mother made it seem as if it had been generations.”
Richmond smiled and said, “You do know what this means, right? You technically belong to a more royal family than I do. This gem is actually not a gem at all but a scale. It is a scale of one of the dragons that we worship as a deity. Its name is Mori. It is a female dragon that protected the forest. The story goes that she was slain by Tutan the Harbinger. He foretold the events leading up to the coming of Mori and devised a way to kill her. Since then the Greulocs have been overrunning the forest with their evil. If you truly are a descendant of Mori then it will help to clear your name with my father and we can return to the castle.”

I smiled happy that we would soon be able to return to civilization. I longed to be able to take a nice hot bath again. I stood up and said, “Let’s get going, then.”

He gathered his things inside of his pack and helped me to gather my things. I helped him take down the barrier and together we walked over to his horse. He helped me onto it and then got onto it himself. He then took off back towards the direction of the castle. I was so happy to find that the pendant actually had a very strong connection to me and that Richmond was able to figure that out when even I hadn’t known about it.

When we arrived at the castle I got off the horse by jumping off and surprisingly I landed softly. Richmond got off as well and said, “Come on, Grace. We need to talk to my father before he calls the guards.”

We ran off to the throne room and the king sat there dumbfounded. He looked at Richmond angrily and said, “You’ve brought her here again? I thought I banished you two. You better have good reason for returning.”

Richmond looked at his father and said, “You have no idea about what I have to tell you. This girl, who is my lover, is not just a girl but a descendant of the great dragon Mori.”

A man who was standing next to the king whispered something to him and the king glared at me as if I was some bad omen or something. He said, “Guards take this girl, Grace, to the dungeons. The dragons have brought nothing but destruction to our kingdom in the past and we cannot trust this girl not to do the same. As for you, Richmond, you are as of now sentenced to death for treason against the kingdom. It pains me to order this upon you but we cannot have this kingdom fall apart after all that I have been through trying to keep it together.”

The guards surrounded us and took hold of us firmly so that we couldn’t escape. They took us down into the lower chambers of the castle, past the library and into a prison-type place. They locked us in separate cells but next to each other and we could see each other through the bars. When they had closed and locked the doors they left and I stood up walking to the area that was connected to Richmond’s cell. I said to him, “I’m so sorry. We should never have come back.”

Richmond raised a hand as if to stop me and said, “No, you’ve done nothing wrong, Grace. Something is going on with my father. He has never liked Rainold but the way he seemed as if he was taking his advice… Rainold’s doing something and I think he’s somehow managed to be able to control father. It’s very dark magic to control someone against his or her will but it can be done. The enchantment is also not easy to do and only the most powerful of sorcerers can do it. The fact that Rainold is doing it means that somehow he’s figured out a way to boost his powers and learn how to use the enchantment and that won’t be good. Luckily it can be resisted well enough if you know that the person who uses the power against you has the ability to do so. Now, we just have to figure out how to get out of here.”

I listened to his thoughts patiently and then when he came to the point of getting out of here I told him, “But, Ritchie, the bars are locked and I have no idea how to break them free. Also if what you said is correct then wouldn’t it make sense that your brother, Charles, would have put a magical seal on the locks making it so that they couldn’t be opened with magic?”

Richmond sighed and responded saying, “You have a point. Then, I’m not sure how we can escape. I guess we’ll just have to wait here until something comes up.”

Things looked pretty bad right now and I couldn’t imagine them getting better anytime soon.



The night passed very uncomfortably. My muscles ached in the morning and it felt like I had a headache. Somebody was standing over me with something in their hand.an I had no idea what it was until their hand went down over my mouth and nose and they slid a pill shaped thing in my mouth. I couldn’t breathe or call for Richmond’s help and I couldn’t break free of the grip that was holding me still so the only option was to swallow it. I did so and the grip that the person had on me was released. I looked at the man who was now more visible to me and I asked, “What the hell was that?”

The man laughed and said in a gruff tone, “You’ll see, dragon girl. Now get up the king wants to run some tests.” He took me firmly by the shoulders and pushed me violently towards the exit of the prison cells.

When we reached the throne room I was feeling as if I was going to be sick. I looked at the king and he told me, “Now, bow down to your king.”

I didn’t want to after all he had put me through but something within me was forcing me to. My arms and legs felt heavy. I got on my hands and knees and bowed down before him. I heard him snicker hideously and he said, “Enough. Now, I’m going to run several tests on you. Richmond tells me that you’re a descendant of Mori the great dragon of the forest. These tests are designed to discover whether that is true or not. The tests will fall under three categories. The first will be pain tolerance. In this your nerves will be put to the test in order to see if you actually are able to tae more pain than any natural human can. The next will be a test of your magical ability. Mori was said to be able to heal plant-life and bring it back to life from the ashes. In this test you will be brought into a room full of rotting and dead plants and you will try your hardest to heal the plants to perfection. The third test will be heat endurance. This test will prove to us that you truly do have dragon blood in you. See, dragons don’t feel heat. They could live in lava all day if they felt like it. After that your identity will be known to us and we will respond accordingly.”

The tests he described seemed extremely impossible for me and scary. Heck, two nights ago I could barely make a small fire and now I was supposed to do all of this. I was definitely going to die. If I didn’t die from the pain in the first test the fire in the third test would definitely kill me. I had no choice though. The king somehow had complete and total control over me right now. The guard picked me back up and walked me over to a different room. The room I was now in looked like a torture chamber. He chained both of my hands to two coil-like machines that spun to reduce slack as time passed by. It looked as if he planned to rip me into two with this thing. He started the machine and it started to raise my arms. I looked at the two spinning holders as it started pulling my arms out wide. It started to hurt but not as much as it should have which surprised me. They continued to pull on my arms until it got to a point that they weren’t being pulled any further. I was in a lot of pain right now but as I struggled against it trying to bring my arms closer I felt the machines starting to give me slack and then it popped the machines broke and my arms were freed from the tension. The man looked at me surprised. He couldn’t believe what I had just done and to be honest, neither could I. I looked at my arms, which looked a bit bulkier than they usually were and then the guard unchained my hands saying, “Come with me. It’s time for the second test.”

I was shocked that I wasn’t even in a little bit of pain. I thought I would hardly be able to move after the test if I even survived. I walked behind the guard to a separate room where the stench was enormous. Fruit was rotting everywhere and flowers were black with decay. The weird part is I could feel the pain that the plants were feeling and it made me sad. I looked around and said, “Leave me be.”

The guard stood back and as if he wasn’t expecting me to react like this he said, “Umm, okay.”

I walked to the center of the room and sat down cross-legged. I could feel the presence of all of the plants around me. They were surely dying and I could feel their sorrow. I tried to reach into myself and bring out the power to heal these plants and take away their sadness and after a while of searching I found it in myself to do this and I opened my eyes to look around at the plants. They started to ripen again as if awakening from a long slumber and after a short amount of time the entire room was filled with life and vegetation. I smiled feeling the happiness that the plants were feeling and the guard once again looked at me dumbfounded. He took me firmly by the hand and said, “Come with me, it’s time for the final test and then it will be good riddance.”

I followed him uneasily, not sure of what he meant by good riddance. It sounded like I was going to be killed whether or not I was the descendant of Mori now. I followed him into a steel containment room and then he left the room. He appeared by a window next to the king. The guard said to the king, “This girl, she’s passed all of the tests perfectly.”

The king laughed and said, “Of course, she has. She’ll pass this one too if my assumptions are correct.”

The guard looked at the king then confused and said, “Don’t take this as disrespect sir, but then what is the point of all this?”

The king laughed more evilly this time and said, “Why, to give a false sense of hope of course. People are much more moldable when they have a sense of security.”

They turned on the fire, which engulfed the entire room. All around me was fire and I felt my skin warming up but it wasn’t really hot like it should’ve been. I should’ve been incinerated in seconds but instead, after a few seconds I felt a cooling feeling and I felt a lot larger and bulkier than I had before this. Something occurred to me and it was that the king was using me. I then charged at the place where I had come in but instead of breaking through the wall it shocked me back and I was thrown to the ground 20 feet away from the wall. I cried from the pain and then the fire was turned off. I was so scared right now but I didn’t know what to do. I heard footsteps but I didn’t care who’s they were anymore I just wanted to be left alone.

The king smirked and said, “Well done, Grace. You have proven yourself to be quite the worthy adversary. I’ll tell you what. I’ll let Richmond go free if you work for me in bringing every part of this world under my rule. With your power it would be easy.”

I glared and snapped at him but he jumped back quickly saying, “Or both you and Richmond could be killed right here and we can find someone else.”

I lowered my head in defeat and he continued saying, “I thought you would see it my way. Don’t worry; Richmond will be fine, for now.” I sighed and the ground shook under me.

I was then left alone and after a while my body began to return to normal. Well, the way it was before I had become a dragon. I wasn’t sure if it could still be considered my normal form or if I was a dragon now and only disguised as a human. I stood up glad that the fire or the change hadn’t destroyed my clothing. I walked out of the furnace sadly. It looked as if in order to save Richmond, I would have to join up with the king.

I walked into the main hall just as the guards were firmly escorting Richmond out of the castle. I looked down sadly, feeling as if I was betraying Richmond. He had given me so much and now we were technically on opposite sides. The only thing was, I had no choice. It was either this or both of us would die. At least this way there was a chance that we could one day be together again. He yelled various things at me as he was forced out and looked at me pleadingly. I could do nothing, though. Not if my plan was to work.

After he was gone a guard came up to me and said, “King Raymond, has requested your presence.”

I felt like saying that King Raymond could shove his presence down his throat but I figured that that probably wouldn’t go over too well. Instead I said, “Yes, sir.” I walked quickly towards the throne room and when I approached the throne I bowed to King Raymond angrily. I then rose and said to him, “What is it you request, your majesty?”

Such venom hung on the words majesty as if a viper spoke them. I glared at the king and he rose from his throne. He walked over to me saying, “Why such contempt? Why such hatred? I have given you everything you could have wanted.”

I snapped and said, “You have betrayed your own son. You are vile and I cannot work for someone who will use me to do evil to the world.”

The king laughed and said, “Ah, but here’s the thing. You have no choice in the matter. Not now. Now, you belong to me and you must do as I say or I will kill Richmond. It will be easy.”
I was shocked that he could say this and I responded by saying, “How could you say such a thing? He trusted you?”

King Raymond smirked and said, “Easily. He was merely a pawn.”

I said to him, “You truly are evil.”

He responded, “You have no idea. You know that attack on your village? I was the cause of all of that. I made the orders and issued the command.”

I opened my eyes in shock as the realization came to me. He was behind the attack on my village. He was the reason my parents were now dead. I glared at him and said, “You will pay, Raymond, for what you’ve done.”

King Raymond raised his hand and slapped me across the face. I felt blood trickle into my mouth from the force he had hit me with. He said to me, “Temper, temper, Grace. You must learn to control yourself and respect your new master.”

I glared at him still feeling the sting of his attack and said, “You will never be my master. No matter what you do to me. I’m only doing this to keep Richmond safe.”

Raymond snarled and slapped me again, so hard this time that I fell to the ground. How he became so strong I had no idea but the pain I was in didn’t allow me to think about it too much.

He said to me, “Now Grace, I don’t enjoy abusing you like this but a servant needs to know their place and if they go out of line they need to be brought back into line even if physical means are necessary. Now, we can be allies or we can continue like this. It is your choice.”

I got up holding my mouth. I had a strong feeling that it would bruise from the damage it had taken. I looked at him and said, “Fine, is there something you wanted from me or did you just call me in here to attack me if I spoke up against you?”

He shook his head and said, “It looks as if this is just how things are going to be between us but no matter. I did call you in for something. You see, I have your first mission ready. You’re to go to the village north of here and set fire to it. You’re not to leave anyone alive.”

I figured I would attempt a risky move on my part. I would make a suggestion that he might have considered a challenge to his authority but if it worked as I hoped it would give me bonus points with him. I said to him, “Wouldn’t it be better to leave some survivors so that they can go spread their fear about this kingdom?”

I waited dreading that I would be attacked again but it never came. The king smiled and said, “You know? That actually does sound like a smarter idea. I like the way you think. Maybe we can work together after all. Anyways, that is your mission. When you return come see me and I will tell you our next plans.”

I nodded having a plan of what I would do once I had gotten out of here. I would have to find out where Richmond was and I would have a limited amount of time to do it. But, if I could do it then we could go to all of the other villages and, whoever would listen, we could recruit them to join our fight against this kingdom. It would be tough but it was the only way to keep my morals right. I simply couldn’t use my ability as a dragon to wipe out entire villages like how mine was wiped out by the Greulocs.

I said to Raymond, “Am I able to take my leave now?” I was ready to get out of here and start my journey to help the villages that Raymond wanted to oppress.
Raymond said, “Yes, I shall see you when you return. And do make it a quick journey I’ll know if you make any detours based on how long it takes you.”

I nodded but inside I became afraid. That meant in order for my plan to work I would have to find Richmond quickly. I asked Raymond one more question, saying, “How do I change into my dragon form at will. To be honest don’t even know how I did it the first time. It just happened.”

Raymond responded saying, “Simply become one with your inner being. You remained calm once you realized the fire wasn’t burning you and you simply changed. That’s as far as I noticed.”

I was still pretty confused but I understood what he was saying. Apparently, I just stay calm and forget everything around me and I would change but how exactly that would work I had no idea. I walked out of the throne room and to the main doors of the castle. The guard said, “Don’t think you’re ever going to be treated well here, dragon girl.”

I glared at him, imagining fire in my eyes as I did so and then he opened the door. I walked outside and said, “Alright, let’s give this a try then. Shall we?”

I placed my arms at my side and stood there thinking nothing and saying nothing. Nothing happened. I pouted and said, “Aww come on! Work, why don’t you?”

I looked out at the village across the now drawn up bridge. The only way out of this area would be to fly out of here but I couldn’t fly unless I entered my dragon form. I held my arms and closed my eyes saying, “Change!”

I waited a minute and felt nothing happen except maybe some wind blow through my hair. I frowned angry with myself for not being able to do this. I said, “What do I have to do? Put myself in danger?”

I then looked down to the rocks below where the bridge usually was and it looked like a very far way down. I then got an idea. I hoped this would work; otherwise, I would be dead. I walked back a few feet and then charged at the Cliffside, jumped off, and spread myself out like a starfish. I yelled, “I am going to die!!!” At first nothing happened but then it felt as if my body was putting on extra pounds out of nowhere and my entire body structure changed. I now had scales instead of skin. My hands and feet were now bulky and they had claws. My skin was green and I had a tail and wings. The most surprising change was, instead of falling, I was flying.

I couldn’t believe it. I was actually flying. I tried moving upward by increasing the speed at which I was flapping my wings. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be and I got the hang of controlling my direction and speed quickly. I flew out of the canyon and over the city towards the north and I waited until the castle was no longer in sight. I then flew towards where I had a feeling Richmond had gone to. The only place that I could check was the place where we stayed the first time we had been banished. Hopefully he was still there. I charged off in that direction feeling the wind against my back. The only way for my plan to work would be for him to be there.



As I flew I realized that I was losing track of time. It seemed as if it had only been five minutes but the sun was already starting to set. I had to find Richmond quickly or else all of this would have been for nothing. I found the landed down on the forest floor so that I wouldn’t be as noticeable and I changed back into my human form. I stood up and I walked onward towards the area where we had first camped. When I arrived, I saw nothing but then out of nowhere Richmond appeared where there was once nothing. I looked at him, not sure of how to feel. The last time I saw him it looked as if I had betrayed him so I couldn’t rightly go up to him like we were on good terms with each other. I couldn’t move or say anything. We stood there in silence for a little bit and then he walked up to me embracing me in a hug. I couldn’t help but cry into his arms. I said to him, “I was so scared. I didn’t want you to die.”

He patted my back and said, “I know, I know. It’s okay. I don’t blame you for being braver than I could have been. You saved us both and now we have another chance to get the kingdom back.”

I looked at him and said, “He will know that I’ve gone looking for you. He sent me on a mission to destroy a village in the north. I just couldn’t do that and be okay with myself. Not after my village was destroyed by his orders to the Greulocs.”

Richmond looked at me confused and said, “Wait what? He didn’t…”

I nodded and said, “He made the orders to destroy my village. He said so himself.” I knew that he would take this pretty hard.

He held me close and said, “Oh, Grace, I’m so sorry. I had no idea. I can’t believe that my father would do such a thing.”

I looked at him calmly and said, “Don’t be sorry for your father’s crimes, Richie. It’s not like you did them. Besides, I think you were right. It’s not your father doing those things. I think your brother is pulling the strings.”

It was then that he noticed that my cheek was sort of purplish where I had been hit. He held his hand up to it and I cringed in a small amount of pain. He said, “I’m so sorry. Did my father do that to you?”

I nodded and he turned away. He began to pace back and forth he then stopped and stood in front of me. He placed his hand on my shoulder and said, “My brother needs to be stopped. He has gone power mad. He can’t be allowed to destroy the villages that have different views than he does. I’m not saying we should go back and try to stop him right now. We’d be utterly destroyed. However, if we go around and gather the other villages’ support we might have a chance.”

I nodded and said, “That was my plan when I came looking for you. We really should get going though if we’re going to have any chance of succeeding. They’ll be sending people looking for me in a little bit.”

Richmond nodded and asked me, “Is there any way you can go dragon again? I mean we’d get places a lot faster through flight than if we walked.”

I sighed and said, “I wish I knew how. The truth is the only times it has worked so far have been when I was in a situation that would normally kill a human being. The first time I was engulfed in fire and the second time I had jumped off of the cliff surrounding the castle.”

Richmond thought for a moment and then said, “I think I may know how to activate it without that. You know how easily magic came to you right? You simply had to watch me do it and you were able to repeat exactly what I did. I have a feeling that if you simply try to remember the way you felt just before you changed then maybe you can repeat it without having to be in danger.”

I nodded saying, “It’s worth giving it a try. Who knows? Maybe it will actually work. Your plan does seem to make sense.”

I thought back to the moment just before I had jumped off of the cliff and suddenly I was there. It was as if I was living the moment over again. I felt the wind blowing against my hair and I ran towards the cliff. I jumped off and closed my eyes hoping this would work. I felt my body change and suddenly I was in the forest again but this time I seemed to be towering over Richmond. I looked at him and wanted to shout with joy but all it came out as was a grunt. He looked at me and said, “You are simply amazing, Grace. I’m sure we can do this. Now I’m going to get on your back and we can head off.”

I waited for him to get on my back and when he had I roared and took off into the air flapping my wings. When I was high in the air, I just flew there steadily. I could feel the wind blowing against my face and my scales shined in the daylight. I felt warm. I flew to the North. I hoped that I could make it to the village in time before somebody else was sent to destroy the village for me since I obviously hadn’t.

I went as fast as I could without having Richmond fall off or suffer from wind fatigue. I stopped when I was about a mile away from the village. I looked at it in shock. It was completely ravaged and lifeless. I flew down to it slowly, so as not to scare any survivors that might possibly be under all of the rubble. As I landed, Richmond jumped off of my back and I changed back into my human form. I suddenly felt really weak which shouldn’t have happened because of me being in my dragon form. I had been in it before and changed back without feeling this way. I looked at Richmond and fell to my knees really weak. I could hear so much screaming. The forest surrounding the village was bleeding. I could feel its pain. Richmond quickly helped me to my feet and asked, “What’s wrong?”

I shook my head and responded saying, “I don’t know. I just feel really weak. Do you hear those screams? They’re extremely loud?”

Richmond looked at me as if I had lost it and said, “Grace, nobody is screaming. I don’t think there is anyone here who is able to scream.” Suddenly a cloaked figure appeared and it walked over to us until it was about ten feet away. It said in a voice that sent chills down my back, “No, Richmond. Grace is definitely hearing screams but they aren’t of humans. The screams that she is hearing is of the nature that has been destroyed. They will only stop if she leaves this place or she fixes the damage that has been done here. However, I’ve been given direct orders not to let her do either of those things.”

Richmond looked at the cloaked man and said, “What in the world are you talking about? Who are you?”

The cloaked figure took out a sword that was glowing a purplish aura and black lightning seemed to be crackling all over it. The man said, “I am not a man but a spirit. I am what is known as a Frenor. The Great Being commands us to help him in his conquest.”

I got Richmond’s arm off of me. I had to sit down. I was having a piercing headache right now and as the man had taken out his sword it seemed that the screams I was hearing were getting louder as if they were trying to burst into me or something.

Richmond looked at me and then looked at the Frenor. He took out his own sword and said, “If you want to get to her then you’ll have to get at me first.”

The Frenor chuckled and said, “His Majesty will e doubly pleased when he finds out that I killed both you and this traitorous servant.”

Richmond opened his eyes wide and said, “You work for my father? But he is completely innocent. He would never do this in his right of mind.”

The Frenor laughed wildly and the same dark lightning that was coming out of his sword sprouted out to hit the ground around him as well. He said, “You think that lame old man is my master? No my master is his other son, your brother, Rainold.”

Richmond glared at the spirit and said, “I knew it. But how could h have gotten so powerful?”
The Frenor said to Richmond, “All those years while you were being served on a golden platter your brother had been training in his own way He studied dark magic till his soul was corrupted. He wanted nothing more than to squash his own brother and take the throne. Once he takes the throne he will be useless to all of the evil spirits in this world and trust me , there are a lot more spirits that are stronger than me. I’m merely a grunt sent to do my Master’s bidding.
Richmond snarled and said, “Enough talking. Let’s get this over with.” Richmond used magic to lift some rocks into the air and chuck them at the spirit but they flew right through him.

The Frenor laughed and said, “You’re not going to even touch me like that. I can’t be touched by things of the mortal world.”

Richmond smirked and said, “Thanks, for letting that slip. Now I know exactly how to beat you.”

The spirit looked shocked and asked, “Wait, how could you have gotten my weakness from any of what I told you?”

Richmond smirked and said, “Because I paid attention when my father sent me to magic school.” Richmond picked up his sword and made a circular motion pointing at the Frenor. A light casing seemed to appear around the spirit and it began to expand, closing in on it. The spirit screamed as the light engulfed it and once there was only light the screaming stopped and the light faded away leaving nothing in its trace.

Richmond seemed about ready to pass out but he walked over to me and saw me lying there. By now almost every ounce of feeling had gone out of me and I could feel myself fading away. I looked at him and weakly said, “You were amazing, Richie.”

Richmond looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, “No, I lost you twice now. I’m not going to lose you a third time. Please, Grace, try to use your ability to fix the forest. Then you can rest.”

I looked at him though it was hard to see since my vision was so blurry. I said to him, “I’ll try.”

I searched within myself and tried to pull my healing powers out of me and use them to help the forest. At first nothing happened. The world was still except for a wind blowing through the trees. Then, suddenly, plants started to gain their lives back. Burned and scarred trees became flawless again. They grew back to their correct shapes. Ashes of plants began to collect together and meld themselves forming at first black plants that then turned to green. Grass started shooting up out of the ground and flowers filled the ground as well. When it was finished, I was laying in a perfect meadow. I felt the strain that my body had been through hit me but at least the screaming and the headache was gone. I looked at Richmond as he was looking around surprised at what I had done. I smiled and said, “I did it.”

Richmond turned to me and hugged me close but gently, saying, “Yes, Grace. Yes you did. You saved this meadow and in the process saved yourself.”

I smiled and then everything went black. I was in a peaceful sleep. I could feel my body drifting around and then a voice was heard. It was the same voice I had heard when I ran away from my destroyed village. It said, “Grace, you have done well so far. The battle you have just experienced with the Frenor was only the beginning. More experiences lie ahead that will tax you both physically and magically than you been just now. Do not lose hope, however. You can do this because I will be with you. I am always with you but now you must wake child. Wake and continue your journey to stop those who wish to destroy the good in this world.”

I looked around but all was dark around me except a small area around that I could barely make out. It looked like a lake but then I felt myself starting to wake up and I shouted, “No, wait. Please, I still need your help.” When I finished the word ‘help’ I was wide-awake.


Richmond said to me, “What is it? What’s wrong. Did you have a bad dream?” He was genuinely worried about me.

I looked at Richmond and said, “No, it’s nothing like that. I just…” I wasn’t sure if I could tell him. He would probably think I was crazy if I was to tell him what I had experienced.
He looked at me and said, “Just what? It’s okay, Grace, you can tell me. I won’t think of you any differently.”

I half-smiled, feeling now like I could definitely trust him. He was after all the person who had saved me when my village had first been destroyed. I remembered feeling sort of weak at that time too but not as much. Maybe it was because at that point, they weren’t purposely trying to harm the forest and not as much damage had been done to it. At that point, their main goal was to kill me. I looked at him and said, “It was more of a vision. I was completely surrounded by darkness except for a small circle around me that looked as if it were part of some kind of scenery or something. I heard a voice telling me that the thing that we just faced was only the beginning. If what that voice said is true, then there will be many more battles to come. We will need to be ready when they do come which means attempting to get to other villages before they too are destroyed. I’ve heard this voice before. It was when I first met you. It said that it would send someone to help me on my way to help maintain the balance of this world and the spirit world. Ever since then I’ve been assuming that that person is you. I mean you have helped me out of many things so far.”

Richmond thought about this. He looked a bit unsure of himself, as if he was nervous. He then said, “That’s a lot of pressure put on me. You know that, right? I’m supposed to be some kind of mentor or something and I’m not even a dragon?”

I frowned and looked down at the ground. Leaves blew across the meadow as the wind led them. I realized this would be a bigger journey than I had first expected. I honestly had no idea that it would get this far but since it had and we were both involved, we were stuck in it until the end whether it be good or bad. We had to complete this prophecy or die trying. Otherwise the entire world would suffer for it.

Richmond was pacing back and forth. He then stopped and said, “Well, one thing is for sure. Now we know that my brother isn’t actually the real enemy. He’s simply being used as a pawn. Almost like how my father is being used but this time it’s because of him wanting power. Maybe if I could speak to him we could set things straight. But he would never listen to me as it is. Not with how he is feeling right now. He would kill us both for even appearing in front of him. Not to mention, it would be extremely difficult just to get to where he is. He would be guarded very heavily, have the strongest black magic on his side, and have the world’s most vile spirits on his side. No, there has got to be another way.”

I asked him, “Well if we can’t get to him why can’t we try to lure him to us? He is sure to come to us if we give him the right incentive.”

Richmond thought and said, “Hmm, you may be right. But what can we really do. We have nothing he really wants unless, no. No, no, no. I’m not going to risk that.”

I asked him, “Why not? We’re not going to really let him gain the right of the throne. It would just be to lure him out and then we can actually talk to him without any interference.”

Richmond looked at me sternly and asked, “And what if he does get the throne? Then the entire world will fall into darkness. It would have destroyed our only chance. I say we continue our journeys to try to gather more people. Once we gather enough people then we’ll be able to win for sure and we won’t have to risk anything more than what the war takes.”

I looked down at the grass around my feet. It seemed to become a bit sickly and turned brown. I then looked at him and said, “My village was destroyed because of this war. My parents are now dead because of this war. I’m not going to have more innocent people die just for the sake of winning this war. If you think that I’m going to simply kill people without second thought like a machine then you can think again. I’m not like that and I so what if I’m not a soldier like the people you’ve been so accustomed to see going into battle. The way I see it the taking of more lives does not make anything better.”

I turned around and with my power over the forest I used a vine to lash around my wrist and I held tightly onto it with both of my hands and it pulled me up to the top of a tree. I looked out across the forest seeing the entirety of it. A river was about a mile away and then I saw the kingdom. The kingdom that all of my troubles began with. I felt hatred growing for the place. It was because of this whole war that I had lost everything. I sat down on the branch and began to weep. I was so lost right now. I had no idea what to do. All of my life I had been carefree because death wasn’t a factor. I had been upset with my dad for not showing me what life really was like. Now, all I wanted was to return to those times that I was that sheltered. I didn’t want to see anymore of this chaos and destruction. I just wanted things to be peaceful again. I reached inside of my shirt and pulled the pendant that my mother had given me before she died out. I looked at it and said, “What do you want from me? I’m only a 15-year-old girl. I’m not some kind of all powerful being that you want me to be. I may be able to turn into a dragon on the outside but on the inside I am still just a girl. I’m still scared, confused, and alone no matter what I look like on the outside.”

I then heard a voice that I hadn’t heard before. It was almost like a whisper but it was real. It said, “You’re not alone. I know what you’re going through. I know because well I’ve gone through it as well.”

I looked over to where I heard the voice and there on a tree nearby me was a boy about my age. He had ginger hair, a sort of freckly face, and kind of pinkish skin. His eyes were a kind of orange color.

I glared at him instantly saying, “You! You caused the damage that was done here. I can tell just with my instincts that you have a connection with fire. You must have caused the fire that burned down the village. It’s your fault these people died.”

I jumped up to my feet and leaped off of the branch towards the boy. He sidestepped and I fell from the branch down to the ground but I caught myself with tree branches that I directed to move under me. I looked at him and said, “You’ll pay for what you’ve done.”

I ran up to him and tried to knock him off by punching at his chest but after a couple of successful punches he caught my wrists and held me still. He said to me, “Wait, let me explain.”

I glared at him. I hated those eyes of his. They were like the flames that burned my village to the ground and the fire that must have sent this village to ashes. So much rage was within me that I could hardly contain myself. Tears were on the verge of breaking in my eyes. I asked him sharply, “What excuse could you possibly have for causing so much death?”

He said nothing in response but let go of me saying, “I have no excuse. It was wrong of me. I just thought that if I followed their orders my family might be able to survive.”

I lowered my hands. His family… It struck me to my very core. I looked at him tears starting come down my eyes and said, “These were innocent people you killed.”

The boy shook his head and said, “No, I never killed anyone to be completely honest. Before I attacked this village the king gave me time to gear up. Since I’m a dragon, I needed no gear. I went off to warn the people of this village to evacuate it. At first they didn’t believe me but when I told them of the girl who had been sent here first to destroy this village, they admitted that they had heard of a girl by the name of Grace who had been seen exiting the castle of Lunaria. They told that the girl had been seen jumping off of the cliff and then a green dragon had flown out of the chasm. I simply knew that this had to be another dragon like me. They evacuated the village and headed deeper into the forest. I then went back to the castle and told the king that I was ready. He sent me off with some of his thuggish evil spirits and we destroyed the village with my fire. Since my fire would have incinerated everything so quickly it would be impossible for them to tell if any people had been killed in the attack. They believed that everyone had been killed.”

I looked at the boy now having a new understanding towards him. He risked everything, his parents’ lives and his own life for the chance to save the village’s inhabitants. There truly wasn’t anything evil about him.

I looked at him and said, “Then as long as no lives were lost then there is no foul done. In fact, I think you’ve taught me a pretty valuable lesson by telling me your story. Thank you. Now can you come with me please? I’d like you to meet someone and then we can get going.”

He nodded and said, “My name is Charles by the way. I know your name already and you’ve told me most of your story during our fight so we’re good with introductions.”

I helped us both down from the tree and then I walked to the meadow back to Richmond. He was sitting down on a log watching the birds flying around in the sky. It was weird because they were flying around in a circular motion. I looked at Richmond and said, “I’m sorry for freaking out at you and I think I’ve found a solution to our little problem.”
I smiled at Charles and knew that I had found yet another great friend that I could depend on.