"Be careful Godric! That branch might not hold you," his mother called from down below.
His mother was always worried about him, although when he looked down he started thinking his mother might be right. The ground really was getting pretty far. I'm brave, he told himself, and he continued onwards. Even at nine years old he knew that he was brave. Or at least that he tried to be brave. His red hair shone like fire in the sunlight, and the wind was blowing softly around him. He looked up, and smiled. He loved seeing the world spread out before him, it made him feel powerful. He was in the forest, on the tallest tree, and he could see the sky, deep blue, without a cloud in the sky. It was a perfect day for playing outside, and he wished he could stay up on the tree forever. He was starting to wonder if he should try climbing further, when the branch started to bend.
CRACK! He quickly reached up to grab onto another branch, but that one cracked too. Suddenly he was falling through the air. He screamed and just thought of one word, UP, as hard as he could, trying to fly back up onto the tree. His mother was shouting below, calling for help, or maybe trying to catch him. Suddenly, his fall reversed, and he zoomed up into the air a few feet, landing on another branch lower down. His mother called up to him.
"Godric! Are you alright? What happened?"
He waited for his heartbeat to return to its normal speed and catch his breath before he answered his mother's question. "I'm fine! The branches broke, but there must have been a strong wind that slowed my fall. Anyway, I caught another branch." Godric wasn't scared. That was actually rather exciting.
"I'm fine," he repeated to his mother, grinning.
He was still rather high up on the tree, and since this was the tallest tree in the forest, he could still see a good deal. This branch was much sturdier than the other one he was on, so he didn't worry about falling. While he was looking up, he saw something flying closer. It looked like a bird, but when it got closer he realized it was far too big to be a normal bird. Dragon, he thought. He gaped at the sky, mouth hanging open, as he saw the magnificent beast come closer. The dragon didn't come as close as he would have liked, but he could easily see that it was a beautiful hue of dark green, with a long golden horn on its head that shone in the sunlight. The dragon eventually flew out of sight, and only then did he realize his mother had been talking to him the whole time.
"Godric! Are you listening? What's wrong?" His mother called worriedly.
"I saw a dragon! A real dragon. It was green, and had a big gold horn on its head! Did you see it too? The dragon flew by just a second ago" he told his mother.
"Godric… Are you feeling alright? I know you just almost fell from a tree. Maybe you should come down now and have some rest."
"I didn't imagine it! There was definitely a dragon that flew by" Godric insisted.
His mother eventually agreed with him, but he could tell she only said it to make him come down. It didn't matter if his mother didn't believe him though, he knew what he had seen, and he had seen a dragon. That reminded him of when he had been falling, and suddenly flew upwards to land on a branch. He hadn't thought of it since seeing the dragon, but it had been very strange. He would have to go ask his friend, Jerry when he got back home. Jerry Dean was his best friend and partner prankster, who always seemed to know more about magic than everyone else. Of course, his parents said all that was silly superstition, and there was no such thing as magic. Jerry's parents always denied they did magic, but Godric had long realized that Jerry always avoided the topic of magic, especially when he was talking to Godric. Godric always had the suspicion Jerry's parents were witches or wizards in hiding, he had even heard them talking about wizards once.
Soon, Godric and his mother returned to the village. His mother wanted to take him to see the local wizard (which his mother insisted was just a fancy word for doctor). Since the local wizard was Jerry's dad, Godric agreed to go. When they arrived at Jerry's house, Ms. Dean (Jerry's mom) welcomed them and listened to his mother talk about their walk in the woods.
"I'm worried he hit his head when he he slipped off the branch. Perhaps you or your husband can take a look, and give him some herbs to make him calm down. He keeps swearing he saw a dragon while he sat on the tree." His mother said.
"I did see a dragon. The dragon was green with a big gold horn!" Godric protested. His mother sighed and agreed with him.
"Don't worry, most little boys have an overactive imagination. That's not a bad thing. I'll bring him in to see my husband." Ms. Dean answered.
Godric went in, and Ms. Dean brought him to Jerry's dad. Jerry's dad was sitting at a table, giving a lady who came from the neighboring village a small bag of herbs for a bad cough she had. The lady was soon done with her appointment and left.
"Godric. What's the problem this time? Nothing seems broken at least." Mr. Dean said smiling.
"I fell out of a tree, but then I suddenly shot up while I was falling and landed on a branch. After that, I saw a dragon." Godric explained.
Jerry walked in while he was talking and exclaimed, "You saw a dragon! That's so cool. What was it like?"
Mr. Dean frowned at Jerry. "Now boys, calm down. I'm more interested about what Godric said before the part about the dragon. You said you suddenly shot upward. Was the wind strong that day?"
Godric thought about it for a moment. "No actually, the wind wasn't very strong at all. Mom would have been even more worried if there was wind that day"
"What were you thinking about when you fell?"
"I was just thinking about going up. I really did NOT want to fall." Mr. Dean leaned back in his chair and seemed to be in deep thought. Finally he sat up and spoke again.
"Godric, I think you should take a rest. Sleep a little and you will feel better." Mr. Dean opened a drawer and took at a small vial with a dark purple liquid inside. "Here, come with me and lie down. Then drink just a little of this. It will help you sleep." Godric drank a little of the liquid in the vial. It was flavorless, and soon he fell into deep sleep.