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Mariah: If you want to know, you'll have to stay along for the ride. It'll be a long one!

|| CHAPTER ONE ||

Two Weeks Later

There's a reason I rarely venture into the forest. Now I remember why.

Towering trees stand like Viking soldiers on their way to battle; with trunks firm and strong, and branches covering their bodies from intruders. Nothing but eerie silence escapes them. Their tops reach for the sky. It's as if they wanted to be free from the ground that's holding them prisoner.

And yet I feel as if they look down on me in shame. They laugh and giggle, and whisper among each other in playfulness and fun, "Such a silly, small human," They say.

I don't find it funny, "Nothing here." Besides grass and bush, my eye catch nothing out of the ordinary on the forest floor. Nothing that shouldn't be here.

Nothing to help me find my dragons.

I've been out here for who knows how long with nothing but a crestless satchel, a dagger...and a bow without arrows. I open my satchel, a fishy smell hits my nostrils and I crinkle my nose in disgust. Within is a fishtail, and two dull arrowheads. I sigh, "This is worthless…" I close the satchel and brush some of my bone-straight burgundy blush hair behind my shoulders, "so, river..." I listen for the sound of flowing water, but I only hear the sounds of birds chirping from the tree's, and the breeze brushing against the grass.

Suddenly, a distant roar rips through the silence, echoing before fading into the emptiness. My eyes widen in realization; that's a dragon roar! It's unlike any I had heard before. There is nothing else I know of that makes such an earth shattering noise, 'This may be a lead!' If the dragon would roar again, I could guess the direction it's in and find it. Then, maybe, I can discover some clue as to where Red, Splinter and Grub went! And eventually I'll find them! It seems like an airtight plan. Or one I'd be willing to follow if everything falls into place. But it's all a hunch. Truth is, I don't know if this dragon will lead me to mine. I don't know if I can find it!

I embrace myself for the second roar, but moments pass with nothing but soothing silence. A small brown frog with a few small bumps on its skin jumps onto a log in front of me and croaks. I frown, "Well, if he ain't roaring again…it's hide and seek." Guessing games…not my favorite, but better than sitting and doing nothing. I re-adjust my satchel band around my shoulder in hopes that I'm doing the right thing. Worse thing that'll happen is I head in the wrong direction. I will know in time if I'm going in the right direction.

Time passes slower than a snail. My feet drag me over logs, and up a steep hill. A breeze brushes against my skin as my ears catch the sound of a bubbling creek. I follow the distant melody of flowing water through the forest. Suddenly, a small cove appears in front of me several feet deep. A small waterfall flows into a small spring pool below that's surrounded by grass. Rocks of all shapes and sizes are scattered on the cove floor. A large tree is at the back of the cove with roots plunging into the ground. Suddenly, something growls and I jump back, falling onto my back.

"Toothless!" An unfamiliar voice exclaims. I shift onto my stomach and pull myself to the cliff's edge, so I can peer into the cove. My eyes catch a short scrawny boy with brown hair. His hands are small, and his arms and legs are thin. He wears a brown sweater and pants along with a green shirt. Something is on his feet, though I fail to pinpoint what it is. The item in question hides everything at the bottom up to his ankles. In his hands, hoisted above his head, is some sort of crazy looking blanket…though it doesn't look like one. Blankets are soft, but this one appeared hard with a bit of a curved form on top and little bend ability. A black dragon, which I presume to be Toothless, backs up from the boy and lowers himself as if he were to pounce on him. I note that the dragons pupils are dilated. Toothless squirms slightly and sticks out his tongue. I only catch a glimpse of his teeth before his tongue slips back into his mouth. It looks as if he were to jump towards the boy and lick his face off, "Can I just put this on you?" The scrawny boy asks. Toothless and the boy stare at each other for a moment. Eventually, the dragon stands and watches as the boy slowly approaches him and straps on the blanket thing. He tightens it around the dragon's stomach with some sort of straps, "Alright. That should do it."

"That's a funny place to put a blanket," I mutter to myself, "on a dragon? It isn't cold enough."

"How does the saddle feel, bud?" The boy smiles. 'Saddle?' The dragon wiggles his body and jumps, before letting out a soft roar.

The scrawny boy approaches the dragon, and steps on his foot. Toothless growls, "My bad." I watch the boy grab a part of the saddle and hoist himself up. He takes a deep breath and swings a leg over Toothless, but lowers it too soon and kicks his back.

I laugh at the boy's clumsy attempt to mount the dragon, "Amateur…"

Toothless glares, "Sorry." At least he's on the dragon, "You ready?"

The dragon gazes into the sky and bounds into the air, extending his wings and flapping. They fly straight with little sign of issue…until the boy tugs on the rope in his hand and tumbles to the fround. The dragon lands on the cove floor near the spring pool.

"What...?" I ask aloud. The rope connects to...my eyes widen, "A hand made tail?" Sure enough, half the tail on Toothless is a light brown colour, "So the dragon has half a tail which means that rope..." My eyes dart back to the rope, "...controls the tail."

I roll my eyes and retreat from the small cliff. This is becoming painful to watch, "I'll be surprised if he can fly that dragon."

But my mind doesn't let go of the scrawny boy, and his interest in Toothless. Though I cannot pinpoint what Toothless is I trace back to the last time I'd seen his species. The only difference between the two was the coloring. While Toothless is black with yellow eyes, the dragon I had seen as a child was purple with white eyes. I remember staring into its eyes as I lay against a tree, petrified, and my body refusing to move. If Grub hadn't jumped in, grabbing my shoulders with his talons and escaping through an old tunnel we discovered weeks earlier, I might've died.

I note a path I never noticed before after the cove disappears from sight leading into thicker woods. A breeze brushes my skin, "The wind's on my side. Guess I'd better try it." And I head into the unknown.

x.x.x.x.x.x

By the time night falls, I find myself staring at a small dirt path leading out of the forest and into an unfamiliar clearing. The cloud coverage in the sky blocks any light from hitting the grass.

Seeking to leave the safety of the trees and into the vulnerability of the wide-open space seems like something someone with no sense of reason would do. In the forest, the trees tower over you, offering protection from threats. A warning flashes through my mind, "Bad idea?" I take a look at the path I had come down to get here, and then back towards the clearing. I shrug my shoulders, "Fine by me." I take a step out of the safety of the forest and into the clearing…but I don't look back. My dragons may be beyond that clearing. If they are, and I turn back because of a stupid small fear of the dark, what kind of person am I?

But I feel shadows watching me, like at any moment they would turn into monsters and drag me into another world, and I'd never be heard from again. I look around, but the only shadows I see are those coming from the trees. And yet, when I continue to look forward, I feel like other shadows creep up from the ocean and follow me. It's as if they peer over my shoulders!

Weeks ago, that moment my fire died, these stalking shadows became ghosts that strangled me senseless. The days after my dragons disappeared brought out hidden ghosts attacking me the moment the sun sunk below the horizon. 'They don't exist…they don't exist.' I remember repeating that to myself as I stumbled through the dark forest. It would bare its teeth and stretch out its claws, but I pushed forward. Eventually, it was easier to breath as I wandered through the forest, searching for my dragons.

The path stretches over the ocean onto another island and weaves around a large rock that stands tall. I follow the trail and enter some sort of settlement with weird looking caves. I gaze at the first one I see to my right. It has four, straight sides and some sort of crazy shaped mechanism on the front. I approach it and push it open, but it doesn't open. I note a small round thing and pull it. Nothing happens. My hand tightens, and I push it. Still nothing. I glare, "What are you and why won't you open?" I twist my hand left, and the mechanism opens. I smirk, "Eerika wins again." Inside, I note a weird assortment of items I've never seen before. A warning flashes in my mind again, and I don't bother to continue inside. Instead, I turn around and my eyes widen. The are many more…many, many more!

I wander and stare at all the small caves as I pass them, 'They sure are strange!'

"Baaah!" My eyes snap in the direction of the noise, but I see nothing. I grab my dagger and start in the direction of the sound. I stand with my back to the side of a cave, taking a deep breath just before I jump and simultaneously swing my dagger in the direction of the noise. In front of me is some sort of creature with lots of white puffy fur, a black head and short legs. It looks at me.

"What strange creature are you?" I strap my dagger back into its case, "are you some sort of small, mutated boar?"

"Baaah!" The creature lowers its head to the ground to graze.

"Maybe a miniature dragon?"

The creature pays no attention to me.

"Understood. I shall leave you to your business."

I head back towards the caves, 'What a strange creature!' The smell of the salty ocean meets my nostrils; the waves rush up against statues that, I note, are in the ocean a ways away. I tilt my head, 'That's a strange place to put statues.' Suddenly, a light appears from around a cave in the distance. Voices slice the silence. Someone's coming!

Quickly, I look for a place to hide and gaze at a space underneath one of the wooden caves. I dive underneath and watch as feet appear in front of me. I hold my breath, hopefully they won't find me!

"-and even if you did have a chance, I'd destroy all of you!" An obnoxious voice declares. A moment of silence passes before I note a set of feet fly into the air, and I see someone fall to the ground, "Hey!" I can see his face now. His hair is black and he has a chubbier body than the scrawny boy I'd seen earlier.

I hear two sets of voices laughing into the night air, "You totally fell for that."

"Totally,"

"Like a dragon caught in an eel trap…"

Silence follows, "That doesn't really make sense." A new voice pops up. Another male. So, there are three guys so far and a girl…

"You guys are immature," Scratch that, two girls, "lets go."

The feet retreat… and I sigh in relief when the light dims. My foot hits the cave's floor above me, and the lights glow continuously flickers...and no longer fades. I hold my breath again. A moment passes and nothing changes…until the light disappears completely.

"Phew…" I pull myself out of my hiding spot. Nothing but darkness and my eerie surroundings greet me.

But I have to get out of here before someone spots me. I didn't know people live here! I dart in the direction I came, being careful not to run into anyone else.

I round a corner and something catches my eye, lots of sharp objects inside an open cave. I approach it slowly and walk inside.

"What the…?" The place is covered in sharp objects of all different shapes and sizes. I pull out my dagger and stare at it, "this place makes my dagger look like child's play."

I turn to leave, but approaching footsteps stop me in my tracks. Someone's coming…I look around quickly for a hiding spot. But every spot is covered in something sharp or pointy.

I have nowhere to go.