~Backstage~

Zayril was hanging out at the living room, reading his school books.

Maz: Why are you studying?

Zayril: My exams are this coming 8/11~13/10. I have to study hard so I won't fail.

Racket: REALLY! They are?

Sam: Yup. He told me already. Go Zayril go!

Zayril: Thanks guys.

Alec: I hope you get high scores! By the way, I think it's time to do the disclaimers!

Zayril: Oh right.

Maz and Sam: Viperwatcher owns nothing except his characters.

Racket and Richard: Other canon characters are owned by their respective companies.

Alec: All OC's used at the ~Backstage~ not belonging to Viperwatcher, belongs to their respective owners

Zayril: To people who don't like the story, just don't read it.

Chapter 7

Work In Progress

Day broke. The sun was slowly creeping up the forest line and going to the city of Warfang. Along with it as its warm ray of sunlight that illuminated the empty streets of the dragon city that was slowly coming to life. The sunlight moved swiftly, as the sun rose slowly. It eventually hit a house, and seeped into the open window and into a bedroom.

Slowly, an eye opened followed by another. Josh was now awake. He sat up and stretched like a cat. His bones cracked into place, as his long body got stretched. He looked around sleepily and for a moment, seemed lost. But then he had remembered where he slept. Standing up, he made his way to the door and opened it. He carefully made his way down the stone steps, careful to not make any sounds to not wake the kids up. Arriving at the first floor, he felt contented to lie down the sofa and rest his eyes a bit, as he tried to wake up.

A lot had happen yesterday. It took a toll on his body. He still wasn't used to being a dragon.

He rubbed his eyes and sat up. Looking outside the window, he could see the sun still rising and it wasn't that much bright. It must have been 6:00 AM. Seeing as he had nothing to do, he decided to look around the living room, and much to his delight, he saw a bookshelf. Standing up, he approached it and examined the titles. There were odd titles as well as straight forward ones. A Dragon's Verve, the Walls of Warfang, Avalar a History, and there was one that seemed so old, its title had been wiped off.

Getting curious, he decided to take the one that had no visible title.

The book was leather bounded and seemed old. The front and back had no visible signs of even having a front page, signifying how old it really was. Opening it, he let out a cough as the smell somehow irritated his nose a bit. Looking at it, the pages were brown and reeked of old paper smell. He turned his head and began reading the book to try and get a sense of what it was. But it was too hard to do so. Most of the text was either faded to be clearly read or just had no logicality in them to be deciphered. Some sentences were faded out completely, leaving only a word, sometimes only a letter, to be read.

Some of the passages didn't even make any sense.

He sighed and decided to return the book. It was a waste of time of trying to read it. Just as he did so, a sound came from above and he looked up. Fira was going down the stairs now, followed by a sleepy Demex. Josh stared at Demex for a bit and felt a shiver. The scar on his face was still visible even though he was a dragon.

"Good morning." he told the husband and wife.

"Good morning Josh." replied Fira, as he headed towards the kitchen.

"Got any good sleep?" asked Demex.

"Yup; I actually slept much better here rather than at the human world." answered Josh. Demex smiled.

"Good." said Demex, heading to the dining hall.

"Where are the kids?" asked Josh, curious to where the younglings were. He followed Demex to the dining room where the two of them sat at the available chairs. Fira was visibly busy inside the kitchen. Delicious smells began to emanate from it, making Josh's mouth water.

"They're still asleep. But in a few moments, they'll be awake." answered Demex, yawning slightly as he removed some rheum from his eyes.

"I see." said Josh, removing some from his eyes as well.

As if on cue, Demex's prediction came true.

Sounds of paws came from the stairs as the three young dragons woke up. Not long after, Josh saw the familiar three dragons appear again in front of him, who greeted him accordingly.

"Good morning Josh." replied Felix as he sat beside him.

"Good morning…Felix." replied Josh, quickly remembering his name.

"Well how was your sleep?" asked Demex.

"Not bad. Damien kept snoring loudly." answered Demila, teasing his cousin.

"I did not!" replied Damien defensively.

"Sure you didn't." said Felix, staying neutral.

"Now, now. Demila, stop teasing your cousin; we all know he snores loud. Just like his father." Demex said, joining in on the teasing. Damien just bowed his head in shame.

"I don't snore as loud as my father…" he mumbled to himself. Josh, feeling a bit sorry, reached over and patted him on the end.

"Don't be down Damien. For the record, I am the one who snore the loudest amongst all of us!" said Josh, doing a self tease.

Everyone laughed. It was a good start for the day.

0 0 0 0 0

"Where you headed Fira?" asked Demex as he lounged at the sofa at the living room. He was waiting for Josh and the rest of the kids. They were still washing up at the bathroom.

"I'm heading to the Temple. You're father might want to know about this." replied Fira, in a serious tone.

"About what?" asked Demex.

"Josh. About him being entirely here. I know it's nice to meet up with your human best friend Demex, but haven't you wondered how he got here?" asked Fira.

"I have. He told me the story of how he got here whilst we were chatting yesterday." said Demex. "He clearly said he didn't touch anything."

"Which bothers me more." said Fira. "You see, you activated the Portal when you touched it right?" she asked. Demex nodded. "Now, with that case, how did the Portal come to life without him even touching it?"

Demex pondered on the matter and realized Fira had a good point. The Portal can only be activated by touching it, as far from experience works for him. And Josh clearly told him that he didn't touch anything. Even his father had warned him about it. So…how exactly did it come to life?

"I see your point." said Demex, realizing that there must be something going on with the Portal Caverns. Fira nodded.

"So, I hope Josh learns to fly as well as the kids." she came over to him and pecked him at the cheek. "I'll be seeing you later." she said slyly, making her tail run from his chest and tickle his chin, before she walked away. Demex sighed happily.

"Of course you will. Stay safe." he said as she headed out the door.

"Back to you dear." replied Fira.

0 0 0 0 0

"So it's true then?" asked Felix. "You can't fly Josh?" the young dragon asked.

"Yeah...I'm the same as your father." he replied. Demila gasped.

"You come from the Other World too!" she asked curiously.

"Other World?" asked Josh to Demex. He smirked.

"That's the technical term to your reality Josh. The human world is called the Other World." he answered. Josh nodded and turned to Demila.

"Yes. Yes I do."

"Wow…" said the three kids in sync.

"Well, were arriving near the park. Remember those hints I gave you four?" asked Demex as they rounded around the corner of the street, the entrance to the park quite visible.

"Yeah; be sure to flap at the right angle; flap with energy and pure concentration." recited Josh.

"And remember to have fun!" added Damien. Demex smiled and patted Damien on the head.

"Good. Flying should come naturally to all four of you." said Demex.

0 0 0 0 0

Fira flew above the plains of Avalar. Wisps of clouds flew by, as well as the landscape under her zoomed by. The trees swayed merrily as the winds that helped her get there blew over them. She was traveling for about four hours now and the Dragon Temple was becoming visible at the distance. Its figure slowly rose from the distance, starting from a non noticeable speck, to a big mass of stone. The surroundings began to slowly change as they continued onwards to the temple. Fira looked down and now she could see a river running below her. Up ahead, she could see the Temple slowly grow as she approached it.

Reaching close proximity, she slowly made her descent.

Landing down the patch of grass, she made her way through the courtyard and headed to the main entrance. The big double doors opened and in came in Fira. Numerous dragon students were walking around, no doubt strangers to her. Of course, being taught to show respect, they greeted her accordingly.

"Good morning." greeted on of the dragons that she passed by.

She smiled and replied, "Good morning to you too."

Making her way through the crowd, she arrived at the Guardians' Room and knocked.

"Hello?" she called out.

"Wait a minute!" said a voice that came from inside the room.

There were some audible sounds of something moving and shifting, then eventually the sound of the door being opened. The door opened and the head of the Fire Guardian appeared.

"FIRA!" exclaimed Malefor as he looked at his daughter-in-law.

"Hey Malefor." greeted Fira, before hugging him. Malefor hugged him tightly before releasing her.

It was a long time since they last met. He couldn't come to the reunion of sorts yesterday because he was busy dealing with Guardian related things at the City Center.

"What brings you here at the Temple?" asked Malefor.

"Important matters." answered Fira. Malefor quickly jumped to conclusions.

"What did Demex do?" he asked seriously. Fira shook her head innocently.

"No. It's not that." she replied. Malefor nodded and visibly relaxed.

"What is it then?" he asked, leaning on the wall.

"It concerns him; a friend that made an unexpected and unexplainable visit; as well as the Portal Caverns." As soon as the mention of the word, Portal Caverns and friend, Malefor immediately stood straight and looked at her seriously.

"I see this is serious. Let's talk inside my office." said Malefor.

0 0 0 0 0

"So…his friend didn't touch anything?" asked Malefor for clarification. Fira nodded.

The two were inside the Guardians' Room, with Malefor resting on one of the chairs and Fira on the sofa.

"This is bad." he said darkly.

"Why?" asked Fira.

"The Portal opening itself on its own like that, means something is making it open. An unknown force is creating Portal Fluxes on the Portal Magic." said Malefor.

"Is there a way to fix it?" asked Fira.

"Portal Fluxes are a result of something powerful messing with the Magic that makes a Portal a Portal. It messes it in a way that it opens and closes randomly, and in rare cases, even closing even though there's someone traveling through them. It's mostly caused by natural causes like earthquakes. Eventually, Portal Flux fixes itself on its own; like when the earthquake finally stops. But in our case, it would seem that it isn't the cause of an earthquake. It's something far worse. The Flux is so messed up; Josh didn't get to the end of the Portal. He just got chucked out in mid-flight. Like I said a very rare case." explained Malefor. "And I have a feeling this Flux is going to get worse…" said Malefor darkly. Fira nodded.

"So, if we stop whatever it is causing the Flux, it'll get fixed." deducted Fira.

"Logically, yes." replied Malefor. Then he turned and looked outside.

"Oh my, I have to get going now. I'll discuss this with the other Guardians later." said Malefor standing up. "Right now, I have to deal with a problem."

"What problem? Maybe I can help." suggested Fira.

"No. It's nothing really. I just have a class to teach at the moment, and I'm running late." answered Malefor.

Fira nodded and smiled.

Author's Notes: To all my readers:

Honestly, when I made the chapter title, I thought it only meant to two things. But now they're 3!

1. Josh's flying skills.

2. Plot development for this story.

3. My studying!

In other news, I would like to thank "someone compleatly random" for pointing out a very important detail to me. And P.S. I think you should fix your username, it's spelled wrong. But it's only a suggestion.

Please visit my forums!

Please take some time to R&R.

And favorite it, along with the author!