Chapter 2: The Wingly Who Couldn't Fly

"Hey! Are you OK?" a girl said as she shook Drake out of his sleep.

"Huh?" Drake said groggily as he began to stir.

"I said, are you OK? After all, you may just be sleeping here because you're blissfully unaware of the fact that there is a hideous monster here!" she said and with that last bit, she flung her arms in the air in an attempt to be dramatic.

Drake looked at the girl for a second taking in her strange features. She looked about as old as Drake, but her hair was the color of silver and worn in a ponytail. Her face seemed normal except for her eyes, which had a pinkish tinge to them. She wore blue jean shorts and a blue tube top. To finish it off she wore blue sneakers on her feet, and next to them laid a huge hammer.

"Uhh, who are you?" Drake asked.

"It doesn't matter who I am, there's a monster about. Run away!"

"But it's just an illusion." At this remark the girl seem quite taken back.

"Uhh, no its not! It's not illusion! How could it be an illusion?"

"I'm pretty sure that you know something."

Finally, the girl hung her head in defeat. "All right, I admit it. I created the illusion."

Pleased to have finally gotten somewhere, Drake asked "How?"

"With my magic, stupid!"

"But,"

"I'm a Wingly, OK. I can do a few spells but that's about it. I can't even fly." She said sounding rather depressed.

"But I thought,"

"Well you thought wrong! And don't think that just because I can't fly means that I'm helpless!"

She had short temper and Drake was pretty sure she wouldn't hesitate to hurt him. She reminded him of someone, but he couldn't quite remember who. In any event, Drake decided that it would be better for his health if he steered the conversation away from her non-existent powers. "So, what's your name?" That seemed like a safe question.

"Meru, what's yours?"

"That's it, that's who you remind me of!" Drake exclaimed. "You look almost exactly the way Meru is described in the book."

Meru had a blank expression on her face. "Um, what book?"

"It's a record my parents found that was written by King Albert. He gives an account on the second Dragon Campaign. The blue sea dragoon was a wingly named Meru."

"Oh yeah, she's my great, great, great, great, great, great, great… I forget how many, grandmother," Meru exclaimed. "I even have her dragoon spirit, but it doesn't glow for me." She pulled out a necklace with the same dragon charm on it as Drake's. The only difference between the two was the gem's color; Meru's was blue while Drake's was black. As she held hers in her hand, Drake brought out his own charm to show her. As soon as the two stones came with in view of each other, a pulsing glow emitted from them and synchronized together. Drake put his stone away and it stopped glowing, but Meru's kept at it.

"Wow! It's never done that before." Meru exclaimed.

"Maybe because mine was near it?"

"Maybe. By the way, you didn't tell me your name." Meru got right into Drake's face. "Don't you know it's impolite not to introduce yourself? You should be more considerate."

"Oh, it's Drake."

"Well Drake," she pointed a finger accusingly at him, "Where did you get that dragoon spirit?"

"I found it," Drake said a little intimidated. "My parents are archeologists. I found it on a dig with them."

She still looked suspicious, "And what about this book of yours? How do I know your aren't lying about this?"

"Geez, you're paranoid. Well how can I be sure you're a real wingly?" Drake countered.

"You believe me?"

"I will if I see your wings."

"Fine, I will!" Meru yelled. Suddenly a pair of wings that looked like they were made of pure light appeared on her back. "There, you see!"

"Alright then, I'll show the book." Drake said as he got up off the grass.

"Huh? Where're you going?" Meru said as her wings disappeared and she got to her feet too.

"Home, that's where the book is."

"Well I'm going with you." Meru decided. "I always did want to know more about my ancestor anyway."

"But what about your family?"

"Well, I kind of ran away." She said looking like it was a big joke.

"What? Why would you do something like that?" Drake exclaimed. He would never run away from his parents. In they were more likely to run away from him with the amount of time he ever spent with them.

"Well, I can't even fly a little, so I'm as good as useless!" she said.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry I asked."

"Good, now let's hit the road!" Meru said as she picked up her hammer and pointed west, adventure blazing in her eyes.

"Actually," Drake said pointing east. "I live in that direction."

"Oh, well then let's hit the road!" Meru said again, this time turning to the east. Unfortunately, she forgot about her hammer and it hit Drake hard on the side of his head and knocked him down.

"Ow," Drake said as he rubbed his head.

"What are you doing down there? Come on let's go, time waits for no wingly." She said as she started down the trail that Drake had come down. Drake shook his head in disbelief and hurried to catch up with her.