Chapter 1 - Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time, there was a human territory called Englanda nestled between three other lands: the elven land Irishli to the north, the merpeople land Franca to the south, and in the east, the forbidden land. More places lay farther west, people were sure of, but they had yet to be explored.

Each kind charged by the treaty to not enter anothers land.

Near the eastern border of Englanda a little girl, Margaret Hooper was born, plain and ordinary, to a a herbalist and apothecary. Her parents had grand plans for her to become a minstrel. She showed no real talent although she was expected to grow up and entertain the upper class with her talent.

But little Molly wanted didn't want to spend all day singing or playing the lute and the harpsichord, instead she'd rather be outside and explore the woods, searching for strange new plants.

Her parents were not the usual ones. Not wanting their daughter's childhood to feel restrained, they indulged her desire but only with the promises of never entering the forbidden land that lay only a few miles from their abode.

Molly's childhood was a cheerful one. Her days mainly consisted of school, chores, music lessons, and then her favorite: exploring the nearby forest.

When Molly was still a little girl, her mother died suddenly. Her father, grieved as he was, thought it best to remain joyous as not to depress his small daughter. As such, the pain of losing one's mother did not linger on the sweet child.

Years passed and Molly blossomed into a young eighteen year old lady with brown eyes and hair, freckles and tan skin due to county hours exploring the surrounding woods.

One day, while exploring, Molly ventured farther into the woods then she ever had. The fauna changed almost drastically, the environment becoming more vibrant with every step she took. It was with sudden realization that she noted she had crossed the border and entered the forbidden land.

She had been told horror stories all her life about what lay inside that land. According to those stories, the forbidden land was supposed to be dark, foreboding, the greenery dead, the soil lifeless but all she now could she was how wrong everyone had been. Her eyes basked in awe of all the unknown foliage before her. It was paradise on earth!

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes then took off running, wonderment flooding her senses with boundless energy.

She ran and ran until her legs burned and her chest convulsed from sheer exertion. She flung herself onto the ground in a green meadow covered in flowers, the likes of which she'd never seen before. A glistening lake laying some yards away and majestic mountains on the horizon completed this picturesque setting.

Oh, how she wished she could remain, letting all care of life fly by and just live a quiet existence here in perpetual heaven.

Molly lost all sense of time. Hours flew by, floating away with the wind. Only by the setting sun did she know it was time to return.

As she made her journey home, she purposed to come back to her meadow as oft as she could.

She regularly visited the meadow, tending to and experimenting on the plants, oft taking notes. Molly felt such joy in having herself a place for her to do the things she loved without any person chastising her that such work was not a women's place. Eventually she took to bestowing the moniker Elysian to the valley.

One day, as she made her now daily visit to Elysian, she couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. Perhaps it's because of all the times you've run here despite your father's blatant warning of the forbidden land.

Molly pushed aside her musings, and carried on her way, ignoring the leeriness she felt before.

Laying down once more in the green grass of Elysian, she fell asleep. As she slept, dragons filled her dreams. She awoke with a start after one peculiar dream of a dragon locked in battle with an armor clad knight, the dragon's gazing coming to rest on her just as the knight was about to deal a deathly blow. Her stomach was in knots and grief for this dragon flooded her soul.

She had never seen a dragon before, never even knew they were still alive. Everything she knew about them were folklore, told as scary tales to little children if they didn't do as they were told. So why was she dreaming so vividly about one?

Suddenly, a shadow blocked out the sun and the wind picked up, cooling the air, turning the beautiful meadow into a dark place of nightmares.

Molly looked upwards and, straining her eyes in the darken land, picked out an unknown shape in the sky. Something deep inside her jumped slightly at the sight, giving her a small euphoric feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Without warning, the shape plummeted towards her with incredible speed.

Ducking down, Molly cried for help she knew would never come.

A thump jostled the ground she lay on and a shadow loomed over her small frame.

She carefully turned her head towards the shadow and, with all the courage she could muster, looked up to see what manner of beast had cast such a shadow.

A giant beast, silhouetted by the sun reflecting off the lake, stood over her. She could not see the head of the creature due to it's enormous height.

Her mouth gaped open to scream but no sound emanated. Surely any other time, she would have died from fright but as she looked raised her eyes higher, a calmness like no other filled her.

Straining her eyes to make out the details on the beast, she caught a glimpse of blue reflecting off of the beast's skin. As it moved slightly, Molly saw what she had thought had been four ears on the creature's head were really two ears and two horns.

A deep rumble came from its snout, breaking Molly's almost hypnotic deductive trance.

"Who are you?" A deep baritone voice demanded. "And why are you in my meadow?"

Startled by the realization that it was this beast before her who spoke, she hadn't a clue as to what to say.

"WHO ARE YOU?" This time the beast roared, shaking the earth.

"F-forgive m-me, good creature, I-i am M-Molly, Molly Hooper, the daughter of Hooper the Apothecary. I-I did not know that this beautiful meadow was yours. I happened upon it by chance."

The beast lowered it's head down to her, moving in such a manner to where Molly could truly see what kind of beast was addressing her.

Tall as an oak tree and twice as long, blue scales covered it's massive form, black spines and horns decorated it's spine and head; four long, muscular legs with metallic claws that looked sharper than a knight's sword. It's long tail swishing to and fro from obvious annoyance.

This beast before her was the worst nightmare known to humankind, the thing that causes fear to remain inside the deepest crevices of a human to the end of their days. Something people never desire to even hear of another seeing one, let alone see themselves; yet here she was, seeing the thing of nightmares with her bare eyes.

A dragon.

The dragon inhaled next to her head, her hair rustling slightly by the sharp intake of air.

"Human...?" the dragon said, almost confused, "I thought your kind were to scared of this land to venture into it, let alone, so far. Judging by the the mud on your shoes and the meticulous care given to my plants I would deduce you come here often. But the true question has yet to be addressed. Why are you here?"

Why was she there? Was it an escapade from responsibilities of life, to have a freedom others only dreamed of? Why?

"I-i cannot say why, exactly, j-just that I felt drawn to this place." Molly looked about her surroundings. Despite the looming form in front of her, the beauty of Elysian Meadow never seemed to stop awing her. The season had changed from summer, to a balmy autumn. The bounty of colors her eyes feasted off of dazzled her mind. "It is a paradise, Elysian Meadow, here on earth."

"Elysian... So few amongst all kinds know of that word; even fewer know the meaning... How come a simple human girl as you know it?" The dragon cocked it's head to the side in curiosity.

Molly shook her head, she didn't know that word before coming to the meadow. She never really even knew what true beauty and peace was until her traverse here. "I know not, only of a feeling to name this place with such a word. The meaning I could only grasp at." She looked up, finally having built up the courage, and gazed into the dragon's eyes.

One story was once told that a person who dares to look into the abyss of a dragon's eyes will fall under a curse, dooming then to servitude and slavery to said dragon, or more likely, to be killed by the dragon for an arrogant and haughty attitude.

Molly knew this rumor by heart but her heart also knew that she had to see the depths of his eyes, to see if they were truly heartless.

Golden cat-like eyes stare back into hers. She felt mesmorized by the way they seemed to ebb and flow, almost in rhythmic dancing.

As she looked deeper into his eyes, the feeling she felt earlier returns, with more forcefulness than before and for some reason, she feels drawn, connected to this beast.

His golden eyes suddenly stop with their dance, shifting their color to a striking silver blue; the slitted pupils rounding into human eyes.

"You... After all this is time, it's you?" The dragon bellowed though his voice wasn't as guttural aa before. He sounded in pain and shock. "Of course... it had to be a mousy little girl..."

"Wha- what do you mean m-me?" Molly asked. Her resolve completely drained, she took a few hesitant steps backwards.

Light suddenly shone from the dragon, making it impossible to see him. Molly had to cover her closed eyes with her hands.

"Ugh..." The dragon grimaced. He sounded worse than before, was he getting worse?

Before Molly could voice her concerns, the light blinked out.

She looked out from behind her hands expecting to see a hulking form of a dragon before her but she was left standing alone in the meadow.

"What just happened?" Molly asked the air, looking around.

"I guess I ought to tell you, though the chances of you understanding are quite low."

A voice answered from somewhere ahead. Gasping, Molly looked in that direction but saw nothing.

"Where are you?" She asked, caustionly moving through the knee deep grass.

"At your feet, lady," The voice spoke once again, this time, its words laced with sarcasm.

Looking down, she saw the form of a man, clothed in garb similar to her own, lying nary a footsbreadth away.

"Who are you?" Molly knelt down next to the man. "And how long have you been eavesdropping?"

The man sat up, several strands of curly, bluish black hair wandering down his forehead. He could not be more than a few months shy of twenty years of age. "My name is Sherlock, and I haven't been eavesdropping as you might claim, we were just conversing until you had the nerve to be a bold chit and try to stare me down."

Sherlock looked up at Molly, dancing bluish silver eyes gazed into her own. A tug of recognition and connection pulled hard at her.

"Conversing? The only being whom I have talked to here was..." Her voice trailed off as realization dawned on her. "No, it's not possible..."

"Stop your mumbling," Sherlock commanded, standing up. He stood nearly two heads taller than Molly. "It is possible but since dragonlore wouldn't be common knowledge to humans, you wouldn't have known it t'was.

"Allow me to explain. A dragon with blue scales is known as the Zok, a special and unique dragon that comes every few hundred years. The appearance of one means times are going to change. I am only telling you this because you apparently have been fated to be the Kiimzok, the Zok's future mated, to insure the continuation of the Zok lineage."

"But you had blue scales..." Molly pointed, her hand gestured towards Sherlock. "That means..."

"I am the Zok and you are my Kiimzok, bound to each other, and together, we will change the world!" Sherlock proclaimed with the monotone voice of one who has had a sentence quoted to them for years.

"Pfft... Haha. You sound insane!" Molly huffed as she flopped the short distance to the ground.

Sherlock sat down near and looked upon her. "Coming from one who just saw a dragon change into human form."

"Touché," Quipped Molly, returning the gaze. "How did you do that by the way?"

"Once The Zok meets his Kiimzok, their souls bind together," Sherlock leaned back. "Creating an everlasting bond. If the Kiimzok is of a different species, the Zok will, upon soulbinding, simply transform into the Kiimzok's kind."

Seconds elapsed in quiet. Both remaining in their positions.

"Does that mean you'll never be a dragon again?" Concern marred Molly's voice.

"You sound so worried for someone you just met. Why is that?"

"I have a natural tendency to. My father says that it will be the downfall of me one day."

"He is wise in his assumptions. Blind trust can result in calamity." Sherlock took a deep breath. "To answer your question, I will be able to return to my true form once my Kiimzok and I complete our mating and it results in a child."

"I assume you mean me when you say 'Your Kiimzok'." Molly rolled onto her side, once again staring at him.

"Yes, I presume so. And as I would like to return to that form as soon as possible, why don't we get started?" Sherlock stated as his hand snaked over Molly's waist and cinched her to him.

"What do are you doing!?" Exclaimed Molly as she wriggled on exempt to free herself.

Tightening his grip, Sherlock's brow furrowed as he moved head moved towards the baseline of her neck, "I explained it already; I don't believe you need me to repeat myself."

"I understood all of what you said, but what you are trying to do is not something one does without being married!" She managed to block Sherlock from reaching her neck but remained pressed against him in a vise like grip.

"I see no need; dragons have no concept of marriage. When one mates, they are mated and expected to remain loyal." He answered, still maintaining his hold on Molly.

"Dragons might not but for humans, it is improper and scandalous for one to do such things outside of marriage." Molly inhaled, "I also don't believe my father would approve of my actions in doing such activities."

"Ugh, humans and their proprietaries! I guess we must go along with your idea, though your father might want to get to know me so I presume a courtship is also in order?" He removed his hand from Molly's waist and rolled away.

"Who ever said that I was wanting to be betrothed to one such as you?!" Molly stood up and begin stomping off towards home.

Remaining in his prone position, Sherlock called out to the retreating girl. "Because there will never be another man. You will always be longing for me, plus you seem to be especially drawn to my meadow... You will return one day."

"Well! We will see how well that holds true!" Molly was a kind girl but whenever her temper was raised, she always had to have the last say. And though she was arguing against what was a dragon, that fault still rang true.

I want to let everyone know that although it seems I just posted this story, I have in fact, been working on it for months and have been stuck on this particular chapter.

I wanted it to flow really well and make sense despite my horrible attempt at explaining dragonlore and the reasoning behind it.

Please let me know what you think, I enjoy feedback so much! I freak when any story of mine gets a review and I also feel disappointed in myself if I don't so please make me happy and review! A happy author makes better stories! :-)

~ND~