Artisans

Chapter 2

Before Angie opened her eyes, she could smell grass, hear waterfalls, and feel a breeze in her face. Her green eyes finally opened and widened when she saw, not her house, but a whole new world.

It looked like a large meadow filled with green grass and headges, a pond which had a beautiful waterfall. There were sheep bouncing a bout, and green figures which Angie couldn't regognize, hopping all over the place.

There were rocks, and some stoned doors and openins that were attached to a large hill. In one word, the place was amazing, but it wasn't home. Angie wasn't home anymore, which meant she was away from her famly.

"But how did I get here?" she asked herself. "What it this place?" Nobody answered her, so the girl figured she had to find out for herself. She stood up and started her walk. Her eyes scanned the area as she moved torward. The place was beautiful.

Angie suddenly stepped on something hard. She glanced down and saw a shiny red object the size of her hand. She stared down at it full of amazement, and reached her arm down to pick it up.

But it suddenly vanished as some figure snatched it up and laughed at her. Angie eyed the green, frog looking creature that stood on its two feet and held a large sack over its shoulder. "What is that?"

The creature continued to laugh at her and then hurried away to its next goal: another shiny object. Angie tilted her head, full of curiousity as the creature pickced up the object and ran away. The girl didn't understand what on earth it was up to, or what was going on here.

Angie couldn't remember how she got here or what she was last doing. It felt as if she went to bed and woke up here. Like it was a dream. A dream, she thought, so I'm sleeping? She looked around herself, feeling, hearing, and smelling everything. It just seemed too real to be a dream but it was too odd to be real.

She tried to guess what was going on until she saw the big waterfall. That gave her the interest to check it out and perhaps put her feet in the water. And she did. The water felt cool on her barefeet, which brought a smile to her face.

Angiei opened her eyes and saw some stepping stones. But there wasn't another side to the pond, there was just a stoned wall, which looked like a castle. Still, the girl decided to give it a go just for fun.

One leap and she succeeded the land, but it didn't last once her feet slipped and she went straight into the water. Before she fell in, she could hear an unfamiliar voice.

"Look out!"

Angie felt something soft and smoot on her face, and when she looked up, the object looked a lot like a tail. Her first instinct was to grab it, and as she did she was slowly movie out of the water. She put her hands on the creature and pulled herself up.

"No!" The creature fell head first into the pond as Angie was safe and sound. Her next instinct was to take a hold of the tail again, and pull. He was heavy. Heavier then Angie's little sister. But that didn't stop her from pulling more.

Soon, the creature was safe and sound next to Angie, panting away. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she answered and then stopped herself from speaking more. She now noticed that the one who saved her was purple skinned, had four legs, and gold horns and wings. A dragon. A dragon no taller than Angie herself. This has to be a dream, she thought.

"Oh no, Sparx!" the dragon cried as he glanced at a flying blue insect, which Angie made out to be a dragonfly.

She tried not to let it bother her that he was speaking to this bug as if he knew it. "What's wrong with it?" she asked.

"One step toward death."

Angie didn't seem too upset about it, but she noticed that the dragon did so she tried to act sensitive. "How?"

"The water. I can't swim."

Angie glanced at the pond she and this creature had fallen in and then looked back at him. "What's that got to do with the bug?" She tried not to sound annoyed, but this was an insect afterall.

"His name is Sparx and he protects me."

"He does?" How could a bug protect a dragon? It didn't make any sense to the girl, although this whole situation didn't make sense to her. If it was a dream then she just had to go with it, and then soon she would wake up and everything would be back to normal.

"Yes, that's what Delbin said."

"Who's Delbin?"

Spyro shook his whole body like a dog to get the water off him, which only made Angie more wet then she already was. "Another dragon."

Angie's eyes widened at the thought of more dragons being here. This purple dragon was odd enough, but another dragon? How many where there?

"He needs a butterfly, it's the only way to heal him."

Angie didn't know how to solve this guy's problem, so she just sat there, soaked as a fish. She wondered how long this dream would last. She was shocked she didn't wake up after falling into the pond. Usually her dreams ended when she was in danger.

The purple dragon eyed a sheep in the distance and began to charge, his horns pointing out in front of him.

Angie watched in shock, her first reeaction to stand up immeeitally and eye the scene.

The purple dragon attacked the animal with no hesitation.

"Why did you do that!" Angie exclaimed. "You hurt it!"

"No I didn't, look." The sheep was no longer there. Instead, was a butterfly hovering about.

"That's the sheep?"

"Yeah." The dragon watched as his insect friend snatched the other insect with his mouth and swallowed it whole. The next thing he and Angie knew was that the dragonfly had turned to a gold color. "There, all better."

Angie blinked. "So, when you get hurt, he gets hurt?"

"Correct." The dragon smiled at the dragonfly, which flew around in circles happily.

"And, stuff you kill turns into butterflies and when he eats it he feels better and changes color?"

"That's right."

It was insane. Impossible. But it was a dream so all Angie could do was play along and have fun with it. "What's your name?" she asked softly.

The dragon turned to her. "Spyro."

"Spyro?" Why did that name sound so familiar to her? "Your a dragon named Spyro?"

"Yes, and you are who?"

Angie didn't answer as those words flew through her mind. A dragon named Spyro sounded so real to her even though it wasn't. It sounds like my game. Wait I'm having a dream about my game?

"Little girl, what is your name?"

Angie ignored him, and pictures of herself opening a package and taking out a gold game controller appeared before her. "No way. It can't be."

"Excuse me?"

"My name is Angie, and I live in California."

"I never heard of such a place. But nice to meet you."

Did that game controller bring me here? It was the only other explanation. If it was not a dream and she was living in a game, then that meant her only wish came true. She was living in her game, just as she wanted.

"I have to go save the other dragons now."

Angie would have felt thrilled if she knew how to get back home. Her friends and family were not here with her. There had to be a way out of here. Some kind of exit. Angie didn't stop to explain things to Spyro. She huirred away from the pond and searched for a door out of here.

She passed by rocks and many shiny things in the grass. Then she found the castle like wall that had two open doors. She ran through what seemed to be a hall way that hopefully lead the girl home.

But as she made her way to the other side, theh only thing she could see was a small dock and a large blue lake. On the doc was a small creature, and behind him was a big basket with a floating baloon attached to it.

Angie felt as if everything arround her vanished. The only she felt was darkness, and a locked door between her and her family and friends. She couldn't reach them. She couldn't greet her family when they got back home from her sister's gymnastics. She couldn't start on her school project.

The girl curled up in a ball and began to cry. She would never see her family again. She weould be stuck here forever.

"Angie?"

"Mom?" She looked up and saw a small figure, a figure that turned into a purple dragon. "Spyro."

"What's going on? Why are you crying? Are you in trouble?" He sounded caring and brave, which brought a little hope to the girl's heart.

"I need to get home."

"You need help?"

Angie didn't have to heistate to tell him that she did need help. But how could he help? He was just a character in a game. And that's when she had the biggest idea of what she had to do. She had to beat the game. I'm not stuck here. I'm just here to play. The game controller has to bring me back sometime.

And the thought of playing a game made the girl excited. She smiled. "I could use some help, but maybe I could help you too."

"Help me?" The dragon gave her a questioning look. "How?"

"I could, travel by your side. I could help you do what you need to do." Playing games was always something she was good at, so if she was living it she could surely do it right.

"Alright." Spyro walked forwared toward the creature in front of the baloon. "Where does this lead?"

The creature cleared his throat. "It goes to Peace Keepers."

"Peace Keepers." Spyro turned to Angie, who was standing, feeling curious. "We gotta save all the dragons here, and then go to the other world to free more."

"Other world?"

He nodded and started back into the tunnel. "Come on."

Angie followed the dragon back to where they were, and the first thing they came to was a magic portal that made a sound that sounded like heaven. The girl squinted at it and read the words slowly. "Stone Hill."

"You can read, great!" Spyro smiled at the girl.

"You can't?"

"I can, but lots of creatures can't. You must be a smart girl."

"Oh, I doubt it." But she didn't want to tell him all about her bad grades in school. The thing she wanted to do was explore and play like this was a real game. And playing this game would bring her home.

"Okay, let's go in." The dragon ran forward into the portal and vanished, along with Sparx the dragonfly.

Angie remained and looked around herself then back at the portal. I'm suppose to go in there? She shut her eyes and took a deep breath before stepping forward and foating away through the portal.