It was 7 in the morning on a saturday when Emmy and Max got up early to get dressed and wait for Enrique to show up as he said he would ask his parents if they could drop him off early.
They said yes and now it was the weekend. His parents said goodbye and he walked up the pathway to his friends house and knocked on the door. The door opened to reveal Max and Emmy's parents. They welcomed him inside and he headed for the playroom.
*LINE BREAK*
The playroom door opened and Enrique entered. "Hi Enrique." greeted the siblings. "Hi Max. Hi Emmy." Enrique returned the greeting. "So, are you going to talk to Quetzal?" he asked Emmy. "Definitely. I just hope I don't get in trouble." She said "I don't think Quetzal will be angry at you for asking." said Max, trying to comfort his big sister.
That seemed to cheer Emmy up as she opened the secret compartment and puuled out the dragon scale. Max and Enrique then joined Emmy in holding the scale and recited the incantation.
"I wish. I wish.
With all my heart.
To fly with dragons.
In a land apart."
The dragons on the playroom wall detatched from the wallpaper and began to spin swiftly around the children until the room was engulfed in a flash of light. when the light died down, the children were nowhere to be seen.
*LINE BREAK*
The School in the sky was just about to start it's first class of the day and Cassie was stilla little curious as to what Quetzal had told her late last night.
Afew minutes later, Max, Emmy and Enrique had arrived. They stayed for the moring classes and soon it was time for recess. As the other dragons went outside to play, Quetzal asked Emmy, Max, Enrique, Cassie, Ord and Zak & Weezie respectively to saty inside for the break.
"I hope we didn't do any thing wrong." said Ord. "Don't worry Ord, No one is in trouble." Quetzal reassured the large blue dragon. "Then Why did you call us inside?" asked Zak. "Yeah. What's up?" asked Weezie.
Quetzal the got an old scroll from a drawer. He then brought it over to the others who weren waiting patiently. "It was brought to my attention that you are all worried about your time with each other has become too short." Cassie had told Emmy about last night and they were eagerly awaiting an answer from the old dragon.
"I wanted to talk to you in secret. The reason is because I have a solution to your problem." said Quetzal. "You do?" asked Emmy. "Yes Ninos." "What is it?" asked Ord. Quetzal smiled and said "First, you must find the sorceror named Dusk. Tell him that Quetzal sent you. That is what this is for." he said as he handed them the scroll. It was a map that lead to where Dusk lived.
"Follow the map until you find Dusk. He will help you with your problem." And with that, Emmy, Max, Enrique Rode on the backs of their dragon friends and be gan to follow the map.
*LINE BREAK*
It was close to sundown when they made their way to the summit of the Stickleback Mountains. The setting sun began to cast large and eerie shadows along the trail they walked as they came upon a rickety old cottage. "I don't like the looks of this. I say we head back." said a frightened Zak.
"Oh don't be such a fraidy cat Zakky" Said Weezie. "That house does look kind of spooky though." Said Ord. The others agreed that there was a creepy air about the old cottage. Emmy was the one who knocked on the door.
*LINE BREAK*
The door opened all by it's self as they heard a calm voice call to them. "Well...? Please do come in." They entered the house and were taken aback by what they saw. Inside the room, they saw various stones, animals and plants found around Dragonland. But that wasn't what suprised them.
What surprised them, especially the children, was that were also many Item that were from the human world, sucha as a skateboard, a vending machine and an old Atari 2600, just to name a few. They made their way to the back of the room towards the strange humanoid figure standing over a large bowl of water.
The Figure wore nothing but a pitch-black cloak with a hood that hid his facial features. Cassie was the first one to speak. "A-Are you Dusk?" The figure turned towards his guests and said "You must be the ones Quetzal sent. Yes, I am Dusk." he said. "You are afraid of splitting up and never seeing your friends again, are you not?"
"Yes. Do you know how to help us?" Asked Cassie. "I do. But if I help you, you must promise me one thing." They huddled together for a minute or so before they came to an agreement. "Alright, What do you want us to do?"aske Enrique. "I want you to promise me that what you are about to learn, you must never tell a living soul."
"We promise." they all said at once. Dusk then walked back to the bowl of water and said "Very well. Now then, Cassie, Ord, Zak & Weezie, Please step this way." The dragons did as he ordered and walked over to where he told them to stand.
"Now, the reason For the secrecy is because I have a spell that will turn you four human." Everyone gasped. "Human?" aske Cassie with surprise. "Yes. For your bond of friendship to stay true, you must live a year in the human world. All dragons must undergo this transformation when they come of age.
"Then how are they able to go through with it?" asked Emmy. "I have made arrangements with Their families, as must be done so the spell can be underway." He then bagan to rifle through the clutter fo a spellbook.
"Will we be human forever?" aske Ord. "That is entirely up to you. Usually, this spell is cast by Quetzal and only lasts a day. But, there are those who wish to stay human and the spell becomes permanent." Answered Dusk. "That is why I know the spell. The last time I used it was to send a drgon couple to the human world to live the rest of there days." He then found what he was looking for.
"AHA! There you are." He said as he pulled out a musty old tome. He used his sleeve to dust the cover off. He then walked over to the dragons and Began chanting some starnge magic words. The dragons felt a strange tingling sensation as their dragon badges began to glow wildly. He then began to remove the dragon badges.
"I must take these for a moment or the spell won't work. You will get them back later." Said Dusk as the dragons simply nodded. He then began chanting the strange words again only this time it was louter and at a faster pace.
The dragons the began to double over in pain. "Whats happening to them?" Cried Max. "Don't Worry, It will hurt for a moment but the pain will go away in a few moments. The dragons rested on there hands and knees as pain wracked throught there body for what felt like several minutes though in reality was a few short seconds.
It was then hat the transformation began. Where there scales once were, there was now fleshy human skin. Their tails retracted and the scales on their head were replaced with hair. Almost as soon as it had begun, the tranformation ended. Where the dragons once stood were now four humans around 10 to 12 years of age.
Cassie was still the same size as she was when she was a dragon, But she now had a few new features. Where her head scales had been she now had ankle length blonde hair with the bangs completely covering the right side of her face. She also retained her deep icey blue eyes.
Ord had retained his towering height, but had more of a muscular build. He also had short brown hair where his head scales had been.
Zak and Weezie had gone down a few feet, but were otherwise still the same, even though they underwent the most drastic change. First off, they were now completely seperate much to everyone's surprise.
Their hairstyles were also different. Zak's hair was jet black and looked almost like a pompadour. Weezie on the other hand had an unruly mess of Ginger red hair on her head and was covered from head to toe in many freckles.
They began to stand up and soon found themselves having tom try and balence in their new and wobbly human feet. "Ugh. I feel like I just went through a session of Weezie's stunts." said Zak woozily. "I don't love it." Said Weezie as she put her hand to her forehead.
Cassie tried to get up while Ord just sat there in a daze. Max, Emmy and Enrique ran over to help their now human friends. "Are you guys okay?" asked Emmy. "I think so." replied Cassie as Emmy helped her to her feet. Soon, they all were able to stand without any help. No sooner had they done this that they were each hit with a pile of clothes.
"Please clothe yourselves." said Dusk. The dragons did just that and began changing into the clothes provided.
Cassie now wore a Pink Jacket with a muffler which went up to her eyes. she also wore a long blue dress that went down to her feet. She was also wearing a pair of rainbow pantyhose and a pair of mismatched sneakers.
Ord now wore a blue T-shirt with a large fork & knife insignia on the chest. he also w wore a pair of cargo pants and a pair of combat boots.
Zak Was wearing a green tank top shirt and a pair of green jersy shorts and a pair of sandles.
Weezie was wearing a purple shirt with a pair of lose jeans and some white velcro shoes.
"There. Now don't you four look dashing." Said Dusk in a slightly cheerful voice. "The time has now come for you to now enter the human world." He then created a portal. "Remeber, you are to live in the human world for a year. your friendship depends on it."
As they were about to enter the portal, Cassie stopped and asked "Will we be able to return to Dragonland?" Dusk simply smiled and said "You may return anytime you like, but now you ca only stay for a little while before you must return.
"But how do we get back?" asked Zak. "The same way Max, Emmy and Enrique have. now go." The children and their now human friends entered the portal. As soon as the portal closed, Dusk walked over to the large bowl and looked in the water. The image of a human man and woman appeared on the water's surface.
Alex...Maria...The time has come for our two worlds to become one, for magic to be reborn." The water the turned blood red as the images of a dead world came into view.
"But evil lurks withing the darkness, waiting to destroy both man & magickind. I pray that they grow strong enough to combat the ones who will bring about the end of the world."
TBC IN PART 3