《The World Of Ajula》 How It Came To Be If someone told me there was a more unsuspecting, more curious person than Willow Byrd, I never would have believed you. She had a roller coaster ride that cannot compare. It all started on a deceivingly normal day. Willow was walking through her town, took a right at the quaint and simple bakery called [unimportant bakery name] with the smell of freshly baked bread drifting through the open windows, with a sign hanging from one peg, then left at the blacksmith, where the sounds of a new sword being hammered. She paused, frowning, and wondered if it was a left or forward at the shoemaker. She shrugged, knowing that she could just backtrack and go the other way. She turned left and walked for a bit, but she soon ran into a dead end. She shrugged again (probably her favorite thing to do), backtracked, and went forward this time. She found her target and smiled greedily. Hopefully what this woman offered would be worth all the trouble she went through to come. First, she had to lie to her parents, telling them that she was visiting her friend. Then, her sister, Brynn found out and she threatened to tell their parents until Willow gave her something in return. They had decided on Willow not ratting Brynn out on sneaking out at night to date someone who their parents strongly disliked. Now she was here. In the dark alley smelling of rotting fish. Ahead, she saw the woman who had promised her something good stood there. ¡°Here.¡± The woman said without a hint of argument, while pointing at an oddly shaped thing covered in a thick cloth. ¡°What¡¯s beneath?¡± Willow asked. ¡°Be my guest.¡± The woman replied with a grim grin, gesturing to the cloth. (Like that little humor in there?) Willow slowly pulled the cloth away, fingers trembling with anticipation. She threw the cloth and what she saw shocked her thoroughly. There was a star underneath the cloth! ¡°Where¡¯d you get a star?¡± Willow said, trembling with pure eagerness and shock. ¡°I have my ways. No more questions. The woman snapped, ¡°Pick up the star and say the word Dragona.¡± Willow shook her head in disbelief but complied. ¡°Dragona¡± Willow whispered. Suddenly, the world around her began to twist and turn. The world slowly became brighter, grass grew underneath her feet, the buildings disappeared and were replaced by tall, redwood trees. The last thing she saw was the delighted smile of the woman. Stolen novel; please report. ¡®Welcome to Ajula, the land of the harmonious dragons. (Uh-Jool-uh)¡¯ A sign made of redwood read in front of Willow. She rubbed her eyes. Was this a dream? She thought. She pinched herself and smacked the sign to see if it was. Nope, definitely not a dream, She thought She scowled as she looked at her hand, there was a splinter! She plucked it out and threw it onto the floor. ¡°Who are you and state your business!¡± Boomed a dragon as they landed in front of her, showering dust into her mouth and eyes. She wiped her eyes and stammered, ¡°I-I am Willow B-Bryd.¡± She examined the dragon more closely. It was a dark green and had 1 horn in the middle of their forehead. Then she coughs up the dust in her mouth ¡°Hmm¡­ interesting, interesting¡­¡± The dragon muttered. ¡°Well, I¡¯m gonna have to take you to the queen.¡± She stood in shock for a second as she processed the statement. ¡°The queen? Oh man. This was a mistake. I should have just stayed home then none of this would have happened. I¡¯ve gone way too far this time. UGH.¡± Willow said and did a face palm. ¡°Hop on, I don¡¯t have time for your willi willis.¡± The dragon said, crouching down for Willow to get on. ¡°Get on to the saddle then hold on to that scale and hold on tight. Here we go!¡± The dragon, which Willow had officially decided was a boy, actually yelled the last part after Willow had gotten on securely. He lept into the air and flapped his massive wings. He soared forward and Willow freaked out. But she was not used to going so fast. Which was a pity. She could have had much more fun if she had. And she would have noticed the woman arriving behind her. Soon, they arrived at the palace! It was made out of sparkling marble and had soaring towers with swooshing flags swishing back and forth in the wind. This was the domain of the queen, the most beautiful thing Willow had ever seen. The dragon let her admire the castle for a quick minute, but ushered her to come inside. Willow personally thought that the dragon was also secretly admiring it too. They entered the castle and the inside did not disappoint Willow either. There were dazzling gold pillars that reached up to the high roof, a luxurious red carpet bordered with a thin layer of gold, white marble for the walls similarly to the outside. It smelled of cinnamon and that reminded Willow of home. She had the thought with a wistful sigh. They walked straight to the throne room. Or rather, the dragon walked and Willow jogged behind him. Then they finally got to the throne room and it was the grandest thing so far! The throne was made of solid gold and it was so very tall, and it had a luxuriant red velvet cushion for the queen to sit on. The queen herself was a gold dragon and had 2 horns on either side of her head. ¡°Welcome to my domain. First, are you impressed?" ¡°W-what? Er- I mean-¡± "Calm down, my child. It is not a hard question. I just want to know that my people did well." ¡°Umm y-yes, your grace, this castle is very impressive.¡± Willow said, hoping she answered right. ¡°Mm-hm. And second, what brings you here, young child?¡± The queen said in a pleasant, but deceivingly calculating voice. The Queen ¡°My name¡¯s Willow, Your Majesty.¡± Willow replied while bowing, trying to sound brave and not scared. She liked the queen so far and didn¡¯t want any wrong first impressions. ¡°And I¡­ don¡¯t know why I am here. A woman brought me here with a star and told me to say the word Dragona and then he,¡± she continued, gesturing toward the dragon who brought her here, ¡°brought me here to you but I don¡¯t know why.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Lincon! Come here!¡± The queen shouted to her adviser. ¡°Yes, my queen?¡± Lincon said, skittering toward her. Lincon was a red and orange dragon with no horns in sight. ¡°What do you think we should do about her?¡± ¡°Well, the star only chooses special people from the human world to come to Ajula.¡± ¡°Should we enroll her in the academy to see if she can pass?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Willow, dear you have been applied to the academy. Report to Skymaster at 8:30 sharp.¡± ¡°Wait- so you aren¡¯t taking me home?¡± Willow asked, surprised. ¡°No. Gemma!¡± The queen called a purple dragon over. ¡°Give Willow here a map and show her the place she will be staying in.¡± ¡°Yes, your majesty.¡± Gemma replied, nodding her head in a small bow. ¡°Come on now,¡± she said, beckoning for Willow to follow her. Willow followed accordingly. After they had walked for a while, Gemma gave Willow the map. Ajula, it said at the top. ¡°Here is where your house is.¡± Gemma told her pointing with her claw, ¡°and here is where Skymaster is.¡± Willow looked for the quickest route to go from her ¡°House¡± to Skymaster. ¡°Left, left, right, forward, right.¡± She muttered. ¡°What was that?¡± Gemma asked absently. ¡°Nothing.¡± Once they arrived at Willow¡¯s new house, Gemma set off back to the palace. Willow opened the door will the shiny pair of keys Gemma had given her. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. When she opened the door, it turned out that she wasn¡¯t the only one living in this big place. She mentally face palmed. Of course! Dragons didn¡¯t seem like creatures that would waste resources, and what better way to do that than make multiple people live together? The place itself had a living room in the middle with five comfy looking beige chairs, some pictures on the wall, a fireplace off to the right, a coffee table in the middle, and a white carpet with black diamonds on it. There were two corridors, one leading to the left of the room and one leading to the right. ¡°Um. Hello.¡± One out of the three other people said awkwardly. She had blonde hair and tan skin. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°My name is Willow. Willow Bryd.¡± Willow responded. ¡°Hello, Willow! Welcome to our home! What brings you here on this fine evening?¡± One of the girls, a redhead, said happily, obviously enjoying the idea of new people. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you around this area.¡± ¡°Well, Gemma brought me here. And a strange woman brought me to Ajula here.¡± The others exchanged glances. ¡°A strange woman brought you here? Like with a star and all? Dragona and the cloth and the alley?¡± The blonde one asked. Willow nodded. ¡°That¡¯s the one.¡± The other two chorused their agreement. ¡°Looks like we¡¯re all in the same boat here.¡± The one who hadn¡¯t spoken yet said. She had black hair. ¡°Enough with how we all came here. Can I have some introductions, so I don¡¯t keep calling you blonde hair, red hair, and black hair?¡± Willow asked reasonably. ¡°Yes! Of course! Silly me. My name is Amber Clark.¡± Said the red head. ¡°Mabel Mayer.¡± Said the black hair. ¡°And I¡¯m Violet Poole.¡± Said the blonde. They stood there for an awkward second before Amber exclaimed: ¡°Well, come on! Let me show you your new room!¡± She started walking to a corridor to the left and Willow followed suit. There were four other rooms besides the one Amber showed Willow to. I wonder who that fifth person is¡­ if there is one. She thought. I mean, I was new, and they didn¡¯t seem like they expected me to be here, so there could be a chance that the other room is empty. Amber opened the door and told her ¡°Well, I¡¯ll leave you to get settled.¡± With that, she walked away. Willow went inside and opened the window, as it was very dark in the room. The room was small. That was the first thing she noticed. The others were, was a bed in the top right corner of the room, a calendar that stated: July 23 (Tomorrow), FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! Written in big, red letters. on the wall, and a redwood nightstand right next to the bed. She opened the bottom drawer and put the keys inside. She then flopped down on the surprisingly comfy bed and slept the whole night. Willow woke up and felt a surge of joy. Today she was going to learn to ride dragons! She got up and found a ward- robe that she hadn¡¯t seen before. She opened it and found five pairs of school uniforms, seven pairs of pajamas, and two pairs of regular wear. Hmm. She thought. Five for the days of school and two for the weekend. Smart! She smiled. This was going to be awesome. The Academy Turns out, there was a fifth person. She didn¡¯t talk to or acknowledge anyone. All she did was silently grab her plate and go back into her room. When Willow asked, Amber just shook her head sadly. ¡°No one really knows her. She¡¯s just¡­ there. She¡¯s like, super advanced though and has a dragon of her own.¡± Willow¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Her own dragon? Really? Wow! Have you ever seen her dragon?¡± Willow said, leaning forward in her chair for the answer. ¡°Yeah, I have. It¡¯s gorgeous. He has dark scales and amber eyes that almost seem as if they are piercing into your soul.¡± ¡°What¡¯s his name?¡± ¡°Him. And his name is Midnight.¡± Willow sat back; her immediate questions answered. ¡°You all! We¡¯ve got to go! We¡¯ll be late!¡± Violet told them, standing up with her plate. She put it in the sink, and the others followed suit. When they arrived at Skymaster, it took the breath away from Willow. (It always seemed to do that sort of thing) It was made of polished marble, had stained glass in the windows, and it had four towers on each side. She opened the door, and it was just like the exterior! The floor was redwood, had high marble walls, and crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling. There were many corridors leading in different directions. She looked at the schedule that she had recently found in the map. 1. Balance-Beginner Room: A-1 it said. Okay, where is A-1? She thought, taking out the map of her school that magically showed where she was. She was so focused on the map that she accidentally bumped into someone. Willow helped her up and apologized. She found her class. She opened the door and there was stuff everywhere. There were beams that hung from the ceiling, and something that probably was supposed to simulate riding a dragon. She sat at one of the desks that were scattered around the room. She and her roommates had compared schedules during dinner, and Willow had class with none of them. The bell rang. ¡°Everybody! Today we are going to work on our balance.¡± The teacher said in a high voice. ¡°First, get in two lines, make them even!¡± Everybody followed her instructions. Willow was in the first line, second in the front. She was annoyed that she was so close to the front. ¡°Now! Everyone! Class! The first person, step forward. By the way,, my name is Ms. D No, I am not going to say what the D stands for.¡± The class snickered. The teacher, or Ms. D, called, gesturing with her hands for them to come forward. The boy in front of me, an auburn-haired boy, stepped forward. ¡°Now, you boy! Go to that. And you, girl, go over here.¡± The boy in Willow¡¯s line moved to the simulator. The girl in the other line moved to the beam. ¡°Right! Now, you, girl, and other girl! Girl one move to this one! And girl two this one.¡± Willow moved to the second simulator and the other girl walked the second beam. The rest of class continued like that until everyone had had a turn on both the simulator and the beam. Ms. D glanced at the hourglass on the table. The last of the sand was trickling through. Right on time! Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°All right everyone! Time to head to next class!¡± She shouted. Willow proceeded to leave with the rest of the class. She entered her next class, care, and the auburn hair was with her. He was her partner, too. Her next class, also with her. Next one, he was next door. But in her last class he was with her again and she knew that he was up to something. She had just come back from the bathroom when she saw the note that said, Meet me at the green bird dorm ten hourglass out Willow smiled a little as she knew who it was from. The Auburn-haired boy. She frowned slightly as she realized that she didn¡¯t know where the dorms were. She realized that hourglasses mean time, probably. She realized that she could just ask her dorm mates then shrugged and sat down. After class was over, she queried her dorm mates about her questions. They explained that the time here is strange. School lasts until 12:00 and there are twelve hourglasses to represent 12 hours. Each time an hourglass is out, an hour has passed. She also asked about the dorms. They explained that there was two types of dorms. The drakes, which are the boys, and the wyrms, which are the girls. Each dorm has a color of the rainbow in accordance to it. For instance, they were the blue wyrm. When the 10th hourglass was out, Willow felt ready. She had put on the nicer-looking weekend outfit and set off to Auburn-hair¡¯s dorm. When she arrived, Mr. Auburn was there, calmly waiting for her. She smiled. That was sweet of him, Willow thought. ¡°Follow me,¡± Mr. Auburn said sweetly, reaching out his hand. ¡°Why should I follow a stranger?¡± ¡°Am I a stranger?¡± ¡°Uhm¡­ Yeah you totally are. I don¡¯t even know your name.¡± ¡°Fair enough.¡± He smirked. ¡°But not here. Now actually follow me.¡± Willow sighed, giving in, as she knew that arguing would get her nowhere. She took his outstretched hand and grinned broadly. He took her to a treehouse of sorts. He gracefully pulled a lever and a ladder fell. ¡°Ladies first.¡± Mr. Auburn said, bowing majestically. Rolling her eyes, Willow climbed up. The first thing she noticed was the treehouse was not made of marble. The other stuff she noticed was that there were two comfortable-looking chairs, a round table, with a separate connected porch with a bucket that had been filled with water, and a paper on the wall. She glanced at the title: *To do list* Mr. Auburn followed her, standing in front of the paper before Willow got a chance to read the contents. ¡°Take a seat,¡± he said, gesturing curtly to one of the chairs. She sat in the chair facing the paper accordingly. He sat in the chair opposite her, blocking the paper again. ¡°Will you finally tell me what your name is, Mr. Mysterious? or Mr. Auburn hair, as I like to call you?¡± Willow said, leaning slightly to the right to see that paper. ¡°Yes. Well, my name is-¡± He was cut off by a loud BOOM! That rattled the few windows as red light shone through. ¡°GO!¡± Mr. I-STILL-haven¡¯t-heard-that-name screamed, pointing to a pole in the very right corner. Willow darted towards it, pushing over her chair by accident. She streakedlid down the pole, with the back of her mind screaming, WHY?!??! I JUST WANTED HIS NAME! I DIDN¡¯T ASK FOR THIS TO HAPPEN!! She mentally nodded, barely containing herself. ¡°I¡¯ll be right behind you, just run as fast as you can, and DO NOT look back!¡± Mr. Why-can¡¯t-I-hear-your-name yelled over his shoulder. She followed his brief instructions, and ran for her life. She was screaming in fear. She didn¡¯t slow until she got back to her dorm and was inside, breathing heavily. She slowly walked back to her room, collapsing on the bed out of exhaustion. She quietly cried to herself in her bed. She let her pulse calm down before she wondered why she couldn¡¯t look back. She shrugged it off, wanting not to think about such things until she got a good night¡¯s sleep. Eventually she fell into a fitful sleep. The New One The first thing Willow did when she entered was walk up to Mr. No-name-but-about-to-learn. ¡°WHAT. IS. YOUR. NAME!?¡± Willow said, the question exploded out of her before she could realize how incredibly impolite and angry she sounded. ¡°Terribly sorry, I just really wanted to know what your name is.¡± ¡°I can see that. My name is-¡± He was about to respond to her question but was rudely interrupted by the teacher. ¡°Class! We shall repeat what we have done for the past two days, but tomorrow we will do something just a little more exciting!¡± Ms. D¡¯s voice boomed over the shuffling children. Mr. Auburn gave her a sorry not sorry look before gracefully sitting down. Willow was screaming internally. WHYYYY? She thought, sitting, sighing, and shuffling her seat. After class he finally told her his name. ¡°My name,¡± he said with a flourish, ¡°is Gray V. Yard.¡± ¡°Nice name. Anyways, I better get to class.¡± ¡°Bye.¡± He said, looking like he was trying hard to stay straight faced, glancing backwards. Willow walked to her next class. The rest of the day was quite uneventful. The rest of the trimester was just as simple. Willow was positively bursting with excitement when she attended the assembly for all the students at her level. Today was the day they were going to get their first dragon egg! This was the best day of her life. ¡°Everyone! Everyone! Settle down. Settle down. I know today is exciting, but you must listen.¡± The teacher at the front of the room called. ¡°First of all, there will be multiple different dragon species that will hatch. Absolutely no trading your dragons. They will be attached to you the moment they see you. If you trade them, then they will become depressed and do nothing until they see you again.¡± ¡°Second, NO DROPPING YOUR EGGS! Put them in the pouch we will give you once you get your eggs! If you drop an egg, you will be expelled from this school!¡± ¡°Third! Spend time with your dragon! They will be more likely to listen to you and love you if you spend time with them!¡± ¡°Lastly, Introduce your dragon to other dragons or people! This will make it easier for them to meet new people and not shy away!¡± ¡°Time to get your dragon! Everybody line up!¡± Willow was the first in line. The man giving out the dragon eggs winked at her. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°I saved this one for you. It is incredibly special, just like you.¡± He said, with a twinkle in his eye. He handed her the heavy aquamarine and coral egg. ¡°Woah!¡± Willow said. ¡°This weighs a lot.¡± ¡°Yep! Sure does.¡± He said, the twinkle in his eyes grew brighter. ¡°Come on, hurry up!¡± A sassy girl said from behind Willow. ¡°Oh, wait your turn, Roxie. They are almost done.¡± Came a boy¡¯s voice behind Roxie. ¡°Thank you for the egg.¡± Willow said, hobbling away. ¡°Once you get your egg, go to the barn and claim a stall.¡± The teacher, Ms. Wagua, said. Willow walked to the massive stable. Wow! I also get my own stall! ¡°Welcome! Get your brand, and once you find your stall, burn the brand into the wood next to it!¡± The person at the front of the stable said, gesturing to the huge table next to him. Willow found her brand, (it had her name under it) It was a rose petal. Hmm. Pretty. Wonder if the brand means anything. Willow dipped the brand in the nearby fire, and waited until it was white hot. She walked inside the stable and gasped. It was massive! There were stairs leading off to one side, a huge line of big stalls, approximately twenty feet by fifteen feet each. Looking up, Willow could see another floor that had more people and grown-up dragons. Even higher up than that, there were people riding dragons, some yellow, some green, some purple, some multicolored, some sky blue, some orange, some red, some as black as midnight, and not many that were white or gray. Willow looked at her own aquamarine and coral splotched egg and wondered what her dragon would look like. The sassy girl, Roxie, claimed the biggest stall, even though she had a pretty small egg (it was a dark purple). Willow claimed the next biggest stall, before anyone else could claim it. I need it because I have a huge egg. She thought, trying not to feel guilty. And besides, they are all about the same size. With that in mind, she branded the wood plate to the side of the door and wondered what to do with the brand. She peeked at Roxie and saw her just toss to the side of her stall. Figures, Willow thought. She walked to the guy at the front and asked him what to do. ¡°Just put it back under your name.¡± He replied in his distinctly Southern accent. Complying, Willow put the rose brand back under her name. Wow, something that¡¯s actually mine. Willow thought. Back at home, nothing was ever really mine. The closest thing she had that was hers was her bed, and even that was a hand-me-down. Home, Willow thought with a pang and a start. WAIT. HOME. WHY HAVEN¡¯T I THOUGHT OF HOME, AND WHY CAN¡¯T I REALLY REMEMBER HOME? Willow thought, starting to panic. She walked to her dorm, holding her head in her hands, shaking. What are they hiding? She entered her dorm, and instead of feeling like home, it felt like a prison. She drearily walked to her bed and fell on it, feeling as if she was in some sort of trance. What are they hiding, what are they hiding, WHAT ARE THEY HIDING?! Willow thought over and over and eventually started to cry out of frustration and confusion. She finally got so frustrated she screamed at the wall, ¡°WHAT ARE THEY HIDING!?¡± The wall, being a wall, didn¡¯t respond. But the door did. Knock knock Willow heard at the door. ¡°Y-yes?¡± She asked. ¡°Come in.¡± The 5th person, whose name was unknown, gave her a look. ¡°You are right.¡± She said simply and then sat next to Willow on the bed. ¡°What?¡± Willow asked, confused. ¡°You¡¯re right, they are hiding something from us.¡± She said Willow hadn¡¯t heard her voice before, so she hadn¡¯t known what it sounded like, but it sounded pretty. ¡°Do you know what?¡± ¡°No, but you are one of the only other smart ones who realize that they are hiding something.¡± ¡°Who are the others?¡± ¡°...Follow me.¡± She said, standing up and putting her auburn hair in a ponytail. Secrets After a certain point, Willow had to be blindfolded, which Willow thought was dumb. After all, what would she be, a spy? ¡°We¡¯re here. And if you tell anyone about this, I will personally hunt you down and murder you and the person you told.¡± Unknown name said, taking off the blindfold. ¡°That can''t be legal.¡± Willow did not know what to expect, but certainly not this. It was a tree. Their hideout was a TREE. What the- ¡°I guess you¡¯re right, but you won¡¯t tell. Yes, I know this is a tree, but you¡¯ll see why.¡± She did some complicated stuff which consisted of knocking and banging. ¡°There we go! We should be in in a second.¡± A couple minutes passed. ¡°A second, eh?¡± ¡°Oh come on, you can¡¯t blame me for that.¡± ¡°Yes, yes I can. Did you do it wrong?¡± She looked offended. ¡°Me, the leader of this thing, would not do it wrong!¡± A few more minutes passed. ¡°Fine. Maybe I did it wrong.¡± She repeated the sequence and changed a few things. A piece of wood resembling a door opened up almost immediately. Willow smothered a snicker. Ms. No-name shot her a glare. ¡°If you tell anyone I will be very mad at you. Now, come on.¡± ¡°Alright, all right.¡± ¡°Hey, C! We¡¯re here!¡± ¡°Okay, closing, boss!¡± An gruff, invisible voice replied. Their hideout was massive, despite the fact it was in a tree. She rolled her eyes. ¡°Anyways, we better add you to The Book.¡± ¡°The Book? What is that?¡± ¡°The Book is a journal where we keep every member''s (past or present) name or nickname! That way, if they¡± she visibly cringed, ¡°betray us, we will know their name! Also, it helps us know who we are with.¡± ¡°Makes sense.¡± Knock, knock, KNOCK. Willow heard come from the door. Ms. Unknown peeks through a small peephole. ¡°Random stranger,¡± she mutters. ¡°I wonder what they know.¡± ¡°Hello. I am here because I saw your poster and sort of realized it was true?¡± The stranger said, probably not meaning it as a question. Willow cocked her head at the leader. ¡°You told me you would kill me if I told anyone, but you have POSTERS?!¡± Ms. Unknown blushes. ¡°Come in.¡± She said skepticaly. A blonde girl wearing a shy smile waves to us. ¡°Hi.¡± Ms. Unknown sighed, shaking her head, muttering, ¡°Two new people account for! Isn¡¯t this a day.¡± She shook her head and walked to an indented part of the place. She scrawled the names in The Book and then gestured for them to explore the place. Willow hadn¡¯t gotten a chance to really look around, so she took the time to see what it looked like. It had what felt like hundreds of thousands of books lining the walls, and some chairs with a few books, all of which had notes or paper somewhere nearby. The floor had a ginormous rug that covered the whole place. ¡°What is your name?¡± Willow queried the new person. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you in school anywhere.¡± ¡°My name is L-Lily. What is your name?¡± ¡°My name is Willow!¡± Willow said with more energy because she could tell the new girl - Lily - was nervous. ¡°Pleased to meet you, Willow.¡± Willow noticed Lily was writing in a journal. ¡°What are you writing about?¡± Sapphire closed and pulled the book away before Willow could get a good look at it. ¡°N-nothing!¡± The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Please can I see?¡± ¡°No! A-and that¡¯s final!¡± She took a quick glance around the room before stomping out. I wonder what that was about, I never did anything! And now, she doesn¡¯t have a good impression of me! Willow sighed. Willow followed her, but the girl was too fast, and the girl was gone. She headed back to her dorm and saw beautiful aqua leaves in the window of her relatively drab room. What? She thought, walking over. She heaved open the window for a clearer view. Sure enough, there was a massive aqua tree, just about 60 feet away from the nearest building, with its aqua leaves dancing in the wind. The leaves enveloped the tree, looking like an umbrella. As she was on the first floor, Willow dove through the window, and awkwardly speed-walked to the tree. When she arrived, she pushed through the leaves, and it felt like her own little hideout! Well, it wasn¡¯t little, but it was still a hideout! The leaves mostly protected her from the wind outside, meaning it felt homey. She sat on the thin, soft grass next to the trunk and leaned her head against the wood. It was soothing in there, with the leaves around her, and just her. She started humming a tuneless song and soon forgot about all her worries. The evening sky eventually got dark, like all things do, so Willow stood up, pushed open the leaves, and ran back to her dorm. By the time she got back, it was already dark. She hopped back inside, feeling better than she had felt then she had in her whole life. That tree was life-changing. The next morning when she woke up, had her breakfast, and skipped happily to school. ¡°You¡¯re in a good mood,¡± Grey commented, startling her. Willow stopped, turned around, and blushed. ¡°Well, yeah, I guess.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I¡­ Don¡¯t know!¡± ¡°How do you not know?¡± ¡°We better get to class.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ This isn¡¯t over!¡± They entered their class, where the current subject was ¡®What to do with the egg when the dragon hatches?¡¯ In the extra time after the lesson, Willow and her class check on their eggs, and maybe check the other dragons out. Willow checked on her egg. Still the same color, aquamarine and coral, except maybe it was a bit more transparent, not translucent yet, though. Maybe that means it is closer to hatching! Willow thought with a smile. ¡°Mine¡¯s hatching! It¡¯s hatching!¡± A voice yelled excitedly. Willow turned towards the noise. It was a short brown-haired boy with a pale green egg. Sure enough, the egg was shaking, and everyone was so deathly quiet, the crack was the equivalent of an explosion as the green dragon burst out of the egg and looked directly at his owner! Everyone clapped! The boy looked at everyone with a wolfish grin. ¡°I¡¯m gonna call him grass!¡± Everyone recoiled. He laughed. ¡°I¡¯m just kidding! I¡¯m calling him..¡± He looked closely at the baby. ¡°Emerald.¡± Everybody nodded, accepting the name. ¡°It¡¯s better than Grass,¡± A few people said. The other children dispersed, and the teacher told the boy, ¡°You can now bond with your dragon and take care of it. Today you can take off classes.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± He skipped away with Emerald in his arms. Willow felt good for the boy, yes, but also kind of jealous. She wished her dragon would hatch. Again, she wondered what her dragon would look like. At the end of the day, Willow watched Lily to see what dorm she had, so she could talk to her and apologize for making her mad. Instead of Lily going to a dorm, she went the opposite way of the dorms, towards the forest next to the school, something she hadn¡¯t paid much attention to. What¡¯s over there? Willow said, glancing at the forest, populated with tall redwood trees. It¡¯s been a while since I have seen redwood trees. And my home. When will I go home? She turned toward her dorm, thinking she should tell Ms. Unknown. She arrived at her dorm, a bit earlier than her dormmates, and went into the fifth person¡¯s room. ¡°Yes?¡± Ms. Unknown said when Willow entered. ¡°You know that other person?¡± ¡°Yeah, Lily, wasn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Come to think of it, how did you know her name?¡± ¡°That is for another time and off-topic.¡± ¡°Right. When we left school, I saw her go into the redwood forest next to the school, not to a dorm.¡± Ms. Unknown paused, as if gathering her thoughts before replying, ¡°Go see where that forest goes, would you? I want to know before making any decisions.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Willow said, angling for the door before pausing. ¡°Have you ever been to the big pink tree behind our dorm and the school?¡± ¡°Mhm, what about it?¡± ¡°What kind of tree is it?¡± She smiled. ¡°A willow tree.¡± ¡°Is that why it soothed me, because it has the same name as me?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so, it calmed me down too.¡± ¡°Thank you, see you in a bit!¡± Willow walked out of the room. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Amber said as Willow stepped out of Ms. Unknown¡¯s room, ¡°What were you doing in there?¡± ¡°Talking to her.¡± ¡°How do you know her?¡± ¡°No idea, but I¡¯ve got to go!¡± Willow sprinted to the door and was out before anyone could say another word. She sprinted to the redwood forest, looking for signs of Lily passing through. Luckily, she didn¡¯t seem to think anyone was following her, and left an obvious trail. She followed the trail all the way to¡­ the palace? Happenings What would Lily be doing at the palace? Willow wondered. She walked up to the door and knocked. ¡°Who is it?¡± A voice boomed overhead. ¡°Willow, and I need to see the queen.¡± ¡°Why is your need so very desperate?¡± Willow thought for a moment. ¡°Nevermind! I will go now. Sorry for bothering you!¡± ¡°You should be.¡± The voice muttered. Willow walked back to her dorm. Her job was done, now she needed to tell Ms. Unknown. ? ? ? As she arrived at her dorm, she started to doubt herself. What if it wasn¡¯t a big deal? What if she had followed the wrong trail? No, she told herself. I saw her go that way and I saw that trail. ¡°Where¡¯d it lead?¡± Ms. Unknown asked when she opened the door to the dorm. Willow swallowed nervously. ¡°The palace.¡± She replied while biting her fingernails. Ms. Unknown didn¡¯t seem too shocked by the revelation. ¡°I knew something was off about her.¡± ¡°Really? How?¡± ¡°Did you see the way she reacted to you wanting to see what she wrote?¡± She said like she was explaining what grass was to someone who was a day old. ¡°Yeah! She acted like it was the end of the world if I saw what it was.¡± ¡°To her, it would be.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°She is trying to bring us down.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°The Queen probably bribed her with something, but that is beside the point. We have to find a way to stop her, especially now that she knows where our hideout is.¡± ¡°Why does The Queen want to bring it down?¡± ¡°She wants to bring us down because we are trying to bring her down. Making sense so far?¡± Willow nodded. ¡°How will we stop Lily?¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know.¡± Willow looked at her in astonishment. ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Ms. Unknown raised her hands in a sign of innocence. ¡°A leader doesn¡¯t need to know all the answers, just the brains to know the right ones when they hear or read it.¡± ¡°When are you going to hear the right answers for this?¡± ¡°My brain, probably.¡± ¡°Fair enough.¡± They continued talking about things until dark. ¡°We better get to bed now, so we aren¡¯t tired or grumpy.¡± Willow and Ms. Unknown went towards their bedrooms, standing up from the chairs in the living room. ¡°By the way, what is your name, and where is your dragon?¡± Willow asked, blocking Ms. Unknown¡¯s door inconspicuously. ¡°My name - by golly, I do hope I don¡¯t regret this - is Ebony. Who told you about my dragon?¡± Ebony replied, giving Willow a I-know-what-you-are-doing look. ¡°Our dormmates, and nice try.¡± Willow responded, returning the look. ¡°All right, my dragon¡¯s name is Midnight. Happy now?¡± ¡°No, I am not happy, that didn¡¯t answer my question! Where is your dragon?¡± ¡°On the second floor to the very right! Now let me in my room!¡± Ebony replied agitated now, pushing past Willow to get into her room. Willow walked into her room, and thought over the news for hours, hardly getting any sleep, but somehow she still felt refreshed in the morning. The next day at school, Willow¡¯s first class went the same as before, class and then to the barn they went to. They got to the barn, went to their stalls, and she heard some cries of: ¡°My egg hatched overnight!¡± or ¡°My egg is hatching!¡± Willow was unlucky enough to not be one of those people. Her egg remained stock-still, though maybe a little bit more transparent than before, almost translucent, even. Maybe tomorrow. Willow thought, stroking her egg. She almost headed out into the field next to the barn, but she remembered what Ebony had said, about her dragon being on the second floor farthest to the right. It also occurred to her that she should check on her dormmate¡¯s eggs, too. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! She shrugged, she reasoned they probably had about a third of a timeglass left of class. She looked around, then realized that there were no stairs. She asked a teacher about it and she told Willow that when your dragon was old enough, you had to fly them up there. She scowled when she heard the news, but took the opportunity to check Amber¡¯s, Violets, and Mabel¡¯s eggs, or maybe baby dragons. ¡°Where do you find out people¡¯s names and their brand?¡± The teacher pointed to the wall next to the entrance, where there was a wood board with every single person¡¯s name and their brand. Let¡¯s see¡­ Aalia, Abby, Amber! Willow thought, reading off the names, glad they were in alphabetical order. Amber¡¯s brand was a small fire. Makes a lot of sense for no reason at all. Willow thought, shrugging. Where could Amber¡¯s stall be¡­ Willow thought looking down the wall of the seemingly endless line of stalls. Luckily, she spotted Amber before she had to look for very long. She raced to Amber before she lost track of her and tapped Amber on the shoulder. She spun around, then instantly beamed when she saw Willow. ¡°Hello there! Is anything exciting happening to you?¡± ¡°No. Did your egg hatch?¡± ¡°Yeah! Come and see!¡± Amber beckoned for Willow to follow her. Willow complied. They arrived at Amber¡¯s stall, and a cute little purple dragon awkwardly flapped straight into Amber¡¯s outstretched arms. ¡°What¡¯s their name?¡± ¡°His name is Twilight.¡± ¡°That¡¯s pretty. I am going to check on Mabel and Violet. Bye!¡± Willow returned to the chart, remembering which stall Amber had. Mabel had a playful cat with its paws up, and Violet had a flower, ironically. Both of her dormmates had no dragons, with Mabel having an aqua egg, and Violet having a light purply pink, almost violet, but just a little bit too pink to be considered violet, also ironically. Willow then wandered around, looking at all of the eggs and the few empty stalls, observing the colors and the brands. She noticed something that made her nervous, she was one of the only two that had multiple colored eggs, but there could be more if they already hatched. The other person had a white and dark blue colored egg, and had a dragon eye brand. She walked back to the chart, skimming for the dragon eye. She found it under the name Masey. She swore to herself that at the end of class, she would look for this Masey person. ? ? ? At the end of class, she went to the headmistresse¡¯s office and asked her if she knew Masey. ¡°Ah, Masey, wonderful girl. Too quiet, though, if you ask me.¡± Willow took a deep breath, telling herself to say it before she chickened out. ¡°Why are me and her the only ones with multicolored eggs?¡± Willow asked the headmistress, Mrs. Faulkner. ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about that.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Willow asked, intrigued, but a couple seconds later she realized that this was the head person, not someone she could just chat with! ¡°Yeah. Joe is the one that takes care of the eggs and stuff. He never tells me anything.¡± ¡°Thanks. I better get to my next class.¡± ¡°Yes, you should.¡± Willow went to her classes, and instead of just doing class, they also went to the barn. Willow¡¯s egg did not hatch yet. ? ? ? Over the course of the next three days, Willow waited for her egg to hatch, but nothing happened, even Masey¡¯s egg hatched. (it was the same color as her egg) By the fourth day of no luck, Willow had just about given up. She walked to her stall, expecting the same results, but the most remarkable thing happened, her egg was hatching! It shook, there was a loud crack, and Willow¡¯s beautiful pale yellow and aquamarine baby dragon looked at her and Willow scooped up the baby into her arms! ¡°Sky is your name.¡± Willow purred to the dragon, hugging her closer. Sky let out a little squawk, putting her front legs on Willow¡¯s chest. Sky licked Willow¡¯s face. Willow recoiled, dragon slobber was gross! She laughed because Sky cocked its head at her. ¡°I love you and always will,¡± Willow promised the dragon. Willow got the day off, and she bonded with Sky. She played with her, and raced her, and then cooled down with her. They played until evening. By then, Willow was panting and close to her dragon. She carried Sky to the barn and the little dragon was sleeping in her arms! She set Sky down to the side of the stall and gathered straw and set it in a circle of some sort then placed Sky in the middle. ¡°Goodnight, Sky.¡± Willow told her while she closed the stall door. She returned to her dorm. She went inside her room, and slept peacefully. She went to the academy, for once feeling ready for the day. The last egg hatched that day, so the students were allowed to go in the yard for the rest of the day. Willow took the chance to find Masey. She looked for a multicolored dragon, and she found a white and blue colored dragon that had a pale skinned, and wheat colored hair owner, presumably Masey. Willow ran to meet her, making sure Sky followed her. ¡°Hey! Masey! Over here!¡± Willow called, waving her arms around like a crazy person. Masey shook her head. ¡°I see you, you don¡¯t have to go crazy, I am not the last person on Earth.¡± Willow chuckled. ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°Do you want something from me, or did you just want to embarrass me?¡± Masey asked, giving Willow a serious look. Willow hesitated, not sure what she actually wanted to say. ¡°Uh, do you know why we have multicolored dragons?¡± Willow blurted the question off the top of her mind. ¡°Uh, obviously because we are so awesome, they wanted a memorial of our awesomeness.¡± Masey asked, totally deadpanning. Willow laughed, ¡°No, actually, do you know?¡± ¡°Yeah! I told you, we are so awesome, they wanted to know which ones are super awesome, I am not kidding about this.¡± Willow shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s not true, and you know it! I am not anything special, maybe you are, but not me!¡± ¡°You sure?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I guess you will never know your awesomeness like I do.¡± Masey sighed. Willow shook her head, walking away. Masey didn¡¯t get it! This is not time for jokes! She played with Sky for about thirty seconds before Grey walked up to her, a traumatized look on his face. ¡°What happened?¡± Willow asked him. ¡°I- uh, well, um,¡± He stammered, ¡°I found out someone has plans to kill The Queen.¡± Hardships This is a lot. First I¡¯m one of the only two that has multi colored eggs, now I know that someone has plans to kill the queen! This is too much. ¡°Hello? Are you there, Willow?¡± Grey said, waving his arms in Willow¡¯s face in an exaggerated motion. ¡°Yes! Um, why me? Why are you telling me?¡± Willow asked, her hands on her hips. ¡°Oh. Uh.¡± Grey stammered, as if he hadn¡¯t thought of that. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I mean, you are my closest friend so I felt that I should tell you.¡± Willow¡¯s heart swelled at the words closest friend. ¡°What should we do about it?¡± She asked. ¡°Maybe¡­ tell the Queen so she can be on her guard?¡± ¡°Good idea. Let¡¯s do it like¡­ tomorrow. At 12 hourglasses- in the morning, not at night.¡± ¡°Um okay.¡± The next day, Willow felt like she needed something to hold onto. But of course, there was nothing of the kind. Her dragon wouldn¡¯t work, no, neither would her pillow. Willow wanted to strangle something when she met up with Grey. She couldn¡¯t explain why she was nervous, but she was. Today was the weekend, so they didn¡¯t have school. ¡°Ready?¡± Grey asked. Willow swallowed nervously. ¡°As ready as I will ever be.¡± ¡°Fair enough.¡± He reached his hand out, snatching her hand before she could resist. Willow cocked her head at him. His face turned tomato red. Willow smiled slightly, giving his hand a quick squeeze before they set off to the castle. Grey seemed very, very, very, nervous; he kept fidgeting with the hand she wasn¡¯t holding, clenching and unclenching his fist. ¡°Why are you so nervous?¡± Willow asked, ¡°I am not nervous¡­¡± She trailed off, not realizing that her mouth got ahead of her brain. She was nervous - more than she wanted to admit. ¡°Um- oh- uh- ugh-¡± Grey stammered, caught off guard. ¡°Well- it¡¯s the Queen, for crying out loud! How are you not nervous¡­?¡± ¡°Well¡­ I am nervous. And have you.¡± Willow said, swinging their hands, ¡°and we are helping the Queen, I mean, it¡¯s not like we are the ones killing her.¡± Grey turned pale. He muttered something incomprehensible. ¡°Something is wrong, isn¡¯t there. You just turned as pale as a¡­ cloud.¡± Slight color returned to his face, just a dab of pink. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m just scared.¡± He started to run, leaving Willow behind. ¡°Uh- Hey!¡± Willow called, barely able to keep up with his small headstart. They reached the palace, and took the breath away, though it could have been her running. They paused, regaining their breath before they knocked. ¡°Who is it?¡± The same voice boomed overhead from the last time she came. ¡°Willow and Grey, and we really need to see the Queen.¡± Willow responded. ¡°You again. Is your need actually desperate, or are you just going to say never mind again?¡± The voice responded, sounding bored. ¡°It is! We want to tell her ourselves! We promise!¡± Willow called up. ¡°Okay, fine. But no funny business!¡± ¡°Thank you!¡± The massive gates slowly opened, making a loud creak sound. Willow and Grey entered, Grey looking somewhat normal, less pale at least. Willow racked her brain for the way to the throne room, but Grey seemed to know the way. They arrived at the throne room. Willow and Grey alternated explaining what happened, which didn¡¯t take very long. The Queen slowly nodded as they spoke, and when they were done, she queried them about how they knew it. Willow glanced at Grey, her head cocked to the side. She realized she was also waiting for the answer. ¡°Um- I heard someone gossiping about it?¡± He said, posing it as a question, most likely by accident. The Queen nodded. ¡°Do either of you have anything to say that could help? Besides what you have already told me?¡± ¡°Um- yes. But uh- can I tell you it alone? I mean completely alone.¡± The Queen nodded. ¡°Yes. Everyone, leave!¡± Willow and her advisor, Lincon, left the room along with all her guards, the guards moved hesitantly, though. Willow peeked through the crack in the door next to the hinges. ¡°What is it?¡± The Queen asked Grey. ¡°I am so sorry.¡± Grey whispered, barely audible, raising a knife. ¡°NO!¡± Willow screamed, running in waving her arms around her head like a madman. Grey froze, dropping the knife, thinly cutting the Queen¡¯s nose. Everyone started screaming, the guards raced in, taking Grey away. Willow cried, though she tried to hold them in. Her closest friend was being ripped away from her, because he was a TRAITOR. He tried to kill The Queen. WHY? Pulsed through Willow¡¯s head until it took over. She ran out of the room. She ran to the stables, grabbed Sky, and cuddled her closely. Sky looked at Willow curiously, cocking her tiny head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. It¡¯s been a rough day.¡± The next day of school, everyone had heard the news. Willow wondered why. Probably someone else. Maybe it was Lily. WAIT. LILY. Willow thought, pausing. I haven¡¯t asked Ebony how she dealt with Lily - if she has, yet. ¡°She was there.¡± ¡°I wonder what happened?.¡± ¡°I heard her ¡®boyfriend¡¯ was taken away to the dungeon!¡± Willow heard a slightly familiar voice call through the hall. Roxie. ¡°He is NOT my boyfriend! Just my friend¡­ or was.¡± Willow said, feeling herself blush. Willow rushed into her class, too embarrassed to say anything else. Balance class at this time of the year was the most slow. They had to ride a real dragon, starting slow then increasing in speed as the time went on. When they were done, it took five minutes for each person to go from slow to fast to slow. Only 5 people had let their dragons do it, and there were approximately twenty kids in her class, so the whole process took about twenty minutes per line! Willow was at the back of the third of the four lines, so she had to wait forever to get on the back of a dragon. It felt comfortable and natural for her to be on the back of a dragon. The rest of the class was explaining common mistakes they made, how to fix them, and pointers on centering your balance. Ms. D could probably go on for hours about this, Willow realized when Ms. D noticed a student''s face peering into the classroom and knocking, growing quite loud. At Willow¡¯s next class, care, they learned more in depth the specifics of caring for your dragon, then told them to read the books on their specific species and coloring. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. There were no books on multicolored dragons, and she went over to the teacher to tell him about it, when she noticed Masey was doing the same thing. ¡°Why are there no books on multicolored dragons?¡± Willow asked, beating Masey to it. The teacher, Sir Mack, looked very surprised. ¡°Well, we have never had a student - let alone two - have a multicolored dragon! But I do know where I can find a book or two.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Willow and Masey said at the same time. They looked at each other in surprise. ¡°No problem. I¡¯ll go ask someone to watch you guys while I go grab it.¡± With that, he walked off. ¡°Why do you think he needs to leave?¡± Willow asked. ¡°Like he said, he doesn¡¯t have any books on it here, and he is the only professor with books on dragon care.¡± Masey responded. ¡°Okay¡­ so why do you really think we have multicolored dragons? And do not say ¡®because we are so awesome,¡¯ again.¡± ¡°Okay. Jokes aside,¡± Masey started, looking at Willow straight in the eyes, ¡°they think we have the potential to save Ajula from the devil.¡± Willow stared at Masey for a second, raising her eyebrow. ¡°Really?¡± Willow said incredulously. ¡°Yep.¡± Willow decided to slightly believe her. She had stuck with her lie for a while. A tall, lanky woman entered the classroom. ¡°Hello class. I will take over in the few moments that Sir Mack is gone.¡± The students all nodded and continued their work. ¡°What about you two? Why don¡¯t you have a book?¡± ¡°We are the reason Sir Mack isn¡¯t here. He doesn¡¯t have a book in the classroom about our kind of dragon.¡± Masey replied without any hesitance. ¡°What would that kind of dragon be, exactly?¡± ¡°We¡­ we do not know. It has multiple colors - mine is white and dark blue, and Willow¡¯s is pale yellow and light blue!¡± Masey replied. ¡°Interesting. I might, perhaps, know what kind of dragon you both have, but I don¡¯t know for sure.¡± ¡°What?¡± Willow and Masey asked at the same time. ¡°Either a memory dragon, which can erase or input memories, or a sky dragon, which is an exceptional flier.¡± Willow smiled slightly. ¡°It would be funny if mine was a sky dragon because her name is Sky.¡± The adult raised her eyebrow. ¡°Nice. Sir Mack should be back soon. Nice talking to you, ladies.¡± As if on cue, Sir Mack walked in. He was holding three books: The Memory Dragon, and Sky Dragons, Greatest Fliers!, and Memory Dragons and Sky Dragons, How to Tell the Difference. ¡°Here you go, girls.¡± He said, holding the books out to them. Willow snatched Memory Dragons and Sky Dragons, How to Tell the Difference. Masey looked at her with pleading eyes. ¡°Okay, fine, we can share it.¡± Willow said with a sigh. They took the other two books and placed them on the ground. They sat down. The book wasn¡¯t massive, but it couldn¡¯t be considered small, either. They flipped to the first page. ¡®The main difference¡¯ The subtitle read in big, bold letters. The main difference between sky and memory dragons is the coloring - and the speed and balance of the flight. Sky dragons usually have two light colors. At a very young age, you should not depend on coloration to discern them, as dragons shed their old colors. Memory dragons usually have one light color and one dark. The same thing applies for the Memory dragon as it does for the Sky Dragon. Ways to Tell Even if They are Young A way to tell the difference is the way your dragon reacts to being outside. If they look happy or calm, they are a sky dragon. If they act the same indoors and outdoors, they are a memory dragon. ¡°That¡¯s interesting.¡± Masey said once she had finished. ¡°I think mine is a sky dragon, no idea about yours though, Willow.¡± ¡°Mine acts the same indoors and outdoors,¡± Willow replied, ¡°so I think mine is a memory dragon.¡± ¡°Alright children! Put your books up and head to your next class!¡± Sir Mack called through the studious classroom. ¡°And you two,¡± he said in a quieter voice beckoning to them, ¡°will give your books to me.¡± Willow and Masey complied and headed out the door. At her next class, the teacher just sent them to the barn to train their dragons. You were supposed to teach them to fly and at least semi listen to you in two days. Sky was mostly perfect at the latter, usually listening when Willow told her to. But the former was the problem. Sky would barely move her wings when the other dragons were already learning to soar, the second step in learning how to fly. Willow tried to spread her wings, but they wouldn¡¯t spread. She asked the teacher, but he shook his head sadly. He had no idea. What was she to do? Sky seemed to be enjoying not flying, seeming perfectly content on the ground. One dragon had mastered soaring and was almost flying already. He was white and dark blue, Masey¡¯s dragon, when Willow realized she had not asked what her dragon¡¯s name was. Willow shook her head, returning to the task at hand. She tried once more to get Sky¡¯s wing to spread, and Sky gave in. Her wings spread out, long and graceful. The inside was pale blue, almost white, even. Willow flapped Sky¡¯s wings for her, showing her what to do. ¡°Now do that.¡± Willow commanded. Sky did, but it did nothing. She might have risen a little bit, but she didn¡¯t do anything more than that. ¡°You know what? Just flap your wings naturally, please.¡± Willow told the stubborn dragon. Sky reluctantly replied, rising a couple inches off the ground. ¡°Good girl! Now can you try to do that as high and as well as you can?¡± Willow asked. Sky flapped higher. She started to awkwardly move forward. Willow grabbed her, she was about chest height by then, so it was easy to snatch her. She gave Sky a quick cuddle, then faced her towards the slowly decreasing amount of soaring dragons. ¡°Can you do that, Sky?¡± Willow asked her. The little dragon barely tried. She probably soared for about two seconds before giving up. Willow inwardly screamed. How was she going to get the stubborn dragon to work with her? Willow took a deep breath and kept trying to get Sky to soar! ¡°Catch the wind in your wings.¡± Willow told her. ¡°Spread your wings out.¡± ¡°Soar.¡± ¡°PLEASE, SKY, JUST SOAR!¡± Willow exploded. Sky, scared from the outburst, took to the sky, flying way above Willow¡¯s head. She can fly that high, but she was pitiful when I asked her to fly? Wow, Sky, wow. ¡°Sorry. It¡¯s just... You won¡¯t listen to me.¡± Willow told Sky. Sky soared down, and if dragons could speak, Sky would have probably apologized. ¡°Everyone! Next class!¡± The teacher called, beckoning for them to come inside. They went to their next class where they had to be paired with someone of the teacher¡¯s choice. Willow was with Lily. They finished the assignment and went to the last class of the day. Her least favorite class. The class was Exercise. In the class you learn games to play on your dragon and on the ground, and WIllow wasn¡¯t ever good at physical things. The teacher was another problem. He was strict and could spend the whole class time teaching you how to play a game. (Which Willow was somewhat thankful for) They usually did it outside, and it was hot. This time, they were learning how to play Dragonball. You fly around on your dragon, catching a ball. If you drop the ball or it gets intercepted, you lose a point. First person that loses all their points loses the game. She thankfully took the whole class time to explain. They went to the dorms and Willow¡¯s dormmates beat her home so she couldn¡¯t talk to Ebony. Willow didn¡¯t know how to get them to leave so they wouldn¡¯t see her talk to Ebony, so she just took a nap, hoping they would be in their rooms or something. When Willow woke up, it was two hourglasses. Everyone was in their rooms, so Willow entered Ebony¡¯s room- after knocking of course. ¡°What do you want?¡± Ebony asked, somewhat annoyed. ¡°I was just wondering what you were going to do about Lily.¡± Willow replied, not backing down. ¡°I¡¯m going to ignore her and focus on more important things.¡± ¡°Oh. Well, see you later?¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± Willow left the room and thought over things. Her eyes glazed slightly when she remembered how Grey held the knife over the Queen¡¯s head, and how he was carried away. She went into her room. The next day of school, she read an interesting paragraph in the Memory Dragon book. At the very end, she had skimmed through the back, when she noticed something in minuscule writing. The Old Saying The devil will be so rude, A young boy will act so crude, A young girl with a dazzling memory dragon Will end it all. She has hair so blonde, And she is very fond Of a little animal Willow wondered if that was her. She had a memory dragon, she may not be dazzling, but she did have one, Grey did act crudely, and the Devil was technically being rude- wait- if the Devil was rude, what did that have to do with Grey? Her hair was blonde, but she didn¡¯t have any little animal - except for Sky- that she was fond of. She didn¡¯t have any more time to ponder, though, because it was the end of class. At the next class, she practiced with Sky, training her to fly. The end of class was the test. Sky flew and glided and soared with pinpoint precision. ¡°You¡¯ve got this!¡± Willow told Sky when it was their turn to take the test. Sky fumbled a little at the start when showing off flying, but overall she did good. When it was time for the listening, Sky passed through like a breeze. Willow was told that this was one of the biggest grades she would ever do in that class, and she had to pass every single one to go to the next year, so she was relieved when the teacher told her she had passed. She was going into the next year. One Down, About 10 More to Go Willow hoped she would pass in her other classes. Willow entered her next subject, studies, which varied from week to week. Today they were being tested on many things, which included a written test. She answered her questions. ¡°Everyone passed! Nice job! For the rest of the time you can go into the stables and play with your dragons.¡± Sky and Willow played in the yard until Willow wanted to teach Sky some tricks she had recalled seeing somewhere. Sky refused to do what Willow said. Willow would tell Sky to stand on her hind legs and Sky would do a backflip. How did Sky even do that? Willow¡¯s subconsciousness thought. She gave Sky a confused look, not too long ago she had been doing exactly what she had been told, but now she would do the polar opposite of what Willow asked. ¡°Class! Time to go!¡± The teacher called, making sure the farther people heard. Willow decided to do something she had never even considered doing. Skipping class. She put Sky in her stall, and crouched in the darkest corner of the stall. Her clothes were medium brown, so they weren¡¯t too bright for the shadow, but not the best clothing for a stealth mission. The teacher seemed to notice someone was missing because she entered the stable and looked left and right, but seeing nothing, she left. Willow let out a sigh of relief that she knew she was holding. She leaped over the stall door and ran out of there before anyone else came in. She ran lightly out of the stable. She exited the building. She entered the streets of Ajula. Skymaster near. A sign read. She let out a breath of annoyance as she remembered that she had left ehr map at home! She had recently memorized the way to school, so she had no need to bring it to school! She turned towards the school and ran through the instructions in her head, and figured out the best way to return to her dorm/prison. She went that way. She got strange looks by people she passed, as most girls her age were supposed to be in school right now, but no one stopped her. She reached home and inserted the key. She ran into her room and took the map out of her redwood bedside table, and left the place. She searched the map for the place she was looking for. The Grand Sky Castle. No. The Explosive inn. That brought up questions, but no. The Intelligible library. Yes! She followed the path, glancing down at the map when she came to a crossroads, which happened often. When she was two turns away, at a double sided cross road, she noticed a pair of amber eyes staring at her from a dark alley between two massive buildings. The eyes quickly blinked out of sight and Willow almost believed she had imagined it, but she decided it was worth checking out. She enter the alley, and she remembered the time when she had been so gullible and it led her to this place. The alley didn¡¯t smell of rotting fish, though, more like some sort of meat she couldn¡¯t specify. She saw a flicker of movement and she followed it. She followed it ot the back of the alley, and she realized it was not some mythic creature or baby dragon like she had thought. No, it was a cat. A half black with faint white stripes and half very pretty tortoiseshell. They were a little scrawny, like they hadn¡¯t been fed regularly, and looked very scared of her. Willow approached it cautiously and reached out her hand. The cat shied away. She walked closer, bending down, and avoiding eye contact. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Willow put her hand near the cat¡¯s nose. The cat backed against the wall, but gave in, giving it a tiny sniff. The cat, who Willow had decided was a boy, tentatively rubbed his cheek against Willow¡¯s careful hand. Willow gently patted the cat¡¯s back, and felt a deep rumble go through the cat¡¯s body. Willow sat instead of crouched, criss crossing her legs. The cat sat in her lap, and Willow felt the rumble in her legs now, too. She knew this was good, because she had a friend back home who had two male cats, and they made the rumbling when they appeared to be happy. She pet him for a while until the cat finally decided he had had enough pets for the day. He stood up, stretched his back and leaped off her lap. Willow stood up and also stretched. She remembered her earlier objective and erased the smile she had on her face and set it into a grim line of determination. She took the map out of her pocket and followed it the last little bit to the library. She arrived at the library and took a moment to appreciate the spectacular view! Outside, there were some bushes that lined the front part of the building and the building itself was made of marble with red banners flowing down the sides. The doors were around 6 feet taller than her and she wondered why they were so big. They didn¡¯t need to be so big, did they? Willow entered and the person at the front to welcome started to say something before she quickly changed it into a sigh and she pointed to a sign that read ¡°No dragons or outside animals unless they are needed.¡± Willow was confused and thought maybe the woman was talking to someone else. She kept walking, albeit nervously. ¡°Excuse me, young girl,¡± The woman said apologetically, ¡°No outside animals allowed inside the library, and your cat is included.¡± ¡°Cat?¡± Willow asked. She looked behind her. The cat from before had followed her. ¡°Oh. Well, what should I do with her?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Take her back to your house, maybe?¡± Willow thought that was a good idea so she went home, making sure the cat had followed her, and put the cat on her bed. Willow left the room. She made sure that he didn¡¯t follow her. He didn¡¯t. She went back to the library and the sun was already near the middle of the sky. Man! That cat took a lot of time out of her day. She entered the library and showed the woman she had no animals with her. She nodded and the woman asked what she wanted to read. ¡°I would like a book on memory dragon behavior.¡± Willow told her. ¡°Interesting. Only around 500 people know they exist.¡± The woman replied looking her up and down. ¡°Oh. Well I¡¯m one of those people and I have a memory dragon.¡± Willow replied, shrugging. The woman¡¯s eyes widened, but she didn¡¯t ask anymore questions. She brought Willow to a darker, smaller corner of the library that most people wouldn¡¯t have noticed existed. ¡°Well here are the things you are looking for. Good luck!¡± ¡°Thank you!¡± Willow replied. She ran her hand along the books, pulling out the ones that seemed likely. There were two that she pulled out. She opened the first one and read the table of contents.
  1. Memory Dragon Diet
  2. Memory Dragon Social skills
  3. Memory dragon Behavior.
There! On page 30. She flipped there. Memory Dragon Behavior Memory dragons are usually very obedient and nice, but sometimes have a lack of motivation and just stop doing what they are told. Most of the time, this is due to to them being lonely (See pg. 34) Even if they are usually obedient, these dragons have free will, and at times will fly away. They WILL return within a few days. That¡¯s all I need to know. Willow thought. She put the two books away and left the library. She went to her home/prison, and sat on her bed next to the cat. This cat should have a name¡­ it seems disrespectful to call him ¡°the cat.¡± ¡°You are now called¡­. Cedar.¡± The cat purred, a sign of contentment. The next day, Willow was a little nervous to go to school after her skipping the day before, but the first two classes went normally, mostly preparation for the next year. The third one she had to take the test while everyone else worked on preparation for the next year. The fourth was the same as the third. Willow fiddled with her fingers, for the last class of the day was coming up. P.E.. She would be tested on 3 things, her memory of games, her fitness, and her ability to perform the games. She was somewhat good at the memory on how to play the games, but her balance was what she was scared about. She was told to balance on a balance beam for as long as she could. She stepped up to the beam, heart pounding. She stepped up and the timer started. She survived for ten minutes before starting to wobble too much. Then came her performance of the many games she was told to play. She played the games. She got many scornful looks from the teacher, as she often messed up. At the end, her teacher said she had passed by one point, but the expectations would be higher next year, and if she did that bad next year, then she would be kicked out. At the end of the day, Willow went home, grabbed Cedar, and went to play with Sky. Willow sighed, but tried to tell Sky what to do. Sky, surprisingly, Sky did it. She seemed to only do it when Cedar was around. That was one problem solved. About ten more to go. Nervousness Grey hated his life and everything about it. He was tied to the devil by some stinking promise he made, he betrayed his only friend, and, to top it all off, he was tied to a promise THAT COULD CHANGE AJULA¡¯S WORLD COURSE AS THEY KNEW IT! He hated his past foolishness. How exactly did he get into this mess? Grey mulled over in his mind, recalling the details in his jail cell. Grey had a lot of thoughts in his mind when the day happened. He had been walking the streets for a couple years. He was about twelve at that time, a year younger than the time he was sitting in jail. A boy, around five years older than him, walked up to him and asked, ¡°Are you looking for a home?¡± Grey paused. He was looking for somewhere to stay. But how would this random guy know that? ¡°Why do you care?¡± Grey asked bitterly. He smirked. ¡°I do. Now you are looking for a home, correct?¡± He carried on before Grey could answer. ¡°I have a deal for you. If you do one tiny thing for me, I will give you a home and a place to belong.¡± Grey widened his eyes. ¡°A home? For one measly task? Deal!¡± He held his hand out to make a deal. The boy gave a huge smile. They shook hands. Suddenly, the boy turned into a 10 foot red monster with horns. No longer the boy from before. Now he was the devil. And you can¡¯t break a deal with the devil. That deal didn¡¯t seem so small now. Willow went home and hugged her pillow. She never wanted to stop again. But of course, the next day came, and she had to go to school. She just went through her day normally. Until one thing caught her attention. ¡°Did you hear? Grey has escaped from his jail cell with the help of the devil.¡± One person gossiped in the hall. ¡°What did you just say?¡± Willow asked, her head snapped up. ¡°None of your business. I was talking to Sapphire, not you.¡± The girl, who Willow realized was Roxie, snapped, flipping her hair and turned her back. Willow hated the fact that Roxie was so mean. Willow didn¡¯t do anything wrong. Grey was free. Willow wasn¡¯t sure how to feel about that. She knew she should be sad or worried, but she sort of felt¡­ happy? Her only friend was free. She just didn¡¯t know. The day came with another surprise. Tomorrow was the last day of school. That was good, Willow felt. She didn¡¯t have to talk to anybody. She could just¡­ be. Willow eagerly awaited the next day. She ran into her room, and took a nap. When she woke up, she realized she hadn¡¯t eaten lunch or dinner the day before. She got out of her room and munched on some carrots. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Willow considered skipping school, and she did. She told herself she wouldn¡¯t make it a habit, though she wasn¡¯t sure she would be able to keep her promise. She wasn¡¯t known for that. Grey was now stuck in a room to be interrogated. A dark red smoke filled the room. The devil, Grey thought. He was happy and sad, for he would leave, but be stuck with the devil for the rest of his life. And have to deal with his disappointment, which he heard was not good. Grey sighed. ¡°Hello. Bust me out of here, will you?¡± The devil glared at him. ¡°Bust you out? BUST YOU OUT?! I gave you a simple job: get alone with the queen and kill her. I did not tell you to get thrown in jail before you could kill her! You are worthless. You will stay here and find a way to leave by yourself. I am done with you!¡± The devil screamed. ¡°W-what?¡± Grey stammered. He took a step back and he felt something. A bottle. Judging by the temperature, it was empty. He put a hand behind his back and grabbed it. He silently opened it. The red smoke was still in the room. He let the red smoke enter the bottle before closing it and putting it back down on the table. ¡°I am through with you!¡± The devil then left. THe smoke disappeared with him. A dragon entered the room. He had dark scales and horns framing his head. ¡°Why did you do it? Why did you try to kill the queen?¡± Grey, caught off guard, stammered out ¡°it was the devil! He made me do it! I made a promise with him by accident and now I have to kill her!¡± ¡°Never heard that before.¡± The dragon said sarcastically. ¡°Where is your proof?¡± Grey, glad for his quick thinking, picked up the bottle from the table. ¡°Have you ever seen smoke like this? This is the color of the devil.¡± The dragon, still suspicious, told him, ¡°Why would you make a deal with the devil?¡± ¡°Because he promised me something in return! I did not know he was the devil! He was in disguise!¡± ¡°Fine. Maybe what you are saying is true. That does not excuse you from your horrendous behavior.¡± The dragon stared into his eyes, and Grey stared back defiantly. ¡°Fine then. I guess I will stay here.¡± That was a lie. He burst by the dragon at a sickening speed, opened the door and ran. He ran towards the direction of the door out of the castle, for he had studied the castle¡¯s blueprints. He heard the dragon behind him yell something, but it was hard to make out. He tried to yank the door open. There was a small lock blocking the way! He quickly found a small skinny piece of metal and unlocked the door.. He ran out of the door and stumbled over the bridge. He ran and ran and ran and ran. He climbed up a tree, higher than most people were willing to go. He sat on a solid looking branch and took a deep breath. Thankfully, it was the beginning of summer, and the trees were in a deep bloom and their leaves were massive. A great hiding place. He took deep breaths, and he felt his heart rate returning to normal. He glanced around and he noticed a plentiful amount of nests. Not dragon nests, but bird nests. He shifted uncomfortably, he didn¡¯t belong here. Not in the tree. It wasn¡¯t his home, it was the birds home. But he couldn¡¯t come down, no definitely not. Not for at least two days. By then, they would have figured he left to one of the neighboring kingdoms, and would have warned the nearby queens that there was someone out to kill either Ajula¡¯s queen, or all the queens. Grey was only told to go after Ajula. He remembered someone saying. If someone can stay good during the bad, then they are strong. I respect them. Grey wanted to be respected. He wanted to be strong. But it was hard. He really just wanted to steal and be bad. But it wasn¡¯t worth it. He would be strong. He would be good. If not for him, for someone else, whose identity he didn¡¯t want to admit to himself right now. But it was a girl, he would admit that much. Memory Dragon ¡°Bust you out? BUST YOU OUT?! I gave you a simple job: get alone with the queen and kill her. I did not tell you to get thrown in jail before you could kill her! You are worthless. You will stay here and find a way to leave by yourself. I am done with you!¡± The devil screamed. Willow blinked. What? She thought. Uhhhhh. What was that? That wasn¡¯t her memory. Not in the slightest. Sky! She was a memory dragon! Couldn¡¯t those implant memories? Willow threw a leather hood over her head and ran through the rain to the stable. She ran into Sky¡¯s stable, panting for breath. Sky looked quite proud of herself, flying in little circles above Willow¡¯s head. ¡°Sky!¡± Willow called. Sky glanced down. She swooped in front of Willow. Willow realized how tall she was getting - she was up to her chest! ¡°Sky! Did you implant that memory? Oh, please say yes - that it wasn¡¯t just a dream - oh, please Sky.¡± Sky gave a happy little squawk. Tears of relief flooded down her wet cheeks. She hugged Sky, no longer able to pick her up. Sky nestled her beautiful head into Willow¡¯s wet shoulder. ¡°Thank you, Sky.¡± Willow said quietly. She suddenly realized how tired she was. She sat on the floor and Sky lay next to her. Willow started to stroke Sky¡¯s scaled head. She rested her head against her back and fell asleep. When she woke up there was a surprising picture in front of her. There was Grey hiding in a corner. Sky was still there, still resting. Willow gave her one more pat before she stood up and squinted at Grey. Grey looked like he had a whole speech prepared. Instead, she hugged him to the floor and simply said. ¡°I saw it.¡± Tears flew down his face, even though he was smiling. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°How?¡± ¡°Sky.¡± They sat up. ¡°I hoped that dragon would be useful.¡± He wiped away his tears. Willow laughed. She didn¡¯t have an answer. She just hugged him. Of course, there was someone else there and saw Willow and Grey there, hugging. He gasped loudly and screamed ¡°Willow an-¡± He got no further. Grey tackled him to the ground and put a hand over his mouth. ¡°Shh. I am going to take my hand away and you are going to stay silent, okay? If you talk I will put it back.¡± Grey said to the boy. The boy nodded. Grey slowly took his hand away. It was tense, ready to dart back if needed. ¡°Okay, before you start screaming again, listen. I am not involved with the devil. He tricked me but gave me up when I failed him. You will tell no one about this.¡± Willow watched in silent disbelief. ¡°Wait. Why can¡¯t he tell anyone?¡± ¡°Because,¡± Grey said, not taking his eyes off the boy, ¡°If he tells people it could become muddled and people will believe that I am working with you and will throw you and me into jail.¡± ¡°Oh. Right.¡± Willow said. Sky had by now woken up and bounded over to Willow¡¯s side. Grey got off the boy and let him go. ¡°You were scary.¡± Willow said. Vaguely, Grey replied. ¡°I can be when I want to.¡± ¡°Grey¡­ I want to know why. Why did you make a deal with the devil? How did he trick you into doing such a thing?¡± Grey sighed. ¡°You might as well hear it.¡± He told her how he had been on the streets since he could remember, but he could slightly remember a brush of bright red curls, and dark hair like his. He told her how he had been offered a deal and he was too impulsive and accepted. He should have known better. The devil most definitely looked friendly then, but was not friendly in the slightest. He explained how he escaped and how he hid in the tree. He explained the red light from his treehouse. When he finished, Willow stared at him quietly, with a little bit of sympathy in her eyes. Willow walked out apologizing that she couldn¡¯t stay longer. He didn¡¯t seem bothered. People Willow visited Grey¡¯s new house. He had left her a note tied to one of Sky¡¯s 3 new horns. Sky¡¯s horns had grown a few days ago. They were in a circle on her forehead. They were a light purple. Something else new with Sky was that her previously white membrane was now pale pink. His house was beautiful. She didn¡¯t know how he did it! He had to have done it himself, as he was a ¡°criminal.¡± Nobody would want to help a criminal. It was made of redwood (obviously) and it looked small but cozy. There were pillars supporting an overhang, which was like a grid made of wood. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. There was a couple second wait until Grey opened the door. He was panting and he had some sweat on his forehead. ¡°Oh! Hi Willow! Um, would you like to come in?¡± He said, wiping sweat off his forehead. He stood to the side to let Willow in. She smiled slightly and walked past him into his house. His house had one door but about 3 rooms. Grey entered after Willow and asked, ¡°Would you like a tour?¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Willow replied. ¡°Follow me!¡± He said, walking forward. Willow followed him. ¡°This is my reading room. I don¡¯t have a lot of books, but I¡¯m not the fastest reader, so they¡¯ll last me a long time.¡± The room had a redwood bookshelf, filled with around 15 books, and had one chair. He walked to the left of the house and showed her the kitchen, which had a stool next to an empty counter which she figured was where he ate. Then he showed her his bedroom, the only room with a door. ¡°That¡¯s about it.¡± He said. ¡°Nice.¡± She responded. ¡°Are you hungry? I¡¯ve got some food.¡± He said ¡°No, but I would like to talk to you.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± He shrugged, gesturing for her to follow. They went out onto the back porch that had two chairs facing each other. ¡°What did you want to talk to me about?¡± Grey asked. ¡°I wanted to tell you that we need to find the Devil¡¯s Lair. I believe that he is planning revenge for us at this moment.¡± THE DEVIL: He sighed. His secretary, or person who was supposed to help with his job, was on another break! This was her 3rd in as many weeks! Granted, he would berate her every time something was a little bit off. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. And, she had caught the Devil looking for new secretaries with less pay than her. And, he made her do the most disgusting jobs, so he could kind of see where she was coming from. He sighed again. And that boy he had hired (for free) had failed him. This was not his month. People were failing him left and right! How would he kill the queen? He groaned. He might actually have to do work! He loved to make others do his work, but, rarely, he would do it himself. Either by choice or by force. It could be fun killing the queen, getting revenge for when she annoyed his horns off. He might need a vacation. Yes, he would get a vacation, and he would get it right now! ¡°Scalor!¡± He called. ¡°Come here!¡± When Scalor came, he told him, ¡°I am going on vacation. You are in charge of everything. Good riddance!¡± With that he walked out of the door, leaving the thoroughly confused man behind. Meanwhile, Willow and Grey were working on a plan for defeating the devil. He was very sneaky, they knew that. They plotted for an hour. Willow headed home once they had a solid plan in mind. Willow decided it could be fun and useful for her to get on better terms with her dormmates, so she asked them if they would like to do something together. Mabel and Violet seemed reluctant, but Amber didn¡¯t really care. They were going to train their dragons together, and teach them how to hover and fly for extended periods of time, and to get them used to a saddle. With some dragons, you had to go bareback because they hated the saddle. Violet¡¯s dragon was pink and had 1 horn in the middle of their forehead. His name was Sunbeam. Amber¡¯s was still the purple color. Mabel¡¯s was seafoam. Her name was coral. While they trained their dragons, it was clear which ones were the best fliers. Mabel¡¯s dragon was in the lead, with Amber¡¯s close behind. Violet¡¯s was the slowest, but she adapted to the saddle the fastest. Coral was a Swift-touch, a fast breed of dragon. Coral was known as an underwater dragon, or in more scientific terms, a Hydro-glide. Lastly, Sunbeam was a dragon more suited to land, a Quick-paw. Sky was commonly called a memory dragon, but the actual name was Reminanse-transmit. Willow had a great time and felt she had restored her friendship with the others. When she put Sky back in the stable, she felt the urge to run. So, she did. She spotted the willow tree in the distance and ran half of the way there before tiring. She then speed-walked the rest of the way there. When she arrived, she pushed through the canopy of leaves and relaxed as she had the last time she had gone there. She closed her eyes in satisfaction. She realized she got around the same feeling as she did while petting Cedar - relaxation. She felt no need to impress anyone or anything. She opened her eyes and jumped. There was someone there! He had dark brown wavy hair and deep blue eyes, but something seemed a little¡­ off about him. ¡°Cool place, huh?¡± The man said. He wasn¡¯t a child, but she was terrible at guessing ages. ¡°Uh, yeah. I guess so. Who are you? I mean, what¡¯s your name?¡± Willow said politely. ¡°Oh, me? My name is, Jack.¡± He paused a little before saying Jack, as if it took him a second to remember. ¡°Nice. My name is Willow.¡± Willow said. They stood there, staring awkwardly at each other. Willow waved and walked to the other side of the tree. She sighed in relief. That was strange. She sat down and shook her head, trying to forget about it. She heard a quiet poof and when she looked around the tree to see what it was the boy was gone, and in his place there was a faint red tint in the air. Strange. Willow thought, cocking her head. She shrugged. It didn¡¯t matter. That was his business. Cinders Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Devilish Willow woke up in a damp place that had concrete floors. Still groggy, she wondered why she wasn¡¯t in her bed. She remembered the events the night before. She bolted up and immediately regretted it. The world spun slightly. She sat still until she regained her balance. She went to her feet and a splitting headache gripped her. She fell to the floor, and flipped around to put her hands out, but she was too slow, and fell on her side. She winced. She heard laughter outside of her cage. She looked in the direction of the laughter, and saw thick bars put closely together so she couldn¡¯t escape, and the guard there could see her. And she could see him. Her eyes were slightly blurry from pain, but she could make out a tall, broad figure laughing and slapping his knee, like she was the best joke he had ever seen. ¡°You ain¡¯t gonna be able to get up for a while, little miss,¡± he told her when he had calmed down a bit. ¡°That stuff they did will keep you on your back for a good while, unless you want pain, of course.¡± Willow¡¯s eyes had cleared, but her mind was still fuzzy. ¡°And you won¡¯t be able to think clearly for a bit.¡± He added. Yeah, I figured that. I¡¯m not that dumb. Willow thought but didn¡¯t say so she wouldn¡¯t get in any more trouble. She rolled onto her other side, groaning slightly with the pain. She saw Grey in a cage across from her, but he was still unconscious. She gasped. ¡°What did you do to him!? Is he okay?!¡± Willow yelled. ¡°Aw, he¡¯ll be okay. He woke before ya, and was back yapping so I got some¡­ What''s the word? Mmmm.. Sleep juice. And stop yellin¡¯! He will not be happy.¡± ¡°Who is ¡®he¡¯?¡± Willow said, air quoting him. ¡°Take a guess, dummy!¡± He said louder than normal but not yelling. ¡°The devil?¡± Willow said, ignoring his demeaning tone. Even though Willow was groggy, she knew she needed to note the fact that he was easy to annoy. She wondered if anyone would come and save her. She closed her eyes. The next time she opened them, it was bright outside, not dark. She sat up. Willow could sit up without feeling sick. Slowly, she stood. She wobbled a bit, but she could still stand without falling. There was some straw on the floor that was probably there to provide minimum comfort for sleeping, but they hadn¡¯t bothered to put her in it. She looked around her room. The walls were stone and there was a small window in the corner. It was barred, of course, so there was little chance of escaping through there. There was a bucket, too. That was it. Really empty, and no place for escape. The world seemed to have a reddish tint in the air, and the smell reminded her of Grey¡¯s house the last time she had seen it. Ashes. She looked across, into Grey¡¯s cell, and he was sitting up. And he was staring right at her. She looked back. His eyes fell to the floor. Willow¡¯s eyes narrowed, and she tilted her head to one side. She peered through the bars and saw some hourglasses. The time was 19 hourglasses out, which meant it was 7 at night. She wondered how she would sleep at night until she realized how tired she was. Even after all her sleep. ¡°Randy! Eh, Randy! Where are you, mate?¡± The guard yelled suddenly, frightening Willow and making her jump. ¡°Your turn for guard duty!¡± Willow realized that the guard probably did need to rest, after all, he was human. Or maybe he wasn¡¯t. Willow had no clue. She sat on the straw and dozed until the next morning. When she fully woke up, she heard a voice calling, ¡°Girl! You need to have your meeting with the devil. Now.¡± She heard the click of a lock and someone grabbed her arm before she could escape. She looked at the person¡¯s face. It was long and had a very long beard, but no hair was on his head. ¡°Well?¡± He asked. ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear me? Time to meet the devil!¡± He hoisted her up, and they walked towards Willow''s fate. As they walked, Willow questioned him. ¡°What¡¯s your name? Why does the devil want me?¡± That sort of thing. She got no response.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Once they arrived at the devil¡¯s throne room, the guard released the grip he had on Willow¡¯s arm. She rubbed where he had grabbed her. The room was dark. Red smoke was in the air. ¡°Well?¡± The devil said. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to bow?¡± Willow bowed. ¡°Why did you interfere with my plans? If you had just let him be, you would be free¡­ from prison, you would not have to see my gorgeous face, and I would be king!¡± ¡°I interfered because you were going to kill someone, and I wouldn¡¯t want you to be king because you are just so¡­ ugh!¡± Willow snapped. She heard a small gulp from the person next to her. ¡°You will pay for insulting me.¡± The devil said calmly. He snapped his fingers. A man grabbed Willow¡¯s arms and held them behind her back. Where she was being held, her arms were burning. She bit her lip. Tears slipped down her cheeks. The devil snapped again. Her arms ached from where she was grabbed. ¡°Now, let¡¯s try that again, shall we?¡± The devil said pleasantly. ¡°Fine. I interfered because I didn¡¯t want someone to die.¡± Willow said and rolled her eyes a little. The devil narrowed his eyes but didn¡¯t say anything about it. ¡°Better. Now I will know how you plan to leave. Oh wait, I forgot. You have no chance of escaping.¡± He laughed. Willow sighed. He just wanted to play with her mind. She decided to just ignore him. ¡°Just so you know, I let Grey free. And he will have to kill the queen. And you can¡¯t stop him.¡± He cackled cruelly. Willow huffed. ¡°Can I go back to my cell now?¡± He stopped laughing for a second ¡°No.¡± He kept laughing. When he stopped laughing he said, ¡°Take her to her room.¡± A woman took her arm and led her to Willow¡¯s cell. Willow got chucked into her cell. She hit the ground hard. She stood up and ran out the open door. The woman called out for help while she chased after Willow. She looked back and smiled. She was free! A man grabbed her in the waist and smirked. ¡°You can run until your legs explode, but there is no escaping me, no-siree.¡± Willow fought and kicked the whole way back to her cell. ¡°You better watch yourself or you¡¯ll end up like me. A subject to the devilish devil.¡± The man told her, looking her in the eyes. He threw her into her cell. Willow closed her eyes but no sleep came to relieve her. She sat and waited. She waited some more. Still, nothing happened. She thought about what Grey would be doing right about then. She hoped it didn¡¯t have anything to do with killing. Certainly not with the queen. That would ruin her perspective on him. Completely. It turns out, the man subject to ¡°the devilish devil¡± was one of her guards. He seemed to look at her the least, and even seemed to fall asleep at times. Willow thought he was faking, but it was hard to be sure. She slowly cooked up an escape plan. It was quite obvious when she would do it, when she had the devilish devil man. How she would escape was way trickier. The door was locked with both a key and a number code. Luckily, Willow found a scrap of paper slipped to her in the very corner of her cell. It said, in Grey¡¯s handwriting, ¡°The number lock is 666. To get the key, you need to steal it from the sleeping man. He sits right outside your door. Good luck, my dear friend.¡± Willow read it over and over, making sure she knew everything was correct. During the night when the sleeping man was sleeping, Willow slipped her hand through the bars and unlocked the key ring. There were about 13 keys on it, and Willow didn¡¯t know which one unlocked her cell. She tried every key, doing those first because the number lock would be easier, and if someone happened to walk by, they would notice the missing lock. It was a good thing she did. Someone walked past right as Willow was switching keys. She pretended to fiddle with her fingers until he was gone. Then, she continued her work. When she heard the click of the lock, she celebrated for a quick second before putting in the code. The code worked. Willow carefully swung the door open. She knew that the next guard would come soon. She moved quietly past the sleeping man and when he was out of sight, she ran. She knew it was only a matter of time before discovery. She looked hopefully for somewhere to leave, but had no luck. Willow heard frantic shouting behind her, and she knew she had been found. She heard the roar of a dragon, and her panic increased. Were they going to burn her to a crisp? When a blue and yellow dragon with pink wings landed in front of her she turned around and ran the other way for a second before turning back and hopping on. It was Sky! She had come to save Willow! Sky flew up, high up to the roof. She glanced down. There were many people there, all running around like ants. Some were on red dragons, and they took to the sky. Willow¡¯s heart beat in her chest. She looked up. There! There was a tiny opening that she hoped Sky could fit through. She was tiny. Willow pointed Sky to the hole. Sky beat her young wings, and Willow was filled with nerves. They reached the hole and they both shot out through it! They spiraled high into the sky before they landed. Willow slid off. She was so tired. Willow slumped to the ground. She didn¡¯t feel safe sleeping, though. She looked through the hole and saw enraged dragons and humans near it. Willow looked at Sky. She was also exhausted. Willow leaned against Sky. The last thing Willow saw before she fell asleep was a deep red egg sitting on a stump. Egg Willow awoke alert. She glanced from side to side and relaxed. She walked up to the egg she had seen before she had gone to sleep. It was very see-through. It must be hatching soon. Willow thought and smiled. She admired the color. It shone in the bright sun. Willow heard a cracking. She looked around but saw nothing. She heard another crack and realized it was coming from the egg. The egg was hatching! A tiny pale snout peeked out from the top of the egg. Then, the whole head popped out! The baby peered around before looking up and breathed out a little bit of fire and smoke. Willow smiled at the dragon. The dragon broke out of the egg fully and tried to go to Sky. He must think she is his mom! Willow realized. Willow bent to bring him to Sky, but Sky snorted no. When the baby fell, Willow tried to help him, but Sky said no again. At last, the baby dragon reached Sky and collapsed onto her. Sky dried the baby by cleaning him with her forked tongue. ¡°What should I call him?¡± Willow wondered aloud. ¡°Will.¡± Sky responded. ¡°O-okay. ¡± Willow replied, surprised. She still wasn¡¯t used to Sky talking, even though many other dragons could. For the next week, Willow did the best she could to take care of Will. The baby dragon ate a lot, and refused to eat anything unless it was from Sky. A big problem was, Will would cry and squawk if Sky was gone for more than 5 minutes. Willow didn¡¯t really know how to hunt, so Sky was doing most of the work. Occasionally, Willow would manage to catch a squirrel or two, but that was it. Aside from that, the dragon seemed to get thirsty really quickly, especially after he had practiced his fire, which was a problem in itself. The baby would be constantly setting things on fire after he coughed or sneezed. Other times, he was simply feeling like it. Willow quickly realized that she would need to have a bucket of water nearby in case. Getting water and helping Will get to the water seemed to be Willow¡¯s only purpose. At the end of the week, Willow realized that they didn¡¯t have to rough it. All they had to do was go to the Skymaster and ask for help. Willow told Sky her plan and Sky agreed with a squawk. Sky put Will on her back and they set off, until Willow realized a problem- she didn¡¯t know where she was! Willow hopped on Sky¡¯s back and they flew upwards. Willow and Sky were worried about Will, but they would only be gone for a few minutes. Willow urged Sky to go into a wide circle, and Willow saw a sliver of marble. Willow and Sky flew back down and Will was there, waiting. Willow got off Sky and put Will on Sky. They set off in the direction that Willow saw the marble. They started out jogging, but Willow quickly got tired. Why did PE have to be hard? Then instead they set off at a brisk walk.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. They walked for what seemed like forever. Willow would occasionally trip and Sky would have to wait for Willow to get back up. The dense vegetation made it hard for them to see the marble, which was the castle, until they were a bit away. When it came in to view, Willow realized how much she had felt homesick. The village seemed to be extra busy. People were walking to their job, of course, but most were flying on dragons, some dragons didn¡¯t have wings, but they were extra fast runners, so a few ran through the mayhem. The town seemed extra busy today. Willow wondered why as she arrived at Skymaster. The school was as magnificent as Willow remembered. Willow went into the stables direction when a guard stopped her. Willow explained that she was dropping off a dragon. The guard let her pass. Willow went to a stablehand and explained that she found the dragon egg in the woods and it had hatched. The baby, named Will, thought Sky was his mother, and that he needed a home. The stablehand accepted the dragon and put him in a stall. He told Willow she would have nothing to worry about. Willow, exhausted from her walk and worrying, went to her dorm and slept for a while. She woke up in the middle of the night and went for a walk. She went to the willow tree and saw a small glow down the hill. She skidded down and saw a campfire. She went towards it and saw a cage. She snapped her mouth shut. She tip-toed over to the cage and peered through the bars. There was a teenage dragon in there! It was hard to tell the colors in the light, but it had three horns. Past the cage, there was a group of people around the campfire. They were laughing to themselves how easy it was to steal the dragon. ¡°They just let me waltz right in!¡± One man laughed. ¡°They didn¡¯t give him a second look as he walked out with a dragon!¡± A girl cackled. ¡°Much too easy. They should keep their memory dragons guarded much more closely.¡± Another man said. Memory dragon? Memory dragons are rare, so is this dragon¡­ SKY?! Willow thought. She bolted upright. She looked at all the people and memorized their faces when she saw a familiar one that she didn¡¯t need to memorize. It was Grey! He was with these dumb dragon-nappers! She looked at him sadly and her shoulders slumped. Why would her best friend be working to kidnap Sky? The devil thing was bad, but this was on a whole other level! The devil thing was an accident, but this couldn¡¯t be. No way. Grey looked up and saw her angry face. His eyes widened. He stiffened. He glanced from left to right and rubbed his hands on his pants. He slightly shook his head. Willow knew what that meant, she would have to wait. She looked once more at her sleeping Sky and crept away. She went to the willow tree and dozed on it until she felt herself being shaken awake. It was time to save Sky. Willow would have to deal with her anger later. Now was the time for action. Grey whispered to Willow his plan. They were going to free Sky and run for it. Fairly simple, but there were many things that could go wrong. Especially the fact that they forgot one key detail. Nonetheless, they proceeded with the plan. Grey stole the keys from a sleeping woman. They undid the lock and it made a satisfying - but loud - click. They slowly opened the door and woke Sky. Sky, still sleepy, looked at Willow and gave a happy chirp. Willow cringed. A sleeping person woke up. ¡°Hey! You there, boy! What do you think you¡¯re doing with that dragon of mine?¡± He shouted. Grey tried to act natural. ¡°Oh uh, she was getting restless so I decided to take her out for a walk.¡± He said back. ¡°Ah, leave her. She¡¯ll be fine in that cage.¡± He chuckled. ¡°Serves her right for that fight she gave us.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Grey replied. He shut and pretended to lock the cage. During the conversation, Willow had been whispering to Sky her plan. The man layed back down and fell asleep. Grey opened the cage again and they ran quietly. They had freed Sky successfully. School Willow had to immediately start school the day after she got back. She had to catch up on a lot of things, which would have been bearable if someone was willing to help her. Everyone just looked at her like she had the plague. She would go home and work then fall asleep. It was boring work, but after a month, she had caught up. She was then able to relax more and have some fun. She finally caught some time to have a chat with Grey. ¡°Hey! Grey! Wait up!¡± Willow called, chasing after Grey as he went to his dorm. He walked faster and looked over his shoulder. He relaxed slightly. ¡°Yes?¡± He said, stopping. ¡°I just wanted to ask you well, I was wondering¡­¡± Now that the time had come, Willow was very nervous. She didn¡¯t want to hurt his feelings or make him mad. ¡°Let¡¯s talk somewhere else.¡± Grey said. Willow nodded and she followed him into his dorm. ¡°I know what you are going to say. No, I didn¡¯t have fish for dinner.¡± It was a lame joke, but it lightened the mood an inch. ¡°Okay, okay. I joined them because I was walking around when I heard some guys talking about some memory dragon they were going to take. I figured it would be Sky and asked if I could help them. They agreed.¡± Grey said vaguely. ¡°Where were you? Why would they accept you to join them?¡± Willow was still a little mad at him and more than a little suspicious. ¡°Okay, look. I was at a thief''s market on the edge between Ajula and Morn.¡± Grey replied and tossed his head, getting his auburn hair out of his eyes. ¡°Why would you be at the thief¡¯s market, and Morn is another kingdom, right?¡± Willow questioned. ¡°To your second question yes and to your first question, I was there in hopes of, well, I don¡¯t know. When times were very hard when I was young, I would head there and someone there would sometimes spare me some food. They were a friend. I guess that¡¯s it.¡± Grey replied. He hung his head, ashamed to talk about his past. ¡°Oh.¡± Willow said. Her suspicions were diminished. ¡°I didn¡¯t know.¡± They sat there for a moment, thinking. ¡°Well,¡± Willow said, standing up abruptly, ¡°I should be going now. My roommates will be wondering where I am.¡± She walked out of the door and went to her dorm. The next day, Willow went to school and someone approached her. It was Ebony. ¡°Are you still in the club?¡± Ebony said, straight to the point. ¡°Oh, uh, not really? I¡¯m too busy. Sorry!¡± Willow said apologetically. ¡°Hmph!¡± Ebony said and stalked off. Willow shrugged and went to her first class. She went to Mr. Stan¡¯s class. ¡°What will we do today, Mr. Stan?¡± Willow asked. ¡°You practice fancy flying.¡± ¡°Ooh! That sounds exciting.¡± Willow said. ¡°Should I get Sky?¡± ¡°Who else will you fly on?¡± He said teasingly. Willow smiled and ran and got Sky. ¡°Follow me!¡± He said when Willow returned with Sky. They exited the classroom and walked for a short time before arriving at a big open, dusty, area. There were circles on sticks, hoops. ¡°Hop on Sky.¡± Mr. Stan said. Willow complied. ¡°Now go up to the hoops and fly through them.¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°Which one?¡± Willow asked. ¡°The biggest one.¡± ¡°Alrighty!¡± Willow said and flew through the biggest hoop. ¡°Nice job! Now practice twisting as you hover in the air!¡± Mr. Stan said. ¡°Oh goodness.¡± Willow said and repeated the instructions to Sky. Sky did it and Willow almost fell out. ¡°AHH!¡± Willow screamed as she flipped upside down. Mr. Stan laughed. ¡°I was about to tell you how to do it without almost falling out of your dragon.¡± As he explained it, Willow did the things he said. They seemed like good things to do anyways. ¡°Now try again.¡± He told her. Willow tried again and stayed on her dragon successfully. ¡°That was fun!¡± Willow exclaimed. ¡°Good job! Now try doing that while going through that hoop!¡± Mr. Stan encouraged her. Willow flew and twisted through the hoop at the same time and felt like it was awesome! ¡°That was so cool!¡± ¡°This time go through the smaller hoop.¡± Mr. Stan instructed. ¡°Okay!¡± Willow said. She went through the second biggest hoop and missed a little, so Sky bonked into the rim of the hoop. Willow massaged where Sky had gotten hit. She tried again and barely made it through. She went through the third hoop successfully and celebrated. She went through the last two hoops. ¡°Very good job, Willow!¡± Mr. Stan complimented. ¡°Go through all of them in quick succession.¡± ¡°Thank you!¡± Willow said. She went through the hoops and Sky got hit a few times. ¡°Try a bit slower this time, you can build up speed later.¡± Mr. Stan suggested. Willow nodded and did it. She flew back to the start and did it again. ¡°Look at the time! It is time for your next class.¡± Mr. Stan said. Willow went to her next class. ¡°Class! Settle down. Today is my second favorite day of school. Today you will be flying on your dragons around the kingdom! This is something that you might do when you are older.¡± The teacher said, cutting into conversations. ¡°Ooh!¡± The class said and broke off into excited chatter. The teacher clapped. ¡°I have split you all into sections. Abby, Amber, Lia, Jones, and Anya, you have the castle area.¡± She went on, listing the names. ¡°Masey, Lina, Willow, Aalia, and Jakob, you get the backwoods area. Everybody got it? Good. Come get your map and head off!¡± The class had broken off into groups as she called out the names, and people were yelling their places. ¡°Backwoods!¡± A student called. ¡°Beach!¡± Another yelled. ¡°Town edge!¡± Yet another student screamed. The classroom was in chaos. Willow went to her group and they went to the maps and each got one. They examined the area they had been assigned. ¡°I¡¯ll get the area nearest to the school.¡± Masey told everyone. ¡°That seems like a big area for one person. Mind if I help? I could take the left and you take the right?¡± Aalia said. ¡°Okay, that sounds fine. Willow, would you mind taking the area closest to the edge of the kingdom?¡± Masey replied, looking at Willow. ¡°Okay. Um, where would my area be?¡± Willow responded. ¡°Here to here.¡± Masey said. ¡°Who wants middle left and who wants middle right?¡± She asked the group. ¡°I¡¯ll get left.¡± Lina said and raised her hand. ¡°Then I¡¯ve got the right.¡± Jacob said. He nodded his head and everyone went to the stables to retrieve their dragons. Willow flew away first, and she urged Sky to hurry. ¡°Wait, Willow!¡± Masey called and Willow slowed Sky. ¡°Yes?¡± Willow said when Masey had caught up to her. ¡°I just wanted to say¡­ I mean, I wanted to ask if you¡¯d want to hang out later?¡± She said awkwardly. ¡°Sure.¡± Willow said then flew Sky far ahead and patrolled her area. She noticed nothing unusual. The thought struck her that she would have to tell the staff about the kidnappers. She mentally noted that. She flew back after a few hours and a few people from her group were back. She waited and waited, but Jacob didn¡¯t return. A long time passed but he never returned. Willow told everyone that she was going to look for Jacob but the teacher stopped her. ¡°I¡¯ll go look for the child. You children go back to class and wait.¡± She watched them walk scatteredly to the building before flying away. ¡°Waste of time.¡± The teacher, Mrs. Epe, muttered. ¡°I mean, how hard is it to fly around and look?¡± She flew around the woods and saw the boy resting in a grove of trees. ¡°HEY YOU BOY! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!¡± She screamed down at him. He quickly stood up and hopped on his dragon. He flew up towards Mrs. Epe. ¡°Sorry!¡± He said. ¡°I had to personally come out here and find you!¡±She snapped. ¡°I had to disrupt my whole class so I could find you! You ruined my second favorite day!¡± With that, she flew off like a storm. ¡°Sorry Mrs. Epe!¡± He said again before following. Meanwhile, Willow was so bored! She had cleaned Sky and fed her, and checked on Will, but the teacher still wasn¡¯t back! The hourglasses went out to go to the next class so Willow did. You know what, me? Willow thought. Maybe I don¡¯t need to be the person who does everything. I do want to save Ajula, but I don¡¯t have to do it alone. I will have to get some more people to help me. That would be a hard task, but she knew she could do it. Falling Grey wandered around the grass, wondering what will happen to him now. He was an escaped convict, so no one would ever take him in now. He kicked a pebble, hating the devil so much he could scream, so he did. His eyes widened as he realized he had made a mistake. He ran into the shelter of the trees and sighed. His shoulders slumped and he curled into a ball. He shook as hot tears trickled from his eyes. He thought of Willow and wondered if she would ever trust him again. He looked up and realized that crying wasn¡¯t going to change anything, only doing something will. So, he picked himself up, dried his eyes and set off for the library. He was going to do some research on memory dragons and maybe the devil, in hopes of helping Willow. When he arrived at the library, the person at the door looked at him suspiciously, probably suspecting that she knew Grey, but let him pass. He went to the dragon section and searched for memory dragons and found a few books on them. He flipped through them. He only stopped at the parts that talked about their abilities, and read all about it. After an hour of reading, he closed the books and was quite bored of reading, so he left the library, which was called the Intelligible Library, and ran home. He spent the rest of the day thinking through what he had read and wondered what the devil was up to. Probably grumping about how he couldn¡¯t find anyone else to do his work. Grey smiled at the thought and fell asleep on the couch. Willow rode around on Sky for fun. Willow had started Sky off at a slow run and had headed towards the redwood forest. As the trees grew denser, Willow slowed Sky a little. Eventually, Willow flew on Sky. She practiced twisting in the air and had a lot of fun. She whooped as she soared through the pale blue sky. Willow wondered what the clouds would feel like. She flew up and found out. They looked fluffy, but they were wet! She laughed as her hair stuck in wet strands. She looked towards the big sky and remembered why Sky was called Sky. She leaned forward on Sky, relaxing. She rested her head between Sky¡¯s horns. Sky¡¯s head was kind of wet, but Willow didn¡¯t mind. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Suddenly, Willow started to slip! Sky¡¯s scales scraped Willow¡¯s face and she screamed. Willow scrambled for something to hold onto, but she was riding bareback because Sky liked it better. Her hands scraped against the scales. Sky, panicked from Willow¡¯s screams, stopped, but to stop, she had to go vertical, and Willow¡¯s descent increased in speed, and she fell from Sky¡¯s back. Willow started breathing quickly and curled into a ball, her face and hands in another world of pain, and her panic was in the other. She searched rapidly for Sky, and saw her looking for Willow. ¡°SKY! HELP ME!!¡± Willow yelled at Sky. Sky turned towards the noise and swooped beneath Willow, stretching a wing out to catch her. She caught Willow successfully, but quickly after started to lean to one side, causing Willow to slide off. Willow started to sob with stress unknowingly and saw the ground was coming faster than Willow would have liked. She counted the seconds until her death. Three, two, one- Her count was off by two seconds, and Sky broke her fall. Her wing jerked down from the force, and Willow came with it and she hit the floor- hard. Everything went black. An interminable amount of time later, Willow opened her eyes into a small cozy room. ¡°Oh, good. You¡¯re awake!¡± A voice Willow hadn¡¯t heard before said. It was a little squeaky. ¡°Ah! Stay down now. Don¡¯t rush it. Take it slow.¡± They said when Willow tried to sit up, and gently pushed her down. When her grogginess went away, she turned her head from side to side, and saw that it was a pleasant room with a bed that Willow was in, and another two beside it. The main color scheme was a dark red and gold highlights. There was a chair by every bed, cushioned with red pillows. A face was peering into Willow¡¯s, it was deeply tanned and had short black hair framing the face. They had blue eyes. The lips were pursed with concern. ¡°My name is Mora. Someone found you on a patrol and brought you to me. I¡¯m this area¡¯s healer.¡± After these words, she rested her hand on Willow¡¯s forehead and looked relieved. ¡°Whoof! For a second there, I thought you had passed out from heat stroke or a high fever. But nope! Your temperature is completely normal.¡± Mora told her, smiling. She frowned as she said her next words. ¡°Now, would you mind telling me what happened?¡± She put her hand gently behind Willow¡¯s head and she realized there were bandages there. Willow looked down and there were bandages on her hands, too. The world spun for a moment for Willow. She waited for a second when the world stopped going crazy. ¡°I¡­ I was flying on my dragon, Sky, and I fell and¡­¡± The effort was too much and she leaned back down. Mora smiled. ¡°Thanks for telling me. Now, rest!¡± ¡°W-wait.¡± Willow said weakly. ¡°What.. about¡­ Sky?¡± ¡°Oh! The person that found you took your dragon to the nearby doctor.¡± Her brow furrowed. ¡°Her wing looked pretty bad. She¡¯s probably okay though!¡± Mora said, trying to make Willow feel better. ¡°Good¡­¡± Willow said then fell asleep.