HeadingLighting The Way: A Dragon Tale
By Vanessa Vanterpol
Chapter 1:
When I was five years old, my mother told me that I would dream of a key, shortly before my 15th birthday, that would unlock the cage of my dragon. From that day on, I started counting the days until I turned 15. Finally, it was the week before my 15th birthday, and I was excited to be so close to getting my dragon! Unfortunately, the days leading up to my birthday weren’t the best. Things changed when I told Heather, my former best friend, that the key in my dreams was tiny. I had expected it to be at least bigger than my hand in size. Heather had a loose tongue and told everyone in school that the key in my dreams was the embarrassing size of a strawberry. Since then, I have been the most bullied kid on the island. The principal even laughed at me and felt so bad afterward that he let me go home early.
That day, I went home brimming with anger, but I tried to think positively and calm down.
A few days later, I was relaxing at home, excited for my biggest birthday ever tomorrow. I sat on my couch eating salty chips with my dad. I didn't know anyone could eat chips that loudly. I held my tongue though because of my kind heart.
"When I was five years old, my mother told me i would dream of a key"
“Shara, you know that even though your key is small, you could get lucky and get a medium-sized dragon. Maybe it will be like you, strong with possibilities.” Dad said encouragingly. His dragon, Tressie, who was sprawled on the rug in front of us, rolled over. I shrugged and replied, “I appreciate your attempt to cheer me up, but my hopes are low.” I had always heard that big keys meant big cages, which meant big eggs, which meant big dragons, and big dragons meant big powers. But mine is small.
“It could be very small and cute, like you.!" He said as he grinned widely and hugged me. The TV flashed, making us both jump. It showed the words: ALERT!
LOPAS HAVE TAKEN OVER MAREN!
The Lopas are fanged bloodsucking balls of darkness from behind the stars that hate all life besides their own. Dragons and humans have been warring with Lopas for centuries. Every child is told stories about Lopas.
The government hasn’t been able to keep Lopas off our islands and is waiting for a light dragon to come and save us. But we haven’t had one for years and when we have, the pairings have been unsuccessful between humans and dragons, so the magic didn’t work. The government security forces can’t keep everywhere protected but they do their best to protect homes and transportation.
I glanced at the clock on the wall above the door. “It’s late, Dad. Shouldn’t we go to bed now? Mom will be mad if she comes home and finds out we are awake when I have such a big day tomorrow.” I yawned.
“Sure. You don’t want to fall asleep when you just got your new dragon and miss all the fun." Dad said.
“Sure don’t,” I replied. I walked upstairs to my room, which had never looked so comfy. The stickers on the pink walls lead to a fluffy bed with curtains hanging around it. I changed into pajamas, brushed my teeth, and climbed into bed. Then I closed my eyes and dreamt of tomorrow.
Chapter 2:
I opened my eyes and for a moment my mind was groggy. Then I remembered it was a special day and my body filled with energy. I couldn’t wait to meet my dragon!
I shot out of bed, changed, and hustled down the stairs.
Mom was flipping some chocolate chip pancakes. “Hello, darling! Ready for your big day?” She asked.
“Yeah! I'm so excited!” I replied. Mom added more batter into the pan after putting some pancakes on a plate. She slid the plate toward me. Her dragon, Luna, who specializes in food magic, spawned sausages on my plate (but Mom is WAY better at pancakes than Luna). With an elegant tuck of her wings, she dove headfirst into her bed, which was in a corner of the kitchen. Once I finished my delicious breakfast, I stood up, and Dad entered the room.
“The bus is outside,” said Mom.
“Give us a hug before you go to the bus!” Dad said.
I gave them a tight hug and said, “See you later!” Then I turned around, hurried out the door, and ran to the bus.
“Find a seat, sit down, and put on your seat belt.” The bus driver said in a gruff voice. “You're in luck, there’s only one other person to pick up today.”
"I couldn't wait to meet my dragon!"
“Sure,” I replied. I found a seat near the front of the bus, pulled out some thread, and started finger-knitting to kill time. After a few minutes, the bus lurched to a stop. The doors hissed open.
“Oh, come on! Shara's here?” A mocking voice said. Oh no, I thought, I know that voice. I looked up to see Heather. If she had a title, it would be “The Betrayer.” I felt stupid for forgetting that we shared the same birthday.
“Yeah. I'm here. Deal with it.” I said angrily. “Can you stop being mean for once!?”
“Why should I listen to someone who is going to get a small dragon?” Heather shrieked.
“No arguing on the bus!” The driver called. Anger flashed across Heather’s face, but she sat down and pulled out a book. I gritted my teeth, closed my eyes, and turned away from her.
“ TheBetrayer”
Chapter 3:
“The bus came to a stop at the dock. The doors opened and Heather and I exited. A smiling woman was waiting on a boat.
“Come on! You want to get home very quickly to celebrate, and Tornado and I can help with that!” She called. “By the way, my name’s Yeta.” Tornado, her dragon, was circling the mast of the boat.
Heather broke into a run, sprinting for the boat. In a low voice, so only I could hear, she said rudely, “I don’t want to even be near you.” I just followed her. We both jumped onto the boat. “Hello, Yeta,” she said excitedly. “Let’s get going. I want to be there ASAP, okay?”
“Sure, sure. Get below deck.” Yeta said.
“OK!” I said brightly. I went down the stairwell. There was a couch down there! How did that even fit in here! There was also a bed, bean bags scattered around the room, and a glass ceiling that showed what was happening on the deck above. I plopped down on the bed.
“Ah, Shara, I want the bed so I can rest. You get the couch. No, you only get that bean bag.” Heather said from behind me. I turned to look at her. She was pointing at the smallest bean bag in the room.
“Nope.” I said calmly as I got up from the bed and sat down on the couch.
“Go sit on your bean bag.” She sneered.
“You're mean, and I'm ignoring you.” I replied. Heather went red in the face and had just stepped closer, her hands raised to shove me off the couch when the boat jerked forward.
“Whoa!” She exclaimed, and the momentum made her fall into the bed. She couldn’t seem to get up but pretended the fall was on purpose to protect her wounded dignity. I couldn’t contain my giggles, so I hid them by looking down at my finger knitting again.
After fifteen minutes, I saw Heather get up and move towards me on the couch grumpily.
She sneered, "Get off the couch, moron. ”
“Fine,” I said, sitting up. “I wanted to read anyway. ” I got off the bed and crossed to the other side of the room to a shelf filled with books. How did the books not fall off the shelf? I tried to take one off it. They were packed so tightly that they couldn’t fall. By the time I managed to pull a book out, the boat had slowed down dramatically. I headed up to the deck, where I could see the hulking mountain ahead.
“There’s the dock!” Yeta said from behind me suddenly. I jumped, then turned around. She surprised me because I hadn’t seen her approach.
“Don’t scare me like that!” I exclaimed. Yeta grinned and said, “Sorry.” As we reached the dock, Heather joined us. The boat came to a stop. I hopped off. Yeta called after us, “Good luck!”
“Bye, Yeta!” I called.
“Bye!” She replied. I walked toward the parking lot, where a taxi was waiting. Heather followed behind me at first but hurried in front of me when she saw the taxi to get the best seat.
We both got into the car and the driver said with a smile, “Two birthday girls, huh? Well, put on your seat belt. Let’s get going!” Heather and I strapped in, and the car began to move. After five minutes, Heather turned to look at me.
“Shara, are you prepared to have a tiny dragon, while I have a huge one?” Heather asked.
“Yes, Heather. You are superior and I am not. I get that.” I replied sarcastically. “Good.”
“Here we are!” The driver said suddenly, pulling up in front of the mountain which got bigger as we got closer. We got out of the car and looked around. We were at Mount Renta, home to dragon eggs! Above the entrance to the mountain hung a sign that read, “NEW ARRIVALS!
COME GET YOUR DRAGONS!”
Heather rushed toward the cave, and I followed her. When we reached it, we felt a gust of hot air.
“Enter!” A voice called from within the shadows. We walked inside. There was a row of anvils next to a pile of metals, rocks, and gems that were in different shapes and sizes. There was an orange dragon who swam in the pool of lava in the corner and a plump man standing near the pile.
COMEGET YOUR DRAGONS!
“Hi!” the man said enthusiastically. “I’m Will. Here's what you do. First, you need to close your eyes and reach out your hand. Whatever material your key is made from will float into your hand and you must take it over there,” he said, gesturing to the anvils. “Second, you must pick up the bag of tools and tell it every detail of the key from your dream, or just picture it while holding it. Then set the material on the anvil. The tools will do the work to create your key. Third, place it in the key slot on the conveyor belt. It will take you to your dragon egg to unlock your cage. Go get started!”
“Sure!” I said, my excitement growing. Heather and I walked over to the pile of materials. We both held one of our hands in front of us and then closed our eyes. For a moment, we waited. Then something hit my hand. I opened my eyes. A shimmering piece of red diamond rested in my palm. I glanced at Heather. She was holding a piece of grey rock. She opened her eyes and saw what she had. Anger flashed across her face, and she tried to shove her rock into my hand and take my diamond. She failed because I dodged her and threw my finger knitting in her face. We walked over to the anvils and the tools to work. For me, this lasted for ten minutes. I was watching the dust fly when the tools flew back into the bag.
“Mine is done! I called. I glanced at Heather. She was still waiting. "A shimmering piece of red diamond rested in my palm"
Will came over and led me through a dark tunnel and to the still conveyor belt, which had a pillar with a slit. I inserted my key and got on. Suddenly, with a rattling jolt, the conveyor belt started to move. It began slowly at first, then picked up speed, until I was hurtling past cages of eggs at a frightening rate. All the cages and eggs got bigger as I went deeper into the mountain. A wall suddenly loomed in front of me. I was going to crash! All I could do was close my eyes.
Chapter 4:
But there was no impact! I open one eye and gasp. The wall was an illusion! Behind it was the most beautiful dragon egg I'd ever seen. It was as big as an elephant and covered with a rainbow of colors flowing together. The conveyor belt stopped. I couldn’t wait another second to free the egg. I walked over to the cage. The lock was just the right size for my key. I opened the cage and stepped inside. Wow, this is amazing, I thought in wonder. I reached out and touched the egg. As soon as I did, it started to vibrate, and then a crack formed. It was hatching! Suddenly, a chunk of eggshell fell off and the rest of the egg cracked in two. Standing before me was the most majestic dragon ever!
“I am Quanta. Who are you?” A voice asked in my head. This was my first time hearing the dragon’s voice!
“I am Shara. I am yours and you are mine.” “Correct. Though something is amiss. We should go before-” A loud crash cut off her sentence as the stone to my right shattered, creating an opening in the side of the cave. I could now see outside, and standing there was a monstrous Lopa! Quanta opened her mouth and blasted the creature with a wave of light. When she stopped, there was nothing left.
Quant a opened her mouth and blasted the creature with a wave of light"
“Get on my back,” she growled. “I’m going to fly.” I quickly scrambled onto Quanta and gripped her neck. She ran gracefully along the ground and then jumped into the air and took flight. As we left the cave through the opening, I looked down and was shocked. Lopas were swarming the entire island! Some were getting on boats to the other islands! I could see some bodies scattered on the ground. Human and dragon, and every other animal. I saw Heather's body among others. She was still. Way too still. I went down to check on her. She had a large gash across her chest.
When we got close, she faintly whispered, “Can you heal me? I haven’t got my dragon yet and I was attacked, and I need help.”
I thought about everything she had done to me. Memories flashed through my head, including her telling everyone at school about my key, bullying me, and always trying to put herself first. I hesitated. But then, I thought about the times when we were friends, when she was kind, and the only one I could trust. I have always chosen to be kind and leaving her there would forfeit a piece of who I am. I also hoped this moment would be a good chance for her to learn from mistakes. By helping her, maybe she would learn to stop doubting people.
“Quanta, may you please heal her?” I asked.
“Yes. It will be very bright.” Quanta said. I shielded my eyes and after a flash of light, I looked to see that her gash had healed instantly. “Go hide, Heather. Hide and live.” I said. I turned back to Quanta.
“Let’s go. ” We flew back into the sky.
“We need to stop the Lopas!” I yelled over the wind. Why is no one here fighting?
“How? I am five minutes old!” Quanta yelled back. “You are a powerful light dragon and I have your magic, right? This is perfect, we can take down the Lopas once and for all, if we work together.”
“Ok, whatever you say, let’s drive the Lopas away!” She said it in a musical and rhyming way. “What’s the plan?”
“We should stop the boats before we attack the ones on the island to limit their spreading.”
“Affirmative!” Quanta pulled into a dive. My hands tingled. So that’s what magic feels like...We are above a boat and together we blast it with light. How exciting! We took out the Lopas on every boat leaving the island.
“I have an idea! One of us will make a wall of light around the island and close it in and the other will blast the Lopas trapped inside!” I shouted. “I call blaster!” Quanta said. I focused my magic and a brilliant wave of light rose around the entire island. “Go quickly!” I warned. She leaped into action and magic erupted from her. I had to send a lot of my energy into the wall, but as it closed in, it was easier to hold up. A couple of times Lopas ran into the light and disintegrated before Quanta could reach them. By the time the last Lopa had been defeated, we were both exhausted. Magic takes quite a lot of energy.
Time had flown by, and it was already night.
“Let’s sleep for a bit, then we can go to the other islands that are under attack.” I suggested. We had saved Mount Renta and the rest of Keeno Island, but needed to also save Talos, Maren, Wonap, Qualgen, and Faghor.
“Fine. My eyes are closing anyway. ” Quanta sighed.
“Wake up, Shara! We overslept!! We must go to other islands, remember? Hopefully, we are not too late.” Quanta said urgently in my head.
“Fine,” I groaned. I heaved myself onto her back and we raced into the sky. When we got to the nearest island, Talos, the Lopas had already captured everyone and had started feeding. Innocent people died because we had a nap.
No time for self-pity, we needed to act fast. Instead of our strategy last time, we armed ourselves with light. Quanta encased herself in light and I gave myself armor and weapons of light. Together we fought every single one. We had just cornered the last one when it leaped forward and plunged its fangs into my leg and tried to suck my blood.
Quanta, her eyes wide with fear, hit it with her tail so hard that it flew into the sea. Then my mind registered the pain. Oh, the pain! The excruciating pain that drove me to the ground and came in agonizing waves. I couldn’t focus. Quanta looked me over, and then her eyes filled with rage. The kind of rage that could devour the world.
"the kind of rage that could devour the world"
“I will tear him to pieces.” She said with lethal quietness. Then she turned around and launched into the sea after the Lopa. I lay on the stone ground for what felt like hours. Finally, Quanta came back with Lopa blood, which was black, smeared across her body.
“May I heal you?” She asked.
“Yes, please do.” I could barely grunt out. Quanta opened her mouth and a cascade of small lights rained down upon the two holes in my leg. I watched, amazed, as the injury knitted together. It was as if it was never there. “Thank you, Quanta,” I said gratefully. “It’s nothing.” She said, “Now we should focus on saving the remaining islands.”
This went on for a while. What went on then was only described in two words: flashing and healing. We flew from island to island, until we finally came to Wonap. And now, after days of battle, we had the last Lopa cornered. Together, we both sent forth a beam of light that left a smoking hole where it had been standing.
“We did it, Quanta! We actually did it! We got rid of all the Lopas!” I rejoiced. Quanta shared my joy, but after a second, her eyes widened. “Shara, look out!” She screamed. I turned around a second too late, to see a Lopa lunging at me. So, we had missed one... oops. Before I could move, the Lopa sank its fangs into my neck. Quanta leaped at the Lopa, and that was the last thing I saw before everything faded to black.
Chapter 5 (The last one):
I woke up, then almost closed my eyes again. Quanta’s face was right there but was then replaced with... Mom and Dad’s behind it?
“Mom! Dad!” I shot up and gave them both a giant hug. Tears slid down my cheeks. I was with my parents! Everything was going to be OK. Then a wave of dizziness came over me, and I crashed back down. “What happened?” I asked and Mom glanced at Dad.
Dad explained, "When we got reports that Lopas were beginning to invade, we tried desperately to reach you but couldn’t. So, along with everyone else, we raided the mall, supermarket, and all of the stores, and went home to lock down and wait. After hours of waiting, we saw a dragon in the sky! But it turned away quickly and left. Four days after that, the dragon came back, this time with you unconscious in her claws. Your dragon, Quanta, had somehow tracked us down. She brought you to us and asked why you weren’t waking up after her healing light. So, we rushed you to a hospital. Luckily this hospital was fit for dragons and humans.
After four days, you finally woke up.”
“So, I’ve been asleep for four days? Should I eat food or something?” I asked. I felt very weak, hungry, and thirsty.
“Oh, sorry! We got you some pineapple pizza. Here." Dad picked up the box and handed it to me.
“We heard what you did to save all of us and are so proud of you!” Mom said.
I smiled and took a bite of pizza. A wave of happiness rolled over me. My small key led me to a light dragon that I was able to work with to save the islands. I went from being a victim of bullies to the hero of the islands. I could rest because there were no more Lopas. And most importantly, I was with my family who always believed in me. Oh, and I had a pineapple pizza. Yum.
P.S: The next day, I reunited with Heather, who found her kindness again. Oh, and she got a small dragon. Hehe.
