A Little Word From The Author
Spoiler
So, I've been writing this for years. Constantly revising and editing, ever since I was nine years old. And I really want it to be a good story, because my dream was always to get a series going and get it published. I'm LOVE some feedback and criticism. This land is entirely of my own creation, which means there are going to be things that could never happen on earth. I hope to upload a map I've drawn, and pictures, but that might be a while yet. Bear with me. xD
Creatures
Spoiler
I use a lot of common mythological creatures, i.e. dragons, unicorns, centaurs, pegasi, but I've also thought of some on my own.
Chapter One; Violet Dawn
I stared at the high, vaulted ceiling for a few moments, waiting for my scrambled brain to reorganize itself. Sitting up, I stretched my arms, wondering what it was that had woken me up. I glanced around my room again, noting the pale light against the wall above my bed. With a sigh, I disentangled myself from my bedsheets and strode onto the balcony, looking east, to the sunrise.
The sky was already painted with vivid colors, red and orange and yellow. I watched it calmly, shivering as the wind blew my long, tangled hair away from my face and brushed against my bare legs. I retreated back into my room, drawing the thick curtains over the doorway to the balcony. Stripping off my nightgown, I pulled on a pair of tight black pants and a forest green shirt.
Edging my door open, I glanced up and down the hall. No one in sight. I slipped out the doorway, leaving it slightly ajar, and darted quietly to the stairs. I headed down the stairs slowly and silently, the curving staircase bringing me down three flights. I paused at the bottom, glancing around the large, airy room with caution. Seeing no soul in sight, I left the tall tower, closing the door with a soft click.
I ran across the courtyard full pelt for the shadows. Clinging to the castle wall, I expected someone to call out. Hearing nothing, I made my way along the wall to the rear of the castle, where the great drawbridge stood, its portcullis down and the bridge drawn up. A smaller door sat inside the portcullis, and I opened this. The rusty hinges let out a horrible squeal, and I froze, hearing my own heartbeat rushing in my ears and tasting the metal of fear. After a quiet few moments, I exited the castle, and put a long plank over the moat. I hurriedly headed down the plank, towards the mountains which surrounded the castle.
I entered a small cave at the bottom of the tallest mountain, and squeezed myself through a small crevice in the back. This crevice opened into another cave, roomy, with a spiral staircase made of stone marching upwards. I trotted up the stairs, stepping onto a small landing at the top. The landing had several small, human-size entrances into different caves, and I walked into the one on the far left. A large mass lay in a dip in the floor in the center of the cave, and I nudged it with my toe.
Hellfire red eyes opened and stared balefully up at me. The creature lying in the cave sat up, towering several feet above me. Dark blue scales gleamed even in the dim lighting of the cave, and huge, bat-like wings stretched open. A mouth full of glistening, gleaming white fangs opened, and the dragon tapped extraordinarily long, orange-brown talons on the stony floor. He swung his head around to look out the main entrance of the cave, and his mouth opened.
"Meghan! Why'd you get me up so early?!"
I hid a smile, biting my lip. "Would you believe that it's just because I love you so much?"
A dull stare was my only answer. Shrugging, I repeated the process through seven more caves and two more landings, until I was at the topmost, biggest cave of the mountain. "Violeta!" I sang out, and the dark violet mound of scales stirred, pale blue eyes opening and staring at me. With a sigh, she sat up and stretched, and I felt a warm stirring in my heart. Violet was my dragon, my heart, the other half of my soul, and I literally could not live without her.
She lowered her head until she could look me in the eye, and I scratched a knot of scales at the corner of her jaw. The dragoness hummed with pleasure, deep in her throat, and the cave vibrated.
"I suppose I'm taking the others hunting?"
I smiled. "Why else would I wake you so early?"
She shrugged huge shoulders, and yawned. The shortest of her fangs was the length of my entire arm, from shoulder to fingertips. She shook herself, and shuffled to the back of her cave, where a spring of clear cold water lay, and took a deep gulp. I made my way to the ledge at the front of Violeta's cave, sitting there with my feet dangling off the thick stone, thousands of feet in the air.
"I wish you wouldn't do that," Violeta muttered as she stepped onto the ledge behind me.
"What? Don't you think you could catch me?" I teased.
"I'd rather not take the chance." With the scraping of a huge heavy beast on stone behind me, the dragoness laid down, curling the tip of her tail around me.
I quietly regarded her. She was a slim dragon, and small for her breed; not that there were many to base that off of. She was a member of the rare Indras Celestials, one of the largest dragons in existence. She herself was just under seventy tons, and nearly three hundred feet long. Her scales were a deep, dark violet, her belly, throat and neck a lighter shade of lavender. Her talons and teeth were a gleaming snow white, and a ruff of slim white horns framed her face, with a delicate membrane suspended between the horns. Her eyes were a bright, light blue, much like my own.
"Vi," I said, and she glanced at me. "You really should take them hunting."
With a nod, she stood, and hurled herself off the ledge and into the air with a joyful cry. The dawning sunlight sparkled off her scales, turning her into a beautiful point of light; from the lower caves came the other dragons.
Jade, a dragon not much smaller than Violeta, had lived in Mystic Land for twenty-three years, nearly her entire life. She was a deep, moss green, with a sunny yellow underbelly and wings, with bright green eyes and gleaming white spikes along her back.
Emerald was also green, but much smaller; nearer to twenty-five tons or so. She was a lighter green, with a pair of ivory horns jutting from her forehead. Ivory spikes ran from the tip of her nose to the tip of her tail, and her underbelly was of the same color.
Ignis was a deep red, with black underbelly and throat. He had vivid yellow markings along his forehead and jawbones, as well as yellow horns and a double row of spikes along his back, which joined into one when they reached his tail. His eyes were a mixture between orange and golden yellow, and he was a bit larger than Emerald.
Snowstorm was grey and blue; his eyes were a bright red, and he had a stocky, muscular build, and was larger than Ignis.
Seether, Vile, and Crymson were all around the same size, ten or eleven tons. Seether was a deep blue, with an orange-brown underbelly and talons; his eyes were hellfire red. Vile had a sleek, slim build, a lighter blue than Seether and venom yellow markings over his face; his underbelly and eyes were the same color. Crymson was a blood red, with a pale yellow underbelly, green eyes, and a stocky build.
I watched the small flock head northeast, towards the Silver Forest, scales gleaming like gems. Looking over the land, it all seemed so peaceful, so calm.
What could ever go wrong?