Aerconia's Secret

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. This Valley has the name of Aerconia. Flowing from the very roots of all the magical plants, and deep in the very hearts of every mythical creature roaming the lands is magic.

The story about to unfold would make greater sense if we start with the Valley not yet filled with those dragons.

Running through the forest, my legs are going as fast as they can, while the soles of my ripped shoes are trying to hold on. The weight of my bag is slowing me down, but it's not going to have me get caught by the one chasing me. I'm in no danger at all. I'm loving the game. I may be nine-teen but a game of hide and seek is still the best thing to play in a forest. I manage to find a spot behind a row of trees standing close together. I'm hiding from my friend Ryder. I hear him calling out to me.

"Holly I think you went past the boundary cause it's impossible to find you"

"I didn't go that far out !"

"Great ! So you admit to going past our set area"

I realize I should have stayed quiet, my mouth tends to speak faster than my brain processes it. Suddenly I hear footsteps behind me, and before I can run to a new spot the hood of my sweater is pulled back.

"You can't just switch spots like that. It’s called hide and seek. Not run from your friends forever." Ryder smirks.

I mimic Ryder’s speech with an exaggerated tone, "Not run from your friends forever." I wave away his now annoyed expression.

We walk back down the trail and find Jacob and Ameera sitting on some boulders. Jacob looks up, "You're always the last one found yet you refuse to be the seeker" he rests his chin on his fist.

"That's cause I'm not a good seeker." I responded.

Ameera gets up from her rock, "You already make the mistake of always running as your method of hiding."

"And yours is going to the closest possible place to hide."

She crosses her arms, "It's called stealth. You need to get to a place quickly and remain quiet. Stay hidden while still on the lookout. Duh."

"At least you guys have methods. I've tried them and they never work for me." Jacob pouts and slouches. I walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. "You may be the first always found-", he raises a brow looking at me but I continue, "But that just means you have your own qualities. You have other things you're better at than hide and seek."

A shiver goes down my back and I look to my left quickly. Everyone's eyes look in the same direction. Ryder follows my eyes and looks back to me, "What is it ?" he asks. I shake away the feeling as I revert my eyes to the ground. "I don't know, just a weird feeling."

"You know sometimes weird feelings are callings." says Ameera slowly. "Supposedly it's fates way of telling you where to go."

"And where did you read that ? From another of your magic websites you read online ?", stammers Jacob. Ameera gives him the side eye and continues, "They are called words of wisdom. Now who's to say they aren't real if it's not something you can even see or experiment on."

Ryder’s eyes light up, "Isn't it like that saying if you wake up from being asleep it means someone is watching you ?". Ameera gives him the thumbs up. Jacob slouches more replying, "Cause that's totally something I need to know going to sleep.".

"You said it yourself that Ameera reads weird articles of wisdom or whatever, so don't believe it" I assured Jacob.

"THEY AREN'T WEIRD !! They aren't even- I give up.", stated Ameera. We all laugh as Ameera is clearly losing brain cells trying to convince us otherwise. Jacob looks at his phone, "We should head back before it gets late."

Ryder gives a smug look, "You're the only one who cares about the time, there's still a sunset."

"But reminding you we have a curfew and we need to listen to Mom's orders" he presses. Ryder rolls his eyes. Despite the two not looking alike, they were indeed brothers, opposites these two were.

We all start walking down the forest path that returns to the neighborhood, when the same shiver from before returns and my eyes are pulled behind me. Only this time they lock. I'm staring at a black silhouette that looks at me once before stepping behind some trees and disappearing. A black like mist is emitting behind it as it walks. It's white eyes having the same effect. My mind was not comprehending what I was seeing in time to establish what it was. Regardless I still felt an urge. It was a familiar feeling. Ryder stopped walking to realize I was looking back and asked me, "You okay ? You're being more mysterious than usual, and it's always Ameera being mysterious."

"NOT !" Ameera shouts as she disregards what is happening and continues walking. I pull a quick thought and unzip my bag, "Uh I think I left my water bottle behind at the rocks. I'll get it and catch up to you guys." Ryder tilts his head with a confused look, "I never saw your water bottle at the rocks."

"Well it's not your water bottle."

Ryder scratches the back of his neck and turns to continue walking with the others. I use this chance to run back down the path. I make it to the trees where the figure last was and look around. As if an urge not made by me my head is turned up the hill. Only for a second I see the figure fade as it turns off the path and walks into the forest. I had to follow it. I left my bag on the path and got into a run. No matter how fast I tried running I couldn't catch up to the figure despite the fact it wasn't running. Eventually I stop to take a breath and watch the dark figure fade through a wired fence. I froze wanting to run the other way. But the back of my brain urged me to follow because the fantasy lover in me was hoping to find an adventure. I walked up the fence. A yellow sign stated "Dangerous Terrain." But adventures are not found by listening to rules. Yes this may sound like a terrible influence but I still had a feeling of being pulled. I climbed the wired fence and tried throwing my leg over when my jeans got caught on a sharp edge and caught itself. Causing me to lose my balance and fall to the other side. I examine my leg, the jeans obtain a slight rip and the material gains a small area of red. "Great, I'm cut." I think to myself. I get up and walk a few steps from the fence when I catch the figure at the edge of a cliff, it doesn't face me. But suddenly it falls forward and off the cliff. I rush forward, stopping myself before I fall too off the edge. I crouched down and saw where the figure fell but it had disappeared again. I look down at a very deep ravine, with a large river at the bottom that takes up the entire width at the bottom. Geez that would be a long yet short fall. A voice shouts behind me. "NO TRESPASSERS HERE !" I jump up quickly and turn to see an old man. He has no hair and his eyes are squinted looking at me, guess he can't see well. But he's tall and that makes him intimidating. Correction, anyone who shouts at me I find scary. "Sorry but I was following someone here and I was curious-"

"I'VE BEEN KEEPING MY EYE ON YOU THIS WHOLE TIME, AND HAVE ONLY SEEN YOU RUNNING AROUND !"

"I swear, I saw this black figure and-" I'm cut off as he starts walking towards me with his hands balled into fists. I get startled and my foot goes back a bit. I glance over my shoulder and notice the sharp rocks that protrude from the sides of the ravine. I would surely die if I fell. I try to keep my breathing steady.

"GET OVER HERE RIGHT NOW." The old man grabs my arms and I try to shake him off but when he lets go I take another step back and slip. I'm sent off the edge.

OH MY GOD I'M FALLING! I'm screaming but nothing comes out. I see the water below coming closer and all I'm able to do is brace for impact. Brace for impact ? Now THAT is the most hopeful thing ever, I'm literally dead. I close my eyes. But the impact is never felt. my eyes remain closed. It feels like I'm floating softly downwards. My feet softly land on a hard surface. I open my eyes. Around me is a dark cave with an exit just ahead of me. When I look up I see the water I once saw below me now floating over top, it pulses with a blue light from within every few seconds. But it’s too high for me to jump up to so I can’t go back. So the only direction I have left to go is ahead. Looking down the narrow path I see small shards of glowing fluorite crystals. They light up with colors of blues, pinks and greens. I’m not sure if I should feel afraid but the sight of the crystals calms me. I carefully walk ahead to the exit of the cave.

I get to the exit of the cave and my eyes widen to the site of a vast Valley with a huge forest with trees that must be sixty meters high. A canyon stands in the distance. Below the cave's exit is a small hut. I let out a breath of amazement. This is totally a dream and I don't ever wanna wake up from this nightmare of a beautiful world. I start walking down the cliff, taking in the sight of the new world around me while still being cautious. Not cautious enough when I slip from a rock moving out from under my foot. My arm smashes into the ground as I fall and I wince at the pain. The path down out of the exit is steep, so I slide a bit downwards while still laying down in exhaustion. I thought about laying where I was for a few moments when I felt something touching my arm. I turn my head to see a green feathered ant standing over my wound and scream. I absolutely hate ants ! I smack it away and it’s blood stains purple on my arm. GROSS ! At this point I’ve never felt the emotions of scared, confused and grossness in a span of maybe twenty minutes.

At the bottom of the path I reach the small hut. A stone hut with a straw roof. Smoke rises from the chimney. Someone is home. But before I can knock on the door I'm attacked from my side. My head hits the gravel ground and I look up to see a woman. A woman with fox-like ears ? Her hair is silver white and eyes of gold. As pretty as she was, she definitely wanted to kill me.

"You won't be stealing any more of my magic tools, now shall I make your pulse rise ? Or fall." She stares deep into my soul. I try to look away while laying my arms out. "I don't know who stole your magic stuff but I am not them ! I fell off this cliff and then went through this water or magic floating water more like and now I'm here and I don't even know what I should be doing." I close my eyes preparing myself in case she decides to punch me. A few seconds go by and I open my eyes to see her letting go of me. She holds her hand out helping me up. After that attack I'll be much more cautious of every new place I go to, I look her up and down and notice a white tail poke out from around her. It's long and sweeps the ground side to side. She also carries a small book attached to her belt. Her eyes narrow as she knows I'm analyzing her. "So...you gonna tell me who you are and what you're doing here ?" She keeps her posture. My mouth slowly opens to start my sentence.

"Like I said, I fell off a cliff and went through some floating water ?" I shrug my shoulders, "Is that even believable ?".

She nods, "Yeah it is actually. What you fell through is the barrier to Aerconia. Meaning you’re really an outsider, but this is still something I should look into. Can’t have just anyone accessing this world."

"Wait, Aerconia ?"

Alura’s eyes trail down to my wounded arm mixed with purple ant blood. She glares at me and I know I’ve done something wrong. “What also makes you an outsider is the fact you have glow ant splattered on your arm ! You know they have healing abilities ?! You monster ! It was trying to help you !”

In guilt I use my shirt to wipe off the purple stain and try acting as if it never happened so we can move on with conversation. “As you were trying to say ?” I hint at her.

"Aerconia is this world you find yourself in. If you really fell through the barrier that means you came from the outside world." She glances at my now tattered sweater and ripped jeans. "And by the looks of you, you surely don't look like anyone around here." Her voice is calmer now and speaks in a way that flows into a waltz. It could persuade anyone to believe whatever she wanted to say. I need to ask more questions though, "So what are you ? If I may ask." She lets out a sigh and waves for me to follow her.

We walked into the small hut. Despite the outside looking like a house that could fit a single bed and stove, the inside is of a mansion. We have a seat at a table that looks of jade, the chairs of clear glass. The area is like a loft with a spiral staircase going down, the walls lined with books and some with strange objects. She sits down. "My name is Alura, and I'm a kitsune. I guard the border of the kingdom." She stares at me.

"And what is it that you're protecting this kingdom from ?" I ask. Her eyes zero in on me as she responds, "The Mares."

"Mares ?"

"Yes, they are enemies to this kingdom and Aerconia, they are the disciples to a ruler named Isolde." a small white fox runs up from the spiral stairs and searches around. Alura is quick to pick up the fox, calming it. "Sorry Luna, everything is fine. No need to bite anyone's head off." She releases the fox and it takes a seat next to Alura's chair. "This is Luna, she's my familiar."

"Cute." Luna looks at me with curious eyes.

There is a loud bang at the door. Alura's ears dart to the door before her eyes follow. Then she turns her head to me, "How fast can you run ?"

"What-"

"I'm gonna need you to run and go back from where you came from before I-" Before finishing her sentence the door is kicked in. The same shadowy tall figure with misty eyes marches in and looks around. Only this time it has red eyes. Alura grabs a knife from a shelf next to her and tries throwing it in the direction of the figure. But the figure merely swats the small knife away and stomps over to Alura. Luna jumps in between the two to protect her. The figure sends a powerful kick to the side of Luna's head and grabs Alura by the throat. Before anything else can happen, Alura's hands turn into claws and she swipes at the figure's face. It stumbles back. Alura runs to the side of the room and grabs a book off the shelf. Opening it to a random page she throws the book to me. I nearly drop the book but manage to catch it. "WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS ?!" I shout as the figure is recollecting itself.

"Place the book on the ground and stomp on any page. It'll bring you back to wherever you belong !" The figure is standing back up. It focuses on me, it knows I'm weak. Instead of getting to me, it holds out it's hand and from the black mist around it’s hand forms a crossbow. "Oh crap !" I put my arms in front of my face not knowing what to do. Alura tackles the figure and holds it down while shouting to me. "STOMP ON A PAGE NOW !" Before I could think of anything else, I didn't waste anymore time placing the book down and lifting my foot to stomp on a page. As I dropped my foot on the book I looked up to see Alura getting hit by the figure and dropping to the ground. I reach forwards to help, but as I do a light swirls out of the page and swallows me whole. Everything goes black.

When I wake up, the ground is cold. I look around and see it is night, the forest is dark and I've returned to this path right where I left my bag. I get up while lifting my bag over my shoulder. I don't know how much time has passed. My mind was too busy rethinking everything that just happened. Was that figure a Mare ? Alura was in trouble. She was the guardian of the entrance and I wanted to help her. I didn't even know her well, maybe she could handle herself ? It didn't look good when I was leaving though. I had to tell the others immediately.

I arrived back at my house. I grab my phone out of my bag and send messages to Ryder, Ameera and Jacob to meet at the rocks in the forest the next day.

It's the weekend now, and we all meet up in the morning. I'm the first one to arrive so I contain my news until everyone shows up. Ameera shows up next followed by the boys. I tell them t take a seat while I explain things. "So you know how I never walked with you guys home yesterday ?" They all stare at me in confusion. "Well I ended up stumbling upon something that I've GOT to show you guys."

"Go on." Ameera presses. I take a slow inhale before spitting everything out, "So I felt this weird feeling and I ended up following this weird dark figure through the forest yesterday and it brought me to a cliff where I saw the figure jump and then this old man shows up and scares me and I end up falling, and at first I thought I was gonna die but SIKE I float through this weird magic water which this girl Alura I met tells its the entrance or...barrier... to Aerconia ? But yesterday while she was explaining things we ended up being attacked by this creepy dark misty thing and she sent me back here before I could get hurt." I stop talking as I inhale all the air back into my lungs. I look back up and see a mix of shock with confusion from everyone. Ryder speaks first, "What ?"

"Hey for once I'm not the crazy sounding one." Ameera retorts.

"Maybe we just need more information." Jacob tries explaining. I try to say something else but instead I choose to take Jacobs advice, "How about you all follow me, I can just show you."

I take everyone through the same path I followed yesterday when chasing the figure. We get to the fence. Jacob stops, "You want us to JUMP OFF THE CLIFF ?!"

Ryder joins, "HOLLY ROGERS ARE YOU MAD?!"

"You can't call me mad if you aren't aware of the unknown, we gotta go, we have someone to save." I face the cliff and take a couple steps back. Ameera grows worried, "Holly what are you doing..." I give my legs a stretch and ready myself for the jump.

"Jumping." I give myself a hard push with my leg and run to the edge of the cliff and jump. The moment feels different now knowing it's not death I face. But a whole world filled with magic has got to be known. I hit the water and the same feeling is felt like before. I keep my eyes open as I flow down the water and land on my feet in the cave. It only takes a few moments before Ameera is the first down, she opens her eyes, "Ok one, that jump was fun. Two, where the heck are we ?" As she looks around the cave. Not too long after that Ryder shows up. I ask, "What about Jacob ?"

"Oh he was too much of a wuss to jump." But right after that Jacob came through the water. He was curled up in a ball, maybe shivering too. He opens his eyes and jumps up, "Am I DEAD ?! Is this Hell ? Oh I knew I shouldn't have stolen the last cake slice."

"Dude you stole my cake slice ?!" Ryder shouts. Jacob freezes to analyze the situation and sees we were all looking at him. He continues, "Huh...So where are we?"

I start prodding forward to the cave's exit, "Just keep following me. I have something to check." Everything is quiet around Alura's hut. I look around and see nothing. I lift my hand to knock on the door when I hear a tackle from behind. Jacob shouts, "What's happening now ?!" I spin around to see Jacob now on the ground, a familiar face holding him down, it's Alura ! I then realize the situation and quickly get Alura's attention so as to free Jacob. Alura's eyes brighten then dim as she sees me.

"Wait, I thought I sent you away ! What the hell are you doing back here ?!"

"What about yesterday ?! I saw you were getting beat up and I was just worried so I got my friends and came back to help."

She scoffs, "I was only getting beat up cause I had you to protect, But after you left I handled myself." She stops for a moment, "Kind of."

"What do you mean ?"

She fiddles with her hair putting it into a braid as she talks, "Before the Mare left, it told me something, they won the Dragons Wings."

"What does that mean though ?" My confusion is growing.

"It means without the Dragon Wings, the Mother Dragon will not be able to fly. It is she who is the source of power to this land." She opens the door to the hut and everyone walks inside as she continues explaining, "Mother Dragon flies over the Valley as labradorite shards fall from her wings which brings power to the land !" She stumbles to the glass chair, "If the Mare hadn't distracted me earlier I would have seen something and warned the kingdom so it's all my fault !" Luna hops onto Alura's lap trying to calm her. I walk over and turn her head towards mine, "That's why we're here, we are going to help you."

Ryder steps forward, "What ? You want us to help some thing ? In a place we've only just gotten into ? For something we don't yet even understand ?! Holly this is a little much don't you think ?"

Alura's ears fall as she clearly becomes more worried about the situation, "It was kind of you Holly to try and help but you can't force being from another world to help another place." There is a moment of silence that fills the room. Ameera answered, "I want to help." She has a hopeful look in her eyes, "I agree with Ryder that we don't know much about this place or this being." She waves a hand indicating to Alura, "But I'd be willing to try."

Alura confidently grins, “Then I’ve got something to show you.”