Contest Entries

Beyond the portal Chapter One

I almost caught it!

My name was Zakia and I was home. The huge yard was always neatly mowed and there were birthday decorations all over my countryside house. One floor, many rooms, with pillars holding up the porch roof. Three garages and five cars. I was already driving for school. Still, one thing I couldn't forget was chasing butterflies. I loved them. Only holding them was difficult. They liked to fly away. Travel from one flower to another. And I wasn't going to go anywhere but my backyard. In my backyard I ran, around the swimming pool and into the garden. Magic interested me. If I imagined getting sucked through a portal they just laughed. My brothers thought I was weird with a big imagination. I was used to being alone at home with everyone gone. This was my situation now. Everyone was gone to work. I had a whole day to myself. Sometimes it was rumored that a butterfly was really a fairy in disguise. Once more, my family didn't believe it. In the garden I found multiple butterflies before landing my eyes on this one. The other butterflies dashed away as I came closer to my target. Oops, it flew away again, so I followed it, closer and closer to the edge of the prairie. Once past the prairie I couldn't continue farther, so I sped up.

It fluttered through the air as it passed my hand. A blue and silver butterfly that is. I followed it. The butterfly landed in the middle of a ring of mushrooms. I didn't even think about portals. I barrelled into the ring of mushrooms, taking care not to damage the mushrooms. And, as a carefree girl at the age of 12, I believed in fairy tales. No way was I going to let this one sweep by. As I laid my hand to the ground, I realized the butterfly was gone. Straightening up, I came face to face of what looked like a young girl with butterfly wings flapping behind her. She also seemed to have a tail and horns on her head. I wondered what could be wrong. Then I backed up- right into a tree! I had no place else to go to! The tree wasn't there before. I tripped and fell flat on my face. Ouch! I think I had twisted my foot.

"Welcome, Ashediped. This is the land of Arigorn. There is plenty to see and little time to see it. I am Mephisidiad, a part Fairy, part Dragon as you could tell. Only I don't belong in either world. Though they welcome me as their own. Now, you were chasing a butterfly just now. Will you accept my help in finding it? I'd hate if a bird got to it," Mephisidiad greeted me. I felt I had no other choice. The pain in my foot throbbed. She knelt down and a glow came from her hands. Suddenly the pain and throbbing stopped. I was healed! I stood up. It felt strange to be healed like that. Where on Misflit am I? Right, this wasn't Misflit anymore. I walked through a portal into a magical world! Magic existed!

"Sure. I can follow you for a little ways. But then I would need to get home soon so that my parents won't find out that I'm gone. I really shouldn't venture far from home," I said and the fairy turned and waved for me to follow. As I saw her back was covered in spikes I realized she wasn't lying. Part dragon. That would explain her horns and tail. Who would want to mess up a fairy's appearance anyway? Were there more hybrids out there with features that made them look ugly? Then I noticed she had pop something into her mouth. Gum?

She let herself down on the ground. That gave me the cue to look around. Humidity hit me in the face. Trees surrounded me. This wasn't home anymore. My home didn't have trees like this. They weren't full grown. Trees were encouraged to prevent erosion. That I believed and daddy must have believed in it too. As I ran I noticed she didn't seem to wear out. Beads of sweat broke out on me and I wondered how much longer did we have to go. Then she had me stop too and tested the ground. Something worried her and we could hear voices in the distance. I wondered what they were arguing about and if I had come in the middle of a war. I hoped not.

"I am not going to tell you the location of my daughter. Besides, she ran off somewhere. I'm looking for her too."

"Where is she? She is vital to my command. I won't stop until I have her. She carries magic unrecognizable to others, including you, and I want those powers."

"You'll never get those powers. We'll throw magic against you to keep her hidden until she's ready. It's called love."

"Love is foolish and weak. It's impossible to underestimate the power of love. I will use you for bait. If I can't find her, then I'll lure her."

We ventured deep into the rows of trees and bushes and then knelt down behind a bush. I wondered why so suddenly and then she made a couple peepholes for us to see. As I stared through the peephole I made out a Fairy and a Dragon. Only this wasn't just any kind. They had crowns on their head. Then I wondered why she didn't have a crown. They were arguing to a shadow. What kind of shadow I didn't know. Then a leech life-sized monster came into view. It looked hideous with its open mouth with rows of teeth and flappy skin all the way down to the tail. I watched as it threw chains around the fairy and dragon's neck and limbs. Their eyes began to glow and they stopped arguing. The villain I thought. Then the butterfly appeared in the middle. No!

The butterfly was immediately transformed into a monster. I clasped my mouth with my hands to keep from screaming. I didn't know what I would do to rescue it. I glanced at the hybrid. She signalled to keep quiet. Whatever that monster was was a creep. Evil was the right word. Then the creep spoke. "I have destroyed the king and queen and now I am ruler over the fairies and dragons. Let there be chaos as plans and dreams are destroyed. Tell me your location."

Nothing. Just silence.

The leech left with the fairy and dragon. I stopped watching and turned to look at the hybrid. Tears rolled down her cheeks and I felt bad. Were they her parents? And, if so, was she a princess? I fumbled with my newfound knowledge. Possibly. She kept me safe, maybe I could trust her. She must've known that leech monster too. She motioned for us to stay in the bushes for while longer. The butterfly seemed to disappear last. I sighed. Now we needed to hide from the butterfly. Not chase it.

"Where they your parents? Who was that leech?" I asked. She let up a bit.

"Choufagondile. The master of evil. He imprisoned and bewitched my parents! I want him to pay back for what he had done. Now the kingdom will fall to chaos! Only the Levintil Creatures can stop him. You can impress them by feeding them, then they'll be on your side. They grow and mature quickly too. Shape shifters. No definite shape. Carnivores," Maphisidiad explained. I took the hint. Levintil Creatures. What they were was a mystery. I mulled over what they could look like at any time. Beautiful or ugly? Yet the most desired of all. Beautiful.

"Let's find a brood of them. But do you know where to go?" I said.

"Yes. Follow me," she said.

She stopped crying as we went deep into the forest. I followed her for so long I lost track of the way back to the portal. I wasn't even thinking about the portal back then. It struck me odd to have seen a fairy and a dragon together. Where was the rest? Were they taken too by the creepy leech monster? I didn't know what to say. I just remembered how their eyes started to glow strangely when they were captured. Did he have a mind control spell? These questions and more haunted me. As I ran to keep up the trees started thinning and becoming further apart. The sporadic wildlife sometimes revealed themselves. We suddenly slowed down to a stop. Then she told me to be quiet. Something wasn't right.

I followed as quietly as I could into the village. I saw a boy in chains and felt sorry for him. So this world has people like me too. Yet, these houses were different. They were all small, seemingly built for dwarves. Soon I encountered an adult one looking away from me. They were dwarves! We soon creeped around the clearing into a middle of a batch of eggs. Six were the largest, followed by 14 of various medium sized, and ending with six of the smallest. There were bags of food that smelled of fresh meat from the market. Immediately, the eggs started floating and so did the meat from the hooks. She was using her magic! I wondered what were the side effects of the magic.

"This way. We need to hurry. They might see us and imprison us too. Choufagondile has them under his powers. The streets are empty. Too empty." With that we moved followed by the eggs and meat.

The boy was still there playing ball. Suddenly, he turned and looked at us. With one cry doors opened revealing more. With weapons. We bolted into a run and made the eggs and meat invisible, still following close behind. We made it into the forest and then his in bushes surrounding the trees. I could barely make out the outline of the eggs and meat and my heart pounded so hard I felt it was going to burst. We could hear men and woman as well as children coming after us. They were slow in moving. I peered out of a peephole she made but could only hear sounds. We hoped the other food bags won't be taken. Suddenly, she dropped the invisible spell, looking aged and worn out. This must be her limit. She fell asleep right then and there. Things were settling and the dwarves seemed to calm down. I could hear no voice after a while. It didn't mean the coast was clear. The sky drew dark before I fell asleep too.

When I woke up Maphisidiad was already awake. She motioned for me to come look at the eggs with the food bag opened. I grabbed meat from the bag and waited. There were cracks in the eggs. The littlest eggs then started cracking apart and nothing seemed to come out. She was sure excited though. Then I watched as the food in my hand started disappearing. I seemed to also have a flood of magical power build up through me and I was looking at fog. Fog didn't exist without the weather. But then she had said the shape shifters could be anything. After the meat was gone I took out more meat. This was four steaks of meat being eaten. And still they ate all the meat. I brought out two more and they ate those too. But, for the fourth time of doing it, they wanted no more.

"Full. Tired." One of the creatures spoke up.

"Now, you should have shape shifting capabilities. There are six food bags. The bigger ones could carry them from birth in the shape of a monkey. I know of a place to go to from a story. Three hills and one tall mountain, the Shukulas remains hidden. They train these creatures. But, for now, we stay here until more hatches." She ran her fingers through her hair.

I thought about it for a moment. I didn't know what to think. Then more eggs started hatching. I watched as they appeared empty like the first. A dozen eggs this time. I took out a dozen meat and fed each one of them individually. They ate it all. Then the same response. Full. Tired. They drifted off to sleep. Next I was recognizing to prepare for the largest eggs to hatch. I took out a dozen meat. They might consume more than one due to size. We waited for those eggs to hatch in silence. It didn't take long for them too. The meat started disappearing until it all disappeared. This time it took two instead of one, as anticipated. Then they repeated the previous. Full. Tired. Soon all of the creatures were fast asleep. I didn't know if I impressed them or not, so I raised a questioning look.

"Only Ashediped are able to impress them. We'll find out more when they wake up if you impressed them. They will start being talkative in your favor to you if you impressed them. Then they will be your side forever. We could test to see if you have the powers of shape shifting now. Focus on your favorite animal or creature and see if you turn into that. The clothes changed to the fancy clothes of an elite shape shifter. I think you impressed them and they are yours forever now." She encouraged.

I focused and felt myself growing spikes and wings. I succeeded. Now i was a dragon hybrid. And the clothes disappeared. I panicked. Would the clothes come back to me? I focused on my normal self once more. Once again I changed. I became human again. Brilliant. I thought of correcting her about me being human. Only humans can impress. It would make a lot more sense. But now I learned a word she knew.

"From now on call me and others like me human beings, or human. I could barely understand you when you say that word and I don't know what it means well. But now I think I know. Now, since I've impressed them, we need to train them, don't we. Can they turn into marbles?" I saw her shocked and saying the word human over and over.

"Sure thing, I think I can remember that. I wonder what other strange words you, humans, have come up with. There is a trainer on the mountain that's the most famous. Sliciophith. I hope we can find him and he can train you and your creatures. It would be better for them to turn into marbles for the journey. All you have to do is to send a mental picture of a marble for them. What to also do is to watch for exhaustion. The more exhausted they are from holding a disguise, the less likely they will to hold it. Magic is a tricky thing. We should camp out here tonight. I'm fatigued. I can turn the food bags except one to a marble and we could hustle tomorrow. Most likely tomorrow night. That would be safer. Once on the road there is no turning back. Now, I have lots of money. We could stay at hotels and eat at restaurants. How does that sound?" Mephisidiad said.

"That sounds like a great idea. In the meantime, we could get to know each other. Let's start with you first." I wondered if she could cook some meat and we could eat. I was hungry now.

We both took out a steak of raw meat and I watched as she used magic to cook them. Now the meat was edible. It tasted good too as I put it into my mouth and chewed. Just lacked salt and seasoning. She was a great cook. Then I pondered if using her magic card was a good idea. They could be traced and captured if she used her money and there was no guarantee that we would be safe. I figured, bad idea now. We needed to hide and dash to the mountain she spoke of. In a world of magic I wondered if we would ever find it. I whispered the problem to her and her eyes opened wide. She hadn't thought about that being a result and nodded in agreement. Soon, we finished our meat and then thought about going out at night for a head start. The entire town was under attack with all the citizens in chains and were probably hiding chains in their building to capture the unsuspected. This was going to travel all over their world if this kept up. She assured that only the shape shifters would be able to resist his powers. He held the lowliest rank of shape shifters who often chose those that were very educated.

"I live in a castle perfect for fairies and dragons alike. Unlike fairy tales, we are more of the size of a dwarf. The castle can be boring with all of its rules and regulations. I want an adventure, to explore the outside walls at my own ease. Mom and dad always find a way to find me though. This time, they are in trouble. I wish I could warn the others. If they feed that truth potion under that power, he will know everything and seize the peaceful castle. It maybe too late to go back. However, we shouldn't fight for just ourselves. We should fight for the others too. Those dwarves looked miserable and wanting to cry. I could help you train to be a fighter. You are the only one who won't be affected like other shape shifters. You need to impress a creature army to face him. Any brave souls we can influence the better. I'll help you with my reliable resources. I know I can. I'm a princess. I know so much." I could tell there was determination in her face. I couldn't discourage it. And I wasn't much of a fighter. I wanted to back out.

"I want to be a vet. I love animals. And this is one of the things that excites me. What would hurt these creatures? I can't bear to think about that. However, if we get them trained right then they'll help you conquer your enemy, that leech. His name- I can't say it. I can't say your name either. So I'll call you Princess. But I have a good memory with names. That's no problem. Think it's night time now so we can start? I can't wait to get a good look at the stars. The stars make the world go around. Pardon me if I say too much, but I tend to be open. Though, I have pretty much said my desire. I'm hoping to marry a good man with solid faith. What is faith out here like?" I said slowly so as to not get caught.

"Me- I want peace. There is no peace when someone finds out my parents are kidnapped. I'm afraid he would be hunting for me next, and I know you came from the portal. Remember, he doesn't know about you. He knows that butterfly now, but that butterfly is useless to him. My kingdom is at peace, except news travel fast and there will no longer be any peace. I'm happy to meet you and I cheer you on to save the planet. No, it's not your creatures that will do the saving. It will be up to you. You'll be trained just as equally. I believe in you. You can do it."

Prompt: Fantasy ch1
Word Count: 3,280
Contest: "Fantasy Firsts"