The Bookstore

Ghazi, in first person view, loses his family in a fire and only his sister has survived. But she remembers Matthew as her brother, not Ghazi.

Ghazi feels torn abouts his sister and his bestfriend being so close. But when Matthew calls and outdoor meeting things get weird

A Dragon's Tail

 

Prologue

 
A soft breeze whistled through the brances of the trees. An owl watched from its perch on a limb. It was a peaceful night. There was nothing to disturb the silence that lay over the landscape like a blanket. Nothing human. A roar split the air. Like a knife slicing easily through the blanket of silence. The roar was followed by the thundering of large paws on the earth. A black silhouette raced down a rocky slope. It leapt into the air before before it could reach the forest beyond and soared over the trees. This was followed shortly after by a smaller shape; white and sparkling in the glow of the full moon. The smaller creature caught up to the larger, beating its scaly wings. "Cicle," the smaller animal murmured. "Yes?" came the reply.
 
"When will we meet the other dragons?"
 
"Soon."
 
"Cicle-" the smaller dragon began to ask a another question, but was interrupted by the larger. "Hush, Zyra. We're almost there."
 
 
Zyra beat her wings harder, urging Cicle to go faster. She could hear pawsteps in the distance, see the flickering light of fires, and smell the other dragons. The gathering her kind held every year human year was going start soon, and without them if Cicle didn't hurry. "Cicle," Zyra growled to her sister. "If youd don't hurry up, I'll put a light sheild around myself and refuse to speak to you for a year!" Cicle shrugged. "I'm in no hurry then." Zyra back a few of the words she would have liked to say. Why did dark dragons have to be so negative? The two dragons were directly over the clearing now. She could see dragons of each element greeting dragons from another. Zyra folded her wings and dropped into the clearing, followed more slowly by Cicle. The leaders of each element stood in the center of the gathered dragons. Neon, the light leader spoke first. "The Light Kingdom is doing fine," he announced. "We have had no battles, and are stocking up on food for the cold winter ahead." The others made their reports and stepped back to let the plasma leader speak. "The plasma dragons have received a strange prophecy," he growled. There were gasps from the other leaders and whispers of, "You had that dream too?" or, "We all had that dream?" "You know of it too, then," hissed the plasma leader. The others nodded as he went on to recite the strange message. "There will be two, exactly the opposite, but somehow the same, who will save the elements from destruction." The plasma leader paused, as if letting the message sink in, before anouncing the end of the meeting and stalking off with the rest of the plasma kingdom in tow. Each leader gathered their followers and trotted off into the surrounding brush. Cicle and Zyra, both being loners, took to the sky as the headed for their home, a cave on a platue.  One of the problems with being a loner was that you didn't know the news of the element kingdoms. "What do you think that was all about?" Cicle asked as she beat her wings to climb higher into the sky. Zyra shook her head. She had no idea. "Well it has nothing to do with us," Cicle grumbled as they neared the cave. Just as they landed, Rosie and Moon erupted from the entrance and began to chatter like birds. "Aren't you excited? What are you going to do?" Do about what?" Cicle muttered. Zyra could tell that the massive dark dragon was grumpy about kept up late, and wanted nothing for than to curl up in her nest. She thought of her own fluffy nest, lined with moss and bird feathers, and for the first time noticed the weariness dragging at her paws. "Do about the prophecy, of course!" Rosie was making dramatic movements with her arms. "Nothing," Zyra replied. "The prophecy is for those it includes." Moon's eyes widened. "You mean you don't know?" he asked in disbelief. "Know about what?" Cicle hissed. "The prophecy is about you!" Zyra felt another one of the usual arguements coming on.
 
"Is not!" Cicle growled.
 
"Is too!" came the reply.
 
"Isn't!"
 
"Is!"
 
"Isn't!"
 
"Is!"
 
"For the last time is is not!" Cicle roared. Moon seemed unphased by her outburst. "Oh come on!" he chirped excitedly. "Two-not three, not four-who are exactly the opposite-you're light and dark-but somehow the same!" "But we're not the same," Zyra observed. "Yes you are!" Moon grumbled, obviously exasperated. "Your sisters!" Zyra shrugged. "Only by the same father, and besides, he's evil, and nasty, and he smells rather... uncharming, too!" Cicle was nodding, an amused look on her face. "I don't think 'the same' means sisters," she was walking into her room in the cave now. "I think it means powers." Her final words left Moon without anything to say for once, and ended Rosie's burst of excitement. Now more tired than ever, Zyra dismissed herself with a flick of her tail and bounded into her room. As she settled herself into the nest, she took her magic rocks from their place it the secret hole in the floor and checked them to see if they were ok. To her surprise, Light, the rock that sustained the esense of light in her heart, was still sick. "The others will be fine if I go," he told her. "Sure," Zyra muttered. "But I won't." She was a light  dragon for goodness sakes! How was she suppossed to survive without the light that every dragon was born with in their heart. Every dragon except Cicle. Cicle's light was really dark from the start. That's why Cicle had special powers beyond that of normal dark dragons. Zyra sighed and put the rocks back. As the most powerful light dragon, she wasn't supossed to ever loose her light. Yet, there it was, dying away, right in front of her face. Zyra curled up in her nest and let the sound of Cicle and Cicle's magic rocks argueing of the hunting of squirrels lull her into sleep.