Why did Sethos hit him in the ribs? Mydia asked. Kurneo picked her up and sang her sweet dragongaldr. Mydia fell asleep. Sethos and Marikai came back moments later. Marikai walked towards Ashaedia. He stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a blue medallion. It gave off an eerie blue glow that looked like fire. He handed it to Ashaedia.
“Here, take this. It’s very precious to me, but my father and mother wanted me to give it to someone that I trusted. The moment I looked into your eyes I knew you were the type of person I could trust.” Marikai said.
Ashaedia blushed. None of her friends had said that she was very reliable. Ashaedia felt very special upon hearing these words. Sethos led everyone outside.
“We are going to depart for Faein in twenty minutes,” Myloros said. “We need to pair up in order to arrive safely together.” Ashaedia was about to pair up with Eva, but Marikai grabbed hold of her hand. She blushed again. Sethos was handing out some strange assortments of everyday items found in San Clemente. He handed Marikai a clean hairbrush.
“Now, Ashaedia, when that brush turns blue, you and Marikai will grab hold of it and you’ll be teleported to Faein. Got it?” Sethos said. Ashaedia looked down at the brush in Marikai’s hands.
It looked kind of battered. Its handle looked like it was chewed away by a dog. Ashaedia looked around at the other items. Kurneo and Eva had a black boot. Gareveth and Noen had a brown basket. Myloros and Thania had a dented lunchbox. Maylor and Mydia held a jewelry box.
“Um . . . Prince Marikai . . . what are these called?” Ashaedia asked, puzzled about the hairbrush.
“Don’t you know what it’s called? It’s a Teleport Key!” Marikai said. Ashaedia looked back down at the brush again. How could a hairbrush be a Teleport Key? Ashaedia thought it would be something more . . . impressive looking. Marikai saw doubt in Ashaedia’s eyes.
“Oh, of course you would have thought that the Teleport Key would look more Elven. Well, we wanted to choose an item that blended in with the modern surroundings. So Sethos and me dug around a little and found these items and enchanted them with some Elven Magic so it could take us to Faein. If the Teleport Key got lost and someone found it, they would just throw it away and not notice what it really was.” Marikai said.
Ashaedia thought this through and looked down at the brush again. If someone did find it, they wouldn’t know what the brush was really used for so they would get rid of it. Wow, Ashaedia thought.
“It’s almost time to leave! Everyone get ready to grab hold of your Teleport Key!” Sethos yelled. Ashaedia and Marikai leaned forward over the hairbrush.
“On the count of three touch your Teleport Keys . . . One . . . two . . . three!” Sethos yelled. Everyone’s Teleport Key glowed blue and everyone dived for it. Ashaedia and Marikai touched it at the same time. Everything around Ashaedia spun around her . . . or was Ashaedia spinning? Ashaedia’s feet left the ground and the air around her swirled around her. She felt like she was squeezing through a tight tube. Green ribbons of wind circled them. Ashaedia closed her eyes. Ten seconds later her feet hit the ground. She fell backwards and gasped for air.
“You’ll get used to it.” Marikai said. He held out his hand. Ashaedia grabbed his hand and Marikai helped her up. Once she was up on her feet, she looked around her surroundings. They were on a snowy hilltop. Flowers poked through the melting snow to feel the warmth of the sun. In the distance were large snowy mountains with peaks that pierced through the clouds. Resting on the side of a large mountain was a large castle. Ashaedia gasped as she remembered seeing that castle before. It was the same castle that was her screensaver! Built against a tall mountain, the castle was very beautiful and Ashaedia wondered what it was like inside of it. The castle was a beautiful pearly white and gray color.
“You know, Ashaedia, the King of Faein wants to meet you. He awaits your return in that castle over there.” Noen said, reading Ashaedia’s mind like a book. Ashaedia blinked. She felt like she was in a fairy tale. Her mind was filled to the brim with wonder and excitement and her heart was eager to explore this new world of mysteries and discoveries meant to be discovered. She swayed and fell over but Marikai caught her.
“I think we need to carry her to Castle Myteria. Ashaedia seemed to be so overjoyed that she fainted.” Myloros said. Sethos picked Ashaedia up. Kurneo turned into a dragon and so did Eva, Noen, and Gareveth. Marikai held out his hand and Mydia flew onto it. He stroked her head gently and she gave an appreciative hrrr. The rest of Ashaedia’s dragons flew around Marikai. Marikai giggled. Maylor sat on his foot.
Why are you filled with so much excitement if you’ve been here before? Maylor asked Marikai. Marikai ignored him and laughed with joy as Mydia landed on his shoulder and whispered a hilarious dragon pun in his ear. Everyone was so surprised to see Marikai in this state.
“I haven’t seen Prince Marikai this happy ever since his last birthday when his parents were alive,” Sethos said. “It appears that His Majesty has made new friends, including Ashaedia. He has never been in contact with cheerful little dragons like Ashaedia’s. I think her dragons sensed the sorrow Marikai felt and wanted to cheer him up.”
“Well, we better get going towards the castle. We’ll be late!” Myloros said, and climbed onto Eva’s back. Marikai was starting give off a wondrous blue light with every little chuckle he made. Sethos grabbed his shoulder and shook him slightly. The blue light went away immediately. Marikai stopped laughing and looked up at Sethos.
“Let us be on our way, Prince Marikai. Climb onto Prince Kurneo’s back so we may continue.” Sethos said. Marikai got up and climbed onto Kurneo’s back. Ashaedia’s dragons flew onto Gareveth and seated themselves on his head. Thania climbed onto Noen’s back. The dragons took flight and headed towards Castle Myteria. In a lonely tree on the hill, a raven larger than a full grown man was watching them. It gave a loud carkk and outstretched its wings and flew to the south.

Kurneo, Eva, Noen, and Gareveth landed in front of the castle in an hour. A large white bridge extended towards the castle gates and into a small city. Several small and large towns surrounded the castle. Thania waved a hand in front of Ashaedia’s face.
“Woo-hoo, Ashaedia? Are you still with us? Hello!! Wake up! We’re here!” Thania yelled. Ashaedia’s eyes flashed open. She sat up to see Maylor on her lap. He was staring up at her with large emerald eyes.
“Oh, are we here? Is this the castle?” Ashaedia asked wearily.
“It’s the same one you saw in the distance about an hour ago.” Sethos said. Ashaedia looked up at the castle. Yes, they were here.
“I can’t wait to go inside,” Ashaedia said. “I bet it’s beautiful inside the castle.”
“Well, first we’ll have to go through the Faein’s capital, Nassoria. Nassoria rests in front of the castle doors.” Myloros said. Everyone jumped off the dragons’ back. There was a flash of white light and Kurneo, Eva, Noen, and Gareveth were human again. Ashaedia and her group walked along the white stone bridge and into Nassoria. The city was large and bustling with life. When they passed several large crowds, the Faeins waved to them and said a friendly hello and good afternoon. Markets, merchants, armories, restaurants, shops filled with goods Ashaedia has never seen before, trading posts and homes lined the city streets. Marikai led Ashaedia over to a food market.
“Ah, hello! What would you like today, young ones?” The shopkeeper said when he saw Marikai and Ashaedia approached his stand.
“Hello, my friend here would like to try one of your peaches please.” Marikai said.
“Oh, you haven’t heard of our prized peaches? Very well, here you go,” The shopkeeper gave Ashaedia a plump white-blue peach. “That’ll be six bronze, please.” Marikai dug around in his pocket and pulled out six small bronze coins.
“Thank you. Have a nice day!” The shopkeeper said cheerfully. Marikai and Ashaedia walked back to the waiting group.
“Go on, try it! It’s the best fruit you’ve ever tasted!” Eva said once she saw Ashaedia holding the peach. Ashaedia looked down at the strange peach. What if it tastes horrible? What would she tell them then? But she bit into it anyway. It tasted very sweet, like any peach. But it tasted even better than a peach or a strawberry . . . it tasted terrific!
“Well? Wasn’t that the sweetest thing you ever bit into or what?” Gareveth said. Ashaedia loved the sweetness of the peach and shared it with her dragons as well. They hurred a surprised hrrr as they bit into the blue peach.
“That was delicious! But why was it blue?” Ashaedia asked Eva.
“No one really knows, but some say that God dropped his peach’s seeds and the seeds grew a tree. A countryman of Lythia found the tree and tasted one of the blue peaches. It was delicious of course, and he used the seeds to grow several more trees. Peach trees grew around the world, but then one day the sun dried most of the peaches and their color disappeared, making them a pinkish-whitish color and taking away most of the sweet flavor. Only the peaches that grew in Draconia, Faein, and Lythia survived.” Eva said. Ashaedia imagined God dropping a couple seeds and then the seeds grew into trees.
“Anyway, we should get going. The king awaits us in Castle Myteria.” Eva said. They continued towards the castle doors.
Ashaedia and the group passed a large water fountain with a statue of a dragon standing on its hind legs. Its hands were pushing off a large, sapphire-like stone and its tail was whipped around the front of the boulder. The wings were outstretched and its stone eyes stared down at the passing crowds. Ashaedia looked up at a large landing above the castle doors.
She almost gasped out loud. A black dragon was sleeping on the landing; its spiky head was dangling off the side. It looked like Kurneo in his dragon form, but the tips of its wings were blood red and so was the end of its spiky tail. The dragon had a red belly and a flap of red skin hanging off its chin. Its muscular arms and legs looked like the dragon could lift a castle. On its gray horns were specks of gold metal. The sleeping dragon had a gold saddle on its back. It had large black spikes going down its back.
“I see you’ve spotted the king’s mount.” Myloros said.
“The king’s mount? You mean that dragon up there?” Ashaedia asked.
“Yes, but dragons that become someone’s mount is called a Wyvern. If a dragon and a person built a strong bond, the dragon will be in the person’s dept, therefore aiding that person and will except the name ‘Wyvern’ and not ‘dragon’. Many dragons in the Dragon Sanctuary become Wyverns when they feel the urge to help a specific knight protect Faein. Some dragon owners even name their dragon, like how the Faein Princess named Gaedin.” Myloros said.
“Do the knights treat them well?” Ashaedia asked once more.
“Of course they do! They care for them like their own children. I’m sure the king does the same with his Wyvern also.” Myloros said. They walked through the castle doors and into a beautiful garden filled with the wonderful peach trees and breath-taking flowers Ashaedia has never seen before. They passed the garden and through two large oak doors that lead straight into the castle. The doors lead straight into the throne room. Faein’s banner, a red flag with a picture of a black dragon with a gold outline, was above a black, gold, and red vacant throne.
Where’s the king? Mydia asked.
“He should be here any minute now. His Majesty was in a meeting with the other nations’ kings’ and queens’.” Myloros said. They waited by the short flight of stairs that led directly to the throne. While they waited, Myloros introduced Ashaedia to some of the guards and commanders of the Faein army. He even introduced her to the Royal Librarian, Persival. Persival was a blue-haired man that had blue eyes. He wore a white and gold cape, a blue and turquoise over shirt, a scarlet under shirt, a green and gold belt, white pants, gold and blue boots, and he carried a white and yellow spell book.
“Lord Persival, do you know when King Ashnero’s meeting ends?” Sethos asked the blue-haired librarian.
“I’m not sure, but if you get the chance too, the abbot at Pameni Temple wants to meet Ashaedia. I believe he wants to give her Goddess Lyllias’s blessing.” Persival said. Myloros said that he would and Persival went back to work.
“Who is Goddess Lyllias?” Ashaedia asked.
“Goddess Lyllias is the Goddess of Protection. If someone is blessed by her name, that person will receive divine protection for exactly five years. It is very rare for someone to receive her blessings, only one may have her blessing if they are needed greatly or if that person is very dear to someone and cannot die,” Myloros said, kneeling down and stroking Ganeth’s head. “Some of us Faeins are polytheistic, but most of us only believe in one god: Jesus the Creator.”
“I believe in Jesus.” Ashaedia asked.
“Good. Now, we’ll introduce you to the Royal Family. Thania, you’re shaking like a leaf. What’s wrong?” Noen asked Thania. Thania was indeed shaking, but she was shaking with nervousness.
“I . . . I’m afraid. I’m only used to Lythian nobles, but I don’t know how to act around Faein nobles. What if I offend the king on accident? I’m afraid to meet the king . . .” Thania said.
“Thania, I’m sure you’ll be just fine. King Ashnero is a kind and honorable man. He accepts mistakes and mishaps, but he won’t go off executing young children because they accidently offend him. He knows when someone says the wrong thing when they didn’t mean it.” Marikai said, patting her back. Thania held her hands together and hoped that this was true.
The stairs creaked as fourteen men and women descended a staircase that led from the conference room. To Ashaedia, these people were fascinating to look at. When they stepped off the last stair, all of the guards bowed down to them.
“Are they the kings and queens?” Ashaedia asked Marikai.
“Yes. Those two men and the women with the elegant white wings are the princes and princess of Sareneth Forest.” Marikai said.
“Sareneth Forest was a kingdom?” Ashaedia asked.
“Indeed, Sareneth was a kingdom for quite some time, until Negnio attacked.”
“Why did they attack them?”
“I’ll explain later. For now, allow me to introduce you and Thania to the royal families.” Marikai said, and led them towards the group of royals.
“Ah, hello Prince Marikai! How do you do?” One of the kings said cheerily. The king that had spoken was a large man with a crimson beard and long mane of crimson hair. He had a lean body and wore a brown, gold, and tan robe and a long white and blue cape with a beautiful gold design hung off his left shoulder, therefore covering his left arm. A dark scarlet sash was tied around his waist and he wore a gold and white belt. He had the look of a mighty lion, but Ashaedia saw something very different about his ears. Ashaedia rubbed her eyes and checked again. His ears weren’t human ears, they were lion ears! Ashaedia looked down at his feet. They were huge! His feet were in large brown sandals. Ashaedia looked up at him in complete awe, and the king laughed heartily.
“Oh, yes, I need to introduce myself,” The king said, and held out his hand. It was as big as a large bowl! “My name is King Cailehis, King of Gyllia. My countrymen and many others call me the Lion King.” Marikai grinned.
“King Cailehis, can you show Ashaedia and Thania why they call you the Lion King?” Marikai asked politely.
“Why, of course! Just stand back and give me some room.” King Cailehis said. Everyone backed away. He cracked his knuckles and closed his eyes. It was very silent inside the whole castle. After about five minutes of silence, Ashaedia and Thania were starting to get confused. But before they can ask if he’s going to do something, King Cailehis threw his head back and roared like an actual lion. His roar seemed to make the castle tremble in fear. The throne room was flooded with a bright white light, and the light cleared away.
Standing where King Cailehis had once stood was a crimson lion that was larger than any lion Ashaedia had seen. The lion smiled. Ashaedia couldn’t believe how big its teeth were. They were larger than a saber - toothed tiger’s tooth!
“Is that . . . could it really had happened?!” Ashaedia said. It was amazing. A man transforming into a lion . . . incredible and unheard of.
“Oh, yes, King Cailehis is a Beast Laguz. There are four types: cat, tiger, wolf, and the strongest, lion. Beast Laguz can’t live as long as the Dragon Laguz, but they do live long and enjoyable lives and a large life span.” Eva said. Cailehis walked around the room in circles, stopping once in a while to flex his claws and give a tired growl. Ashaedia and Thania walked over to him and pet his large and fluffy head. Thania and Ashaedia scratched him behind the ears and Cailehis gave an appreciative purr. He transformed back into a man and stretched his burly arms and yawned, showing many sharp teeth.
“Transforming takes a lot of energy out of you. But there are a few laguz that can stay transformed for as long as they want, like myself,” Cailehis said. “But it does take some time for a young laguz to do so if they have that wonderful gift. Oh, have you met Marikai’s uncle? Ah, here he is now.”
Cailehis pointed towards a man that was walking down the stairs. He had light blue eyes and long dark blue hair. The man wore a long black cape with a red trim at the bottom and it bore the Aelia symbol on it. He had dark blue and gold armor and a red ruby was in the middle of the chest plate. The man had the same gauntlets that Sethos wore and he carried a sword with a gold handle and a blade with a terrifyingly sharp point. His long black and gold metal boots had the same small, medium, and large gold spikes on the back of the legs. He seemed to give off a strange faint blue glow. The man looked down at Ashaedia, Thania, and Marikai as they approached him and he smiled.
“Ah, Marikai how was your journey? I’m glad that you came back in one piece.” The man said.
“My journey was fine, thank you, King Malikinth.” Marikai said. The man called Malikinth frowned.
“Marikai, you don’t have to call me that. I’m your uncle, and you’re not some peasant that needs to call me your king. You can just call me Uncle Malikinth, okay?” Malikinth said.
“Yes, Uncle Malikinth.”
“Good, now who do we have here?” Malikinth said, fixing his gaze on Ashaedia and Thania.
“This is Thania, she’s from Lythia and she volunteered to help rescue Ashaedia. And this is Ashaedia.” Cailehis said, waving a hand towards Ashaedia. Malikinth looked down at her. Ashaedia thought she saw his eye color flash to violet for a second. She blinked and rubbed one of her eyes. But his eye color was blue again. He held out his hand.
“Hello, my name is King Malikinth of Aelia, uncle of Prince Marikai, the brother of his father, King Contius, and son of Aenarion the Great. It is an honor to meet you both.” Malikinth said, and shook their hands. A man with large brown wings walked up to them.
“King Malikinth, King Caylodor would like to speak to you.” The man said.
“Oh, really? Where is he?”
“He’s gathering his things in the conference room.”
“Very well, I’ll go see him. Marikai, why don’t you introduce Ashaedia and Thania to everyone else?” Malikinth said.
“Yes, uncle.” Marikai responded, and Malikinth walked back up to the conference room.
The man with the brown wings held out his hand. It was covered with white bandages, but his hands showed no sign of bleeding. Ashaedia thought this man looked kind of like pirate. He wore an open long green and teal over coat that went down to his knees (his left sleeve was rolled up), a large brown, black, and gold belt, a red piece of clothe was tied around his head and larger piece of clothe was attached to his belt, a necklace with three red-tipped feathers, a gold loop earring on his right ear, white pants, and green and black boots. The man had a scar across his face and chest. He had brownish-yellowish eyes and long, wild black hair and pointed ears and a tan.
“My name is King Tivarion, and this is my wife, Wynne.” King Tivarion said, shaking their hands and gesturing towards a woman with large brown wings that was walking towards them. She had blue eyes and short brown hair. The woman also had a scar across her face, but she had a kind look in her eyes. She wore light brown gloves, a brown top, brown belt, and white pants and brown boots. The woman had pointed ears also and she had a perfect tan.
“Oh, I see you’ve already met my husband,” The woman said. “Dang it, Tivarion! You beat me to ‘em! Anyway, my name is Queen Wynne. You must be Ashaedia! The council has been talking ‘bout you for some time. Their dieing to meet you. And you must Thania! The brave little sweetheart that helped rescue her. How was that world? Never been there before. Was it . . . different?” Wynne asked.
“Oh, yes, quite different. They’ve got these metal things called ‘cars’ that the people travel around in. They don’t fly on dragons or use horses to go anywhere!” Thania said. Wynne and Tivarion gasped.
“Hmph! Well, if we laguz went over there, we would ‘teach’ them a flying lesson or too, right honey?” Wynne said, flicking back her hair and flapping her wings.
“So what type of laguz are you?” Ashaedia asked.
“We’re hawk laguz,” Tivarion said. “We live on an island kingdom called Phinoeis. Our neighbor, Kivlos, is inhabited by raven laguz. The Kivlosian King, King Nesilian, was supposed to attend the meeting but I guess he was ‘busy’.”
“You can never trust a raven, only if you know that he or she will actually listen to you,” Wynne said. “Have you met Queen – hey, wait! Don’t go!” Wynne shouted. A woman with long silvery hair was walking away from the chatting group and turned around. She had green eyes but a scarlet clothe was covering her left eye. The woman had white wolf ears and a long white wolf tail. She wore a black sleeveless top, a gold necklace, a scarlet skirt; a gold sash went across her chest, black sandals, and a clear white clothe covered her right arm. The woman had tattoos down her arms and legs, but it wasn’t modern day tattoos such as a picture of a pony or something like that. It was a beautiful, swirly design and it didn’t look like the paint was used by a tattoo needle. Her tattoos looked like they were just painted onto her skin. The woman walked out the door without saying a word.
“Oh, that’s typical Queen Nalia. She’s the Queen of Humari. Humari is a kingdom in the desert east of Faein. She is known as the Wolf Queen. The wolf laguz don’t live with the other beast laguz in Gyllia.” Wynne said. The woman with the white wings chased after Queen Nalia. She finally caught up to her.
“Queen Nalia! What you doing? You stay . . . meet Ashaedia.” The woman said, grabbing hold of her hand and started dragging her towards Ashaedia.
“No, I don’t want to meet a . . . human! I despise them because they almost annihilated my whole wolf clan! You should too! Humans almost destroyed Sareneth Forest and the Falcons along with it!” Nalia shouted.
“Ashaedia different. She love animals. She sing dragongaldr. Ashaedia kind. She no threat –”
“Fine! I’ll meet her. But if she’s nasty, I’m leaving.” Nalia said, and the woman with the white wings led her to Ashaedia.