Dragons and... Humans?

Chapter 2

“We’ve reached our destination, thank you for flying with us today, and make sure to tell all your friends about Niar Airlines.” Niar said in a flight attendant voice. He reminded Rider of the Genie from Aladdin and Rider couldn’t help but snicker. 

“But Niar, your my only friend,” Rider said while climbing off Niar’s back.
“Not for long, Rider, not for long” Niar said as the walked through the giant thick leaf entrance.

“What do you mea- woah” Rider cut himself off as he saw the beautiful scenery. It felt like something out of a movie. He saw the small fairies flying around once again, a huge tree in the middle of it all. The tree had mushrooms around it and upon further inspection, he realized that those were the fairies houses. A fairy flew up to Rider. She couldn’t have been more than 6 centimeters tall and inspected Rider before squeaking at him. Rider looked at Niar with a look of confusion on his face and Niar just laughed wholeheartedly. 

"Sorry Astoria, he's new and doesn't understand fairy yet." Niar said when he managed to calm himself down.
Astoria huffed and flew away squeaking something louder this time. another fairy came up to Rider and this time, he could understand them.
"I'm sorry, Astoria is very social and likes to talk to new species she hasn't met yet. I'm Carlin" The new fairy said in an Irish accent. 

"Nice to meet you Carlin, I'm Rider." Rider said whilst bowing to the new fairy.

The fairy laughed at Rider "There's no need for that, come, I'll teach you how to understand fairy." Carlin brought Rider to the other said of the large tree, which had a desk, chair, paper, pencil, and whiteboard on wheels. Rider sat in the chair while Carlin went up to the white board. They pulled put a mini marker and began to write.

"So you see, you don't need to learn a language. Fairy's speak their native language except our voices are so small it comes out as a squeak for people like you. You just need to learn to extend your hearing range." Carlin explained while writing the physics of it all down. "To do this, we start with the quietest sound you can here, only expose you to that, and then work our way down to fairy talk. Understand? Good, let's start."

After spending the whole afternoon with Carlin studying fairy, Rider could finally understand fairy.
"Astoria!" Carlin called "They boy can hear you now!" Almost like she was there the whole time, Astoria shows up within seconds.

"Good! I wanted to ask him a few questions." Astoria said, turns out, she had a heavy British accent.
"Well, what do you want to ask me?" Rider said as he stepped towards the fairies. 

"Where are you from?" Astoria asked, taking a seat on Rider's shoulder.
"Up" Rider responded while pointing at the sky.

"Where are you going?" Astoria continued. Rider was thankful that she didn't have any follow-up questions.

"I don't know yet, ask Niar." Rider said, both of their heads turning to Niar.

“Hmm, the elves should be out and about at this time?” Niar said although it seemed like he was suggesting it more than he was telling Rider and Astoria where they were going.

“Yeah! The elves are great! My best friend lives near there.” Astoria responded as she got off of Rider’s shoulder. Rider got back on Niar’s back and the three flew away, ready to meet the elves.

“Encantado de conocerte,” The one elf said as soon as Niar landed. The elf had olive skin and was very friendly.

“Rider, this is Augustín, he is from lower Elvishaine. Many species call it Innermost Elvishaine,” Astoria said before Niar had a chance to. Rider took note of the fact that Innermost Elvishaine is this world’s equivalent of Central America. Rider only took one year of Spanish in his Freshman year and so he has no idea what the elf said. Luckily for him, Astoria’s mother is from Siallion, this world’s version of Spain, and Astoria learned the language at a young age, so she translated everything until we were ready to leave.

Rider, Niar, and Astoria decided to split up after Niar said he wanted to go to the ‘best dungleaf shoppe in all of the land’, Astoria wanted to visit her best friend, and Rider wanted to explore the place.

Rider walked up to a castle that had no guards, no door, and just no security in general.

“This… Definitely isn't right,” Rider said, but he continued into the castle. He saw a boy, around his age, practicing sword fighting on a very skilled looking woman.

“Great job today Prince Alleavdan! You really stepped up your sword fighting skills.” The woman said, quickly glancing at Rider. Without another look spared, a sword went straight through his jacket hood. Rider was panicked and scared on the inside but on the outside he looked calm and collected. He got good at that over the years.

“So, who are you?” The supposed Prince Alleavdan asked Rider as he slowly stalked towards Rider, like Rider was his prey. Even though Rider was significantly taller than the prince, he still felt very afraid of him. After all, this prince knew how to use swords, and was scarily good at it.

“I’m… Uh, I’m Rider?” Rider said. His face was red and he was sweating profusely. He knew he felt another emotion along with the anxiety but he didn’t know what it was. He didn’t want to find out what this feeling was, only for it to be what he feared. But who would stop him if it was that? The fairies were like that. It was okay in this world, everything that should be okay in his world but isn't okay here. Rider ignored his thoughts that betrayed himself and listened to the prince.

“Rider, Huh? You didn’t sound too sure about that. Is there another answer you aren’t telling me?” Prince Alleavdan said with the other sword slowly being pushed into Rider’s throat.

“No! No other answer that this, you can ask Niarmyg!” Rider shouted while trying to squirm so the sword didn't penetrate his skin. He mentally slapped himself ‘nice going, idiot! They probably have no idea who-’

“Niarmyg! The dragon! I know him, his little sibling is the same age as me, they’re a hoot!” The Prince said and drew the sword back. Rider let out a sigh of relief. 

“Here let me help you, any friend of Niar is a friend of mine! My name is Prince Alleavdan, but you can call me All.” All said and swiftly removed the sword from Rider’s hood. Rider wondered if all people in this world had nicknames, before he could think about it more, his thoughts were interrupted.

“Why are you here, Rider?” The supposed trainer asked Rider and took her sword back from All.

“I saw the door and no guards so I walked in,” Rider said. Saying it out loud, it sounded so stupid and fake but, here he was.

“Not that, why are you here, in this world? Don’t think I didn’t notice your ears as soon as you walked in,” She said and pointed to Rider’s rounded out ears with one hand and Prince All’s pointed ears with the other.

“Woah! You are a human! I've never seen one before, do you want to come and walk with me through the royal garden?” All asked, seeming more and more excited the more he talked.

Rider was about to answer, but the tall lady quickly interrupted him “But Prince Alleavdan! He could be dangerous! We don’t know anything about him!” She whisper yelled.

“Oh! You’re right, Rider? Where are you from?” The Prince asked calmly.

“I’m from the surface, I left after a series of unfortunate events,” Rider said quickly and looked down. He didn’t want to tell the prince about his families past and wrongdoings. He wanted the prince think he is perfect and to be his friend.

“Alright then. See, Marredethe? He means no harm!” All said and grabbed Rider's arm dragging him towards the back of the castle. He opened up the big doors and there it was, a magical garden with pixies and fairies and mythical creatures he didn't even know existed.

He looked at All in complete awe who just giggled at Rider's bewildered expression and continued to pull him through the rows of flower beds.

"Come on silly, I have so much to show you in here!" Alleavdan said and let go of Rider's arm. The two boys walked side by side along the walkway, laughing and having fun as if they were life long friends. They shared a special bond that no one could break. They would be good friends one day, probably a bit more than that.