Journey to Tyrrendor

Chapter 2

Oh. My. Fucking. God. Are dragons REAL!? I whirl round, and see more behind me, about 20 or so, of varying heights. I do notice one thing however - none of them are looking at me. I'm an absolute fiend for fantasy stories, and if there's one thing I've learnt from them, it's never look the thing that could kill you in the eye.

It's quite obvious that any one of them could kill me with a single puff of the fire I'm assuming they possess, or those razor sharp claws, or those teeth... There's basically an immeasurable amount of ways that they could kill me. Honestly, I'm more shocked at how unfazed I am about magically appearing in this beautiful valley from my very comfortable bed than I am about the existence of dragons. I mean, yeah, I freaked out a little when I first registered them, but you'd do the same if you were suddenly surrounded by what must be hundreds of massive creatures that could kill you with a single breath.

I slowly plant my hands in the grass and push myself up, making sure to breath very carefully and VERY quietly. Luckily, they either don't notice me or don't care, and I begin a very slow, measured walk towards the gap between the trees in front of me. Inside, I'm absolutely terrified, but just in case they're like horses and can sense fear, I try not to let it show. I can freak out about what's happening right now when I get past that tree line. In order to calm myself down, I start listening to a song inside my head. Weird right? I just kind of think of the music, and imagine I'm listening to it and it kind of feels like it's really playing, just not quite there.I've moved about 10 metres from where I was, when I hear something that sounds like... wings? I look up and see a massive shape flying over me. It's a dragon, however it looks completely different from the ones surrounding me. I mean, it has the same basic shape as them, however is about 5x bigger! Fuck, it must be about 30 feet tall, and that's not even including the long, thick tail crowned with what looks like onyx spikes. The thing that really makes it stand out is not its size however, it's its colour.Whilst the other dragons are all varying shades of brown, red, green, orange or blue, this dragon is a deep, beautiful purple. My breath is stolen from my lungs as I see its chest scales, each individual one glittering like a thousand galaxies. It's as if the night sky was moulded into its very being.

To my utter fear and amazement, it lands in front of me, facing the line of trees. I begin to edge backwards, looking for a way around it, when it turns to face me with a whip of its majestic head. I cringe, cursing myself for being so clumsy as to make a noise. Curling wisps of smoke escape from its nostrils, and its mouth turns up slightly at one corner, almost as if it were... smiling? Just as I think the words, its mouth quickly pulls back into a snarl, growling with a sound that rattles through me to my very core. "I do not smile, Crimson One" it says. I open my mouth to reply, then shut it as what just happened rattles through me. It spoke, I think. It spoke without making a sound. How is that possible?."Firstly, I am not an 'it' you puny human, I am a she. My name is Celestiasteorra, and I am a distant descendant of the noble line of Dubhmadhinn, however you may call me Celestia for ease. Secondly, I spoke into your head, just as I am doing right now" My eyes widen at that "I sense that you have many questions, however I am not in the mood to answer them at this moment. Now, look inside your head and find the path that connects to me, and speak along it to tell me your name." What on earth does "look inside your head" mean? And how the fuck can I do it? With a jolt of fear, I realise just how much danger I am in for the first time since I arrived in this godforsaken valley.

"Close your eyes and focus on me, but hurry up. You are very slow. And, if it will stop your fearful thoughts, I have no intention of killing you." Disgruntled, yet still in absolute fear for my life, I close my eyes and think about the dragon. I imagine a path of shadows, little wisps of purple streaking across it like lightning. I follow it, right to the point where a dark purple cloud of... of.... What is that? There is no way to explain it. Both light and dark, fear and hope, as if all the feelings and forces in the world are wrapped up into it. Yet, somehow, it feels like home. It feels like a part of me, like the thing that I never realised was missing until now. I reach for it with my mind, then say "Hello"

"Hello, Crimson One" Celestia says into my mind. "My name is Alys, but everyone calls me Lyssa" "And why would they call you that?" "Because I asked them to. My name sounds like Alice, and everyone always used to say I was Alice in Wonderland, so when I started secondary school, I started telling everyone my name was Lyssa" Jesus Christ, why am I telling her all this? It's like she can see my very soul, and is telling me to explain it all to her and I cannot resist doing it. "Alys. An old name, rooted in a similar language to mine. Celestial, meaning the heavens, has many different debatable roots. Steorra, however, is from the language of my ancestors, the Tyrrish dragons. Yours sounds very much as if it is Old Anglorum, an ancient language that died out after unification. Where exactly are you from?" "England" "Where is this 'England' that you speak of?" "In Europe? On Earth?" As I say Earth, Celestia tenses. "You are not from this world?" "I don't think so, but I really have no fucking clue what's going on right now" After a long pause, she replies with "I do".