The moon shines brightly on a row of houses. All is quiet. It appears to be a perfectly normal street, apart from two facts. Firstly, all of the doors seem out of place. If you were to look at them straight on they seem to meet all the normal criteria for a door. At an angle, however, they seem as if they were not there at all, perhaps only an illusion. The second thing that makes the street unusual is that there is not, in fact, a street. Where you might expect to find a street there is instead a wide grassy field. It is well trimmed and neat, with flowers growing alongside the houses, bu the fact remains, it is not a street.
Each house, apart from the doors, appears reassuringly normal. Inside number 42, on the second floor, a man and a cat lie sleeping. He seems to be exactly as normal as the street. The cat, on the other hand, is less normal. It has two neatly folded wings on it's back, small rounded ears and elongated front teeth. Even in the dark, it would be difficult to convince anyone that it was an ordinary cat. Of course, no one would try, because it was a perfectly ordinary dragon and it would be silly to try to pass it off as a cat.
As the sun rises other features of the room stand out. The far side of the room, by the door, is covered in vines. They trail along the walls, encircling the entire room. They meet along the opposite wall, where an elegant white door impedes their progress. It doesn't seem like an ideal place for a door, as it also happens to be the wall right next to the window. If anyone outside the house happened to look up at the second story window from the outside they would see no trace of the door.
The dragon sits up and yawns. She stretches casually, then looks at the sleeping man. She cries softly. "Meep?" She puts her face right up next to the man's face and stares intently. Finally, she pounces onto the man's head and starts attacking his hair fiercely.
"Ouch!" Pamphilos sits up suddenly. "Muta! Stop that!" He reaches up and grabs the dragon.
Muta stares at the man with wide, sad eyes. "Meep?" She asks plaintively.
"Hmmph." Pamphilos puts Muta down on the floor. "You are just going to have to wait." Pamphilos sits on the bed and yawns. He finally stands up with a sigh and walks over to the white door and opens it to reveal an expansive closet filled with colorful shirts and chests of drawers. He starts to get dressed while Muta paces by the door, crying out impatiently.
"Meep? Mrrp. Mrrrr!"
Pamphilos sighs and pulls on his socks. "Okay then, let's see." He walks over to the kitchen and examines a bowl near the entrance containing a sparse covering of a pebbly food. "See Muta, you still have food." Muta stares reproachfully from the man to the food dish. "Mrrrg," she grumbles angrily, swishing her tail.
"Okay, Okay." Pamphilos take out a container of food and scoops some out into her bowl. "There." Muta happily begins to eat. Pamphilos shakes his head and begins to prepare his own breakfast. As soon as Pamphilos sits down to eat, Muta appears next to him. She slowly reaches out a paw towards his breakfast. Pamphilos glares at her and moves his plate.
"No, you just ate."
Muta stares sadly. "Meeeep?"
Pamphilos sighs and hands her a piece of potato. Muta graciously accepts it and leaps down from the stool to enjoy her treat. Pamphilos finishes his breakfast and stands up, grabbing his bag. "See you later Muta," he calls and opens the front door.
YOU ARE READING
Egress
FantasyEgress 1. The action of going out or a way to get out of a place. In a world where everyone has some magic, doors have become a magical transportation method. The simple action of stepping through a doorway can move people across the world. Because...