Dizgaia ~ The Dreamfinder's Daughter

Chapter 5 ~ Welcome to Dizgaia

In time, the prickling of consciousness began to touch Mia's mind. She heard humming and felt the warmth of a damp compress against her head. She struggled against the darkness.

"Dad?" she murmured. "I just had the craziest dream..."

Slowly, her eyes fluttered open, but it was not the kind, gentle, fatherly face of Edward Baxter gazing down at her. It was, instead, a pair of big yellow eyes set in a purple, crocodilian face. The creature greeted her with a small wave.

"Hi!"

Mia screamed and tumbled off the chaise lounge, hitting the floor with a thud. The tiny dragon responded in kind.

"AAAHHH!"

He went spiraling backwards and collided with a bookshelf, knocking several works of literature to the floor before tumbling to the ground and toppling over a wastebasket, which somehow managed to bounce upwards and land atop his head.

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

Mia rose to her feet and hesitantly approached the wastepaper basket. The creature had such a silly, childlike voice. Perhaps it was harmless. Nevertheless, it was with a trembling hand that she lifted the basket off his head. She gazed down upon the small dragon for but moment. It gazed up at her with its wide yellow eyes and a playful smile.

"Oh! Hello again!"

With another scream, Mia tossed the basket aside and ran from the room. The small, purple reptile let out a cry of its own and grabbed one of the fallen books and covered his head with it. Mia ran from the strange room with the vaulted ceiling and early 1900s architecture and into a corridor of a very modern-looking building, the very same, in fact, that she'd arrived in via a light cycle. At the sound of her cries, someone had come running, and as Mia turned a corner she collided with him.

"Oof! Miandra, dear! Is everything all right? What has you spooked?" It was the Dreamfinder, and in her haste, she'd knocked him to the floor.

Mia didn't waste time with apologies. Instead, she quickly pulled him to his feet. "M-Monster! S-Small, cute, purple monster!" She blinked, realizing what she'd just said and exactly what it was she'd seen. "Um... I may have been a bit hasty," she admitted.

"Oh!" said the Dreamfinder, letting out a jovial laugh. "Why, that was only Figment, dear."

Gently, he took Mia by the arm and led her out of the white, sterile hallway and back into the rustic room from which she'd emerged. "Oh, Figment, come on out," he called.

From beneath a thick, leather-bound tome, a small voice replied, "Is it safe to come out?"

"Of course! Everything is fine now."

Figment removed the book from his head and his tiny wings lifted him into the air. "Oh, goodie! I was worried I was gonna be screamed at again."

He fluttered towards them, yellow-eyed and grinning. His busy wings, sharp beaklike snout, and constant chattering still caused Mia something of a fright, and she clutched the Dreamfinder's arm tighter.

As the creature drew closer, she called out, "Sit!"

The small dragon immediately sat at her feet, looking confused and a little anxious. Blair brought a hand to his face, stroking his beard anxiously as he glanced between Figment and his long-lost daughter. A memory from long ago popped suddenly into his head.

I'm not sure I like the idea of Miandra having a pet dragon.

Oh, but he's not a pet, dear heart. He's so much more than that.