The Dragon's Abode(Compressed)

Part 1: Chapter 3

It was early morning, the little girl and her grandmother woke up earlier than usual.

"It's getting colder the windows are misted." Said the grandmother.

Winter had drawn near and the air had gotten less humid.

The little girl looked out the bedroom window to the forest.

Mist?... She thought.

An idea crossed her mind.

She ran to the kitchen and climbed up a stool to reach out for a jar from her grandmother's cupboard.

Outside, the sun was yet to peek out from beneath the hills. The skies were cloudless and the wind was calm.

The stool wobbled as she raised herself to her toes. Her grandmother decided to watch what she was up to from the bedroom. The little girl lost her balance but grandma was fast enough to run to the kitchen. She held the stool in place and the little girl jumped off the stool. They both let out a sigh of relief.

"You silly girl. You should have called me if it is out of reach." Her grandmother said.

The little girl looked down avoiding eye contact with her grandmother.

"I'm sorry grandma..."

"Now what do you need?"

"That jar!" The girl exclaimed pointing to the jar on the cupboard.

"Hmm... since you'll be taking it to the forest ... Why don't I give you a jar I used to collect herbs with when I was a little girl?" Her grandmother said touching the little girl's nose.

The girl scrunched her little nose.

"Is it airtight grandma?" She asked.

"Sure is..." Her grandmother replied as she stood up to open the topmost shelf in the kitchen. The little girl's eyes gleamed as she saw the most beautiful rocks and crystals in her grandmother's shelf. At the corner of the shelf stood a jar whose lid is adorned with chunks of obsidian. The jar was empty but it shone as if a thousand fireflies live within it. Grandma reached out and took the jar down from her shelf.

"It is yours now... Open it." She said as she handed the jar to her granddaughter.

The little girl opened the jar and light left the jar. The light encircled her and disappeared gradually. The girl was confused as to what had happened. She squinted her eyebrows.

"Now that light is a part of you..." Her grandmother said.

"What does the light do, grandma?" The little girl asked.

Her grandmother smiled.

"Fortune and magick will follow you wherever you go." She then clapped her hands. "Now it's time for you to go on your little adventures, remember to talk to the river spirits before you play along the river so they'd grant you protection. Run along now."

The little girl waved goodbye to her grandmother and left for the woods delighted with the jar she was gifted with.

The birds chirped as the first rays of sunlight touched the Earth. The girl held the jar close to her chest as she ran. The forest, the river and the cave with it's dragon awaits the little girl. She ran until she reached a nearby stream. She then opened the jar and rinsed it. As she sat beside the stream she dipped her little feet in the water, shivering slightly from the cold, while she took the hem of her dress to wipe the jar dry. The jar seemed gigantic in her tiny hands and she held it carefully afraid lest she might drop and break it.

She then brought the jar to her mouth, sucked in a lot of air for breath and exhaled all the air she could from her tiny lungs into the jar until the insides of the jar became fogged. She quickly and tightly closed the lid and ran to the cave to where the dragon slept.