Checkmate

"Hurry up," Aaron said, voice strained as he tried to keep me still.

"I'm trying! She keeps moving!" Elliot tightened the rope around me. And then I kicked him in the stomach. "Ow!" He fell to the ground.

"This is your fault you know," Aaron pointed out to me. "You chose this. I gave you two options. The easy way, create us a leader. Very simple. You objected though. The hard way, we make you princess and take you back to Flutura. This, my dear, is the hard way."

"Yeah, hard for us," Elliot scoffed. He got up, still holding his stomach. While they spoke I was able to free my right arm. I ripped the cloth off of my mouth and quickly elbowed Aaron in the ribs. He let go of me instantly. I pushed Elliot out of my way and ran out of my room to the front entry way. As soon as I was outside, they wouldn't be able to catch me.

"Why did you let her go?!" Elliot yelled at Aaron.

"Why did you tie the rope so loosely?!" Aaron yelled back. I could hear both of them running after me.

I was almost to the door when someone grabbed my ankle and pulled me down to the ground. I looked to see Elliot on the ground holding onto my foot. I jerked my leg free and started to crawl away. He was already over me though, hands gripped around my arms, pinning me to the ground.

"Let me go!" I insisted.

"We could, but we'd expect that drawing in return," he replied. He turned me over on my back so I was now facing him. His sapphire eyes blazing. Like burning ice.

"Good job, Elliot," Aaron said. He now was standing right next to Elliot and I. I couldn't read his expression as he looked down at me. "I'm afraid though, that she's going to be too difficult on our way back. Being unconscious would probably be best for her, and for our sake." He smiled a little.

Elliot muttered something that sounded like, "loud mouth" but I wasn't sure.

"You know what to do then. I'll be waiting outside." Aaron then left the house as Elliot started searching for something in his small bag. I didn't move or struggle to get away when he released his grip on me. I gave up. It was now pointless to fight back.

"Ah! There it is," he said and pulled out a small liquid bottle.

"You're not going to poison me, are you?" I asked, panicked.

He laughed. "Sadly no." I didn't exactly understand his joke, if that's what it was. "This will just put you to sleep. I would like very much for my ears not to be bleeding by the end of the day."

"I won't scream again," I muttered. I couldn't keep any promises though.

He chuckled and popped the top off the bottle. "Now, open up."

I bit my lip and shook my head.

He sighed. "I love you."

My eyes grew wide and my jaw dropped. He snickered and poured the liquid into my now open mouth. "Kidding!" He laughed.

I coughed and sat up. "What is that?!" I gasped. It tasted horrible.

He sniffed the top and grimaced. "Well I thought it was the strawberry flavored kind." He grinned. "Goodnight now. Sleep tight. Don't let Aaron bite."

The last thing I heard was his childish laughter. My head hit the ground.

When I regained consciousness my head hurt. At least I'm not tied up, I thought to myself. The wind was blowing hard against my face. I noticed that I was laying on something rough and black. It felt scale-like too. I sat up, my head pounding. I then saw what I was laying on. A dragon. I gasped and backed up, too far though, I fell off the edge. I screamed as I fell through the air towards the ground.

But then I landed on something else. Not the ground. It was a blue dragon.

"Oh, you're awake then, are you?" I recognized Elliot's voice.

"Is she okay?" Aaron called down to us. I looked up to see the big black Aaron dragon above us. His wings were huge! Actually, everything was huge. Compared to me at least. His tail was long, flowing gracefully behind him. I looked back down at Elliot. He wasn't as big as Aaron. Which was easy to understand because that was how it was in their human form. Aaron was probably a foot and a half taller than Elliot.

"I can't believe it! You're actually dragons!"

"You forgot?" Elliot asked. "You created us. Surely you remember making us half reptile." Though I couldn't see his face I knew from his tone of voice that he was smiling.

"Well, I didn't exactly forget. It just caught me off guard a little," I explained. He chuckled.

"Flutura, up ahead!" Aaron called down again. I looked ahead over the horizon. I could see the top of a castle.

I suddenly felt exited. Flutura was my creation. Mine. And now I was going there. Heck, I was going to be princess! And the best part was that it was real. Some how. Some how it wasn't just a figment of my imagination sketched out onto a piece of paper.

Now we were closer and I could see all of Flutura. Such a beautiful sight. The sun was setting over the village. Pink and orange light flashed past the castle and sparkled off the huge lake.

Elliot heard my small gasp. "Like it?" He seemed a little smug.

"You have no idea. It's even better off-page," I mused. He snickered. I leaned back and closed my eyes, only feeling the breeze in my face. It was just then that I realized I was freezing. And it was because my clothes were damp.

"How did I get wet?" I wondered out loud.

Aaron answered my questioned this time. "We needed to take a detour through Pentaily."

"Pentaily?" I asked, confused.

"Underground sea world. You see, it was still light out when we left and we couldn't take the risk of any humans seeing us. I mean, what would you do if you saw a mythical creature flying in the sky? Your world already has enough insane people living in it."

"You couldn't go any other way? I'm soaked and freezing!" I complained. I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself.

"Well, we were going to take the path through Corxel, but Elliot hates all the bugs there and the flying squirrels." I felt Elliot shudder from under me.

"The jungle is not a place I enjoy so much," he amended. "Although, I guess it would be better than going through Ronherm."

"Third degree burns. Fun, fun," Aaron agreed sarcastically.

My eyes widened.

"Ronherm? Pentaily? Corxel? What are these places? Do they even exist?" Nothing was making sense anymore.

"Of course they exist!" Aaron said, appalled. But then he became thoughtful. "Sorry, I forgot that you barely know anything about our world. We'll have to explain everything to you later."

"Why not now?" I asked.

"Hold on tight!" Elliot said suddenly. I looked around frantically, searching for something I could hold on too. I saw something sparkle from around his neck. The chain of a necklace maybe? I quickly held on tightly to it. And before I could ask what was going on I felt Elliot slant downward to the ground. Aaron zoomed passed us so fast he was just a black blur. I guessed that Elliot had to go slower because he didn't want me falling off his back.

I was wrong though.

Elliot started picking up more and more speed and soon, his body was completely vertical. I clutched my arms around his whole neck instead of just holding onto the necklace chain. I was stupid enough to keep my eyes open. I saw the ground getting closer and closer to us and I screamed. That was a bad idea too.

"Please shut up!" Elliot groaned. "You're right next to my ear!"

I tried to force my mouth shut, but it didn't exactly work. I turned my face to the hollow of his neck so my screams would be muffled and his "precious ears" would be spared.

I closed my eyes but it was too late, we were already on the ground. I could feel it because we were now horizontal.

"You can let go now," Elliot said. His hand touched my head and I realized he was in his human form again. I let go and noticed that some of my fingers still gripped his necklace. It was a golden dragon holding a sapphire gem. The dragon was attached to the golden chain around his neck.

"What is this....?" I started to ask but answered my own question. It was his symbol. Everyone in Flutura had it. A symbol was used to mark people for what they were. The Dragon Knights had dragon necklaces; I looked over at Aaron, now in his human form. His necklace was just like Elliot's except it was silver instead of gold and the gem the dragon held was onyx instead of sapphire. The vampire symbol was a red rune ring. It never left their right hand. I only told Luna a couple of the creatures in Flutura. There are others. There were the Water Phoenixes. A Water Phoenix has a pearl necklace. And Snipes, creatures with long claws and sharp teeth. The Snipe have a scar on their left wrist that looked like a star and crescent shaped moon.

There are many many more creatures in Flutura; I have all of them written down in a notebook somewhere in my room. It said the name of the creature, had a picture of it, and also had a separate picture of it's symbol. I forgot most of them now though. There were too many. I'd wished I brought my notebook along with me now. It would be very helpful.

The symbols aren't only for classifying them though. Without Elliot's dragon symbol, he wouldn't be able to transform into a dragon. Same with the Water Phoenixes. Not exactly the same for the vampires though. When a vampire didn't have their symbol on, they would turn into stone and then crumble to dust on the ground. The Snipes didn't have to worry because they will always have their scar with them forever.

I was starting to zone out. I could tell because I soon felt Elliot's impatient fingers prying mine off his symbol.

"Let's go," Aaron said. He led us towards the giant silver gates to Flutura. The only way in.

"Wait!" Elliot said, stopping. "They won't let us in if we have the creator instead of a princess," he whispered quickly to Aaron.

"Don't worry," he whispered back, holding up my hand and pointing to my dragon ring I got for my birthday. "She has the Nordoxie ring. They'll let her in."

Elliot just nodded and we started walking again.

"If they won't let the creator in, then why did you give me the two choices of becoming your princess or draw you a ruler in the first place?" I asked. I whispered too.

"It's...difficult to explain. The two guards hate Aaron and I. Oh, and did I mention we like to gamble?" He smiled at me sheepishly.

I raised one of my eye brows. "Uh, not really."

"Well, we do. And so me and Aaron made a bet against them that we could convince the creator to create us a ruler and bring him or her back. And by the way you created Flutura; we already knew that you would be too stubborn and refuse to do what we ask you. When we gave you that second choice it was basically a warning to you. Like a heads up. So later when we took you to Flutura you wouldn't just think we're crazy lunatics that are kidnapping you. You get where I'm going with this?"

I nodded, yet just half understanding. "I always new you two were crazy lunatics though. I created you, remember?"

He laughed. "I guess so"

We stopped abruptly when we got up to the gates where two tall and muscular guards stood. Vampire guards. If I remembered correctly, my notebook wasn't with me at the moment; the vampire on the right was a War Vamp. Trained for fighting off unwanted visitors. While the one on the left was less bulky with less armor on had the keys to all of Flutura. I was shocked; they were even more beautiful in real life.

"Back already?" the War Vamp said. His voice suggested that he was expecting, and most likely hoping, that Elliot and Aaron would be gone longer.

"Yes," Aaron replied.

"That isn't a problem is it, Zane?" Elliot said, sneering the name.

Zane just glared at him. Then his dark ruby eyes flickered to me. "That's the princess?" His tone was filled with skeptic.

"Yup," Elliot said joyfully. "Now pay up."

Zane grumbled angrily to himself while reaching into his pocket. He pulled out four strange gold coins and three silver small ones. He dropped the coins into Elliot's waiting open hand.

"That means you too, Leo," Aaron said to the vampire on the left side.

Leo looked like he was sleeping. No, he was sleeping. He was sleeping while standing. His head hung down as the rest of his body leaned up against the gate.

"Leo!" Elliot yelled. "Wake up!" But Leo didn't do anything. He just mumbled something so himself and sighed, adjusting his head a little. Elliot frowned and walked over to him. I didn't see what happened, all I heard was Leo.

"Son of a...!" he shouted hoping up and down, clutching his foot. Elliot must have stepped down really hard on his foot. Leo looked at Elliot with furious eyes (they were a lighter red than Zane's). A fierce growl escaped his throat. "Why, I ought to suck the blood right out of your skull for doing that!"

Elliot chuckled darkly. "Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the coffin."

"Okay, now your just asking for it!" Leo warned.

"Bring it on!" Elliot beckoned to him with his hand. Leo grabbed the collar of his shirt. His sharp fangs showing now as he growled again.

"Break it up you two," Aaron commanded.

"Let go of him, Leo," Zane said at the same time.

Leo glared at Elliot for a moment before abruptly letting go and pushing him back. He folded his arms across his chest. "What do you want?" he asked but then noticed me standing beside Elliot. "Aw man! You've got to be kidding me!" He reached into his pocket and then threw the coins at Elliot. "I'm running out of money."

"Ditto," Zane agreed.

"Now can you let us in?" Aaron asked, growing impatient.

"Yes, yes." Zane turned to Leo. "Open the gates," he commanded.

Leo just stood there, like a statue, glaring at Elliot. "Fine," he snapped and swiftly pulled out a strange silver key and stuck it in the lock, pulled it out and opened the gates. Since the gates were huge Zane helped him open them up.

Aaron started walking forward but Zane stopped him with a hand on his chest. "Next time," he warned, "you won't be so lucky." Elliot laughed without humor and continued to walk forward. Aaron and I followed closely behind.

Through the gates and into Flutura.