The Hidden Dragon

I get a dream from a woman, find out my mom was a spirit, receive a quest to find lost spirits, end up in a canyon full of fire…can my life become more surprising?!Cyril thought. Looking all around, Cyril finally noticed a tiny speck in the distance that was surrounded with a wall of rock. He began to walk towards it and eventually noticed it was a door.

“A spirit’s friend will enter this door. He will survive while others will fall through the floor.” Cyril read. How encouraging…Scared beyond belief, Cyril turned to run away. However, the image of the woman came back to him and determination filled him. His hand rested on the door knob and he turned it.

What was on the other side of the door made Cyril gasp loudly. Lava bursted up into the air, then fell back into a chasm. The only way to the other side was by a thin bridge. At many places, wooden pieces were missing. Looking over the side carefully, Cyril could see something that resembled bones bobbing in and out of the lava.

Wanting to take precaution, Cyril slipped his elephant out of the pouch on his tool belt. He quickly placed the motors inside it and programmed it to weigh about the same as Cyril. Even though it was small, it could now walk with as much force as Cyril would. Cyril gently placed the elephant on the bridge and turned it on. It began to slowly walk across the bridge, using its eyes to detect any gaps between the pieces of wood, and then jumping over the gaps. Cyril let go of his breath when the elephant reached the other side. His elephant is safe and he can cross the bridge now as well.

On the other side, Cyril picked up his elephant and programmed it to become its normal weight. He then walked towards a giant gate that towered thousands of feet above his head. A sign hung on it.

“To open the lock, you must pour in some water.” Upon examination of the lock, Cyril noticed it was unlike any other he had seen. There was no place for a key to be put. Instead, there was a large dent that seemed to have been put there purposely on the top of the lock. Digging inside his backpack, Cyril was able to find a water bottle. He opened the cap and was about to pour the water into the lock when he remembered that this water bottle was the only drinkable water he had with him for now. Back on went the cap and into the backpack went the water bottle. After all, who knew how long this may take?

Digging into his backpack again, the only other liquid item that Cyril found in his backpack was ink. Why did my mother pack me this? Cyril wondered. There was no time to be wondering about that for now, so Cyril thought back to classes with his teacher to think of how he could possibly change this ink into water.

“BOOKS OUT! Flip to page 203! Today, we’re learning about MIXTURES! Yes, Stacy?” Mr. Huchon shouted.

“I forgot my textbook.” She said quietly.

“That’s ok. Share with Cyril.” He replied. Then, he noticed that Cyril didn’t have a textbook with him either.

“CYRIL! You forgot your textbook?! Such shame! Stand up and wear this dunce cap. Then, I want you to do a hundred push-ups in front of the class! How come you’re the only one that didn’t bring a textbook?” Mr. Huchon screamed, red-faced. Cyril bowed his head and put on the dunce cap. He could hear the gang in the back snickering. As he did his push-ups, the teacher taught the class.

“Ok! Stacy, share with Eric over there. As I was saying, there are mixtures everywhere! Even your blood! The cereal you ate for breakfast was a mixture!” He paused, noticing a raised hand in the middle of the classroom, “Yes, Bing?”

“I didn’t eat cereal for breakfast….are apples mixtures? ‘Cause I ate an apple for breakfast. It was red and it…” Before Bing could continue, Mr. Huchon cut him off.

“NO! Apples are not mixtures! As I was saying, mixtures are everywhere! You can separate mixtures through physical and chemical changes. Some ways are distillation, filtration, and evaporation. Ok! Preview is over! Now, read your textbook and take notes. When you’re done, you may play the games in the back of the class.” There was a shuffling of papers and clicking of pens.

Cyril shook his head at the memory. The pushups had left his arms sore afterwards and he could hardly take any notes. Going back to the task at hand, Cyril began to work on changing the ink into water. Using metal pieces inside his pouch, Cyril made something that could cover the ink container. Then, using more metal, Cyril constructed a stand that had an arm branching out. Slipping the container into the end of the metal branch with one hand, Cyril carefully used his screw driver and hammer to balance the stand with the other. Moving the stand towards the edge of the cliff, Cyril allowed the ink container to be heated by the lava.

As he waited, Cyril took out a sandwich his mom had packed and began to ate slowly. Once he finished his lunch, he went back to the stand and moved it so the ink container wasn’t over the lava anymore. He took the metal “cap” off the container and brought it to a place that was cooler. He waited for the steam on the cap to condense and become water. He was amazed as he waited that the metal cap and stand had not melted.

At last, the water had formed and Cyril brought it over to the lock. He carefully poured the water into the dent and watched the lock magically spring open. Before removing the lock however, Cyril went back to disassemble the stand, put the pieces inside his pouch, and collect the black pieces left from the ink, saving it for later on- just in case. He then slung the backpack onto his back and his left arm held his sleeping bag. Then he took off the lock and walked through the gate. What was on the other side surprised him once again.

When Cyril had looked behind the gate before, the place looked just like the place he had just been in. My fire must’ve opened another portal. Cyril thought. All around him, animals danced around. To his right was a small waterfall. Trees towered above him and the sun shined between the leaves and onto the ground, casting shadows here and there. Butterflies and birds flew among the treetops while deer pranced around. One deer came near Cyril and looked at him with excitement. Cyril laughed when the deer allowed him to pet him.

For someone that loved animals, this place was wonderful. As he petted the deer, Cyril glanced around to find out where he must go next. Even though Cyril would love to stay here, he knew he still had a quest to accomplish.

“I doubt you’d know, but is there a gate or door or something that would help me on my quest?” Cyril asked the deer. The deer seemed to nod and led him to the waterfall. Looking closely, Cyril could see a small door behind the waterfall. As he examined the door, the deer began to suddenly change shape.

Cyril stumbled back, shocked at what had just happened. What had been a deer was now a human. The man in front of him wore a brown and white shirt along with camouflage pants. His hair and skin were a light shade of brown. The eyes of the man looked a lot like the deer’s eyes.

“Thank you for finding me, a lost spirit. I got lost…a few weeks ago when I went to look for my pet butterfly.” The man said.

“Seriously? You spirits get lost just by looking for stuff like that?” Cyril asked. He became frustrated that he has to go through all that trouble just to look for spirits that got lost for practically no good reason.

“No, no. You don’t understand. I am the spirit of animals. I make sure that they do their duty. If there’s even one butterfly missing, it could cause a huge unbalance in the ecosystem. Also, that butterfly was one of the three magical butterflies in the world.” The man answered.

“Uh…ok. Well, I’m on a quest to find lost spirits. So I guess you’ll come along with me?” Cyril said, still a bit confused. The man smiled.

“Sure! The only way to get out of here, though, is by doing this.” The man gestured towards some words carved onto a rock next to the hidden door.

“Separate the dye from the ink. Then, place the dye into the rectangle in the door.” The man said. Looking at the door again, Cyril noticed a dent in the shape of a rectangle. At the back of the dent was something that looked like a sensor.

“Where’s the ink?” Cyril asked. The man took out a bottle of ink from behind a tree. Cyril remembered how he’d used his own bottle and was glad that this time, whoever made this door had supplied him with ink.

Thinking back to the notes he had taken in Mr. Huchon’s class, Cyril was able to think up of a way to separate the dye from the ink.

Cyril takes off his backpack and digs through it once again.

“Man! You’re smart! I wish I thought of that…” Cyril cut the spirit off, “I just did what I learned.”

“You learned to just put a dot of ink on coffee filter and then dip it in water? And you learned that that would separate the dye from the ink? You have a genius teacher! Who is your teacher?”

“I told you! It’s called using chromatography! The water helps to separate the ink! As to who my teacher is……it’s Mr. Huchon.” Cyril exclaimed, annoyed. He gently took the paper out of the water and brought it over to the dent in the door.

“HUCHON?! Wow, you must be very specia…” The spirit stopped talking after seeing the glare from Cyril. The door made a buzzing sound as the sensor scanned the dye. Suddenly, there was a click and the door swung open to reveal a glowing room.

The animal spirit immediately bowed and Cyril soon followed his lead.

“You may stand.” The queen of spirits said. She beckoned for the spirit to come over to her. She then looked back at Cyril.

“You have done well so far. Once you enter this door,” she points to the door behind her, “you will start your real journey. Let me see your tool belt first.” Cyril hands his belt to her. She lifts her hand and chants some words as her hand made circles above the belt. The belt started to glow faintly and then stopped glowing once the queen gave the belt back to Cyril.

“I have enchanted this belt so that it will now hold anything you want and give you anything you need to build items. It won’t give you food or books, only building items. Use it well on your quest. Thank you for bringing my animal spirit to me. Please continue to use the fire in you and find my other spirits. Your skills will come in very handy as well.” The queen bowed to Cyril and he bowed back. Then, for the second time, the queen disappeared. After a wave, the animal spirit smiled and disappeared as well.

Cyril muttered a prayer and opened the door. Behind it was a large workshop.

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“Hello? Hello? Is anyone here?” Cyril walked quietly into the room. Suddenly, he noticed a large pair of red wings behind a stack of boxes. Curious, he slowly walked towards it and peered over the boxes and gasped. The red dragon immediately whipped its head around. Its eyes seemed to glow bright red and it raise its head, aiming at Cyril. Acting fast, Cyril dodged, just in time to survive.

“Sorry! Dude, you don’t need to aim fire at me, just chill.” The dragon continued to stare evilly and blew fire at Cyril again. This time, Cyril’s jacket got a bit burned, but he was still okay.

He must not know human language. I’ll try to make something so I can communicate with him. Cyril thought. He wished for some pieces of metal, springs, circuits, screwdrivers, and so on. When he opened the pouch on his magic belt, he found all the items laying inside. He quickly carried these items over to a place marked “fire safe” and began to work. The dragon continued to blow fire at him, but it was unable to get Cyril to catch on fire. Constrained to the ground, the dragon couldn’t move over to Cyril and rip him apart. Growling with frustration, the dragon struggled around as Cyril hurriedly worked to make a dragon-communicator.

“Got it!” Cyril hooked the headset-looking item onto his head. Although Cyril did not understand dragon language, he was able to wish for something that could translate English into Dragon-speak and vice versa when plugged into an item.

“Okay dragon. Would you stop blowing all that fire at me? I’m not fireproof.” Cyril spoke into a microphone in the head set. A sound of gibberish came out of a tiny speaker in the headset. The dragon stopped blowing fire at him and looked at Cyril curiously instead.

“Grawh ogean rworagan?” The dragon asked. The headset quickly translated it to mean “Who are you?”

“My name’s Cyril. I’m on a quest and I really need your help.” Cyril said.

After a long conversation, Cyril was able to learn the history of the dragon. He had once been captured and almost killed by a group of wizards once. A human girl had saved him, but betrayed him at the end. The dragon had held that grudge and decided to never trust humans again, which is what caused him to become evil and burn many villages. Cyril also learned that the spirit queen had saved the dragon from the girl’s betrayal. Eventually, though, the dragon was captured once again and placed into this room by a witch.
After hearing about Cyril’s quest for the spirit queen, the dragon agreed to help Cyril even though he was a human. He decided that the boy must be special for he even put so much time into a dragon-communicator just so that they could communicate. The dragon also knew he owed a great deal to the spirit queen.

Cyril worked on freeing the dragon and brought it out of the room. The dragon bowed his head and Cyril climbed on.

Opening its magnificent wings once again, after being trapped inside a small space for so long, the dragon breathed in his freedom. Cyril bubbled with excitement on top of the dragon, causing it to be excited as well. They flew towards the sky and beyond the clouds until they entered another portal made by the fire within Cyril and the dragon. Because now, they are a team.

Looking at the land he had just left, Cyril said goodbye and then turned back towards the portal. He patted the dragon and it blew a cloud of fire up in the air. The real quest had just begun.