Hopefully this isn't too late! And it's REALLY LONG....SORRY....
It is said that there is a person in this world that has the power to change life as we know it. Someone so powerful that they can summon the most fearsome animals, and take control of one of the most powerful elements on this Earth: Fire.
The following is a retelling of the greatest story ever known. This story tells of a girl who was unaware of her potential, but soon finds that she is so much more than meets the eye.
Our story begins, on a starry night, long ago, on a little dirt road just outside the bustling city of Astrub. Further down the road there sits a little house made of oak wood logs and a little thatch roof, just on the cusp of a forest. On the crisp spring wind, a faint sound of inaudible murmuring can be heard coming from the back of the house.
Around back, there is a small paddock that looks to only have enough room for two dragoturkeys. Next to the dragoturkeys, a girl with mid length chestnut brown hair, and hazel eyes sits on a small stool. She is wearing clothing that appears to be tattered and ragged from wear. She is whispering inaudible noises to the dragoturkeys who seem to enjoy the sound of her voice. She gets up from the stool and walks over to a big bucket that is sitting in the corner of the paddock. From that bucket she picks up a large gudgeon that looks to have been gutted. She looks towards the forest with a longing that seems like she would rather be in the woods than in the paddock with the dragoturkeys. As she looks away from the woods, she turns to one of the dragoturkeys, a beautiful Golden and Orchid, and feeds it the gudgeon. It nudges her hand, as if to say thank you.
After the girl feeds the other dragoturkey, she leaves the paddock, making sure she locks the gate behind her. She doesn’t want a repeat of last time, when her guardian’s dragoturkeys got loose and she had to get them back. They run so far, and fast; luckily she has a knack for finding animals. The girl walks up the path to the door of the house, and enters. In front of her there sits the smallest little old lady that you ever did see. She is wearing small round rimmed glasses, and her silvery grey hair is done up in a big bun. She is glaring at the girl who just entered the house. With a look, she tells the girl that she better have fed the dragoturkeys or there would be consequences. The girl was all too familiar with the “consequences” that the old woman spoke of. It seemed that everything the girl did was insufficient. She was constantly yelled at, and scolded for doing as she was told. Nothing was ever done right in the eyes of the old woman.
The girl is worried now, because the old woman gave her that look, as if to say “You have done something wrong and I will be doing something about it”. Sure enough, the old woman reaches behind her chair, rummages in her bag, and picks up a piece of paper. She reads it aloud so the girl can hear what it says.
To The Little Old Lady Who Lives Near the Woods,
I walk by your house on my way to Astrub every day, because I work on a farm just north of Astrub. I couldn’t help but notice the girl who always tends to your dragoturkeys, she was doing the weirdest thing.
I noticed the girl doing something strange just behind the paddock. It looked like she was stacking firewood. Until, she took some firewood logs, and stacked them up on top of each other, end to end. She took a few paces back, and mumbled something under her breath. Then all of a sudden a huge flaming claw ripped through the logs she had piled up. There was nothing left of the wood logs after the blazing claw destroyed them. The claw vanished into thin air as fast as it had come.
I am just writing you this note, because I think this girl is dangerous, and I wouldn’t want a poor old lady like yourself getting hurt because of some reckless pyromaniac.
Sincerely,
A Concerned NeighbourAfter the old woman was finished reading the note, she gives the girl that look again. This time the old woman looks livid. Without saying a word, the old woman gets up from the chair, places the note on the little side table to the right of the chair and walks over to the girl. The old woman stands in front of the girl, and points behind the girl, to the door. The old woman starts moving towards the girl, pushing her towards the door. The girl has no choice but to back up to the door, until her back is presses against the door so hard, that she can feel the texture of the wood on her back. Once at the door, the old woman takes the doorknob in her hand and opens the door. The girl falls on her back as the door opens, because all of her weight is on the door. The old woman uses her foot to shove the girl out of the way of the door. The girl is lying on the ground looking up at the old woman. The old woman gives the girl a sneer, and slams the door behind her.
The girl gets up, and brushes herself off. She can’t believe that the old woman would do that to her because of a stranger’s note about something he saw. Although the girl is angry that the old woman has kicked her out, she can understand why the old woman would do it. Her house after all is made of wood, and fire would burn it down. The old woman is just scared that all she possesses in the world would be destroyed by the girl. The girl can’t deny that what the stranger saw that day was true. She has had this gift for as long as she can remember. She has always had the ability to tame and control fire. It was just something that she did to pass the time; she never would use it to hurt any living thing.
The girl resigns herself to leaving, because there is no use trying to explain things to the old woman. It is almost like the old woman was waiting for something that would give her an excuse to kick the girl out. This now gave the girl the chance to live the way she wanted to all her life in the woods with the sights, sounds, and smells that she always longed for.
The girl starts off past the paddock, past the area where she chopped firewood just that morning, and stops in front of the trees that are just on the outskirts of the forest that lie behind the house she has lived in for many years. The girl looks into the depths of the forest and finally feels that she is going home. She takes her first step through the threshold of the forest, and as her foot touches the ground a large whoosh of air blows past her. The air is warm and feels so inviting. She walks further into the forest until she can no longer see the old woman’s house through the trees.
By this time it has been several hours that the girl has walked through the forest. Up ahead she sees a clearing in the trees. When she comes to it, she sees that there is a rock in the middle of the flat, green grassy, ground of the clearing. She walks up to the rock and sits on it. She wishes she could talk to someone; she was beginning to regret that she entered the forest. She did not believe how lonely it would be for her. Out of the corner of her eye, towards her right, she sees a little tofu poking its head around a small root of a nearby tree. She turns towards it and notices a little gobball running towards her through the trees. All around her there is movement. She spins around and sees a prespic, a bwork magus, and a boar all looking at her through the long grass that surrounds the clearing. All of a sudden she feels the ground shake beneath her feet, she can hear large heavy footsteps coming towards her. Only she doesn’t feel scared, she feels happy, and excited. The footsteps stop and she can just make out a large shape made of stone, it’s a crackler! She is stunned by all of the animals that have some to see her. She doesn’t feel at all like these animals will harm her. It’s almost as if they were summoned to her in her time of loneliness. The girl starts murmuring softly to the animals that have come in her time of need. All of the animals feel that they can trust this girl who sits in the middle of the forest.
As the girl sits with her new found friends the wind starts to pick up. The light of the clearing go t dimmer as if something was blocking out the sun. The girl looks up and sees a large red, spiky dragon hovering above the clearing. The girl instinctually moves aside to let the dragon land.
The dragon looks at her with piercing yellow eyes. The dragon telepathically tells the girl that she is the one that will unite person and animal. She will break the barrier between the world of people and the world of animals. The dragon tells her that she was chosen from birth, and that she is now ready to show people that the animals of this world are not just things to kill for experience and crafting materials. Animals are fierce in battle and can help sway the outcome.
With those words in her head the girl starts to feel something arise from deep with her. She can feel her whole body changing. Her mid-length chestnut brown hair turns periwinkle. The tattered rags that she was wearing changes into an outfit with a small skirt the colour of bubble gum, trimmed in periwinkle. She feels something strange on her head. When she feels her head to see what has changed she feels that she is wearing a hat, and that she now has some small horns! The girl is not alarmed by the new horns she has, on the contrary, she is happy that she now has a purpose, it doesn’t matter what her appearance is. She turns towards the dragon that is still looking at her, and feels something strange brush her leg. The girl looks behind her, and notices that she now has a tail that is thin, and has the appearance of an arrow.
The dragon nudges her with his nose, to get her attention. He tells her through her thoughts that she is now half animal, half human, all the better to show the world the true powers of the animals. The dragon also tells her that she has been given a whip (which is at her hip), so she can better control the animals while in combat. Her abilities with fire have been enhanced, and she has been given abilities to enhance the animals in battle. The dragon then gives a small snort of its nose, and out from behind it emerges a smaller, albeit less spiky, version of the dragon. The spiky dragon tells her that, in addition to the animals that she sees around her now, she will also command the baby dragon. This will set her apart from all of the other people. This will make the girl unique, because no one else can summon a baby dragon. The dragon then flaps its wings, and takes off into the sky once more.
After the spiky dragon has left, the little dragon comes over to the girl and nuzzle her on the leg. There is an instant connection between the two of them. At that moment, the girl names the dragon Puff.
And so, that concludes the greatest story every told. Until next time.