Freedom

Chapter 1

Ah, the air here is so fresh, with all these trees and the oceanside.

Pearl looked out of the window, watching seagulls fly over the near ocean and fish jumping out of the water.

She and her mom had been in their hut for a couple days now, and they'd be staying there for a whole six months, before travelling back the Kingdom of Sea in Pyrrhia. But right now, they were staying in northern Pantala, near the Poison Jungle.

Pearl could see the jungle from their house. It was still, but whenever they came closer to it, they could hear all kinds of noises, like parrots, jaguars, who knows what else is in there.

But what she found most fascinating is whats inside the water here.

''Can I go into the river?'' Pearl asked her mother.

''Yes, just don't go too far,'' She called back.

Pearl ran outside and jumped into the river. Instantly she got hit by the refreshing feel of the stream. She saw a couple bluegill fishes scatter away from her.

Well, they're lucky I'm not hungry, Pearl thought.

She swam with the current, going towards the ocean. The river was teeming with seaweed and small fish, but Pearl longed to see something more exotic. Soon enough she reached the salty water of the ocean, and was greeted by nicer things like corals, sponges, and tall kelp.

Pearl swam to a small coral reef, near the bottom of the sea. As she watched the anemones, she found an empty patch of sand in the middle of the reef. It was quite a large one, almost as big as her wing. She wondered why it was empty here, and so she put her talons on the patch. But when she dug her claws deeper into the sand, she felt a solid, smooth surface. Confused, she started wiping the sand away, and beneath was glass. A window, showing a dark room. She couldn't tell what it was, partly because the glass was dirty, but also because this was all things she didn't recognize. She observed what was inside, trying to make out shapes in the darkness.

Suddenly a light appeared from the right side, and a fast-moving thing dashed through the room. But the most confusing part was...

There were dragons in the thing. She could see dragons sitting in the thing like it was nothing. She couldn't tell what they were doing but she could recognize the shapes of wings, tails, horns, and snouts.

She saw a green dragon look up at her, whose expression quickly changed when it realized that Pearl was watching. The expression didn't look very happy.

Pearl was completely in shock after that thing disappeared into the dark, leaving her alone with the anemones and her thoughts.

What was that? Who were those dragons? Why are there so many of them? Why were they acting like it was normal to be on a thing like that? Similar thoughts spun in her head.

For some reason, her wings took off into the air and tried following the way it went towards. It wasn't her decision, just her body doing its own thing.

Why am I doing this? I shouldn't go too far, Pearl thought, somehow managing to stop herself to look back at her summer house.

I have to figure out what this thing was.

She kept going forwards, but eventually her wings started to ache and stopped at some trees to rest herself.

How am I going to find this thing? It could've gone at any direction, and I have no idea where.

Her thoughts were quickly interrupted when suddenly something hit her in the head. She tried fighting whatever came and attacked her, but soon enough her body collapsed to the ground and she blacked out.