Chronicles of Yugure: Plummeting into Uncharted Depths

Book 2 Day One ~ A Sorrowful Beginning

The light rain speckles swiftly onto the many green leaves of the forest, turning into larger droplets that fall to the floor of the realm where stands our solemn party. It's as if the day knows the sorrow we hold and is crying for the loss of my dear sweet mother.

Zana Gryphoclaw lies in her casket, adorned by many arrangements of flowers- courtesy of myself. It is a closed casket, for what is really left to see after being scorched by the heat of a thousand suns? Dragon fire is not a comforting way to go.

We, meaning me and all of my many friends: Professor Achilles Blacktalon, Shadequill, and Erickson the gryphons, Lady Hawk the sabertooth feline, Sendaar the pyroraptin, Vahraniik the dilophoraptin, Lady Asha the Hikarian dragon, Namazzi the kelpie, Hotaru my brother, Adlanniel and Rilien the sky elves, and Tinco the robot, are in our finest accessories for the procession. I say accessories since some of us have no need for actual clothes. Neighbors and friends of my mother gather around the casket one last time to say their farewells and begin to sing a few mourning songs that one may hear at a funeral.

I, being the forest green hybrid with wooden antlers growing atop my head, wait until the rest of the members of the procession leave to give my respects to my late mum. Her casket is of a dark cherrywood- her favorite wood stain. I spent the past few days carving special details of flying gryphons and harmonious dragons frolicking happily in a woodland background. It's what she died fighting for; the freedom of the many creatures of our universe from the dastardly group of villains known as the League of Mist.

You, dear readers, must be wondering why I carved dragons on her casket. I mean, after all, that is what killed her, yes? Well, not all dragons are evil. In fact, the dragons of the Mist are of the minority. My father, is in fact, a dark dragon from the Kurai clan. The Mist isn't just dragons, as I first thought. This League of Mist has recruited many a vile creature for their cause and has no standard when it comes to enlisting troops. This horrid group is why we are all here today, and I plan to stop them before more families are torn apart by their evil deeds.

I place my emerald scaled hand on the casket and stroke it affectionately. Hotaru, my lava dragon brother, comes up behind me and watches the casket with a caring eye. He stands underneath a lightweight umbrella that Adlanniel holds above him. Due to his fiery temperature that he has grown accustom to in Mt. Kazam, a volcano found in the Volcanic Isles, Hotaru has a hard time with the cold, damp weather of the First Realm.

"You coming?" Hotaru asks me gently, knowing this is a sensitive time for me. Although one would see Hotaru as uncaring, indifferent to his surroundings, stubborn, and hot-headed - mind the pun - he really is kind and generous at heart. He had rescued Sendaar and I from a horde of wolfwyres, causing him to lose the use of one foot for quite some time.

I can still see the shiny metal boot wrapped around his hind leg sprinkled with dew. He still wishes to wear it just to be sure his broken foot heals completely, even though the doctor said it is perfectly well now.

"Doctors don't know anything about my body. The only diagnosis I believe is my own," is what he always tells me when I ask when he's going to take the boot off.

My mind clicks back to the present as I think about what he just asked. "Of course," I say quietly- still wishing I could stay here just a bit longer, thinking that if I do she'll magically be revived and we'll go have some tea and biscuits.

I follow Hotaru to the sea of friends that wait for us at the foot of my home. My home in the tree is a wonderful piece of hand-crafted art, if I do say so myself. I had built it all myself, being the crafty one in the family. I scoured the realm day and night for just the perfect tree to make my own and I finally came up upon this large Dragon Oak tree. The name says it all, for these grand species of oak trees are one of the biggest trees in all of Yugure.