An orange haired teenager walked slowly around the large trunk of the monstrous tree, orange fox-like tail swishing slowly back and forth with each step he took, running his fingers over the rough bark as he went, at the same time mumbling to the other boy; "If you place both hands on the base of the biggest tree, close your eyes and push with all your might, while saying the words 'Go to Crysal', you can go through it and come here?" He asked more amazed than anything, his voice laced with slight disbelief, face contorted with doubt "I've never heard that one before."
"Mr. Collins..." Matthew turned around when he felt a hand on his shoulder, only to see Auren standing over him, looking at him. "Mr. Collins, wake up."
The teen's head shot up, and Matthew blinked quickly and shook his head, turning up to see his History teacher standing over him with a concerned frown etched across his mouth. "The bell rang," he said slowly, almost curious at the other; it wasn't normal to see Matthew sleeping in class. But he still turned his back, walking away.
Matthew looked at the classroom clock to see he was right and quickly gathered his things and left the high school building to walk the four blocks home, re-thinking of what his mind had been playing, that oh-so-familiar sense of Dejavu coming on to him.
Kio turned to face the two teens, a smile present on his face. "This is Tato. He's a potato dragon." He said, holding a tiny dragon out to them, Matthew and Jon. The dragon called Tato stomped his feet on Kio's hands, peering at them rather excitedly, then he did something that seemed unexpected to them and bit Kio's middle finger lightly, licking the small wound he had made. Then rolled onto his back and squealed happily. Kio didn't seem to mind; he was still smiling at the small creature.
"A potato dragon, what’s that?" Matthew asked, Tato stopped wriggling his small feet in the air and looked up at the human, tilting his head to the side.
"Yeah, they are one of the only two dragon species that don't eat meat. But despite their name, they eat fruit." Kio explained, Tato looked back to him, squealing happily yet again.
"What are the other ones called?" Jon asked this time, still staring at the tiny reptilian in awe.
"I don't know; I'm not even sure they exist anymore. Nobody has seen one in 300 years," Kio replied as if it was no big deal. Matthew opened his mouth in disbelief and somewhat shock. The dragon holder looked back at him and asked, "What?" He had a mix of innocent and completely devious look on his face.
Matthew shook his head quickly and returned his attention to Tato.
Matthew's blue eyes opened slowly, sitting up on the brown leather couch, he looked at the clock on the wall and shrugged, rubbing a hand through short light brown hair.
Amber a girl with long, about back length brunette hair and amazing forest green eyes, looked into the living room with a frown. "Good. You're awake. Dinners almost done and I need the dishes washed and garbage taken out." She said, crossing her arms over her chest with a wooden spoon in her right hand.
She then smiled and walked over to the couch and sat next to him. "You're almost sixteen..." Matthew looked at her with a sidelong glance, not moving his head in the slightest direction towards her.
Somehow sensing the slight agitation, she leaned forward in her seat and looked at him a somewhat worried expression playing on her face.
"What's the matter? Not happy that you're getting older?"
"No... It’s not that...”
"Nya...?" Amber tilted her head to the side, confused.
"Nothing really, just having strange dreams lately, that's all." Matthew stood up and stretched.
"What kind odd dreams?" Amber also stood up, walking back into the kitchen with her spoon.
"Don't worry about it, you wouldn't get it." Matthew said with a mocking smile. Amber sent him a glare.
"Whatever." She huffed, rolling her eyes, continuing her cooking of the Ramen Noodles.
---
"Matt!" Jon, Matthew's lifelong friend, yelled from behind him. Matthew looked back to see the black haired teen running up to him.
"Hey." Matthew said casually. Jon stopped running and took a moment to catch his breath.
"You know... For a lazy bum you have a lot of energy and walk fast..." Jon said, brushing a hand through his black and purple hair
After successfully getting his breath back, Jon continued walking with Matthew to school.
"They're back... Aren't they?" Kio asked sadly, Kuro only nodded. Matthew then noticed that Kio started trembling and clenching his fists.
Kuro turned to Matthew and Jon and said, "Take him to the castle... These two will go with you." He motioned to two girls, named Sara and Mara, behind him. "Don't worry about the guards. They'll let you through the doors... I'll explain everything when we meet back up..." Then he ran off. Leaving the two confused.
"Why do we need to go to the castle?" Jon asked. Nobody answered. Nobody knew the answer. That’s when Kio fell to his knees, grasping the back of his neck. Mara and Sara both ran over to him. Mara moving his hand then looked at Sara with a concerned look.
"This isn't good..." She said, Sara calmly walked over, also looked at where his hand used to be and nodded. She then lifted Kio up over her shoulder.
The four then began running toward a giant castle.
Right before they got across the draw bridge, the two guards drew their weapons and shouted "Halt!"
Sara had to hold onto Kio with both hands from the skidding to a halt stop she made.
"State your business!" The guard on the right shouted. Sara looked back towards Jon then motioned for him to go over and take Kio. When he did, Sara reached into a pocket and pulled out a piece of paper with writing on it and handed it to the guard on the right.
"This is getting old, Mr. Collins... If you want to sleep, go to the nurse’s office!" Sara said, pulling out another paper, giving it to the guard as well. "If this behavior continues, I will have no choice but to send you home with a note to your parents!"
Matthew's eyes shot open and he instantly sat up and looked around the math class. Usually math was his favorite subject. But, he just couldn't concentrate in anything anymore.
"Alright; I'm up," He mumbled quietly, leaning back in his chair, only to doze off and fall asleep again.
“Don’t you ever sleep at night, when you’re supposed to?” Jon said in a mocking tone, just as he dozed off again.
Matthew's eyes opened again, this time to the face of Jon smiling at him mockingly. He was leaning on the desk, his arms folded under his chin.
Matthew blinked; wondering how long was out for this time. He then noticed that Jon wasn’t alone.
He looked up to see, standing behind Jon, was a white haired, skinned, eyed, and clothed boy, looked a little older than the two, crossing his arms over his chest and looking down at Matthew blankly.
"Auren?" Matthew asked after a moment of silence, Jon looked back at the white person.
"So you do know this guy. Alright, Come on Sleeping Beauty..."
"Where are we going?" Matthew asked, gathering his notebook, pencil, and backpack and followed the two out of the room.
"I will tell along the way... But we need to go now." Auren explained, calmly walking down the hall and out of the building.
Once they got at least two blocks down the road, Matthew finally asked again, "Where are we going?" His voice had a little more agitation than he meant to. Auren looked back at him.
"We are going to Crysal..."
"Why?"
"It is where you are needed. Now..." He said, stopping directly in front of a tree, a huge tree, the biggest tree in town. "You need to do exactly as I tell you..."
"What is this all about? Crysal exists?" Matthew asked, a little disbelieving. Auren glared at him, turning around to face him.
"Yes. Crysal exists, and as we are standing around talking... People are dying and in due time, the cause of all the deaths is going to come here and do the same to the people of this world..."
"How are we going to help?" The glare disappeared and turned into a smile.
"Come with me... You will learn." Auren said, turning back around and faced the tree again. "Place your hands like this..." He placed both hands on the tree, flat palmed. Matthew and Jon looked at each other and shrugged, doing as Auren did.
"Push and say in a clear voice, ' Go to Crysal'..." They shrugged and did as instructed.
Their hands slowly started sinking into the bark of the tree. They tried pulling them back out but they kept going back in further. They both looked to Auren, who was calmly watching from the place he was earlier.
Before they knew what was going on, they stepped out of the other side of the tree in front of a small clear blue lake, looking around in amazement and confusion.
Seconds later, Auren came through the tree behind them.
"What’s going on, I thought you where kidding!" Jon yelled, walking back to the tree, and tried going back through.
Trying to go back home.
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