An Unknown Land

    It was a tranquil, autumn day as the gentle breeze was crisp. The colorful fall trees swayed side to side as the streets were empty, except one quiet girl who was walking, undisturbed, and looked so kind, yet so daunting. 

      She was an odd little girl whose name was Zara, who happened to be carrying a pink sleeping bag and a small backpack. By lifting all these heavy items, she struggled as she walked to her desired destination, looking like she was almost about to topple over. 

                  Soon, Zara came to her stop, which happened to be a luxurious house, which almost looked like it was made of rich gold and silver of all kinds. It was a massive house, which could fill maybe thousands of guests, who all would be delighted to be in their dream house. The front porch was a desire with a lovely hammock, a colorful accent table, and a rug with beautiful stitches that represented love and happiness of the world. The garden was a delight with many flowers which included peonies, tulips, daisies, and sunflowers which had many seeds to the garden floor, yet to grow.

              But, what the young girl, Zara, noticed was a sight. She looked out to the very corner of the house, which seemed quite odd to her as a log. Why is there a log over there? It is very odd. Zara thought. Out of curiosity and the need for adventure, the girl dropped her things and raced to the log. When she neared closer and closer to the log, she saw a glittery, fading, purple light coming from the log. She knew what she had to do. She crouched down to meet the same level as the log to see the miracle was a portal. Her jaw dropped, stunned and out of shock. She looked for a stick nearby, which happened to be right next to her, and she threw it in to see it didn’t come back out again. 

              For a minute she thought about her idea, which was wrong and right at the same time, but without thinking for another moment, she hopped right in.

           Zara had found herself screaming through the never ending tunnel. She saw sticks and rocks falling down with her for what felt like a century for her until she fell onto some kind of sticky, gooey substance beneath her,  which happened to be mud. She felt unconscious for a minute or two, until she saw a small, stout, person with a white beard and hat. When she looked up, to see herself literally face to face with the creature she screamed, backing away from her. “W-who are you? Where am I? What is this place?” Zara panicked asking the animal looking thing, vomiting up questions. “The name’s Goyle. You happen to be in Mannia, home to many of us wonderful creatures. Like you see, I’m a gnome. Now tell me who you might be, young lady?” Goyle said in a squeaky voice. 

              Zara stood up and said, “My name is Zara. I’m a human. I came here through some sort of portal?”

       “Oh! You are the savior for us all, thank you, thank you for coming!” the gnome cried. Zara was confused. “What do you mean savior?” she asked.

              “The portal can only be seen to the wise. Look around, don’t you see this world breaking apart, with sorrow and depression surrounding this place?” Goyle said, gesturing to Zara to look around. She did, to see the place broken, with the sky cloudy, the grass muddy, the houses gloomy, the creatures’ depressed faces as they walked by, but a big, gigantic mountain surrounding them. “What’s the big mountain up there?” she asked. “Oh! That is the dragon, Rayate’s mountain! He is a disgrace to us all! He broke this world only because he wanted to see us, creatures, suffer from depression and sorrow. He has killed our humble king, Guate, and trashed this kingdom, and calls himself the king. You must journey up that mountain and save us, please, oh please.” Goyle begged Zara. 

   Zara looked concerned. She didn’t know whether she should do it. She had to fight a dragon. A dragon! How would she fight a dragon? She was just a little girl after all. But she did come here for a reason, right, if she saw the portal? 

     She had made a decision, she would do it. “Okay, I’ll do it, but how do I fight a dragon?” she asked. The gnome’s sorrowful face went to a big, wide grin, and he started talking very fast. “Okay, so I have this sword for our big fight. It has proven itself to kill every enemy and teach them a lesson. I’m going to give it to you, now. I’ll be right back, you stay here.”

             The gnome rushed off to leave Zara on a cliff. Surprisingly, he was back very fast. He was struggling to carry the sword he was talking about, and when he was in Zara’s sight, she ran towards him and helped him. The gnome gave the sword to Zara, and she held it. The sword was a shiny material, with sharp corners along the golden accented edges. She observed the sword and then the gnome pushed her down to make her drop the sword. She fell down, and the gnome snatched the sword. “Hey, give it back!” Zara cried. The gnome refused and suddenly turned into a hairy dragon. “W-what?” Zara stammered in confusion. “How are you gonna fight me now, human?” The fiery dragon shrieked. 

                     “You’re Rayate?!” Zara screamed. “”Yup! And you’re a loser!” The dragon laughed maniacally. Zara, in the meantime snuck behind the dragon and snatched the sword out of his hand. She quickly stabbed him in the back and his laughing just stopped, as he slowly fell to the ground. “It’s not your kingdom. It’s the citizens’ kingdom and there is no king of anything. Freedom and happiness is the king of life, you hear me, oh right you don’t. Cause I’ve refreshed your brain with love and happiness. That’s right. Goyle, that is the treatment for what you did.” She plucked the sword out and looked behind her to see the sunshine outside, with lots of flowers and plants growing nicely, and many other innocent creatures living their happy lives. She turned back around to see Goyle, in his ordinary form, back again. “What are you doing here?” Zara asked confusedly. “Thank you! You have released you from the evil curse the dragon put me in, when I tried to kill him. You have made life much easier here in this town. Thank you. We appreciate you. The portal is behind you by the way.” Goyle, who was innocent, now said. “Oh, you’re good. Thank you!” Zara said, running behind to the portal back to her happy life on Earth, and waving goodbye to Goyle and the townspeople.