Everyone in John Garter’s class’s dragon eggs had already cracked but his hadn’t, until now. He was in his bed, half-asleep, and he heard a cracking noise. He got up and looked to see his dragon egg cracking. He was excited and amazed. He was surprised when he saw that his dragon was not just one of the 4 elements, like all dragons, and that it was multicolored and it had energy sparking all aroun...

The massive cast iron pot hoisted over the hearth started to rumble and shake violently, waking the dog and causing her to bark suspiciously at the sound. I groaned, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and sat upright peering at the source of the Norwegian Elk Hound’s agitation. It only took mere second for my brain to catch up with what was going on — the egg must be hatching! It’s never been this r...

It looked like both a harmless pinecone and an ominous grenade. It was my dragon egg, of course. I’d always known I’d get one, because the great dragon, Valimay, dreamed with me a hundred dreams of promise. My dragon and I would be able to fight off shadows in the valley of death and fear no evil. We’d be able to land at the top of the Mountain of Glory and know the meaning of triumph. I would l...

_Autumn is coming _I thought to myself as I clutched my tattered shawl and huddled back against the cold stone wall. Ever since my parents had passed away in a terrible coal mining accident just a few months ago, I had been living on the streets, sleeping in alleyways, begging and doing whatever odd jobs I could find just to survive. But now, having no shelter was becoming deadly. _Eventually, it ...

Staring into my bathroom mirror, I smudged a thumb across the darkened skin.

For the third consecutive day, I'd dozed off while studying. Now, soft granuals of pigmented charcoal marred my cheeks like a puckered tattoo.

"**_Nox erat et toto sidera_**..." _Latin_.

_"_**_She'veę req ouli a_**_..." Kabralhi._

**_"It was night and all the stars_**_..." English._

Across my face, all three written ...

Curtains hanging from an open window flap against a cold breeze. The outside air blows in, washing over her exposed skin. She stirs yet remains sound asleep. Her skin prickling as the hairs on her legs rise in the cool air. She shifts again, then retreats, pulling her legs under the sheets. Subconsciously seeking a new equilibrium of warmth.

From the desk across her room, little scratches becom...

Nails scraped against the tender outer shell, attempting to claw free from the darkness. A faint, high-pitched squeak of life echoed through the prince's bed chamber. Yu Qiang’s eyes fluttered open, waking from his uncomfortable sleep on the cold wooden floor, a makeshift pillow of folded blankets beneath his head. He cradled the dragon egg, feeling its warmth through the thick shell. Each little ...

My Pinecone

The wind rushed through the trees like a tornado. The girl grabbed a tree so

she didn't tumble through the pine forest. "That's odd," she thought. Winds

don't usually blow in the forest like that. The girl loved being outdoors.

Anywhere in nature would do-the beach, the mountains, or like today-the

forest.

As the wind ceased, she let go of the tree. She glanced around to see what

dam...

Amethyst clouds only subsidized the abysmal black sky. If I had known what terror awaited me in this new and foreign land that morning, I would have dismissed the thought of boarding this dreadful locomotive.

When I first heard the loud nibbling and cracking, I thought maybe it was an infestation of mice that jolted me from my rest. Rubbing the blur from my vision, I noticed a dark oval mass on t...

The wind is rushing past me as I’m gazing towards a cloudy sky. I’m falling, slowly. I savor the freefall and close my eyes, willing my mind to let me land on a fluffy cloud once I reopen my eyes. Most people hate having dreams of falling, but the anxiety goes away once you learn how to control your dreams. I suppose most people that are gifted with lucid dreaming would choose to fly instead of sl...