Rainbow Lemonade

Chapter Twenty Four  :  The Lion  / I woke up to a horribly bright sunlight; when I opened my eyes the rays almost blinded me. The feeling of heat was overwhelming, even the breeze was hot. I felt so tired as I sat up, squinting in the daylight. Dolion lay with its back toward me; covering me with its white feathered wings as I had slept. We were in a valley with scattered cactuses and a few mesquite trees. We were under the biggest tree, but even in the shade there was no escape from the temperature. A small, almost dry stream flowed a few feet away from where I sat.  "Dolion?" I asked. It turned over to face me, unbothered by the blinding light in the sky. "How close are we to the kingdom?" It thought for a second. "There's five days of walking ahead of us," It explained. "You still wanna do this?"  "Yeah," I said. "Because if there's anyone good left in that kingdom, they need help. I can't leave them there with Agni...

Chapter Twenty Three  :   The Desert ( Part Two ) /  The death of the coyote beast was quick; so it didn't manage to hurt me or the jackrabbit family. It did scratch Dolion, but as always, Dolion was unfazed. I went back into the jackrabbits' tent. "Are you all okay?" I questioned. The little jackrabbits were huddled around their grandmother's rocking chair, their big ears quivering and large glimmering eyes fearful. Their mother called them all to her and snuggled them. "Yes, we're all right. Just a little frightened." She reported. "It's safe now, so you don't need to worry." I assured them. "Dolion's checking the remaining tents to make sure there's no other dangers... Can I talk to you alone, without the kids?" The mother jackrabbit nodded and sent the children off to bed again. We sat in the living room on carved wooden chairs.  "Did you know that creature existed here - like, in your camp?" I asked....

Chapter Twenty Two  : The Desert   ( Part One )   / I stayed at home for about three days, until I couldn't take any more. The outside world was calling to me. Dolion came with me (obviously) and we went into the forest behind my house. It seemed like a more comfortable or familiar journey, because I have always been very close with these woods. Even though they've changed.  "Where did all the colors go?" I wondered aloud. Around me, the trees and grass had lost their otherworldy hues; now they were a faded brown-ish grey... The trees no longer possessed leaves, the grass was worn and short. Alot of trees were destroyed, laid helplessly on the deadened ground. Some of the grass and tree limbs were black with ashes, scorched? I couldn't understand how I wouldn't have noticed a fire raging through the woods right behind my house.  We meandered for a long time (I didn't bother keeping track, I was too busy absorbing my surroundings), and then we found a door ...

  Chapter Twenty One  :    " Advice From A Friend " (  Part Two  )   /  I awoke to a twisting, writhing beam at my room window. Stars and symbols spilled from it, sticking to the walls and floor. A deep, ethereal vibration hovered over me, making my brain fuzzy. The tall apparition of Orpheus stood at the foot of my bed. Shimmering blue fluid streamed from his eyes, pooling on the floor. I saw sadness and something else in his face, but I couldn't tell what. The words quietly echoed in my room, "Advice from a friend..." Orpheus walked across my room to the window, stepping out into the spinning chasm of glowing hues.  I woke up, choking on what I had envisioned in my unconsciousness. After catching my breath, I looked around. I was laying on the sofa in my living room. My parents sat on the couch across from me, unmoving ( as usual ). It took awhile for me to recollect what had happened earlier, and once I did, I instantly worried about the t...

  Chapter Twenty  : " Advice From A Friend " ( Part One ) /  As we walked home, I felt like we were being watched. The breeze sifted through the tall grass and stirred my hair, it was cold now. And it wasn't just the leaves in the trees moving either, it was the entire frame of the trees swaying; limbs and trunk fluctuating to some rhythm inaudible to me.  Then out from the woods stepped a creature mainly resembling a tiger. It was beautiful - black and orange stripes on its thick fur, butterflies fluttering around its head, flowers tucked behind its small ears. A rainbow hue illuminated its body, and its eyes glimmered hot pink with long, dark eyelashes.  Standing in front of me, it was about two feet taller than my height. I wasn't sure whether to be intimidated or relaxed. Its glowing eyes probed my face. "I need your help," She stated in a rich feminine voice.  I didn't say anything, I just looked at her questioningly.  "When the realms merged, ...

Chapter Nineteen  :  The Creature At The Lake / I did decide to go outside, because being outdoors has always cleared my head. It was almost entirely silent except for the gentle wind. No sounds of wildlife, or creatures from other realms. I didn't go into the woods behind my house, or the city. Instead, I went down the road leading away from my home, and out through the town.  Maybe fifteen minutes after leaving the town, I spotted a sign that said there was a lake. I had remembered my parents taking me here in earlier years, but it was awhile since I'd been here, and I don't recall much about it. I strolled down the dirt path, which led to an old, rusted playground and picnic tables. I didn't dare climb up on the weak looking play equipment.  I continued through the park, and in a short while I had reached the lake.  It was beautiful, the clear blue sky shining over the rippling water. A dock went off into the near side of the lake, and reeds and cattails grew...

Chapter Eighteen  : What Happened?  / I sat up in my bed, gasping for breath. My alarm clock read 11 A.M.. After sitting and breathing slowly for a few minutes, the panic left me. It's okay, it was just a nightmare, I told myself.  Above my head, numerous glowing butterflies fluttered about. My window was shut, I wondered how they got in. They made a formation on my ceiling, spelling "FROM MIRAI."  "My dream? It was from Mirai?" I asked aloud. "YES." The butterflies spelled out. "But... From Mirai, that wasn't a dream. It was a vision, from the future - " I quavered.  I ran downstairs. Dolion sat on the floor, leaned against the wall in the kitchen. "What's going on?" I questioned cautiously. "What do you mean?" It asked sweetly, its silver eyes meeting mine. "I... I don't really know," I started. "First, with the creatures at the faery village. And I wasn't so sure about you - after they cal...

Chapter Seventeen  : The Dream  / I woke up with a strange twisting feeling in my stomach, like my abdomen was a washing machine. A red light glowed on my ceiling. I sat up and looked at my alarm clock - which no longer read time; the numbers were replaced with glitching symbols, and it was making a crackling sound. Outside my window, ruby red light spilled in from a blood colored moon, casting terrifying shadows from the leafless trees.  I got out of bed, a bit scared. "Dolion?" I called out. No answer. "DOLION?!" I yelled. Silence, except for an awful humming that reverberated through the entire house. As I quietly went downstairs, I noticed that the hands on the grandfather clock in the hallway were spinning, around and around the face of the clock at an abnormally fast speed.  As I reached the bottom of the stairs, I heard a loud crash from upstairs. I turned around, and saw the heavy grandfather clock laid on the floor in pieces.  I checked the whole house,...

Chapter Sixteen  :  At Home / The walk back home took Mirai and I a long time; I lost count of the estimated hours. We traveled close to where the trees grew thick, in case we needed to hide again. The sky above us turned from navy blue to a bruised pinkish-red, swirling with psychedelic moons, stars, and clouds.  By the time we arrived at my house, everything was a soft blueish-pink hue. A light orange sun hung low in the sky. "This is my house," I said to Mirai, who gave a quick nod of her head. "Are you tired?" I asked her. "Exhausted," She answered. "We don't have to stay awake," I told her. "We'll go to sleep, and everything will be better when we wake up." (  I only said this because I knew it from experience ).  I let her sleep in my parents' room, and then I went up to my room and fell asleep as soon as my face hit the pillow.  I was awakened at 2 P.M., by bright tangerine sunlight streaming in through my window. My ...

Chapter Fifteen :  Escaping The Corrupt  / " They're here ," Mirai fearfully whispered. "The Corrupt."  All the creatures had hungry, enraged, inhuman smiles on their faces. They surrounded us; there was no way out. "This is too easy," The wolf snarled. "Three freaks with one stone."  "So much for saving the world, huh, Lavender?" Taunted the lizard.  They all inched closer, their large mouths crowded with sharp teeth. Dolion stepped in front of me and Mirai. The wolf leapt at it. "Run!" Yelled Dolion.  Both Mirai and I dashed out of the tent, the rest of the creatures at our heels. After running for about two minutes, I yelled to Mirai, "I can't run for much longer." "Then we won't run," She replied breathlessly. "We'll hide. Follow me." We ran a bit farther, zigzagging through the endless trees. She slid under bushes and fallen tree trunks, jumped over rocks, and then she disapp...

Chapter Fourteen  : Mirai's Vision / Her tent was so full of beautiful things - oil and watercolor paintings, tapestries, hung lanterns and small chandeliers, aromatic potted alien plants that weaved along everything, rugs on the ground and plush chairs alike to beanbags, a little table and bookshelves, jars and vases filled with shimmery powders and stones.  She led us to a part of the tent in which we had to walk through countless beads strung from the ceiling. The tent looked so small when I was standing outside, but now that I was inside, it seemed endless. We sat around a small coffee table with old books and scrolls piled on top of it. "Tea?" Mirai asked. "Sure," I replied. Dolion politely shook its head no. Mirai stepped into another part of her tent, to prepare the tea.  In about five minutes she came back with two steaming teacups in her hands. "Mm, thank you." I told her, breathing it in as she handed the cup to me. The tea smelled so floral ...

Chapter Thirteen  : Meeting The Futuristic Faery /  We walked for only about a minute until we came across what the faery who gave us directions had said we couldn't miss - a large blue tent, strung with long strands of glittering beads. Colorful flowers and vines encircled everything. A few deer-like creatures strolled around the tent and the countless trees behind it, their glowing antlers reflecting the rays of sunlight that spilled in through the foliage.  "Hello?" I called out. "Mirai?" All was silent for a few seconds, then a tall and thin woman stepped out of the tent. She was gorgeous; long, wavy ginger hair twined with bead strings and flowers, hooded eyes with shimmery ultramarine eyeshadow and thick brown lashes, a hippie-type dress layered with many multicolored fabrics, her arms and neck were covered in bracelets and pendant necklaces, her slightly pointed ears full of piercings, with a moon and stars symbol recurring on her jewelry, belts, and the ...

Chapter Twelve  : The Faery Village / At 11 A.M., Dolion and I journeyed farther into the forest behind my house.  The birds' chirping sounded distorted, a garbled tune that emitted joy and confusion. A few flew out from the muted blue trees, stirring the leaves. The birds themselves were strange colors, striped and spotted, and much larger than regular birds. Their beaks were long, and their eyes, glistening like precious stones, were colored fiery pink.  We must have walked for about three hours before we came across an entire... City? It was gigantic; filled with cabin-like buildings that had little windows in them, huge multicolored mushrooms and flowers and trees, glowing stones along pathways, butterfly-like creatures and dragonflies that gleamed as they fluttered through the sky, and everything had a rainbow iridescence although it was covered in a rose haze.  People a little taller than me strode down the pathways, and in and out of buildings. When I looked ...

Chapter Eleven  :  The City That Fell /  Hundreds of cows were treading down the road that ran in front of my house. I wondered how this could get any weirder, but then I saw that they were wearing clothes, shoes, hats, etc. I rolled my eyes. "Keep rolling your eyes, maybe you'll find a brain back there," A cow in a glittery yellow blouse said as she passed by me. It made me uncomfortable that the cows had human eyes and teeth. When most of them had run past,I stopped the few at the end of the herd. "What's going on?" I asked them. "Why the rush?"  The biggest of them, wearing a tan checkered flannel and brown cowboy hat, walked up to me. "Our town's fallin' apart," He stated in a deep southern accent. The other cows nodded in agreement. He pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his shirt pocket, lit one, and took a long drag. "What's your town called?" I questioned. "Priest River," He told me, blowing out a g...

Chapter Ten : It Was Better In The Morning  / A cloudy pink-ish sunlight streaming through my room window woke me up. It was eight A.M., and I slept well despite last night's event. I was feeling okay until I remembered what had happened yesterday.  After putting on a light green sundress, brushing my teeth, and pulling my hair back into a ponytail, I went downstairs to check on Dolion.  It was sleeping; leaned back on the sofa and completely still except for the soft rise and fall of its chest. A calm and empty expression resided on its pale, thin face. I moved closer to examine ts wounds which were now... Gone.  Not even a slight trace of a scar existed on its lean, muscular abdomen. When I looked back up at its face, its silver eyes were open and awake. "How did you sleep?" It asked me.  I clenched my teeth and blew air out from them. "Fine,..." I replied. "But how did you do that? Completely heal? There's no scars or marks left - that's impossi...