Some of you may already know my friend, Yum.
You can check him out here: https://www.wincustomize.com/viewskin.aspx?LibID=8&SkinID=2733
Then, if you enjoy the story, you can visit "Serenia" here:
https://www.wincustomize.com/skins.asp?library=8&SkinID=255
Here goes.......
As some of you may know, I have a very unusual friend. (I don't really like to call him a pet, as he is probably more intelligent than I am, and I wouldn't want to insult him.) He's a dragon. A small dragon I know, but what he lacks in stature he makes up for in features! His name is Yum, a name he acquired because of the sound he makes when he spies a chocolate covered orange, (his favorite food). I don't remember how he and I came together, it's all a bit of a blur now, but I like to think he appeared at a time when I needed guidance or assistance or just someone to talk to.
You see, Yum has this eerie knack of knowing just how you are feeling, and always manages to come up with a solution to your problems.
Anyway, the reason I am telling you this is, the other day Yum and I were walking on the moors near our home, and we stopped to bask a little in the sunshine and shoot the breeze for a while. We talked of lots of things, and Yum rolled around on his back in the heather like a playful labrador, opening and closing his beautiful, brightly colored wings, because "wings can get mighty itchy when they're folded up for hours on end", as he liked to inform me at least three times a day.
During a lull in our conversation, and while Yum was fricasee'ing an unfortunate dragonfly for a quick snack, I began to wonder exactly where he came from, this strange, highly intelligent and intuitive dragon. I had never thought to ask him before, because, as I mentioned, his arrival seemed a blur now, and it felt as though he had always been with me. So, as he was finishing his last piece of dragonfly wing, and carefully inspecting his silvery, razor sharp claws, I casually said, "Yum, where were you born?".
He looked at me in a serious way, although he actually looked quite comical, as his ears were flapping in the light breeze that had sprung up, and just as casually as I had asked, he replied, "I was born where oceans are born", and went back to curling his tongue around those powerful claws. Well, you can't say something like that to someone as inquisitive as me, and expect me to leave it there, so I asked,"Where the oceans are born?, and where might that be?". After a further moments thought, he said, "I was born in a land called Serenia, and please, don't confuse it with Verenia, where those horrible blue dragons come from, with their knobbly scales and plain blue wings, ugh!". He shuddered a little as he said that, and I had to stifle a laugh, as dragons are very proud creatures, and hate to be laughed at.
"Go on" I said, intrigued now by this talk of dragon lands and oceans being born, "tell me more".
"Well", he said, "Serenia is about three days south from here, as the dragon flies, and it's quite a barren place apart from the Spherical Stones, barren, yet very beautiful." He closed his eyes as if remembering something sorely missed, and went on, "All the earths oceans are born from the Spherical Stones, and they are what make Serenia such a beautiful place." "What are they?" I asked. He took a lazy swipe at another passing dragonfly, but missed by several inches and went on, "They are glass-like spheres of many colors and many sizes, and all draons are born inside them. The female dragons lay their eggs inside the biggest stones, and for the first few years of their lives, the young dragons drink the water that emanates from these magical stones, and that is how we get our brightly colored wings and magical powers".
I thought for a moment, and asked hopefully, "Could you take me there?". He smiled his sharp toothed smile at me and said,"I'm afraid not BoXXi", (he prefers to call me by my psuedonymn, as he thinks it sounds more Serenian.) "No human would survive the journey through the Falls of Bellna, and besides, if you did, you would only end up as a snack for one of the larger dragons that live there!". I must have looked very disappointed, because he took off, wings buzzing like a hummingbird, and came right up to my face and said, "I can still show it to you though, keep very still".
At that moment, there was a blinding flash and all I could see was a fantastical scene of sparkling water pouring from a huge round stone of many colors, and rainbow winged dragons emerging from holes in the top of the sphere to fly away into the strange colored horizon. Then with another flash it disappeared, and I was back on the moor with the setting sun casting swaying shadows from the blowing heather. Yum was already laid in the purple heather playfully pawing at a grasshopper, "Quick!" I said, "we have to get home", I picked him up and rather unceremoniously pushed him into my pocket. "But why?" he asked in a muffled voice from inside my jacket. "Because I have to draw the scene you just showed to me, I'm sure the folks on the net would love to see this glorious place where dragons and oceans are born", I said excitedly. I drew for several hours when we got back, recreating the scene that was burned into the back of my eyelids.
I even drew the dragons, but erased them after Yum told me I kept getting their colors wrong. Sheesh!....Dragons eh? who'd want one?
Yum is here:WWW Link
Serenia is here: WWW Link
