“Well, I didn’t expect to see anyone coming down my bridge today, or any day. You’re lucky I didn’t close it yet. Otherwise you would be a heap at the bottom of a mountain, or a giant, or a mountain giant,” said a squeaky voice from behind Evelyn.

“Mountain giants? Heap? Say what now?” asked Evelyn.

“Why of course. Do you not know what a mountain giant is? You must, since you have to be a Crascovian to cross my bridge,” the voice said.

“Where are you?” questioned Evelyn as she scanned her surroundings.

“Why, down here, of course,” said the voice, with a hint of irritation.

Evelyn looked down. There standing next to a pot of gold almost as big as itself was a little man dressed in head-to-toe green. A huge red beard and impressively bushy red eyebrows covered the majority of his round, chubby face. He squinted at her from behind a flattened nose, somewhat skeptical of her presence.

“Why are you so small?” Evelyn asked. She had never been known for her subtlety.

“Why, all leprechauns are small. That’s just how we work. Dwarves, gnomes, leprechauns, and lesser elves are all small creatures. It’s just our nature,” said the leprechaun with incredulity.

“So you’re telling me that leprechauns, elves, dwarves and gnomes all exist?”

“And witches, wizards, dragons, wyrms, pixies, fairies, unicorns, pegasi, alicorns, centaurs, minotaurs, stal, oracles, trolls, ogres, goblins, ghosts, ghouls, banshees, zombies, and the like.”

“What! No, no, no, no. Those are all just mythical creatures. Wizards and centaurs don’t exist.”

“Of course they do! And you should know this, being a Crascovian yourself.”

“What, no! I’m not whatever the heck that is! I’m American!”

“American? But that would mean that you’re from Earth. And Earthlings can’t cross a Bifrost.” His mind seemed to drift as his bushy eyebrows furrowed, clearly perplexed.

“Look, I don’t know if you’re high or something, but I’m getting out of here!”

“Wait! I’ve got it--you could be of Crascovian blood.” The leprechaun snapped his fingers. The rainbow bridge disappeared. Her way home was gone, and she felt a mild discomfort that she didn’t seem to really care, but the feeling was fleeting and was replaced by a sense of ease as if she belonged there.

“Crascovian blood?”

“Yes! Sometimes a Crascovian will cross over into Earth, fall in love, and have a child with an Earthling. Now, generally once this happens, the parent will leave, but sometimes the child will have Crascovian blood--and sometimes powers.”

“I never knew my father,” said Evelyn, glancing down at her feet with her dark purple eyes. She always assumed she had inherited her eyes from her dad because they didn’t appear anywhere else on her mom’s side of the family.

“I can help you find him! And perhaps you could help me!” said the leprechaun, perhaps a little overenthusiastically .

“Sure. And how are you going to find someone who has been missing for the last thirteen years, I wonder?”

“I have some ideas. When we get to town, I will ask around. Don’t worry about it. I’m a man of my word. If I say I’m going to help you, I’ll help you.”

Despite a somewhat vague response, Evelyn decided it was worth the risk. What if she could finally meet her father?

“Alright, I can help you. Oh, and I think I found something of yours.” Evelyn handed the chunk of gold from her pocket to the leprechaun. Distracted by the hammer the leprechaun pulled out of what seemed to be thin air, she forgot to even ask what her side of the bargain would be.

“Ooooh, thank you! I had a sense that something was missing. Here, would you like me to repair those shoes for you? In return? They look worn out. I can also add something magical to them! If you would like.” The leprechaun, again, seemed almost too eager.

“Okay. Yeah. Sure,” said Evelyn, starting to take off her shoes.

“Oh, no need for that. I can work perfectly fine with the shoes on your feet. Hmm, okie-dokie. What would you like me to add to them?”

“Can you make them so I can run super fast while wearing them?”

“Absolutely!” the leprechaun tapped each of her shoes with a gold hammer, and they seemed to repair themselves.

“Wow. They look brand new. Thanks.”

“I don’t believe that I introduced myself,” said the leprechaun. ”My name is Ronald. You can call me Ron for short.”

“My name’s Evelyn. But you can call me Eva for short.”

“Eva. I like that,” Ron said.

They carried on, Ron telling her about all of the magical creatures that lived in this place, Fantasyland.

“Yes. So, what’s next? Ahh, yes. Stal. Stal are skeletons that have retained their spirit. At night, they will arise from the ground to attack you and steal your spirit. They aren’t very dangerous though, because when their head is destroyed, they are destroyed. Now, what else might you like to know?”

“Well, I was wondering. I know you said you would ask around, but do you have any thoughts on who my father could be?” Evelyn asked.

“I have my suspicions. Anyhow, generally people will pay leprechauns to cross over, but since the pressure of the dragon’s opprevolution, not many leprechauns have been active. In fact, I’m the only one that I know of who has been crossing over lately,” said Ron.

“Who was the last person to cross over?” questioned Evelyn as she pushed a vine out of her way.

“The last person to cross over was the infamous White Wizard who crossed over and back fourteen years ago and has never been seen since,” Ron said sadly, “because, according to a witness, he was killed by a witch and some ogres upon his return.”

“And I wonder who that could have been,” said a sneering voice from behind them.

Evelyn turned around and saw a small, blue creature with huge ears holding a twisted, brutal-looking spear. Spread out behind him were about two dozen more squat, blue creatures with various hand-made weapons.

“All right,” said the creature, “hand over that sack on your back. And you, the leprechaun, gimme your gold.”

“Hey!” shouted Evelyn. “What’s the big deal? What did we do to you?”

“Well,” said the creature, “I’m a goblin. It’s what I do. Now then! Stop trying to distract me! Gimme the bag, or face the consequences!”

“Eva, you might want to do what he says. Goblins are ruthless. Also, it’s getting dark. Stal and ghouls will be coming out now,” said Ron, seemingly unphased by his last two sentences.

“No!” said Evelyn as the goblins began to edge forward.

“Alrighty boys! Chaaaarge!!!!” shouted the goblin leader.

As Evelyn was swarmed by the warty creatures, she threw her hands over her face as she was knocked to the ground. Screaming in terror, she heard a huge BOOM rock the ground. She looked up, to see burning corpses of goblins strewn along the ground.

“What happened?” asked Evelyn.

“As soon as you screamed, lightning came down and hit all of the goblins. It seems your fear of the goblins activated a defensive spell on your behalf. It appears that you are a Wizardling. And a powerful one at that,” said Ron.

“Yes. That lightning will have attracted a lot of unwanted attention. We’d better move,” a deep monotone voice from the trees responded.

Among the foliage a huge green dragon with a long, thin horn jutting out of his snout was flanked by a centaur, a unicorn, and several small particles of light, which Evelyn took to be fairies.

“Terian!” Ron exclaimed. “I’m so glad to see you! Some goblins ambushed us, but Eva used a lightning spell and was able to destroy them!”

“Magic? Then she must be a Wizardling. How is she? She must be depleted from such a powerful spell. Let’s get her to the camp,” said Terian.

“Hmm?” asked Evelyn, lightheaded. “What’s going on?”

The next thing she knew, she woke up in an extremely comfortable bed that seemed to be made of woven leaves and grass. She stumbled out of the bed and walked to the door of the small wooden cottage. She was about to open it when she heard Ron speaking excitedly. Stopping, she put her ear to the door.

“That kind of power could do the trick. If she challenges Endrus and gains control of the dragons, then the dragon opprevolution could be stopped.”

“Yes, but how would she get there? Endrus never comes down to this world, and there’s no way to get to the Dragon’s Sun,” rumbled Terian’s gravelly voice.

“What about the hidden wyrmhole? You say you think you know where it is. Why don’t we take it?” asked Ron.

“The great wyrmhole is guarded by several deadly entities. Ogres, witches, banshees, ghouls, trolls, stal, and everything evil - oh, hello, Evelyn,” Terian said as Evelyn stepped out of the wooden hut.

“So, what’s this about a wyrmhole and witches?” asked Evelyn.

“Nothing. It’s too dangerous, and the journey there is long. You most likely wouldn’t come back alive.”

“But we could try. You saved me from dying after doing that lightning spell. I owe you. So let me help with this.”

“Come on, Terian! Eva and I could do it,” Ron said, jumping around erratically like a small child who’d had too much Kool-aid with an extra helping of sugar, “and if you could fly us there, we could get there way faster! She has already agreed to help me, in fact.”

“Oh yeah…I forgot. I could help with this! Then you guys can help me find my dad!”

“Hrmmmm. That is a possibility. But if we did manage to gain access to the wyrmhole how would Evelyn here defeat Endrus? She doesn’t quite have full access to her powers yet.”

“What about the awakening stone?” asked Ron.

“The Revered Sybil only gives the awakening stone to the hero of the current prophecy. How do we know that Evelyn is the hero? It would be a waste of a journey to go there and be refused the awakening stone.”

“Well, it’s worth a try,” said Evelyn. “If it doesn’t work then we can just come back. Who knows? I might even find my dad along the way.”

“Yes! It’s worth a try! Come on, Terian. Let’s do it!”

“All right. But it is a perilous journey.”

“Isn’t that what makes it an adventure? Let’s go, Terian.”

“I’ll go pack my backpack,” said Evelyn, almost flying into her house with the speed of her magical shoes before she’d even finished her sentence.

Quickly re-emerging from the cottage with her backpack, she gathered huge fruits growing from the trees outside. Wondering what they tasted like, she took a bite of one and instantly felt like she had six hours of extra sleep and a hearty meal.

“Delicious, isn’t it? It’s called greatfruit. Can keep any being going for days, so long as they have a good supply of it. It will be fantastic to take on the trip. It always tastes delicious and has all the nutrients that you need. They also never rot,” Terian approached from behind.

“Oh! You startled me. Yeah, they are good. Hey, then, when do we head out?”

“Better now then never. Ron’s getting my harness. You two can ride on me. We should make it to the Sybil and then to the wyrmhole within three days. It’s all we can afford.”

Ron walked over, his cobbler gear slung over his back. Evelyn swung onto Terian’s back, her years of riding practice finally paying off, if only in a small way. Ron took a small green seed from his bag and planted it firmly in the ground. A second later, a toadstool sprouted from the ground. Hopping onto it, Ron rose up as it grew, faster than the weeds in her garden. Once he reached the height of the saddle, he hopped off and onto Terian, the mushroom continuing to grow.

Taking a huge running leap, Terian spread his massive wings and soared into the air. Eva turned, looking at Ron, and saw that he was asleep, about to fall off, held only by the pressure of his sack keeping him upright. Taking the string out of her sweatshirt, she secured him to the saddle horn in front of him. Feeling better, she turned her backpack around and used it to secure herself. After telling Terian she was taking a nap, she dozed off.

Awaking with a jolt, Eva opened her eyes. Assessing her surroundings, she saw a huge gold and mahogany structure with several people going in and out. She unhooked herself from the saddle and hopped off Terian.

“I’ll stay here. I’m too big to fit through the temple doors. You and Ron go on ahead,” said Terian, settling down for his own nap.

Eva and Ron walked up the steps and into the temple; there was nothing inside, save the Sybil sitting on a simple wooden stool in the center of the room.

Eva walked up to the Sybil, “Revered Sybil, I come with a great need. I need the awakening stone. You see, I am a wizardling and am preparing to stop The Dragon King, but I need to activate my powers.”

“Give me your hand, child,” the Sybil said.

Eva gave the Sybil her hand and immediately after touching it, the Sybil reached into the single pocket on her robes and handed Eva a small blue stone. When Eva touched the stone, she felt the power flow through her like a mountain river in the spring. She felt the power shoot from the tips of her toes and the tops of her ears. She opened her palm, seeing a little fire flicker, and when she closed it, it went out in a puff of smoke.

“Go, child, and stop Endrus,” commanded the Sybil.

Eva ran over to Ron. Snatching his hand without words, they dashed out to Terian. Eva excitedly shared her interaction with the Sybil. Ron glanced knowingly at Terian. They were soon on their way to the hidden cavern to find the wyrmhole Terian had used to escape the Dragon’s Sun many years ago.

They hopped off Terian and crouched in the bushes. Seeing dozens of deadly monsters in the cavern that lay in front of them, Eva created several globes of fire, lightning, and ice, but before she could cast them, Ron tapped her shoes twice with his golden hammer and she fell to the ground, her magic extinguished. Before Terian could to anything, Ron tapped his harness, and Terian vanished.

Ron slung Eva over his shoulder and walked towards the cave. Taking a medallion out of his pocket, he showed it to the ogres who approached him. They stepped aside, and Ron walked down into the tunnel. They came out the other side into a room with a huge black dragon.

“I do believe this is the Wizardling that you have been looking for. I watched her father for two years and every month he crossed over and visited this child until he disappeared ten years ago, and I have been watching her since. She is the one. She has great power that has been awakened by the Revered Sybil’s power stone,” said Ron.

Eva struggled, but Ron tightened his grip.

“Thank you, leprechaun, for the girl and your flesh,” said Endrus. With one huge scoop, he collected Ron and ate him in one bloody bite.

Eva screamed, and the dragon turned towards her and smiled, his teeth stained red. Motioning to the dragons behind him, they came forward with a large metal box. Pushing her inside, she found that it was nicely furnished with a bed, dresser, lamp, sink, toilet, and even a shower. Eva turned to see the door slam shut from the outside. She heard bars clang into place, and a small opening slide open, barely big enough for her arm to fit through. A huge red eye appeared in the opening.

“I do hope you like your quarters. We want you to be as comfortable as possible before we join together to take over the kingdom of Fantasyland as King and Advisor, at last giving this place the true authority that it needs.” The dragon king laughed, an annoying, cringe-worthy laugh that caused Eva’s whole body to tense up as the panel slid closed and the thud of Endrus’ footsteps faded away.

After about a week passed, Evelyn had given up hope of getting out of the cell. She had scoured it for anything that might fit through the opening, which she had found a way to open from the inside. One day, while she was laying in her bed, she heard the panel slide open. Something dropped inside, and the panel slid shut again. Eva got up, confused. Her meals never came at this time of day. She walked over to the object that had been tossed in and picked it up. It was a small, red velvet bag. She opened it, and a red stone and a slip of paper feel out. She unfolded the paper, and it read:

Daughter,

I hope you are well. The dragons can be very cruel. The stone in this bag is an awakening stone, much like the Revered Sybil’s. To activate it, you will need a magic spell. It is: An-thra zin-thra naydra-drinall-farosh; zaydeferine dun-ra ax-ra nimh. Once you get out of your cell, don’t do anything else. Exit the dragon’s lair through the Great Wyrmhole and find the tower of WIZARD at the dual peninsula at the north coast of the Darklands. There you will find my comrades. We belong to WIZARD-- Wonderful Intuitive Zealous Armed and Renowned Disciples. The scholars there supplied the stone. You can trust them. I plan to meet you soon, but I have some extraordinarily consequential business to take care of first.

-Your Father

Evelyn dropped the letter, shaking. Her father was a wizard, she had another awakening stone, and she was supposed to find a secret wizard tower at the edge of the world. Say what now? Anyhow, she had better get going. Saying the spell, she felt the power of the stone course through her. The powers she had were once again activated.

Taking the note and sliding it into her pocket, Evelyn put her hand against the door. Visualizing her hand as lava, she melted through the door and stepped through. She was still in the center of the room where she had been captured, but this time there wasn’t anyone around.

“Guess they thought there wouldn’t be any chance of me getting out of my cell,” she muttered to herself.

Walking back towards the exit, she heard a huge flap of wings from behind her. She saw the dragon king flying down as she turned around, his talons outstretched and green fire exploding from his mouth like a huge fiery laser. Turning around and running for the exit, she found that her shoes no longer gave her magical speed. Ron must have removed his enchantment when he immobilised her.  

Throwing her arm out behind her, she sent a cascade of ice to counter Endrus’ flames. Steam hissed in the air. She made a yanking motion with her arm, and he crashed to the ground behind her. He uprighted himself and lunged towards her. Running through the tunnel, she spun and reached outward with her hand. Several streaks of lightning shot from her hand to hit the ceiling and walls. The Wyrmhole collapsed right in front of the Dragon King. Heart racing, she fell to the ground, the use of her magic exhausting her.

Evelyn woke up with water dripping obnoxiously onto her face. She looked around as she blinked her eyelashes apart. She was still in the cave, but when she looked to the Wyrmhole, she saw that it was still filled in. Evelyn stood up, brushing off her jeans. She picked up her backpack and pulled her father’s note out of her pocket. So she was supposed to go and find the tower of WIZARD at the Dual Peninsula off the north coast of the Darklands. Simple.

It was like she was speaking another language. She needed a map, at the very least. She poured her water bottle onto a slab of stone, willing it to point the way to the nearest town. Hopefully she could get directions and supplies there. The water made a compass and pointed southeast. She formed a winged lion with nearby vines and shrubbery and hopped on it and took off. Her powers now came naturally, as easily as walking and talking. It felt like a world ago when she wandered over the rainbow bridge. When she neared a town, she turned the lion into a cloak to wear to keep a low profile; she didn’t know who to trust. After much reluctance from many shopkeepers who spoke in hushed tones about the Dual Peninsula, she finally found one that would point her in the right direction (after some gentle use of her powers to make his plant start dancing and singing so horribly out of tune that he would do anything to make it stop). Fighting a smile, she walked out of the small village and turned her cloak back into the winged lion. They flew to the west. The lion flew swiftly, and after only half an hour, she spotted the ocean in the distance.

This was no ordinary ocean, though. The deep reddish-purple waters thrashed around like a feral cat. The coast and land was dark, too. The ground was a midnight blue with specks of grey, and the sparse trees were black, twisted, and leafless. She saw things flickering around the ground, stone gargoyles fluttering around below her, and a shriveled old hag conjuring skeletons. She saw a large peninsula projecting off of the land, with another coming off of that. On the tip of the latter, there was a huge stone tower soaring up into the sky. There seemed no way into it. Then, right before her eyes, a balcony big enough for her to land on grew out of the side. She landed and dismounted the lion. She walked into a surprisingly cozy room with several people, young and old, conducting various experiments, practicing spells, and reading. She actually wasn’t even taken aback by the activities; nothing seemed strange anymore. Once the apprentices, journeymen, wizards, sorcerers, and magi noticed her they all stopped in unison, almost as though it was choreographed.

“Hey, is this the tower of WIZARD?” she asked as nonchalantly as she could muster.

After a long, somewhat awkward moment of silence, several seemed to welcome her with their eyes, gesturing for her to sit. She made a move to sit in a big, fluffy armchair.

“Oh, no! Don’t sit in that one. That’s the gulping chair. It will swallow you up and we haven’t even gotten to know you yet!” said one of the sorcerers.

She sat down in another chair and noticed that there were several mirrors on the wall. In one of them, she saw a familiar face: her mother.

“Hey, is that my mom?” she asked.

The wizards all turned around looking to where she was gesturing.

“Yes. We have been doing everything to find out about you on your father’s orders so we could get to know you better,” one of the scholars said.

“How are you seeing her?”

“It’s a magic mirror. It responds only to rhyme, but it will show you anything you want to see.”

“Can I take a closer look?”

“Of course.”

“Can it show my future?”

“It can show anything in the past, present, and future, but I would caution you to look only in your own time.”

“Mirror, Mirror, help me see, does my mother need me?”

The mirror went static. An old man appeared.

“Child, child, calm your heart. Your mother knows of this no part.”

“What does that mean?”

“As far as I can tell, it means that your mother doesn’t even know you’re gone. How is that possible?”

“My mom has always been forgetful. Ditzy, you might say. And always distant. Like she is behind a panel of one-way glass.”

“It sounds like she is under a temporary forget spell. Where she will forget anyone who leaves her life but will remember them when they return. Who put the spell on her I can’t say.”

“Mirror, Mirror, my mother seems well, but how did she come upon this spell?”

“Child, Child, the answer is bright, the caster was the wizard of white.”

The mirror went to static, and then showed a picture of a short, thin man dressed in white robes with a white stereotypical witch’s hat blowing a thin sheet of shimmering purple dust over her mother.

She was watching in shock when she heard one of the older wizards in the back whisper to another.

“That’s a forget spell alright.”

“Yep. Should we tell her?”

Fuming at the man she knew must be her father, she nearly shouted at the mirror.

“Mirror, mirror, tell me now, where is my father?”

The mirror, recognizing Eva’s anger, decided against requiring a rhyme this time.

“Child, Child, I had to look across space, but now I see your father in a dark place.”

The mirror changed to a static filled, buffering screen. It showed her father hanging above a chasm, thin, with hollow cheeks and pale as a chupacabra, but very much alive. He looked straight at the mirror and started speaking.

“Thank god you found the tower. You need to get out of Crascovia. Changes are happening. Get out! Something is coming! Get out! Get o--”

The static overtook the screen, and the mirror reappeared.

“Someone--no--something cut in. I have lost contact with the White Wizard.”

Eva fell into the gulping chair, and when it tried to swallow her, she created a giant needle and thread and sewed the chair shut with her magic. She didn’t have time for games. Her father had just spoken to her for the first time in her life.

Shaking, she looked around at the one and a half dozen scholars in the tower.

“Tell me everything.”

The wizards were quiet, but then a young girl in deep blue robes pushed her way to the front and took a seat next to Eva.

“I only got here last month, when I showed signs of magic. I got to know your father quite well--I was his assistant, but he was always busy and distant. He was either searching his crystal, talking to his his mirror, or inside his closet. When I did talk to him, he always began talking about something bigger, something dark, something reverse to this world.

A couple of days ago, he announced that he had a daughter, and that she was in Crascovia. He went to watch you, and I decided to use my mirror to keep an eye on you. He always kept out of your sight but within reach in case you needed help.

He didn’t reach out to you because he was afraid of changing your quest, and he wanted to see your capabilities. It was pretty impressive when you defeated the dragons; it takes a lot of power to close a wyrmhole.

After he helped you escape your cage, he came back to the tower, walked inside his closet, and hasn’t come back out since. I think he finally went to find the focus of all his research. He seems to have been captured by whatever he found. He was on a mission when he disappeared.

But he also seemed scared, like he knew something, but his last message to us was to keep you safe. He trusts us with his life, and we’re honored that he chose to trust us with yours as well.”

“Okay. I’ll bite. If he was investigating something, how do we find what he was searching for?” said Eva.

“We go into his closet.”

The girl stood up and went to the center of the room, beckoning Eva over. As they stood, the others gathered around.

The girl said something unintelligible, like a spell or something, and the world around Eva began to shift. Things swirled, pixelated, and shimmered. Then, everything settled down, and they were in a cold, bare room save one large wardrobe.

The girl went over and opened the door. Stepping inside, she disappeared.

“Okay, now we’re going into a wardrobe. Maybe there will be a lion and a witch on the other side,” Eva muttered to herself.

Stepping inside, she was in a huge room, with potions, books, and a large, thin, and shiny piece of black stone rested on a silver and purple pedestal. The girl was already at the black mirror. She breathed some fog onto it, and then wiped it away. The glass became liquid, swirling in place.

“What was the White Wizard researching?” asked the girl.

The mirror swirled into a dark blue planet, covered in desolate plains, with things walking around on it.

The girl gasped, pointing at a large stone circle on the planet showing the dual peninsula and the wizard tower. “It’s showing us!” she said.

Eva went to the mirror. Putting two and two together and getting the idea that her father was somewhere in the mysterious planet, she asked “How did he get there?”

In response, the mirror expanded into a large, swirling portal showing the planet on the other side. Then, everything fell apart. The WIZARD Tower started to shake, and dark, shadowy beings swarmed from the portal and rushed past her. Unwilling to leave without her father, she leapt into the spiraling, dark mass and was sucked into the portal.

Spinning in the dark mass, she began to focus on a single point. Willing herself forward, she could make out a man, dressed in all white, with a white witch’s hat and a beard worthy of Gandalf himself.

She locked eyes with her father and immediately knew. This was the plan all along. This was supposed to happen. She finally felt like she could rest. Despite having no clue what the future held, this was where she was meant to be.