"Another Dragon?" exclaimed River. 

     "Yes," I repeated once again. "Another Dragon."

     "Where? Who? when? Why?" sputtered River. I arched an eyebrow. River had brought me some bread and cheese. We sat, munching quietly on the big boulder, watching Secret swim in the lake. It was early morning and River had come at first light. 

     "Dragon Reader?" River stammered. 

     "Yeah, that's what Agni said," I agreed. 

     "Am I a Dragon Reader?" asked River. 

     "I don't know. Can you understand Secret by looking in his eyes?" I questioned. 

     "A bit, I mean, I see them kind of flare and flame up and swirl sometimes but I don't always understand what they mean. What do you see in them?" asked River. 

     "I don't know how to explain it. They kind of, tell a story you know," I shrugged and took another bite. "Thanks by the way, for the food."

     "No problem..., I mean, it was a problem. I had to beg my mentor than agree to work a few hours extra and do a few chores for free and then I had to walk around town to find somebody who would sell the bread and cheese for the lowest price. But beside that, no problem," River said lightly. 

     "Sorry," I cringed. "I'll repay you."

     "No need for that," River waved his hand then thought a moment. "Actually it would be nice if you repaid me." I burst into laughter. 

     "Sure," I giggled. River smiled. Secret emerged from the water and then blew bubbles into the water when he saw us watching. We laughed at him. 

     "Is everything ok?" I said more seriously. 

     "What? You mean at Evebridge?" asked River. 

     "Yeah," I nodded. "Are my parents worried?" 

     "I think so. There was some news about you being missing. I think they'll send a search party but nobody could possibly find the pass," River shrugged. 

     "They could if they had dogs. I mean, they would smell my scent," I pressed. 

     "No, don't worry," River gave me a small smile. "Now, let's find out more about Secret." We walked over to he lake and Secret got out, drenching us in water. River groaned and grimaced. I stood still and cringed in the cold. Secret watched us, amused as if to say, "I've been swimming in there for an hour". 

     "Secret!" snapped River. Secret came over and blew gently into River's face. I felt a warm gush of wind.

     "Do you eat?" asked River, snatching the last piece of cheese I had and held it out to Secret. Secret grunted and turned away from the cheese. I grabbed back my piece of cheese and chucked it into my mouth. "Did he eat anything last night?" 

     "Nope," I replied, with my mouth full. 

     "What do you eat?" cried River. Secret turned to him and then walked over to the lake. We followed him and peered into the clear water. Suddenly, I lurched forward as something pushed me into the water. I gagged as water went up my nose. The water was cold and woke me up. I kicked to the surface and found River, paddling furiously to shore. He was shaking in anger. 

     "Hey!" he scolded. "What was that for?" I realised Secret was snorting and his eyes were filled with green which swirled madly. He was laughing! I groaned. Secret prevented River from coming back onto shore with his tail and we just paddled about in circles, wondering why Secret wouldn't let us get out. Secret finally climbed into the lake with us and buried his head underwater. He came out with a large trout in his mouth. River was already on shore, grumbling madly. He did not like water. Secret open his big mouth and forked his tongue around the fish before swallowing the fish whole. Secret then plunged into the water once more and came out with a salmon. He saw River's soaking and pouting face and placed the salmon before River's feet. I climbed onto shore and sniffled a laugh. 

     "So you've been eating under that lake for over an hour," I chuckled. Secret's eyes swirled with green and amusement. 

     "You did not have to push us in to show us those fish," grumbled River but he took the fish gratefully. My stomach grumbled. The bread and cheese had not been enough. 

     "Can we cook it?" I asked. 

     "Yeah.., but I should save it for my family," River said. 

     "If we eat it together, you won't have to eat your family's food and they can have it for themselves," I said. River nodded and took his soaking shirt off while Secret continued to swim around the lake. We moved away from the lake and Secret's splashes and River started gathering firewood and placed it onto a pit I had made. I started to make the fire while River scaled the fish. When a bright fire had sprung and River had cleaned the fish, we started to cook it. Soon, a delicious smell wafted to our noses and we watched hungrily at the cooked salmon. When it was finally read to eat, we took it off the fire and laid our clothes next to it to dry. We shared the fish together. Secret came up to us and curled up into a ball next to the fire after a while. When our stomachs were full and the fire had died down, we lay on our backs and gazed at the sky. 

     "You think Secret will ever bring me up into the sky?" River thought out loud. 

     "I think so," I replied. We stared at the clouds moving ever so slightly in the sky and eagles, gliding above us. 

     "How was it? To ride a Dragon?" enquired River. 

     "Magical," was all I could manage to utter. We dozed off till it was the afternoon and we heard Secret rolling around near the lake. We blinked our eyes open and observed Secret as he rolled around on the ground. He then spread his wings and flapped them a few times, sending gusts of wind and dirt into our faces. River marvelled at the size of his wings while I coughed on the dirt. Then Secret approached us and tilted his head. His eyes were questioning and big. 

     "Want to ride?" I asked River. His eyes almost popped out of his head. 

     "Really?" he exclaimed. 

     "Really," I replied. River and I walked over to Secret's side and he stretched open his wings. He then scooped me up with his tail and placed me on his big scaly back right in front of his arched neck. River was plopped behind me. River grabbed onto a spike which protruded next to him and I grabbed onto the horns from Secret's neck. As we rose steadily into the air, River started screaming with pleasure. I choked back laughter. 

     "What are you doing?" I chuckled. 

     "Come on, don't tell me this doesn't amaze you," River questioned. "This is awesome!" Together, we started screaming until Secret flared his nostrils and gurgled in irritation. We both shut up and enjoyed the view in silence from then. We flew past Evebridge and I saw how big it was this time as clouds didn't cover it. 

     "Do you think people will see us?" asked River. 

     "I don't think so, we're so high up," I explained. "They'd just think Secret's a bird." We flew far to the South and for over half an hour, we flew along a snaking river which went through Eternal valley and then towards Rivera. We neared River, a big city which had hundreds of rivers which forked in and out of the city, thus its named. Rivera was a big bumbling city but as we neared it, we saw something wasn't right. I hadn't been to Rivera, it was way too far but traders had and their stories about the great buildings and the castle were astonishing. As we approached, Secret faltered and his nostrils flared. Something definitely wasn't right, this wasn't the city people talked so greatly about. 

     "It's...-It's collapsed," whispered River. I strained my eyes and realised that indeed it was. Everything lay in big piles of debris. Secret continued flying towards it, craning his neck. We landed a few metres away from the the first few broken piles of junk. We walked towards the dusty remains. 

     "What happened?" I murmured. "A whole city..." Secret snorted and pushed away some junk. He started to dig around and sniff. 

     "It looks like some sort of storm hit, like something just pushed everything down," River declared. 

     "But how would it do that to a whole, and entire, city?" I said almost to myself. Secret turned to us and his eyes beckoned us forward and into the debris. We passed fallen houses, broken bricks, chairs, tables, toys. No body was was to be found. We followed Secret as he made his way carefully around the broken junk. Secret stopped, jerked his head and then plunged it into a big pile of broken bricks. He emerged with something clenched in his jaws. We heard it before we saw it. The pitiful crying of a baby. Secret laid it down gently onto the ground in front of us. River and I bent down and pushed the dust and dust off the baby's face. She had jet black hair and green eyes. The baby bawled. River took it into his arms and cradled it, whispering softly and calmly. 

    "Is she ok?" I asked. River looked up and shrugged. Secret continued to move away and we followed him, the baby still in River's arms.

     "Poor thing," whispered River. "Her family probably think she's dead."

     "Yeah," I sighed. "But where is everyone? Surely, if they died, we'd see their remains."

     "Unless they fled," River pointed out.

     "Then they must be alive and we can return this baby back to her family," I stated. River nodded grimly. Secret stopped abruptly and turned to us. Air Dragon. His eyes shone. 

     "Air Dragon?" I muttered. "What is that?" Secret nudged me gently and scooped me and River up onto his back. River gripped onto the baby tightly. I leant over and murmured to Secret.

     "Be careful, River's got a baby in his arms," I whispered. Secret bowed his head and shot up briskly. River almost fell off in surprise but the baby cried out in surprise and amusement. She started laughing and giggling cutely as we flew across the sky. As we flew past woods, we reached a big field which I recognised from the day before.  We landed gently on the ground and Secret immediately started to bray like a Swiss horn. After a few minutes, another noise was heard. We waited patiently as Secret dug into the ground and brayed a few more times. Finally, a heat wave flooded the field and River gasped. 

     "Damn, it's hot here," River sputtered. Agni appeared, flying quickly from above. River gasped. "So that's Agni I presume." I nodded. Agni landed with a thud and grunt. She communicated with snorts and gruff grumbling with Secret. I read her eyes. What? Rivera? That's not good. No humans? Just that baby? They must have escaped then and that is even worse..... I have also seen an Air Dragon near another village. Somewhere near Evebridge. Caeli must be behind this. Him, Aura and Aether. I'm going to pay a visit to Caeli. You should pay a visit to Aqua, make sure he knows too. If you don't find Aqua go to Aigua. I couldn't see Secret's eyes but I knew he was irritated. After a while, Agni huffed and flew off. 

     "What was that?" River muttered. 

     "I don't exactly know...," I pondered. Secret twisted his head to face us. I'm going to explain something. I nodded as I knew Secret hated talking too much with his eyes. But this doesn't mean I am going to always be talking this much. There are four elements. Earth, Fire, Water and Air. And there are four different types of Dragons. As you probably guessed, Earth, Fire, Water and Air. I am an Earth Dragon. We can control natural things, not everything but things such as trees, we could make them sprout big, strong branches or make them grow in a certain way. We can also grow rocks, big boulders, sharp and strong. I could make some poke right through the ground right now. We can also make little thing such as flowers or mushrooms grow. Fire Dragons are the only Dragons which can breathe fire. The strongest ones, like Agni, have flaming wings and breathe blue fire. All Fire Dragons have fire resistant scales. Water Dragons have wings of course but they almost never use it to fly. They're mostly blue and have webbed feet with the sharpest claws you could ever see. They live underwater and of course can breathe in water. They can control water. Not making tsunamis and stuff but they can create big or little whirlpools and out of the water, they can shoot sprays of either, burning hot water or ice cold water. They're the best swimmers in the universe. Air Dragons can create giant whirlwinds and the stronger ones can create hurricanes but the strongest, they create typhoons. The city was destroyed by a typhoon. Now, there is more to know. A long time ago, Dragons were hunted and humans finally thought they were all dead. Apparently, Evebridge was the village that killed the "last" Dragon. An Ice Dragon they said, it was actually a Water Dragon. Some of them prefer cold water. Anyways, after that, Dragon's went into hiding. A leader for each kind was chosen and we made a pact to never show ourselves to humans and if a human ever saw us we would kill them. Of course, Dragons could wipe out the whole population of humans if they wanted to but not all Dragons want the world to themselves. Anyway, I was the chosen leader for Earth Dragons, Agni for Fire, Aqua for Water and Caeli for Air. Earth Dragons were like the healers of the world. Whenever humans destroyed something or fought wars, we would regrow everything back. The debris from Rivera drew me there. I live in that place near Evebridge because it's drawn back and quiet but I still have the job to keep Dragons and humans in peace.... I will be calling my fellow Dragons to cover up Rivera with beautiful trees and maybe a rocky valley later. Anyway, I'm getting off the point. Caeli soon got bored of hiding and he started flying around the place, creating hurricanes. He and his kind have started creating more and more trouble. They've been spotted a few times now, I believe a few men came to your village, Evebridge to report their sighting of an Air Dragon. They are becoming more careless and destroying a whole city will bring war to both our kinds. Fire Dragons, Earth Dragons and those ignorant Water Dragons do not want that. We will try and talk some sense into Caeli but we don't knwo what to do about the whole city he destroyed and the people who must have escaped with the tale plus the numerous sightings of Dragons in different villages. It took me a while to process everything. 

     "So..., you've been staring at each other for a long time and it's becoming a little creepy," River slurred awkwardly. 

     "Sorry, I just..., River just told me what's been happening," I muttered. River grimaced and started singing softly to the baby. Secret took a moment then looked me into the eye once more. Agni has gone to talk to Caeli and I must go to Aqua. It's quite a long flight and I don't know if the baby will tolerate it. I certainly did not want to miss a chance to see yet another Dragon. I quickly explained everything to River and he nodded wisely, trying not to seem too overwhelmed. 

     "So, if you want to go back to the...," I thought for a while, we hadn't really called Secret's home anything yet. 

     "Clearing," replied River. "I've gotten sued to that name."

     "Alright, so if you want to go back to the clearing with the baby then I'll go with Secret," I said. 

     "I want to see the Water Dragon too," protested River. 

     "But you don't like water," I pointed out. 

     "Who said?" River shot back. 

     "You were so triggered when Secret threw you into the lake," I said once more. 

     "Because it was cold and it is winter," River glared back at me and I raised an eyebrow. "Why do you think my name is RIVER?"

     "Fine, then we need to take the baby with us and it0s going to be a long ride," I said. 

     "Fine," replied River. We pouted for a while and Secret shot us a look but kept quiet. Finally, River got off and rushed into the woods, he placed the baby into my hands. River came back with branches and twigs and a long strong vine. Secret, tired of waiting, slumped to the ground and closed his eyes. 

     "I'm going to make a basket. Prepare the vine, wrap it around Secret and tie it tightly. I'll attach the basket to it," ordered River. I did as I was told and Secret shifted for me so I could put the vine under his belly. River made a big, spacious basket in no time. I remembered he was good at wood and made no comment. As he fixed it onto the vine, he demanded me to fetch some soft moss. I didn't like his tone but I went into the forest anyways. The birds were chirping and it was a bright morning. I felt my spirits lift as I skipped around. I found a batch of moss and collected it before returning to Secret, River and the baby. River had attached the basket firmly and I placed the moss into the basket. The baby was put inside and she fell asleep immediately. 

     "We need to name her," River declared. "She can't just be "the baby"." 

     "She is a baby," I pointed out. We were having a silent fight with each other. River glared at me. 

     "I will name her Raven because of her hair," he announced. 

     "You don't name someone else's baby," I shot. 

     "I just did," shot back River. We climbed onto Secret's back and I urged him on. He took the hint and lifted into the sky. We flew for hours in silence until Raven woke up and started screaming and crying. I covered my ears and Secrets huffed in annoyance but River sang and talked to the baby until she fell back to sleep. I felt my eyes getting droopy and after a while, i fell asleep on the Dragon's back. River fell asleep soon after and Raven snored quietly. Three sleeping humans on a Dragon.