All three children knew they should not be snooping around in the room. They really did. Yet, there were way too many interesting things to just walk away – especially since the earlier monsters didn't appear again. Even Fluffy – or rather, Fluffy more than anyone else – was very keen on checking out everything.

The tapestry featuring angels with golden wings and white dogs accompanying them was of particular interest to their pet. Lana also stopped to watch it for a good while. Something about it felt reassuring. There were others too – of elves, dwarves and all kinds of animals from fantasy books -, but for some reason she felt drawn to this one.

With his little sister too occupied to nag to him about his promise to only look, Alex was quick to return to the old book on the table. It was definitely a spell book. He carefully turned the yellowed pages one after another, marveling at each illustration and strange diagram. If only it were written in English or Spanish. He couldn't understand the handwritten text at all. He couldn't even pronounce any of the words.

Maybe it was Latin? Spell books should be written in Latin. But it didn't really look like Latin (although he only knew a few words from Asterix comics), so maybe it was some magic language instead?

Meanwhile, Samantha was looking through the shelves. Mostly she only looked, but since there was not a speck of dust anywhere, she felt confident to pick up a tiny silver skull. She could put it back and nobody would be any wiser.

It was a lot cooler than the rat's skull she had in her desk drawer. A humanoid one too, just very small. The amount of details was really amazing, almost like it were a real thing. It would have been nice to show it to her friends. They hadn't liked the rat's skull, but this might be different. Even her younger siblings had thought that it was weird to keep such a gruesome thing. They hadn't understood why she liked it.

"Lana, take a look at this!" she hurried to the little girl's side and showed her the silver skull. "Isn't it pretty?"

Lana looked first at the skull and then at her. "Not really..." she trailed off.

That was not the response Samantha had wanted. "Doesn't it look like it's real? You know, a real human skull." Her voice changed pitch like she was telling a ghost story. "Maybe Aunt Valeria is really a headhunter that shrinks the skulls of her victims and dips them in molten silver...She could be only waiting for a chance to ambush you..."

"Stop it!" Lana screeched and backed away. That was a too scary thought. Aunt Valeria was nice. She wasn't...some kind of evil witch!

In her haste, she accidentally walked into one of the shelves and knocked a small stone object to the floor. She quickly picked it up, glad that it had not broken on the impact. It was very light, flat and hexagonal in shape, and there was a really pretty tree engraved on one side.

"Is that some kind of crest?" Samantha asked.

Lana only fumed at her at first. Sam knew she didn't like scary things, so she had done that on purpose. But she was quick to forgive. "I don't know," she admitted. "What's a crest?"

"It's a symbol for a certain family or a place. You know, like those coats of arms with dragons and lions we saw in the museum once."

Alex mostly ignored the girls, still focused on the book. There was a magical-looking magnifying glass hidden between the pages. It was no thicker than a bookmark, with a large glass lens and a frame made of purple, polished stone. Or maybe crystal.

Curious, he looked at the book through the lens. His eyes widened in surprise, and he smiled. He could actually understand the text now! It really was a magical lens!

Quickly, he flipped back to where the lens had been hidden – the page had a large illustration of men and women on the left and various mythological beasts on the right with only a little text written on top of the image - and started reading out loud. "The land of promise, forbidden from men, speak the name 'Ildathach', reveal the gate..."

The stone Lana was holding started suddenly vibrating. A soft humming sound filled the room. Then it floated up from her hands as the children watched, awe-struck.

Slowly, like wrapping paper was being peeled back piece by piece to reveal what lay underneath, the space in front of them transformed into a magical vision. The edges shimmered with thousands of tiny sparkles, but the inside slowly focused into a coherent image.

The first thing that came to view was Uncle Thomas's familiar face. Tan skin covered in sweat, deep brown eyes and a few stray locks of dark auburn hair. But he looked like he was in pain, there were red scrapes on his cheeks and chin, and the surroundings of one eye were blackened.

Then the rift widened to reveal his entire body. Alex swallowed loudly, his eyes wide. Thomas's bare chest was covered in wounds and red blisters. Hands looking like some grotesque gauntlets, wrapped in copper scales up to his elbows, were chained to the wall above his head. Horns with dull metallic sheen curved behind his ears on both sides, a thick reptilian tail hugged his legs, and equally reptilian feet ended in wicked-looking claws.

Samantha tried her best to hug and comfort Lana to keep her from crying. She couldn't be sure, but she felt like Uncle Thomas was looking directly at her. Depending on her.

A sharp-edged, dark red gauntlet – or was that also a hand? – grabbed Thomas's chin. Like in response to the children's feelings, the rift widened again to show them a tall man dressed in a fine, black robe with golden embroidery decorating it. His hair, long enough to be tied to a small ponytail at the back, was crimson like blood, and black horns followed the top of his head until curving upward at the end.

"I do not enjoy hurting a kinsman," the man spoke, his voice rumbling in his chest. "Tell me! Why are you here? What are you after?!"

Thomas closed his eyes and remained silent.

The man pulled his hand back, leaving more small scrapes on Thomas's skin. "I wouldn't have expected less from a commander who beat death. Although I am disappointed that you betrayed me in the first place." He turned away. "Perhaps your human companion is more willing to explain his actions."

The view moved again, this time to the man chained not far from Thomas and equally beaten – or worse.

"DAD!!" Lana screamed as she recognized him.

The man in black stopped in his tracks.

Samantha quickly covered Lana's mouth to silence her. 'Oh my god, he can hear us!'

He was turning around. He'd see them.

Suddenly Fluffy jumped high into the air and caught the floating stone in his mouth. The rift closed instantly.

"How stupid are you?" he growled around the object as he landed back to the floor. He shook it a few times for good measure before spitting it out. "You really messed up!"

None of the children knew what to say. They all felt like they had stepped from reality into the pages of a fantasy novel. Except there wasn't even a wardrobe to walk through to return to the ordinary world.

Fluffy shook himself wildly, making his fur reflect his name even more before it settled again – and when it did, it revealed two feathered wings like a bird's at his shoulders. Eyes turned from black to deepest sky blue stared firmly at Lana.

Lana stared back with wide eyes. "Fluffy...?"

"My name isn't 'Fluffy'! It's Veka!" He sounded like an insulted little boy. "And you were supposed to stay in hiding, Princess! Now he knows you're alive-"

"Hold on!" Samantha interrupted him. "What is going on?!"

A crazy guy torturing Dad and Uncle Thomas was bad enough. Lana was her precious baby sister. Nobody would harm her. Ever since they had lost Mom, she had tried her best to be at least some kind of replacement for her younger siblings. She would protect her.

Veka startled at the sudden accusatory tone. "Um...You see..."

"No, I don't see! What are you? What did that...man do to Thomas? How can this all even be real?!" Samantha was almost hyperventilating as her mind tried to go over the past fifteen minutes. Again and again.

"Is Uncle Tom a dragon?" Alex asked. He had sort of looked like a humanoid dragon.

"Yes!" Veka nearly yelled before Samantha could say anything. "Kind of. Dragon Clan." He carefully peered at Samantha, his ears flat against his head. She didn't look as angry as before. Maybe. "And I'm a sky wolf. Mariana – she's of the Bird Clan – asked me to stick to the princess in this world. To keep her safe."

"Oh dear, oh dear...The missus won't like this at all," a sudden faint voice spoke, making all four twirl around.

It had to be the home gnome Aunt Valeria had mentioned. He was small, around half a foot tall, with long white beard, wrinkled skin and simple earth-colored pants and knee-length robe with a hood covering what little hair he had. He was sitting on the floor near the wall, shaking his head.

The same huge face Alex and Lana had seenearlier appeared in the wall again. "Not at all," it echoed.