( That's Emerald in the media up top. He's such a handsome dragon.)

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     Will was completely speechless as the creature emerged from the portal. Buddy barked in fear and excitement before running off and back into the hallway. A deep, growl rung throughout the ball room as a huge, green, and scaled hand rose up, and landed a few feet away from the portal. A wide, muscled arm pulled the rest of the massive being out of the whirling light. Colossal leather wings, the colors of a spring meadow, unfolded from around the body of a spectacular dragon, its scales glimmering and sparkling; flawless emeralds in the dim sunlight. It had a short neck, yet severely powerful body, and its feet and hands wielded claws as sharp as daggers. A tail almost the length of four school buses coiled around its broad feet; there was hardly room for the beast to stand straight, considering it took up almost a third of the spacious ball room as it crawled from the portal.

     "I've always hated the horizontal portals." A booming, masculine voice hummed. That's when its head turned toward Will, and it smiled, revealing rows of pearly teeth. "What do we have here?"

     Will flinched in terror as the dragon lowered its short, thick head covered in pale white horns, to focus eyes of impeccable green on Wills trembling form.

     "What is your name, boy?" The dragon asked. His thick lips pulled back against the sharp teeth as he spoke. His voice carried throughout the ball room, creating an atmosphere of power, and slight claustrophobia.

     "M-m-my name... is.... uh.... My name...." Will spluttered, unable to pull his eyes away from the petrifying brute before him.

     "His name is Will. He's the one we've been looking for all these centuries." The woman answered for him as she wrapped her bleeding wrist in a strip of white cloth. She walked over to the dragon and opened up a leather bag secured to what looked to be some sort of saddle.

     The saddle consisted of a cushioned leather seat secured between the shoulder blades of the dragon. Straps were wound around the massive shoulders, and under the wide rib cage, meeting in the middle of his chest in a solid, gleaming steel insignia: a six-pointed star inscribed in a double circle. She pulled out another strip of cloth, and walked over to a stunned Will, wrapping it around his injured wrist.

     "Let the boy speak for himself, Aronsdall." The dragon chuckled deeply as he lifted his head back up.

     The woman, whom Will assumed was Aronsdall, scoffed and rolled her golden eye, her red-blonde curls bouncing with the motion, but she kept her mouth shut and merely focused her attention to tying the bandage onto Wills injured wrist. He still couldn't believe he just watched a dragon pull itself out of a portal, and was now speaking to him. He wondered if he was still in that bizarre dream Or if maybe he was finally going crazy and needed to be locked up.

     Should he pinch himself?

     "W-what are you?" Will asked instead, taking a brave step forward once she finished. He knew exactly what the creature was, but his brain was to jumbled to focus on any other question of importance at the moment. The dragon tilted his head, his horns threatening to scrape the marble roof, (which is four stories tall, might I remind you) while spreading his huge wingspan slightly.

     "That is a question with many answers, young one: An Emerald Dragon, a Fierdok Draco, or fire dragon. Im also a direct child of the Mother of Dragons, Elsweyn, or more simply, for your human-driven mind, a dragon." He said slowly, a light of humor dancing in his glistening green eyes.

     "Yeah, I got the dragon part." Will said, his voice trailing off as he heard that familiar word again: Elsweyn.

     "But please, before any more of your questions, which I'm sure you have, we must introduce ourselves, which, I assume my rider here has not done." The dragon growled, narrowing his bright eyes at Aronsdall, who merely rolled her own again, flipping her head apathetically to toss a blazing curl over her shoulder.

     "My name is Emerald. Aronsdall is my rider, and we have come to bring you to our world to help us." The dragon -whom called himself Emerald- said while crossing his muscular arms, and laying down, his narrowed eyes focusing on Will.

     "What's Elsweyn?" Will asked, becoming slightly overwhelmed by the confusion, and doubt by the events taking place. He began scratching his arms, red whelps rising on the irritated skin.

     "Elsweyn is both a who, and a what, but we will get to that once we get to our destination. We never know who could be watching from the shadows." Emerald whispered as Aronsdall cleared her throat.

     "We first need to cover the subject of our confidentiality." Aronsdall stated, keeping her eyes glued to Will with an expression of unyielding seriousness.

     "I cannot guarantee your return to this world anytime soon; however, if we were to return, if any word of us or what you see or experience leaves your mouth and finds the ear of a human, well have no choice but to kill you."

     Will gulped and nodded slowly, but something she said bothered him.

     "Wait The way you said that, are you saying that Im not human?" He scratched at his already irritated arm once again. Aronsdall dipped her chin in acknowledgement to his question, then snatched his wrist in her hand, preventing Will from continuing the scratching.

     "Yes. That's exactly what Im saying."

     "How do you know that for sure?" Will shouted in exasperation. This was all beginning to be just too much for him.

     "Because otherwise, you would be dead right now." Emerald said, his slanted pupils narrowing coolly.

     "Biologically, your blood cannot mix with another blood type, otherwise, your body will reject it, and has a very high chance of killing you. Its the same case with this situation, though, slightly different in magical terms. When Aronsdall used her blood to open the portal, she basically drew blood of a different type, regardless if you both have the same blood type biologically. When she took your blood, and mixed it with hers, the spiritual bond you could have possibly had with this world would have rejected the bond in which Aronsdall has with our home world. Your body would have shut down, and you would be dead on the floor right now."

     Will just stared at Emerald with wide eyes, questions running in and out of his head a thousand frames a second.

     "Soooooo basically I'm not from this world?" Will asked, his brow creasing in bewilderment.

     "In a way. You were born here on Earth, yes, but your soul isn't of this planet. It belongs in Elsweyn." Aronsdall twirled a curl around a slender, long-nailed finger.

     Will was silent for a moment, thoughts dashing and bashing against his skull, causing his head to throb.

     "Oh, and Will," Emerald's commanding tone honed Wills attention to the dragons eyes immediately,

    "If word gets out to the ears of our enemies, willingly given, its the same case." Emerald stated bluntly. Will couldn't even open his mouth to ask another question before Aronsdall suddenly unsheathes a sword Will didn't even notice she had. It was long, slender, and curled slightly at the tip. The hilt was golden, and had a lapis sapphire embedded into the pommel. It glowed with an unearthly blue. The empty sheath was a leather so black it hurt his eyes to look at it.

     "Speaking of the bloody devils, we have company. We need to go, now." She whispered gravely, and took Will by the forearm, dragging him closer to Emerald. But, Will resisted, and yanked his arm out of her grasp.

     "W-wait! I didn't say I wanted to go anywhere! I still have so many questions!"

     "It doesn't matter if you want to go or not. If you stay, you will die. If you come with us, you- Well you just might die with us too, but I can promise you, you'll live longer with us than you will with them." Aronsdall grabbed back onto Wills arm, and this time, there was no getting away.

     Will was ready to argue again when they suddenly heard a crash back in the main foyer, followed by distant barking.

     "Oh no, Buddy! We have to go back and get him!" Will shouted, and tried to pull out of Aronsdall's grip, but she growled fiercely, and shoved him against Emerald, who used a clawed hand to lift Will unsteadily onto the saddle. Will fought to slide back down, but when he saw the distance from the seat to the floor, he gulped, and wisely decided against it.

     "Stay here," She growled, her glowing golden eye keeping the argumentative words from flowing out, "and if Im not back soon, leave without me."

     Emerald growled, but nodded, his powerful body tensing beneath Will. Aronsdall angled her sword, and listened for a moment, but it was silent. With a quiet curse that Will missed, she glided away from Emerald, and into the dark hallway.

     What was only a few minutes was an eternity to Will, and even worse for Emerald; it was too quiet, not even a footstep reached their worried ears. It didn't look like Emerald was heeding Aronsdall's words anytime soon either. Emerald was tense with apprehension, his pupils now black threads focused on the slightly-open door frame. Minutes passed, and still nothing, until suddenly, there was a soft pattering, like tiny feet on the marble floor.

     Buddy suddenly flew into the room, his curly tail flopping behind him, but stopped halfway across the floor to turn and look back at the door, releasing a quiet whine. Will jumped in fright, nearly screaming as Aronsdall stealthily swung back into the ball room, her curls bouncing behind her. She sheathed her sword, and closed the rotten door behind her silently. She then looked back at them, her mangled features frowning in concentration as she placed a finger to her half-lips. Her exposed skull harbored shadows as she quickly and silently made her way back over to Will and Emerald, Buddy following close behind.

     Emerald followed her with his eyes, and lowered his huge nose onto her shoulder when she reached him. She sighed and closed her eyes, leaning her head against Emeralds massive cheek momentarily. Will felt like he was interrupting some sort of moment...

     Something crashed again, and Aronsdall suddenly turned, clicking her tongue which made Buddy run over to her. She scooped him up into her left arm, and grabbed the cinch of the saddle in her right hand, pulling herself up into the seat. Will was in awe over her immense strength.

     "Close your mouth Will. If you drool on my saddle, well lets just say you would have wanted to stay in the hands of our guests." Aronsdall growled, and leaned forward, placing her free hand on Emerald's neck while tucking Buddy securely under her left shoulder. Will quickly closed his gaping mouth, desperately checking to make sure he didn't dribble on the seat.

     The moment her palm made contact, Emerald shuddered, and moved hastily, nose-diving into the bright portal.

     Before they were immersed in the whirling light, however, Will caught sight of three men, all dressed in black suits, storm into the room, the rotten wooden door bursting into shards at the force of which they entered. All of the men wore dark sunglasses, and had sharp, grim features. The one who -Will assumed- was the leader had a strangely familiar jagged scar on his right cheek that reached down to his chin. He frowned angrily, and hurriedly raised silver pistol in their direction. Why did he look familiar? The last thing Will witnessed was the flash, the horrific bang of the gunshot, and a shout of pain before the light of the portal engulfed them completely.

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