The Dragon's Keeper
Chapter 7 Echo Song

The bridge seemed to be made of glass and sunbeams. It sparkled every step we too.

Our reflection on the water shimmered in the morning sun.

Midnight skipped along, trying to chase the fish in the water. One or two times he almost slid off the bridge! What a silly little thing!

It took us longer than I expected to cross. It was like an optical illusion. The closer we got, the longer away the shore was! But eventually we made it.

After crossing the bridge, I heard a peculiar sound. Like a deep groaning. It sounded like something was in agony. The sound was causing my heart to break.

I looked at Jamie and his face fell. I wasn't sure what that meant, or even what it was.

"What's wrong, Jamie?" I asked.

"Can't you hear it?" he asked.

I still didn't understand what it was.

"Hear what?" I asked, now really confused.

"It's the world. She is crying at the loss of her magic, but no one is listening to her," he answered.

And then I heard it.

The sounds of wars fighting for magic. I heard trappers, caging the magical beasts. I heard the hunters shooting at the magical creatures for trophies. I even heard the treasure hunters, digging the magic out of the very land we stood on.

The world was crying.

I started to cry. I was hurting for this beautiful world and all of its amazing creatures. I was hurting for the wars and the violence that was not needed. I was hurting for the suffering of those affliced by greed and envy.

Why were they doing this? Didn't they know they were causing others to suffer? Didn't they know magic needed to be free and given freely?

The earth couldn't take much more of this! No one could. There was just too much sorrow and too much suffering!

But we were going to stop it! I wasn't really sure how... Once the magic was back, all these people would just start stealing it again.

We needed to figure out how make other people feel this sorrow. They needed to understand what they were doing and how it was affecting our future.

But how did we show them? We were just children. People would never listen to us!

"What do we do to stop it?" I asked.

Jamie just shrugged his shoulders looking sad. "I don't know. All we can do is hope history doesn't repeat itself."

That didn't sound very promising, but what else could we do? I wanted to go and show everyone what it would be like to live in peace, but no one would pay me any mind.

"I promise to do the best I can to restore the magic to this land!" I proclaimed.

"Me too!" said James. "We always wanted to go on adventures. Maybe we can go from land to land and tell everyone why the magic is dying in the first place!"

"That's it! It's agreed. WE need to tell everyone. Then the earth will heal and magic can come back!" I said.

"Thank you," whispered the wind, bringing with it a feeling of peace and hope.

Midnight snorted and dug his claws in the ground again. This time his whole body glowed like twinkling stars.

It was beautiful. My eyes teared up as I smiled down at the young hatchling.

If his mama were here she would be so proud of him! I know James and I are.

A magical pulse pushed through the air like a shockwave, and suddenly I heard music!

I beamed at Midnight as I picked him back up into my arms, nuzzling his cute little face.

I guess that means the earth was happy.

"Come on, boys! We have work to do..."