The going is difficult, and you were right -- it is only another few minutes before you find yourself knee-deep in mud and other swamp-stuff. The curious thing about it all, though, is the color; maybe the fog has tricked your eyes, but everything appears to have a purple-ish hue.You are wandering nearly blind, and can see only a few feet in all directions. Knarled trees stand around you in a sparse forest. Finally there appears to be some kind of light ahead, a ball of white seemingly floating above the invisible ground. Although it was midday at the base of the mountain, it is dark as night here.

As you get closer to the light (although it is still quite far away), the ground slowly levels out. Your legs are caked with mud, and ache from wading through the thick swampy mush. "Hello?" you call, remembering Sahara saying that most people here would be friendly. You are not so sure up here, but continue on. "Hello?" you call again, heading for the light. When you first saw it, you'd thought it to be small and close -- in truth it seemed to be quite large, and very far away. The mud was getting shallower, too, and soon it was only up to your ankles.

Suddenly, a voice sounds in your head. *Hello?* You nearly fall over, and search for the source of the sound. The voice laughs, a sound like tinkling bells. *Do not be frightened, silly human. I speak in your head only because the fog is too thick, and you are too far away to hear me. Continue towards the light, and you will reach your goal. The voice vanishes. Unsure what to make of it, you simply follow their advice, and keep walking. Slowly but surely the light grows brighter, and you can see farther than before. The fog hadn't tricked you. Nearly everything had a faint purple tinge to it, including the mud and the strange trees. "Hello? Is anyone there?" you call again, surprised at how clearly it sounds after the muffling fog.

"Yes, there is!" says the same clear voice that had been in your head before, and a small, slender figure appears suddenly before you. The fae (for she was a fae) was only about four feet tall, with pale blue dragonfly-like wings. You are surprised to see a faerie in such a seemingly dreary place. "My name is Cleozabeth Skyspirit, and this is my domain. I assume Sahara sent you here?" You nod, and Cleozabeth smiles. "She sends many visitors my way, but few reach the top. A lot of people find this mountain an unhappy place, but I relish the fog and swamps. I am very comfortable here, for most wanderers give up before they get here, and I can remain in peace. Those who reach here most often do not bother me." "What do you do here?" You ask the fae. She smiles, and just the tips of her ears blush slightly."Well, I was summoned by Sahara one day a while ago, and she informed me that she wished to adopt another Glenn dragon from Mirror Isle. I said I would be happy to care for one on my mountaintop, if there were any who would desire to live at such a place. So now I have set up a bit of my mountain to house a dragon. Would you like to see where I am preparing?"

"Yeah, sure," you reply, curious. The fae leads you through the swampy area, up a small hill (At the top of a mountain? Curious.), where the mud begins to disappear, replaced with a greenish-purple grass. In the center of the hill, you see what is presumably a nest. It is built from the branches of the strange swamp-trees growing about, and is lined with hundreds of some kind of iredescent blue feather, which shine green every time you move or the light changes.

Next to the nest is a small pile of gems, with unnaturally bright coloration. They seem to glow with an inner light, casting their own faint colored lights. "Those are elvish stones," Cleo tells you. "Mined by the dwarves, and cut with elvish magic, no other gems may match their brilliance. They contain their own magic as well."

Nearby is a large egg, roughly 10 inches across, bright blue in color. "What is that?" you ask, pointing at the egg. "It is not a Glenn egg; those are much larger."

"No, it is not a dragon egg. That is the egg of a twiluu, a creature unique to this world. It will hatch in about two week's time; maybe more, maybe less. I do not know for sure."

Suddenly, a bird calls from out in the fog. As you glance up for the first time, looking for it, you gasp at what you see. Although it is still quite foggy around you, straight up is nearly clear, revealing a deep blue sky, tinged with a few lilac-colored clouds. Lilac clouds? you think, then realize the sun is setting. You remain a few moments, admiring the open sky, then turn to Cleo. "It's late, and I have to get going," you tell her.

She nods. "Here, if you go down this way-" she points to what appear to be stairs leading down the mountain, "-you will have an easier time getting back."

"I didn't see those last time!" you exclaim, unhappy that you expended all that energy getting up.

"Of course not. They're only visible to people who've been told they're there, and I only tell people who get up here first. Anyways, come back soon, alright? The stairs will still be there, and perhaps on your next visit I will have an egg to show you!"

Next

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dragon's Stats Name: Unknown Gender: Unknown Stage: Egg Color: Unknown Type: Unknown Clutch: Denkou x Shandra 1 From: Mirror Isle

Cleo's Stats Name: Cleozabeth Skyspirit Gender: Female Species: Faerie Element: Air From: Chibi Ningyo

Twiluu's Stats Name: Unknown Gender: Unknown Stage: Egg Color: Unknown From: Twiluu

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Background & Content (c) Sahara