The Lost Dragons - CHAPTER IV

After they left the city Alvaro the dragon said that they had to stop at the village of Mountainfoot to meet their guide.
“They are not very original with their names, are they? Said Alberto.
“A lot of the town and city names back home also had similar beginnings.” Answered his brother. “It's just being practical.”
They kept getting closer to the mountains and Alberto still felt the dense presence coming from it. Now, however, he got the feeling that it knew about them but he didn't tell his brother, although he did tell his dragon brother who said that it was best was not to think about it as doing so would probably attract it even more.
After a while flying over green fields they saw a column of smoke in the distance. Alberto suddenly felt some fear coming from below and saw a line of people, some walking, some on carts and some on horse back. A few where looking at them and were very scared.
“It's the people from the village,” said Alberto the dragon. “They are going to the city were they'll be safer until this is over.”
When they got near the village they saw a lot of burned houses and felt much sadness coming from the valley around it. They circled down and when they got closer they noticed that some people were running to hide and some had bows and arrows ready for them.
“Don't make any sudden movements or anything that might look aggressive,” Alvaro the dragon told everyone. Just then, they saw a man running towards the archers and talking to them. They lowered the bows but didn't look comfortable about it.
When they got down and the boys slid off the dragons, there was a general murmur from the crowd of people and some pointed at them. Alberto could feel a drastic mood swing from fear to relief and even happiness. The man they had seen before came walking towards them.
“Look at his ears!” Said Alberto.
“Wow! He's an elf!” Answered his brother.
“He looks like Legolas, but with black hair.” Alberto answered.
It was true. The elf was much more elegant and stylish than most of the other men they had seen. He approached them with a self security that bordered on aggressiveness, but he had a big smile on his face and this gave him a strange look.
“Hello there!” He said. “The brothers from the old legends have arrived.”
The boys looked at each other wondering what that meant as they hadn't heard anything about a legend.
“My name is Ashram. I'm a mystic warrior on my life pilgrimage from the Northern Continent. How long have you been here?” He asked.
“We just got here, about half a day ago.” Answered Alberto.
“What? But that means that you don't know anything about this place,” he said moving his arms so as to show everything around them.
“Well, we have our dragon brothers,” said Alberto, “and we are supposed to meet a guide.”
“Mmmmm. I think that would be me,” answered Ashram. “Come, lets walk to the village.”
They started walking and when they got closer to the rest of the people some of them looked really surprised.
“Ashram! They are just children!” Shouted one of them.
“Yes! But they are the right children!” Ashram shouted back. Some cheered and others clapped when they heard this. Some children appeared between the legs of the adults. A boy with long red hair smiled at the boys.
They got past the horses and then Alvaro noted that they weren't horses but some type of lizard about the size of a horse. “Did you see that?” Asked Alvaro to his brother. “Yes.” Answered Alberto. “And look at the ones pulling the carts. They are also big geckos or some other type of lizard.” Alberto looked at his brother and asked “Have you seen any birds?”
“Actually now that you mention it, no I haven't.”
“What are birds?” Asked Ashram.
“Little flying creatures that like to live near trees.”
“Oh those. Yes we have them but they don't come out of the forest.”
Closer to the village the boys noticed that some of the houses were still smoldering. Some had obviously been destroyed by explosions as their pieces were spread around. There were only a few that didn't have some type of damage.
“How many people did they hurt?” Alvaro asked Ashram.
“In the houses that exploded they killed all the family. In the others most people managed to escape the fire, but then they grabbed some... It was awful. I have never seen dragons doing this and for no reason that we can understand.”
Alberto now understood Merlin's sadness and his dragon brother shame.
“I can see now why the people were scared of us before,” said Alvaro. “Did they know we were coming?” He asked.
“In order to give them some hope, I told them about an old elf legend that fits very well with the two of you. The legend talks of two human brothers of great power that had dragon brothers here and came from the Western desert. The combination of all their skills gave them more power than all the wizards and witches from the two continents.” Looking at them he added, “who knows. Maybe it's more than a legend.”

The group crossed the village and gathered on a clearing on the other side. Here Ashram explained that he was not from this land but, as his life pilgrimage took him to this land, he had to learn all about its people. All of the people, including the dragons . He knew the mountains quite well by now and that's why Merlin had asked him to be their guide. Alvaro asked why the local people couldn't do it, but it turned out that they didn't like the mountains so they avoided them. Too much trouble they said.

“We have to cross the forest at the foot of the mountains and then go higher. It's better if you don't fly as you could be seen by the other dragons and I would have difficulty keeping up with you.” He said smiling.

They started walking towards a forest they could see in the distance. When they got nearer, the boys noticed that Ashram was following a path that led led into the forest.

At the beginning the forest had trees of all sizes but then they became bigger and bigger. The boys couldn't believe the size of some of them. "It looks like Elwynn Forest." Said Alvaro.
"I know." Said Alberto, "Dad said that in the olden days there were trees like this on Earth but we cut them all down."
"Look!" Said Alvaro, "a bird!"
Alberto looked and noticed that it was a strange bird. When they got closer they realised that some looked like baby dragons, others like bats and others like flying squirrels. Alvaro asked Ashram what they were. "Those are the birds you mentioned before," he said. "Aren't they?" He asked when he saw their expressions.
"No they are not." Answered Alberto, "our birds have feathers, they sing and they are what's left of the dinosaurs."
"What's a dinosaur?" Asked Ashram.
"A type of lizard but with hot blood that lived a long time ago in our side of the universe." Answered Alvaro.
"A lizard with warm blood? Were they dragons?" Asked Alberto the dragon.
"Mmmm. I don't think so," Alvaro looked thoughtful and added, "maybe what happened here is that the dinosaurs never became extinct. I'll have to ask Merlin about that."

After a while the path became narrower and narrower and the dragons had to go into single file.
Alvaro who had seen lots of adventure films said, “I don't like this. We could get ambushed.”
“Ah, military skills. How did you get those?” asked Ashram.
“Just watching TV.” Answered Alvaro “And you don't need to be a military expert to see that.”
“You are correct of course. We do have to watch for danger further into the forest. It's not a big forest so we should be Ok.”
When they had been walking for over an hour in the forest, Alberto was going to complain that for a forest that wasn't big they were taking a long time to cross it, but just then he felt denser presences getting closer. “I think that ambush Alvaro mentioned is going to happen soon,” he said.
“Yes,” said his dragon brother, “I can feel them also.”
Ashram took his sword out and told the boys to be ready to fly. They boys climbed their dragons and carried on riding on their backs. “Should we turn back?” Asked Alberto.
“No there's a small clearing just ahead. We'll be better off there.”
They got to the clearing and saw about six dragons flying in circles. They could also hear a rumbling all through the forest. The rumbling got louder and louder and they could hear some trees falling down.
“Sounds like T-Rex from Jurassic Park,” said Alvaro, but instead of dinosaurs they saw movement all around them in the trees and five dragons appeared at the edge of the clearing. Then pushing a young tree out of the way a bigger one appeared. They were all black and stood staring and ready to charge.

“You have come to a forbidden place and you will pay for it.” A voice boomed in their heads. “We will have the two legged imps as food and the dragons as slaves.” It added.

Just then, with no warning, Alberto the dragon jumped towards the nearest dark dragon while Alberto the boy swung something over his head. Just before they got to the dragon, which by this time had noticed the attack and was running towards them too, Alberto let go of the object. A black net flew through the air and tangled the dark dragon's front legs and head making it fall face first. Before the dragon had even hit the floor Alberto had turned and gone to the one on the right which had jumped at them with open wings. Again something flew out from Alberto, a string with two balls on each side spinning across from each other. The string wrapped itself around a front leg and a wing, making the dragon fall towards the right and crashing on the ground. All this happened in just a matter of seconds.

When Ashram saw Alberto attack, he ran across the clearing towards the big dark dragon who had spoken to them. “By the Elves of the Northern Continent and their Princess you can not win!” He shouted.
The large dark dragon, who had been watching Alberto's attack, turned towards Ashram and got ready to spit fire out and vaporise the elf. By this time the other three dragons had come into the clearing. One ran towards Alberto and the other two towards Alvaro.

Alvaro, who was still thinking that his brother had gone nuts attacking like that all by himself, saw the two dragons approaching fast. He didn't know what to do and then something popped into his head and he shouted “Impedimenta!” and the two dragons fell on the floor one on top of the other, frozen to the spot. By this time the third dragon was also on the floor with a net around it.

The big dark dragon saw all this and it threw a ball of fire towards Ashram, who jumped to one side. The dragon was expecting this so it simply grabbed Ashram and pinned him down on the floor while it shouted to the frozen dark dragons, “get up you fools! That's a simple magic spell!" It then turned to the ones Alberto had attacked, "use your fire to burn the nets and ropes!” It shouted.The fallen dragons carried out the orders. The trapped ones burning the ropes and nets with their breath and the two that had fallen because of the impediment curse, said "Patorius Permissum" and stood up.

“That's enough games!” Shouted the large dark dragon. “Stop right now or I'll crush him.”
Alberto looked at Ashram and stopped. Alvaro who hadn't moved was looking around and thinking hard.
“Get off your dragons and come here!” It then ordered.
Just then, Alvaro had an idea. He grabbed his staff, looked at the forest and whispered strange words to it. A huge oak tree that was next to the large dark dragon moved faster than anyone could think and grabbed it using its branches like a giant hand. Everyone was surprised as the leader of the dark dragons was lifted up in the air letting go of Ashram, who ran to get out of the way. The large dark dragon was going to throw a fire ball to the tree but the tree just banged it on the floor knocking him out before it had the chance to. The other smaller dark dragons saw this and were scared. They had never seen a tree move, never mind attack one of them. They all turned and ran or tried to fly. The problem was that whatever they did, they got close to a tree who grabbed them and pushed them to the floor with their branches and roots would come up from the ground muzzling them thus stopping them from breathing fire.
The fight was over but Alvaro saw that the oak was still banging the big dragon on the floor time and time again. He lifted his wand and looked at the oak. The tree seemed to turn towards Alvaro, stopped and let go of the dragon. Then it went back to its place and looked like it had never moved.
“WoW!” Shouted Alvaro.
“Wow!” Shouted Alberto, Ashram and the dragons brothers.
“I mean I got the idea from Internet game WoW. It's a skill the druids have in that game.”
“I hope I never have to fight one of those druids,” said Ashram.
“Don't worry,” answered Alberto. “It's just a computer game. They don't really exist.”
“Yeah. Just like dragons,” answered his brother.
Alberto looked nervously towards the forest realising his brother was right. He then pointed at the large dark dragon and shouted “Look!”.
Alvaro and Ashram got ready to fight again, but the dragon was still on the floor were the tree had left it.
“Can't you see it?” Asked Alberto. “There's a type of energy coming from the dragon and flowing to the ground and the trees!”.
Ashram looked at him and asked, “you can see that? I have heard of it. When someone dies his life force goes back to nature and his spirit goes into the higher dimensions. I'm not able to see it. Your life perception is truly great.” He then turned to Alvaro and asked “Why did the tree kill that one and not the others?”
“He had hurt many of his family in the past. He was well known in the forest. The other dark dragons are new here so the forest has nothing against them.”
“Hey! Those dragons are not totally dark! Look, light seems to appear from them sometimes,” Alberto said. He then realised that the others couldn't see that. He slid down his dragon and walked to the nearest trapped dragon.
“Be careful!” Shouted Ashram.
“Don't worry,” said Alvaro “The forest still has them.”
Alberto walked next to the dragon's head and asked,“what's your name?” The dragon looked at him and growled. “Just ignore the anger. I know you can hear me. What's your name then?” The dragon looked longer at him and seemed to relax. “That's it!” Shouted Alberto. “My name is Alberto. That over there is my dragon birth brother and the other boy is my human brother riding his dragon brother. The elf over there is Ashram. He's from the North.”

The others then noticed that the dragon Alberto was talking to wasn't dark any more but was turning red. “I'm Peter,” he said. “I'm also supposed to have a brother somewhere.” And by saying this he turned completely red and the roots holding him started to release him and returned to the ground. He stood up, opened his wings and said, “thank you dragon soul. You have the voice of an old dragon king. You reach deep within our hearts and soul and we can hear you. Before, after I got caught I could only feel hate. Everyone was terribly bad and had to be attacked. I'm very sorry for what I did.”
Ashram was amazed. In just a few minuted he had seen stuff from legends. He saw Alberto walk to each one of the trapped dragons and talk about different things. All of them first listened and then reacted to Alberto's voice changing to their original colours. After a while there were five very thankful dragons.
“One thing before you go,” said Alberto “You must help the villagers rebuild their village. The one you destroyed.” The dragons were more than happy to do so, but asked if they could go to the mountains with them first as there were more dragons trapped in darkness there whom they wanted to help. Then Alvaro remembered that there had been dragons flying above them and he looked for them but they were not there. “They've gone back and told the soul slaver about you.” One of the free dragons said.
“Who's the soul slaver?” Asked Alberto.
“It's a being that we have never seen but no dragons can resist its orders. We simply feel hate for everything and that's why we attack when we are ordered to,” said a yellow dragon.
“Well, we'll see how he stands against free dragons an elven prince and the Dragon Birth Brothers!” Shouted Ashram.
They took to the air now that they knew what to expect and had help.
“Did you know he was a prince?” asked Alberto.
“I had no idea,” answered his brother and they flew towards the high mountains. Ashram on top of the yellow dragon.

"My great grand father had the honour of having a dragon birth brother." Ashram told them. "His dragon was yellow and now, even though he's not my birth brother I'm also riding a yellow dragon. This day will not be forgotten." He told the boys. Then he added. "Merlin told me to look after you, but we did not expect you to have the military skills from your TV. I think we can carry on and confront what the dark dragons throw at us."

"Military skills from our TV? What's he talking about" Alberto asked his brother.

"He thinks it's some type of military school or something like that," Alvaro replied. "Better leave the explanations for later. Otherwise he'll send us back."

The boys and their dragon birth brothers followed Ashram higher into the air thinking that this adventure was a million times better than any TV program.

The Quest Starts - CHAPTER III

Alvaro looked at the table and true enough there was an iPod and headphones on top.

“Were you listening to music?” Asked Alvaro but then he thought better of it and asked “How can you get iPods here?”

Merlin looked at the iPod and then at the boys. “I do keep a close eye on your side of the universe. Sometimes I bring back little things that are useful or make my life more pleasant.”

“How do you charge it?” asked Alberto.

Merlin looked at him and smiled. “I see you are good at spotting things out of place,” said Merlin. “I also got a solar panel system. It's very useful.”

“What type of music were you listening to?” Asked Alvaro wandering what on earth would a wizard out of a Disney movie like to hear.

“Right now I was listening to Linkin Park” The two boys jaws dropped. “What.....” said Alvaro, “Cool!” said Alberto, who liked the band.

“I would have thought you were more of a Beethoven type” said Alvaro.

Merlin smiled and said, “ Vivaldi actually, but I do keep an ear out for all sorts of music. If you like music, apart from the American or European scene, you'll be amazed at what comes out of Africa, India or South America.”

Merlin walked closer to the boys and smiled at them. It was a grand-dad type of smile. Nice, and showing that he was really happy to see them. “I'm so glad that you two found your brothers. It's more important that you could ever imagine”.

“What's an iPod?” just then boomed the voice of Alvaro the Dragon. The boy turned and saw the head of the dragons inside the room. They were using the round windows higher up to get their heads in. Alberto grabbed the player and showed it to the dragon who forced his eyes a bit and said “Ah, one of those little gadgets. I'll never understand Merlin's liking of them. There' perfectly good musicians here.”

“But can they play non stop for hours and hours music of hundreds of different types?” Asked Merlin.

“Well no.” Said the dragon “But they taste better!” and he bursted out laughing. He stopped when he realised no one else was laughing, not even Alberto the dragon who was shaking his head. “Hey, it's just a joke. I've never eaten a musician. Their guitars are too crunchy!” and he bursted out laughing again. This time Alvaro who liked the joke also laughed.

“Do I have to remind every one here that some dragons are actually killing people and these jokes are tasteless.” Said Alberto the dragon.

“Tasteless!!!” Shouted Alvaro the dragon and laughed even louder.

“That's enough.” Said Merlin. “Alberto is quite right. It's no laughing matter.”

The two Alvaros quiet down and looked embarrassed.

“What's this about dragons killing people?” Asked Alberto.

“It's the reason why I sent for both of you.” Answered Merlin. “It started happening about a year ago. At first it was rumours from the mountain that people here did not believe, but then there was attacks on humans tending their flock at the foot of the mountains, and three weeks ago they attacked the village. It was terrible.” Merlin looked down to hide the sadness in his eyes and the boys could feel the pain and shame from their dragons.

Alberto turned and looked up to his dragon brother. “Don't feel ashamed. It wasn't you.” He said.

“But it was dragons! My own people doing something as terrible as that! How can I not...”.

“Because it wasn't you or your people.” Said Alberto quieting the dragon. The two dragons and Merlin looked at Alberto.”You have the voice.” Said Merlin. Alberto was going to ask what he meant by that when Alvaro said “How can you know it wasn't his people? You just got here.”

“I can feel it. Look, come out with me.” He said grabbing his brother by the arm and walking out into the square.

“Look at the mountains and feel your dragon at the same time. You know how you can feel things that are alive? What's inside those mountains is a bit like a dragon but feels very different.”

Alvaro walked to his dragon birth brother and touched his front leg while looking at the mountains. He could feel the life around him. His dragon shone like a bright light as did his brother, Merlin and Alberto the dragon, but the mountains simply looked like mountains. He didn't feel anything from them. He looked at his dragon and with his mind he asked is he could feel something, but Alvaro the dragon could not feel a thing either.

“Sorry. I don't know what you mean.” Said Alvaro to his brother.

The two Albertos looked a bit surprised. “Why can't he feel what I feel?” Asked Alberto to Merlin.

“The combination of powers of the souls of the Dragon Birth Brothers is different each time. You probably are much more aware of life than most others,” said Merlin. “But you are lucky you two are human brothers as that means you can share experiences. Grab your brother's hand and feel the mountains.”

Alberto did what Merlin asked and looked at the mountains. To Alvaro it was like changing from a black and white old TV program to a modern 3D movie. The town was full of colour, the dragons shone brightly in their own colours but with eddies of other colours crossing their bodies very similar to Merlin who's colours seems to have a slow rhythm. His brother Alberto was a mixture of Merlin and the dragons but with spirals of light of different colours coming out of his body at different places. “Wow. Those must be the chakras mum talks about.” just then he noticed he also had them. “Well?” Asked his brother “Do you feel it now?” Alvaro, who had forgotten all about the mountains, looked at them. He could see colours and feel the mountains alive and also something like Alvaro and Alberto the dragons but darker, denser, looking back at him. The darkness came towards him and he felt scared, letting go of his brother's hand.

“Don't worry.” Said his brother “It's like it's coming here but it never reaches. I don't think it can even see us.”

“Now I known what it felt like when Sauron spots Frodo in the first film of The Lord of the Rings.” Said Alvaro.

“Who's Sauron?” asked his dragon “I don't think I like him.”

“It's a fictional character from a book in their dimension." Said Merlin "A good book I have to say. Better than the film.”

Merlin then walked to Alberto and said “I'm glad you decided to come.”

“How come I don't have any special powers?” asked Alvaro.

“You do. All dragon birth brothers have. It's just you haven't found it yet. Don't worry, it will come. Let's go back inside now. I have a story to tell and a favour to ask.”

They walked with Merlin back into the house, the dragon using the dragon windows to look inside.

Merlin sat at the table and asked the boys to sit. “Would you like to drink something?” He asked.

“Can I have a Coke please?” Asked Alberto.

“And me some Nestea please.” Said Alvaro.

Merlin looked at them and told them that even though he knew about those drinks he usually didn't bring food back from their dimension. The boys settled for some fresh water.

“I think there's a very strong power which I don't know that has changed the dragons and it's using them to attack the peoples of this land.” Merlin told them. “One of the weak points of dragons is that they are self centred and their ego can be used by trickery to change them. Only dragons who have found their Birth Brothers have the strength and balance not to fall for this trick.” He looked at the boys and smiled. “It's why we had to get you. Alvaro the dragon is old enough to know how to open interdimensional doors so he went to look for you Alvaro. We have been lucky that both of you came.”

“Yes. Something kept telling me that Alberto had to come.” Said Alvaro.

“That would be me.” Said Alberto.

“No it wasn't. I think it was myself, but from another time.”

Merlin looked at him and said “I think you are getting close to your special power Alvaro.” He then turned to both boys and continued, “We now need you to go and find out what it is that it's changing the dragons. As you have not been to school here and have not been trained I will need to give you skills that will allow you to survive attacks and difficult situations.”

“Great!” Said Alvaro. “What skills are we going to get?”

“I think that's really up to you. Whatever it is it has to be something that will protect you and will come out of your heart. Don't use logic to choose. Use your heart.”

“I know, I know!” Shouted Alberto.

“Are you sure?” Asked Merlin “That was a bit quick.”

“Yes, yes. I know, I know.” Said Alberto with a smile on his face.

“Ok. What is it?”

“I want to be a Ninja!”

Merlin though for a while and asked, “the Japanese assassins from the middle ages? A strange choice for a young boy.”

Alberto stared at him,“assassins? I don't think so.” Said Alberto. “Warriors with a code of honour more like it.”

“Project your idea of a ninja to me please. Do it like when you talk to your dragon brother.”

Alberto closed his eyes and thought of the best ninja he could think of.

“Who's Naruto?” Asked Merlin. Alvaro quickly explained about the TV series and Merlin laughed “Hehehe. I think it's a good choice.”

He then got up and in his hand a beam of light appeared. He touched Alberto with this light which jumped and enveloped him, it shone brightly making Alberto nearly disappear. When Alberto appeared again he was dress in black, like a Ninja. He looked down and with wide opened eyes a shouted, “cool!”

“You should have the skills of my idea of a Ninja and your Naruto. Try them please.”

Alberto who was still looking down at himself looked up and said “Ok. Here it goes.” He ran across the room with his arms stretched behind him, got to the wall, ran up the wall and nearly at the top he did a somersault falling back down and gently landing on his feet. He then, with hardly any effort, jumped on top of his dragon. “Wooo hoooo!!” He shouted.

Alvaro closed his mouth and decided he had to think of something as cool as that, but better.

“That's the wrong way to do it.” Said Alvaro the dragon, reading his mind. “Use your heart, not logic.”

Alvaro then quieted his thoughts and stopped looking at his brother. He felt a presence that seem really familiar and a voice that said “Be yourself and I'll be there.” Alvaro looked at his dragon and asked “Was that you?”

“No it wasn't, but I also heard that.” They both looked at Merlin. He smiled and said “Whatever it was, it wasn't me.”

Just then Alvaro knew what he wanted to be. “Ok. I'm ready.” He said. “I want to be a wizard.”

Merlin seemed to relax and said “Fantastic! I could see it in you.” The beam of light appeared in his hand and he walked towards Alvaro. As before, the light seem to reach out and surround the boy. It shone brightly and then Alvaro reappeared. He looked just like he did before.

“Don't worry about the clothes. We wizard don't have a dress code, we simply choose the most comfy stuff. Look in your jacket pocket.”

Alvaro put his hand in his pocket and found what he expected. “A wand!” He took it out and saw it was a beam of light.

“Try it please.” Said Merlin.

“How? Don't I need any magic spells like Alohomora or Avada Ked....”

“Don't even think that!” Shouted Merlin. “The words themselves don't do anything but the idea behind does and you have the power to make that idea true.”

“Sorry.” Said Alvaro looking quite upset realising what he nearly said.

“Ok. I think I have the idea.” He turned to his brother who was looking at him, and he pointed the wand to him. Alberto clothes changed to girls clothes.

“Eh! That's not funny. Get my clothes back!” When the two Alvaros stopped laughing, he did so.

Merlin smiling said, “you have to be careful with that. One of the reasons spells are used is so that no mistakes are done. In reality you don't need them to make magic but you do have to be extra careful.”

Merlin asked them to follow him out into the square, and then, turning to all four of them, he asked them to go to the mountains and find out what was changing the dragons. They had to find out and come back. Under no circumstances were they to confront whatever it was. And in case of trouble, to come straight back. He said this last bit looking at the dragons who nodded but he still worried that the would meet dangers head on. They were dragon brothers after all.

The boys climbed on the dragons and Alberto said, “Alvaro, can you do something about a saddle? It's a bit uncomfortable sitting here on a bare back.”

“What? Why me?” Responded his brother.

“You can just make one. Imagine a good one and make some magic please.”

Alvaro thought about it for a while and said “Ok. Here goes...” He pointed the wand to Alberto's dragon (who closed his eyes just in case) and a beam of light jumped to the dragon.

Alberto looked down and saw he was sitting in a saddle that held his feet and legs and had a type of console in front. “What's the Playstation for?” He asked his brother.

“It's not a Playstation. It's a flight console." Alvaro replied smiling. "It shows altitude and objects around you. That way you can see stuff at night or in a cloud. Like a radar but better."

“Ok. Here we go." Said Alberto the dragon as he took off and then headed toward the mountains followed by Alvaro and his dragon brother. Alvaro looked behind to see the town getting smaller and smaller. He switched on the console and saw that the mountains even though big where still faraway. Alberto the dragon shone gold with the sun light and his brother had a big smile on his face. Alvaro also smiled. He was having a real life adventure in a real dragon.

A Parallel Universe - CHAPTER II

On the other side it was day time and what they thought looked like clouds were clouds. The boys looked behind and there was a black hole with some lights, which must have been the town lights in the distance, getting smaller. Alvaro the dragon kept on flying and the boys noticed that it was a hot day on this side of the hole.
“Where are we?” Asked Alvaro, “The Sahara desert?”
There was nothing but sand all around. The sand dunes reached all the way to the horizon and the sun burned their eyes.
“No. This desert is called The Sea Of Sand. At least it is what we call it. Other people have other names for it.”
“Does anyone live here?” Asked Alberto.
“Not really, but some humans are quite good at crossing it. They understand it very well.”
“They talk to it?” Asked Alberto wandering how someone could understand a desert.
“You simply have to know the best way to cross it with the least amount of danger. That's what understand it means.”
“So you understand it very well. We are not in any danger.”
Alvaro the dragon though about this and said “I simply try to cross it as fast as I can or at night time if possible. I don't think that count as understanding it. People that understand it can cross it any time.”
Alvaro, who had been quiet during the conversation, wandered where they were going.
“We are going to the town of Middleway. There's someone there who wants to meet you .” Obviously Alvaro the dragon had read Alvaro's mind so this time he said aloud, “someone wants to meet us? Who is it?”
“His name is Merlin...”
“Merlin!!” The two boys said at the same time.
“The one from King Arthur?” Asked Alvaro.
“Or it is the one from The Sword In The Stone?” Asked Alberto.
“It's the same one you silly,” said his brother.
“Well I don't know about that king or about a sword in a stone. I just know that Merlin told me how to find you and that he and his dragon have been around for a long long time. Before I was born.”
“And Merlin knows about us?” asked Alberto.
“Yes. He seems to know you and your side of the universe quite well.”
“Great!” said Alberto. He was looking forward to meeting this Merlin. He was also getting quite nervous about something but wasn't quite sure what. He just knew that something was about to happen.

Alvaro noticed his brother getting fidgety and nervous. He was going to tell him to relax a bit when he saw some mountains in the distance. Just then he felt a tingling sensation on his back and the feeling of danger. For some reason he didn't quite know he looked to the north, towards the sun. Alvaro the dragon was also looking that way. Near the sun he could sometimes see a small yellow light, like a star, but in the middle of the day. Alberto was really exited now, talking away about Merlin and dragons and how great everything was.
“We have company,” said Alvaro the dragon.
“Who, where?” Asked Alberto.
“It's over there. To the north. Flying next to the sun.” said Alvaro simply knowing that the speck of light was alive and coming towards them. Alberto had seen it too and went dead quiet.
“It's a dragon,” said Alvaro.
“Correct and it's flying very fast towards us. I may have to land so that you can get off. If we get into a fight I can't defend you if you are on my back.” Saying this he started flying lower and lower in circles.
Just before they got to the ground the other dragon had caught them. They just saw this golden bright streak of light flying on top of them and over shooting past them. They looked and saw it was a smaller dragon that was simply trying to stop which he managed by closing it's wings and crashing on top of a dune. There was a loud thump and sand flew everywhere.
By then, they had reached the ground and waited. Alvaro the dragon wasn't worried any more and Alvaro, feeling this, was also relaxing. If the other dragon had wanted to attack them he would have done so by now. Alberto on the other hand though it was really funny and was laughing out loud.
“Ha ha ha ha! It doesn't know how to land at fast speeds and thought the sand would slow him down.”
“How do you know that?” Alvaro asked his brother.
“Mmmmm. I'm not sure,” said Alberto, looking puzzled.
Just then, from under the settling pile of sand, a dragon head appeared. Bright golden and smaller than Alvaro the dragon. The new dragon looked them and smiled. His smile was also full of sharp teeth but to Alberto it looked like a nice friendly smile. “Hi there!” it shouted while it stood up and shook the sand off a bit like a dog shaking off water. “I finally found you. I felt you the moment you crossed over to this side.” He started walking closer looking ever so happy with himself. “I still don't know how to open interdimensional doors, so I couldn't go and collect you.”
“Thanks” said Alvaro “But I already had someone collect me.”
Just then the other dragon who was getting some sand out of his eyes, stopped and looked at Alvaro. “I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to...”
“Me!!” shouted Alberto. Who, without anyone noticing, had climbed down from Alvaro the dragon and was running up the dune towards the golden dragon.
“Your name is Alberto, isn't it? And you are my dragon birth brother!”
“Yes” answered Alberto the dragon “And I've been looking forward to this day for a long time”.
Just then Alberto had reached the golden dragon and had his arms wide open so as to give him a hug, which obviously he couldn't because his arms weren't long enough but when the dragon lowered his body and Alberto reached his head it felt like the biggest hug ever. The two Alvaros were very aware of how emotional the meeting was. Just then Alberto said “OK” and climbed on the golden dragon's back. The moment Alberto was holding on, the dragon soared into the sky.
Alvaro simply stared. After a while he said to his dragon.”How come Alberto can hear your thoughts and I can't hear Alberto the dragon's thoughts?”
“I was also wandering that!” he said and Alvaro felt that his dragon was puzzled and impressed.
“Is not normal then?” he asked.
“No. Usually just the birth brothers can hear each others thoughts.” He answered while looking at the golden dragon doing some crazy stunts and Alberto screaming and laughing.
Alvaro wished he could be closer and straight away his dragon jumped to the air and flew near Alberto.
“Stop doing that!” Alvaro shouted at his little brother. “You could fall down!”
“What like this?” shouted Alberto and fell off the dragon.
Alvaro's heart missed a beat seeing his brother fall, but in less than a second the golden dragon had dropped below the falling Alberto and caught him.
“You brother is some crazy dude Alvaro. Although there's real synchronization between them.”
Alvaro felt his dragon think aloud the words “Come on. Merlin is waiting for us and we still have over an hour fight”. The golden dragon and Alberto flew next to them and together they flew West towards the mountains.


Alberto could see the mountains getting bigger and bigger although they were still far. The dessert was changing too. There were bushes and trees and rocky areas with grass. He felt everything around him in detail. He knew that in some places there were people looking at them, even though he hadn't seen them. He was so happy. It was like when Santa brought him his Nintendo DS. He felt his dragon and it was like they had known each other all their lives. They trusted each other with soul, heart and body.
He looked at his brother with his dragon and they looked impressive. The dragon a dark purple and his brother sitting on top looking like he'd been there all his life. He felt Alvaro the dragon looking at him and knew that he was very happy for him. He knew then how his brother felt and realised that even though he could hear the other dragon's thoughts the connection was nothing like what he felt with his dragon birth brother. He looked at his brother Alvaro and realised Alvaro was a bit worried about him. “I'm OK!” He shouted and his brother smiled. “This is brilliant!”.

Alberto could now see a city in the distance. Below, there were fields and small creeks that were too straight to be natural. They flew past a small village of no more than ten houses. Some people stared at them and they were apprehensive. Alberto realised that dragons were not a welcomed sight to everybody. Some people were even scared.

The city of Middleway lay between the mountains and the dessert, which was probably why it was called Middle-way. The city looked a bit medieval and a bit like a town out of The lord Of The Rings. That is, with houses that looked old and normal and some big buildings here and there that were too big for a normal town. They flew to the centre of the town and Alberto noticed it had a big square with a fountain in the middle. They landed and, although the dragons were big, there was plenty of room in the square. Alberto realised that apart from being the square it was also a dragon's airport, somewhere they could land with ease.

The two boys slid down their dragons and Alberto's went to the fountain and started drinking. They had been flying through the desert for ages and he was very thirsty. Around the square there were other people who looked at them for a while and then carried on with their business.
Alvaro the dragon turned to the boys and said “That house behind you is were Merlin lives. Go there. He's waiting for you.”
The boys turned and and saw that the so called house was one of the big buildings. It had a large door that looked like a tall garage door with a smaller people door in the middle of it. It had normal windows and large round windows higher up.
The boys crossed the square and knocked on the door. No one opened. They were about to knock again when Alvaro the dragon told them to just walk in. The door wasn't locked, so they walked in.

Inside the building, there was a large room with a very high ceiling and a number of doors on the sides. In the middle there was a large table and a man with white hair with his back turned to them was quietly moving his head up and down.
“Hello” said Alvaro. No reply.
“Hello there!” he said louder. Still no reply.
“Hey there!!” shouted Alberto.
The man stopped nodding, took something out of his ears and turned smiling at them. “The brothers have arrived! Welcome to Middleway! You are a bit early.”
Alvaro remember something and said “No we are not. Dragon birth brothers arrive exactly when they are meant to arrive.”
Alberto turned and said “Hey. That's what Gandalf said.” and Alvaro winked at him.
Merlin smiled and said “Quite right. I like that answer. A wizard's answer.”
“Come closer please,” he said as he put something on the table.
The boys walked closer and Alberto looking at the table said “Look!! He was listening to an iPod!”

Dragon Birth Brother - CHAPTER I

It was summer time. School had been over for ages and the impending doom of the dreaded return to school was still far. It had been a good day. Dad was also on holidays which meant that he wasn't tired in the evenings and in a good mood for story telling. As usual the story has been about dragons and Alberto was still thinking about it.
Alberto shared the room with his brother Alvaro who was always either playing Warcraft on the computer, reading a book and, if Alberto wasn't careful, playing with Alberto's DS which he got as a Christmas present from Santa two years earlier for getting good results at school.

"Alvaro. Do you think that dragons could really exist?" Alberto asked his brother.
"Sure thing," replied Alvaro "and if you don't shut up and let me sleep I'll call one so that it gobbles you up."
Alberto knew that meant dragons didn't exist, but he still got a bit nervous when he heard a strange scratching sound in the room. Lying in bed in the dark he couldn't quite tell were it was coming from.
"Alvaro. I think the cat is in the room."
"No he's not. Mum took him out. Now please let me sleep."
Nothing happened for a while. Alberto could hear the TV playing softly downstairs. That mean that his parents were still awake.
The scratching sound came again. Louder this time. He heard Alvaro sitting up in the bed.
"That's not funny Alberto. If you don't stop making noise I'll call mum."
Alberto, who was now quite scared, said "It's not me. I didn't do anything."
Alvaro got off his bed and stood next to him trying to look mean. "Don't lie! I did hear you scratch...."
More scratching sounds. This time clearly from the window.
"Muuum!!" shouted Alberto.
"Be quiet. It's probably just the wind," said Alvaro walking towards the window and opening the curtains.
There was nothing there. Alberto could see the estuary with the town lights further away in the distance. His brother turned to him with a look of 'I told you so'.
"But," Alberto said, " there's no wind."

Alvaro realised that what his brother had said was true, there was no wind. He turned toward him, trying to think of some other reason to explain the noise, and saw him looking out of the window terrified. Alberto was trying to say something but no words would come out. Alvaro realised the room had gone darker and that there was that scratching sound again.
He slowly turned to look. The town lights were gone, the estuary was gone, there was nothing there, just blackness. He took a few steps back and said to his brother "I think we should tell dad that the lights have gone," even though he new it wasn't true as he could still hear the TV in the background. Suddenly the room lit up with a weird yellow light. He looked out and there, just outside the window, there was a huge cat's eye.
"MUUUM!!! DAAAD!!!" Screamed his brother.
Alvaro couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. He hear someone coming up the stairs and his dad saying something on the lines of stop messing about and go to sleep. Then complete silence.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you or Alberto." Said a sweet relaxing voice, "but I've been looking for you for a long time and I had to see you."
The peace the voice brought to their hearts was so big that the fear the brothers had just felt seem far away. They looked at each other puzzled rather than scared.
"I think he's talking to you." Said Alberto, quite glad he didn't have to talk to THE EYE. No matter how nice it sounded.

"What are you?" Asked Alvaro. Quite convinced now he was having one cool dream he would be able to tell his mates on Messenger the next day.
"My name is Alvaro," replied the Eye.
"Hahahaha" Alberto burst out laughing. "Good name for an ugly big eye".
Alvaro gave Alberto a dirty look and was going to say something when the Eye said "I'm your brother."
Alberto stopped laughing and Alvaro smiled. "Yes. You look a bit like my brother."
The big hearty laugh sounded all over the house. While it laughed the Eye moved and for a second the boys could see the town lights again. There was some big animal with cat eyes just outside the window!
"I'm not a big animal with cat eyes," said the voice. "I'm a dragon..."
"I knew it! You DO exist!" shouted Alberto, making the dragon go quiet. It has to be said here that no many people have the strength of soul to quiet a dragon.
The eye moved further away and looked at Alberto. They could see the head now. It seemed to smile. A big, scary, full of big sharp teeth type of smile.
"As I was saying before I was interrupted, I'm a dragon. I'm your Dragon Birth Brother. That's why my name is Alvaro."
"What's your name in dragon language?" Alberto asked before Alvaro had the chance to speak.
"Alvaro is the only name I have," said the dragon.
"In Spanish? Yeah, right," said Alberto who was quick at catching things like this.
"Be quiet and let him speak." Ordered his brother.
"How do you know it's a he?"
"QUIET!! I want to know more," said Alvaro, and to the dragon he said "Please go on."
"As I said. Alvaro it's the only name I have. I was given that name because I was born at exactly the same time as you. Taking into account non linear time of course."
"What was the last bit he said?" asked Alberto. Alvaro had heard his mum talking about non linear time but wasn't sure what it meant and it didn't sound important.
"At the same time as me?" He asked to himself aloud. Just then something that was nagging him became clear. "Hey. How did you know I was thinking of you as a big animal with cats eyes? I didn't say anything."
The dragon gave him one of those chilling smiles again and said, "because we are brothers. Dragon Birth Brothers can use mental communication."
"How come I can hear you then?" Asked Alberto.
The dragon moved a bit further back and looked at him with both eyes. "Yes. I was wandering about that as well."
The boys got closer to the window and looked at the dragon. It was huge. It looked just like a dragon from the movies. It's wings were flapping creating a lot of wind but the trees didn't move. Even though it was dark, the colour reminded Alberto of Saphira, a purple dragon from the film they had gone to see a few weeks earlier. "Dad never got here." he said to Alvaro.
"You are right."
Alvaro crossed the room and opened the door. There, he saw his dad walking up the stairs looking crossed but without moving. He turned to the dragon and asked, "did you freeze my dad?"
"I didn't freeze him. I simply speeded up the flow of time for us. He's moving really, really slowly from our point of view."
"Why did you do that?" Asked Alberto.
"So that your parents don't worry about you leaving."
"What you mean leaving? We are not going anywhere." Stated Alvaro.
"I guess I should have started at the beginning. Alvaro, I need for you to come with me to my side of reality. If we are to beat the dark dragons the brothers have to be together. It's the only way."
It was just too much for Alvaro. He didn't know what to say, so he said, "but I have my pyjamas on."
This time they could actually see the dragon laughing.
"I'm not staying behind," said Alberto. "If you leave me, I'm going to tell mum and dad about you and him."
"I can't bring you," said the dragon. "You don't have any powers on my side of reality and I can't look after you."
"If I don't have any powers how come I can hear you? Even if you freeze me like my dad I will tell them about you."
"They won't believe you," said Alvaro. "But I agree. I don't think we should leave you behind."
Alberto stared at his older brother. He was actually being nice to him.
"Ok. Fair enough. But make sure you act like his older brother and look after him," said Alvaro the dragon. "Open the window, climb onto my head and then onto my back."
They changed clothes, then Alvaro opened the window and the dragon got his head as close as he could to it. The dragon was so big that his neck was like a path. It helped that the dragon kept his head really still and when they got to the back of his head, which was moving, it was wide enough not to fall.
The dragon pulled away from the window as soon as the boys had settled on his back and started flying towards the sea. They could see the lights from the town getting bigger and went past them quite fast. Now they were flying in the dark on top of the water. The boys were holding on for dear life but the dragon was flying quite gently so there was no danger of falling.

Suddenly a bright light appeared in front of them and it started to get bigger and bigger. The boys thought they could see clouds inside it. "What's that!" shouted Alvaro above the wind noise.
"It's the interdimensional door to my side of the universe. Don't worry it's just a door!" Alvaro the Dragon shouted as they flew in.