I was catching my breath, after a marathon to the great prison also known as school. The heavy school bag was hanging on my back, while I was running. I will be late again to school, because, again, I lost the bus. And the first class was chemistry. Ever since I burned a lab table, I wasn't really in good terms with my teacher.

South Merryweather school was just an ordinary school, like any other. The same unbearable uproar on the halls in the breaks, the same boring teachers and the same peace of grave while an exam.

My classmates were laughing and running on the halls, but the person that drew my attention was a blonde girl, circled by other seven kids, listening to her story with amazement. The girl was smiling and talking, showing her perfect teeth and making large gestures with her hand. I immediately recognized my twin sister, Lissandra, with her shining green eyes and blonde hair braided.

She was probably telling them about the balloon trip our parents took her on our birthday, which, by the way, was yesterday. The fifth of July, so close to the end of the school year, and all the kids were growing impatient. And when I think that, usually, on our birthday I only get a book and a clothing articles voucher, that I anyway never use.

I felt a hand pressed to my shoulder, I startled and turned on my heels, only to face my friend.

"Oh, Lyra, it was you!" I exclaimed, smiling friendly to her.

Lyra Black is the warmest and encouraging person I've ever known. She is kind to everyone and forgiving, and that's probably why many people didn't see her for who she really was. They were taking her kindness as a sign of weakness, thing that wasn't true at all. It was bravery, she was so brave that in a mean world, she was still kind, good, different. And for that one she's won my eternal respect. Because she is herself despite a lot of negative opinions. I think I should probably follow that tip too.

Lyra had her brown hair pouring down like a waterfall above her shoulders and her big brown eyes were warm and understanding, seeming to be able to look straight into your soul.

"Onyx, have you heard your sister's tales? A journey with a balloon! Isn't it incredible? To see the sky, to watch the clouds floating like dragons! She said she traveled over the mountains, and saw the sunset on the way back! How amazing it would be for me to see the sunset in a balloon!"

And now we're getting to Lyra's quirks because there is no such thing as perfection. She reads... way too many fantasy stories, so whenever she hears about something more special, she starts fantasizing. And even more... She believes everything she's told. It's so easy to lie to her. I'm sure that, if you told her that tomorrow we will be invaded by the mutant cucumbers from planet Mars, Lyra would get lots of food and shut herself in the basement of her house, believing every single word. Because my dear friend doesn't understand one thing: no matter how good you are, the people won't always treat you with the same kindness. Even if they're just some seventh-grade kids that like making fun of everything and everyone.

The classes from Merryweather school are always the same. Writing, explanations and then writing the explanations. And as I'm not going to write about all those things, let's just skip the school part.

On the way back home, a terrible summer storm started. The thunders were howling, the lighting slashed the sky like an ice knife, and the wind was bowing down even the strongest trees. I didn't hurry to go home because, strangely, I liked storms.

I was soaking wet when I reached home, only to see Lissandra reading to our parents the impeccable English test she has gotten a ten plus on. I rolled my eyes, hurriedly passing the living room to reach my dormitory. This annoyed me the most about Lissandra. She didn't just like being in the center of attention, but she was bragging about every small thing she did.

My parents greeted and went back to Lissandra's paperwork as if I had never existed. I have gotten used to some of my classmates acting that way, but my own parents... I tried to ignore the string of pain and sadness.

After I finished my ton of homework, I threw myself on my bed, and I immediately fell into a peaceful sleep.



You probably believe that being the daughter of two rich parents, I am kindly woken up in my big pink, fluffy bed, that I am given the breakfast in my bed, a golden plate full of biscuits with Belgian Choco belgiană and a delicates cup with milk and honey. Oh well, you won't see such thing! I usually have to cook my own breakfast, so I only get a small slimy egg and a piece of toast. I'm not a big fan of cooking, and I don't really have pleasant memories of this occupation. Our parents have tried once to teach me and Lissandra how to cook. She wasn't too great, and I remember that I celebrated finding something she wasn't good at. But I was even worse. I could have done pretty well if I wasn't so clumsy. I have put too much milk and forgot to put away the eggshell, so my cake was too liquid and had pieces of eggshell here and there. It really wasn't bad for my first try, or at least that's what my parents told me. It anyway doesn't matter anymore, because I tripped when I was walking out of the kitchen, my cake spreading on the floor and me getting a new bruise on my knee.

After I finished eating, I started pulling the clothes on me. I've never been a big fan of the school uniform, from the beginning against the dark green school vest, of a shade resembling the skin of a frog. And when I saw the skirt... Terrible thing, that one! Ever since first grade I completely refused to wear that thing and I'm one of the not many girls coming to school in pants. But my "revolt" has also inspired other students, some of them refusing the vest, others "forgetting" their ties at home, and more girls giving up on the skirt of the uniform.

I was snatched out of my thoughts by the sound of the doorbell.

"Onyx, go open the door!" shouted dad lazily from another room.

I rose heavily off the chair and, while doing so, I hit my small toe on the table.

I jumped in one foot to the door, while putting on my shoes and insulting the table in my mind.

I opened the door and woke up face to face with the strangest character I've ever encountered: a man that was so small, that he could hardly reach my ankle, with a long, tangled and curly brown beard and sharp ears. He was wearing a postman uniform and holding a document.

"Are you miss Lissandra Prior?" he asked, throwing a pointed look towards me.

"Um...No...But... I stuttered, wondering why would the postman want to talk to my sister.

He interrupted me, taking my hand and pulling a small device out of his pocket. I eyed the metal device confused, wondering what is its purpose. Then, the postman took my small finger and pressed it against the device's screen. The screen vibrated and turned green.

The hairy dwarf nodded and stuffed the tiny machine back in the pocket of his pants, then he got a strong hold of my wrist and pulled me after him, without saying anything.

Taken by surprise, I almost fell flat on my face, until I managed to stop him. I tried to jerk my hand out of his hold, but it was of no use. With my other hand, I grabbed a tree from the garden, for sustaining.

"What do you think you're doing?"I shouted, forgetting anything I knew about politeness or manners. The postman rolled his big eyes and said:

"You must come with me. "

"Not a chance," I said, violently jerking my hand out of his hold, this time actually managing to break free, because the postman was distracted. "For goodness' sake, you're a stranger, I'm not going anywhere with you!"

I was almost offended that he thought I'd be such an idiot to actually agree to follow him.

Through the opened door behind me, I heard my father's muffled voice, calling my name.

"Heard that? That's my father, he'll come and hand you to the police, for trying to kidnap me"

I probably sounded like a spoiled little girl, using my dad as a threat, but I sincerely couldn't care less. I couldn't let a crazy unknown man take me after him through the town.

"You are coming with me now", he said, and suddenly his face got dangerously darker. His black pupil dilated, and I could notice a red spark in his eyes. He looked at me in the eye, and suddenly, I was as if in a trance. A voice in my head was dictating me what to do and I just couldn't stand against it.

"Yes," I said robotically. "I'll come with you"

I heard the sound of the door being slammed against the wall and saw my father running out of it. It all felt surreal, like a dream, as if I wasn't even there, just seeing through someone else's eyes. When my father realized that I already left, I was behind the dwarf, hypnotized, and it was too late. He ran towards me, screaming, and I tried to scream too, but my lips were locked. I was also running, away from him, yet I couldn't feel my feet, the ground. I could only feel my accelerated breath and my heartbeats, pumping in my ears. With the dwarf controlling me, I suddenly achieved an inhumane speed, so we were lost on the streets of the Mexican city I lived in before my father (or anyone) could catch up with us.

After I finally managed to break free from what seemed like a spell or a hypnotization, I started yelling.



He might have been small, but the little man was strong and could easily pull me through the town, despite my protests. I think we were a pretty interesting view, a tiny postman leading and pulling around a strange girl trying hopelessly to kick him. The Mexican walkers must have been pretty dumb, or maybe deaf. Weren't they hearing my desperate yells? Weren't they realizing there was a kidnap going on right under their noses and they didn't even do anything about it?

I think there's no need to tell you that I was on the edge of having a crisis. While the little man was pulling me with him, I was shouting for help and trying to stop him, kicking right and left, imploring, yelling, even trying to tickle him( which by the way, didn't work.). It was really revolting! The dwarf was going to kidnap me!

We had our share of breaks because the dwarf was easily getting tired. I didn't stand against them because I honestly wasn't really having the best physical condition ever. While he was resting, I tried to interrogate him, but the only answer I received was silence and an occasional threat. In one of the breaks, the postman even tried to fit me in a box (thing that logically didn't work). It works have categorically been one of the weirdest experiences I have ever lived, but it was no match for what was going to happen.

One time, it became insupportable. One second the dwarf was resting on a wood bench, in front of a maroon house, the next one he was hanging upside down, right above a smelly trash bin. Thing what, even though it doesn't seem like it, needs a lot of physical force. The dwarf was way heavier than I imagined...

"Listen up, old man, if you don't tell me where we're going, my hand might slip, and you'll be making an unplanned dive in the trash bin . So, spill out, tell me everything! You want to kidnap me, aye? Take my insides out and sell them, aye?"

I stopped accusing him when I realized I was almost shouting, and the walkers were throwing me confused looks. I blushed at the sudden burst of attention I received.

"Put me down, kid! Or else, you'll be having bigger problems than a trash bin" yelled the little man, his face red from the blood coming to his head.

The people kind of started staring( as if they weren't already staring) so I left him down and continued walking, following an angrier than ever postman dwarf.

The hairy man kept rambling strange phrases:

"Messenger Elf, boss Raggentoff told me, messenger Elf he said. If that's what a messenger Elf gets, why didn't I become a waiter Elf?"

The small Mexican town we lived in was noisy, bustling and crowded, full of houses and blocks. It was circled by forests, so you realize it wasn't my father's first choice seeing the place we will live.
If my mom wouldn't have wanted to live close to the forest, by now we would have probably been in Cancun. It's a strange thing this one, with my mother and the forests. She has always had a soft spot for nature, flowers, and forests. That's why, when we were younger, mom used to take me and Lissandra in the forest for a walk, every Sunday afternoon. I remember how I used to ambition myself to climb the highest trees, and almost every time fall, being caught by my mother. This is how I've gotten to know almost by heart all the paths in the forest a few streets behind my house.

Soon, the dwarf pulled me to a little forest I have never explored before.

"Why are you taking me to the forest?" I asked slowly.

I started to question myself about the reason why I decided to follow the tiny postman. Maybe because I had absolutely nothing better to do. Or maybe I just wanted to get out of this ignorant family. I don't know, but, after all, what does the dwarf want from me? To kidnap me? That one was clear. To turn me into his slave? Maybe. To... eat me? I didn't even want to think about that possibility.

But the dwarf didn't answer to my question (neither did he to the other dozen of questions I've asked him), he just kept leading me through the forest, which was getting deeper and deeper. He seemed to be following an invisible path, that he followed thousands of other times.

Only when we reached a huge pine tree, thick and old, the hairy man let my hand go. My hand was bruised from his hand, holding me like a handcuff.

And then, a bizarre thing happened. The stranger opened his other hand, the one that I recall he has always held in a fist, and there was a symbol encrusted on the palm of his hand: a star. He pressed the symbol on the wood trunk of the pine tree and, with a sound very much like a thunder, a part of the tree retracted!

And take a wild guess what was behind it: nothing! A big, fat and dark nothing!

The hairy man pushed me lightly to the tree.

"Well, you're the first!" he said.

I looked down, fear flooding through my veins. This, this whole thing, is crazy! I am not going to throw myself into a void just because a postman gone bonkers is asking me to!

"You will be perfectly safe" he continued as if he would have read my thoughts.

"Is it like a slide?"I asked.

"Just like that! C'mon, stop being such a scaredy cat!" he said, motioning me to get closer to the tree.

I glared at him and liked again to the round dark hole in the tree. I took a deep breath and stepped closer to the tree. It looked so... abrupt.

I bit my lip, holding a breath and I jumped. For a second, I felt as if I was free falling, and all the winds in the world were shouting in my ears, then I felt something solid against me, probably the wall of the slide. The speedy free fall lasted only a few more seconds left, and Boom! I landed on something soft. It was a mattress.

I looked around, catching my breath and processing what just happened. I have landed on an underground mattress, in an underground room, through an underground toboggan. And it was... fun! I might even want to do it again!

And now I was in a huge underground gallery, an enormous hall lit up by some torches. The fire in the torches had a silvery glint, which seemed to resemble the color of the moon. In a corner of the room was a huge door, probably leading to another one. The hall was incredibly mighty, and on the walls were hanging battle shields, round with metallic borders. They were having different decorations, emblems and even messages in a language I didn't know. Some of them had pictures that represented a dragon stabbed with a silver sword, or a hippogriff with a dagger in one of his wings. Others were stained with blood on the borders, what made them look even scarier than a barbaric painting.

I had no more time to wonder, because the dwarf fell on me, on the mattress.

"Ow, take your foot off my face!" I shouted.

Both of us stood up, and the dwarf said, with a strange glint in his eyes, as if this place was bringing him bad memories:

"Welcome to Iridyum!"












Aloha everyone! Wow, this time I posted really fast! But this happens really rarely, so don't get used to it!

Anyways, I really hope you guys liked this chapter, and I apologize again for any mistake, I told you the reasons last chapter.

Please tell me what you think, a bit of feedback would be really useful! So, what do you think about the chapter?

3082 words.