10 Days of Spring Fantasy Contest Book

She Dreams of Dragons

Day 9 Use the image of this contest to inspire a short story or poem. Note to reader. This contest piece is being written under extreme duress. I don't have a spring fantasy notion in my entire brain.

** Image ID #2046668 Unavailable **

'Damien, you're such a *nerf. Full of fantasies.'

'No, fantasy, Lilly. To revive the faltering earth in time for spring, we'll need the sun, the moon, and the stars.'

'Did you forget to add in a fantasy girl?'

Damien's eyes drank in the essence of his wife. 'We need a non-believer in all things fantasy. She must be totally grounded and cerebral.'

'Quit examining me. Go find your disbeliever.'

Damien closed the distance between them and took Lilly's hand. 'There. Not far to travel at all.'

Lilly shoved against Damien's chest. 'Just try to make me cooperate. All you'll see is my ass walking away.'

One of Damien's hands pulled Lilly closer. The other caressed her butt. 'And a lovely one at that. Please come with me?' He urged Lilly from the comfort of the living room and led her, struggling, through the hallway.

'Where're we going?

"Not so very far."

"What the''Lilly stood gaping at what had been a kitchen, but seeing a vast nothingness before her.

'A portal to the celestial. Safeguarded against all evil forces, coming to life in times of dire need."

"Who are you?"

A slight smile tugged at Damien's mouth. "Take my hand and hold tight."

Lilly fought the wave of vertigo as Damien guided her toward the aperture. Time evaporated.

"You can open your eyes, sweetheart."

"Where are we?"

'This is a greeting interface. Man and nature united.'

With one hand over her mouth, Lilly's gaze darted, surveying the area, and then focused on her husband. "So, you're Master of the Fantasy Realm?"

"I am merely one of earth's humble custodians." Damien motioned toward a girl draped in layers of satin, 'Wanda is here as an ambassador for the moon.'

'You're insane.'

'Is she everything you expected?' Damien asked a man floating downward from nowhere.

Preceding him, an aura glowed. 'Your wife is unenlightened. But is she pliant enough to turn?'

Lilly's eyes flashed. 'Pliant this.'

When the man laughed, stars sailed from his mouth and lit the dim expanse. "Her spunk is well-suited to the One."

'Will she summon the dragon?' asked the moon-girl.

All attention shifted to Lilly. 'Everybody just back the hell up. This is a dream, or my husband drugged me."

Appearing next to his wife's side, Damien encircled her shoulders. 'Answer my questions. Face the truth."

"Take me back home. I have a lecture at the university in the morning."

"Answer the questions, and then I'll do your bidding."

"Damn straight you'll do whatever I ask, for the rest of our lives."

Damien laughed, and then sobered. "Has the rain turned acidic?'

Lilly nodded.

'Is the rain forest dying?'

'It's already gone. Scientists like me don't want people panicking.'

'Can the coral reefs be enlivened?'

One tear slid down Lilly's face.

'Ozone layer. Irreparably damaged? Is the core of the earth unstable after the Japanese drilled to the center?'

'You shouldn't possess that knowledge. Only my fellow scientists at the Academy of Manipulation are privy to that information.'

Moon-girl's satin robes cast shadows as she crossed the room. 'Sun will be nova, and I'll be ever so lonely without her.'

Stars gathered around Lilly and filled the room with vibrations that translated into words.

'Earth's history will be unwritten. Sun, Moon, flora and fauna have all served mankind. And yet we're sentenced to death. We're not spiteful. We want to live. Call forth the dragon.'

'No,' Lilly shouted. 'I don't believe in fantasy.'

'The dragon from your childhood dreams is real. It's why you studied so hard, stuck to scientific facts, tried to blot out what you feared. Call to him.' Damien said.

Lilly crumpled to the floor, wrapped her arms around her knees and rocked. 'It was only a dream about a dragon named Starburst.'

A mighty torrent of air blasted the gathered entities as a blue dragon swooped down. His voice was the rush of turgid rivers, the frigid mountain air, the sighing of the trees. And the grating of grit underneath a sneaker. 'At last we meet, young one.'

Lilly grew luminous as she approached her friend. 'Is it true, what they say?'

Starburst snorted. 'Yes. Magic and disbeliever united will save the earth.'

'What shall I ask for?'

'Whisper into my ear the truth in your soul.'

"Call forth spring. Restore earth eternal."

**
The jingling alarm clock woke Lilly, who rolled over and shook her husband. "Damien, I had the oddest dream.'

*Nerf is not a misspell. Nerd is so overdone.
w/c 749