Prologue

It happened again. The masked man was back. Lin ran up the stairs as fast as he could. He heard a deep, dark voice say, “You can run, but you can’t hide!”

Lin slithered under his bed when he heard the deep, dark voice. Lin heard him march up the stairs and into his room.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” said the deep, dark voice as he looked around. “I’ll get you next time, I promise,” he said as he went downstairs.

Lin heard something he thought was a scream. He heard a door slam. Lin didn’t know what was happening, so he ran downstairs to his mom and dad. Dead, his parents were dead. Lin cried so hard when he buried them in the backyard, alone. When he was going to his room, Lin heard something… it came from the rug…

Chapter 1: The Jungle

Lin thought he was dreaming, so he ran into the wall. But instead of getting hurt, he fell through the wall. He got up and saw a jungle, and in that jungle, he saw the rug from his room. Lin tried to go back through the wall. Every time he tried to get out, he bounced off. He looked around. He saw that he was in a forcefield. He heard the rug say, “You have magic!”

“I do?” Lin said.

“Yes, you do,” the rug said. “The magic is to protect you when you have to fight.”

“I have to fight?” Lin said. “Why?”

“To find the dragon that will lead you to the guardian. The guardian is guarding the portal that’s your only way back home,” the rug said. “You need to fight the guardian to get home.”

“Do I have to?” Lin said.

“If you want to get home,” the rug said, “you have all the time you need to go home.”

“FINE!” Lin said.

Lin felt something. It felt warm. Lin looked around and saw something not so far away. It looked like a…

“Fire-breathing DRAGON!” the rug said.

“Hey! I was going to say that!” said Lin.

“Well, I said it first,” the rug said.

“Well, but…” Lin tried to respond when he and the rug felt a dark shadow cast upon them.

Lin and the rug slowly turned around. Then they saw it. It had two giant wings, a very, very long tail, and lastly, it breathed fire. Lin tried to run away, but he felt something pulling him back. It was the dragon. The dragon lifted Lin by his feet and started shaking him.

The dragon asked, “What is your name?”

Lin said, “Lin. My name is Lin.”

“Where do you come from?” the dragon demanded.

“America,” Lin replied.

“Where’s America?” the dragon asked.

“It’s on Earth,” Lin said in a nervous voice.

The dragon didn’t do or say anything. Lin was very confused.

The dragon went over to Lin and said, “Get on my back, I’ll get you to the guardian. But in return, you can’t tell anyone that you were here.”

“Deal,” Lin said as he climbed onto the dragon’s back.

“What about me, can I come too?” the rug asked.

The dragon said, “sure.”

The rug floated onto the dragon’s back. The dragon flew gracefully through the sky. Lin looked down and saw only treetops, but when they were close to landing, he saw a portal. A tall man in shiny silver armor was guarding it.

The dragon said, “Now you have to fight.”

“What?” asked Lin.

“The guardian. And no one can help you,” the dragon answered.

“Okay, I’ll fight. Only because I get a chance to go home,” Lin said.

The dragon landed and let Lin off his back.

Chapter 2: The First Portal

Lin walked closer and closer to the guardian. With each step he took, the gray stones shook under his feet.

The guardian asked, “Why are you here?”

“I am here to fight,” Lin said confidently.

The guardian said, “For what?”

“I want to fight to get into that portal to go home,” Lin answered.

As he was pulling out his sword, the guardian said, “Okay. Let’s dance.”

Then Lin pulled out his sword (he had a sword because he had magic.)

Then the guardian asked, “Are you sure you want to fight me?”

“Yes, because it’s my way home,” Lin said.

Then the rug said to the guardian, “Be careful, Lin has magic.”

Then the guardian asked, “Who’s Lin?”

Then Lin yelled, “I’m Lin!”

The guardian started laughing and laughing so hard that he fell down. Lin saw his chance to get into the portal without fighting. When he was halfway in the portal, the guardian grabbed him by the feet and said, “Not so fast.”

Lin said, “Come on, that was my only chance!”

The guardian said, “I thought we were going to fight. Oh, and don’t tell anyone, but it’s my dream to fight.”

Lin said, “Hey, I think I see someone who’s asking to fight with you.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

The guardian started running out to the jungle like he was the happiest person alive. Then Lin grabbed the rug and jumped into the portal. When they got out, they weren’t home.

The rug asked, “Where are we?”

“I don’t know,” Lin answered. “I know we’re not home.”

The rug swooped over to Lin and said, “I think you have to go on another quest to find a map which will lead you to the knight who, I think, is guarding your way home.”

“Are you kidding me?” Lin groaned.

“I am not kidding, Lin.”

“Fine. I’ll go on this quest. But you’re coming with me.”

Chapter 3: The Tropical Knight

Lin looked around. On one side, he saw a castle, and on the other, he saw a tropical island. Then something flew past them. It looked old. They chased after it. Then they found themselves by the castle. They looked at the thing that had flown by. It looked like a map. Lin picked it up and saw it showed the way to the knight.

Lin asked the rug, “Is this the map you were talking about?”

“Yes,” the rug said. “That’s exactly it. Now, you need to follow it to find the knight, and the knight seems to be in the castle guarding your way home, I think.”

Lin groaned, “You think?”

“Yes, I think, but probably. Wait! It shows that the knight is on the tropical island!”

“Are you kidding me? The island is so far away, we’re going to have to get a boat. Wait…  Why can’t I just use my magic to make a boat?”

“Well, your magic has limits, like you can’t bring back the dead, build something without having to do work, change time, or make a portal appear. So we have to get a boat if you want to get home,” the rug said.

“Fine! But I only have $100 in my pocket. It might not be enough to get a boat.”

“We can get a wooden rowboat!”

“But I’ll get splinters!”

“We can sand it.”

“You mean you’re going to sand it.”

“Fine.”

The rug and Lin went to all the huts by the castle. Only one hut had boats. All the boats were wood, so they bought one.

The rug said, “Now I need to sand the boat.”

So, Lin made sandpaper out of the little bits of sand from the ground that people brought back from the island.  The rug grabbed it and started.

“Hurry up,” Lin said. “Why are you taking so long?”

5 hours later…

“You’re still not done?” Lin groaned. “It’s nighttime!”

“Done!” the rug said happily.

“What took you so long?” Lin said.

“Well, excuse me, you didn’t help me,” the rug complained. “Well at least we’re done. Now you have to row.”

“Fine.” Lin pushed the boat into the water.

The rug floated onto the back seat, and Lin started rowing. It was dawn when they got to the island. The rug was sound asleep. Lin had no time to wake up the rug, so he explored the island with the map. He found it, the knight who was guarding the portal.

“Hey, you!” Lin said. “Are you the knight I have to fight to get into that portal?”

“Yes, I am that knight,” the knight said.

“Aren’t you tired?” Lin asked.

“Yes, yes I am,” the knight answered.

“Then why don’t you take a nap, and I can guard the portal?”

“No, it’s my job to guard the portal, and I don’t trust you, little kid.”

“Well, I can make you a deal. I can give you all the gold in the world, but tomorrow.”

“I don’t believe you,” the knight said.

“Actually, I can because I have magic.”

“Fine. Deal. But you better not break your promise.”

To be continued…