C1 MY FIRST ENCOUNTER

"Good morning here!"

I overheard a very loud shout from inside, I was in the bathtub already dipped in hot water. Quickly, I brought out the remote control I got from Jaspon when I travelled there; so I pressed a button fast towards the door and it closed.

My mind quickly travelled through another world of fantasy when I heard that cry; it was as loud as prickly. I almost went deaf, but later got recovered from it when I stood up and dressed.

"Who could that be?" I asked myself, expecting a quick reply, but no one responded. Well, nobody had been living with or around me for a long time in the modernized cave . I grew old everyday as anyone would, but never had beards or a longer hair. I only got slimmer and younger per year.

The thought of having myself turned into a shapeshifter stomped onto my mind just like what I had been seeing in my dreams, and I began to mull over it, for hours. Actually, that would be a good idea but, what if I wouldn't be able to turn to a normal human again? Just, what if?

I buckled down, and decided to take up the challenge my thought dashed me, then I moved closer to the door and screamed out, even though I was not touched yet, by any monstrous beast or something.

"Grhh..!" the beast growled.

"What's that?" I asked curiously, "who's there?"

"I'm still here, greeting you, werewolf!" the stranger said, knocking harder than before.

What he called me - 'werewolf' got me angry. Since the day I drank the shapeshifter potion which I saw in the Monkey Cave in Jaspon, I had never loved to be called a werewolf, just like that. I hated to hear it more often than not, so seriously.

At a time, I realized it was next for me to do what I had decided in my mind for the anonymous person ululating around my abode since the early morning.

"If you don't leave there now, I'll deal with your life and turn you to a wreck!" I shouted at the stranger.

"Is that the jasponite killer?" he questioned back.

I was amazed, I would say - dumbfounded!

I did not know what to say after hearing what he said, and I so I became numb for some minutes before I later realized that the person knocking and shouting must have been in danger or any other difficult situation.

That might be true, I thought.

So, I pressed the green button on the remote control and the door was opened wide. I did not even see anyone at all. Not even a trace, like a footstep or scent. Because at least, we know others by scent if not anything else.

"Where are you, bloody fool?" I asked, as surprised as I was.

"I'm not a fool, necessito una aide!" the stranger cried.

When I heard the stranger speaking Lampian, a very common fantastical language, I moved further to the doorfront to see him in person or say victim. I moved forward to meet him, as he cried even more vigorously.

"It's me, here." He said.

"Which side are you at?" I asked him, and switched into Lampian, "no poteo veden te allora, sinceramente!"

"Huh!" he sighed loudly.

"Will be right there!" I exclaimed back after realising he must have been injured, so I went very close to him by tracing the voice. What I actually meant was, "I can't see you now, honestly!"

Right there I saw the stranger! It was a dragon!

"Ih Drago?" I asked him.

"No, don't call me a dragon please," he retorted, "I have come here to save you from the Oceaniana."

"Oceaniana?" I questioned.

"Yes, they are the ones that settled your housing here since you've been alive, in this forest," the dragon explained in response, "they paid huge money to the gods for housing you, for a little time."

"Me?" I cut in again.

"Well, it's you, the werew..." the strange dragon blabbered, and was about to offend me another time.

"Non, no appendé mi varevulpo, porre favon!" I shouted, in Lampian. I was telling him that, he shouldn't call me werewolf with a "please."

"Sorry, dear man!" he pleaded.

"No such word here, please." I added.

Suddenly, the dragon sounded like someone that was being beaten hard with strokes. It was then I noticed that, something was wrong with him.

How could I heal a dragon? Can a shifter like me do what a dragon cannot do? What could I do to help?

"What can you do?" he asked me, as if he detected my thoughts.

"To help you, dragon? You know, I am only a forest shapeshifter with limited powers," I started explaining to the dragon, "for example, I cannot eat raw meat; I cannot easily fight in the air."

"What of changing yourself to cure disease?" the dragon asked me.

"No, also I cannot sleep on the eleven moons of Henzu clouds and I cannot..." I did not finish my words when I spotted the scab on his feet.

In Manelda, regarded every beasts as either male or female; they were treated in the same way as humans were, in terms of consideration. But then, he cut in through my sentence.

"You cannot cause a wind or a rainfall, too?" The dragon questioned me angrily.

"I can't!" I exclaimed.

"I am surprised you aren't going to heal me of this wound. I was told in Jaspon that, if the wound is nursed and sustained till four months, I might not recover from it forever and I will lose my dragonic powers," the monster explained his fate, "then, I won't be able to talk, too. Someone has to help now, please. It really hurts." The dragon explained.

"What's your name?" I asked him bluntly.

"I'm called Alliana, the queen of the deepest heavens," he replied, "Morrasta is a place I know well, and is connected to my name.

"Good! I like your name!" I remarked and continued to say, "and I know someone called that; she was my tight friend in Scotland, back then. I was even the one who christened her, but..."

"What happened to her next?" the wounded dragon inquired painfully, not wanting me to give much details, but help him out.

"Alliana was abducted by the aliens of Henzu who were said to be blind, lame, deaf, dumb, lame, numb and powerless," I narrated, "I wonder how they finally grabbed her."

"Well, they are the minidemonios!" the dragon shouted and explained, "you actually cannot tell how powerful and brutal they can be, most times, plus they are children of the gods... I hope you know."

"Minidemons?" I repeated as if I had heard such word before.

"Don't you know why I called you the jasponite killer?" The wounded dragon asked me, as he dipped his hand into his throat and brought out a jade.

"What's this?" I asked.

"It is Alliana's jade that was thrown into her throat!" he replied.

"What of Diana?" I asked another question from him.

"Diana is also a queen, but she is not the owner of this jade."

"Hmm..." I sighed afterwards.

"I think you might consider me a female, right?" the dragon sought to know, as he felt eased.

"As if you were in my mind!" I rejoined rather loudly.

"So, why were you called the jasponite killer?" the dragon asked again.

"I think I do!" I howled in response.

"Tell me!" He requested.

"I am from Jaspon and I slew the first brutish being there, who started abducting and robbing people of the same Jaspon;" I described, "and the people of Morrasta, Durra, Plinigola and Venzemen, which are the five big cities of the world."

"Five cities?!" the strange dragon repeated and then asked me, "are they the only places you know?"

"Aren't they?" I asked back, leaving a part of his question unanswered.

"Yes, they are! Durra was lined out of Plinigola because of the demise of the Chief beings and ghosts of Venzemen who invaded the place and stole diamonds... Venzemen was derived from a lampian word, "venzama" which means pearl. My third daughter was named after that word. Her name is Venzama."

"Diana also knows about this..."

"Really? Venzama?" I echoed, trying to make him say more.

"Venzama, pearl and jade..."

When I could no longer decipher what the dragon was explaining to me, I recalled the name he told about - 'Venzama.'

"The name sounds cool to me!" I remarked, and asked the dragon, "does it mean quality as well?"

"In a way, yes!" He answered.

"Who did you give birth for?" I asked him, after seating him down, "and, how does it relate to Jaspon plus the jade?" so, I dashed him an intense massage on the back.

"Well, you might not want to know," he replied, "but, note that there was a great woman of influence and a man came to tell of it, and agree to her."

"it's a long story then…”