Another Place to Discover

There was a dome-shaped clearing with a neon blue pond in the middle. The pond comes trickling out of a mysterious rock against the wall, leading up to a small opening high up. On either side of the rock, there were four portals lighting most of the space. The closest portal to my right is a swirl of blue, outlined with gems in many shades of blue. A glowing blue crystal sat under the portal, covered in perfect, thin lines. The portal beside was almost exactly the same, but the swirl was a mix between silver and very light blue. The only noticeable difference was the colors of the gems surrounding the portal and the crystal next to it. They were more white, silver, and lighter shades of blue.

On the other side of the dome, there were the other two portals. The one closest to the rock was swirling with red and green, and the gems along the ring were red, pink, green, purple, and almost any color you would find out in a forest. The crystal was shorter than the others, and it was lime green that fades darker as it gets closer to the ground. Beside that portal is a swirl of bright orange, lined with red, orange, yellow, sliver, and dark gray gems. This crystal was very tall and fiery, unlike the other crystals.

Milo, Amber, Pepper, Leona, and Gingercat took a few minutes to carefully look around, knowing not to touch the glowing crystals or whirling portals.

"Everyone has to be very careful here," Forest says, her voice raised so that she can be heard by everyone. The shaping of the walls make almost everything sound louder and much more echoey than anywhere else in the tunnels.

"Are these portals still in use?" Pepper asks, peeking out from behind the rock, his big ears perked up.

"Yes, they are used daily." Gingercat's jaw drops, her eyes wide. I think she'll find this really cool, as long as someone new comes. I almost certain they will.

Sure enough, the green portal lights up much brighter than before. The swirling stops and a creature jumps out, landing gracefully on all fours. They had the same body shape as Forest, and I think I remember who this is. Her fur is dark green, and she has the same scarlet underbelly as Forest, just more vibrant. Her wings, although they aren't outstretched, look very big. They're in the shape of red leaves and look a bit feathery.

"She looks like Forest," I hear Gingercat whisper to Milo.

"Yeah, kind of," Milo mutters in return. The dragon turns her head, eyes scanning over us. Her eyes aren't like any I've ever seen. Her eyes are lime green, but she has light red replacing the white. They look creepy at first, but I really like them.

The dragon sniffs the other cats and says in a calm, sweet voice, "Hello there." When she turns to face me, I fall in love with her flowery scent. "Dark?"

"Yes, it's me," I meow. The dragon smiles.

"Shall I introduce myself to these newcomers?"

"They're relatives, actually," I say. "But yes, you should." Leona, Milo and Gingercat sit next to me, quite. They never really believed in magic of any sorts, this must really be quite the surprise.

"My name is Leafa," she begins, looking at each one of us. "I am Queen of the Forest Dragons. And if you were wondering, there is really no need to bow before me."

"I know you just said not to, but I must bow to you in respect." Forest kneels on her front legs, dipping her head. After a few heartbeats, she stands back up and looks at her leader. "I'm sorry I left without permission. I had to see Dark again."

"Is that so," Leafa says, smirking. "I thought you were out chasing Loong."

"Well," Forest sighs, staring down at her feet with embarrassment. "I guess I was at first."

"I'm nowhere near surprised," Leafa chuckled. "Now, you'd better get going before I lose my temper." Without arguing, Forest walks up to the red and green portal.

"Bye guys," the young, furry dragon says before jumping into the swirl, disappearing within seconds.

"I must be going too," Loong says, sighing. "Good-bye, y'all." He walks over to the orange portal, jumping in without hesitation.

"Well, it was nice to meet you all." Leafa turns her attention back to us. "I would stay longer, but a queen cannot be gone for long."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Milo says. Leafa turns to the same portal Forest had gone through, stopping before jumping through.

"Good luck." And just like that, she was gone.

"She was pretty cool," Pepper meows. We continue to wander around for a bit longer. Soon enough, we all stop to have a drink from the neon pond. This water tastes extremely fresh, with just a hint of sweetness.

I sit up, turning my head to start grooming my back. But once I turn my head, I notice that we aren't alone. The other cats look up too, silent with shock.

"Hello?" Gingercat mews awkwardly.

Four dragons are watching us carefully, creepily. Leafa isn't part of this group though. One of them looks just like Loong, just colored differently. Their scales are red with yellow chestplates, yellow horns, and golden cat-like eyes. Next to those eyes are single orange streaks, and underneath look like upside-down, yellow checkmarks.

To the right of that dragon is a shimmery white dragon with light gray patches. One patch covers half of their face, going perfectly around one of their icy blue eyes. They have such a striking, cold gaze, sending shivers down my spine. Their pointed ears are rimmed with a gentle layer of blueish frost, and claws made of pointed icicles. Those squared wings have four light blue icicles on the end, one more like a short claw on the highest corner, and a snowflake design in the middle. They have a long, thick tail, covered in icicles as well, probably used for defence.

On the other side of the red dragon, there are two dark blue dragons sitting side-by-side. Both have light blue chest plates and thin fins on the ends of their tails. Three spikes run down along the back of their necks, webbed with light blue material. Both of them have three light circles above and below their eyes, reminding me of water.

The dragon closest to the red dragon has fin wings, unlike the other blue dragon, who has dark horns lined with light, pointed fins. The winged dragon has ocean-like eyes while the other one has teal eyes.

"It's nice to meet you," the white dragon says deeply, tucking her wings into her shiny sides. "I'm Ice, Queen of Winter Dragons. I saw that you met Loong, Forest and Leafa earlier already. What a shame, we didn't see you first."

The red dragon taps their black claws on the stone impatiently, waiting for their turn. "Wow, that took long enough," she grunts. Ice flattens her ears in annoyance. "My name's Lava, and I'm Queen of the Fire Dragons. Loong works for me, as you can probably tell."

"Hey there," the blue, winged dragon begins, her voice welcoming. "I am River, Queen of Water Dragons. And this is my king--"

"No, I get to say it this time," the male says, cutting River off. "I'm Lakes, King of Water Dragons. River likes to take over my turns to speak," Lakes says jokingly. River just rolls her eyes.

"Yeah right."

"No, I'm serious."

"Well, it's nice to meet--" I meow, immediately cut off.

"And who's that?" Pepper says, pointing with his white paw in the direction of a small, dark tunnel. There is another dragon. And it's one I don't recognise.