I’m a child of abnormality. Nothing about me is relatable. To the parents who raised me, to where I lived. There is no other human like me. Nobody ever gets to see the things I do. To anyone else, it’s all legends. Fairy tales, myths, and campfire stories are told through generations.

“Wh-who are you?”

In front of me was the creature who would become my father. An impossibly large mountain of a being that rarely moved from this spot.

“A dragon is what they call me,” it said very deeply and slowly in my head. “But I suppose Claire would never tell you that.”

A dragon. These creatures were dragons. It was no wonder why I didn’t recognize them. Of all the fantasy books I’ve read, not one ever mentioned a dragon.

“You know her?”

“I’m her oldest friend.”

“Do you know where she is? She’s been gone for a long time now.”

“She will return, do not worry. Claire tells me she named you Rae. Has she been good to you?”

“She’s mean.”

The ground vibrated. I could feel that the dragon was laughing. “I apologize on her behalf,” it said then took its time to blink. “It was brave of you to travel through the fog. My suspicions turned to be true.”

Petting the now sleeping cat, I said, “I couldn’t let Snowie die. It just ran in.”

“You named her Snowie?” The dragon laughed again. “That’s a childish name for her species. She’ll grow to resent that name. I would call her something else. How about Snow? I bet she would like that much better.”

“Okay! Snow! What’s your name?”

“The human tongue cannot pronounce my given name, although your mother calls me Frierenlus. You may call me the same. It means winter storm of the sky.”

“Friendless?”

Dragon laughed again. “You’re adorable.”

“Um, Mister Friendless, do you know why all the animals hate Snow? Even the cats back home tried to kill her.”

“I don’t know why I expected Claire to ever explain things,” The dragon chuckled. “Since you’re here, there’s no helping it. I’m sure she’ll forgive me.”

Frierenlus, my future father, took his time to make sure I understood.

This island is under the protection of Claire. Everything that lives here is kept hidden from the rest of the world. It does not exist to them. It’s here where the old myths of the world live in peace; away from the violent nature of man. This part of the island is kept separate in the already impossible event that anyone finds the island. My presence had caused everyone to go into hiding. They were all fearful of me, of a human. No human is supposed to be able to survive the fog. He called for me through Snow, sure that I was the exception to the magic's power.

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I asked the mighty dragon if humans were bad. The only other one I’ve known was Claire if I could even call her human. As standoffish as she was, I never once thought she was a bad person. She loved the animals living on the island. Animals aren’t human but I always felt like they knew who she was. Whatever her will was, went for them.

“Your kind are not evil, just ignorant.”

The creatures of this island come from the realm of the Goddess. Long ago she opened a door to her realm in order to cross over to our world. As Claire explained before, a plague from the sky was about to render all life extinct. Because of this, the essence of life from her realm sipped into this world, allowing the more mystical life to exist.

As humans evolved, they became the apex predators. The Goddess’ creatures became hunted for their exoticism. They were enslaved, used as tools for war, or killed out of fear. Frierenlus was the one who moved most of them to this island. Claire then became the one who kept them hidden. On this island, the scars from those times are still new. This happened so long ago that humans didn’t have the ability to record history all too well. Eventually, this past became forgotten.

Hearing all this made me feel special. I never gave too much thought to the reasons behind any explanation, I was too young to give anything a critical thought. If I did, I would have been clued into the fact that Claire was much older than I thought, that she was immortal. Frienrelus didn’t disclose that information either.

As for the kitten I named Snowie, now Snow, she also came from the Goddess’ realm. They are brilliant creatures, rivaling humans and dragons. Their turmoiled war with humans ended with them here. When they’re grown, they become panthers and cougars with an unnatural ability to heal themselves. I wasn’t told anything further than that. Snow was even more special. Her species are not supposed to be white.

The mountain I saw rising the day Claire left was Frierenlus. Claire went to stop him as it would leave the ecosystem in chaos. His rising still threw everything into turmoil. The earthquake separated Snow from her parents with the shifting earth. Snow was already a black sheep to her family, neglected and famished. The ensuing chaos gave them an excuse to leave her behind. When Frie called for her, it was an invitation to be allowed back in.

There is only one law that the animals living inside the fog must follow. They may never cross through to the other side, to where Snow now found herself. Everyone on both sides understood this. The cats attacked her because they knew she broke this law and wanted her dead. Snow must have found her way back home when Frierenlus moved to stretch today. Her parents now have abandoned her because of the rules all animals follow. Dragons are the only ones exempt so Snow went to Frierenlus for comfort.

Young as I was, I didn’t give much thought to all of this and took it at face value.

“Snow’s race does not like humans. You must be special for you to hold her in your arms.”

“It took me a long time for her to trust me.”

“You must be the only person in the world who could.”

“How?”

“I wonder. Rae, your mother has told me you have a voice that reaches all things. Haven’t you found it a bit odd you can understand us?”

“Not really. Can’t anyone?”

“No. I wonder about the circumstances of your birth that have led you to be in front of me right now. Claire won’t be back for a while, would you like to stay with us? It would be nice to look out for a human child once again.”

“Father!” I heard another deep voice yell. This time it wasn’t in my head and it came from the mouth of the dragon behind me. “Her presence here is already forbidden and now you wish to let her stay? Your old age has made you unwise.”

“Feurolus, are you foolish enough to deny the child being raised by Claire?”

“Are you foolish enough to think this child won’t be killed by the Nekodae? Even with your approval, they won’t stand for it.”

The giant dragon laughed, “Then it shall be your job to protect the two young ones.”

The other dragon growled. “Fine. I await for the forráðamaður to return. She will have your head.”

That word. It was said in a different language but I understood it. It meant guardian. Then again, everything these two said has been in their language. Frierenlus was right. I could speak to these dragons. I was able to communicate with everything.

It explained how I was able to read without ever learning how. It explained how I could understand Claire in my first memories. It was a mystery that she knew about that added to her investigation of me. It’s a gift I was born with. And one that I wouldn’t question for a while.

Snow’s desire to go home is what led me to Frierenlus and Feurenlus. I had accepted the dragon’s offer to stay. I was now in my second home. I no longer had a place on the other side. There was still a lot to learn about this place but that would come with time. A new chapter of my life was beginning.