The land is called The Goddess’ Garden.

On the other side of the mountain-sized dragon was another plain very similar to the one back home. This is where I lived for the next few months. It was barren of animal life save for the few dragons that did not mind my presence. Everyone was scared of me, choosing to live in the deeper part of the forest and past the plains. The plains led to a mountain range that made up most of the island. I was not allowed to get close to it, a compromise I had with creatures of this land.

The Garden had a cabin that was a replica of the one I lived in. This is where Claire was living before she took me in. In her room, she had another cellar that led to her library. Although looked, she had bookshelves filled with books for me to read.

Frierenlus’ name was too much of a mouthful so I started calling him Frie. I spent most of my time with him. Feur, the dragon who’s his son, watched over me at all times. These two were the largest of their race. Frie was so massive he could be an island himself. Feur looked like a rat compared to him but a giant compared to every other dragon I met.

These other dragons looked different too. In place of their front legs, they had wings with claws at the end that acted more like arms at times. These smaller dragons were much more colorful too. While most of them were dark brown or green, these reptiles had feathers as a mane on their back and on their limbs. Some looked more like birds while others were closer to winged snakes. Their front limbs separate from their wings once these wyverns reach full adulthood. Once they do, they are allowed to leave the island, the only animal allowed to. All of them welcomed me warmly.

There weren’t many. Just a few lived that lived as close family while the rest lived in the mountains. Among them were three children. They were twice my size and made it so I couldn’t join them in most of their games. The youngest of the children was the one I was closest with. Heilari was 50 years old despite still being a kid. All dragons live to be thousands of years old. Frie and Fluer were the exception. Both of them were relics from a past long forgotten.

Heilari and the other kids always played tag with each other. They were too fast of runners and too strong for me to ever join them. I watched from the sidelines most of the time until they decided to change games.

Snow never left my side and often sat on my shoulder. Unlike the dragons, she could not speak but my special little power made sure we understood each other perfectly. There was never a moment where I couldn’t understand her intentions from her meows. She was less of a pet and more of my friend. Quiet and reserved, she liked me reading her books more than playing with me.

The lonely life I had was gone. I had friends and new things to do every day. I no longer had to find my own entertainment just to keep me busy. For once I could say I was leading a normal life. A human child amongst these beasts shouldn’t call it such but it was enough for me. They were friends who cared about me and my emotions. They had empathy, unlike the woman who was raising me.

As for Claire, Frie told me she would be gone for a while. There were things happening in the world that required her continued presence. A war between two nations that endangered the planet.

Frie called himself the guardian of the sky, tasked to protect the planet from any threat coming from the heavens. A task that the ancient dragon was getting too old to do. This war got to a point that required his awakening but Claire went in his stead.

“I don’t want her to come back,” I told him.

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I sat in front of his gigantic head. Frie was too massive to ever see anything past it. Snow was sleeping on the grass in front me, basking in the sunlight. This was routine every time I listened to his tales.

“Do you hate your mother?”

“She’s not my mom. She’s Claire.”

Frie laughed, shaking the ground whenever he did, his warm breath always shoving me back. “Do you wish she for her affection?”

“Yes!”

“Don’t think too badly of her, she’s lived a hard life.”

“She adopted me, she’s supposed to give me attention. She never plays with me. She’s not like a mom at all!”

“And she doesn’t ever tell you anything.”

“Yeah!”

Frie chuckled, “Stubborn to a fault.”

“You should tell her she should be nicer.”

“Claire has her reasons to be distant. I apologize on her behalf. She’s just protecting herself.”

“From what?”

“From herself, Rae. Everyone she cares about always dies, leaving her behind. It's a pain she’s grown tired of and it became easier for her to close her heart. She might be raising you, but she isn’t allowing herself to get attached to you.”

“Didn’t you say you’re her friend? Does that mean she loves you?”

“She wants me to be the last.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m at the end of my life. Claire and I have been friends since times I don’t remember anymore. When I die, that’ll cut her final attachments to this world.”

“You’re dying? How?!”

“Old age,” Frie groans, vibrating the ground. “I say I have a couple of thousand years left.”

“Wow!” I yelled out dumbfounded.

Frie’s hint of Claire’s immortality flew right over my head. Who would even think of a person to be as ancient as this dragon?

“So she won’t love me just because she doesn’t want to lose me? That’s so stupid!”

“Correct. This fear of hers has changed her. I missed the girl she was before. I would have never expected her to raise another child. The times are indeed changing.”

“She says it’s to find out how I ended up on the island, although I don’t ever see her trying to figure it out.”

“You were born in The Goddess’ Garden. But to be born without any of our knowledge is quite perplexing. Your birth is a mystery that isn’t easily solved. The entire history of this island is written in the journals that she keeps in her library. It’s what she’s been reading all these years since she found you, trying to find a clue of how you’re here.”

Feur, who is never too far away, walked to be beside me. His steps shook the ground, waking Snow. She stretches before opening her eyes then climbs up and lays on the top of my head.

“Your voice that is able to speak to us is one that no human can ever be born here. Only those born from The Goddess’ realm are able to be blessed with such gifts. Like the kitten blessed with accelerated regeneration and our kind with our gift, you too hold one. Child, do you really not know who your parents are?”

“No…” I lowered my head

“Am I really that special?”

“Hmph. Enough for you to still be here.”

“Fluerenlus, please.”

Fluer lowered his head down to me. Snow jumped off my head onto his to sit. The dragon laid next to me and closed his eyes. Snow stretched and cuddled up on top of him.

“Am I not supposed to be born with this gift?”

“No. You are the first. A gift I’m interested to learn more about and its limits. I wish to know of its purpose.

“Frie, am I a burden?”

“What do you mean?”

“Would it have been better for everyone if I wasn’t alive? Am I just trouble for Claire?”

I did not understand what I was saying. Frie did. I had a love for Claire that I yet could understand. How could I not love her? Claire was my entire world, she’s all I knew. It was the bare minimum but she still put effort into making sure I was healthy and well of mind. Sometimes she even slipped and showed affection. Knowing why she didn’t want to get close to me made me understand her a bit more. I started to miss her. I didn’t want her to be mad at me. I wanted to apologize for yelling at her.

“Rae, there will never be a circumstance where you are a burden. You, like all life, are a child of the Goddess.”

I heard and believed his words.

It was the rest of the world that would say otherwise.