Three thousand years later..........

Pyrite Asteria never minded being alone.

She’d spent almost her entire life looking for herself, only looking to her mother for food and a place to sleep. She tried to stay out of others way mostly, mapping out the caves (even though that was forbidden) and climbing the tallest stalagmites and stalactites. Nobody saw her when she was swinging across the Cavern that they all lived in, one hundred feet in the air, and nobody cared when she disappeared for a day or two.

That all changed when she met Sapphire Lucis, Turquoise Vulpes, and Jade Aspidro.

They met at school, when Pyrite was nine years old.

They had their birthdate on the same day on four different months in a row (Jade was the oldest, Turquoise second oldest, Pyrite third oldest, and Sapphire the youngest).

They were meant to be together. There wasn’t a day that went by without Pyrite thinking of them; they were like siblings she never had.

They were her best friends.

A laugh broke Pyrite’s revere as she ran through the streets in front of her house, trying to evade capture. Jade, who was playing as “the CaveDragon”, was pursuing Turquoise. He laughed and tackled her to the ground. “You just got eaten!”

“Not fair!” Turquoise protested. “You can’t tackle people!”

“I can now.” Jade grinned and danced away at Turquoise’s attempts at touching him. She got to her feet, dusting off her camo pants, and the chase continued, but now Pyrite was the Prey. Turquoise cornered her in the street, blocking all of her tries to get away.

“Ha, ha! Can’t catch me!” Sapphire catcalled, waving her arms in front of Turquoise’s face before dancing away. Turquoise turned and ran after her, giving Pyrite a chance to escape.

“Pyrite! Dinner!”

“Aww. See you guys later.” Pyrite waved goodbye to Sapphire, Turquoise, and Jade and tramped towards her home, pushing a strand of long black hair that had escaped it’s braid behind her ear.

She could never tell which mood her mother was in today; happy or annoyed, which were her usual moods. She would hurry and eat dinner, hopefully not triggering her mother in any way, then go back out. She entered the house and sat down at the low table. Cave bats? It didn’t look like much, but Pyrite was used to it. She sat down at the table.

“I hope you will be good in a couple days, At Violet’s house when I'm at the Gathering.” Surprisingly, Pyrite’s mother started the conversation, which she rarely did. Pyrite wondered if she knew her fourteenth birthday was in two weeks, or if she was going to ignore that fact like usual.

Onyx was a big woman. She had short black hair, cut to her chin, and gray eyes. She was a blacksmith’s daughter, with calloused hands and big muscles. Ever since she had turned into a widow, she had grown rough, angry, and secretly sad.

Pyrite’s thoughts wandered to the Gathering. It was an expedition out of the caves where all the women went out and gathered fresh supplies such as medicine. One woman stays behind, and all the younger children say at her house while all the mothers are gone. Since Violet (Turquoise’s mother) was the wife of the Leader, Zircon, she was always chosen to be the one who stays behind.

Setting her elbows on the table, Pyrite began to eat. Onyx chuckled.

“Your father ate that way too,” she grunted with a flicker of a smile on her face.

This sentence caught Pyrite’s interest. She knew little of her father, and her mother rarely talked about him (not that she talked to Pyrite about anything). She knew: his name was Jasper, and he had gone Surface Hunting, a hunt where all the men in the caves go up to the Surface to gather meat. Any man who goes must be well-trained in stealth and reflexes, because the Surface was very dangerous. Right before a special Gathering, Jasper had gone out to hunt Onyx’s favorite, elk, but he had disappeared. Nobody had found him ever since, although the search continued every Surface Hunt.

The only thing Pyrite had that was her father’s was her sword. Made from some sort of a silver spike, it was incredibly sharp. She treasured it and often took it out of its sheath and ran her finger over the dragon-scale grip. Written on the hilt was one word: Legend.

Pyrite still remembered her father’s deep, kind voice as he handed it to her: “Take care of it, little one. It’s been passed down from generation to generation, from your descendant.” His smile was warm, she remembered, and his eyes sad.

Shaking off these thoughts and finishing her dinner, Pyrite rose from the table. Her long legs almost made her trip on the table (which was on the floor) and crash into the silverware. She steadied herself just in time.

“Mom, I’m going to go hang out with Turquoise, Sapphire and Jade!” she called.

When she walked outside, her friends were not there. They must have all gotten called in for dinner.

She sprinted out the door to Turquoise’s house, which was a few streets away. The home was big, bigger than Pyrite’s. The door was made of tourmaline, while the walls were made of diamond and quarts. When Pyrite knocked on the door, there were shouts and stomps as Turquoise wrestled her twin brother, Alexandrite.

“Ow, Alex, you pulled my hair!”

“Hee hee! I have a snaaaake!”

“AAAAHHH! Erinite, TOE ATTACK!”

“Ha ha! Ow!” There was a series of thumps as Alexandrite, or Alex, hopped on one foot.

Pyrite heard a triumphant shout, then footsteps as whoever had won the tussle went to answer the door. Turquoise’s perspiring face appeared as she creaked open the door. Her long, wavy, blond hair was in her face, but her bright blue eyes still shone out.

“Py……rite,” she panted, clearly out of breath. She wiped her hand across the freckles on her cheeks, brushing away the sweat. “Come in.” she opened the door fully.

Alex walked down the hallway and high-fived Pyrite, grinning at her devilishly. With his mischievous, light green, intelligent eyes, tilted, blond-haired head, and oddly pointed eyeteeth, his foxlike appearance was almost enough to make Pyrite take a few steps back. He was Turquoise’s twin brother. Like Pyrite, he did not yet have a dragon companion. When he high fived her, she caught scent of a different smell from the wet, moist cave smell—like something fresh, or some sort of plant. What was it?

“Where’s Jade?” Pyrite asked, not making a lot of eye contact. She’d always thought Alex was a tad bit on the weird side, but Turquoise thought he was an awesome brother. She wasn’t sure why she felt that way towards him; he had never treated her badly.

“He had to eat dinner and help his dad. He says he’ll play tomorrow after chores and Cave School,” Alex informed her, still grinning mischievously. Pyrite couldn’t tell if what he said was true or if he was kidding. Before she could ask, he walked away, thumping Turquoise on the shoulder.

“Pyrite!” A large ball of scales almost the size of a boulder crashed into her, making her fall over. She laid flat on her back and craned her neck to discover it was Erinite, Turquoise’s dragon companion. She was about to respond when she realized Turquoise did not understand a word that Erinite said.

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This was the big secret she was hiding from her friends. Or everybody, in general. She could talk to and understand dragons. She had no idea how, or why, but she didn’t want anybody to find out. Dragons were considered below the intelligence of humans, and talking to them was just proving the Elders (who hated to admit that they made mistakes like normal people) wrong.

“Erinite,” said Turquoise, exasperated, “I’ve told you not to speed tremendously hard down hallways. It leaves scratch marks.”

Erinite tilted her head. “Blah bla blah do this! Don’t do that!” she yelled bossily, mimicking Turquoise with a wave of her talons and arched brows. She spread her wings to add extra effect. Pyrite realized that Erinite was getting too big for the hallway, as her wing almost hit the chandelier.

“I totally don’t do that!” Turquoise said indignantly.

“Um, yeah you do!” Erinite retorted. Pyrite clutched her side in laughter. She closed and wiped her watering eyes.

Erinite licked her face and neck with one lick, covering her entire body with slobber.

“Ha ha! Ew, dragon-breath slobber.” Pyrite wiped her face unsuccessfully. Opal, Turquoise’s mother’s CrystalDragon, stalked over and gracefully stretched. She was roughly the size of a large boulder, and her white, pink, blue, and purple scales danced and rippled in the soft crystal glow.

“Hello, Pyrite. Good to see you,” she remarked, her voice dipped in amusement. Pyrite smiled at her.

“Turquoise! Who is it?” called a voice Pyrite recognized as Violet, Turquoise’s mother.

“It’s Pyrite, Mom!”

“Well come on in!” Pyrite entered the kitchen, still covered in saliva, trying to shake it off. She looked as if she had participated in a battle—with a slime monster. Every step she took came with a squelch. It felt like she was moving through honey.

Alexandrite practically fell out of his chair; he was laughing so hard. His eyes were watering, and his hair stuck on end. Opal and Violet both chuckled.

“Here,” said Violet, beckoning, “eat. We have more than we can consume.”

“I bet I can eat a second dinner. What are you having?” Pyrite said with a careless shrug.

“Batwing soup.” Violet started setting the table.

“Where’s Zircon?” asked Pyrite.

“He’s helping the Kennecott family. Their cart got smashed by a falling stalactite, so he had to go help, being the Leader and all.”

Pyrite sat down at the table with Turquoise’s family and began to eat. The soup was delicious—spicy and slightly tangy, but bursting with flavor. Pyrite finished it fast.

“Pyrite,” said Turquoise, grinning, “when I finish, we should go grab Sapphire. We might be able to play until the Crystal Extinguish.”

The Crystalight and the Crystal Extinguish were important in the Caves. The Crystalight was when all of the crystal globes started to glow, signaling the dawn of a new day on the surface. The Crystal Extinguish was when all of the crystal globes darkened. In order to make sure everyone knew, there were crystal globes in every home and lining every street and playground. They were a gift from the CrystalDragons, who could create them and give them the ability to glow.

“That is allowed,” Violet stated, winking at Pyrite with oddly purple eyes. She was always nice to Pyrite, more than her mother had ever been. Turquoise pumped her fist. “Yes!” she exclaimed.

Pyrite raced to the hallway, where the hiking boots she always wore were set.

“Thanks, Violet, dinner number two was delicious!” She called. Turquoise was right behind her as they dashed out the door, Alex staring after them with an odd, slightly wistful look. He probably just wished he had a dragon like Turquoise did.

Running across the street to the stand next to Sapphire’s home (where they always found Sapphire) with Erinite on their tails, they saw very few people. The ones that were outside were either rushing to their homes before it got dark or buying and trading food. They did not spot Zircon.

They reached Sapphire, who was munching absentmindedly on an apple while reading her sketchbook, her glasses crooked on her nose. Tanzanite, her CrystalDragon, sat next to her, also munching on the apple. Sapphire smiled and waved at them, pushing her glasses up to see them more clearly, and got up to her feet. She stuffed her notebook in the satchel at the side of her belt. It looked a little too big to fit in there without bulging, but Pyrite shrugged that off. The three friends walked down the road, chatting.

Once they reached the playground they slowed. Pyrite glanced around at the deserted playground. They were definitely too big for it now, but none of them cared. The crystal globes were dimming, but they could still see. The giant pinwheel was pink and blue, and glowed slightly. The swings cast shadows across the playground, making eerie, spider-like shapes. The seesaw was teetering by itself, creating a spooky noise that filled the park and echoed throughout the cave. But Pyrite wasn’t scared. When she was with her friends, any spooky, sad, or angry situation could be reversed.

The friends went first to the giant pinwheel.

“I’ll push!” announced Turquoise. The others climbed on. Turquoise began to push. Slowly, the pinwheel accelerated, until everything was a blur. Turquoise hopped on boldly.

As Pyrite felt her feet lift the ground, she forgot she was thirteen. Right now, she was five years old again, giggling and laughing as she hugged the bars for dear life.

“Push harder!” Turquoise acknowledged, and Pyrite’s fingers almost slipped off the bars. She gripped tighter, her knuckles whitening.

But it was then that Pyrite realized it was getting darker (if it could possibly get darker in the caves).

“Let’s get off,” she suggested. She jumped off while it was still going fast, Turquoise right behind her. Sapphire waited until it slowed before getting off, making sure not to scuff her already-torn boots. They all headed to Turquoise’s home, picking up Tanzanite along the way. Tanzanite bounced along in front of them, pouncing on everything that moved, including a few very surprised villagers. The friends scurried away before anyone could yell at them.

They opened the door to Turquoise’s house and were blinded. Erinite was at the doorway, and had made her crystals change to the color of a banana, a fruit Pyrite had only heard of in stories.

“Erinite! Tone it down, by the Emerald’s name!” cried Turquoise, trying to feel her way to the door. Pyrite chuckled. Emerald was the legendary CrystalDragon that everyone in the caves knew about.

Long ago, the CrystalDragons lived in harmony with the CaveDragons in one big underground kingdom. But Emerald, a curious, intelligent dragon, noticed the humans living in a separate kingdom. She protested at the habits of her fellow dragons to eat the humans of the caves. She studied humans more, and learned how smart they were. When the told the CaveDragons what she had discovered, they didn’t believe her. Her family did, however, and spread the rumors between the CrystalDragons. The CrystalDragons rebelled against the CaveDragons, and the two tribes split apart. Many CrystalDragons chose to live with the humans they had fought for. Others went deeper into the caves, blaming the humans for the predicament that they were in. It was never one of Pyrite’s favorite stories, but she still regarded Emerald with reverence and respect for what she had did. Their village had a large statue of her in its courtyard.

Of course, over the years, the Elders had changed the story, twisting it around until the humans were the more intelligent ones. Pyrite had never bothered to learn that version, because she knew it wasn’t true, like many others—including her friends.

Erinite suddenly changed her scales to bright pink at the sight of Tanzanite. It was then that Pyrite remembered that along with the ability to control crystals, CrystalDragons had the ability to change the color of their scales. Normally their scales would change color according to their mood, but other times they would do it just for fun. How Erinite would know the colors of a banana was beyond Pyrite’s knowledge; dragonets and children were not allowed outside until age fourteen. This was why Pyrite was so excited; a few more days and she would be able to go to the Surface. Turquoise had to wait one more month, and Sapphire had to wait two.

“Hey Erinite, do you want to hang out together?” Tanzanite asked, batting at Erinite’s tail.

“Of course!” Erinite marched down the hall, her large claws scraping on the smooth crystals. Tanzanite and the girls followed her, grinning.

Pyrite still had trouble understanding how Turquoise and Sapphire seemed to comprehend the CrystalDragon's language, but clearly could not hear their actual words. She figured it was the bond between human and dragon that allowed them to communicate perfectly together.

“By Emerald’s name, they’ve grown so big in such a small amount of time,” Sapphire said softly. “I remember when Tanzanite was the size of a hunting hound, now she’s the size of a small pony.” Turquoise nodded in agreement. The dragonets had definitely grown, and they didn’t seem to be stopping. That didn’t halt them from acting like tiny dragonets, though. Turquoise always joked that they would never grow up.

“Let’s play Tag! Come on, Tanzanite!”

“Okay! Tag, you’re it!”

“Hee hee hee!”

“Over here, Erinite!”

“I’ll get you!”

“Can’t catch me!”

“Ha!” Erinite and Tanzanite whacked each other’s wings together, their scales yellow with happiness, as they raced each other around the large living room.

“Erinite, Tanzanite, do you want to play hide and seek?” asked Turquoise excitedly.

“Of course! Tanzanite and I will count!”

“One! Two, three, four! Five, six, seven, eight!” Pyrite found a closet and hid within the clothing and boots, quietly shutting the door.

The little dragons finished counting and thumped off in what Pyrite thought were different directions.

“Found you! Hey, I found Turquoise!”

“Aww, they found me,” Turquoise’s voice reached Pyrites ears, buried beneath piles of coats.

The closet door slid open, and Pyrite saw Erinite stick her neck through the doorway and grin at her.

“Found you!” she announced.

“Sapphire! You can come out now!” Turquoise called. Just as Sapphire emerged from underneath the sofa, the doorbell rang. Pyrite raced Turquoise, Erinite, and Tanzanite to the door. They flung open the door to find Onyx.

“Mom!” Pyrite said, uncertain of how to react.

“Come on,” Onyx said, whisking her away from the door, none too gently. Pyrite waved at her friends, smiling at them as they waved back. When they reached their house, Pyrite walked inside, got clean, and went to bed. But if Pyrite had known the next day’s events, she wouldn’t have slept so well.