Genre (s): High Fantasy/Teen Fiction

Written When? The first draft was written in 7th Grade, but I held off on the second until Freshman year of college.

Prologue

500 A.D.

"The Unsolved Legend". That was Sir Emmanuel's title, after he mysteriously disappeared in the heart of battle hundreds of years ago. He lived during the early Middle Ages, in the kingdom of Shirenia–named after the great knights who roamed it after him. Fifteen-hundred years ago, there was a brutal war which was fought between Shirenia, Flora, and Coleela, three kingdoms that were ruled by three selfish princes. The princes, who never agreed with each other, were the source behind the current war–the War of 500 A.D.

Sir Emmanuel was the appointed knight of Queen Bianca, the heir to Shirenia. He excelled in swordsmanship, archery, horseback riding, and dragon taming, giving him the nickname "The Knight of Many Talents" in his time period. He had been tasked to protect the queen if the war ever came to the castle. It looked like the day had come.

The castle was located at the end of an open field and had a large forest known as Nomab behind it.

The forces of Shirenia, Flora, and Coleela just appeared over the hill. They included their soldiers, horses, catapults, and dragons.

The echoes of swords clashing and roars of dragons overtook the whole area. Dust and smoke blocked out the sun, making it significantly colder.

Queen Bianca and Sir Emmanuel watched the battle from Queen Bianca's balcony.

Bianca, a young woman of merely seventeen, had long, curly brown hair and blue eyes. She wore a silver diadem over her forehead and a silky, white dress with some brown boots.

Sir Emmanuel was twenty-two. He had long, brown hair and brown eyes. Stretching behind his back was a red cape, and he wore chainmail armor with a red-trimmed vest over it and brown pants with tall, brown boots. The center of his vest was decorated with the symbol that represented Shirenia–a circle that had three dragons in it.

Queen Bianca, who couldn't bear to watch the war, turned her back to the field. She fell into Sir Emmanuel's arms, starting to cry. "Oh, Emmanuel, it's horrible!"

"We have no choice, my queen. We need to evacuate," Emmanuel said in a brave voice.

"But I promised my father I wouldn't abandon the castle!"

"You're Highness, please."

"No!" Bianca ripped free from Sir Emmanuel's grasp. Though she still struggled to watch the war, she went ahead and clutched the railing of her balcony with both hands.

Sir Emmanuel could not let her die. He loved her too much. He was willing to sacrifice himself to save her. Turning on his heel, he rested his hand on the brown hilt of his broadsword, which was also decorated with Shirenia's symbol. In order to save Bianca, Sir Emmanuel decided to fly into the war himself.

He drew his broadsword and held it high over his head. Right when he did, the symbol with the three dragons glowed up. Emmanuel waited, and then he heard a loud roar from the sky.

His dragon, a fierce but beautiful beast, soared down from the gloomy atmosphere and flew towards him. She had huge wings, sharp horns, and was covered in different patterns. Her primary skin color was orangish-red, but her patterns tended to glow light blue. She had a simple name, Cinnamon, but she and Emmanuel were a terrific team.

When the time was right, Sir Emmanuel hopped onto Cinnamon's back. He stuck his feet in his stirrups and made his way towards the battle.

Queen Bianca watched him go. She brought her hands to her chest and called after him, "I'll wait a thousand years if I have to, but whatever you do please come back, Sir Emmanuel!"

Bianca refused to move from her spot, even when the royal guards urged her to evacuate the castle with them. She promised herself she would, indeed, see Sir Emmanuel again. Even when a group of about three dragons flew in her direction, as well as rocks launched from the catapults narrowed in on her, she still refused to move.

The castle fell, but Sir Emmanuel continued his trek. Before long, he and Cinnamon entered the Death Zone.

Dragons picked up soldiers and horses. They used their fire to burn catapults.

Soldiers carrying swords and shields fought with all their strength against the enemy. While the infantry fought with swords, the cavalry fought with spears and lances. They skewered at least five men at a time.

It was so gruesome to watch, but Sir Emmanuel remained brave. He knew what he had to do in order to stop the war and save the queen.

Dragon tamers riding on dragons chased after him, but Emmanuel dodged the beasts' tails and claws.

Cinnamon put up a wall of fire between her rider and the enemy so they could escape.

Emmanuel steered her by moving his sword back and forth.

Cinnamon followed every direction he gave her. She managed to escape the heart of the battle, and she landed on a cliff that overlooked a small canyon. At the bottom of the canyon, directly in front of Cinnamon and Sir Emmanuel, was a cave.

Sword still drawn, Sir Emmanuel slid off his dragon's back and approached the cliff's edge. Together, he and she studied the cliff. Sir Emmanuel blocked out the yells of soldiers, the whinnies of horses, and the roars of dragons.

He then said, "Cinnamon, I am no longer your master. We're not going to see each other for a little while."

Cinnamon picked up on his plan, and she seemed to gasp. She frantically shook her head, bumping Sir Emmanuel with her neck.

He rested his hands on either side of her cheeks and stared into her deep brown eyes. "I'm sorry, Cinnamon, but I don't have a choice. As a knight, I know what I must do for the kingdom."

Patterns glowing brightly, Cinnamon's head fell into his arms.

Sir Emmanuel scratched her on top of her head, saying, "You're my good girl. After today, I can guarantee the princes will stop the fighting." Closing his eyes, he and Cinnamon bumped heads. Afterwards, Sir Emmanuel took a deep breath. With his cape flapping behind him, he approached the cliff's edge and faced the cave below. He stopped his hand from shaking by tightening his grip on his sword hilt.

The young knight turned on a serious face and held its blade high over his head. "Spirits of Shirenia! I give thy my soul for the greater good! Give me the strength to thrive, but also the strength to die! All I ask in return is that I am able to see Bianca again."

Right at his command, a blue light emerged from the heavens, and it swooped down to Sir Emmanuel. The light circled him a few times and then headed for the canyon's cave.

Cinnamon watched the whole phenomenon with widened eyes. However, she wasn't able to see how it ended because a dragon ambushed her, and she had to defend herself with another wall of fire.

Only ten minutes later, the fighting suddenly stopped. Dragons stopped blowing fire and the soldiers stopped fighting their enemies. A slither of sunshine shone through the clouds of dust and smoke.

Cinnamon's scales sparkled crazily, as well as the other dragons on the battlefield.

For the first time in twenty years, there was peace.

Soldiers, horses, and dragons peered into the sky. Their mouths dropped when they saw the sunlight.

Moving into modern times, no one knows what happened during that battle. The only clue archeologists had of Sir Emmanuel was his sword that he used to call Cinnamon and the spirit. Other than that, there was nothing else. That was why the legend of Sir Emmanuel was "The Unsolved Legend".

Interestingly, after the War of 500 A.D., Shirenia started to see less wars. Now, in modern times, there hasn't been a war in five-hundred years.

Who was Sir Emmanuel? What did he mean when he said "Give me the strength to thrive, but also the strength to die"? Who was Queen Bianca? Who was Cinnamon, and who were the three selfish princes?

In order to understand the extent of Sir Emmanuel's legend and the legend of Shirenia, it was time for the rise of Heroic Dimension.

Chapter 1

Tate Phoenix Gets Chased by a Dragon

1,500 years later

1,500 years after Sir Emmanuel stopped the War of 500 A.D., Shirenia had changed. It combined medieval technology with modern technology. Cities grew, as did towns, but the kingdom still had its fair share of dragons, swords, horses, and other medieval stunts. It was still run by a monarch, even though the castles were a little more modernized.

Tate Phoenix lived in the heart of the kingdom, in a town called Charlotte Town. It was next to the Nomab Woods, which was now much bigger than the Nomab Woods Sir Emmanuel lived with.

The kingdom had an interesting climate, with mild springs and summers, but cold falls and winters. Surrounding it was Flora Kingdom, the kingdom of flowers, and Coleela Kingdom, the kingdom of coal swamps and mountains. Shirenia had a wide variety of landscapes, such as flowery meadows, tall mountains, deserts, and canyons. Tate lived in the flowery, green part of it, and he was just getting ready to start high school.

He was fourteen years old, soon to be fifteen. Tate lived with his parents, Jacob and Charlotte, and little sister Flannery. Currently, they didn't have any pets. Their dog passed away not so long ago, and the family hadn’t quite recovered from the loss.

Tate was asleep under the white sheets of his bed in his bedroom. It had four walls, a large window and desk, and a red carpet on the floor. The window, which was next to Tate's bed, overlooked a grove of cherry trees and the house's side yard. Pinned up on the walls of Tate's room were posters and a basketball uniform. He also had a small art studio in the corner, since he liked to draw and paint.

Tate was right in the middle of an amazing dream, but the screaming of his alarm clock snapped him out of his trance. Yelping, he fell out of his bed, taking his covers with him. He had to get up by 8:00am that day so his family could visit his grandma before he and Flannery started school.

From where he rested, Tate pulled out the plug of his alarm clock to shut it up. He sat up and pulled his covers off his head.

Tate was a handsome teen. He had brown eyes and brown, medium-styled, wavy hair. His skin was light and acne-free. He had not yet reached his adult height, since he was still growing, but he had just passed 5'2. In a way, Tate almost looked like a younger Sir Emmanuel.

After waking up, he hurried to his closet and threw open the doors, not bothering to pick up his bedsheets. He was in such a rush that he almost knocked over his art studio, but he caught his easel before it could fall. Tate changed into a white shirt, blue jeans, and sneakers before he made his way downstairs for breakfast.

Charlotte and Jacob, his parents, sat around the house's kitchen table sipping coffee and reading the morning newspaper. Strangely, Tate looked nothing like them. Charlotte had red hair, and Jacob had black. Tate's little sister, Flannery, played with her dolls in the living room. She also had red hair and wore glasses like her mother.

"Jacob, did you hear about this?" Charlotte asked Jacob in the kitchen.

"I can't hear what you haven't told me," he replied.

"Apparently, people claim to have seen a dragon snooping around Charlotte Town lately."

"Really? A dragon?" a voice suddenly asked behind Charlotte and Jacob.

Charlotte leaped out of her skin. She ended up ripping the newspaper and spilling coffee on her overalls. "Geez, Tate! I didn't even hear you!" she complained.

"Sorry." Sure enough, Tate just entered the kitchen. He smiled at his mother, offering to pick up her coffee cup.

She thanked him.

"So, what's all this talk about a dragon?" he asked, as he fixed Charlotte a new cup of coffee.

"Dragons go 'Roar'!" the voice of Flannery shouted from behind the family members. The seven-year-old child entered the kitchen, and she held a prince and princess doll in her hands. "The dragon locks the princess in her castle, and she waits for her Prince Charming to free her with a true love's kiss."

Tate, Charlotte, and Jacob chuckled.

Charlotte cleared her throat and told Tate, "Apparently, a dragon's been snooping around Charlotte Town. People claim she's looking for somebody."

"Well, of course she is," Jacob mumbled. "She's looking for Sir Emmanuel."

"Sir who?" asked Tate.

"Nothing!" Charlotte spat out. "Tate, why don't you take out the trash?"

"Uh, okay." Though confused, Tate went ahead and set his mother's coffee cup down next to the coffee maker. He opened the cabinet under the kitchen sink and pulled out a large sack of trash. The young man flung it over his shoulder, making him look a little bit like Santa Claus. He slid past Flannery and headed for the backyard.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

As he left, back in the kitchen, Charlotte shot Jacob an angry look.

***

Tate's backyard was concealed within a gate. It had a pool, as well as a tool shed, trampoline, and play swing set for Flannery. The grass was emerald green, and many trees covered the yard in shade. It was also backed up to the Nomab Woods.

Once on the back steps, Tate turned left and approached his family's recycling and trash can. He whistled with the birds on his way to them, but he froze right on his tracks when he suddenly felt like he was being watched.

The trash bag dropped from Tate's shoulder and hit the concrete path under him.

He turned his head in the direction of the Nomab Woods and couldn't help but to feel like he saw a pair of glowing eyes in them. Shivers ran up his spine, and he quickly grabbed a stick that dropped from a tree overnight. Tate held it like a sword in both his hands.

Slowly and carefully, he headed for the backyard's gate. It was just past the tool shed. As impetuous as he was, he just had to find out what the heck were those eyes.

A gust of wind picked up the sounds of cars and whinnies of horses. In Shirenia, people shared the road with horseback riders, since they could choose whether they wanted a car as their main source of transportation or a horse. Welcome to a medieval-modern kingdom.

Tate used his foot to kick open the backyard gate. He gulped at the sight of the Nomab Woods, still feeling like he was being watched. Off to the left was a plain that had a farmhouse and barn, and the woods were to the right. Tate thought about chickening out, but then he concluded that wasn't a very "heroic" thing to do. Therefore, he relaxed his shoulders and narrowed his eyebrows. He felt brave, as if he were a knight in shiny armor, and headed into the woods.

***

It was quiet. Too quiet. Only a few birds chirped, and a small stream was next to Tate.

He followed it deeper into the woods, saying to himself, "This is stupid."

Then, he heard it. A growl. The pair of glowing eyes appeared in front of him, further in the woods.

Tate Phoenix leaped out of his skin when a dragon appeared from deep within the shadows. However, it was no ordinary dragon. She had orangish-red skin and patterns on it seemed to glow light blue. It was Cinnamon, Sir Emmanuel's dragon.

Tate screamed at the sight of her. "It's a dragon! I knew it! She's going to barbecue me!" He wasted no time to drop his stick and take off at a full sprint.

Cinnamon chased after him. She knocked down trees, which led to Tate having to hop over them. Instead of leading the dragon towards his neighborhood, he ran deeper into the woods, right in the direction of an ancient mine–the Borrower Mine.

A snake had just appeared from behind a rock. It was yellow with black stripes and had blue eyes, which was a very unusual eye color for a snake. There were also spikes on its tail.

It watched the boy being chased by the dragon, and its jaw seemed to drop. When the dust the dragon kicked up from running faded, it slithered after her.

***

Tate ran for dear life, continuing to hop over logs and trees the dragon knocked over, but then he asked himself why he was running. "It's just a dragon. They are everywhere in Shirenia." He did something very interesting. Tate felt his bravery rise inside him. He stopped running and picked up another stick. He then turned to face the approaching dragon. "It's just a dragon," he repeated to himself.

Cinnamon was gaining up on him by the second, but Tate was strangely not scared of her anymore. He even went as far as holding the stick over his head, thinking that maybe it could do something to her. Like what? Give her a scratch? No. Something more.

From out of nowhere, the stick in Tate's hand glowed up. Not only it, but also the trips of the Nomab Woods's trees.

Cinnamon screeched to a stop in front of Tate.

Behind her, the blue-eyed snake took shelter behind a bush, but it poked its head out of it.

Tate closed his eyes against the insane glow the stick gave off. He was nearing a cliff face behind him, which indicated he was very close to the Borrower Mine. It was said to be at the base of a cliff, on the Charlotte Town side of the Nomab Woods.

The area around Tate faded. The stick changed from a stick to a sudden sword that had a brown hilt with the symbol of Shirenia on it.

Tate saw himself standing on a medieval battlefield.

Swords clashed, horses neighed, and dragons blew fire.

Tate continued to hold the stick/sword over his head. The corner of his eye caught a figure who just entered the scene. It was another dragon. Sitting on its back was the shadowy figure of what looked like a knight.

The dragon put up a wall of fire between her rider and an enemy who had just tried to attack them.

Tate Phoenix could not believe what he was witnessing. This had to be a dream.

The knight-like figure did exactly what Tate did. He held his sword over his head and allowed its blade to glow up. "Give me the strength to thrive, but also the strength to die!" he yelled over the chaos of battle.

That wasn't the only thing. Tate also heard a woman's voice.

She sounded scared, but also hopeful. "I'll wait a thousand years if I have to, but whatever you do please come back, Sir Emmanuel!"

Sir Emmanuel? Tate remembered his father mentioning that name. Who the heck was he? He started lowering his sword, but that caused the image to fade away. The young man yelped when sudden lightning bolts escaped the sword's blade, turning it back into a stick. The battle's image left the area, as well as the figure of the knight and dragon.

Within a matter of seconds, Tate was back in the Nomab Woods. The magic the stick gave off knocked him onto his butt, right on top of something that looked like the secret entrance to something. There was a square in the ground, which sported Shirenia's symbol–the circle with the three dragons in it.

Both Cinnamon and the snake were astounded. Who was that kid they discovered? He had so much heroic blood running through his veins. The image of the battle and knight proved that.

If things weren't strange enough for Tate Phoenix, a stream of flower petals appeared, and they circled him from head to toe. The petals morphed together and took on the form of a woman. It was the woman Tate heard in his vision.

She brought her hands to her chest, saying in a ghostly voice, "I'll wait for a thousand years if I have to, but whatever you do, please come back, Sir Emmanuel." And just like that, the petals broke apart and landed on either side of the confused fourteen-year-old.

His eyes rolled down to the stick he held. There was nothing unusual about it. It was just a normal stick. It couldn't have just turned into a sword. What in the name of heck was going on right now? Tate Phoenix thought he was a normal teenage boy, but now he felt like he wasn't. He felt like he didn't belong.

Things only became stranger when the dragon suddenly bowed to him. She held her long wings out to her sides and bent down.

The snake, on the other hand, needed some time to comprehend everything. It pulled its head out of the bush and shook leaves off it. Blue eyes seeming to sparkle, it slithered away from the boy and dragon.

Tate never saw the snake, but he definitely saw the dragon. He rested the stick on his lap, taking a deep breath. In a brave but shaky voice, he asked her, "Who are you?"

Chapter 2

The Unsolved Legend

Cinnamon was taken aback by Tate's question. She even stumbled backwards a few steps. "You seriously don't remember?" she asked him in English.

Just at the sound of her talking, Tate's entire face turned white. "Wait a minute! You talk?" he shrieked. Sweat poured down his face. He quickly crawled away from Cinnamon, but his back ended up hitting the cliff face.

"Of course, I do!" said Cinnamon. "I've talked ever since I was a hatchling. My master taught me."

"Your master?"

"Don't tell me you don't know who you are."

"What are you talking about?" Unfortunately, Tate was not eager to stick around and hear the dragon's explanation. He leaped to his feet and grabbed the cliff face.

Cinnamon laughed at the sight of him trying to climb. "Oh man, you are so out of shape. Well, I guess it has been 1,500 years."

Right after she said that, Tate's foot slipped, and he slid back down to the cliff's base. He was still freaked out by the fact the dragon could talk.

Cinnamon crept closer to him, her tail lifting into the air behind her. Like a long extinct Diplodocus, she whipped it forward. It wrapped around Tate's body, lifting him up from the ground.

"Ah! Let me go! I'm Innocent!" he yelped.

"No, you're not! You're the greatest legend to ever walk Shirenia!"

"I have no idea what you're saying!"

"You totally belong at Heroic Dimension."

"What the heck is Heroic Dimension?" Tate suddenly found that he was actually interested in what Cinnamon was saying.

Believing that he would no longer run away from her, Cinnamon set him back down on the ground, and she unwrapped her tail from around his body. She led Tate over to the stream he saw when he first entered the Nomab Woods.

They left the Borrower Mine behind, for now, at least. At the stream, there was a pool. Both Tate and Cinnamon stood over it, and they stared at their reflection in the gently swaying water.

"Heroic Dimension is a boarding school for children who have heroic blood running through their veins," Cinnamon explained. "They learn horseback riding, archery, swordsmanship, gymnastics; the list goes on. The goal for every child at the school is for them to become knights like the great Sir Emmanuel himself, who lived 1,500 years ago."

"Sir Emmanuel?"

"He is Shirenia's greatest mystery, known as 'The Unsolved Legend'."

"Why?"

"Because no one knows what happened to him."

"What do you mean?"

"So many questions." Then again, Cinnamon remembered Sir Emmanuel was just as curious as Tate when he was his age. Glancing at him, she ordered, "Kneel down and look into the water."

"How do I know I can trust you?" Tate merely scoffed and crossed his arms.

Cinnamon sighed. "You can. Please, Tate."

Tate still had his doubts, but at the same time, he felt comfort around the dragon–as if he'd known her all his life. Was he allowed to feel such things? After a little more thinking, he followed through with her request.

Tate fell to his knees behind the stream and gripped its sandy bed with his fingertips. He stared at his reflection, only to see that the water started to twirl. Within it appeared the face of a young, brown-headed knight who looked to be around twenty-two years old.

Cinnamon, who approached the boy from behind, peered over his shoulder. "I knew it."

"Is that–?" Tate started.

"It is," Cinnamon finished for him. "Sir Emmanuel. The stream proves that he is still alive."

"What? But how?"

Cinnamon took a deep breath. If she told Tate the truth right here and now, then perhaps she would be able to take him to Heroic Dimension? Tate was the only one who could solve his own legend, Sir Emmanuel's legend, because–

"Because Sir Emmanuel is you," said Cinnamon.

***

Tate froze. He remained frozen, even when Sir Emmanuel's face vanished from the stream's surface. Unfortunately, he did not believe Cinnamon for the life of him, and he burst out laughing. "Oh! That's a good one, Cinnamon! Now I know why dragons are considered some of the 'dumbest' animals in all of Shirenia! I thought you said Sir Emmanuel was over 1,500 years old!"

Cinnamon did not appreciate the fact that he called her "dumb", but she kept on trying to convince him that he was indeed "The Unsolved Legend" himself. "I know this is hard for you to believe, but it's the truth."

"Just shut up!" Tate shouted.

Cinnamon jumped. She backed away from him. "Please, Tate. A new threat is rising over Shirenia, and you are the only one who can stop it. You need to come to Heroic Dimension with me."

"Bull shark!" Tate yelled. "I don't have time for this nonsense! I'm going home!" With that, he stomped his foot and stormed off in the direction of the woods' exit and his home.

Cinnamon watched him go. Boy, she remembered Sir Emmanuel being a little more friendly than that. "Well, that went well," she mumbled.

Chapter 3

The Blue-Eyed Snake

"What's the matter, Tate? You haven't said a word since we got in the car." Charlotte, who sat in the passenger seat at the front of the car, peered through the rearview mirror to Tate.

He had his elbow resting on the backseat window frame and was staring outside. "Nothing," he lied, but Charlotte didn't buy that.

The family drove through the main town. Part of it looked like a medieval village, but another part of it looked modernized. Behind the buildings was a vast number of farms and farmland, and behind the farms were the mountains.

People riding in carriages or on the backs of horses waved at the cars.

Tate didn't feel like waving back.

Next to him, Flannery sat in her car seat, playing on Charlotte's iPad.

The car took a right hand turn at the end of a stoplight onto Sir Lancelot Dr., which was where Tate's grandmother lived. There were both wooden and stone houses on the road, and not all the houses had electricity. Some had wells, and others had stables for horses.

There were a few people practicing horseback riding in a giant, green field that was to the right of the Phoenix family's car.

They also passed a soccer field and a graveyard. The graveyard, Shirenia Grave, was the home of the graveyard keeper, Brume. He only came out at night, which made him that much scarier.

Tate's grandmother's house was at the end of the street, next to another part of the Nomab Woods. While it was a stone building, it did have a little bit of medieval vibes to it. There was a well in the front yard and a playset in the backyard. The house had a wooden roof and a large, wooden staircase that reached the front door.

Jacob, Tate's dad, pulled into the driveway. Shutting off the car, he gave his family a smile and said, "We're here."

"Yay! Memaw's house!" Flannery cheered. She loved going there because Grandma Alicia had so many dolls and toys for her to play with.

Tate, on the other hand, did not want to be there at all. Too many crazy thoughts swarmed around inside his head. He had to find somewhere where he could be alone so he could comprehend what Cinnamon told him. How could he be a 1,500-year-old knight? He was only fourteen. It made no sense. He looked like a ghost as he hopped out of the car, next to Grandma Alicia's garden.

Charlotte, who opened the door on Flannery's side and helped unbuckle her, asked, "Are you feeling okay, Tate? You're white as chalk."

"I'm fine," was all he said.

"You love coming to Memaw's house," said Jacob.

"Yeah, I know. It's great to be here." But Tate didn't sound excited at all.

He didn't know it, but Cinnamon followed him there. She hid back in the Nomab Woods. Poking her head out, she watched the family climb up the steps to the front door of Memaw's house.

Charlotte rang the doorbell. Afterwards, she stepped back and got her children ready. She took the iPad away from Flannery and adjusted Tate's shirt collar.

"Mom, stop," he begged. "I'm not a kid anymore."

Before Charlotte could open her mouth and speak, an excited voice came from the other side of the door: "Oh, is that my little Charlotte?" It opened to reveal Grandma Alicia, Charlotte's mother. She was a shorter woman, but quite a big one. She wore red glasses, as well as a long dress with brown boots. "It is!" she cheered. "Come here, my child!" With that, she pulled Charlotte into an enormous hug.

Charlotte's face was buried in her mother's breasts, and she struggled to breathe.

"It feels like it's been forever since I last saw you!" Grandma Alicia said.

"It's only been three days, Mom," Charlotte grumbled.

"Oh, has it really?" With that, Grandma Alicia let her go. "Jacob! How's my Number one son-in-law doing?" she cheered. Next, she hugged Jacob.

"Come on, Mom. Not in front of my children," he groaned.

"Oi! They're hardly children anymore." Grandma Alicia focused her attention on Tate and Flannery. She first greeted Flannery. "Flannery! Look how big you're getting!"

"Memaw!" Flannery said. She leaped into Grandma Alicia's arms.

Charlotte and Jacob chuckled.

Even Tate managed to crack a small smile.

"Memaw! Memaw! Can I play with your dolls again?" Flannery asked Grandma Alicia.

"Of course, you can," said Grandma Alicia. Her green eyes rolled over to Tate. "Oh, my goodness! Is that you, Tate?"

Instantly, Tate seized up. "Yes! Of course, it's Tate! Who else would I be?" Sweat trickled down his face.

Charlotte gave him a funny look. What on Earth was going on with her son today?

"Whew! Someone is feisty!" Grandma Alicia laughed. However, she went ahead and hugged Tate as well. "I'm so proud of you, Tate. I remember when I first started high school. I had no idea what was going on. Come! Come!" After releasing Tate, she gestured her family members inside. "I have tea and cookies, and I've just started the grill for a barbecue in the backyard." She chatted away with Charlotte and Jacob.

Flannery followed them, but Tate stayed behind.

He jogged down the front stairs and peered into the blue sky that had cumulus clouds scattered about in it. His eyes landed on one cloud, and his face turned green at what he saw.

The cloud took on the shape of a knight. He seemed to stare right into Tate's soul. Then, once again, he heard the woman's voice.

"My Lord, I'm waiting." Oh, gosh, that was creepy. The woman sounded like a ghost.

If things couldn't get any stranger, when Tate turned his back to the cloud, he saw he was not alone in the driveway. He was looking straight into the blue eyes of the snake. Great! First a dragon, and now a snake? What was next? A troll?

Tate and the snake did not move. They just stared.

Cinnamon witnessed the whole thing, but even she didn't know who the snake was.

It crept closer to Tate, freaking him the heck out. It was not everyday a snake randomly approached someone, not even in a medieval-modern kingdom.

Speaking of which, where the heck did the snake come from? It was not there just a second ago. This was too much for Tate to handle. Why did he have to meet Cinnamon in the first place?

He turned on his heel and sprinted away from the snake.

However, just like Cinnamon, it chased him.

"Yipe!" Tate screamed. "Stay back!"

Now, did the snake listen? Of course not.

***

Tate rushed to Grandma Alicia's backyard, hoping to lose the snake, but he couldn't. His family members had just stepped onto the back porch for tea and cookies.

"Are y'all ready for my famous shortbreads?" asked Grandma Alicia.

"Yummy! Thanks, Memaw," said Jacob. He picked up one of the shortbreads, biting into it. "Oh, my goodness. These are delicious."

"Thanks. I made them with my own recipe," said Grandma Alicia.

Unfortunately, the family couldn't relax for long because they heard Tate.

"Help! This snake wants me!"

"Huh?" Flannery asked. She looked up from her teacup, and her eyes landed on her brother running back and forth in the backyard. "Mommy, what's Tate doing?"

"Help!" Tate repeated. He screeched to a stop on the green grass and quickly picked up another stick. "Back! Back!" he yelled at the snake.

But the snake kept on coming.

With stick clutched tightly in his hand, Tate hurried to the backyard playset. He crawled up a ladder into the small treehouse, which was attached to a few swings.