Zilphia and the Dragon's Journey | Episode 3 of the Zilphia Series

After the mysterious crow's return and the unsettling note left behind in her room, Zilphia hoped life would return to normal. Instead, an embarrassing accident at school leaves her heartbroken, while her fairy godmother begins to uncover clues that point to a much larger mystery hidden within Glimmerwood Forest.

 

The early morning sun was already warm as Zilphia rushed to school. She was on time today, and very excited because it was her turn to pick the story of the week. She knew exactly what she wanted the class to read. It was her favorite adventure about a hidden world of fairies with mysterious powers that had not been discovered.

Zilphia zipped through the flowers as she flew through the village. She heard the owl squawk and hurried in behind the other fairies. As she walked to her seat, a backpack fell on the floor in front of her. Zilphia tripped and fell. The tail of her dress flew in the air and got caught on the desk. When she stood up, it ripped revealing the back of her thigh.

The room went silent… then erupted with laughter. Ms. Silverton, the teacher, tried to get everyone to settle down. It was no use. She looked at Zilphia’s tear-filled eyes, and guided her out the door while walking closely behind her.

“Zilphia, dear… you can go home. Don’t worry. Your friends will forget everything when school begins again in a couple of days.”

Zilphia stood motionless, but she felt her teacher’s gentle wing nudging her home. She wiped her tears as she walked slowly down the path. Her tears kept falling, one after the other. She blindly walked along the path until she reached Glimmerwood Stream.

Zilphia looked at the water. Her reflection stared back through swollen eyes. She turned so she could see her torn dress, and clutched her chest tightly when she saw the huge hole. It was the last thing her dad had given to her, and she felt his hug each time she wore it. Now look at it. How could she have let this happen?

Zilphia fell to her knees and wept bitterly. The forest animals stopped and listened. A young deer left his mother and walked towards her.  He rubbed his nose against her hand, and licked the tears away from her cheeks when she looked into his eyes. The mother deer joined them. At that moment, Zilphia felt maybe things would be okay.

The flight home was lonely. Zilphia didn’t fly through the trees or zip through the flowers. She stayed on the path and watched the birds fly above her as she went home.

“Hi Zilphia!”

A happy voice greeted her when she flew through the door. Zilphia knew who it was immediately.

“Fairy godmother! You’re here!” She tried to sound excited, but the sadness she felt overpowered her voice.

“Yes, dear.” Fairy Vaelora said a bit distracted. She turned Zilphia’s shoulders so she could see her dress. “What happened?”

“Vaelora, Zilphia is fine. You’re very busy. I’ll take care of that,” said her mom as she laid Kyron down.

Millie came flying into the room. Her mother caught her mid-air before she could bump into her sleeping brother. She took the little wiggling fairy into the other room.

Fairy Vaelora looked at Zilphia who was sitting quietly at the table. Her mother came in, a little out of breath, and looked at the torn dress.

“I can’t repair this. The hole is too big. It’ll have to be thrown away.”

“No! You can’t!” shouted Zilphia.

“Waah! Waah!”

“Zilphia, look what you’ve done!”

“You can’t throw away my dress, mom. Dad gave it to me!” Zilphia ran to her room and slammed the door.

“Oh… no. I forgot,” said her mom as she held Kyron.

“Everything will be fine. Zilphia is out of school for a couple of days. Let me take her on a short adventure.”

“Yes, please. I think a little time away right now is just what she needs.”

“I’ll go tell her.”

Zilphia’s godmother could hear her crying before she knocked. She placed her hand on the door and stopped. The door… something unsettling had been on the door. She placed both her palms on the door and closed her eyes.

“Vaelora? Is something wrong?”

The wise fairy turned to Zilphia’s mom. “No, nothing’s wrong. I was just thinking.”

Zilphia quickly opened the door. Her eyes met her godmother’s with excitement. But her fairy godmother walked past her looking around the room. She stopped when she saw the black feather lying on Zilphia’s desk.

“Where did you get this?” she asked holding the feather up in front of Zilphia.     

“A crow left it on my desk by a note.”

“Let me see the note.”

Zilphia pulled it from underneath a book.

“I TOLD YOU I’D BE BACK!” read her fairy godmother aloud.

“I don’t know what it means. Do you?” asked Zilphia eagerly.

“It’s time to go, dear. We must go now.”

Zilphia told her mother and sister goodbye as they flew out the door. Her fairy godmother was waiting for her on her dragon. She held out her hand to help Zilphia up.

The dragon flew high above the clouds leaving glowing dust patterns in the air behind him. Zilphia held on tight as she watched the village below them become smaller and smaller.

“Fairy godmother…”

“Yes, dear.”

“Where are we going?”

“I want you to meet someone very special.”

“Oh. Fairy godmother…”

“Yes, dear.”

Zilphia hesitated. Her voice squeaked as she whispered, “Why did we leave so quickly?”

The dragon stopped. His massive wings flapped powerfully above the clouds. Zilphia’s godmother turned to face her.

“You saw something dark in your room, didn’t you?”

Zilphia nodded.

“Did you tell your mother?”

“No ma’am. I didn’t know how because I didn’t think she would believe me.”

“I believe you. And I believe in you.” She smiled and winked at Zilphia. “That’s why we’re taking this journey.”

Her fairy godmother turned and grabbed the dragon’s horns as he flew gracefully across the sky. He flapped his wings and filled the sky with golden glitter that covered the setting sun. There was something in the distance. A small, dark, awkward shadow followed behind them. It was the crow.

 

Far beyond the clouds, answers were waiting. But so was something else...

— Written with care by W. L. Shaw, creator of Fanciful Tales