The Dog and the Tree
Violet strode across the valley in her red hood. Wearing the hood meant that it was daylight for batinums can not be in sunlight. She gripped tightly the plain straw basket she was holding with her pitch black fingers for she had been given an important task. She remembered it now, she was sent by her father to go to a drawing session or school as the pale one's call it, but when she arrived at the tent opening inside was Muzuki the clan chief "come sit, Violet"

She obeyed, partly because refusing the clan chief is a clan crime. In his hands he held a hickory cup, inside were all sorts of weeds, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a wooden spoon and started to stir the weeds. "Do you know what Volt is, violet?"

Violet paused for a second.
“No sir"

"Why don’t you know?"

What was this Volt thing? Why was it so important? She’d never heard of it before. "I don’t know sir" she replied.

Muzuki looked puzzled "Your mother never taught you?" Violets wings stretched at the mention of her mother. Matilda was her name she died many years ago by the fangs of the dragon Silverfire, Violet never really knew her mother for she was very young then.
"Am I making you uncomfortable, Violet?"Said Muzuki
Violet returned to reality, “No sir"
Muzuki started drawing a symbol in the ground with the hilt of his wooden spoon.
Violet had never seen this symbol before. Muzuki breathed in heavily and blew on the symbol; a blue fire erupted on the place where the symbol was. In the fire she saw female lions dancing in through the flames."Volt is the power within, the darkest and brightest parts of you. Volt is magical in its own ways but it can consume you, kill you from the inside out. Use it well" Muzuki blew the fire onto Violet, she was ready for the burn but she didn’t feel it. She looked up and nothing had happened; only the fire was gone.

Eden’s Apple


Violet stalked around the gateway to the very front of the garden, she could already feel her skin burning. The gate doors looked like they were about to fall off, "angel trickery" violet thought in her head. "Come out angel I know you are there!” she shouted. A flash of white came down from the clouds and landed right in front of her. It was a man dressed in white cloaks "We have no quarrel with the batinum folk, leave now or that will change!" yelled the man.
"I have come for the fruit of life" said Violet

The man drew his battle Axe, "Why have you come again?"

"For the fruit of life" replied Violet

The man paused, "NO"

He started walking away, this made Violet increasingly angry, every step he took.. He kept on walking; Violet was boiling with frustration and getting angrier by the second. Then it happened. She focused on the ground, the ground underneath the man ripped apart and he fell into an almost bottomless pit. There was no screaming he just fell, until a white stripe burst out of the hole. When Violet got a better look, she saw it was the man. Only now he had hawk’s wings on his back, for he must have been a superior angel at that. He drew his battle axe and flew like a bullet towards Violet. Violet dropped her basket and ran.



Hidden

Violet was running like mad from the angel, while she was running she saw a hole in the ground like a ditch, she dove into it to hide. The angel flew past very quickly and Violet sighed in relief.
"Hey you’re sitting on me!"A voice said.
Violet got up and looked around. Right there in front of her was a dog but it wasn’t a normal dog. It looked like it was made out of bark from the tree
"Thank you that is better.” said the tree dog

"What are you?"Asked violet

"Well that was very rude of you, I’m a dog” said the dog

"but you’re.... made out of wood "said Violet

"You're not very smart are you? Of course I am made out of wood", said the tree dog

"isn’t that a little unusual to you?"Violet asked

"Well all dogs are made out of wood" said the dog

"No they're not", said Violet

"Of course they are" said the dog.

A swish of wind came across the trees they heard the echoes of the wind spirits singing. While the wind spirits are invisible to the human eye but batinums can see them. Violet looked towards the sound. One female wind spirit leaned against a tree as the other wind spirits left. She started to sing.

Oh gods of the clouds

Keep an eye on my family

Let the dragons be tame

And bring me no pain

Let my daughter survive the fall, for
She is strong, Violet is her name

Violet looked at the woman awestruck! It was her mother Matilda. Violet ran to her with open arms, but she ran right through her. She looked back and Matilda was nowhere to be seen, for wind spirits never stay in the same spot for long. Violet sat down, sobbing.

“Oh, great. She’s crying now.” Said the dog. “Just great!”




Muzuki’s Plot
Muzuki was dying. He had sent Violet for the Fruit of Life but she hadn’t returned. What happened to her was none of his concern. He had to get the fruit of life. No one was going to stop him. He was still sitting in the tent long after Violet left, pondering whether to proclaim her dead. He had never cared for her anyway.

A fellow counsellor walked in. “Sir, do you want to call out a search party?”

“No! Call them off.” said Muzuki.

“But Sir…”

“Are you refusing me? Said Muzuki.

“No, Sir.” Said the counsellor fearfully.

“Good” Muzuki said.
Meanwhile, Violet was getting annoyed by the tree dog. All he did was talk, talk, talk. She personally liked peace and quiet.

They were walking back to her clan and this stupid dog wouldn’t leave her alone. She pondered, “Why not let him be a community dog or something?”

They were just on the outskirts of the forest of Nevelya, which was very close to the clan.

“Say, batinum, what’s your name?” said the dog.
Violet responded “Why does it matter?”

“I don’t know; so I can give a name to the face.” said the dog.

“Violet” she said.

“Pretty name. After the flower?” Asked the dog.

“No, after Elegiant.”


Matilda


Silverfire swooped down over Matilda’s head. Matilda carried her newborn baby as she ran up the many stairs of the city.

She ran into her house as the dragon flew overhead and placed her baby on the table. The child had not yet been named.

“Your name is….” The roof shook. “Violet…” She started to cry “…for Elegiant. Elegiant to the batinums.” The ceiling shook again. She started to sing.

Oh gods of the clouds

Keep a watch on my family

Let the dragons be tame

And bring me no pain

Let my daughter survive the fall

For she is strong, Violet is her name


Just then, the roof was torn open and those were the last words of Violet’s mother.


The dog’s name


“So, Violet, you want to know my name?” asked the dog. Violet had never thought about this. She had just called him dog for the last couple of moon rises.

“Sure” she said grumpily, for the dog was getting more annoying by the minute.

“It’s Bark” said the dog

“Bark? “questioned Violet, for it was a stupid name for a Dog.
“Yep” said the dog.
They were getting tired for they had walked a long distance.
Muzuki was at a clan meeting when he heard of Violet’s return. He rushed down to the gates. As he saw Violet enter with a strange creature that seemed to never stop talking he yelled at her, “Did you get the Fruit?” Then he saw that she had no basket. He called over his guards. “Arrest the batinum for treason.” said Muzuki sternly.

Silverfire returns

He could feel it in the air….the wind spirits howling their songs. “He is coming again,” Thought Michael, “and he isn’t going to stop this time. Silverfire is returning.”

The batinum he had flown after (Violet) had lowered Michael’s guard, but he could sense. Silverfire in the air. Michael turned to the angel beside him. “Check the gates.” He said.

“Yes, sir.” said the angel.
Violet was shackled by the arms, walking slowly towards the jail cell. Two guards were beside her.

BOOM!”

The ceiling shook. This sound felt familiar to Violet. She had heard it before. “What was that?” asked one of the guards. A batinum man ran toward them and yelled “DRAGON!”

The guards ran out the door to see if this was true….and that was the last Violet ever saw of them.

Violet needed to get out, and fast. She focused on her shackles. They broke instantly, and Violet, once again, ran for her life.

Dragon fire

Violet ran all the way across the courtyard. Then she saw him.

Silverfire the dragon was perched on the side of the village gates, breathing fire everywhere. She saw a dead batinum guard on the ground and took his sword. Using her Volt powers, she jumped onto a roof, making it look easy. “How did I do that?” she thought. She charged, jumping from building to building. Without the dragon noticing, she jumped onto his back and then onto his neck.

“For my mother!” she yelled, stabbing the dragon in the lungs.
The dragon screeched, collapsing. Silverfire tried to breathe for as he lay on the ground and looked up to see Violet before he gasped his last breathe. Then he died.

Michael saw it all. “Unbelievable. She just killed the white dragon in one blow.”

“She will be a valuable asset when the time is right” said the hooded man.

“What do we do now, master?” asked Michael.

“Wait, Michael, we wait” said the hooded man.