Chapter 18

Crystal was sitting on the balcony outside her room. She couldn't help but think that the dragons were wrong about her.

Why do they need a dragon queen when there are so many dragons that can lead on their own. Why does the dragon council exist, if not to lead? "

Miss the king request you join them for dinner tonight" a maid said. Crystal jumped out of fright and said, "you scared me,"

The maid repeated what she said and asked, "shall I tell the king you will becoming" the maid asked.

Crystal looked at the maid and said, "yes, ill be there." Just as the maid was leaving the room she turned around and asked, "You do know that dinner with the king is a formal affair, you're not wearing that to the king's table are you?"

Crystal looked at herself in the mirror and realized that she needed to change into something better and arrived almost on time for dinner at the large dining hall only to realize she was overdressed.

"No need to be so formal Crystal," Crystal looked around and noticed some of the maids had a smile on and said, "I didn't know your palace maids were so well known for their pranks.

The maid you send with the message said that I had to wear something better and other than the riding clothes that I wear all the time.

I only have this dress" Crystal said. Crystal noticed how everyone in the dining hall was suddenly filled with laughter and decided to leave and back at her room she noticed Starmist standing on the balcony.

Crystal opened the door and got changed. "I don't believe this, are they always like this?" Crystal asked.

"The royal family of Callion is one of the most powerful and well-respected families among all the kingdoms. They are also well known for their jokes and pranks but in times of need, they always come threw" Starmist said.

Crystal walked outside and noticed how beautiful the night sky was.

"This sky, it somehow reminds me of home, what I miss the most is the trees. The birds singing, the river rushing over the rocks creating a beautiful waterfall. I miss the animals coming to drink water the eagle who flew over the forest in search of its prey. "

Crystal turned around and looked at Starmist and said, "If I truly am the dragon queen why is it that I don't belong in this world. What is it that I need to do? I want to see Forest but will I ever see him again what did they do to Rose. If I am the dragon queen why take the law into their own hands and not let me make the decision? Why punish those who are trying to help me? Do you think they are hiding something?" Crystal asked.

"Crystal you have many questions and all though I do not have the answer let me show you what this land has to offer."

The next morning Crystal took of on Starmist leaving Nylla at the castle. Starmist went deep into a forest and Crystal dismounted and walked towards the river she sat on the shore with her feet barely touching the water and she closed her eyes.

She felt herself move through the forest listening to the birds and animals. Crystal felt that she could let go of her emotions and just be herself.

"Starmist, if I grant them their dream what about my dream? What about what I want?" Crystal asked Starmist.

"There was a war that almost destroyed this kingdom once, they needed so many riders and mystical creatures, dragons unicorns, and Alicorns it didn't matter who it there helped as needed. I was still very young it's only been a year since I left my mother but the war is one we would never forget."

Crystal looked towards Starmist who was walking towards the river and asked, "What was the war about?" Crystal asked.

"The war was fought over a stone that was known to all as the red beryl. It was sealed after the war in the Golsend castle and it's believed that only the green beryl can release those under its power.

The stone was created not long after my birth and it was originally meant to be a gift from his apprentice to the master. When the master saw what the apprentice gave him he was angry and punished the boy for creating such a stone.

A stone that can control creatures must not exist in the world but what the master didn't know was that the stone the apprentice created would result in more deaths than ever seen before. He only later discovered the stone's real power wasn't to control the animals but to make them stronger.

The apprentice was jailed for many years but one day he was freed by a woman who had no good intentions.

She convinced the apprentice to teach her how to make the stones that could control the animals. When the apprentice realized that the woman's intentions weren't good, he knew it was too late.

The master was so angry at the apprentice that he almost killed him and demanded why the apprentice would do something so stupid.

It was said that the only person who could stop that fight was the king of Callion. He looked at the situation and asked questions that everyone answered.

Then at the end, he called the master over and told the master that what the apprentice did wasn't a skill he knew could be done and that he was wrong for not teaching the boy how to use his powers the right way.

The king then called the apprentice over and told him that he was wrong for not trusting his master enough to tell him what he had discovered.

Giving gifts is a good thing but creating new magic needs to happen with someone who can teach you how to use that power the best way. He then told the master wizard that he believed that all they needed to stop the war was their power all they needed to do was work together.

The war ended many years later when the king's son managed to stop the woman and put an end to the war but for many, the war will never end" Crystal looked around the forest and asked, "Why do you say that Starmist?" Starmist drank water from the river and said.

"We live for a long time, Alicorns and dragons get very old in fact I have come to know the king of Callion great grandfather, his grandfather, his father and now him and its a fact that I still am very young.

The dragons need a queen that can look at a situation from a new point. A person who wouldn't just do as others say but do what they think is best.

The dragon assumes everything that happened in Golsend is bad, it started the war but what if the war didn't start in Golsend?

What if Eoine just made a story up and everyone fell for it?" Starmist said. Crystal thought for a while and asked.

"You think he started this story to cover up the fact that he wanted to start a war," Crystal asked.

"Crystal I think Eione killed the royal family of Golsend and stole the red beryl to create the dark dragons so that no one will know, what he did?" Starmist said.

Crystal looked around and said, "I have to say you might be right but if he stole the red beryl where do we get the green beryl to free the dragons? and how do we stop Eoine permanently," Crystal asked?

"Crystal I don't know but I don't want to fight this war. I want to stop it, elder dragons like Volcano and Zion were the biggest heroes of the war but the war has caught up with them they won't be alive for much longer"

Crystal looked at Starmist and asked, "You mean they are dying?" Starmist looked towards the sky and said.

"Everything has a beginning and an end it might look like we are immortal but we are not. The time will come where even we will have to bid our farewells and so the time for the dragon elders will come as well.

Many will remember them but not many will know what they have done for peace. Dragon elders like Volcano and Zion only what to be reassured that they are leaving their a king in good hands." Starmist said.

Crystal thought for a while and said: "I don't know if I can be the dragon queen but I do know we will end this war and if Eione made the story up he will pay for what he has done?"

Crystal mounted Starmist and rode out of the forest but not before they stopped at the monument dedicated to those who had died in the war.

Crystal was about to mount Starmist again when she noticed how many mystical creatures stood at the forest edge. "I don't think dragon queen is the right title but I do think it's my job to protect them all?" Crystal asked.

Starmist looked towards the forest and said, "True, if only we knew how?"