“[i]Welcome to Avalon[/i]”

The voice rang through Phi’s head, calling her back to a realm of consciousness. Stirring slightly, Phi groggily picked her upper body off the ground and yawned. 

“Just five more minutes mooom,” she groaned before slipping back down towards the hard, unforgiving dirt. Phi expected a soft, fluffy pillow to embrace her tired head, but instead she was greeted by the stiff, cold ground. “Oww! What the-?” Wide awake now, Phi clutched her pounding head and sat up. She winced in pain and cursed herself silently. Huffing and puffing, Phi swiveled her head around to see if anyone caught that embarrassing scene, but after taking a good gander at her new environment, it finally dawned on her that she should have been more worried about the sudden change in scenery. She was definitely not in her own house, much less a friend’s. Mari’s house was pretty rural, but not like this. This was outdoors, outdoors. Sifting through her memories, the last thing that she could remember was sitting at the table with Mari in one of her friends’ house. They had been there to pull an all-nighter and test a theory, and most people were having fun chatting and playing games with others except for a select few. Mari and herself were a part of that minority. Sighing as she recollected the night’s highs and lows, Phi groaned again. Nothing was working out anymore. The before was a bust, despite the fact that she actually got Mari to attend a social event, the stubborn girl missed the key point of socializing, and now this mess.

Phi didn’t complain for long, however, since her internal whine fest was interrupted by the sudden glow of one of the many huge skeletal dragon heads that outlined the edges of the plateau. The voice that seemed to belong to dragon skull introduced itself to the group, and soon after, the rest of the skulls followed by example. There was a brief break, filled with silence and awe from Phi, that ensued after the conclusion of the dragon spirits’ introductions. However, not to long after, a voice seemed to resonate throughout the world, and its source seemed to stem from the enormous dragon skull embedded in the sole mountain peak that rose above all others. Phi was bewildered. Never had she ever been faced with a predicament quite like this, but something within her made her feel as if her only hope in returning back to her normal life was to abide by the guidance given from the dragon spirit skull things… 

Lost in thought, Phi did not notice Alexander as he approached and pinched her arm. Snapping out of her daze, she whirled her head around just in time to catch a glimpse of his receding figure and just a bit of spoken thoughts. Phi sighed to herself and got up off the ground. She spared a moment to dust her clothes off before heading over to the rack of goodies. Along the way, she noticed the familiar glasses and stoic expression of a girl she knew all too well. Waving slightly in the other girl’s direction, Phi was promptly ignored. Grimacing, she lowered her hand and continued to the rack. It seemed that quite a few people went for selecting their dragon egg first, so Phi decided to be ‘hip’ and went for her weapon first. Perusing the layout of weapons as if she were windowing shopping in the mall, Phi stopped in front of a promising item. It was comprised of 3 long, sharp blades joined together at the center and looked like an over-sized ninja throwing star. Grasping the weapon with her dominant hand, Phi mimicked the motion that she would use for attacking with it. Pleased with the outcome of the practice, she moved over to the rack of dragon eggs. By then, the selection of eggs had diminished by quite a bit, but there was an egg on the top of the rack that caught her eye. It had a red outline with an essentially black, dark center and a hint of purple. Leaning her weapon against her side, Phi stood on her tiptoes and carefully grabbed the egg. Clutching the egg close, Phi juggled carrying both the egg and her weapon back to the group. Spotting Mari, Phi made her way towards her best friend.

“So what was with the cold shoulder back there?” Phi teased as she approached Mari.