Digital publication | Page 128

tripped and rolled down the seemingly endless steep hill down the valley. The next thing she saw when she woke up was a tiny fireplace, next to which there were little chairs scattered around a table of the same size. She tried to get up, but the ceiling hit her head. After a second look around she thought to herself: "What is this – Alice in Wonderland?" As if it wasn’t strange enough, suddenly a strange creature in the corner caught her eye. Its green, slimy skin reminded her of nuclear waste – it was almost as if it was shining. The beast started slowly creeping towards the unarmed girl, so she did the only thing she could think of – used her shoes as a weapon and started kicking everything around hoping to hit the thing. 

"Are you out of your mind?!" – Ying heard a deep voice that certainly could not have belonged to this strange lizard-like fellow. But it did. -"Who do you think you are to come to the Lizard the Wizard’s house and shatter all the precious belongings?" – the creature questioned. 

"M.. my name i.. is Ying" – the girl stuttered – "I have no idea where I am, this must be a dream. Yes, indeed, this is just a dream. – but then she thought to herself – "On the other hand though if dragons turned out to be real, this nonsense might be as well."

"I’m as real as it gets and you will quickly feel it yourself if you don’t stop kicking around my goods. So how did you find me?"

"I was walking from the river nearby, stumbled and fell. Can’t remember much more than that."

"The river?! Please don’t tell me that you came from the depths of the Blue river as well."

"As well " – Ying gasped.

"Yes, the other one left not so long ago."

The girl looked through the window into the golden sunset. A black figure was disappearing into the distance. 

Suddenly the girl froze. Her hands were empty. They really were. The chest. Where is the chest? She quickly looked around the room. It was nowhere to be seen.

“Mister… Lizard… where is the river? I need to get there. Please, could you show me the way? I can’t remember a thing.”

“Unfortunately, I am not allowed to leave this… this despicable shed. But should you come towards the setting sun, you will reach it, yeah, you will, that’s the way, isn’t it? Or is it? The sun is setting, it is getting dark. Or is it?” It seemed the Lizard was talking not to the little girl but himself. But regardless, she didn’t finish listening to the Lizard’s rambling as she rushed outside.

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