Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 1-2 | Page 551

A Quest to the West
Yew Chung International School (Primary), Liu, Sicheng -10
“B
orn of noble and of green, something only a lion has seen, retrieved from the west of azure
and of the pale, a new champion will arise through golden hail.”
A girl in the Arostocia Library read from an old manuscript. The girl was a young maiden of
noble blood, being the orphaned niece of the King of Arostocia, and was born with a green birthmark on
the back of her hand in the shape of a swirl. She picked up the book and rushed out of the library to visit
Cyltine, the family historian.
The girl knocked on the door of his hut and called out, “Cyltine! I need to speak with you!” She backed
up, and soon the wooden door opened to reveal an old man. “Come in, Xandra. What is it?”
“This,” Xandra lifted the book onto the wooden table in the tiny hut and flipped it open. “What is
this...prophecy?”
“Ah...This is called the Prophecy Of Green Swirls. It was written by me. I spewed out green swirls while
reciting it, which is why it's called the Prophecy Of Green Swirls. It’s a prophecy that says a treasure will be
retrieved by one of 'noble and green'. If this treasure is not retrieved by the prophecy’s third birthday,
Doomsday for us. The third birthday is in three days.”
Cyltine looked at Xandra, but his eyes were green swirls. She said with a blank expression, “Go. Path of
Azure West. Beware Dragon’s lion.”
Xandra ran back home and packed a few essentials and started down the path to the Azure West, which was
what the Arosticians called the west. Around noon, she sat down under a tree and pulled out a sandwich. A
figure crawled out from a bush, which turned out to be a lion. “I can help you."
Xandra, stunned, nodded. It smiled at Xandra and said, "I know you are on a quest to retrieve a treasure. I
have seen this treasure. It belongs to the Riddler Dragon." The lion evaporated.
Xandra got up, finished her sandwich and kept going. As nightfall came, she took shelter in a cave and fell
asleep. In her dreams, she was hiding in a lair, which she knew belonged to a dragon, and she couldn’t
move. He was talking to someone. “Did you befriend the girl?”
“I believe so. She may consider me an ally,” someone replied.
“Alright. Go, truly befriend her. Then you can trap her.”
“Okay. But may I ask what is this treasure?”
“Fine, I’ll tell you. My father was a magician in the King of Arostocia’s court, and was called ‘The Dragon
Sorcerer’ because of his ability to turn into a dragon. But he once stole a chain of magical pearls, which is
the treasure.”
“Thanks for telling me. I shall go and see the girl.”
Xandra woke with a start. She was still in the cave. “Hello, it’s me. Your friend,” A lion stood outside of
the door, the same one Xandra had given her meat to.
“Oh, um, hi. So, why are you here?”
“To help you. I’ve spied on the Dragon, and I know his plans and how to avoid them. I’ll just let you eat
breakfast”, he backed up and went out of the cave.
“Psst. Psst.” Another voice came out of the shadows. Xandra turned to see a butterfly. “The lion is lying.
Do not trust him.” The butterfly disappeared.
Confused, Xandra finished her sandwich and packed up to find the lion outside of her cave. “Also, I didn’t
catch your name.”
“It’s Proditione. Come on, let’s go.” The lion trooped onward over the hill.