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It was on an ordinary Southern California summer’s day that Kyra met a stranger from a strange world who changed her life forever. 

Having gone through the ritual of laying out the towel, making sure no sand fell over the edges, as well as lathering herself in a second skin of lotion, Kyra was lying on the towel and letting her skin absorb the hot rays.
           
She looked around, checking out the company like any self-conscious sixteen-year-old girl: all she saw were frying toothpicks, and some frying skeletons; achingly trying to crisp themselves an unhealthy but popular shade.  It made her sick.   

She started thinking.  Boys took up some of her thoughts; it was hard competing with these excuses for teenage girls.  The rest of her mind she set aside for where she truly wanted to be.  Her only problem was she didn’t know where that was.  Well, that wasn’t exactly true.  She’d always had the feeling that she was in the wrong place, the wrong time; like a piece to a giant puzzle which fit perfectly, but was a different design and color.

So at times like these, she was able to totally shut out the world, disconnect; she would visit this imaginary world that only existed in one place.  Her imagination. 

Something had told Kyra that this place was called Enchantus.  And Enchantus was a kingdom in the world of Aisis Lip.  Another interesting fact about this world: she could speak the language, Aiso, like a native.  Some of the people told her it was because she was born to live on planet Earth for a short while, and then to take this knowledge and experience and use it when she came to Aisis Lip.  But she knew it was because this was her imagination.

The first dream of Enchantus and the world of Aisis Lip had come to her on her fifteenth birthday, a little over a year ago now.  And what was strange about it was to this day she remembered every little detail.

On the night of her fifteenth birthday she went to bed possibly the happiest she’d ever been, filled with lemon cake and joy, and was soon asleep.

In her dream, she wasn’t at home; she wasn’t in her room, not Huntington Beach, not even in America from what she could tell.  She was in a fantasy world, because there just wasn’t anything like this in the world she lived in. 

It was green, so very green everywhere she looked.  As her eyes took in the blinding sunlight and grew accustomed to it, she saw that not everything was green.  Some of the trees were, but they were also red and ochre and orange.  Not the dying colors of fall, but healthy colors of growth and life.  The light grass at her feet was green, but a much lighter green than she’d ever seen grass be.

Kyra watched a bug with wings land on a blade of this bright green grass; it was blood red, like a ladybug.  It took off and flew towards her, around her head, and up into the air.  As it flew up, she heard “Hello!” squeak from what could only be the insect.  She was too shocked to say anything, but shortly after wished she’d said something, just to see if that bug had actually spoken to her.
           
Kyra walked up to the nearest tree that had an orangy-brown bark.  She reached out and rested her hand on it, and quickly pulled it away.  She looked at it and gently touched it again.  There, she felt it: a strong pulsing of life through the trunk.  This tree was letting her know it was a living creature.
           
She bent down and touched a blade of grass, feeling the same pulse, only a lot weaker.  She pulled at the blade and it broke free, the pulse immediately stopping.
           
This was amazing.  What was this place?  A dream?  She knew it was, but it was still amazing.  It all felt so real.  So very real; nothing like her other dreams.  She knew what they were like; she could tell when a dream was a dream and nothing more.  But this was different.  This place felt like it actually existed somewhere, and she was just briefly visiting, then would return to her own world.
           
But she didn’t want that.  She didn’t know how long she had here, but she had to make the most of it.
           
Kyra looked around for something else that was alive and moving, another bug, anything!  Then she saw about twenty feet away what looked like a little bird poking at something in between the blades of grass.  She walked towards it.
           
The bird stopped what it was doing and looked up at her.  It didn’t fly away, didn’t even move except for turning to face her; it seemed unafraid of her.
           
Kyra kneeled down and looked at it closely.
           
It was covered in teal blue feathers with streaks of red.  There were two silver rings circling its eyes.  It seemed to be looking at her just as studiously as she was at it.
           
Kyra took a breath.  “Hello?” she said in a whisper.
           
The blue bird tilted its head and then squeaked a high-pitched “Hello!”
           
Kyra smiled and even laughed a little.
           
The bird said “Hello!” twice more then took off and flew away.
           
Kyra now understood that the animals here could speak, at least one word.  Everything here was letting her know it was alive, and the reason she hadn’t heard anything other than “Hello!” was because the animals’ brains just weren’t that big.  A greeting was all they could do.
           
Kyra didn’t know how much time she had left, before she woke up, but she needed to find someone, a person who could tell her where she was.  Maybe if she knew the name of this place, she would dream of it again.
           
She looked around, looking for some sign of settlement, anything that would indicate there was a town or village nearby, even a house.  Then she saw over the hill behind her a spiraling trail of smoke reaching up into the periwinkle sky. 

Was that what she thought it was?

She ran for the hill, quickly reaching the top and heading over the other side.  Yes!  It was smoke coming from the chimney of a little cottage.  Outside she could see a short man tending what looked like a vegetable patch.  She ran down the hill and came to a halt in front of him, out of breath.

The man looked up at her and frowned.

“Hello, can I help you?” he said as he stood up.

Kyra was expecting him to be something like a hobbit, but once he stood up she saw he was the same size as her father, though there was a dark tan to his skin that gave him an ethnic look.  His accent was northern British she thought.

“Yes, y-yes,” she said, trying to catch her breath.  “Where am I?”

The frown grew.

“Where are you?  Why you’re just on the outskirts of Byrka of course.  Foolish girl.”
“Byrka,” she said, savoring the sound of the word on her tongue, rolling the r and feeling the hard k.  “Is that a town?  What . . . land is this?”
           
“Well, you are a foolish girl, aren’t you?  Did you hit yourself on the head?  Forget a few things?”
           
“Yes . . . yes.  I fell on the other side of that hill, fell and knocked my head something bad, and now all I remember is my name, but I don’t remember where I am or what this land is.  I expect it will come back to me, but I need to know where I am now.  It might help me remember.”
           
“Very well, very well,” he said, the frown clearing.  “Your are near the hamlet of Byrka, in the great Kingdom of Enchantus, in the land of Aisis Lip.  There, does that explain it for ya?”
           
Kyra repeated these new and strange words in her head, whispering them on her lips.  She looked at the man and could tell he was getting impatient with her.
           
“Yes, yes, very helpful.  I . . . I remember where I am now, and where I live, so I’ll be going along then.  Bye.”
           
She waved and walked away heading back up the hill, hearing the man grumble to himself: “Strange girl.”
           
She reached the top of the hill, looked back, saw him still staring at her, not moving; she walked over the top and lost sight of him.  She stopped when she reached the spot where she’d “arrived.”  She looked around, but didn’t see anything flying around.  She looked down and saw she was in her pajamas with the little yellow ducks on them.  That man must have wondered what she was wearing.  And her skin was a lot lighter than his; maybe he thought she was some sort of alien or something.
           
Then she saw that her hand was becoming transparent.  Soon she could see through it, see the bright green grass behind.  She looked at her other hand and saw the same thing happening.  She was disappearing.  She was waking up!  This never happened in her other dreams.  She looked around and then ran for the tree and reached it just as she fully disappeared.  She felt one strong life-filled pulse shoot up her arms and then she was gone.
           
Kyra woke up little by little, opening her eyes and moving her arms, feeling them ache as if they’d been overworked recently.  She looked at her right hand and saw nothing, then she looked at her left and saw a little nick in her palm.  Snagged in the cut was a splinter of wood.  She got up a pair of tweezers from her dresser and gently removed the splinter, bringing it close to her eyes.  It was wood, orangy-brown in color.

           
After that first dream, she continued to have others in this world called Aisis Lip, once a week up until last night.  The dreams seemed like different chapters in a great fantasy novel she was experiencing for real.  It wasn’t so much that she dreamed of Aisis Lip, but that she lived an everyday existence there, much as she did while awake on Earth.
           
It was last night’s dream that had unsettled her; actually she’d been on edge ever since she woke this morning.  It was also the first time she dreamed of Aisis Lip and awoke before the dream’s end.  Instead of opening her eyes to a beautiful morning as usual, the events of the dream had made her want to leave the world she’d become so comfortable and familiar with. 

           
It began much like her other dreams: Kyra stepping into the world and taking in its breathtaking splendor as if for the first time.  Like chocolate; it was something she never got bored with.  She’d said hello to a few animals who’d replied with welcoming squeaks and squeals, and so began her next dream and chapter in Aisis Lip where she lived the everyday life of its people like she was one of them.  She traveled to one of the markets in a town called Kyrka (wondering if it was close at all to Byrka), soon making friends with some of the people.  It was as if they already knew her in some way, which was impossible, since this was their first meeting. 

Each time she dreamed, she met more people and became their friends.  Kyra knew that the day – more when than if, however that might be – she actually came to this fantasyland, she would already know everyone and wouldn’t feel like a stranger anymore. 

She’d been studying one of the unusual fruits when she met the stranger she didn’t want to befriend.  The fruits were the size of oranges but as green as watermelons, with a thick outer skin and soft blue flesh within. The burly man had seemed to come out of nowhere, charging her and before she knew it, passing right in front, knocking her down to the ground, never slowing.  She looked and gasped with fear and shock, for the gruff man looked just like her brother, but at the same time not.  Her brother, Jason, was a seventeen-year-old boy with glasses and great goggle eyes, a pronounced nose and thick lips, and had a crucifix earring dangling from his right ear.  This ugly man bore similar features, but was much uglier, with a greasy thick beard that reached down to his chest, long unkempt hair that was three times the length of her brother’s.  But the earring was there somehow, dangling from that right ear, except the crucifix was made of wood.
           
The disgusting man just moved on with no interest or concern.  One of Kyra’s new friends, Fillip, helped her up and whispered to her:
           
“That was Jolus the Malignant.  You’re lucky he ignored you and just walked by.  He’s known to do much worse; so much worse.  I heard that a man double-crossed him and cheated him out of some money once.  When he caught him Jolus the Malignant had him flayed within an inch of his life, and then used rusty clamps to peel off the broken flesh in strips.  The man died of pain.  You want to be sure you keep well away from that creature.”
           
It was then that Jolus the Malignant finally stopped and looking back with killing in his eyes, piercing Kyra to her very soul, said “I’ll be seeing you soon” from far away, yet she heard him as if he’d spoken in her ear.

She tore herself from the dream that had become a nightmare and woke with a coating of cold sweat on her body.
           
           
Kyra slowly came out of her stupor.  She still wasn’t sure what to make of him, as well as the fact that she’d purposely avoided her brother today, whenever he was in the house.  She hadn’t confronted him yet; she still had no idea how to handle this situation.
           
Kyra now noticed that the comforting warmth of the sun was no longer there.  She opened her eyes, saw gray clouds everywhere overhead and wondered where they’d come from.  She looked at her watch: only ten minutes had passed.  She sat up and discovered another great surprise: the beach was deserted.  She looked left, then she looked right: not a soul in either direction.  She looked behind her and saw the Pacific Coast Highway; there were no people in sight, no cars either.  An unstoppable shiver wriggled through her.
           
Kyra looked ahead to the great Pacific Ocean which had ten minutes ago been calm and sparkling blue as it reflected the sky, but now the water looked alive with snakes roiling beneath the surface.  High waves crashed into the beach cutting away at the sand, eroding, causing splashes of foam more sickly gray than white to come up the beach. 
           
The ocean seemed to be angry with her. 

While the waves were hypnotizing her with their ferocity, Kyra heard another, far different sound off to her left.  It sounded like something with small feet approaching her, trying to remain unheard.  Kyra finally plucked up enough courage to turn her head and look.
           
Her mouth dropped open and she could feel the wind running down her throat, drying up her saliva.
           
There, just ten feet away, stood a seagull, except it wasn’t your ordinary seagull.  This one was the size of her dog, Pal, who she was able to ride around the house.  The giant gull stopped, looked at her quizzically, turned its head sideways, and opened its beak as if to speak.
           
Kyra didn’t want to find out if it could speak.
           
“What are you?” she cried.
           
“Hush,” the gull said in a soothing voice.  “I am but a’friend.  Do not be a’fraid; I am here to a’help you.  I am from A’isis Lip.”
           
Hearing the super-sized bird talk in this calming voice had some effect on Kyra, especially since she’d had some prior experience with talking animals; talking animals that came from the same world this gull said she was from.
           
“Are you really from Aisis Lip?” Kyra asked hesitantly, no longer sure she’d heard what she thought she’d heard. It had been spoken by a giant seagull after all.
           
“Aye, I am.  I have been a’sent from Aisis Lip to a’fetch you.  Queen Anita needs your a’help.  There is trouble a’brewing in the Lip and a’Enchantus is in danger.”
           
Kyra felt a spreading warmth in her chest hearing this, and with that soothing voice and the loving look in the gull’s eyes, she couldn’t deny what had just been said. 

It’d finally happened.  What she’d been waiting for and dreaming about for over a year had finally come true.  Was she really about to be whisked away to the land of her dreams?  Could she really leave her home and family, her world?  But Queen Anita needed her, she thought.  While Kyra had never met the queen in any of her dreams, she’d heard greatly about her from the many colorful characters she’d met.  The queen was the most loved person in all of Enchantus.  And this was the truth: she really had met these people; this gull was a living, physical confirmation that the foreign land of Aisis Lip truly existed, along with Enchantus and all its people.  But that also meant that Jolus the Malignant was real too. 

Darkness trickled into her mind at this thought.

“Is it . . .”

“Yes,” the gull interrupted her.  “Jolus the a’Malignant has finally gained the a’power he has been a’working on for years and he is now a’threat to Queen Anita, Enchantus, and the a’entire land.  We need you’re a’help, Kyra.  Now!” 

The gull’s voice rose in volume and pitch with this last sentence.

“Now.  We must go,” it said.

“Go?” Kyra uttered, knowing that this was exactly what she wanted, but at the same time . . .

“What about my friends, my family, my, my . . . life here?”

“You know you a’don’t belong in this a’world, Kyra” said the gull.  “You’ve known since the age of a’fifteen.  Now let’s make a’haste, for we ’av no a’time to waste.”

Kyra thought for all of five seconds and then made the decision she’d known for 364 days.  She got up and put on her shorts and T-shirt, then swung herself onto the back of the seagull, just as she did with Pal, leaving the rest of her things on the beach for time to steal.

“What’s you’re name?” Kyra asked, having mounted the gull and feeling uncomfortable with only being able to call it it. 

“Why Kyra, it’s Marie.  Ay, that is both me a’kind and me name,” was the bird’s happy reply.

“And you obviously already know my name, so ‘let’s make a’haste, for we ’av no a’time to waste!’” Kyra imitated. 

It was then that she realized she hadn’t been speaking English with Marie since she opened her mouth, but had been speaking fluent Aiso, just like she did in her dreams.

The giant seagull shook its three-toed feet about, ruffled its feathers and began flapping its wings. 

Up, up, and away they went.  Kyra had to wrap her arms around Marie’s neck and hold tight to keep from falling off.          The gull quickly gained altitude and Kyra held on tighter; she was afraid of heights.  The bird swooped up into the sky and soon became the size of an ordinary bird to any onlooker below.  Kyra looked down and saw the people had now returned, walking along the promenade and across the beach as if they’d always been there.  Cars were moving north and south along the Pacific Coast Highway, and Kyra wondered where they’d been.  Little did she know, seeing the return of the cars and people was her second magical experience, the first being when everyone and everything moving initially disappeared.
           
Marie rose above the first plane of clouds and then flew across them.  Kyra’s bare feet dangled beneath the bird and she felt them pass through the very tops of the clouds.  It felt like passing through air she could actually feel, like cotton candy, though softer and colder; she could feel her feet beginning to get damp, but it all felt wonderful.
           
Kyra looked ahead, the strong cool wind blowing the hair out of her face: an ordinary skyline of clouds, except for a purple-colored cloud, which Marie was heading straight for.  Kyra cried out with happiness at the realization that this was the way to Aisis Lip, her dream world, the world which would become her reality.  The world where she belonged, Marie had said.
           
The giant bird with the girl on its back swooped into the purple cloud that no one else could see.  Kyra felt her clothes dampen, she felt a gentle shove on her back as she passed through into Aisis Lip, its warm wonderful breeze cascading over her like a waterfall.