The Story of Kayleuetski Maude

The Gems

At last, three people, including Diani, began to make conversation with her.

"Kayley, I'd like you to meet my friends, Ashleigh and Fiona," Diani said.
"I'm Ashleigh," one of the girls said. She was still staring at Kayley.
"And I'm Fiona," another girl said.

Kayley smiled back, unsure of what to say. She was still trying to get used to the fact that she probably would not be going back home any time soon.

Ashleigh spoke first. "I remember Jemmali telling us that there would be a new person here," she said. "I was wondering who it would be. What's your name?"
"Kayley," Kayley replied.
"Well then, Kayley, I hope you have a good time here!" Fiona said.
"Thanks," Kayley mumbled, so softly she could barely hear her own voice.

After dinner, the four of them went back to their room. They discussed the beautiful gems that Kayley had seen earlier. They were all quite excited and they wanted to know how it would look like.

Soon, they got ready for bed and settled down to sleep for the night. For about the fiftieth time that day, Kayley desperately wanted to know what was going on. She wondered where she would wake up the next day.

The next day she woke up in the bedroom she shared with Diani, Ashleigh and Fiona. This was the day that their hands would be decorated with the gems.

They then got dressed, then went downstairs to eat breakfast in the same room that Kayley had had dinner in the night before. Once again, Kayley felt awkward, being surrounded by many people that she didn't know. This time it was more bearable because Fiona, Ashleigh and Diani were talking to her.

Afterwards, Kayley had to stand in line with Fiona, Ashleigh, Diani and a bunch of other children, some male, some female. Kayley was wondering what the others were thinking as they were lining up to get their hands decorated with gems too.

Kayley was absorbed in her own thoughts for a while, but she was jolted back to reality when she heard a loud screaming come from the room with the gems. Horrid throughts invaded her mind. For the first time, she wondered how they were going to decorate their hands with the gems.

Before she knew it, it was her turn. A burning pain coarsed through her entire arm as a bright diamond magically stuck fast to the back of her hand. The pain was unbearable. Kayley opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out.

Finally, the worst was over but a mild burning pain still remained. Kayley stared at the diamond that was on the back of her right hand. The diamond simply sparkled back.

Castle Orphanage

The lady led Kayley through many dimly-lit passageways, up a flight of stairs and through another set of dimly-lit passages until they came to a large bedroom containing four beds. The lady gestured to the bed at the far end of the room. Immediately, Kayley noticed that all of her belongings were already there. She had no time to puzzle over this. Soon, another girl entered the room. The girl looked startled at first, but soon she showed an expression conveying that she understood what was going on. Kayley looked at her enviously. At that moment, she was envious of anyone who had any idea of what was going on.

"Diani," the lady said to the girl, "here is the girl that I was telling you about. Would you please show her around and make her feel at home, please?" The girl nodded, then the lady got up and left the room, leaving Kayley alone with the other girl.

"Hi," the girl said. "I'm Diani. What's your name?"
"I'm Kayley," Kayley replied, feeling rather awkward.
"Well then, Kayley," said Diani, "we've got a bit of time before dinner, so I guess I should probably do what Jemmali said and show you around this place. Come on!"

Kayley nodded, then followed Diani out of the room.

Diani showed Kayley around the many rooms of the castle. One of the rooms had a small table with many beautifully coloured gems sitting on it. They were so shiny they didn't appear to be real.

"Tomorrow, our hands will be decorated with one of those beautiful gems!" Diani said to Kayley. "I wonder what it will look like when they do it!"

At around 7pm, Diani led Kayley into a large dining hall with a long table, where many other people were already seated. Kayley followed Diani to two adjacent empty seats at the far end of the table. Dinner had already been served and was sitting on their plates enticingly. Kayley and Diani sat down and began eating.

It was extremely awkward, sitting down in a place she did not know, surrounded by so many people she had never met. Kayley tried to concentrate on her food, ignoring all of the chatter around her. She was aware that everyone on the table were thrusting curious glances at her. Nobody spoke to her, but she knew that they were talking about her. She felt oddly alone.

Sky Palace

Kayley followed the boy through many winding passageways and cabins out of the ship, still wondering what was going on. She wondered if she would wake up somewhere and discover that this was all a dream.

At last, Kayley and the boy stepped off the ship. Kayley looked down and saw herself standing on a cloud. She was shocked. Why was she on a cloud? And how? Nothing appeared to make any sense at all.

Looking up, Kayley saw a massive palace before her. It loomed high above her, yet didn't seem intimidating at all. Kayley found it very odd that something as fragile as a cloud could support something as large as a palace. She wondered whether she was meant to go near it. She found out very soon.

"Knock," the boy said, gesturing to the large, imposing palace doors. Kayley knocked, trembling nervously. Almost immediately, the door was opened by a tall woman with long fair hair. She smiled sweetly down at Kayley and gently pulled her in through the palace doors.

Kayley turned her head to see the boy return to the ship and leave. Within moments the ship was gone. There was no going back.

A New World

Five years later

At night-time in Australia, Kayley settled down to sleep for the night, so she could wake up in time for pre-primary the next day.

However, when she woke up the next morning, she didn't find herself in her bedroom. Instead, she found herself in a cramped cabin on board a ship. She stared around her in utter confusion. She wasn't sure if she was still dreaming or not. It seemed as if she was dreaming, yet something seemed to tell her that this was all for real.

She turned her head, and stared out of the ship's porthole to her left. No. She couldn't be seeing nothing but endless clouds out of a ship's porthole, could she? Or maybe she could. After all, that's what she was seeing at that exact moment.

As she moved closer to the porthole, Kayley noticed that she could only see the ground faintly, in the distance. It was as if she was on a flying ship. Perhaps she was.

Somebody knocked on the door of the cabin Kayley was in. Before Kayley could answer, the door opened and a teenage boy, about fourteen years old, entered. "We're already here!" the boy said. "Come on, you need to get off the ship now."

Now Kayley was really confused. Where were they? Why did she need to get off the ship? This was all very strange, this unfamiliar place...

The Battle in the Dark

Late one night, a woman named Robyn silently crept into the room in which a newborn baby, named Kayleuetski, was sleeping. Kayleuetski had only lived for one day so far, but Robyn didn't care. At that moment, all that Robyn really cared about was getting rid of the child.

Robyn had only just entered Kayleuetski's bedroom when she felt a hand grab her shoulder firmly. Robyn turned her head and found herself facing a tall, thin woman with short, red hair, who she instantly recognised as Lucy, another woman who was present when Kayleuetski was born.

Robyn whipped her head back round again and sent a ball of blazing fire rushing towards the small child sleeping in the room. The fire was extinguished and evaporated into nothing not long before it reached Kayleuetski.

"What do you think you're doing?!" came Lucy's soft yet intimidating voice out of the darkness. Robyn ignored her. Her only thoughts were to rid the world of Kayleuetski and get it over with. She would be loathed for it, she knew it, but she felt it had to be done.

Robyn was about to send another ball of flame towards Kayleuetski, but her concentration was broken by a sudden freezing sensation on her own back. Now that Lucy had seen Robyn's intentions, she felt that they had to be stopped. Whether Robyn ended up dead or alive didn't matter in the least to Lucy. Lucy knew she had to protect Kayleuetski at all costs.

Soon enough, there was a silent but horrid magical battle between the two women, each one doing what she thought was right.

Lucy thought it might be easier if she simply teleported Robyn to the Mortal World, so she tried to do so using her magic. But a piercing light created by Robyn distracted her, so Lucy's magic misfired and, to Lucy's horror, hit Kayleuetski.

Kayleuetski's bed seemed menacingly empty for the rest of that night.

Prologue- The Prophecy

"I, the Great Dragon, settled down to sleep. My eyelids closed and I found myself having a dream.

"But it didn't seem like a dream. It seemed more like a vision. In it, there was a child born to right the wrong and defend the world from evil.

"I wondered if this dream- or vision- was meant to mean anything. After all, I have had many dreams and visions which have come true.

"The dream lasted for ages. I could now visualise the child's face. She was a girl who didn't seem calm, though in my dream she did some remarkably brave things.

"When I woke up in the morning, I still remembered the dream with perfect clarity..."