Hidden Archives

Chapter 1

There weren’t always dragons in the valley. One morning I was strolling along the river's end near the lake. Everything was normal.Then suddenly something above me caught my attention. And in the next instant, through a tornado of fire, winged beasts came down from clouds. And they were not alone.

On them rode beings that looked just like me. They were ethereal yet powerful. And they were majestic. I was transfixed.

The dragons landed on the lake and brought their passengers to shore. The last dragon that joined the group carried a man that must’ve been the leader. They were the first to appear in the sky and remained in flight until everyone had landed safely. When he finally touched down, he waded through the shallow water and rather than making his way to the flock, he walked straight towards me.

The man was tall with tan skin and light brown hair. He reminded me of tree bark in the sunlight. He was beautiful. He grabbed my focus, especially his eyes. Even from a distance, they took my breath away. They were like pure gold. They were regal, just like his walk. It was powerful. Each of his steps were laced with grace. They were meaningful and unwavering. I stood still. I watched and waited. And when he reached where I was, he knelt and bowed before me.

I took a step back as he rose to his feet. He brought his hand over his chest and said “I am Carter. And these are my people.” He then proceeded to say “we do not mean you any harm, but we do not particularly come in peace.”

I looked at his people, then back to him and said “what planet are you from? And why are you here?”

His eyes slowly wandered over my body from head to toe. It was lazy but matter of fact. He wasn’t affected by me. He was simply studying me. He continued to say “there are many places on this earth that you are unaware of.”

What kind of place on earth could he be from?

“There are places you aren’t meant to see and maybe never will,” he said; “there are vast empires on land and in the sea. There are kingdoms in the sky and dynasties underground. This world is bigger than your maps will ever show.” He paused for a moment, looked at the sky and then down the valley while he explained, “we are from here, right above you. And our home reaches far beyond this valley. It is vast. It is hidden in the clouds.”

I had no words for what he was telling me. I should’ve been scared. But I was only amazed. I was fascinated by this unimaginable moment. We are not alone. We aren’t even the only ones on earth. It was something I could’ve never considered although it was somehow very plausible. Seeing isn’t always believing but without a doubt I could accept this. My constant curiosity peaked. As a photojournalist, I was excited. And I was newly inspired. I wanted to see the hidden gems of this planet. That’s how I chose to live my life, by exploring and telling stories.

I looked over at the people before me. I imagined myself walking over to them. I wanted to talk with them and capture their interactions on film. I was itching to see their home and show them mine, although they’ve clearly already seen mine. I thought of all the things that I could’ve said, and done, and the only thing I could muster as I glanced back at Carter was “I’m Cassidy.”

I offered my hand and smiled. He looked at it briefly then grasped it in his as he decided, “it’s a pleasure to meet you, Cassidy.”

With that he regarded me and walked back to the people behind him. In that moment, I realized that the dragons had gone. I didn’t know if they went in the water or back to the sky but only one remained. It was Carter’s. It was red with golden eyes patiently waiting by the shore. Its eyes never left Carter.

Carter walked over to where his people gathered, spoke to them, and they quietly dispersed. Then he went over to his dragon. It bowed its head, Carter met it with his, closed his eyes, and his dragon vanished. At that, I passed out. Information overload.

“Cassidy,” I stirred at the familiar sound of my name from an unfamiliar voice.

Who is calling me? I opened my eyes and looked into gold irises. I didn’t recognize his voice but his appearance was unmistakable, unforgettable.

“Carter,” I reminded myself; ““What happened?”

“You passed out after seeing Fawn camouflage.”

I closed my eyes again. “What is going on?” I asked.

I slowly reopened my eyes and looked up to where Carter sat on the grass beside me. He looked down at where I lay and said “as a kid the history was explained to me like this. Originally when the heavens and earth were formed the creator made us in their image, in likeness and ability. They wanted us to be able to manifest freely at their side. They wanted us to be able to enjoy the riches of the world with no restrictions.

However, although some could handle such a gift, all could not. And from that the creator chose to give each of us different gifts and diverse domains to enjoy and hopefully share with each other.

From that, the territories grew further apart and intermingled less but still stayed connected in some ways, except for the land. The land broke off completely, feeling that they were not given any remarkable gifts from the creator.

Consequently, when treaties were established. It was respected that this territory would be in the dark and seemingly cut off from the others. Therefore, slowly the history of the world as it was, and is, was lost and rewritten for those on land.

In the treaties the other commonwealths agreed to blend in when on land, as we travel to and through each other's territories. We occasionally visit the other dwellings to rest and enjoy. You would consider it a vacation. During these trips, however, we must still abide by our agreement to not disturb each other. We coexist. But most importantly we are never to destroy or disturb peace. Unfortunately, as a result of the land’s chosen ignorance there have been too many disturbances in the other commonwealths from their people.

In the sky we are high enough that your fireworks and planes don’t touch us. We are just below what you call outer space. And there’s a barrier keeping you all from even glimpsing at our dwelling.

The people of the sea basically live in plain sight. They all have boats so no one ever questions people coming out of the water and on to a boat. But they live so deep in the waters that you can’t see their cities.

The people underground are a story for another day but they come through tunnels and mines of all kinds effortlessly. They were the first to have issues with those on land. Land dwellers mined for treasures in the earth. The blasts shook and destroyed many parts of the intricate tunnels inside of it.

The sky is now beginning to see issues with the land. Your scientists try to reach heights beyond our planet. And without knowledge of how to do it safely, they pierce the atmosphere of our lands and the planet. It’s causing our villages to die and your land’s crop to burn.

Your officials chose to hide the existence of other groups from its own people. And when you have secrets, people get very curious. And this curiosity is leading to increasingly dangerous situations for us all.

I came here today with a small group to investigate and resolve these issues before they get too large for us to handle. Hopefully we can avoid more destruction. I’m sure the sea is thinking similarly and most likely are steps ahead of us. You all seem to destroy anything without care. Yet a commercial of a turtle will make you consider an alternative to dumping garbage and oil in the ocean." He looked at the ground pensively and then looked back to the sky.

“So where do you begin these investigations?”

“I leave that up to the guards that came with me. I am to fly to DC to meet with your officials in the morning”

“On your dragon?”

“No Fawn stays here. I plan to use this magical thing called an airplane,” he laughed

“I just thought…”

“I know. I was teasing. We have to blend in to keep the treaty. Your transportation is slow yet somewhat effective. It will do. If I travel around all day on a dragon, it would not remain unnoticed. You only saw us today by accident. Generally we fly into valleys unseen at particular times of the day.”

It was hard to absorb all the information that Carter told me. With what I understood I knew there was no way that I couldn’t not follow this story. I not only wanted to be apart of what Carter was doing but I needed to be there. “Can I come with you?” I asked.

“It would create too many issues if someone found out that you knew about this” was his only reply.

I had a feeling he would say that. I had to at least try and follow this the easy way. But there’s no way I would miss the chance to capture this story, to write history. I'm going to DC.