Jade And Fire

• Dalena Pangna, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2007

Jade and fire will bring peace.
I chewed on my lip, wondering what to do now, stretching the silk cloth as far as I could, staring at the words mindlessly as if it were a patch of nothing.
It was grandfather’s one thousandth birthday when it happened, mind you, he says he still feels young and frisky while I’m only one hundred and sixty four and I feel as ancient as a giant turtle. After going to my usual class at ‘Dragon Pearl Education Centre’ I decided to go the long way home through the mountains instead of the wooden track which I usually travel back by.
Now, I had just learnt to morph into object and creatures but anything I morphed into always had a small resemblance to myself (possibly leaving me with the same colour or texture) and creatures were harder to morph into than still objects. So I decided to have a bit of fun and practise. I stared at a tree and used my energy to concentrate and morph but when I finished one of the branches looked like part of my tail so I decided I needed more practise.
Suddenly a beautiful butterfly glided gracefully out of a tree hollow. One of its wings was a creamy jade colour, the most important mineral to dragons, while the other was a fiery red that dazzled my eyes. Both wings looked torn and were dripping in red blood.
The butterfly flew around my head seeming to beckon me to follow it. It led me to a tree, “This tree isn’t so unusual,” I thought. That was when I noticed a piece of silk hanging from the tree.....
Now here I am stuck in Gui Hun Forest. The trees have grown over the old cemetery which was built in honour of all the brave warriors who died in the Great War of Fire and Jade that lasted a whole century. No one knows who actually won, Phoenix or Dragon, because it happened millions of years ago and we haven’t seen any phoenixes around since, well, at least the oldest generation of dragons alive haven’t. No one goes to Gui Hun Forest anymore because it is believed that the forest is haunted.
I thought I saw a glimpse of a rainbow and then I heard a rustle of leaves. I closed my eyes counting to ten and then back to try to calm myself down. If you’re in Gui Hun Forest alone, things like a rustle of leaves can make you want to go home. Suddenly a magnificent bird flew out of no where. It was shimmering with sparking feathers of jade green and fiery red.
Surprisingly it spoke, “You and I will be the ones to bring peace to Phoenix and Dragon.”
It was clear I was the jade and the fire was the phoenix. Suddenly my body glowed and parts of my body became red with fire.
No, this was not the end. It was just the beginning.