The Birthday Adventure

      It was a nice day in Neopia. Melody woke up. It was her birthday today. She ran to the living room. No gifts under the palmtree, no special things in the room. Yes, a palmtree, inside the house. It was weird, but it could live here. Probably some kind Neopian made it suitable for a room. Melody also wondered where Lisanne was. Was she in town again, looking for something? Melody ran outside and walked down the garden through the snow. The snow had fallen down that night and froze Melodys’ legs. This wasn’t what she expected. Why didn’t they have a normal birthday, one with friends and family and nice food and gifts and everything else? Why did her owner just go on her birthday? Did she forget what day it was?

      Luckily though, Lisanne came back after an hour. She asked her pets to come to the living room. She wanted to surprise them. They needed to close their eyes. Lisanne walked around them.

      When she told them to open their eyes, they did. Melody let out a scream of excitement. There were gifts under the palmtree, garlands hanging down from the window and from the ceiling, lights hung all over the room. They celebrated the whole day. Melody got a nice dress to wear and a puppet to play with. That night, they went to Faerieland to see the annual fireworks. Melody saw her Uni friends. She asked them about their days. They all did different things.

      One was in town all day to shop, chat with friends and to dance together. The other one had been to a friend far away. They had so much to talk about. There wasn’t enough time to say everything. So Melody said goodbye and walked to her owner. Before the fireworks, they needed to see a friend. She was a nice Meerca who always made jokes.

      She told Lisanne and her pets nice birthday jokes. She said that there was a legend, in which a dragon was captured in a cave. Every year, at this day, the dragon would escape and cause bad things to people around the cave. This dragon needed to be stopped before the fireworks started. This dragon should be hiding in Terror Mountain, in the same cave as the Snowager. This was a reason to go on adventure. Melody would go to Terror Mountain and make sure the dragon was stopped. She asked one of her Uni friends, Selia, to come with her. She wanted to see if the legend was true so they went together. They didn’t know that it was, and that the dragon was a really dangerous creature. When they arrived in Terror Mountain, they wore warm clothes. The wind was blowing. They walked into the cave, with freezing paws and faces. It was like the wind was trying to prevent their entrance into the cave. The nearer they came, the harder it was blowing. Selia was in the cave first. She urged Melody to follow quickly as the climate inside the cave was much better than outside. Melody followed, struggling to walk in the big mass of snow in front of the cave.

      If this dragon was dangerous, they might not make it out again. Not something you’d like to think about. There was no wind in the cave, it was actually warm in there. Now, where does the Snowager live? And what to do if the Snowager was awake? He would hurt them. That would reduce their chances to win against the dragon. What would the dragon be like? Would he be big and ugly? Or was he nice and pink and girly?

      Selia pointed at a black entrance to a small cave. That was probably the Snowagers hiding place. It gave them the creeps, it was a good place to hide a treasure that should not be found. They were hoping the Snowager would be asleep so they could go find the dragon and get out of there.

      They began to whisper from now on. They didn’t want to wake the Snowager. They wanted to do this without making any noise. As quiet as mice. The cave was really dark. They closed their eyes a little. They could see more of the cave that way. Sometimes they saw lights coming from far away. Lights that went on and off all the time. What was going on here? After a walk that seemed to take hours, they finally came into a large room with candles on the sides. In the middle of the room, Snowager was guarding a pile of treasure. He was awake. He turned towards the two girls and asked them what they were doing there. Melody and Selia told them about the legend their Meerca friend told them about. The Snowager nodded and closed his eyes trying to recall if he ever heard of this legend. He explained to the girls that he hears about the dragon but has never seen this creature with his own eyes. He usually sleeps during the fireworks. Then he gave them permission to look for the dragons den, as long as they would not steal his treasures. Melody promised him that they wouldn't steal anything. After the Snowager warned them that he would keep an eye on them, they continued exploring the cave.

      Nothing seemed to be there while they were walking further along the cave. Maybe it was a mistake to go here. It was just a legend, it wasn’t true. But then something did happen unexpectedly. A scream was heard. It was loud and angry. Selia and Melody stopped walking. What just happened?

      A huge Draik was flying to the cave, screaming. This Draik wanted to destroy Neopia. He wanted to destroy the people that captured him. He didn’t like the caves at all. It was dark and cold in here. He wanted to go back to his friends and family. He didn’t do anything wrong. He came flying towards the two girls. He screamed again that he would succeed in his pursuit this time.

      Selia asked what he wanted to succeed in. The Draik turned around and gave her an angry look. He wanted to make justice happen for the people that locked him in this cave. He was wrongfully accused and did not hurt anybody. He did not deserve to be locked up here. Melody told him that instead of hurting innocent people, he should only blame the person who left him here. Then she offered him her help. After confirming the girls were genuinely willing to help, the Draik sat down before them. He explained that nobody has ever been so nice to him. Everyone was afraid of him and thought he was a monster. After all these years in the caves, he was starting to believe he actually was a monster. Selia told him that he could be a nice Draik and change people’s minds. Then she asked him whether he knew the person who did this to him. After telling them his name, Drainar, he told them the guy lived on Mystery Island working as a hero who saved people from dragons. However, he was chasing and capturing innocent dragons. Not all Draiks do bad things.

      They left the Ice Caves and headed to Mystery Island, to the house of Drainar. It was here that the hero made his home. They landed in front of a huge house where a lot of Neopets and owners could live in. Selia knocked on the door. A man opened and asked whether they were bothered by dragons and were in need of his help. Selia explained to him that they did not require help but that they heard he caught innocent dragons, including Drainar. The man turned toward the Draik and shouted that he escaped and was a very dangerous creature and fooling the girls. Melody stood before Drainar and stared furiously at the hero before her. Drainar was not fooling anyone, he was. The hero told her not to shout and move away from the dangerous Drainar. Melody did not move at all. She would prove him otherwise.

      Therefore, Selia and Melody organized a game, they asked all the Neopians to come. And they came, owners and Neopets. The Defenders of Neopia were there too. If it was true that the dragon hero was lying about the dragons, he would be captured. All the Draiks would be set free, all the Draiks that had been captured innocently. Selia asked for silence. She asked the dragon to do nice things. The Draik gave presents, he flew around the island with Selia or Melody on his back. He did this all without hesitation. He smiled all the time. The dragon hero told Selia that Draiks would do bad things when they saw a red towel. He showed a red towel to the Draik. If the towel would make Drainar angry and he would attack people he should be captured and they should leave him alone. Drainar was angry, but not because of the towel. He grabbed the towel from the hero’s hands and handed it over to Melody.

      The people were happy. Drainar was a really nice guy; he helped others and cared for the two girls that had helped him. The dragon hero was captured by the Defenders of Neopia, nobody heard from him ever again. The girls were rewarded for saving the Draiks. The Draik from the cave brought them back to Faerieland. He watched the fireworks with them. It was the best birthday ever.

      The End.