Tales of the Lorekeepers 01 - Rise of the Red Dragon

higher than his face. She was wearing brown leather armor and a white cotton skirt, with a needle-sized sword hanging from her belt. On her feet were two leather sandals and on her head rested a miniature golden crown. On her back, two wings, like those of a butterfly, were flapping rapidly.
    This place was getting stranger by the minute.
    “You know who I am?” inquired Samuel.
    “Of course I do, silly head,” answered the little flying lady. “I’m your fata! My name is Angeline.”
    “My what?”
    “Your fa … hold on a second.” Angeline’s expression changed from a warm smile to one of concern. “You don’t know what a fata is, do you?”
    “No.”
    “Dagnabbit! You’re new, are you not? It’s always the same thing! I specifically asked not to be assigned to new Keepers, but they keep doing it. Once, just once, I’d like to get someone who knows what’s expected of him for a change.”
    Samuel was not exactly sure of how to respond to the little outburst this … fata … was having.
    “I’m sorry,” was all he could come up with.
    “Oh, it’s not your fault, sweetie. I should learn to stand up for myself and speak my mind when the promotions are handed out, that’s all. Let’s just forget about it. You probably have a lot of questions, but unfortunately, time is not a luxury that we have. It appears that your arrival was delayed. That sometimes happens, but it does make things harder for everyone.”
    Angeline flew a little closer, taking Samuel’s nose between her hands, making sure she had all his attention.
    “Follow me. Let’s find somewhere quiet where we can talk for a minute. You’re the only one who can see me and we don’t want the Britons to think you’re crazy now, do we?”
    Without waiting for an answer, the little fata took off, her wings buzzing rapidly. Samuel remained motionless, in shock. He tried to take a step, but his mind was still trying to process all the information it had received since he had woken up in this strange place.
    Angeline came back like a bullet and kicked his shoulder.
    “Come on, Sammy! Stop wasting precious time!”
    A few minutes later, he was sitting on a tree stump behind a large tent, and Angeline had settled herself on a small wooden table in front of him.
    Angeline looked like a miniature version of a Valkyrie warrior. Her face was young and delicate, her hair black and silky, arranged in two fine braids behind her pointy ears. Her eyes were rather large for her size and the pupils were a glowing bright purple. Samuel thought the little fata would have been a knockout at school … if she’d been his size, of course.
    “So, you’re probably wondering where you are, right?” asked Angeline.
    “I heard the men talk about Saxons and they seem to be at war with them. Am I in England?”
    “Not quite. Well, yes, but it’s not yet the England that you know about. It is still a new kingdom, called Britain. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start at the beginning. Listen carefully, because there are a lot of things that you need to learn, and it’s a lot of information to process all at once. I’ve been doing this long enough to know that it’s better if we take it slowly and I give you the details sporadically. Don’t go thinking I’m keeping anything from you after we’re done. I only want to you assimilate what I’m saying, before I give any more facts. Got it?”
    “You’re kind of scaring me now.”
    “Well, you should be scared, but not of me. I’m your friend. In fact, I’m more than that, but I’ll tell you more about it later. See, this is what I mean. I can’t go on in all directions at once and bombard you with countless details. I have to focus on one aspect at a time, explain it to you slowly, then move on to the next one. That way, your mind won’t explode.”
    Samuel just stared at her.
    “Right,” she continued. “So, you’re not in England. Actually, you’re not even in your own world.”
    “I’m sorry, what ?” asked Samuel, a little louder than he had expected.
    “Calm down. You’re not on a distant planet or anything like that, just in a different universe. It’s nothing to be worried about, really. It’s like a parallel dimension, if that makes more sense for you.”
    It did not.
    “This world is called Metverold, the land of myths,” continued Angeline. “This is where legends and stories that make up the different folklores from your world take place. In this world, old