Dreams by Dayna and Lauren (reading comprehension books txt) 📖

Chapter 1

Moonbeams danced off the surface of the water, scattering the rays and breaking them up into a thousand glittering shards. Waves pounded up against the rocks, shooting jets of spray in all directions.
It was a small little beach, closed in by the water greedily lapping at its shores and a dense tropical forest behind it. Palm trees dotted the border before quickly converting into huge exotic trees and dense undergrowth. The beach was mainly a long stretch of white sand extending until it met the trees—with the exception for a rocky outcrop hanging precariously over the sea that was constantly being buffeted by the wind and the waves.
Standing boldly on this platform was a silver wolf with windswept fur, a slight frown etched onto her features. She gazed wistfully out at the ocean, its broad expanse seemingly stretching on until the end of time, with no sign of land in the distance. Her frown deepened, and suddenly a fierce wind rose up, beating violently against the unstable overhang; several rocks abruptly broke free and crashed into the raging waters below. She didn’t even seem to notice as the wind thrashed and writhed beside her, and it left as quickly as it came, whispering softly through the trees.
The wolf’s liquid blue eyes slowly drifted to the east, and she was startled to see that a faint pinkish tinge was creeping over the horizon. Dawn already? She sighed. Time was passing so quickly nowadays. She threw her head back and gazed sadly at the moon. Night had always been her favorite time of day, and every morning she felt a strange feeling of remorse. If only she had the power to control time; she’d make it dark constantly, and she grinned at the thought as a light breeze began to gently tousle her fur.

Pinch! Fanyare’s head jerked up instinctively as a sharp pain shot up his sensitive nose. Although his emerald eyes were wide open, his eyelids dropped with the lingering effects of sleep. Two paws draped over the tree limb he had been resting on, as though he were hugging it.
“You fell asleep on the entrance of my home yet again,” a voice said exasperatedly. A metallic beetle who’s shell reflected prisms of multicolored light sat by Fanyare’s paw. A long, powerful, horn-like pincher, the thing guilty of pinching Fanyare’s nose, protruded from its forehead.
“Sorry,” Fanyare apologized, rising to his feet, nose smarting. Shaking its horned head, the beetle dived down into a dark hole where Fanyare’s paw had just been resting.
Fanyare sank into a satisfying stretch, jaw opening into a wide yawn that revealed a mouth full of glistening, dagger-like pearly whites. He stood on a thick branch that stretched out like the supporting arm of a friend from the ancient trunk of a tropical tree whose name he did not know. The colors of the surrounding trees and the exotic plants at their bases were slowly coming into sharper focus; it was dawn. There was no use going back to sleep.
The wolf stood tall and erect on the branch, eyes fixed on a random point in the distance. Thick black fur that looked to have been colored with a dye made from a starless night sky covered his form from head to clawed toe. All except his chest and stomach, which were a pure, flawless white.

Far off in a distant, hidden away part of Dreamworld, a pulsing sphere protected by layers of indestructible, magical defenses hung suspended over a clawed stand. Its light was so immensely bright that if any mortal creature had the misfortune to look upon it their eyes would have immediately gone dark. This was the heart and soul of Dreamworld, the very thing that kept the realm alive.
Suddenly there was a sinister disturbance. A flash of red lightning streaked across its glittering surface, crackling in manic delight as it went. The Eye quivered as though in pain, and then the streak was gone. The sphere went on pulsing as though nothing had happened, but inside it had been wounded greatly.

One by one the twinkling stars, each tiny prick of light intriguing and mysterious, were slowly winking out, and each one that vanished left the she-wolf whimpering with anguish. The sun was tentatively hovering just below the horizon, gathering itself to break through its dark prison.
Seeing this, she turned and leapt gracefully from her perch, landing with a soft thud on the sand. She ran the length of the small beach, paws sinking into the miniscule crystals and pulling free with an almost inaudible squelch. She darted into the undergrowth, becoming no more than a streak of silver as she raced by, almost floating above the ground.
She finally skidded to a stop at the base of a gargantuan tree, its thick boughs stretching high up and brushing against the sky. She might as well try to sleep a little, although she wasn’t really sure if she could.
The she-wolf chose a large, exotic plant and nestled under its giant leaves, eyes still wide open.
After several moments of struggling to even close her eyes, she gave up in exasperation and stared straight ahead, sighing in defeat. Looks like another sleepless day, she thought wearily. She curled up into a tight ball and stayed there defiantly, hoping to coax sleep out of hiding.
A new scent was swirling in the air. Fanyare filled his nose with it, reveling at how different it was. Where was this smell coming from? It was so sweet and refreshing! His curiosity kicked in. He had to locate its source.
Changing position on the overhanging branch, Fanyare pressed his muzzle to the bark, inhaling deeply and closing his eyes in pleasure. It was so new and unfamiliar than what he was used to!
The wind wafted the scent in Fanyare’s face tantalizingly, and the wolf leapt gracefully to the ground, emerald eyes alight with the excitement of the search. He hadn’t seen a single creature other than himself or the occasional bird in months.
To his disappointment, the search did not last long. He hadn’t taken three steps before the scent overpowered him so strongly that he looked up to find himself staring into a pair of dazzlingly blue eyes.
Snorting in surprise, Fanyare inhaled a cloud of dirt and let out a violent sneeze that shook his body. He backed away embarrassedly from the silver she-wolf that lay curled under a broad leaf at the base of his tree.
“Sorry,” Fanyare apologized, sneezing once more. He backed away even further, emerald eyes locked on blue. Before anything else could be said, he turned tail and dashed off through the trees.
The she-wolf was up in an instant with the wind flying alongside her, easily keeping pace with Fanyare. She whirled around to a smooth halt in front of the wolf.
“Hey, there, what’s the hurry?” she exclaimed, peering at him curiously. “You’re one of the first creatures I’ve seen here that’s intelligent enough to talk and think for yourself. Do you honestly think I was going to just let you walk away?”
Her bell-like laugh was carried away by the wind which had suddenly picked up once again, circling peculiarly around her and Fanyare.
“Oh, by the way, it’s fine; you weren’t bothering me. I couldn’t sleep anyway… I suffer from insomnia. It can get quite irritating at times, but it’s manageable.”
Her eyes flashed mischievously as they focused on some unknown point behind Fanyare. “Hey… do you want to see something amazing?”
Without waiting for an answer, she pranced away playfully.
Fanyare had found himself skidding to a halt, sliding a little on his tail to stop himself from running head long into the silver she-wolf that had suddenly appeared in front of him. He had succeeded in spraying dirt all over her smooth coat. Great, another embarrassment.
She talked so fast! Fanyare had hardly had a chance to take in everything she’d said when she was already bounding off in another direction. He blinked, and then shook his head. His muzzle slowly pulled into a mischievous grin. She wanted to play games, did she? Well, he would just have to show her something amazing in return. He could accommodate.
Rising to all fours, tail wagging in excitement, Fanyare gazed after the silver wolf. She was a reasonable distance away now….
Without warning Fanyare appeared right in the path of the on-coming she-wolf, coming from nowhere and seeming to leap out of a deep hole. Standing proudly Fanyare stood his ground, though the wolf was only ten feet away, a wolfish grin lighting up his features as he wagged his tail and anticipated her reaction.
A broad grin crept onto her face as she drifted to a stop in front of him, paws appearing to float ever-so-slightly above the forest floor.
“Ah, I see I’m not the only one that’s special out here,” she proclaimed happily, unable to sit still. “Let’s go! This will be worth your time.”
She danced around him, nipping good-naturedly at his ear as she breezed past.
“This way!” she called, trotting fluidly forward. This was just what she needed—a break from this endless sameness.
“Hey, do you always run off before receiving an answer?” Fanyare asked, laughing, his tenor voice smooth and riveting.
Lightly pawing her cheek and snapping at the tip of her bushy tail as she swept by, Fanyare followed behind. There was a new spring to his step, paws just barely skimming the ground as he trailed the she-wolf. They had hardly just met, and already it was like they had been best friends since they were cubs. They hadn’t even exchanged names yet! Maybe it was merely due to loneliness, and the fact that neither of them had been around remotely intelligent life for a while.
Without warning the wind picked up, swirling through a break in the trees, disturbing the plant life in its wake. Fanyare felt as though he was being nudged from behind, and he abruptly stumbled over his paws. It was as if he was being gently pulled forward by invisible strings, and then he found himself bounding right alongside the silver wolf, shoulder to shoulder with her.
She laughed at his comment and jumped onto an ancient mossy log, running the length of it and bounding off again blissfully.
“It’s not far now,” she assured Fanyare. “Oh, and my name’s Chinook. You?”
He was so intriguing! As time had rolled slowly by, she had begun to think she was the only one on this lonely island who had even an inch of intelligence and common sense in her. And even better yet, he just happened to be a wolf as well! You never knew what to expect on this island, she thought shrewdly.
As they passed a crumbling boulder half-hidden in the grass, Chinook’s features lit up, her sapphire eyes aglow with excitement. A faint bluish light could be seen through the trees, pulsing methodically as if it were a giant heart. She wagged her tail furiously and pushed on even faster than before.
“How do I know I can trust you?” Fanyare growled playfully, leaping artfully up and over a low-hanging vine. He then ran at an angle across