Journey to Rainbow Island

Christie Hsiao

BENBELLA BOOKS, INC.

DALLAS, TX

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2013 by Christie Hsiao

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

BenBella Books, Inc.

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www.benbellabooks.com

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First e-book edition: November 2013

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Hsiao, Christie.

Journey to Rainbow Island / Christie Hsiao.

pages cm

Summary: When her idyllic life on Rainbow Island is destroyed by the dragon, Obsidigon, Yu-ning must embark on a dangerous journey, guided by her master teacher, Metatron, in hopes of overcoming the darkness attacking her home and also the scars of sadness marking her own heart.

ISBN 978-1-939529-24-4 (hardback)—ISBN 978-1-939529-28-2 (electronic) [1. Fantasy. 2. Self-reliance—Fiction. 3. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. 4. Dragons—Fiction. 5. Islands—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.H85618Jou 2013

[Fic]--dc23

2013027275

Editing by Kyle Duncan

Copyediting by Annie Gottlieb

Proofreading by Michael Fedison and Amy Zarkos

Cover and interior illustrations by Ralph Voltz,
www.ralphvoltz.com

Cover design by Sarah Dombrowsky

Text design and composition by Publishers' Design and Production Services, Inc.

Printed by Bang Printing

Distributed by Perseus Distribution

www.perseusdistribution.com

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Significant discounts for bulk sales are available. Please contact Glenn Yeffeth at
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or (214) 750-3628.

To the light, to the children, and to all the
beautiful beings in the world . . .
And to the infinite love that we all are.

Contents

ONE:
  
Conjured

TWO:
  
Home

THREE:
  
Destruction

FOUR:
  
Aftermath

FIVE:
  
Departure

SIX:
  
Storm

SEVEN:
  
Tower

EIGHT:
  
Anteroom

NINE:
  
Balthazar

TEN:
  
Hunter

ELEVEN:
  
Forest

TWELVE:
  
Cottage

THIRTEEN:
  
Baggul

FOURTEEN:
  
Lightcaster

FIFTEEN:
  
Darqendia

SIXTEEN:
  
Factory

SEVENTEEN:
  
Hearts

EIGHTEEN:
  
Minkaro

NINETEEN:
  
School

TWENTY:
  
Suparna

TWENTY-ONE:
  
Confrontation

TWENTY-TWO:
  
Ship

TWENTY-THREE:
  
Visitor

TWENTY-FOUR:
  
Vortex

TWENTY-FIVE:
  
Escape

TWENTY-SIX:
  
Farcara

TWENTY-SEVEN:
  
Mountain

TWENTY-EIGHT:
  
Quiver

TWENTY-NINE:
  
Sharks

THIRTY:
  
Tunzai

THIRTY-ONE:
  
Hobaling

THIRTY-TWO:
  
Butterflies

THIRTY-THREE:
  
Empress

THIRTY-FOUR:
  
Nest

About the Author

T
HOUGH IT WAS DAY
, it was quite dark, with no sun in the slate grey sky. The ocean was all froth and rage. The wind and rain slammed against the waves as the elements crashed against one another with violent fury. In the distance was an enormous mass of rock—a desolate grey island alone in a vast ocean. Waves crashed against steep, treacherous cliffs. There were no beaches or bays—just walls of rock and cliff surrounding the entire island. High on a bluff, a dark opening could be seen: a cave. Inside was a strange dwelling, full of old scrolls, bones, books, and items of enchantment. It was the dwelling of a sorcerer.

Inside the cave a bent figure waved his arms about him slowly, from side to side, hands whipping to and fro, front to back, back to front. The man seemed neither young nor old, but mysteriously ageless. His eyes were pale—the color of moonlight on a cold winter's night. He was tall and thin as death, with dark robes draped across his bony shoulders.
The light of a nearby fire danced off his shaved head, his skin nearly as pale as his eyes. He was in a trance. Over a large murky pool before him, arms outstretched, he held a huge skull—the skull of a long-dead creature. Though you wouldn't know to look at it, the skull was a very rare specimen, belonging to a race of dragons long thought erased from the face of the world.

The pale-eyed sorcerer lowered the skull into the water, and immediately the dark, still surface began to roil and turn as smoke rose from the inky waters. The roiling turned to violent crashing as waves of water spouted upward; and soon, out of the angry black liquid the outline of a dark, scaled head rose slowly. A pale yellow eye appeared, followed by a long, hard-scaled neck. It was indeed a
Darq
creature—a black dragon. And it was the first of its kind to rise from dark waters in 100 years.

The man smiled, closed his eyes; his hands stopped their macabre, slow beating, and rose in front of him. His creation at last was born. The creature continued to rise from the water and stepped onto the floor of the sorcerer's dwelling, dark water pouring from its body onto the hard, smooth surface of the grotto. The sorcerer stood before the creature, took its enormous head in his hands, and whispered an indecipherable incantation into the black creature's ear. The dragon pulled back, stared into the man's eyes, and, ever so slightly, nodded its head in recognition.

The creature ambled toward the entrance of the cave and moved to the precipice of the cliff. It beat its massive leathered wings three times and took flight into the dusky sky. It rose higher and higher into the stormy elements, racing through
cloud and rain. Lightning flashed intermittently, revealing rock-hard, obsidian black scales as it flew into the coming night. Its blackness merged with the ever-darkening sky, a black shadow that blended into the young, violent night.