"No this is Aipotu…"

Megan awoke to a radiant light filling her eyes. She had to blink several times to clear her vision to see that she was not in the garden any longer but a white open aired room, its ceiling so high you couldn’t see the top. Something cold but gentle nuzzled shoulder, looking up Megan saw that it was the tin horse. The creature whinnied and pawed the ground with its hooves. Megan weakly reached to pat it on the nose, thanking it for saving her life, it turned and jerked its head showing Megan a large white building with golden doors. Standing next to the doors were two large men with six arms apiece. Megan looked at them in awe each was as decorticated as a Christmas tree with vibrant ribbons and metals that shone like stars against their black uniforms. One of the guards spoke at seeing Megan’s stirring,

“The girl is awake…” He walked over to Megan and offered her the middle set of his hands. Megan took them and eased herself up her head throbbing.

“Thank you…But where am I?” Both guards stood at attention and in unison mechanical tones,

“The Grand Hall located in the center of the kingdom of Aipotu under the rule of Queen Sera Brinly Uriel until her son Prince Laramie Vladimir Uriel is of age.” At the end of this they both clicked their heels together and crossed all their arms into X’s left over right in what Megan took to be a salute. They sharply dropped their arms the one that helped Megan up walked back over to the door.

“Everyone has been waiting for you, how shall we announce you and your friend?” Megan was too baffled from all the questions reeling around in her head that she couldn’t pick just one to ask.

“Megan Brighid and the tin horse…” Her reply came in a whisper, but the guard’s nodded and opened the doors calling,

“Megan the Brighid and Tin Horse.” Megan walked over to correct them but the inside of the grand hall made her breath stick in her lungs. This was the ballroom she had danced with the winged boy in so many of her dreams. It was just as she remembered. Everything was made of the purest white and gold, there were golden candleholders that reached the grand hall’s ceiling and chandeliers holding hundreds of candles these weren’t lit right now for sunlight streamed in through large arched windows that made up the right wall of the room. The ceiling was painted to look like the morning sky when the sun just began to peek out over the horizon. Inside this hall was a large group of dancers that had abruptly stopped their steps to look at the new arrivals. Megan looked at them seeing that not many of them looked to be human.

As Megan and Tin Horse entered the grand hall a hush fell upon a sea of peoples and creatures. There were so many types of things both living and inanimate Megan had never seen before, a whole set of Grandpa Dougal’s encyclopedias couldn’t cover a forth of them and every eye was fallowing her and her metal companion. Megan’s own eyes swept across the room trying to take in each and every inch of the scene before her, but it made her already aching head dizzy. The gathering parted to make a path for them to pass. The only sounds were that of Megan’s pounding heart, and the metallic clomps of Tin Horse’s rusted hooves, these were slowly broken by what could perhaps pass as whispers, or gasps she wasn’t sure. The murmurs had started at the sides of the room and traveled to the center nipping right that Megan’s heels. She finally made it to the front of the room to the base of a wide half moon of twelve white pearl steps, upon these steps where two rows of peoples and creatures, two on every other step making a total of twelve. Megan couldn’t see who was at the top of the steps if anyone, for a large mesh curtain of white trimmed with gold masked where she assumed she was meant to go.

On the first step to Megan’s right was an elephant covered in a mosaic of colors and patterns, from pinks, yellows, and blues, to flowers, paisley, stripes, and old scrolls of intricate calligraphy. This noble beast sat up on its hunches, at Megan’s passing it gave a wise nod its hued ears bobbing. To Megan’s left was a five-foot frog with six muddy eyes set in a neat row, its lashes were curled, and its lips were painted ruby red with a diamond frosting. It wore a large sopping wet ball gown of flower petal pink woven with gold. Upon its head was a braid of golden strains simulating hair. The frog misted itself with perfumed water from a large gem encrusted bottle to keep from drying out; a large scented puddle was made from the water dripping off the hem of its dress. As Megan passed each of the six eyes blinked in turn. As she climbed to the top of the steps each creature grew stranger then the last. So distracted by the wonders beside her she didn’t notice that when she reached the top of the steps the curtain had been drawn to reveal a heap of satin pillows creating a makeshift throne with a platinum haired woman sitting upon the top of them.

The woman spoke with a voice that sounded as if it were made of silver bells. Such a voice could only come from an angel Megan thought. She turned and put her hand to her mouth for the woman that stood before her was of such magnificent beauty that Megan was at a loss for words. The woman seemed to be glowing from within and her smile could melt the thickest of winter’s frost. But that wasn’t the most wonderful thing about this loveliness before Megan; on the woman’s back was a large set of pallid angel wings. At this Megan found the courage to speak,

“So this is heaven…?” Megan asked breathless. The woman looked at her with a sweet smile and in her ringing voice replied,

“No this is Aipotu…” Megan looked confused,

“That’s what the guards told me… I’m not very religious, but I am sure I have never heard of Aipotu before…Is it anything like purgatory?” With this a few chuckles went around the hall. The woman laughed and shook her head,

“Dear you’re not dead; Tin Horse saved you in a valiant battle. This is my kingdom, and no I am not an Angel as you think them to be.” Megan was glad the woman explained that before she had to ask another silly question, the guards had told her this was a kingdom but she had been too awestruck to remember that in time.

“Come with me Megan the Brighid, I have much to tell you and no time in which to do so.” With a long slender hand the queen beckoned Megan to follow her, leading the girl behind her pillow throne to a small and very plain door compared to the rest of the grand hall. Inside of the door was another opened aired room but this one was much smaller. It reminded Megan of Greek temples with its arches and pillars. In the middle of the room was another stack of pillows, but this was on an island surrounded by a pond of crystal clear water still as glass.

“Excuses me your…Majesty…. But I don’t quite understand how and what this all is…You see, I dreamed of this place many times before but…That’s it I must be dreaming again…” The queen shook her head,

“You’re not dreaming, this is all real, yes you have dreamed of this kingdom many times for it is your home and one always dreams of their home when away from it.” Megan looked to the floor in a quite voice she confessed,

“I don’t have a home or parents; they left me on Grandpa Dougal’s doorstep…” The queen’s eyes flashed in a moment of disbelief.

“He told you that… He said such abominations against the Light Barriers? They loved you with all their hearts and never would have left you to live with him. He has been lying to you all these years.” Megan shook her head in disbelief, Grandpa Dougal may have not been the kindness of guardians but he had been the only one she had.

“Look into the pond and see the truth…”Megan looked to the pond and its surface no longer mirrored the room about them but a dark figure surrounded by dark clouds that were engulfing the grand hall. This dark figure was Grandpa Dougal sending out the same blue lighting at two other figures cowering on the floor. These were a man and a woman; the woman had Megan’s hair and figure, the man her eyes that were now filled with fear. The woman held a basket in her arms filled with rags. They ran for their lives as Megan had, but the woman tripped a silent scream on her lips. The basket flew across the room, the man scrambled for it but one of the lighting bolts hit him and sent him to the floor dead. The woman stood and limping tried to reach the basket, but to no avail she too was struck down with a bolt. Grandpa Dougal smirked and made his way to the basket lifting it he moved the rags aside revealing little Megan. The pond’s image cleared and Megan could see her present self reflected in its depts.

“Megan the Brighid, Grandpa Dougal as you know him is a lie. He is truly a dark and evil man, a wizard to be precise. In Aipotu he is know as Dark Stranger and nothing else. For many years he has tried to take over my kingdom, that day was what we hoped to be the last of the battles. But it was a massacre; many lost their lives including my husband the king and your parents. Your parents and my husband were the only ones who could stop the Dark Stranger. He knew this so he destroyed them. They had the light that could drive away the dark. You Megan the Brighid also have that light, that is why he tried to destroy you as well…But he couldn’t because you are much too pure…Here look again and you will see…” The queen pointed to her pond again, this time the scene was in Grandpa Dougal’s study.

Everything was the same as tonight save there was no pet carrier. Grandpa Dougal held Megan high over the fire in the middle of his room, but it didn’t burn red it was black as midnight. He was chanting something but no sound came from the pond. Suddenly he threw Megan into the fire as he had the cat Megan would have hid her face from this terrible image if she hadn’t know that child was her. Unlike the cat, the baby’s body didn’t burn; it instead gave off beaming rays of light that flashed grater then the sun driving off all the darkness from the room. After the light dimmed Grandpa Dougal was to be seen crumbled on the floor shielding his eyes. He stood in disbelief and a silent rage over took him. Hastily he scooped up Megan and shoved her back into the basket. The image faded once again.

“I don’t understand…” Megan turned to the queen, she nodded and began too explain.

“Megan, your family was and you are light barriers, that is what your name means, Megan the light barrier. Your inner light, your magic, helps even out the darkness of such people as the Dark Stranger. With out you he’d be able to take over our world, even others, and have evil rule.” The queen paused and walked out the door they had come in. When she returned Tin Horse and a boy followed. Megan gasped for a countless time that day; the boy standing next to Tin Horse was the boy from her dreams. She could never forget his kind blue eyes and gentle smile or his proud stance that was ready for anything and upon his back were wings just as glorious as his mother’s but he himself did not glow. He gave a deep bow,

“Megan the Brighid it is an honor to meet you. I am prince Laramie Vladimir Uriel; my mother has asked me to explain the rest of this to you.” Megan only nodded, this was all so strange to her and yet it all made perfect sense and for once in her life Megan felt as if she were home. The queen sat on her pillows and let her son speak.

“Our kingdom, our home, and yes it is yours as well, has been threaten by the Dark Stranger since before I can even remember. He killed not only your parents but also my father upon that night he kidnapped you and you were lost to us. Until today, night where you were, and that was because Dougal used his magic outside of his house to try and kill you, fortunately the spell hit Tin Horse instead. For a death spell has an opposite effect on things that have no life to begin with, it gives them one. Tin Horse in turn saved you for your goodness to him those many times in the garden. He says he’s sorry for knocking you over, he didn’t mean for that to happen. But after he drove Grandpa Dougal, as you two call him, back into the house he took you upon his back and brought you here.” Tin Horse stomped the ground and for the first time since it had come to life Megan got a good look at him, he was still very much metal and rusted, but there was a spirit inside that rusted hide and it shone out like a beckon from its dark brown glass eyes. Megan smiled at Tin Horse then turned to the boy and his mother,

“But I still don’t quite understand…” She trailed off and the mother spoke.

“Megan you are the one who can save our world…The only one, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t receive help. Tin Horse and my son will go with you, and along the way you will find those who will be more then happy to lend a hand. Megan, will you go on this journey? It will be long and perilous but it is the only way, please think about it.” But Megan didn’t have to think about it, she knew in her heart that this was what she was meant to do, this was her place in the world, or any where for that matter.

“Yes, I will.” The queen smiled and stood walking over to Megan she placed her hands on the girl’s shoulders.

“Megan you are very brave and pure hearted these tings will serve you well. You will not leave tonight, we will have everything prepared for you until then I suggest you join the ball, it is in your honor.” The prince offered Megan his arm and led her down the steps that were now empty, his mother fallowed and called for attention.

“Megan the Brighid has agreed to help us.” A mixture of cheers rang though the air and a jubilant song drifted to Megan’s ears as the prince and she made their way through the crowd. Megan felt a wave of nausea sweep over her, this happened at times when she had déjà vu, so she sat on a bench set up near the wall. The prince looked at her concern in his eyes,

“Are you alright?” Megan nodded when she remembered the dream this was what had happened her dream about the ball. After Megan looked to be feeling better the boy offered his hand to Megan, a coaxing smile on his lips. Taking her hand he started to lead her out onto the ballroom floor.

“Dance with me.” Megan shook her head ‘no’. But this time it wasn’t about her not being able to dance or her nightdress, she wanted to be ready for Grandpa Dougal when he came. She stood watching the door,

“He’s coming, I know it.” The Prince nodded and watched the door with her, they waited for some time but when it seemed that Megan had been wrong they looked once more over at the door and there stood Grandpa Dougal dressed all in black, and a gust of wind rushed thought the hall puffing out all of the candles. The only light came from his staff that gave off a dark eerie light. Megan waited for the words that she knew would come next,

“Megan the Brighid! I have come to finish what I have started.” Just as in the dream he glided at the prince and herself but when he took her in his arms she yelled.

“Don’t turn your back on him…” He took her advance and this time he was saved. He was able to doge the spell and make it out the window with Megan in his arms. He set her on the ground and after then Tin Horse leapt from the window crashing to the earth denting his hooves but other then that he was fine. Shrieks of terror and rage came from the ballroom above. The prince lifted Megan and set her a top of Tin Horse,

“We have to leave now…My mother will be able to help the others…” Megan shook her head in protest,

“No we can’t leave them like this…” Before she could finish He cut her off,

“We must, it isn’t your time to fight…The day will come but you are not ready yet.” She knew he was right and with that Tin Horse took off at a gallop with the Boy fallowing in his flight. After what seemed to be ages they stopped by a little brook that ran outside the edge of some woods. They stopped to rest none of them made a sound as they settled down with nothing but the night sky to cover them and slept each knowing that they had to start this journey without anything but the clothes on them, and the rust in Tin Horse’s case. In the morning they set off with no words at all only the determination in their hearts.