The birds were chirping outside June’s windows, interrupting her beauty sleep in the worst possible way. She went to bed late the night before, so focused on writing in her new diary that she didn’t catch the time until it was too late. So, to her, nine in the morning was far too early to be awaken in a Sunday day.

June stretched and moaned with her eyes still closed. The sun was getting too bright, another thing that was bound to interrupt her rest at some point.

She was sure of having closed the curtains before going to bed the previous night, but maybe she forgot.

With a loud yawn, June peeled her eyelids open one by one, admiring the clear sky above her. It was an exceptionally vivid design, one that she didn’t remember having in her room.

June sat brusquely on the bed, ignoring the slight dizziness the movement caused, and her jaw went slack.

“What the actual fudge?!” she screamed.

Her room had gone missing. All of it was gone. The furniture, the bed, the Britney Spears posters, the freaking walls; all banished into nothing.

She looked around her, taking in the clear green grass that served as her bed. The shade of a willow protected her from the unforgivable sun that shined above and the grass brushed her palms with tickling strokes, tearing a small giggle off of her throat.

The throaty sound startled her for a moment, raising goosebumps on her skin. It didn’t sound like her at all, but the sound came from her.

The view around her was beautiful and captivating. And even the small poodle by her right was clean and crystallin, as if it were a flowing river instead a muddy hole accumulating water. So clean that it could serve as mirror…

June screamed again, this time louder.

She was a man! The chestnut strands, shortly trimmed closed to her scalp, and the crooked long nose and sharp masculine features that reflected back at her were the prove of it.

She must have been dreaming. It all was just a dream.

No, it was a nightmare. She wouldn’t look that ugly if it were a simple dream.

A grave roar filled the air, startling June into a standing position. She looked around the willow, following the sound, and found a high silver cage trapping a blue scaled… dragon?

Didn’t she write this just the night before?

Yes, she did. Apparently, she was dreaming of her own story.

Oh, right. The main character was a boy. It was the first time she used a boy as her protagonist. It would be the last time, too.

June walked confidently to the red eyed beast. If it was the same dragon as in her story, this one would be harmless and friendly.

“Hello, Dragon? Are you all right?”

«Really June? You’re asking a dragon for his wellbeing. »

“Human,” the dragon hissed, his sharp teeth showing with the action.

“Maybe not so friendly,” mumbled June before plastering a radiant smile on her face —or his face, if she was being accurate. “Would you like my help to get out of this cage?”

“Your help? Why would I want the help of the man who entrapped me?”

“The man who… oh, right. I did that. Isn’t that splendid?!”

“Are you trying to trick me again, human?” The dragon crawled closer to the cage, the large claws at his feet scratched the floor with a horrible sound. “Isn’t having me imprisoned and at your mercy enough for you?”

“No-n-no. You see, this all a misunderstanding. I promise you I intend no harm. I’m just a witch who’s having a very strange nightmare. That’s all.”

“Witch?” The dragon laughed mockingly. “You think me a fool, human? You are a creature hunter, a man thirsty for magic and invidious of those who have it. A slayer of beasts. You are no witch.”

“I am! I promise.” June hesitated, doubtful of telling the dragon the truth. “Maybe not in your world, but I am in the real life. You see… this isn’t really happening. It’s all part of a dream. In real life, I’m not really this creature hunter you talk about, I’m an Elemental Earth Witch in the Lenac Conclave.”

The dragon tilted his head, the movement scary and intimidating.

“I’ll pretend I believe you, witch. And if you set me free from this prison, I will help you go home. All you have to do is decipher the writing in the cage padlock so it would open.”

June raised an eyebrow. She was doubtful of the dragon’s intentions, but what did she had to lose? It was a dream after all.

She grabbed the heavy padlock in her hands. The metal lock was two times the side of her palms, and she could barely hold it with both hands.

The writing was almost illegible under the light of the sun, but with the shade of her body covering it, she managed to decipher the words.

I am as easiest as I can be.
I am what you answer.
It’s all I could ever be.

June stared dumbly at the riddle, and not precisely for it being hard. After all, it was a riddle she learned in kindergarten, and it pretty much answered itself.

“The answer. That’s it!”

And with those words the padlock opened in her hands and the cage disappeared into nothingness.

The dragon flied above, thundering from the high sky: “Thank you, human.”

A black portal framed in thorns appeared at June’s right.

“This should take you home.” The dragon inclined his head in farewell before getting lost in the distance.

June didn’t waste any time and crossed the vailed portal in a hurry, scraping her arm with one of the sharp thorns.

And as she reached her room, disoriented, and confused, watching a drop of blood run from her arm to the carpeted floor; June realized something.

She wasn’t really dreaming.

• • •

A/N

Not my best, but my brain have been in war with me for the last few days, refusing to cooperate unless I do as he says.
Sorry, Cerebro, but I don't summit to terrorist demands.