The Hidden Mountain Pass

You squeeze through an opening in the mountain face. Not very deep in, you could see light on the other side. You emerge onto the other side to find an area completely enclosed on all sides by sheer mountain faces. Here grew trees and flowers, and a pool off to one side. The ground was grassy and soft so you lay down on it to rest a while.

Looking up at the sky you watch the birds flying by...wait...those aren't birds!

The curious little creatures were flying around and over you. They were as intrigued by you as you were by them. You stood up and the green one pulled up short. The crystal winged one collided into the first one's back forcing it right up against you. You catch the both of them and for a moment stare into their startled faces.

When they realized that you weren't going to hurt them, they start wiggling around and chirping. They were actually very friendly creatures, and they started crawling all over to you sniff and taste you. Their little tongues tickled on your cheek and you had to make the stop. You start petting one of them, and slowly its eyes closed as the other watched from over your shoulder.

Suddenly, completely out of nowhere, came another pair. They whizzed around your head clamouring for attention as well.

The smaller one perched on your other shoulder, chattering happily into your ear. The red one hovered just behind your head, peering down at your hair.

You turn around, and grabbing the long tail, you pull it into your arms with the other one. They didn't seem to mind share so you started petting the both of them. The other two watched on with a mixture of concern for their friends and curiosity about what you were doing to them.

A shadow passing overhead drew your attention upwards. Staring down at the top of your head was a blue feathered one. It chirruped a questions and landed gently, yes, on your head. Its tail hung down the back like a fuzzy pony-tail, its little face staring upside down, quizzically into yours.

It was probably because you couldn't see a thing that you hadn't noticed that there was a sixth little creature demanding attention. Having been ignored for long enough it shooed the others away and landed in your hands basking in the attention that was his and his alone. He folded his brightly coloured wings and wrapped his tail around your wrists then started to preen.

It seemed to you that no time at all had passed, and yet, on the other hand, it felt like it might have been years. It was hard to tell in this strange and magical place. But at the very least you could have sworn that the three little creatures in front of you weren't there before!

The largest shimmered like gold in the sun, while the red one had the most delicate of wings. But strangest of all was the small black one. It wasn't its looks, but rather it made a kind of constant humming purr with a bit of a chirp to it. Difficult to describe and certainly most unusual! The three of them circled in a kind of aerial dance.

They were then joined by another pair. One was a soft delicate gray, the colour of a stormcloud, the other had bold markings of blue and red with a personality to match. It swooped and dived and in the end managed to annoy the others such that they fluttered off to get away from it. It landed nearby and cocked its head to one side, as if confused as to why the others wouldn't stay to watch it show off.

You then notice another little furball sitting on a nearby rock. It has such wonderful colours, and big poof at the end of its tail but no wings!! You wonder if that was because of its six legs, but then recalled one of the other had six legs and wings too. At which point you wondered if they might in fact be related...

Then another appeared. At first you thought it was just the grey one returning, but this one was different, with draconic wings and two strange feathers on either side of its tail. Right after that, like an explosion of fire, there appeared another! The two swirled around each other, doing their own kind of showing off.