(This is one of the weirdest dreams I have ever had, but I must write 
it down or I will ferget. I swear I dreamed this all, so I had no control 
over it, so don't blame me if this is really really weird.)

One day, in the morning,  this young boy had found some gold coins. 
Dressed in rather shabby clothes, he headed to the marketplace to see 
if he could buy some new ones. He was happy with his find. It turned 
out that the money he had was just enough to buy some tailor made new 
clothes. He told the tailor the designs himself, and soon Ascot, for 
that was the boy's name, had new clothes. White with green trim and 
jewels, and a big black hat with another jewel in it. All the clothes 
were a bit large and loose, and the hat sometimes slid down to obscure 
his face, but overall he found that he thought he looked pretty good. 
So he was walking down the street, oblivious to how obvious his clothes 
were, when he turned into a small clearing. There was where he found 
much bigger boys. He almost ran straight into one of them. Much bigger.
"Hey, nice clothes there, shorty." Said the lead one nastily. Ascot became 
frightened. These boys were easily twice his size. He began backing 
away. As he turned to run, one large boy grabbed his collar and pulled 
him up to his face, so he couldn't touch the ground.
"Don't leave yet. The fun has just begun." said the boy. 
A little while later, Ascot was laying in the center of the clearing, 
alone. His clothes were ripped, he had dirt all over him, and he had 
been beaten very badly. Crying, he crawled his way over to a large rock, 
and sat with his back against it. Soon he felt a presence above him. He 
looked up, and there he saw a woman. He sniffled as he stared at the 
woman's surprised expression.
"You poor thing!" she cried aghast. She picked him up much like a mother 
would pick up a baby, and began carrying him off somewhere. Ascot was 
ready to pass out. He managed to mumble a few words tho.
"Whats your name?"
"Caldina. How about you?"
"Ascot..." then he passed out.

~~~                                                  

Later on Caldina was placing a bandage on a wound on Ascot's arm. They 
were in her house.
"Thank you." Ascot said softly.
"Oh, don't worry about it." Caldina smiled.
Soon Ascot was clean, bandaged, and eating. Caldina had taken care of 
him, giving him a bath, washing his ripped clothes and mending them, 
fixing him some dinner. Caldina and Ascot had bonded incredibly during 
that time, and it seemed that Ascot knew her almost his whole life. 
Likewise, Caldina felt responsible and motherly towards the young one, 
almost like she was his real mother. Ascot was gulping down some soup 
when a large thump shook the whole house. The noise seemed intriguing 
and exciting to Ascot, while Caldina seemed alarmed.
"What's that?" asked Ascot.
"A monster. Probably just tearing up some trees and such."
"Monster...." Ascot said in wonder. He was intensely curious. He swiftly 
hopped off his chair and ran outside.
"Ascot! Don't go out there!" Caldina yelled after him. Ascot ignored her. 
He skidded to a stop outside as he saw the monster. It was huge, a caterpillar 
like creature. It gave out two roars in succession. Ascot knew they 
meant "I Atlante."
"Atlante!" he shouted upwards. The monster paused, surprised that he 
knew it's name. It lowered it's head down so it could see Ascot more 
clearly.
"Atlante. Why are you doing this?"
"Growr..." 
"You don't know? Not a very good reason."
The monster gave an equivalant of a shrug.
"My name is Ascot." he said, and rubbed Atlante's nose. Atlante churred.
"Your amazing. I've never seen anything like you." Ascot said in amazement.
"Grrroooarr gruf"
"No one's ever told you that?" asked Ascot, his eyes wide in amazement.
The monster shook it's head. Ascot told it a little about himself.The 
two of them became friends in a very short while. At this point the 
villagers began gathering in a crowd around Atlante and Ascot.
"Atlante, may I get up on your head? I'm too short too converse comfortably."
Atlante answered by lowering it's head and forming a rough stairway. Ascot 
sat on Atlante's wide back, and rubbed it's head. Atlante made a happy 
noise. Atlante made a serious of growls and roars, which Ascot took to 
mean a little bit more about it's past also. At this point the villagers 
began reacting.
"Get that kid off that thing! It's trying to eat him!"
Ascot looked puzzled as more cries rang through the air.
"Monsters are dangerous! It'll eat him when it's gets the chance!"
"That kid doesn't know what he's doing!"
"Whose responsible for him!?"
"Whoever it is should help him!"
Caldina strode from the crowd, looking up at him on Atlante's back. He 
waved down to her.
"Look, Caldina! This is Atlante! He's nice!"
Caldina, who was very angry and afraid for him, grabbed his hand and 
pulled him roughly off Atlante. 
"You're coming with me, Ascot. Atlante will be taken care of."
The villagers began attacking Atlante, whose only option was to run 
away. Atlante made sveral loud roars, which Ascot translated as roars 
of pain.
"Atlante! What are they doing? Atlante! ATLANTE!" Ascot screamed hysterically. 
Caldina dragged him roughly inside the house, while Ascot was struggling 
wildly. She sat him down roughly back in his chair.
"What do you think you were DOING?" She yelled at him. Ascot slightly 
paled under her anger.
"I...I was talking to Atlante."
"That monster is dangerous! They have no minds and no purpose."
"Atlante was nice! He told me about himself."
"There is no way he could have said that." Caldina said. She sat down with 
a sigh, and added mentally "Unless he's a type naturally attracted to 
monsters."
"He's my friend." Ascot said. 
"Monster's are not friends. They're enemies. They would kill you as soon 
as they got the chance."
"Not Atlante."
Caldina sighed again.
"Well, Atlante will be killed tomorrow, so-"
Ascot stood up in his chair and leaned across the table angrily.
"They're going to KILL HIM?! They can't do that! WHY?"
"Monster's are pests."
"You just don't understand." Ascot said angrily, keeping his eyes on 
the bowl in front of him.
"Maybe I don't, but I do know that was a very naughty thing you did, 
running out there. You could have gotten killed. Come with me."
She grabbed Ascot's hand again and dragged him off to her room.

~~~

Ascot stumbled out of Caldina's room, still aching. He rubbed his behind 
ruefully. He hobbled over to the couch and lay down gingerly. Caldina 
had been quite upset. Not quite upset, very upset. She had punished 
him for what she had thought he had done wrong. He was still hurting. 
Even after Caldina's warning and punishment, he was still fascinated 
with Atlante. Why couldn't Caldina understand Atlante? Why was he the 
only one who understood Atlante? Then he heard a familiar roar outside 
of the house.
"Atlante!" He said happily, and jumping off the couch, ran to the front 
door. it was made of glass, so he could see through it. He could vaguely 
see Atlante, who appeared happy to see him too. 
"Atlante, I thought they were going to kill you!"
Atlante responded with a couple growls.
The glass was foggy, because Caldina's house was unusually humid. He 
traced a circle around Atlante, then another one outside of that. Then 
it seemed his hand had lost all control it had. he automatically began 
tracing lines on the inside circle. Two down, diagonal, right, diagonal 
down. As he looked at the strange symbol traced into the foggy glass, 
it looked like a star with two circles around it. It began glowing a 
bright green.
"Atlante, touch the glass."
Atlante did, and then it was sucked through the pentagram, and then 
dissapeared into a jewel on his hand. He didn't remember that jewel. 
But when he looked in it he could see Atlante, now sleeping. Where had 
it come from...Ascot turned around and ran straight into Caldina.
"Aaa! Caldina!" he said, surprised and scared. He moved his hands behind 
his back, to hide the new jewel,  and also too protect himself.
"What are you doing?" Caldina asked.
"Um uh, Nothing!" he said nervously. Caldina grabbed his wrist and pulled 
it up in front of her face. She stared into the jewel, seeing Atlante.
"I knew it. Well, we'll have to discuss this tomorrow. Go to your room."
She glared at Ascot, who walked swiftly into his room and shut the door. 
She sighed again and went into her room.
Ascot sat on the bed, looking at Atlante through the jewel on his hand. 
He conversed with Atlante, telling it about what had happened. Likewise, 
Atlante told Ascot about what happened to him too. Ascot felt tired, 
and curled up under the covers and fell asleep.

~~~

Ascot woke to Caldina's faint voice calling him to breakfast. He yawned 
and rubbed at his eyes, again noticing the new jewel on his hand. So 
it wasn't a dream, he thought. He looked into the jewel, which was placed 
on black fabric that clung to his hand and connected to his shirt, and 
he noticed that Atlante was still asleep, and decided not to disturb 
him. He got up, slipped on his shoes, and shuffled sleepily out of his 
room. Caldina was sitting in front of a sumptious spread of food.
"Good morning!" She said cheerfully.
He yawned in reply. He had been up far too late last night. He wasn't 
used to it. Ascot had to try two times before he got on the tall chair, 
almost as tall as himself, that would allow him to reach the food. Caldina's 
table was very high. He began eating in silence.
"Ascot."
He made no reply.
"Ascot, tell me, why did you make that symbol on the glass?"
Ascot swallowed, and then spoke. He looked up while he was doing it, 
as if thinking.
"I don't know really. It's like, my hand knew what I had to do."
"Do you know what it is, or what it does?"
Ascot gestured with his fork as he answered.
"Well, I do know it allowed Atlante to enter the jewel on my hand."
"Another thing, where did that jewel come from?"
"I don't know really. It just....appeared I guess."
Caldina hmmed and thought.
"Odd....very odd."
There was a silence as Ascot finished the rest of his breakfast. He 
suddenly spoke up.
"Can we go back to where you found me?" Ascot was uncomfortable with 
discussing what had happened before.
There was a pause before Caldina was brought back from her thoughts.
"Oh. Oh yes, sure."
"Great!" Ascot smiled, and hopped down from his chair.

Very soon Caldina and Ascot were heading down the road to the market. 
it was quite a distance away, and Ascot felt tired. He refused to admit 
it though, and hung onto Caldina's hand doggedly.
"Are you tired, Ascot?" She asked concerned.
Ascot panted out a reply.
"A little."
They stopped for a while to let Ascot catch his breath. Caldina was 
studying him this whole time. She seemed like she was slightly confused. 
However, Ascot felt a strong urge to return to that place. He couldn't 
ignore it. He had to come back there. After he had caught his breath, 
him and Caldina continued onwards. They reached the clearing where Caldina 
had found Ascot, and there Ascot pointed excitedly at the rock he had 
leaned against.
"There! That's where it's coming from!"
"What? What are you talking about?"
He went to the rock, which had a pointy top. He began pulling on it, 
and it snapped off easily. He tried hard to pull it out of the ground, 
and Caldina helped him. It was vaguely cone shaped.
"This is it! This is what was calling me!"
Caldina was really confused, but carried the rock anyway. As they headed 
back home, Ascot seemed so happy that he seemed to have boundless energy. 
Caldina smiled as she saw him walking excitedly.
"There must be something special about that rock, but what?" she thought.

When Ascot got home he grabbed the rock and set it on it's point, so 
it looked like a tapering platform. Amazingly enough, when he took his 
hands off, it stayed that way. Caldina watched amazed as Ascot clambered 
onto a chair, then stepped onto the platform. 
"Ascot! You'll fall! Get off!" Caldina cried, worried. Ascot smiled at 
her.
"Don't worry!"
Even more amazing, Ascot was standing perfectly balanced on the platform, 
which didn't waver at all. He began to glow. He looked at himself in 
amazement, and Caldina gave a gasp of shock. The platform was rising! 
Soon he was hovering in air, suspended on the rock. He leaned forward, 
and the platform leaned forward too. Small fragments of the rock circled 
the big one, and soon Ascot rose the rock so he could stare Caldina 
in the face.
"I didn't even know I could do this." he said, utterly amazed. Caldina 
couldn't even speak.
"Now I can stare Atlante in the face when I talk to him!" he said excitedly. 
He noticed Caldina's angry stare. "I mean, Umm..."
She placed her hands on his shoulders, and forced him down so the rock's 
tip touched the floor. Ascot got the message. He got off the platform, 
and amazingly enough, it transformed into a large collection of green 
energy, which in turn entered the jewel on his hand. He hung his head. 
Caldina took his hand and led him to a couch.
"Ascot, could you do this before you knew me?"
"No."
"I believe, Ascot, that you are a Bal or a Shoukanshi. A monster summoner."
Ascot stared at her in disbelief.
"But...but....I..."
"It's true you are very young....almost TOO young for you to be that, 
but it seems like the only thing you could be. But there's only one way 
to make sure."
She took his hand again and led him outside to a clearing.
"Now, take Atlante out of the spirit world."
"Take it out?"
"Yes."
Ascot walked forward a little bit, not sure what to do. His hand again 
lost control, and he traced another pentagram against his will. He 
murmured some words, and Atlante plopped out of the pentagram, happy 
to see Ascot in person again. Ascot hugged Atlante, also happy to see 
it. Caldina smiled.
"That clinches it. You ARE a monster summoner. That's very unusual for 
someone your age."
He wasn't really listening to her. He was again sitting on Atlante's 
head, telling Atlante how happy he was to see it.
"Never even heard of it actually," said Caldina, evidentally ignoring 
the fact that Ascot wasn't really listening, "Seems almost impossible. 
But apparentaly, you were born with it. Atlante brought it out."
Ascot made a small red ball of light in his hands. Strangely, he seemed 
to know how to do it naturally, as naturally as he would of breathed. 
He threw it for Atlante.
"Go get it Atlante!" 
Atlante dashed off so suddenly that Ascot was knocked off Atlante's back. 
Luckily Caldina caught him. She set him gently down on the floor, dusting 
him off.
"It's true. Most definitly."
"Now what do I do?" Ascot said curiously.
"Well, your staying with me, that's for sure. But..."
"But what?"
"It's best you not play fetch with Atlante around here."
"Why not? It's harmless."
"I know that, and you know that, but do the townspeople know that?"
"No..."
"Call it back now."
"I know!" he said brightely, getting an idea. "I'll go down and SHOW 
them Atlante is harmless!" He ran off to implement his plan, with Caldina 
running after him. She caught him around the middle, trying to hold his 
struggling kicking form back. She lifted him up off the floor, as he 
kicked and tried to get loose.
"No, Ascot! They may kill you, and Atlante!"
Ascot stopped struggling, but was still insistant.
"No they won't. Not when they see things like I do."
"But they may never do that."
Ascot was silent. Atlante came rumbling up to them, holding the energy 
ball in it's mouth. It dropped it at Caldina's feet. She let Ascot go, 
and he grabbed the energy ball. He squeezed it between his two hands, 
and it dissapeared. Suddenly, Ascot clambered up onto Atlante's back, 
and began pressing it to go towards the town. He did it so swiftly Caldina 
barely had time to react.
"I'll prove it! Everyone will know that Atlante is a good creature!"
"Ascot, NO!" Caldina cried, trying to keep up with Atlante's fevered 
pace. She couldn't, and was left behind, panting. She looked angrily 
at Ascot's back as he dissapeared rapidly.
"Fine, be that way, Ascot. Learn your lesson the hard way."

Ascot headed towards the town. Him and Atlante would show her that 
Atlante was a good creature. As he reached the border of the town though, 
he began to feel nervous. He gulped it down and patted Atlante's head.
"Don't worry, Atlante. They'll understand." He said comfortingly. Atlante 
nodded. The moved swiftly through the streets, not touching anything 
but the road. A townsperson ran in front of Atlante, blocking it. More 
townspeople began circling the two of them. Ascot looked around confused.
"What's going on?"
"You must stop here." said the townsperson who had blocked their path.
"Why?"
"That....monster....must be killed."
"Killed? But he's nice!"
"No monster's are nice!"
"But this one IS! His name's Atlante!"
"We don't care. All monster's must die."
"But he didn't DO anything!" Ascot protested angrily. While the townsperson 
and Ascot yelled at eachother, the crowd worked itself up, chanting 
"Kill kill kill". Then a rock flew from the crowd and thudded into 
Atlante's side. Atlante's skin was like rubber, so the rock bounced 
off harmlessly. Another large rock flew through the air, striking Ascot's 
arm near the shoulder. He grabbed the arm, which now hung limp, and 
ducked as a smaller rock flew above his head.
"Atlante! Get us out of here!" he cried desperatly. Atlante began moving 
backwards, knocking people down like nine pins. Rocks flew thick and 
fast. As Atlante began leaving the outskirts of the town, a large rock, 
about the size of an apple, struck Ascot forcefully on the side of his 
head with a THOK sound. He collapsed on Atlante's back, unconcious. 
Atlante went as fast as he could, trying to get it's friend to safety. 
A slight trickle of blood ran from under Ascot's hat, running down his 
face. Atlante made it up to Caldina's house, and nudged Ascot off gently 
on the ground. Ascot wasn't moving. Atlante nudged him anxiously, but 
Ascot would not wake up. Caldina walked out, seeing Ascot, and began 
running anxiously toward him.
"Stay here!" She said sharply to Atlante, as she picked up Ascot in her 
arms. She ran back inside. Atlante was confused, but lay down to wait 
the outcome.

She laid Ascot down on the couch, taking off his hat to see a large wound 
on the side of Ascot's head. She washed away the blood, gently bandaging 
it. She replaced his hat, and stared at his unconcious face, wiping it 
clean. He was breathing irregularly, sometimes like he wouldn't take 
another breath, other times like he was hyperventilating, and at other 
times the breaths were shuddering and faint.
"Can't say I didn't warn you..." she said sadly. She looked at his arm. 
There was a growing red stain on his shoulder, half hidden under one 
of the many jewels on his clothes. She pulled up the sleeve, showing 
his bare arm. The arm had been broken into many pieces, near the shoulder. 
It was bleeding very much, as it had a large rip in the skin.
"I'm surprised you came this far. You must of been in a lot of pain." 
she said sympathetically. She didn't expect him to hear her. She began 
pushing the bones back into place, a operation that took quite a bit 
of time, not because it was hard, but because everytime she moved his 
arm, Ascot gave a sad whimper of pain. It made her stop every couple 
of minutes. It made her feel awful when she made him make noises like 
that. When the bones were back in their proper places, she began binding 
his arm with strips of fabric, soaked in a special liquid. It dried 
swiftly, becoming hard as rock. Soon Ascot had a cast over his arm, 
protecting it. She didn't move his sleeve back in place however. She 
stared at the small child on her couch, and felt almost directly responsible.
"I'm sorry, Ascot." She said sadly.
She picked him up gently again, carrying him like she did when she first 
found him. She supported his cast, and looked as the bandage around 
his head covered one of his eyes. She moved him into her room, tucking 
him into the bed, to keep him warm. She watched him all through the night, 
becoming tired, but not sleeping. She was worrying far too much over 
whether Ascot was okay. He hadn't woke up yet. Occasionally he would 
make some sad noises, but other then that he was silent and still. In 
the morning, Caldina was still watching him, making sure he was safe 
and warm. Ascot opened his eyes, and turned his head to look at Caldina, 
who was almost crying in relief.
"Wha....what happened?" He mumbled.
"Something we can talk about later. Are you hungry? You were unconcious 
for almost a whole day."
"I was? I don't remember....I am hungry though...." He said softly, 
turning his head back. Caldina got up and left him for a couple seconds 
to go get him something to eat. Ascot rested his head against the pillow, 
utterly confused, and slightly in pain. Caldina returned shortly with 
a bowl of lukewarm soup, the same kind she had made when she had first 
found Ascot. Ascot tried to prop himself up, but fell back in bed, unable 
to use his arm. He tried to sit up, but couldn't.
"Calm Down, Ascot. You had some trouble."
"Why...can't my arm...it's not working...."
Caldina sighed sadly.
"I'll tell you later."
She took a spoonful of soup and held it to Ascot's lips. He drank it,
and soon he had Caldina had fed him the whole bowl. Ascot then fell back 
asleep, breathing regularly. Caldina watched him for a while, then went 
to check on Atlante. Atlante was fine, having foraged by itself while 
Ascot had been unconcious. She walked out of her house, shutting the 
door behind her. Atlante slid up to her, anxious to know how Ascot was 
doing.
"Ascot is doing fine now."
If that's possible, Atlante breathed a sigh of relief. Atlante made a 
series of growls and roars, but Caldina couldn't understand. She patted 
Atlante, then headed back inside, waiting for Ascot to wake up. He woke 
up several hours later. She of course was by his side, watching him.
"I...I feel better..." he said softly. She held his good hand.
"That's good, Ascot. Very good."
"Is...Is Atlante...ok?"
"He's fine. Don't worry about him. He can take care of himself. He sustained 
no injuries."
"Oh...good..." Ascot mumbled. Caldina watched him sadly. Ascot gave a 
small cry of pain when he tried to move his arm. Caldina held that arm 
down.
"Don't try to move it. It'll get better soon."
Ascot turned his head to face her.
"Can....can I have some food please?" he said softly. Caldina smiled 
sadly.
"Of course." She left the room, going to fetch him some other type of 
food. 
Ascot remained in her room for several days recuperating. During this 
time Caldina didn't sleep very much, instead staying up at all hours 
to watch Ascot. Around the seventh day Ascot managed to be able to slightly 
sit up. A couple days later Ascot was able to fully sit up, although 
Caldina still had to feed him. He couldn't move his arm, as it was in 
a cast. About a week later, Ascot was able to shakily walk across the 
room. Caldina began carrying him to the kitchen and other places, and 
carry him outside to see Atlante. Seeing Atlante really helped his recovery. 
Both of them were happy to see eachother again, and Ascot, with Atlante's 
permission, transferred Atlante back into the spirit world, and Ascot 
was able to see Atlante whenever he wanted. More days passed, and Ascot 
began to be able to walk farther and longer, although walking hurt his 
head, and he had to sit down often. One day, Caldina came into her room, 
while he was sitting in her bed and looking at Atlante.
"It's time to see how your head wound healed." she said. Ascot nodded, 
and layed back against the pillow. She sat next to him, and removed his 
floppy hat. She began unwrapping the bandages, and noticed that a faint 
scar was all that remained of the gash. Ascot was happy that he could 
see with both eyes again, and both were rather happy with Ascot's recovery. 
Ascot took out his floating rock and managed to get around better with 
that. He visited Atlante often, his arm now in a sling. The cast couldn't 
come off until a couple months had passed. Ascot became stronger, and 
was able to walk around as well as he could before he was injured. One 
day he walked to the kitchen, and Caldina lifted him up onto his chair. 
They both began eating lunch, Ascot using only one hand.
"Do you remember what happened now, Ascot?"
Ascot shook his head.
"I remember trying to...get away with Atlante....rock hit my arm....but 
I can't remember all of it."
"I told you they wouldn't understand."
Ascot hung his head sadly.
"I'm sorry."
Caldina reached a hand across the table and held his good hand.
"It's alright. You learned a lesson."
Ascot nodded. 
Months passed, and Ascot's arm fully healed. Ascot found other monsters, 
along with Atlante, and became their friends too. Caldina took care of 
him, and he never really ventured into town. He was scared of other people, 
from what they had done. 

And then I woke up.

Back