“Well,” the bird explained, “after Croco gave the ball to the dragons something went very wrong. One of the dragon youngsters took the ball out of the cave to play with. He played close to the edge of the cliff, at the top of the mountain, throwing the ball way up in the air and catching it, when one time he failed to catch it. That was the last the dragon’s saw of it because the ball rolled over the edge of the mountain. The young dragon had not yet grown wings and so he could not fly after it. He felt terrible about losing it, so he told his mother. She quickly ran out of the cave and launched herself off the brow of the precipice to look for the lost object.”
“You have not told me Jesse, as of yet, the significance of the mysterious ball.”
“The ball is a very important component of the quantum time generator. It is operated by Demour, the Guardian of Time. If it is not found and returned soon, universes may begin to collide and really unusual things could occur.”
“Hmmn, such as birds who live underwater?” the bird said with a smirk.
“Um, yeah, something like that. Mr. Bird, I didn’t catch your name?”
“My name is Hadon, pleasure.”
“Did the mother Dragon find the ball Hadon?”
“No she didn’t. I don’t know what happened to the ball after that but I can tell you that the area below the Dragons lair is traveled frequently by the elves.”
“The elves, yes, Demour spoke to me of the elves. He said they live deep underground and are very fond of things which shimmer.”
“Yes, they do love their shining objects. Elves are strange creatures. They have managed to remain unseen by others for a very long time. Some say, that they don’t even exist.”
“Do you believe they exist?”
“I do, although I’ve never seen an elf myself, a friend of mine has told me that they are real. He has very keen eyesight and has seen them gathering feathers which have fallen from his wings.”