My heart beating like a drum, I approach the castle, the entry looks dark and ominous.  I gather my courage and I really am needing that right now. I’m scared out of my wits. I must be crazy to be doing this, I have never been inside a castle before or been so bold as to even think that I belong here.  What am I doing here?  But I feel as if  I don’t proceed I will be missing out on an opportunity of a lifetime.  There is something inside that calls me, I hear it whispering my name.

“Welcome, I’ve been waiting so long for you, come.” I pass through the portal to a grand hall, but it is empty.  I look around, no one is there. Banners on the walls are emblems of dragons– crimson dragons, black dragons, sapphire colored dragons and on the far wall is a banner lying on a table yet to be hung. I approach to take a look, but Oberon catches my attention as he starts to wander down a hallway.  “Come”, I hear the whisper and I follow.

The hallways are a maze, how will I ever find my way out?  Suddenly I hear a rustle behind me, expecting the owner of the castle to come to me and ask me what I’m doing there, I prepare a speech.  However, when I turn around I see two large yellow eyes approaching and the dragon’s talons clicking on the stone floor of the castle as she comes after me.  I start running with Obie fast on my heels.  I run down every corridor, take every turn, yet she follows and quickly she is catching up with me. I am frantic with worry, sweat beads up on my brow, I feel like I’m going to faint.

Then clearly and loudly the bell on Oberon’s collar rings. I know what I must do.

The enormous crimson dragon is right behind me.  I stop running, turn around and face her. “What do you want! I am not running from you anymore!”  I feel myself vibrating, I think in nervousness, but suddenly I see my hands begin to shift into slender silver fingers, with sharp metallic like talons at the end.  My skin tingles further like a chill running down my spine as I grow larger and larger.  The dark hallway is no longer dim, it becomes bright as day. I see so much more clearly now.

“Finally”, says the crimson dragon, “You have become who you are supposed to be, the Platinum Dragon.  We have waited for you.  We have tried so many times to get you here. Look in the mirror.”  Before me was a mirror on the wall and there I stood, not the weak human girl I was before, insecure, scared and frightful, but a real live Platinum Dragon scales glistening as if they were wet, scales that could withstand any forces that were put against me. Wings that could fly, that could take me anywhere my imagination would allow. Green eyes that could see the world in a whole new and beautiful light.  And beneath all that, I could feel the beating of a stronger heart that was open to everything that the Universe had to offer.

That unhung flag was for me and for you, you see. For we all are dragons underneath.  We just have to accept it. We have to face our fears.