A stylish teenage girl with serenely reclines in her silken bed lined with species of brightly colored stuffed animals. Singing along to her favorite song, she fails to notice the light footsteps coming her way. The door swings swiftly but soundlessly open as a slightly older girl with remarkable natural beauty tiptoes inside and….

“Cause you're hot then you're cold
You're yes then you're no
You're in then you're out
You're up then you're down
You're wrong when….”

“Creamy!” she abruptly yelled into her younger sister’s ear, making her jump. A waterfall of stuffed animals rained down on them.
“Linote! Look what you did! Now I have to arrange them again! And what did I say about calling me Creamy? Where did you get it from anyways?” she inquired, flustered and annoyed.
“Well you should be at your desk diligently working on your research report for school, not singing away on your bed. Oh, and about Creamy; your first and middle name is Kiri Mi, which sounds like Creamy,” she explained and giggled. “You should be working, Kiri. Really.”
“I don’t have a topic! Nothing is good enough to research!” Kiri pouted, stood up, dragged her feet, and plopped down in her luxurious chair. “This is stupid.”
“What about Celtic mythology? Isn’t that what your favorite online game is based on?”
“Lin! You’re a genius!” she flew out of her chair and tightly squeezed her sister. “Thank you! Have I”
Linote watched as Kiri grabbed her pencil, paper, and turned on the computer. She shook her head, sighed, and thought, I hope she can concentrate and get some work done. Walking out the door, she looked back one more time. “Oh, Kiri! You forgot to…” She hastily broke of as she saw a now eager young girl scribbling lines of notes, quickly filling the page and continuing on.
“Okay. Let’s see what this says.” Kiri mumbled to herself.

“Every Samhain, the goblin Aillén mac Midgna, or Aillén the Burner, would terrorize Tara, playing music on his harp that left every warrior helpless. Using a magic spear that rendered him immune to the music, Fionn………and Kiri killed the goblin and saved the town.“



Without warning, a loud bang was heard from her window. Kiri peered out and gasped! A boy about her age stood relaxed, as if standing by the window on the second floor was an everyday thing. He knocked again. Kiri swiftly rose and opened the window in one motion. She had not thought of the fact that she had just let a stranger – strange indeed – into her room.
“Umm, who are you and what do you want?” Kiri asked without faltering though she was frightened.
Kiri’s eyes briefly, but effectively observed the young man before her. He was taller and seemed much stronger than her. His light brown eyes, large and bright, hinted signs of friendliness and adventurous. He had shiny almond-colored hair, but Kiri spotted a few black locks. On top of his head was a large, dark blue, broad-brimmed hat. An elegant, pure white feather stuck out from it. And was that a Celtic amulet that tightly hung around his neck? Kiri noted that he was a handsome, charming fellow, but there was a surprise. Underneath his showy hat, were two large, a little drooping, pointed ears! Was he an elf?
“Hello there, Loveliness! We don’t need to be so demanding! We are the same age. Well I’m a few months older to be exact,” he said smirking. “I’m Hagel Casta. We desperately need your help!”
“Hi, I’m Kiri Stellan. Are you an elf? Why do you need me?”
“Something terrible has happened back home! Since we caught you interested in Celtic stuff, my people sent me to get you. Let us head off to our adventure now. Shall we?”
Hagel snatched Kiri’s hand and pressed a small button on his watch. Suddenly, the two disappeared from Kiri’s room and appeared in a city surrounded by green hills. Kiri felt dizzy, confused, and shocked. She had no clue what was happening and where she was.
“Uh-oh. I ported us to the Hills of Tara. Worse of all, today is Samhain, the festival of the dead! Aillén mac Midgna will be here!” cried Hagel.
Just as he spoke, the goblin arrived with his controlling, yet simple harp. The monster began to play serene, delightful music. The beautiful melody sang its deadly tune, making all who heard it feeble. Luckily, Kiri did not hear it due to her iPod’s music. Instead, Kiri froze and began to recall what had happened in the myth she recently read. Because of her quick-wittedness, she remembered about Fionn and his magical spear. Aillén the Burner began to prepare for the bonfires he was about to create.
“Where is Fionn? Was this the year he killed this strange harp-playing goblin? Hagel!”
For the first time, she turned towards her newfound elf friend. He was sleeping on the grass at her feet! Unaware and in deep slumber like a baby. Kiri felt panic rising from the depths of her mind. If the Aillén burns down the city, Hagel will be burnt to a crisp along with it, her mind cried, we are too close. Discovering she could not even shift the elf, she toyed with a ribbon that hung from her blouse, concentrated in thought. Kiri scanned around searching for a spear of some kind until her eyes caught a glimpse of a sharp piece of fence that had broken apart. Running to it, she scooped the makeshift spear, accidentally cutting her hand. Ignoring the blood, she noticed a fair-haired man on top of a housetop. She knew Fionn meant “fair”, white”, or bright” in hair, so she assumed he was the hero with the spear. There was one slight problem: he held no spear. The famous warrior screaming to Aillén and was about to become helpless like Hagel!
“Wow, what a hero to look up to!” she breathed. “Fionn! Catch!”
Throwing the bloody spear like a javelin, Kiri was able to pass the weapon to the hero on the roof. Fionn caught the spear, and with perfect precision, threw the spear right through the Burner’s body. Kiri turned away from the gory scene and headed to Hagel. Gently shaking the boy, his large eyes opened and smoothly jumped to his feet. His cheeks grew red as he thought how Kiri saw him defenseless, sleeping in times of danger.
Able to read his expression, Kiri sympathetically stated, “It was not your fault. Everyone without an iPod would have fallen to sleep, too.”
“iPod? Never mind, we must get on our way! This detour took up much time! The Morrígan will be terribly angry. You definitely do not want to make the Goddess of war and death irritated! It’s time to port to the River Unius!”
“Wait! Hold on!”
Hagel paid no heed to her as they disappeared and reappeared once more. After quickly recovering from the dizzyness, Kiri evaluated her surroundings. This time, instead of a small village nearby sitting among large, lush green, grassy hills, there was just a river. Not just a river though, it was beautiful. Kiri had no clue why. It was just so perfect, blue, and beautiful! Sitting by the river with her legs dipped in the water as if in thought was a lovely lady. She wore an unadorned white dress, and large, dark, black wings lay folded on her back. Her straight black hair shined in the sun. There was an aura about her that made Kiri know that she was the Goddess they were searching for.
When we noticed the company behind her, she dove into the river. Hagel and Kiri ran to the site where she left them. Up from the water floated a wolf with the same aura as the Goddess. It had the same black hair and wings.
“Excuse me but are you The Morrígan?” whispered Kiri to the wolf, which sat lazyly on the grass.
“Yes. You must be Kiri. Hagel you are late!” she yawned. “I was getting tired of waiting.”
“Y-y-yes, Goddess. I-I’m very sorry!”
“You are forgiven, dear boy. Are you that terrified of me? That is good then. I am to explain to you peasants what is happening with the Fomorians and the Dadga. Long ago, in a land not far away, Fomorians lived and cruelly rampaged the lands. The Dadga was able to eventually kill them all off. We recently found that one still lives in the Land of Eternal Youth, Tír na nÓg. Cichol Gricenchos has survived and lived hidden up to now. We cannot risk his survival and we must kill him! The Dadga and I would gladly go ourselves, but it seems that he has blocked off all god power. We did discover that we could sneak you two in. What do you think? There he is, the Dadga! Ready to fight some bad guy?”

TO BE CONTINUED…

"Hot 'n Cold" © Katy Perry
"Fionn" (Article) © Wikipedia