The Beginning Of Everything (The Dragon In The Library Book 1) - Ian P. Millar, and as I.P. Mizzaz

The Beginning Of Everything (The Dragon In The Library Book 1) by Ian P. Millar, and as I.P. Mizzaz

Book excerpt

Chapter 1: The Library

“Wait for me!” Amelia shouted.

She ran to catch up to her big brother.

Oliver let out a sigh. He wanted to rush home after school, but his seven-year-old sister stopped to look at everything!

“Come on, Amelia! Let’s hurry home!”

Oliver and Amelia had spent the last night building a blanket fort. They had stacked couch cushions and pillows against the back of the couch. Then they had draped a blanket over top to be the roof.

“I want to play in the fort again,” said Oliver, “We can pretend we’re time travelers exploring the history of the universe!”

Oliver was nine and three-quarters years old. He was very curious about space and science.

“Can Max be the robot?” asked Amelia.

“Of course he can!” smiled Oliver. “If he’s a good boy.”

Max was only one year old, but he was a very good puppy, all things considered.

Amelia stopped as they walked past the library. “I bet they got books on space and time travel in there!” said Amelia.

“Maybe,” said Oliver.

Amelia took off running for the library at full speed.

“Wait for me!” Oliver shouted.

He followed after Amelia, running up the sidewalk that led to the library.

Amelia froze at the front door of the library. She looked through the large glass window. “Something scary is back there,” said Amelia. She pointed to the back corner of the library.

It was hard to see with the glare of the sun, but Oliver thought he saw a pair of glowing eyes looking back at him.

Oliver was scared, but he tried to be brave for Amelia. “It’s probably nothing,” said Oliver. But he was nervous.

Amelia pushed open the front door of the library. A man with a large gray beard sat at a desk near the front of the library. He placed a bookmark in the book he was reading, then he looked up at Amelia and Oliver. “Hello there,” said the librarian.

“Um, hi!” said Amelia

“Hi,” echoed Oliver. “Do you have any books on space and Earth?”

“Space and Earth?” said the librarian, “I do, but what-”

“We saw a monster!” said Amelia, pointing towards the back of the library. “Behind that bookshelf!”

The librarian laughed, “A monster? No, that’s Mizzaz. He’s a dragon!” said the librarian.

“Miss as? A dragon?” asked Amelia. She looked nervously at Oliver. He looked back at her.

The librarian laughed again. “Mizzaz the dragon! He’s from an old book. Don’t worry little one, he’s just a statue.”

Amelia suddenly felt very shy. She looked down at her shoes.

The librarian let out another laugh. He smiled and turned to Oliver, “I do have books like that, but what are you trying to learn?”

Oliver thought about that. What did he want to learn? He wanted to know about space. He wanted to know about stars. He wanted to know about planets. He wanted to know everything! He thought of a question.

“Why is there stuff?” asked Oliver, “When there could be nothing?”

The librarian smiled. “That’s a very big question!” said the librarian. “I’m not sure we have something like that at your reading level.”

“Please!” said Oliver. “Why is there stuff when it would have been easier for there to be nothing ever?”

“What you are asking about,” said the librarian, “is the beginning of the universe. The Big Bang.”

Oliver made a confused face. “The Big Bang?” he asked.

The librarian pulled himself out of his chair and onto his feet. He walked slowly over to a nearby bookshelf. He quickly glanced over the shelves before pointing to one. “Here,” said the librarian. “There’s a lot of big words in these books though.”

“That’s okay!” said Oliver gleefully. He ran over to the bookshelf and began tracing the spines of the books with his finger as he read the titles.

“There’s a dictionary and a reading nook in the back. Next to the dragon,” said the librarian.

Chapter 2: The Dragon

Oliver was holding a dense book. He tried reading the title, “The Big Bang Theory. On the-'' he sounded out the word “On the ex-pan-shun of the Universe.” He looked up the word expansion in the children’s dictionary. “Expansion. To make larger or wider,” said Oliver.

“So, the universe used to be smaller?” asked Amelia.

“I guess so,” said Oliver, as he rested his hand on the large dragon statue. “I wish someone would explain it to us.”

As he said that, the dragon’s head turned towards him. Oliver let out a startled cry. Amelia gasped.

“I might be able to explain it better,” said the dragon statue.

Oliver spun around to look at the librarian. The librarian was reading his book and didn’t look up. Had he not heard the dragon? He turned back to the dragon.

“You can talk?” said Amelia.

“No way!” said Oliver. “It must be some kind of animatronics.”

The dragon laughed. Small smoke rings came out of his nostrils. “Would you like to see the Big Bang?” asked the dragon.

“Oh, yes please, Mr. Mizzaz,” said Amelia.

The dragon statue smiled. “Very well little ones. Climb on my back.”

“But, you’re too small!” said Oliver

Just as he said that the dragon began to grow. He became bigger and bigger. Oliver and Amelia thought he would grow so big that he would take up the whole room! As he grew bigger, the library began to fade away. The bookshelves, the walls, the carpet, the books. Everything began to fade into black, except for Oliver, Amelia, and Mizzaz the Dragon.

Soon Oliver and Amelia stood in front of a giant orange dragon. There were green sparkles on the tips of his copper scales. Large spikes ran along his spine. Amelia thought he was beautiful. Oliver thought he was the most impressive thing he had ever seen.

“Where are we?” asked Oliver.

“Nowhere,” replied the dragon.

“But we must be somewhere,” said Amelia.

The dragon pointed with his nose. In the distance, they could see just a tiny speck of bright light. “That,” said the dragon, “is everywhere.”

Amelia and Oliver looked at each other, clearly confused. The dragon saw this.

“We have gone back to the beginning of the universe, the beginning of time. I have used magic to pause time. I have also used magic to allow us to exist outside of the universe.”

“Wait,” said Oliver. “You’re telling me that that tiny bright speck is everything in the universe?”

“Not only that,” said the dragon, “but it is the entire universe.”

“How?” asked Amelia. “It’s so small!”

“It is the smallest thing to ever exist,” said the dragon.

“What?” both Amelia and Oliver said at the same time.

“Smaller than atoms?” asked Oliver.

“Yes,” said the dragon. “We too are smaller than atoms right now. I have used my magic to make us small enough to see the universe.”

“What are atoms?” asked Amelia.

“They are the tiny building blocks of the universe. Everything is made of atoms,” said the dragon.

“Even that?” Amelia pointed at the universe. The dragon laughed.

“Not yet,” he admitted. “It will take around three seconds for them to form, and even then they will not be stable for three-hundred-thousand years.”

“What?” said Oliver. “Why?” The dragon had his full attention.

“It is too hot for them to come together just yet,” said the dragon. “Right now, they are elementary particles. Particles that make up atoms.”

“Wow,” said Oliver.

“It’s very bright,” said Amelia.

“Yes,” said the dragon. “It is also very hot. Do not worry though. My magic will protect us.”

“How hot is it?” asked Oliver

“It is the hottest thing to ever exist,” said the dragon.

“Really?” asked Oliver. “Hotter than the sun?”

“Much hotter,” replied the dragon.

“So why is it here?” asked Oliver. “Instead of just all this.” He waved around at the nothingness around him. “Why is there something instead of nothing?”

The dragon laughed. “That is a very big question!” he said. “And I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that.”