Utopia Dragon: The Alien Monk and the Vogue New School

Chapter 1

The distant crying of seagulls patted a herd of cumulus clouds that floated over a sparkling waterscape. Boats were skimming across the water's surface, transporting cargo toward docks that took the appearance of outstretched arms inviting the boats in from the harbor. The "arms" belonged to the body of megalopolis towers whose metal glowed and faded as the sun glimmered in and out behind the clouds.

Here, in this fortified district of coastal land, resided the economic powerhouse of the planet Earth.

Standing amidst the busy harbor on Liberty Island was Lady Liberty herself, but in lieu of a torch and tablet, she was revealed to be holding up a sign that flashed many beguiling neon lights. The lights spelled out two bold, gaudy words.

"WELCOME RESOURCES!"

A seagull suddenly flew past the sign, whiting it away if only for a second. The bird appeared once again, peeping around and hovering at dizzying heights over the bustling city below. Its wings teetered and its feathers ruffled from the updraft of mass carbon monoxide emissions. Along the seagull's line of flight, a miniature yellow cab was barreling down the congested streets, swerving around all the other cars with the deft control expected of a big city driver. It quickly stabilized as it approached a highway that ebbed out toward the breathing-room end of the city's epicenter.

Now humming along the road at a smoother pace, it was time for some friendly conversation between the driver and passenger.

"So kid," began the cab driver in a classic New York accent, "if ya don't mind me askin', what brings you here to the Big Apple?" His eyes were reflecting in the rearview mirror, inquisitively glancing through it to the backseat on his right.

In said backseat sat a small and strange yellow child, bald and clothed in red monk robes, with one arm bare. A hunter's green backpack twice his size was chilling beside him, sagged over. The child did not answer the driver, not at first anyway. He was staring out the window with his hand cradling his cheek and his elbow resting on the door panel. Lost in a trance, he seemed.

The driver tried again. "Hellooo? Earth to kid?"

"Huh? Oh..." Sitting upright all of a sudden, the child recalled hearing something about an "apple" and responded thusly. "I am sorry sir - you are probably not aware of this but I have already eaten, so I do not require any fruit. But thank you for the gesture."

"Fruit. What?!" The disgruntled driver animated one hand from the steering wheel to force more clarity. "NO, I'm asking ya how you got to New York City! This is the capital of the world and everyone wants a piece of it. What's your story huh?"

The child's perplexed frown turned into a nervous smile. "O-oh, yes, forgive me for misunderstanding, heh-heh." He tapped two of his fingers together. "I am not entirely certain. I was in a monastery's orphanage, became trapped inside a daaark place, and was brought to this town without any supervision. That is all I know."

Riding on that frustratingly obtuse bit of information, the driver itched his scruffy hair and put in his two cents. "Well here's what I know," he stated. "Someone found you zipped up in their luggage at the airport and took you to the refugee center offa Manhattan. I was hopin' you could fill me in on a little more than the city authorities did."

The monk child sat silent and still in thought... but soon depressed his eyes down to his feet. "Regretfully I cannot. My memory is hazy as to how I arrived."

"You must've had a heckuva long journey then. You even know what country you're from?"

The driver watched in the rearview mirror as the kid closed his eyes and shook his head to showcase his nescience.