The Ways of the Fay

Genesis Dragon

Lilith ran her hand along the sleek iridescent scales of the limp dragon, cool to the touch. This deity, for Lilith had revered this sacred creature, was dead. But she had more than revered it, she loved it - as her mother. Her vision blurred as tears pooled and slipped from her eyes.

Lilith lifted her eyes and furrowed her brow. The broken Tree of Life, a jumble of crisscrossing branches, its main branch fallen into a tangle with the bark of its trunk peeled off on one side exposing a gelatinous core dried sticky with flies swarming. This was death. Lilith had hardly noticed any trace of death in the garden until now. Here, a cataclysm of death lay at her feet. Mud, fruit, and branches lay tumbled in a snarl around the dead dragon's body, one of the dragon's wings poked up at a strange angle.

It was Adam's fault. He made such a mess of their lives. Adam had claimed he was defending Eve. Eve had accidentally broken a branch off the Tree of Life and the basilisk had swooped down to attack her. But if that was true, why there were there so many rocks? Rocks were strewn everywhere and piled around Moma's head where Adam had smashed her skull and lanced one eye with a sharpened stick. There were no rocks exposed in the lush jungle around the Tree. Adam must have brought them here before the fight.

He and Eve were gone now. Lilith and Danu had shamed them till they left to forage out on the edges of the garden. Lilith searched the horizon beyond the lush foliage for the hint of scattering birds to indicate their presence. All was tranquil. She chided herself for being concerned. Adam and Eve destroyed everything for a branch of the Tree of Life. They thought it would bring them immortality. Now the Tree and dragon, the center of their lives, was in shambles, what good was immortality? Adam and Eve deserved to starve to death in the badlands. Lilith scanned the distant barren and rocky mountain tops. She doubted they could survive long.

Lilith's hands curiously roamed over the long silver and fire-orange scales. She had never been able to fully touch the guardian, it had always been secretive and aloof, teaching them and commanding them but never intimate. She caressed its face, its long black whiskers, its elongated green ears that ended in a sharp tip. Its one, unpierced, yellow eye was only half-closed, eerily holding no spirit of life. Its long jaw hung crooked, death distorted Moma's beautiful face, making it hideous. Lilith reached up to its eye and closed the lid.

Tracing her fingers along the side of the basilisk, she noticed that the larger purple scales bulged slightly. There was a line of them along the basilisk's side. She poked at one and it moved. Lilith found a cracked seam. She pried it with her fingers. It slid open, folding in on itself like a crustaceous tail. The inside was smooth and deep red, but the indent space was empty. Lilith went along the basilisk body opening the hidden cavities, but they were all empty except one that held a pile of seeds.

She leaned against the hulking mass covered in iridescent scales, thoughtfully handling the tiny seeds. What would these seeds turn into? 

 Danu called to her "What are you doing?"  Leaving the Greenman standing alone in the clearing she confronted Lilith.  "You should leave Moma alone."

"I'm looking for truth." Lilith looked past Danu at the Greenman. He could know something. He stood apart, quiet like the Tree he had emerged from. Greenman, tall with a green hue to his skin, held a wide eyes expression of open innocence. Lilith felt sorry for him. His mind seemed to be that of a plant trapped in a man's body.

Danu noticed Lilith staring at him and went back to Greenman's side, and grasped his arm possessively. 

Annoyed, Lilith dropped her head to stare at the seeds. Danu talked in monologue to Greenman, but he never uttered a word. Lilith turned away and ignored them. Lilith heard Danu giggle and Lilith cringed. She needed to find something else to live for, if it wouldn't be her family, then perhaps power would fulfill her. Lilith remembered Moma giving them a special fruit which, after they ate it, gave them the ability to speak and think.