ONC 2024 ~ On Hold
Once upon a time there was a little golden dragon. He was the last of his kind and knew nothing of the ways of dragons. One day his hoard of gold was stolen by some men from the castle down the hill. This is the story of how the l...
"Which way do you think we should go?" Golden Scale asked Yellow Feather.
"I think we should go to the desert where there are lizards," Yellow Feather said. "They might know what happened to your people."
"That makes sense," Golden Scale said. So the yellow bird sat on the dragon's nose, and the dragon began to walk away from the mountain, south through the fairy forest toward the desert.
One day while they were walking, they came across a group of fairies skating across a pond. Golden Scale noticed their wings, and realized they were flying.
"Can you teach me to fly?" Golden Scale asked.
All the fairies laughed and danced in the air. "You are a dragon. Don't you know how to fly?" a fairy asked. Her voice sounded like wind chimes blowing in the breeze.
"I'm a dragon?" Golden Scale asked.
All the fairies laughed their musical notes and danced on the air.
"I don't have a momma to teach me," Golden Scale said, and a small tear rolled down his nose.
"Don't cry!" the fairy cried. "You must think happy thoughts, and you will fly!"
Then all the fairies giggled and danced around the dragon's head, their laughter like so many notes on a harp.
So Golden Scale thought and thought, and came up with one happy thought: the day he met Yellow Feather and rescued her. He held onto that thought and took a running leap and flapped his wings with all his might!
But the happy thought did not make the dragon light enough to fly, and he landed nose-first in the dirt and breathed smoke in frustration. "I can't do it." Another tear ran down Golden Scale's nose.
"Don't cry," Yellow Feather said. "We will keep looking until we find someone who can teach you."
And so the two continued walking for the entire season until they finally reached the South Sands. The sun set over the shimmering sands, and Golden Scale was surprised to see something that wasn't treasure sparkle just like gold.
That night, Golden Scale awoke to the sound of tiny claws scuttling over sand. He opened his eyes and saw that he and Yellow Feather were surrounded by lizards!
"Look!" one of the creatures shouted. "It really is a dragon!"
"That is what I am!" Golden Scale cheered. "Are you dragons too?"
"No, those are lizards," Yellow Feather said as she woke up. "We've found them!"
"We thought all the dragons were gone," a dark green lizard said as he crawled up the sandy hill to look into Golden Scale's eyes. "My name is Shina, and I'm an elder lizard."
"Do you know what happened to all the dragons?" Golden Scale asked, reminded of the time back in his cave when he heard a human say that all the dragons were gone from the world.
"There is a legend among my people that tells of the dragons," Shina said. "It is said that dragons used to sleep in the caves of the Dark Mountain."
"That's where I'm from!" Golden Scale said.
"The dragons had many treasures in their caves, but they were greedy. Legend told of a far away island where they could discover the world's most valuable treasure, and one by one, each dragon went on a journey to the island to find it. Not one dragon came back, and every dragon eventually went on the quest, because they were so greedy they just had to have the most valuable treasure in the world."
"Do you know where the island is?" Golden Scale asked.
"It is north of the Dark Mountain," Shina said. "They say it looks like an emerald from the coast, shining above blue waves of sapphire."
"That's where we need to go. Do you think you could show us the way?" Yellow Feather asked.
"I am old, but I have longed to know what truly happened to all the dragons. If you carry me, I'm sure I can manage the journey," Shina said.
And that is how a lizard joined a bird and a dragon on a quest to find lost dragons.
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