The dragons tale

Chapter 1: Encounter

The dragon raised its head from the damp cave floor and looked towards the rising sun. It watched as the sky turned from black to dark blue, to orange and pink and finally to the normal sky blue. It watched the colours change and dance in the morning light. It gently tried to stretch it's wings out but in the enclosed space only managed to half stretch them. It sighed miserably and settled back down again. It sees awkward for it not to be in its element, the soft, cool wind. It carefully coiled its tail into a perfect circle. Coils of tail filled the floor like a small lake had flooded in. 

The sun rose casting it's bright warm light into the cave. The sunlight sparkled on the dragons turquoise scales; bouncing the light off them and rendering the dragon almost invisible because the light was so bright. The dragon then pulled the tips of its wings under its body. Gently putting weight apon them and using its tail for balance it walked to the ledge at the mouth of the cave and stretched out its wings fully. Hiding almost the whole mountainside. It could not help feeling how nice it would be to have legs. Balancing on its tail, the dragon sat upright like a snake, surveying the view. It stared at the impressive view of rolling plains, expansive dark green forests, fast flowing rivers and in the distance, the shores of a lake that stretched as far as the eye could see. The sunlight sparkled and winked on the water, making it look like there were thousands of diamonds on the waters surface.

The dragon shook her head. That is as it was. It's a memory, don't get lost in a memory. She gently pried the layers of memory off the image to see what it truly was. The expansive forests that has once covered half of what she saw, had shrunk or been destroyed; replaced by farmland and powerful cities that had stolen the wealth of the forest for their own. She wondered how many lives had been lost in that burglary, virtually none of them human. Strong, artistic rivers that used to carve beautiful shapes out of the landscape were damed up, restrained and slowed. She fought the urge to look away. This is your home, your world. You are responsible for it now, keep looking. Knowledge is power. The more you are disgusted the more you will do to restore it. Why bother feeling grief and sorrow for those who are dead? Create new life and they will be avenged. She looked out to the distant lake, almost against her will, what she saw made her shut her eyes tight.

No longer did diamonds sit on the lakes surface, boats did. Even from this distance she could see the rubbish floating in the water. Cities and piers stretched into the water, breaking up the shoreline. She doubted that those boats had caught anything recently, most fish were more than likely to be dead. The gentle rolling plains were gone, some replaced by harsh cultivated farmland, but others bore the memory of fight. She couldn't help the memory coming back, corpses millions of corpses all pulled up on each other. A few dragon, the occasional horse but so many human. The huge herds that had once grazed the plains were long gone.

A small town lay at the bottom of the cliff and the people were going about their business. Roads went from here to there, reaching into the distance like scars on the landscape. The dragon was just doing its usual checks of the closest forest, it could see anything in the world if it wanted to, as long as there was air about. It saw a two headed dragon with dark green scales in the wood and a bunch of humans racing towards the wood, there was a lesser human out in front. This could mean trouble, the dragon realised suddenly.

The dragon drew out its wings and took off into the sky, then it vanished.

She ran. She ran so fast she had wings on her feet. The shouts behind her were gradually growing fainter as she sped away. Then she came to a woodland, she looked behind her to see her pursuers had crept up on her, giving her the illusion that she was safe. But she could see that they were afraid, not of her, judging by the way they handled her in the village, they must be afraid of the forest. So, she thought, I will be safe in the forest. She turned, closed her eyes and plunged in.