Here There Be Dragons

Chapter 1

I am in desperate need of a beta and some cover art so if you are interested please comment or pm and I'll set you up with my email.

My current chapter goal is 1000 words since I've realized that I rarely read works that have less than 1000 words per chapter and writing shorter chapters makes me a hypocrite.

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I will be cross-posting on my ao3 (under the same username), please tell me if you find my work anywhere else without my explicit consent!

****Kat

Caring for your bonded dragon is one of the most challenging things you will have to master. They are sentient beings, so it is unlike keeping a pet, however, your dragon will grow and mature rapidly so you also won't be rearing a child. You must learn how to balance these two sides in order to support this creature in the ways he or she needs most. If you manage to find this perfect balance, your dragon will bring you to immeasurable heights.

-A Guide to Dragons

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Ever since she could remember, Andrea had wanted to be an adventurer.

Early mornings of her childhood were spent out late with the mythicals in the woods surrounding her home. Every single moment she wasn't in school she would be outside; a sturdy pair of shoes, an unfinished book, and her trusty backpack traveling with her. Her dark skin always seemed to be covered in dirt while her darker braid would be filled with leaves.

She would often come home way past her curfew, much to the displeasure of her parents. She lived for the excitement of finding new things, losing track of time while overstuffing her backpack.

During spring she might come home with the shed antlers of a male deer or colorful wildflowers gifted by nymphs in order to be pressed in heavy books. Summer meant small nick-knacks left behind by other would-be adventurers and cooling dips in newfound ponds and rivers with friendly merpeople. Fall and winter were not spent collecting or exploring but instead helping the surrounding wildlife prepare for and survive the colder months. You could often find her breaking through ice-covered ponds, and leaving food for the creatures that stayed put despite the cold. The surrounding beings of the wood came to know and trust Andrea, frequently coming to her injured for healing and gifting her lost treasures for her services.

It was a life she adored, full of wonder and imagination at every turn, and it was about to get much more interesting.

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It was long, long ago when the dragon populations began dying out.

It began so slowly it was almost unnoticeable at first, they were the native protectors of the Earth and most believed that they were invincible. Regrettably, this was not the case. You see, a drake can only lay a single egg in each clutch. On top of this, it is rare for a dragon to ever experience the urge to roost, let alone at the same time as another. Some dragons experienced the urge regularly, some only once or twice in their lifetime, and others may never feel the urge to reproduce. Because of this, even under the prime circumstance, the drake population in an area increased at a gradual speed.

The genuine problem began when thunders of dragons began to disband. This made it even harder for two ready-to-roost drakes to encounter each other and then find a secure place to lay their clutch. There were no longer other dragons around for their protection, therefore the death rate of whelps skyrocketed. Just ten years after the final thunder disbanded, only one out of every ten fledglings made it out of the roost.

This was devastating for the drake populations.

And so, as the years went by, it became rarer and rarer to see a living dragon. By the time of Andrea's birth, dragons had become little more than fairy tales and legends to be told to children before bedtime.

With the Earth alone, it's protectors few and far between, more sinister creatures forced their way in. Vile beasts that were initially believed to be fake began popping up more, and more often. Demons, goblins, orcs and other terrible things ransacked cities in the fight for world domination. Wars broke out across the world. The mightiest cities were the first to fall, and only minor secluded towns like Andrea's were considered anything close to safe. Those in sheltered places were still made horrifically aware of what was going on in the outside world thanks to Social Media and frequent news reports. The fear of those with families in other locations when check-in calls are missed or their cities show up in the still growing recently attacked lists is stifling. Even more so when there is nothing else that can be done to aid them.

The people were terrified, nothing could have prepared them for this. The meager armed force they had put together was practically useless. Tanks and bombs were little more than annoyances for the opposing army. For every demon killed there were three more to take its place. Words like 'relentless' and 'unstoppable' were used to describe attacks. One by one, cities fell to the oncoming armies.

Many tried to escape, but more often than not, those attempting to escape were caught in the act and found brutally slaughtered merely a few days later. Even children and those who tried to surrender were not spared, simply killed the same as anyone else. Humans, witches, werewolves, vampires, elves, and occasionally parts of their own armies, all dead. The demons didn't care who you were, they simply knew how to do away with those who got in their way, no questions asked.

For all of the terrible people in the world, not one of them deserves a death like the hundreds that happen every day. It's a fate none would want for their worst enemy, let alone for someone who's innocent. Earth needed her protectors again.

It was time.

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I hope you liked the prologue! I'm a little under my goal but I think I did pretty well for my first chapter, let me know what you think!

XxKat