The Dragonarium

Caves with No End

It was huge. The caves, the caverns, stone bridges leading into winding tunnels. Crystals glowing with purple and blue hues as tall as a person, lighting the way. Blaze had to blink for a second to register the sheer size of such a place, the beauty of it. Most importantly, however, was the science. He glanced over the stone bridge he was standing on, leading over a seemingly bottomless chasm. A long serpentine body coiled out of the stone and disappeared into another tunnel along the way. The dragon had to be enormous, the way one of its feet was larger than a small car.

"I-I don't understand. How is a place like this possible?!"

"It's like a portal of sorts...the door that is. It opens into a kind of pocket dimension or something. We don't really know where this place is in the universe exactly." Daemion held out his hand to guide him across the bridge.

"It's...incredible. So there are real dragons in here. How many species do you have? What are the average sizes? What ailments can they get? How does their digestive system work? Can I see a sample..." Blaze began, question after questions tumbling out of his brain and onto his lips.

He's like a hamster... Daemion thought. It was amusing to watch him adjust his glasses and look around all wide eyed and curious. They had plenty of books to answer all of Blaze's questions. That's what the library was for, after all.

"Further down this tunnel is what we call the Graveyard of Giants." I said, leading the way.

The crystals began to take on warmer colors, from purple to orange, pink to yellow, blue to red.  The walls took on peculiar shapes, the ceiling forming a rib cage above them, opening wider and sculpting the remains of dragons of colossal size. Once out of the tunnel entrance, there was hardly any stone left on the walls. Just bones, skeletons and lost limbs and skulls of dragons whose heads were bigger than most small houses. Instead of a bridge, there was a spine, all ribs attached, sloping down to the floor of the huge crack in the cave network.

"I can only imagine how big these dragons must have been while alive...the power they held." Blaze stepped forward, stepping over a femur longer than a tour bus.

"Who knows. Not even I've witnessed em. Either way, this is one of Daemion's favorite places to visit on his time off." I said.

"See that crack in the ceiling there, where all that sunlight is coming through? At night, you can see the constellations of Serpens." Daemion said.

The crack in the ceiling was unreachable so far, even for Daemion. It never rained, never snowed, it was only ever day or night, and the constellation of Serpens was always visible. It was, of course, a part of Ophiuchus, the snake part rather. Daemion would often stare up at it in the middle of the night when he was alone, lost in thought.

"So, are any dragons friendly, or are they all too feral to approach?" Blaze asked.

"Ah, their friendly to us. Not sure how they'll react to you. Let's introduce you to one of our smaller Basilisks, Geo. He's pretty laid back so you should be able to walk right up to him." I shrugged, climbing my way back up.

Back in the main space, where most dragons dwelled, a Basilisk, the size of a pickup truck, walked over to Blaze. It sniffed him, its false eyes glimmering as the real ones softened. He simply stopped and sat there, waiting to see what Blaze would do.

"His scales are a lot thicker than I thought they'd be..." He said under his breath, just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Basilisks are desert dwellers that burrow into the ground, emerging to the surface to eat cacti and small reptiles. They can store copious amounts of water in special stomachs, and their skin retains moisture. Their claws and feet are evolved to dig deep into the sand and allow balance on the loose sands of the dunes, despite their weight. They're mostly a tan-ish brown like Geo. While most have six legs, some can have eight or ten, depending on size. The large horns are only found on some species, others have heads with broad dome shapes or shovel-like chins to better move underground. The broad tail helps push sand and rocks away. The false eyes are to deter any predators that might be lurking around, and help protect against sunlight."

Silence, both from Daemion and from Blaze. They just stared at me, eyes wide and mouths agape as they tried to understand what I'd just said.

"How...do you remember all that?" Daemion asked after finding his voice.

I shrugged.

"Does she not normally do that?" Blaze turned to the tall dark figure beside him.

"She's read a lot of the books containing info on dragons, but I never thought she'd memorize them."

Geo gave out a low rumble, before slowly turning and returning to the tunnels. We took it as a sign to leave. Heading back over the bridge, a Lung made a janky turn and slammed its side into the walls below the bridge, causing the ground around it to shake. Blaze, who'd been standing near the edge trying to look down and up at as many dragons as he could, lost his footing and felt himself begin to free-fall.

A strong grip on his wrist made him open his eyes, not even being aware that he'd squeezed them shut. Daemion gave him an encouraging smile and hoisted him back on the bridge.

"Best to stay in the middle. The dragons can really cause an earthquake down here sometimes." He held the door open for everyone to leave, making sure to shut it completely before joining everyone back in the library.

"I'm going to need every book on dragons and herbs you have." Blaze started, then stopped, his brows furrowing.

"Something wrong?" I asked, always keeping my words short.

"I'll need to find an apartment or someplace nearby. Although I'm short on cash at the moment..." Blaze trailed off.

"You can stay here. There's an upstairs, with a guest room. It's where Asteria and I live. " Daemion dashed over to the spiral stairs going up to the second floor, tripping and falling over a book, swearing to himself as he got up and just walked the rest of the way.

"Thanks. I hope you don't mind. I uh, I have a tendency to start gardens with herbs and the like to do my research. Most of my medicines are plant based, so I need them for a lot of what I do. Plus, I just really like plants..." Blaze's voice hushed at the last bit in embarrassment.

Daemion's eyes dilated, and there was now a stairway leading to the roof, which had somehow gained a new set of flower boxes...

"Congrats, welcome to our little group here Blaze. Daemion'll show you the ropes." I smiled to myself.

This was going to be interesting. For the first time ever, someone new had joined us in caring for the Dragonarium, and exploring all the secrets it held.

However, somewhere else, deep in the cosmos, twelve strange individuals were watching the library very closely. One of them, a centaur, was becoming incredibly irritated. He scraped his hoof on the ground, watching the serpent live as a human. It disgusted him, the thought that someone who'd been so great would lower themselves to such a pathetic level. He grew impatient. He hated waiting, sitting and listening to that overly enthusiastic lion yap his ears off. He'd rather be sharing stories with the Bull or telling jokes with the Scorpion. He'd deserved this place among the zodiac, promised that he'd be better than a mere fallen star.

But that fallen star remembered what he had been, and would never forgive or forget for what happened that day.