Dragonsound: Guardians of a Fallen World

Chapter One: Guardians and Ghosts

     We didn't realize the danger until too late. Didn't realize that our spontaneous ability to turn into massive flying beasts was hinting at something coming. Something so much darker. Those of us that had the dracos gene, as it was later dubbed, kept it well hidden at first. The rest of the human race didn't know that creatures from the old legends actually existed. They didn't know that dragons were suddenly a very real thing, and had been for a long time.

     The world found out eventually, along with the discovery of Greatwolves, unicorns, basalisk and other such creatures from mythology. We didn't know that this was Mother Nature's way of warning us, of getting us to prepare. Because there was a danger coming, a war unlike any other, and our opponents were not born under the light of our sun.

     The mythological creatures of this world were meant as a safeguard for those things out there that Earth's most prolific children could not fight against. The Greatwolves and Basilisk and other such creatures were a deterrent from any unwanted visitors from setting up shop here. The unicorns and healing creatures were meant to help Nature heal after the wounds sustained from interstellar enemies. And the dragons. We were her warriors. Her defenders. The last line between hostile alien presence and not only mankind, but the biosphere as a whole.

     But we didn't know then, we couldn't understand her voice as we figured out our new forms. Our knowledge came too late. Our home was attacked by creatures that looked like a cross between a xenomorph and chitari, mottled with green and white. Great ships dove out of the sky, launching their warriors down to the surface. The resulting war was brutal. And while we dragons finally figured out our role in this backup plan of Mother Earth's, it came very late. By the time we drove off our enemies, over half of mankind had been wiped out. But the disgraced aggressors left with a parting shot.

     They left behind a virus that further decimated the human population and drove the rest of mankind into secure underground bunkers. The carriers of this disease are rodent-like lizards, roughly the size of a sewer rat called Nihil. They operate in a sort of hive society, with the workers and drones distributing the virus, while the "queen" acts as its source.

     We have not seen any other alien races in our atmosphere, though our bond with Earth told us that there were many more out there. Now our purpose is to kill as many nihil hives as we can and bring in their queens for study and the hope of a possible vaccine so that humans can once again return to the surface. Though, hives are elusive and difficult to find, which leaves a lot of freetime for a dragon.

     It is during this freetime that I have settled down in the shade on the bank of a river, perfectly still so as not to disturb the water below me. One of my ivory paws, tipped with five silver talons, rested in the water, ready and waiting for dinner to slip by.

     Generally speaking, I was content with the fish I could catch for my meals. Being a dragon means that my system processes nutrients more efficiently. I still got hungry for dark meats occasionally, and to the dragons' collective confusion, fruit and veggies were far more appetizing to us than before the Weeping.

     The flash of silvery scales below the water had me stiffening in surprise. I held my hand still below the surface, waiting for the fish to get closer. A small shape darted across my hand.

     Too small, it needed to grow more before it could be dinner for a dragon nearly as large as an elephant.

     Just a little longer.

     There!

     It was a massive gar, olive green and slowly chasing the small fish that had just darted between my talons.