Deep Sea-Dwelling Dragons

There weren't always dragons in the Valley...

But ever since they’d awoken… life for humans had not been the same.

The gigantic territorial beasts took over large portions of land. They incinerated crops, livestock and caused natural disasters in their wake. The largest ones were capable of causing hurricanes with the single motion of a wing while others caused tidal waves when they decided to take a swim.

There were varying breeds of dragon that all seemed to be set loose on the world at the same time. Deep - sea dwelling dragons were supposedly more calm than their flying mammal relatives…

or at least, that was what he’d been telling himself before descending into the aquatic valley.

The miniature submarine went into stealth mode, propellers de-activating so it could sink downwards with ease. The pilot of the small pod took a deep breath, embodying the physical essence of the vehicle. He wiped beads of sweat from his forehead just as the bubbles on the outside of the vehicle dissipated. The sub was angled vertically, clinging as closely as possible to the valley wall.

The shapes on the sonar screen enlarged as the submarine descended into the depths of oblivion. One major problem about using sonar in an underwater realm full of gigantic beasts was that the shapes coming up could easily be large random bits of rock, just as much as they could be portions of a dragon’s body. He kept an eye on the screen, remaining vigilant for any slight movement amongst the pulsing glow of the enlarging shapes.

His destination was at the bottom of the valley, the disintegrated, submerged remains of an abandoned, long ago flooded medical centre. The pilot’s task was to fetch medical supplies to bring back up to the surface. His village of survivors lived on a small island that was once the tip of a mountain peak.

The submarine continued down its slopey descent for minutes that felt like months, until finally it reached the curved base connecting to the valley floor. The shapes on the sonar were still & steady. The dragons, if there were any in this area of the valley, were staying very still.

The sub scurried along the ocean floor skimming closely against the sandy dunes. The pod’s in-built medecine detector started up and began to beep slowly as it approached the haunted looking structure of a decayed hospital. The pilot became aware of a scraping noise coming from beneath the vehicle. He adjusted the controls, raising the ship a few inches off the ground, realising it was scraping against concrete.

Around him lay the remains of a long abandoned car park, skeletons sat still in their parked historic vehicles, toothy decayed grins grimaced through the gaps of mossy green & grey that replaced their skin.

On the building a large section of wall was missing, teeth marks surrounded it with a scorched imprint. The submarine entered through the gap in the building. As it entered the large entrance hall the pilot flicked on the headlights and deactivated the sonar.

He pulled up a holographic image on his monitor of the medicine supplies he was looking for. The submarine moved slowly forwards into the thickening darkness. The pilot gritted his teeth and jumped in his seat as a jellyfish darted across his window view. He made his way through the hospital corridor where stretchers laid with bodies that never got better. Rusty sign posts hung from the ceiling with words that directed him to various research labs & medical wards in an extinct language he couldn’t fathom. He activated the onscreen translator.

The chemical detector beeped as he turned a corner. The small submarine entered a room signposted “First-Aid Supplies'. Cupboards lined the walls, all displaying the first-aid symbol. He activated the submarine’s robotic arms which unfolded out from small mechanical doors either side of the vehicle. The arms extended followed by unfurling fingers that clicked into place. It felt it’s away along the cabinet and clenched its grip onto the cupboard handles. He pulled back on the ship’s controls to open it. It was empty. He did the same with every cupboard. All were empty.

He tapped the chemical detector to see if it was acting up. It beeped & adjusted itself, directing him into a new direction. He explored further through the large laboratory. Bunsen burners sat on desks unignited while vials that probably used to contain vital medicinal ingredients had now been diluted into the vastness of the sea. The submarine turned a corner and the pilot spotted another chunk of missing wall. But instead of leading onto anywhere else it was blocked by a rocky surface.

The beeping detector picked up in pace as he approached it. The rocky wall featured a horizontal groove across it, almost like it had been slashed in two, but like the rock had managed to re-seal. The submarine’s arms felt the crevice to see if it had some leeway. The submarine’s fingers curled in between the grooves of the rock and the metal groaned with strain as it tried to open up the crack. The pilot pulled hard on the controls.

The crack expanded slightly, a light yellow line forming behind it. With a bit more force the strained robotic arms cracked it open further. On the yellow surface small red contrasting cracks appeared. The submarine’s arm reached forwards to feel the surface. Despite resembling lava it didn’t seem to be hot. The scanner reading for the medical supplies continued to beep.

A large black shape moved across the surface until it was in front of the submarine, so that the pilot was staring into his own dark reflection. The black shape shrunk down to a small dot. The pilot’s pupil shrunk at the exact same moment, mirroring what he was seeing.

The submarine started to back up as more red veins formed around the black dot on the yellow surface in front of him. The rocky wall edges peeled back slowly on their own revealing the gigantic surface of a sea-dragon’s open eye.

The submarine started to back up, the beeping noises from the chemical detector became less consistent, so its noise resembled a backing up bin truck from the 21st century.

The dragon’s eye disappeared with a swoosh of bubbles away into the cold darkness. Leaving the gap in the wall open to the cold vacant darkness of the ocean. The pilot let a built up breath escape his lips creating a misty blemish of haze against the glass window. He continued to slowly sink backwards into the sunken science lab, distancing himself from the gap in the wall.

He checked the chemical reading on the monitor. It continued to beep in the direction of the beast, becoming slower and quieter as the beast retreated. The pilot decided to turn the vehicle around. The beeping started to return again, louder and quicker.

A gigantic elongated jaw burst through the hole in the wall behind him, its nose knocking against the submarine, sending it spiralling across the underwater room. The submarine’s robotic arms latched its vice-like grip onto a coral rooted desk. The submarine steadied itself and turned to face the gigantic dragon jaw that was now repeatedly slamming itself back and forth through the hole in the wall, attempting to widen the gap with each impact.

The chemical detector kept beeping, again and again as the dragon’s mouth got nearer and nearer. The dragon opened its mouth and screeched, sending a deafening vibration through the water. The demonic scream caused small cracks to expand across the glass of the submarine’s window.

The dragon’s mouth smashed forwards completely demolishing the wall that was half holding it back. The dragon’s gaping jaw went straight for the small sub. Just as the razor sharp giant rows of teeth chomped down, the pilot pushed the submarine into full throttle, driving it straight down the dragon’s throat. The beeping of the chemical detector became more prominent as the dragon’s jaw snapped shut. The beeping had become more consistent.

The submarine panned around on the spot, scoping the new surroundings of the fleshy cavern for the medicinal container. Then he spotted it. Stuck to the roof of the sea monster’s mouth was a large splotch of phlegm featuring the skeletal remains of a digested victim, and hugged tightly within its arms, the crate of medicine. The submarine went towards it but just as it did a sharp reptilian tongue wrapped itself around the vehicle and began to pull it down.

The submarine pilot reached out with a robotic arm and grabbed hold of the dangling uvula. The dragon howled its oversized vocal chords and released the grip of its coiled tongue retreating in momentary pain. The small submarine hugged tightly onto the uvula as the dragon’s giant tongue started whacking against the dangling pod like a pinata.

As the tongue repeatedly whacked against the small pod, robotic hands slowly lost their grip on the uvula. The pilot activated retractable claws from the robotic hands which stabbed with drill-like effect into the uvula causing the dragon to screech and thrash about sending the submarine into a further swinging frenzy.

After hanging around for a whole minute the dragon calmed down and stopped moving about wildly. Its tongue rose up again for round two and attempted to knock against the sub, but the submarine swung dodging the colossal sized tongue each time it darted towards him. The pilot had to split his focus from dodging the tongue, to grabbing the medicine that was clung onto by the phlegm coated corpse.

With one robotic arm the sub-pod reached out towards it and stabbed its claws through the squelchy layers of phlegm, securing its grip with miniature drills which it embedded into the thick metal casing of the crate.

He ripped the box of medicine out from the skeleton’s arms. But the skeleton ended up peeling off the roof of the mouth and came attached by an elasticated piece of phlegm, so the skeleton came as part of a package deal with the box, just like a side portion of fries with a burger. I guess.

The pilot peeked round, rotating the submarine, twisting the uvula which caused the dragon to further internally screech in pain.

At the back of the throat a pair of fleshy geysers sprouted out from either side of the neck and began rapidly pulsating, mixing flammable chemicals which sprayed together from either side. Sparks of ignition grew bigger and bigger, a fireball forming, ready to launch straight at him. As the pilot stared into the fiery depths of the dragon’s throat he looked back and forth between the growing inferno and the phlegm coated skeleton that seemed to be unscorched from the heat. “Fireproof phlegm aha” he said to himself.

The submarine moved up and rolled itself against the surfaces of the dragon’s mouth. The pilot’s view became blinded as the small submarine window became coated in phlegm. The pilot switched on sonar and a full reading came up showing him the entire reading of the dragon’s internal biology.

The submarine pilot steered towards the exit of the dragon's jaw. His ankle bone strained as he pushed down on the pedal as hard he could. Just as he was about to exit the gaping jaw the submarine’s surroundings became a full blown blaze.

Flames engulfed the vehicle as the dragon’s entire throat became a full on furnace. More small cracks appeared on the window. But the phlegm on the glass managed to keep it all glued together. The sonar cut out, he was now driving without the aid of sight or sound.

He pushed down on the failing engine pedal and closed his eyes, praying silently for the surviving vehicle to take him where he wished. He didn’t know if his prayers were answered, because the blood pressure, the heat, the lack of oxygen & sheer overdose of adrenaline caused the pilot to black out.