Dragons, Valleys, and the City

Chapter 1

There weren't always dragons in the Valley.

However, to be fair, there wasn't always a valley where New York City used to be.

Two weeks ago, on June sixth, at approximately 11:51 PM, a dark green sphere of light no larger than a pinhole appeared in the grimy garbage disposal of New York resident Maurice Nelson. Maurice, a 68-year-old bus driver and cat enthusiast, peered at the bead of light through his thick bifocals. As he hunched closer, the tiny orb instantly expanded, consuming his small overpriced two-bedroom apartment, his apartment complex, the surrounding buildings, the rest of New York City, and, of course, Maurice's lovely cats. And, just as quickly as it had consumed New York City and Maurice's cats, it winked out of existence, leaving behind the Valley.

As the helicopter began to ascend, Dr. Scott Dansgale watched a video of the black and green ball of lightning covering the entire city. His blue eyes stared past his thin-rimmed glasses, still trying to make sense of it all. Conspiracy theorists, world religions, and scientific organizations have all presented their own guesses. Scientists and experts worldwide are still baffled; he was one of those scientists the U.S. government asked for his equally baffled thoughts.

Scott turned from the video for a moment and stared down at the Valley below them that stretched like a scar on the land below him. A small range of mountains flanked each side of a deep red river snaking through the Valley. He fixated on a particular spot of trees along the mountainside. He wondered where, among all this nature, his apartment used to be. Where his two dogs and wife, Helena, used to be.

He tried to shake the thoughts from his head. Worrying about what happened to them isn't going to help me right now. Just for now, I need to compartmentalize all this so I can focus on helping everyone else figure out what the Hell is going on.

Of course, this was easier said than done. Without realizing it, he was already chewing his nails. The thoughts weighed on him, and the anxiety gnawed at the edges of his mind. His psyche had already started pulling on that ball of thread. But what if we can't figure it out? There's still so much we don't know. Worse yet, what if we do discover the cause, and we learn there's nothing we can do? What if this was the result of some experimental weapon? Or some kind of incredibly rare natural disaster humanity hadn't seen before? What if Helena's not okay?? What if-

As his train of thought was about to careen off the rails and his heaving chest felt like it was about to burst, the helicopter touched down at the military base. With a shaky breath and a sweep of his long dirty blonde hair, Scott climbed out of the helicopter.

A private with an M16 and deep bags under his eyes escorted him from the helicopter through the sea of white tents placed as a temporary base of operations. According to the briefing Scott read earlier, the base was where Central Park used to be. On his way to the lab, Scott noticed several trailers and tanks equipped with anti-aircraft missiles.

So, that's how they're dealing with the dragons? Scott thought. Well, what do I know? Probably makes more sense than trying to have dogfights with them.

When they arrived at their tent, the sleep-deprived private held open a tent flap for Scott. A mess of scientific instruments filled the enormous tent. He recognized many of them from his years of research as a Nobel-prize-winning physicist, while a few he knew he'd have to become well-acquainted with in the next few days.

"Well, if it isn't Dr. Dansgale!"

The cheer came from behind a wall of monitors. Scott spotted a tall, dark-haired man with a buzzcut poking his head around one of the monitors. The large man jumped from his seat and marched over to Scott. The private next to him saluted.

"At ease, soldier." The tall man put out a hand with thick calluses. "Captain Taylor!" Captain Taylor said. "Though, you can just call me Taylor."

Scott shook his hand. "I would introduce myself, but it seems my reputation precedes me," Scott smiled.

"Well, of course!" Captain Taylor boomed. "Who in the community hasn't heard of you? Hell, I'm surprised we actually got a hold of you so quickly, especially considering all the petty squabbling and shit-flinging the cadre are doing."

Scott let a chuckle escape from his lips. "Heh, yeah, well, you know…" He almost followed up with, "This is something close to me," but he wasn't ready to let the emotions flood back in. At least, not now.

Captain Taylor turned on his heel and led Scott to the monitors while continuing his rant. "Seriously, saying the cadre beating the shit out of each other over what to do would be an understatement." He plopped down in his office chair and pulled up another for Scott. "This is the shit-show of the century, and we've got front-row seats."

Scott sat down and peered up at the monitors. Several programs and statistical calculations he recognized spread out before him, and equally as many unrecognizable ones plastered the screens.

Taylor took a long sip of coffee. "First things first," Taylor said. He pointed at one of the screens that seemed gibberish to Scott. "You ever worked with this?"

Scott shook his head. "Half of the stuff here is new to me, but then again-"

Taylor cut him off. "-So is 100% of this situation."

"Right. Unfortunately, I'm not an expert when it comes to dragons." Scott pushed up his gold-brim glasses. "This is all, just so…" He trailed off.

Taylor took another sip of coffee. Soft beeping and whirs from the machinery surrounding them filled the silence. The word neither of them could find hung in the air, but they didn't need it.

Taylor put down his coffee mug. "Yeah, well, it's about to get a lot more of that. You see this?" Taylor pointed to a few unclear icons on the monitor.

Scott nodded. "I do, but I'm not familiar with reading weather patterns."

Taylor started navigating through the screens, madly clicking the mouse. "Well, not all of these details have been officially released to the public yet, but you know how the second 'flash' went off a week after the first one? And how that's when more of the Valley showed up and brought a fuck-ton of dragons?"

Scott nodded again. "Around the same time Hurricane Melvin appeared, right?" Flashes of all the news reports flew through his mind. They all confirmed that somehow, on June thirteenth, even more of New York was replaced with more of the Valley, along with countless video reports of dragons swarming the region.

"Affirmative." Taylor continued. "That's the reason we haven't been able to blow those assholes out of the sky so easily. But that's not all," He gestured to the monitor again. "We think that somehow, those scaly pricks brewed up the storm themselves."

Scott's eyes widened. "What?"

"These weather patterns don't make any fucking sense at all," Taylor tapped a pen against his palm as he stared at the screens. "First off, it's way too small. Usually, hurricanes are about three-hundred miles wide, but this one only has a radius of thirty or so. Also, as you might've heard, Hurricane Melvin has done nothing but sit on his ass, right on top of the part of the Valley with the dragons."

Scott drew his gaze towards the monitors, trying to make sense of it all. "And you think the dragons are somehow manipulating the weather to keep it there?"

"Yep, we think they're using it to make some kind of fort or defense. Works pretty well too, considering how hard it's been to get our planes close, let alone our boys on the ground. Hell, according to this," He pointed towards another monitor with his pen, "the winds might be comparable to the storms on Jupiter. Fucking Jupiter."

100 meters per second?? The trivia fact emerged from the recesses of Scott's memory and slapped him in the face. He fell back in his chair, trying to absorb it all.

"…and this is all within this radius?" Scott pointed at the screen.

"Affirmative, which is why we think it has something to do with them."

"Is it even safe for us to be here?"

Taylor swiveled in his chair to face him. The dark bags under his eyes sagged further than Scott thought was possible. "Higher-ups told us that as long as we're a good ways away from Melvin's radius, the chances the storm or the dragons come for us are low."

Scott sensed the nagging doubt in his voice. Scott felt like biting at his nails again.

"… that's what they told you…" Scott floated the words out to him.

Taylor got up and walked over to a coffee pot sitting on another nearby desk. "Affirmative. They also say that if the dragons alone were to swarm us, we'd have the firepower to take care of them." Scott noticed the livelihood of Taylor's voice from when they initially met was now absent. Taylor procured another mug and held it up for Scott to see.

"Coffee?"

Scott stared at the mug. His thoughts and fears swirled inside him like the violent storm raging a few dozen miles away from where he sat. Am I even any help here? I've got some ideas on what could've happened, but they're all based on shaky physic theories at best.

The doubt and fear crept in. How could any of this be happening? Only two weeks ago, he was just at another conference in Texas, walking by other research posters and meeting old friends from the field. If only his flight hadn't been delayed by a few hours, he would've been back in New York City and seen Helena before-

Helena.

Scott took the mug. "Do you have milk and sugar?"

Half asleep with an empty coffee mug loosely in his grip, Scott was jolted awake by the wail of sirens and the sound of anti-aircraft missiles rocketing towards the sky. The ground rumbled, machines fell, and the overhead lights flickered. Scott pushed up his glasses and whipped his head around, looking for Taylor. Another rumble, this time closer, shook his body and cut the power. The darkness surrounded him, save for the small splash of light coming from the tent flap. Running now, Scott fumbled past broken machinery and banged his legs against some unknown equipment. The pain ran up his leg, but the adrenaline kept him going. As he sprinted towards the exit, the sound of shouting and gunfire roaring became clearer.

Just a few steps away from the tent flap, he spotted a large fallen centrifuge uncovered by the outside headlights, but it was too late. His ankle collided with the metal, and he felt the shards of glass sink like teeth into his hands as he braced his fall. Warm blood ran down his palms as he climbed to his feet and ran out the door.

Outside, a storm of light and fire painted the night sky. Scores of soldiers sprinted for cover and returned fire, all of them watching the sky. His pale blue eyes now panicked and bloodshot, Scott was looking for the nearest piece of cover when he saw it. Of course, he'd seen low-quality video footage of them all over the news, but those news clips were nothing compared to what flew above him now. The dragon's long, scaly, crimson body soared above him, beating down a gust of wind with his wings on top of him like a great invisible palm. The terrible beast circled around another tent before unleashing a fireball the size of a semi-truck at the tent. Before the soldiers nearby could find shelter, the tent and surrounding area were engulfed in flames. To his right, there was the thunder of anti-aircraft missiles, and a volley of rockets exploded into the dragon's side. With a screech that sounded like knives against a chalkboard, the dragon plummeted to the Earth, kicking up a storm of dust and debris on impact.

Heart pounding, adrenaline pumping, his primal instinct of survival driving him, Scott sprinted towards one of the anti-aircraft missile tanks he spotted earlier. The ground trembled once more, and he felt the same wall of air from before above him. A silver dragon, twice the size of the last one, cut through the sky above him. The anti-aircraft tank Scott was sprinting towards fired another barrage of missiles at the silver dragon. Without even thinking, Scott hit the ground hard enough to lodge dirt in his chin for a week. There was a flash of lightning, followed by the clap of thunder. The sound rattled his bones, and Scott realized just now he had never been so close to a spot where lightning struck.

He lifted his head from the ground. Through the cracked lenses of his glasses, he saw a smoldering crater where the anti-aircraft tank used to be.

A victorious cry from the clouds sliced like a knife through the air. The silver dragon was now circling back around. Its scales pulsed with the life of electricity, its blue glow contrasting with the inky sky. Scott knew without a doubt that even if he sprinted with the strength of an Olympian, he'd be caught in its next attack. Knowing this, he knelt there, frozen in time. At that moment, it didn't seem real. None of it did.

The beat of the dragon's wings, the crackling lightning, the monstrous cry; all of it seemed to slow down as Scott stared into the face of certain death.

A slim bronze body knifed through the clouds above the silver dragon. As a ball of electricity collected in the silver dragon's jaws, a beam of purple light shot through the nape of its neck. The sparks from the dragon's mouth fizzled, and the colossal body plunged from the sky. Before he even knew where he was headed, Scott ran. Was there even anywhere to go? He couldn't run far enough to avoid being crushed, and any cover he could duck under would only be flattened with him.

As he looked up one last time to see the gargantuan lifeless body about to pulverize him, he spotted the same flash of bronze from before out of the corner of his eye. An arm clad in silver armor knocked the wind out of him as it scooped him up. He was now on top of something and felt the cool, smooth scales under his bloodied hands. The silver dragon's corpse slammed into the ground. A thunderous crash sent a shockwave where he stood only a few seconds ago.

The arm was still around him when he realized what had happened. He stared down the tail of the small, bronze dragon he was now riding. Then, Scott turned around to face his savior. A woman in silver scaled armor held onto his belt with one gauntlet and a glowing purple spear in the other.

"Can you hold on??" She yelled over the carnage. With Scott's glasses gone, her face was only a loud blur.

"... who… where did you…" That was all Scott could manage.

"Y’all really kicked the dragon’s nest, huh?” She yelled back. “You’re one of them new city folk I heard about last week, aren’t ya?”

City folk? Scott’s frenzied mind could hardly piece together the words. Wait… is she talking about-

And then everything went dark.