From the Ashes of Blood and Fangs

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. Then again, there wasn’t always a valley where they now reside. It had been several centuries since the cataclysm which created it, centuries since the dragons came to be in our world. Before they arrived they were the stuff of myths and legends, only spoken about in storybooks and role playing games.

When they appeared in the valley known as the birthplace of Neveroth, the first dragon, people began to wonder what else was out there, what else was true, and the possibility of them coming from another world entirely.

Now in the year 2052, being a Cryptozoologist is a legitimate career. Even though dragons were the first and only creatures thought to be myths to be discovered.

We were still learning about them to this day, centuries later. So far their expected lifespan was yet to be determined as Neveroth was still alive and the oldest and fiercest of their kind. If one dragon killed another, they buried their dead. About fifty years ago it was discovered that they prayed to the stars, much in the way elephants worship the moon. Though, it is not clear as to which stars or for what purpose. They could even speak, though it was a language difficult for human ears to process. I have only heard distant recordings and everything comes out like a rough hiss.

People who attempted to poach the creatures found that they were difficult to kill as well. To this day humans have not been successful in trying. Those who do often do not return and some don’t come back in one piece.

Serves them right.

I could only hope I would not meet the same fate.

I was one of five chosen to venture to Neveroth’s Valley on a six month expedition. The ultimate goal was to try and communicate with them and for them to invite us into their lands to observe and learn more about their culture. But I couldn’t help the feeling which crept up on me. The one which felt something akin to excitement mingling dread.

“Sara?” I snap out of my daze when the leader of the expedition grips my shoulder.

Grant peers at me curiously. We’re about to land a few miles from the Valley. It was safer for us if we had any hope of observing them. The helicopter was a bit turbulent and grew more so the closer we got to our destination. It was making my stomach uneasy.

I fucking hate flying.

“You alright?”

I swallow the bit of bile I feel rising in my throat. Puking would need to wait until we landed at the very least.

“I’m good.” I nod.

He grins and pats my shoulder, which does nothing to help the fact that I am trying to hold down my lunch. I try to focus on anything other than the blades above us and closing my eyes only seems to make it worse as we grow closer to the ground. My stomach dips but eventually I feel the helicopter land and my heart settles in my chest rather than in my throat where it had been for the past eight hours.

I give Grant a thumbs up and my best wide-toothed grin, though it is strained.

He laughs, along with Ashley and the two others whose names escape me at the moment. We didn’t have a whole lot of time for introductions but I think their names were Jason and Tony. I probably have them entirely wrong, though. To my knowledge they each have minor degrees in cultural studies but are primarily our tech experts.

I had spoken to Ashley a few times before, it was really the only reason I remembered her name, because she had reminded me a few times. Three times we’ve run into each other now. It was always, “Ashley Lawson, remember?” I didn’t. Not really. But I pretended I did regardless of if she believed me. She was the Cryptozoologist on this trip, specializing in dragons.

Grant was my anthropology professor my freshman year of college, far less forgettable, and the head anthropologist. He’s older but still hanging on the edge of my generation. He also wasn’t bad looking, a fact I was hyper aware of every time he flashed a smile in my general direction.

That didn’t matter. I didn’t let it distract me then and I won't let it distract me now. Not when we were just three miles from the Valley. Well, we were three miles from where we could safely set up for observation.

Everything in me settles when we’re allowed onto the helipad. My knees almost buckle from having sat down for eight hours and having barely enough room to stretch my legs between the five of us. It is several hours yet before we are all able to sit and rest properly within the camp, even with extra help bringing the rest of the cargo.

The area is still densely forested, with small sections of the land landscaped for shelter and skinny paths mowed between the spaces.

When everything is finally moved up to the site, I practically collapse on the ground near my tent. The heat is nearly unbearable, the atmosphere humid, and the land soft enough to leave tracks everywhere I walk. Even now I can feel the mud seeping into my shorts. I don’t really care though, not while I am parched and in need of a cold shower.

Ashley walks over to me, her blonde hair tied up into a tight bun on top of her head. She splashes some of the bottled water in her hand on the back of her neck and sighs. “Frick, it’s hot here.”

I nod awkwardly, not really interested in making small talk with her. “Dragons. It was bound to be warm.”

“Better than the desert, I guess. At least there’s water here.”

The Valley is where it all began so it made sense why we would come here rather than go to one of the several nests located in various continents and climates. When they first migrated it caused a huge panic, though unwarranted. The creatures never came for us before, never attacked unless we trespassed on their lands. It was clear they wanted nothing from us but privacy and seclusion.

“Done sitting on your butt, newbie?” The one named Jason (lucky guess on my part) walks over, stopping a few feet from my tent. He’s taller than me by a few inches, heavy set, with black hair that receded around the edge of his temples.

I kick my legs out like a stubborn child. “We have months to get intel. You can let me sit for a few minutes.”

“Bah, we won't get the setup finished if we all sit down now,” he whines.

“Hush, you.” The other one, whose name is not Tony but actually Simon, walks up next. But instead of simply defending me with his words, he sits on the ground next to me and leans against the tent, and what sunlight streams through the canopy catches the amber glow of his skin. “I’m with the newbie.”

My breath is starting to catch up now and I turn to Simon. “It’s Sara.”

“I like the way you think, Sara. The ground over here is nice and cold on my ass.” He takes a swig from his own water bottle and sideyes me. “You’re the anthropologist?”

“Trainee,” Grant corrects. “Miss Ward works under me.”

“I’m writing my dissertation.” I say after a solid roll of my eyes. Grant wasn’t wrong but he wasn’t entirely right either. I’m still in school, technically, and this trip is basically my year abroad.

Simon smiles with all his teeth. “On dragons?”

“On the impact their species and culture has had on our environment and existing cultures from their arrival to now. Do you know there are humans who worship them? People who have only ever seen pictures and shaky, blurry camera footage. Like they’re gods from the heavens since apparently there is no other explanation- what?” I stop when I notice everyone except Jason is staring at me with intense curiosity, like I am some specimen in a lab.

“Nothing, you just have a passion about them I haven’t seen before. And I don’t mean like the RPG crew. Real scientific passion.” Simon shrugs and taps my shoulder softly with his fist. “Who knows, maybe they are gods. Or aliens.”

“Just because we don’t understand them doesn’t mean they’re not of this world.” I point out. Simon studies me for a moment, waiting for me to give in. And with a heavy sigh, I do. “Look, I won’t dismiss the idea entirely, but people thought alchemy was magic before they came to understand it.”

“‘There’s a reason for everything’ and all that, yeah?” Ashley snorts.

Honestly, I’m not surprised any of them might think the dragons are just a product of magic. Truthfully, I’m not opposed to it. I just would like to understand it, to understand these creatures. Discovering where they come from isn’t why I am here, though. We can’t speak to them, but that isn’t for a lack of trying. And the likelihood of ever being able to know how they got here is dependent on that.

I shrug at Ashley as she opens the front of the tent. “You could say that.”

Simon’s hand then reaches out and touches my chin, lifting my face just a little. “Chin up, newbie.”

I blink at him, feeling a blush rise to my cheeks. I don’t know why, if it was just the heat of the forest or the fact that Simon is just really fucking cute, but I can’t help it. I don’t turn away until Jason claps at the both of us, snapping me out of whatever trance I was in.

“Slide into her DMs later, lover boy,” Jason says. “We’ve got set up.”

Quietly, Simon lets go of me and gets up, and I am left with the distant squabbling of him and Jason. I get up and head into the tent.

Ashley and I were bunking in the smaller tent and the boys were in the one slightly larger.

I set my backpack on the bunk Ashley hasn’t claimed yet. I don’t sit in the bed yet, though, not with mud all over my ass.

“He’s smitten,” Ashley remarks while cooling herself with a little hand held fan.

All I do is shake my head and shrug. It wasn’t something I was particularly interested in while I was here. Then again, I could be reading his signals wrong and that’s just how Simon is with anyone he talks to, even if it was a bit forward.

“I’m not really interested in hooking up while I’m on this trip.”

She smiles at me, the look on her face exhausted but otherwise kind. “You think there’s a watering hole around here somewhere? I’m burning the frick up.”

“I think they said there was a well or a spring somewhere near our base but we should probably wait until tomorrow before we go wandering off to find it.”

A groan leaves her throat at the thought. “You’re probably right. With my luck I’d get lost walking two feet in the wrong direction.”

“We have a few days to ourselves to get acquainted with the area.”

“Comfortable, ladies?” Grant pops his head into the tent and myself and Ashley just sort of grumble our answers. “Get up before you lose momentum. We have a few hours before we lose the daylight and we can use all the hands we have here.”

In unison, we give him a thumbs up, then exchange a look and an eye roll once he leaves the tent.

“So it begins,” Ashley says and slowly drags herself out of the small space.

It isn’t until sundown that we have the place ready to go when we start. By that point, Jason has passed out and Ashley has trudged back to our tent, exhausted. I won’t lie, I’m pretty knackered myself, but I’m enjoying the outside more than I anticipated, especially now that the sun was set and the cool night air began to breeze through the trees. It was relaxing enough to lay back on the chilled ground and look up through the canopy to what stars managed to shine through.

Suddenly, Grant blocks my view and peers down at me speculatively. “What are you doing?”

“Looking up at the stars.”

He looks up, then back down, and takes a deep breath before joining me in the dirt, shifting uncomfortably as he looks up. He huffs again out of frustration. “I can’t see shit through the canopy.”

“You’re not looking hard enough, then, Professor G,” I tease him.

“Where are you looking that you can see anything other than leaves and shadows?”

I raise my arm, pointing straight up and angling a little to the left. Grant squeezes close to me, his warmth invading the nice chill I have coming up from the ground so he can follow my line of sight. He squints. Then, once he finally catches where it is I am looking, he shakes his head at me and laughs under his breath.

“Not even a full constellation.”

I shrug and drop my arm, my hand laying over my stomach. “I’ll take what I can get.”

Next, Simon comes over, looking straight up. “Are we star gazing,” he wonders enthusiastically and joins us, laying down on my left. After a few moments, he exhales. “This is nice.”

“Just imagine,” I begin. “Tomorrow we’ll be gazing at the dragons.”

Grant laughs. “You’re such a nerd.”

I roll my eyes and give him a sideways glance and simply say, “Takes one to know one.”

The night rolled on and I nearly fell asleep in the middle of our base. Grant practically had to carry me back to the tent and tuck me into my cot. Then by the time morning rolled around, I was the only one running behind. Luckily the official work didn’t start today or Jason would probably have another fit about me sleeping in until eight in the morning.

The trail to the watering hole had been marked with red ties by now, though. Since the rest of the crew had finished with their own business, I had the place to myself. Regardless, I planned to bathe in my swimsuit.

Just in case.

As I walked up on the watering hole, I first noticed just how big it was. It’s practically a lagoon, surrounded by black rocks, almost volcanic looking. Behind it, filling the lagoon, was a waterfall. Nothing in comparison to Niagara Falls, but still beautiful.

I drop my shorts and remove my t-shirt and shoes before saying “fuck it” and diving in. I expected it to be cold when I did and I waited for the sharp sting, but nothing came. Warmth enveloped me as I came back up and smoothed back my hair to keep it from getting tangled. For a while, I just float there, allowing the sun peaking through the canopy to soak into my skin.

Relief floods my veins when I am finally able to wash. Using the nature safe products provided to us, I wash and rinse my hair before scrubbing yesterday’s trek off my skin. Eventually, though, I have to get out. I sit up on the flattest rock I can find so I can apply insect repellent and sunscreen and run a detangler through my curls when I hear something behind me. Something big enough to shake the earth beneath me and send ripples through the lagoon.

I couldn’t tell if it was fear that struck me at that moment or if it was excitement.

Maybe it was both.

But when I turn to face the open field surrounding the lagoon, I am met by the gaze of something I never expected to see so up close. Certainly not within a hundred feet.

It was the size of three big yellow school buses. Probably even bigger than that. Dark amber eyes with vertical irises blink down at me, set into a face covered in thick, forest green scales. There are two horns atop its head and black spines that run along its spine down to its tail, which whips around and smacks into a few nearby trees, cutting them completely through and knocking them to the ground.

Its wings are folded close to its body, the same green fading into black all the way to the wingtips. Four large legs beneath it begin to move, claws digging into the soft earth. Its breath is heavy but steady as it regards me sitting still on the rock.

Do I stand? Do I try to run? Scream?

I can’t. I am too frozen in shock at the sight in front of me. But then… it bows its head, one paw stepping forward as it angles its entire body toward me in a gesture that seemed almost sophisticated. When it comes back up, standing straight, it watches me.

Not knowing what else to do, I find it in me to move. I stand up and stumble out onto the open ground, fumbling when I do my best to mimic the gesture. I even grab the ends of my towel in a strange sort of curtsy as I drop my head and stick out one foot in the same delicate manner. I stay that way for a few moments, stilling when I hear the creature move, coming closer to me. Only then do I look back up.

We are face to face, so close I can feel the intense heat of its body.

Its face drops down slightly, its muzzle dragging along the length of my body, stopping at my shoulder before nudging me. I topple over into the dirt with a yelp, my body rigid with fear. I felt like it was a lion and I was a mouse pinched by the tail, dangling in the air. Only I wasn’t a mouse. This wasn’t a lion, though if it were I would be just as frightened, if not more. At least with a dragon I could be swallowed whole.

A massive paw suddenly hovers over me and presses down, the claws digging into the ground and caging me in. It leans forward, peering down at me curiously. Those amber eyes search my face, my reflection clear in its gaze. Then, it sniffs me, breathes me in like I’m a tray of fresh baked brownies.

It probably didn’t even know what brownies were.

A forked tongue juts out. I gasp and flinch just a little, but I am still frozen where I am under its paw. Even when that tongue scrapes along my throat, across my jaw, and over my cheek in one go. It closes its eyes and...

It bellows, the sound rattling the ground beneath me, the trees, even the atmosphere around me seemed to vibrate.

The eyes open again, the vertical slits dilate as the creature focuses on me.

We stay like that for a long while. And after a minute or two I decide I have to do something. If there was a chance to get away and leave in peace, I would take it in a heartbeat. So, I try. I didn’t have much else to lose.

I raise my hand off the ground. The dragon watches me, a sense of wariness in its eyes as my hand rests on its paw, stroking the scales there. It felt exhilarating just to do this. To be touching something no one else has, at least to the knowledge of most humans.

My hand drags up a little more, feeling the warm scales which were surprisingly smooth beneath my fingers, then I raise my hand into the air, my palm facing its muzzle. I’m trembling as I reach a little closer, shifting in the dirt to reach further, and the warm breath of the beast washes over me. My heart feels like it’s slamming in my chest. I could very well die of excitement before I am swallowed whole by this former creature of myth.

Then, I hear my name.

“Sara?!” Someone calls out for me. Grant, I think. “Sara!” Another one calls out. This time I think it is one of the others. Probably Simon.

The dragon perks up, looking toward the sound, then back at me. Something akin to panic flashes in its eyes. It bellows again and I drop my hand. Its paw grows tense over me. At that moment I am sure I am done for. So I close my eyes tight and come to terms with that fact.

“Sara!”

I feel its muzzle against the side of my face, warm like a caress. When I open my eyes to look up at the beast one last time I catch a glimpse just as it takes to the sky, tearing through the canopy and leaving me on the ground, stunned and speechless. As the wind sweeps over me, I feel the warm tears rolling down my cheeks.

“Sara! For fuck’s sake.” Grant breaks through the dense woods and I snap toward him as he rushes toward me. “Are you hurt? Did you feel the-”

“D-dragon.” The word tumbles out of my mouth and I scramble to grab my towel and wrap it tighter around my body as I point up. He looks up through the now clear patch in the canopy and toward the sky, catching a glimpse of the spiked tail as it disappears.

Suddenly, I begin to laugh. “I saw a dragon,” I say, as if I am only just realizing it. I look back at Grant, then to Simon as he stumbles out of the brush and toward us, out of breath, and falling to his knees when he makes it to me.

“You what?”

I laugh again. “It had me pinned. I thought I was dead meat-”

Grant catches my face in both hands, forcing me to look him in the eye. “It pinned you down here?”

I nod and swallow a breath. Then I grab his hands and shift onto my knees. “I touched it, Grant. It was right here and it let me touch it.” Another laugh. I can’t help myself so I cover my mouth.

“You touched a dragon!” Simon’s voice comes out thready as he catches his breath, but his smile is sincere and just as excited as mine.

“Not just that, it touched me back!” I practically leap into the air. “Oh my god, I touched a dragon and it didn’t try to eat me.” I clutch my chest, my heart still beating itself against my ribs. “I think I’m having a panic attack but its fine because I touched a fucking DRAGON!”

“Alright, rub it in, newbie.” Simon playfully pushes my shoulder.

“Newbie schnewbie!”

“Bragging does not become you, Sara.” Grant’s voice is stern, but there is a small twinkle in his eye. Enough to tell me that he was jealous I had gotten so close, but it didn’t overshadow the excitement. “It let you get that close, that means we’re making progress with them.”

I finally begin to come down from the adrenaline high. I think.

“Yeah?” I smile, feeling more alive than I ever have before.

Grant lets out a long held breath and meets my eyes. His gaze is serious now, almost motivated, and he grabs my shoulders. “Sara, I need you to tell me everything.”