Gaia

The updraft drew me further from the den than I expected. Scenting the wind, I realize I am closer to a human outpost, shifting my shoulders and angling my wings, I veer westward toward the setting sun. My ember scales dance off the sun rays, reflecting the light around me, the hawks and eagles far below scatter as they sense me above. As they should, a dragon is a being to be feared. But they need not fear me just now, as my belly is filled and my maw full of the freshly killed elk carcass I am to bring home to my brood mate and hatchlings. Besides, a small meal such as a hawk would hardly be worth any effort.

The wilderness in front of me has waned over the centuries, the humans are becoming ever populated, constantly expanding. In my mind I could easily configure out, based on the human growth of the last several centuries, just how exponentially they reproduce. Soon, give or take a century, there won’t be much left of this great forest. It’s a problem my brood mate Daevidyra and I have spent many a day thinking over. It is unusual for a dragon to worry over such matters, but I, being the oldest of my kind, and revered in the ways long forgotten by the younger dragons, feel it is my responsibility to solve. But it matters not, as I am unlikely to chance upon a solution. Young dragons are becoming brash, hunting the easy prey of man’s sheep, and more than one has fallen prey to human revenge. Humans have become stronger, with their harder weapons, and a few have even learned an ancient power that even my fellow dragons have forgotten they could call upon.

The power to tap into the flow and aura of the land around me, it weakens as I age. When I was young, Dragons shaped the world, self-proclaimed Gods! putting the breath of life into all of the world’s creatures. We became stationary as a race, and grounded ourselves to this rock, creating substance and purpose. My Godly ancestors have long passed leaving myself to be the bridge amongst the generations. I have released several hundred broods of eggs, my partner and I, and none of our offspring seem as content with keeping to themselves high in the mountains as Daevidyra and I have. As such their history has faded, and our numbers have weakened, much in sync with the receding woodlands. A problem that has no foreseeable answer, and I have no one left above myself to pose it to.

Off to my side, a wind gust flattened the trees, tall oaks thicker than my midsection craned over, I tilted my body forward, my wings flattened to my sides in a steep dive toward the earth. Chastising myself for becoming lost in my inner thoughts, and not paying enough attention. The wind wasn’t so uncommon this time of year, I should have seen it earlier and stayed alert for this very weather. Waving my tail to propel myself down quicker, almost as if I were deep water, I easily calculted I wasn’t going to make it. The gust slammed into my flank, about 100 yards above the tree tops. I kept my wings tucked, but the elk carcass became dislodged from my mouth, and went soaring upwards lifted by the gust. If I was younger, the wind would have propelled me upwards as well, however with my size and weight combined with my knowledge of finding a current downward and keeping my wings securely folded, the wind propelled me vertical for a ways before my back spines began to break treetops.

The trees creaked in protest as my bulk bent them, it sounded like when the largest most ferocious God-dragon of old destroyed the land, cracking the giant continent Pangea and splitting it into several plates of land, with vast ocean leaking between them. Grunting and moaning the trees blasted apart around my torso, leaving thick splinters that slipped under my scales and into the hide beneath. My second eye lids were shut, a thick membrane I couldn’t see through, but I cracked one set open, enough to see through a yellowish film as to where I was landing. A small clearing come into view, I angled myself to land, when a peculiar-shaped tree slammed into my hind leg. The dirt met my chest before my fore legs could catch me, and I slid several hundred yards across the tall grassy meadow.

Stunned, I wait several moments for my heart to stop reverberating through my body. Lifting my inner eye lids, I tentatively look around my length for any serious damage. With a grunt, I stand, pulling my heavy limbs under me, and shocked that my muscles feel strained in holding my weight. Shaking dirt off, I clear branches and debris from my hocks, inspecting for further damage. Nothing serious, I stretch my wings, no torn membrane, just a tad dizzy. I shake my head and stretch my muscles, feeling the unfamiliar pinching of a torn ligament here and there.

A sudden noise makes my scales crawl, a wail unlike that of any animal I had ever heard in my years of soaring hunting and exploring. Shaking my stretched neck once more, I snake my head behind, in the direction I was flung, at the whim of the wind. The cry carried over the whistle of wind, it was unsteady at first, as if the creature too suffered a great shock as I did. The odd tree I knocked over seemed to be that of a human cottage, only it was built up high in a tree. Human cloth and wooden furniture were strewn across the wake of the clearing, smashed to splinters by the bulk of my torso.

I zeroed in on the source of the wail, turning my length around to get in closer. Crossing back the several hundred yards I slid across the meadow, back to the edge of the trees, now flattened and splintered in two. Using my jaw, I picked up some splintered boards revealing a Amonyte shell directly over the wailing noise. The large, shelled creature had been extinct for centuries, but in the years since the shells have hardened into a rock tougher than granite. This must be a sign, as the swirly segmanted Amonyte was a symbol to the God dragons. It was a favorite food to the dragons of old, hunted to extinction as sport. The Amonyte themselves were harmless, but the creatures of the deep ocean where the Amonyte lived made hunting more of a challenge. Although the ocean beasts lessened in size over years and became much less formidable opponents. Their shells were hard to digest for us, so we would roast them and slurp them from their shells and leave the shells behind, many of which become rock-like over time. It was odd seeing one here, polished like marble, a gentile blue hue reflecting off the polished surface. Hooking my large incisors over the edges of the shell, I flipped it onto its side, under neath lay the screaming squalling source of the noise. A tiny human child. crawling away from its previous entrapment. It seems the humans were using the shell as some form of cradle; the hard exterior of the shell protected this babe from the crushing force of 200 tons of dragon flesh.

I scented the air, and easily picked up blood wafting in the strong breeze. Focusing my eyes for better viewing of the damage, I saw the fresh carcasses of two humans, a male and a female. No other living creatures were in this area of the woods. Miles away was the nearest human village, if you could call it a mere village. An angry puff came out my snout as I pondered the fate of the little babe, no longer crying, but unsteadily getting to its feet amongst a stray beam of wood. It fell over twice in each attempt, as I contemplated leaving it to fend for itself. Guilt ebbed at me, for I destroyed its home by my own shortcomings. Not paying attention to my surroundings, I must be getting complacent in my old age! I ruffled my wings in agitation at that thought.

No; human hatchlings are so much more reliant on parents than dragon hatchlings. If I left it here, it would surely be a death sentence. Although one less human in this growing world might be better, it would be immoral for me to abandon this mere hatchling to the wilderness. I have decided, I shall take it back to the human village I was avoiding earlier. Contemplating how to pick it up safely, I opened my maw. My tooth seemed bigger than the child, this wouldn’t do. The human hatchling made a gurgling noise and a high pitch giggle as it played with a strip of cloth.

I opened and closed my claws before my eyes, I would crush it in my grip trying to hold it still. Frustrated I glanced around, seeing the Amonyte shell I felt a spark inside. Yes! I can hold the child in the shell, without crushing it! But this human child would not be intelligent enough to stay put and would surely fall to her death. Pondering, I stare absently into the blue swirl of the shell. The spark inside began to tingle and reverberate throughout my entire body. I was aware of a power, of a change happening inside. It consumes all of my being. I can see the stars, and the beyond, and the strings that held the universe together. I don’t understand how it works, but I know what I have the power to do. This was how my ancestors shaped the world. I might be the last of my kind who can recognize it for what it is. This power is sacred, and the Amonyte unlocked it in me. A vision consumed me, not sure how I can tell but it was many centuries in the future, the land was barren and laid to waste. The last of the humans fighting each other with metal tools and weapons that blasted apart the land, killing everyone and everything. The last of my kind had died out ages prior, their skeletons so old they turned to dust. The world was nothing more than a dusty rock, sharing the same fate as many of the other planets the dragons didn’t see fit to bless.

Inspiration came. This world doesn’t need another human, to fight human wars, this world needs a savior, one to keep the humans from overstepping their boundaries before they suck the land dry. One to stop the fall of the dragons, one to protect the forest. I cannot live forever, my kind has lost as much of the intelligence we once had, we need a new species. One that can act as a bridge between beast and man, gifted with power, but still human enough to communicate the dangers of the future. A species that can keep humans in check. A species that’s stronger, and faster and more in tune with the aura of the earth.

I drew in a deep breath, filling my whole chest with power like I do before I conjure fire from my diaphragm. I thought of all the qualities my creation needed, and I let the power of the gods flow out my maw. A purple cloud enveloped the child, an intelligence entered her gaze as she studied the plume from the inside, letting the particles sparkle around her hands and looking on with an intent gleam. Her hair turned from a dark brown to a golden stream, like a wild wheat field. Hear ears, became sharper, both in shape and of hearing, this I shaped with the power as I released it. Her limbs became lean and toned, her skin fair of color but tough of hide. And her eyes, a deep emerald green, good for seeing in the dark, but dark enough that the sunlight will not be a bother. Keener sight, and smell, and taste. In her blood stream I altered her, longevity, grace. Her mind? Expanding intelligence. And lastly, the ability to sense the aura of the land, as my kin have long forgotten how to do. As I mold, she shall be. On her brow a shiny swirl glows bright white, along with the eyes and the mouth as it opened, then the purple dust was sucked inside of her, and she floated to the ground asleep. The swirl on her forehead gone without trace.

The power left from my limbs, and I slumped down in an exhaustion I hadn’t felt in my entire time of being. I suddenly feel old, my bones ache, and my hide tingles like I landed on the ground straight from a steep dive. The power in me had vanished, untouchable as it was earlier this morning. I’m sure she has the power to shape the world, not as I can but a close mimic. Standing up once more, I flip the shell so it acts as a bowl, I line it with some strips of cloth from the human wreckage. The child stirs, I am aware now she is a girl, I could feel it as I shaped her being. Her lids flutter open and she holds my gaze with the knowing eyes of a more intelligent life form. No longer human, her species needed a name. Tapping into the aura of the world I say to her little Elf, for that is now what I have made you, can you ride in the Amonyte shell. I will take you home with me.

There was no answer, as she doesn’t know how to wield her power yet. Up she stands, on less shaking limbs than before, and glides into the curve of the shell. Picking up the Amonyte craddle with my front talons, I lift my glorious wings and take my new vassal home.

The cave high atop the mountain is dry and out of the wind. Its one of the few caves left that is large enough to hold a dragon of my size. My brood mate, Daevidyra, is awake and the pile of rocks below her are glowing a yellow ambiance in the cave. She needs to keep the eggs under her belly a steamy temperature, and does so by heating the rocks with her belly fire and then placing them around the nest.

You’re late. She comments sweetly, a tone of concern yet curiosity at my bundle, all apparent in her twinkling gaze.

A gust got me, and I destroyed a human dwelling as a result. This hatchling survived by fate. I linked my mind to hers to show her the memories of my odd encounter.

What have you done. She questioned gently, her mental tone colored with sorrow. This hatchling is alone in the world, you have doomed her to loneliness and extinction. A solemn life, no matter how good your intentions are for our kind.

Her concerns resonated within, for I care for my creation more so than my offspring once they have left the nest. I rest on my Elfling the hopes for my race, and the protection of the entire earth. The Elfling crawls from her cradle, and walks on steady feet to my mate’s side, and she places her tiny cream-colored elf hand along Daevidyra’s lilac colored scales.

Inside Daevidyra’s mind, still linked with mine, we share a vision conjured by the elf’s touch. It’s the same I had earlier only everything was different. My Elfling, now full grown, a gorgeous woman, lean, and draped in tight fitting green and brown garments. A golden braid lined with leaves and flowers, a long white bow at her side, intricate markings carved down the handle, riding an elk, the largest I have ever seen. Further into the future, my Elf, sneaking into a stone human castle, a human babe swaddled in her arms, the humans shrieking a baby is stolen. Her bringing the babe to an altar with Amonyte swirls carved. Her eyes and mouth glow white, the Amonyte symbol glowing atop her brow, changing the human to Elf, as I had changed her. My Elf surrounded by Elf children, hand selected by her, the Elf mother. Other Elf women stealing human offspring, the humans calling them Changelings. One century from now, I stand in the entrance to a cave closer to the ground. My wings no longer support my body. I’m surrounded by humans, an army of Elf kin ambush the humans. The humans outnumber the Elves 10 to 1, but the Elves slaughter every single one. My injuries are great, but I am satisfied, for I have completed my life’s purpose. The last thing I see is a great dragon migration, the likes I hadn’t seen since the age of the Gods, the day my fire goes out.

Coming out of the vision, my mate is shocked stiff. I see. Have you named her? Or shall we call her Elfling forever? We need something powerful, for this destined mother of the Elves and protector of the Earth?

I harrumphed deep in my chest.

I like the name, Gaia.