Survival: Dragon Impact

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. There weren’t always dragons in myth. There weren’t always dragons in legend. There weren’t always dragons in fairy tales. There weren’t always dragons in history. Then one day there were. As real as you the reader. Dragons appeared one day as if a light turned on. Books about dragons appeared out of nowhere. History, fairy tales, myths. They were just there one day. It all happened so fast.

***

It was a normal day just like any other. I woke up with my brother screaming around the house being chased by Mom. Every morning with those two. I don’t know how they can get up so early and have so much energy. The sun had been up for a couple hours at this point. It was shining through my blinds lighting up my room through the tiny crack in the shades right onto my face. The heat of the morning warming me up telling me it was time to get up. Today was a lazy day though. Mentally preparing myself for nothing important.

I got dressed and greeted Momma cooking breakfast. Even though it was just eggs and bacon today it smelled even better than it normally did. I could taste the bacon from the smell alone. Out of my two parents Mom and Momma, I related more closely to Momma. Neither of us were morning people. When my brother and Mom ran past us, we looked at each other and just shook our heads. Just stood there in silence enjoying each other's company. Mom and my brother on the other hand could wake up before the sun and have enough energy to run a marathon. I barely made it to the kitchen walking.

This was almost every morning. Sometimes both Mom and Momma would cook. Watching them cook was actually kind of cool, even though I would never admit it to them. It just really showed how much they love each other. They really were meant to be together. Some mornings I would even help cook. Not today though. Everyone had too much energy. Even Momma had a look on zir face that was brighter than usual. Normally ze has the same look as me, tired and zoned out.

The ground suddenly shook. Great big thuds, one after the other. The ground shook so violently that it knocked various items off the walls and scaring my brother half to death. Pictures, vases, and dishes were the only casualties though. We waited until it stopped. Mom told us not to move with all the broken stuff on the ground. Momma walked outside to see what happened. Ze was frozen, mouth agape. Ze stood there for a minute like that. I looked over at Mom and my brother and they were also frozen. I assumed that they were frozen with fear. But it was as if they were no longer even present. Nothing about them changed. I don't even think they blinked or breathed for a full minute.

Then Momma said that the dragons had come. They all came back to life as if they had been frozen in time. I was so confused. What did ze mean dragons had come? I had never heard such a thing before. My brother and Mom were delighted, and they both shot up and practically ran towards the door, ignoring the sharp debris on the floor. I had no idea what was happening, but I followed cautiously behind.

Huge beasts were outside in the middle of the town and people were cheering. Beasts that stood taller than houses. But I didn’t feel threatened by their presence. There was almost a calming effect that would wash over me when I looked at them. The beasts stood there with long wings folded against their body. Body made of scales of various colors and sizes. They looked so strong, but elegant. There were three dragons that stood in front of the rest. A gold, a silver, and a red dragon stood in front and above all the other dragons. They also looked different than the others. Almost like siblings compared to the rest of the dragons that were here.

My parents and brother were well on their way to greet these dragons. Why were they doing that? The beasts looked scary, and we had never seen them before. Something just seemed off about these beasts. Everyone else around me was acting as if this had happened before. I continued to follow but once I got close, I hid behind a building just monitoring the situation.

In front of the dragons were food and treasure for everyone in the Valley. There was so much. Gold of all shapes and sizes. Some looked like coins, others just bars and nuggets. There were gems like rubies, emeralds, and diamonds. Various other artifacts like rugs, vases, cups, necklaces. All just lying there on the ground. People were lining up to take turns collecting as much as they could carry. But everyone waited for their turn. A long line with everyone so happy and patient. It was almost unreal. I would have thought that people would have been fighting to get the treasure.

The smell that was coming off the food was amazing. I had never smelled food that smelled so good. I felt that the smell alone was enough to fill me up. There were so many different meats, vegetables, fruits, and other foods that we have never heard of before. So much flavor and variety.

Everyone was entranced in the mystics and magic. The dragons were dancing around the square doing acrobatics in the air and breathing fire in a spectacular show. It was a remarkable sight. The synchronization of the dragons, and the timing was perfect. They would fly straight at each other, then both would breathe fire at each other in a huge explosion and would fly straight into the explosion headfirst. It looked as though they would crash into each other but emerge unscathed from the other side of the explosion. They even drew pictures with their fire. I got caught up in it just like everyone else. I had never seen anything quite so extravagant. Everything was amazing!

The people in the Valley ate and acted like royalty for an entire week. Anything anyone wanted was given to us. There was nothing that the dragons were not capable of doing. We praised the dragons, asking to give them something in return, but they said that nothing was required in return. It was a dream come true.

Huge banquet tables were setup outside so that the people of the Valley could all eat together with the dragons. Sometimes people would eat so much food that they couldn’t eat anymore and stopped coming to the dinner table. Every once in a while, someone would collapse from overeating. It was insane how much people were eating. Even I would stuff myself full. The food was just so good.

After eating like this for four days it was noticeable how many people stopped coming to the banquet. At least I started to notice, but no one else seemed to care. Too busy stuffing themselves. Even my brother once ate too much to the point he got sick and threw up. Looked like even the dragons were stuffing themselves too. I saw one alone once who had some red wine on its face with a bone from anyone of the various animals lodged in its teeth.

At the start of the week, I never saw any of the dragons eat or drink anything. But the longer the week went on the more I saw that the dragons were indeed eating. It looked like they were very satisfied with the meal that they just ate. I mean with all the food that they brought and how good it tasted I wasn’t surprised that some would sneak away to have some of it to themselves. Whenever there were other dragons or people around, they were always cleaned up. Must have been a tradition or taboo amongst the dragons not to partake in the meals.

On the seventh day, almost no one showed up for dinner. Each table normally was able to seat hundreds of people. Total we were able to fit almost eight-thousand people comfortably. But on day seven, less than two-thousand people were present. I was not feeling that hungry, so I just decided to walk around town. I saw a dragon in the distance stick its head up and look around to see if anyone else was nearby. I figured it was going to eat some of the food alone, so I wanted to see for myself.

On my way over I ran into one of the Valley people and told him what I saw. He decided to come along and also see what's up. We peeked around the corner and saw the dragon hunched over and eating. I was about to expose the dragon and we would have a good laugh. The man that came with me suddenly pulled me back and started running towards the center of town. Something had scared him. To be fair it was a huge beast, and he was eating, it probably wasn’t safe to scare him while eating.

When we finally got to the center of the village. The man started looking around frantically and started counting the people that were there. He looked terrified and was looking almost sick. He ran around and started talking to everyone. He was asking where everyone else was. Probably just at home sick like everyone else. But that’s when it started to sink in. There were so many signs how have we not seen it? I ran over to my parents and brother.

It started off as quiet whispers that soon escalated into shouts and screams. Then the people approached the dragons and started asking them questions. Then the nightmare became real. Someone had thrown something at one of the dragons and was devoured in front of everyone.

It turned into a battle, but it was more of a genocide. It was all just a blur of red. A combination of dragon fire and blood. The people of the Valley were no fighters. What were we doing? We can't fight dragons. They were massive beasts as tall as our houses. With claws so sharp and fast that they would rip your entire body apart before you could even react. Wings so big and strong that they could destroy entire houses with just a single wave. Scales so tough that they were invincible. A breath of fire so hot that it would melt anything it touched instantly.

The people tried everything they could to fight. Weapons of all kinds were brought out and used to attack the dragons. The dragons were just too powerful and strong. They would swoop down from the sky breathing fire from above and melting everything in their path. Just by them walking around they would destroy anything in front of them. There weas nothing we could do. But what were we supposed to do? They were eating us. All the food that they brought was just to make us taste even better. It was a trap. We were doomed.

My family and I tried running out of the Valley. Get as far away as we could. We ran past dragon after dragon. Had to watch from every direction. Flames from above, houses being destroyed and tossed around, even the ground was cracking. A huge fissure had separated my family from me. We were supposed to meet up a few houses down. I started running.

Then a dragon fell out of the sky. It was fighting to get back in the air. Screaming out in agony. Then it stopped and a loud boom echoed through the city as the body hit the ground. Someone had killed a dragon. But who and how? All the dragons took to the skies in furious rage. Then a bright light followed by the most thunderous sound I have ever heard. The North Mountain exploded. Molten chunks of dirt and stone flew through the air landing around the Valley. It destroyed more of the Valley in a split second than all the other dragons had done the entirety of the fight. The whole thing felt like an instant but felt like it lasted forever. Time was no longer recognizable. Minutes, seconds, hours, it all felt the same. The ground where the mountain stood was now a pool of lava. The dragons all froze in the sky and looked at a single dragon. The one that had destroyed the mountain.

The sun was setting behind this dragon and it looked stunning. It looked so beautiful. A dragon with golden scales, larger than the others. It had a long neck with black scales along the front of its neck which extended to the under belly. The wings were fully extended and pointing outwards. You could see the sunset shine through the wings. They looked so delicate. The gold tint of the wings with the purple sunset shot rainbows shimmering across them. How could a creature with such beauty do this to us. It was standing on its two back legs while it roared and then when it finished it landed back down on its front two. The mighty dragon stared out at all the others. After a few minutes they started circling our Village. They weren't attacking or causing any more damage. Just flew around us. As soon as the sun fully set. Everything went black.

When the people of the Valley woke up, we were all in our own bed. All signs of a battle were gone. No blood, no fire, no destruction. Except the North Mountain. It was completely gone. The ground where it used to be still glowing red. Everyone's memories of the battle and the people lost were erased. Dragons must have used some kind of magic that made everyone else forget what happened. No one even remembered the people who died.

I woke up alone. I ran around calling for Momma, but ze was nowhere to be found. Called out for Mom but she was nowhere to be found. Called out for my brother, but he was nowhere to be found. I woke up to an empty house. There was only me. My family was killed by the dragons, and no one remembered who they were.

***

This story takes place a year after I lost my parents and brother. I want to give you knowledge of how to survive on the day that the dragons come to you. One day the dragons will eat everyone in the Valley, and when that day comes, they will have to move on. Here is my guide to survive. You may not think it could happen to you. But it will. They are coming.