The Dragon's Haven

There weren’t always dragons in the valley. Some dragons preferred hard to traverse mountain ranges, some would settle on difficult-to-reach islands, but some, like my family, had found their home in the ‘Cursed Valley’ so named by the previous human residents. Supposedly, they had found it so inhospitable that no one dared even travel through for fear their entire family line would carry some fatal curse. Humans are so strange.

The lack of humans is precisely what made the valley so welcoming to dragons. All the places where dragons lived had one thing in common. Humans didn’t or couldn’t normally travel there. After all, dragons needed some place safe to raise their young, and young dragons are easier to spot than adults. At least, that’s what Tor says. I’ve heard that humans are stuck with one form their whole life. How boring! Not so for dragons, though. We can shape-shift. One form is scaly, quadrupedal, and can fly; the other is much like a human: soft-skinned, bipedal, and has opposable thumbs. Both forms come naturally to a dragon from birth. Control and steadiness come later. Adult dragons have excellent control of their shape-shifting, with both forms ‘settled’ into the most natural and comfortable fit for the individual. Young dragons, though, might pop from humanoid to draconic, back to humanoid and change their hair, eye, and skin colour just because they stubbed their littlest toe. Total chaos.

We’re told that humans consider dragons to be bloodthirsty monsters. As soon as humans spot dragons in an area, they’ll gather their most prolific fighters and organize a hunt. I always found it strange because plenty of dragons live among humans. Every mage in the world is actually a dragon in their humanoid form, but I guess it’s safer that the humans don’t know that. Dragons need to train to excel at magic, even though they possess a natural affinity for it. So they created the Phyrylite Tower. Dragons attend to learn to control magic, and how to interact safely with humans. But because humans sometimes go there because they think they can become mages, only dragons that have settled and can control their shape-shifting can attend. Not all dragons become mages, but only mages get to interact with humans.

I don’t think it’s fair. If humans learned dragons weren’t monsters, then we could live wherever we want. Humans and Dragons could be friends and help each other. Dragons wouldn’t have to live in hiding constantly or only showing half of themselves as a mage. It’s a silly dream. It’s always been this way for Dragons. Sometimes I wish I could meet a human. I wonder if they could accept me for who I am.

Little did I know that wish was more than I bargained for.

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Iridescent silver scales glimmered in the dappled light filtering through the canopy. The young dragon hopped from sunny patch to sunny patch, enjoying the rainbow reflections their scales made.

“Everlee, wait up. You’re gonna leave me and Pom behind.” A second dragon called from the shadows. Their scales seemed to slide between the greys, browns, and greens of the forest, creating a shifting camouflage. They avoided the sunshine the other dragon pranced in. Safely under the denser canopy to the side of the path, they took a few gliding leaps, weaving between the wide trunks of broadleaf trees to catch up to their sibling.

“It’s fine, Equinox. Everlee is just excited. I can keep up.” Pom ignored the disgruntled look they both gave at the use of their full names. In humanoid form, Pom appeared as a teenage female with tan skin, brown eyes, and short black hair streaked with bright red. Her brown linen pants and white shirt were practical and comfortable for the forced adventure. She walked at an unhurried pace, keeping to the well-worn path and in a chiding voice added, “You should be more careful though Everlee, your parents will be disappointed if I let anything happen to you.”

Everlee somersaulted over a fallen log and shape-shifted mid-roll, landing in humanoid form. Despite being close in age to Pom, they took the shape of a child with pale skin, blue dragon-slitted eyes, and shoulder-length hair the same shade of silver as her scales that glittered unnaturally in the scattered sunlight. “You aren’t our babysitter, Pom-Pom. You’re our guest. And you’d move faster if you were so focussed on settling. Come on! I want to show you this waterfall. You hurry up too, Nox.” They said and stuck out their tongue at the teenager, twirling down the path in a green sundress.

Pom scowled at the jab, a few more red streaks appearing in her hair. She reluctantly picked up her pace to keep up with the two younger dragons. “You’ll understand when you’re older, Everlee. Once I settle, I’m going to the Phyrylite Tower.” She said, pride puffing up her chest.

That got both the others’ attention. “Will you meet humans?” Everlee asked. In their excitement, they grew, looking slightly less childish.

Nox shuddered. “Isn’t that dangerous?” Their scales dropped to a dull, dark black.

“Who cares about humans?” Pom said dismissively. “I’m going to learn magic, then I can handle anything dangerous. Both my parents are very successful mages, you know.”

Everlee rolled their eyes, spotting the end of the treeline ahead. “Well, while you’re here, I’m going to show you all the best spots in the valley. We’re almost there.” They flashed into their dragon form again, flapping iridescent, leathery wings to take off towards the bright sunlit boundary in a low flight.

Pom let out a dramatic sigh as Everlee flew into the bright light and out of sight. Nox shifted to a humanoid form to walk beside Pom. They were a slightly shorter, dark-skinned teenager with shockingly green eyes and close-cut hair. “You don’t need to worry. Lee isn’t afraid of anything cause there’s never been anything dangerous in the valley.”

“Just because there hasn’t been anything dangerous yet doesn’t mean there will never be. In the mountains, things were taken much more seriously.” Pom countered more sharply than she meant to. She opened her mouth to apologize to her younger cousin when they heard a scream from Everlee.

They ran, both shifting to dragon form. Pom was larger than both her cousins, with deep red scales and two rows of short hooked horns on top of her head. They broke through the treeline into the glaring sun, looking for danger and looking for Everlee.

Nox spotted them first, struggling to pull something out of the crystal blue water in their humanoid form. Pom and Nox ran to help. Pom shifted back to the form of a teenager and splashed into the water next to her frantic cousin. Everlee was hauling the limp body of a child to the shore but barely had enough power in their smaller form. Panic made it harder to control their size. Pom relieved her cousin, getting her arms under the body’s armpits and dragged it to dry land. Once safely out of the water, she pressed her ear to its chest and listened for a heartbeat.

Nox got Everlee out of the water too. The fright prevented them from shape-shifting, but they snuggled up around their sibling. “What happened?” Nox asked.

Everlee hugged Nox tightly, the drenched sundress making them shiver. “It fell over the waterfall! I flew over to rescue it, but I lost focus and shifted. Is it dead?” The last question came out as a desperate sob.

Pom heard the faint heartbeat, even through Everlee’s frantic explanation, and performed a few rescue breaths on the unmoving child. It coughed, sputtering out water and turning on its side to retch. Pom patted its back to help clear its airway. “Good job Lee. If you didn’t act so quickly they might’ve drowned.” She said to comfort her cousin, “What were you doing that the top of the waterfall kid? That’s a dangerous place to be.” She asked as gently as she could when she wanted to scold.

The kid looked up in a daze at each of them. Its eyes widened in terror as it settled on Nox’s draconic form. “Dragon!”

The three dragons backed away as fast as they could. “Human!”