The Dragon's Rebirth

There weren't always dragons in the valley. As a matter of fact, time had since forgotten them almost entirely. The days remained unchanged and several of the local Commoners were off and about their daily routines, not fully embracing the area that was once riddled in protection, battle, proclamation, and eventual extinction. Why anyone would ever want to hurt or destroy the decree of a dragon's legacy, is unimaginable. But on one fateful day, Sonia's life was about to change forever.

Sonia was up early and doing her normal daily routine. It was a typical day for Sonia. Her days consisted of getting up in the early morning, making breakfast for her kids and her husband, getting the kids ready for school, kissing her husband goodbye and wishing him a great day at work while she scurried out the door to make sure the kids got to school on time. She was running around, somewhat frantic, as usual. Once she gathered the kids and got them in the car, she always made sure she checked the safety guidelines.

"Melanie, make sure your brother's buckles are locked in place."

"I know, Mommy. We do this every morning."

"I'm not asking for attitude, just help me out, please."

Sonia seemed a bit embittered, somewhat stressed, as she drove the kids to school.

"Melanie, did you remember to pack your brother's lunch."

There was silence.

"Um, hello?"

Sonia turned her head back to see Melanie slowly shaking her head.

"Are you kidding me? You say we do this every morning and now you are going to make both you and Franklin late for school. Thanks for doing the one and only thing I ask for you to do each and every morning."

Sonia quickly cut over two lanes to make a U-turn and headed back to the house. She turned and put her foot on the gas in an effort to try and make up lost time. As she pulled up, she jumped out, ran inside, grabbed Franklin's lunch, jumped back into the car, and sped off.

"Oh no…you've got to be kidding me," she shouted. There was a long backup of traffic on the road they had just taken.

"You see that? Ugh, why do I even bother mentioning it. You know what, we're gonna go a different route today."

Sonia quickly cut off down a dirt road. The dirt road she traveled was just that…pure dirt! However, there was no road traffic because the dirt roads weren't technically roads, but were sometimes used by the Commoners in town to quickly head off the beaten path and reach certain destinations much quicker. However, this day was going to be a different day than any other.

Sonia was using the dirt trails to navigate the long way around to getting the kids to school. Living in the outskirts of New Mexico, there was a wide assortment of "trails." In her quest to get her kids to school on time and her lack of knowledge on which turns to take, she soon found herself lost amid several large stone creations, some mountainous…and there was no one around.

"Great, I have no idea where we are."

"What do you mean, Mommy," Franklin asked.

"I mean we are in the middle of nowhere. Well, looks like you kids will be late for school again today."

Sonia sat in the car, with no end in sight and an obvious misdirection, she began to make a complete turnaround to head back. That is, until she spotted something she couldn't let go of. She immediately put on her brakes as someone ran out in front of her SUV.

"What was that? Did either of you happen to catch that?"

Franklin and Melanie nodded, while Franklin was looking out his window smiling.

"Franklin, what are you smiling about?"

Sonia looked over and spotted what looked like a child running around a large stone hillside. She was very hesitant to get out of her car.

"Crap! I've seen entirely too many movies to get out of my car and know I won't live. But that looked like a child so…Melanie, you stay here with Franklin. Neither of you…and I mean NEITHER OF YOU do anything or go anywhere, you understand me?"

Franklin and Melanie nodded in agreement, while Franklin continued to smile.

"I'll be right back," Sonia whispered as she opened the car door. "I hope."

Sonia reached into the back of the SUV and pulled out the crow bar, just in case. She closed the door softly so as to not create any loud noise. As she made her way toward the large, stoned wall, she looked back to see Melanie watching with Franklin, yet Franklin still had a very large grin on his face. Sonia continued around the large wall. As she did, she heard small whispers and lifted her crow bar in an effort to protect herself, just in case. She peaked her head around the corner and what Sonia saw was something she had never seen before. There were a group of little people encircling what appeared to be a large bird with big, beautiful ears, an elongated snout, wings that looked as though they were stripped from a tera dactyl but unable to be fully extended, and as the creature cried, it sent out brief puffs of smoke.

Sonia stood in amazement, dropped the crowbar, creating a loud noise. The little people all turned to her. One of the little people, with a rather large nose wearing an orange vest and a hat crocked to the side, looked directly at her and smiled.

"Sonia, my dear. We have been waiting for you."

She immediately turned around and ran back to the car, jumping in the driver seat and speeding off.

"Mommy, what happened," Franklin asked.

Sonia continued to drive, not saying a word. As she continued down the road, Melanie asked her a question.

"Mommy, is the baby dragon gonna be alright?"

Sonia immediately slammed on the brakes.

"What are you talking about," Sonia said, taking in breaths as if she had been running for a few minutes.

"The baby dragon, is it hurt," Franklin asked.

Sonia turned her head forward from her kids. In front of her car there were several little people watching her, smiling as if to present a front of pleasantness and welcomeness.

"I don't know what's going on," Sonia said, a bit panicked.

"Mommy, they are good people. They won't hurt you," Franklin said.

"Yeah, how do you know. You are five years old."

"Because, Mommy. They have spoken to me before."

Sonia was not only confused, but concerned. This day hadn't started out anything like she thought, nor was it going in a direction that she expected.

"Kids, I'm getting out of the car. Don't move."

Sonia stepped out of the car, very gingerly, very slowly.

"Um, hi. Please don't hurt me and my kids. I'm just trying to get them to school."

The little people laughed loudly and then the one with the orange vest and crocked hat stepped forward.

"Hello Sonia. My name is Cuttle, Cuttle Banderbluff. We have a situation and need your help."

"I don't know how I can help. I need to get my kids to school. Can we just…get by you so I can take them to school," Sonia asked in a scared voice.

"Sonia, stop worrying. We are not going to hurt you. We are the good guys. However, the creature you saw that was hurting, it needs you. It needs your help."

Sonia stood for a moment, perplexed by what was taking place and confused as to what was actually happening. She looked back in the car and saw Melanie and Franklin smiling, nodding as they agreed, yet had no idea what was going on. Sonia slowly turned her head back to the little people with a continued look of bewilderment on her face.

"How…how can I be of any help? I don't know what's going on here and I'm scared."

"Scared," the little person shouted out. The entire group erupted in laughter as Sonia continued to stand, unsure what was happening or going on.

"Sonia, have no fear. I know, hard to understand or accept at the moment. And harder to ask you to trust me, but I need you to come with me. Please, you can trust me."

Cuttle held out his hand and walked toward Sonia. She wasn't convinced and backed up as he approached her. Suddenly her hands were held by the two small hands of her children. Franklin and Melanie were by her side looking up at her and smiling. She looked down at both of them, big huge grins and all, and then looked over at Cuttle and nodded. The little people walked Sonia and her kids back around the large stone wall where the baby dragon was laying.

"Sonia, you're going to find this hard to believe, but this baby is a baby dragon. I know this will all be hard for you to absorb, but in order to heal it, the baby needs the blood of a wizard."

"Ok, as hokey and fairy-tale storytelling as that sounds, where do we find the blood of a wizard?"

Cuttle was smiling at Sonia, as were all the little people, including her two children.

"Oh, come on. This has got to be some kind of weird dream. There's no way that this is happening."

"In time, it will all make sense, but what I need from you is your blood to feed this animal…or it will die."

"What's going on here? I'm not buying any of this. And as a matter of fact, I'm fed up. Melanie, Franklin, let's go. Sorry, Cuttle, or whatever you said your name was. This is just too unrealistic and I just want to get my kids to school."

Sonia grabbed her kids, much to their dismay, and pulled them along.

"Get in the car."

"But mom, that baby needs our help. It needs your help," Melanie said with a crack in her voice, pleading for her mother to help out the baby dragon.

"I can't be part of some hoax or scheme that isn't real. I'm sorry. I need to get you both to school. Let's go."

She buckled them in and sped off in the reverse direction, going at a high speed. Her kids were screaming at her to slow down, but she seemed disheveled and a bit panicked at what she just witnessed, wondering if she was just in a bad dream or was perhaps daydreaming because she hadn't been sleeping much the past several nights. Franklin then shouted, "Mommy, Cuttle needs us. The baby dragon needs us. Please…help them."

Sonia slammed on the brakes. She sat at the steering wheel, breathing heavily. The kids were upset and sobbing. She turned back to look at them.

"I don't know what's going on or why this is happening. I just need to get you both to school."

It then dawned on Sonia that Cuttle originally addressed her by name. She wasn't sure why, but as she played back the events of all that just took place, she realized that perhaps it was best she takes the chance. It also dawned on her that in all the years she has taken the back dirt roads, never has she arrived where she was and she has always ended up where she was destined to go. She decided it best to turn around and take the chance.

She stood behind Cuttle, the little people, and the baby dragon, holding the hands of her kids.

"Ok, what do you need me to do?"

"Welcome back, Sonia. I knew you wouldn't let us down," Cuttle said as he smiled. "I'm going to take the talon of this silver falcon, slowly cut into your finger, and then we are going to drop your blood into the mouth of this baby dragon."

"I don't know what any of that means, but if it will help the baby creature, then fine."

Cuttle nodded and extended his hand. Sonia released her children's hand and placed her hand in Cuttle's. He then walked her over to the baby dragon, placed the talon against her forefinger, and made an incision, then turned her finger over and allowed the blood to drip into the baby dragon's mouth. As it feasted, it's wings grew in diameter, its legs became strong, and it rolled over from its back to its feet and stood. Sonia, her kids, and the little people stepped back. The dragon turned its head back, growing a bit in size, and then slowly walked toward Sonia. She stood, frozen in her tracks, as the little people and her kids backed off. As the dragon stood to her, the same size, face-to-face, it let out a puff of smoke that encapsulated her head, causing her to cough wildly, then bowed its head to her, resembling a bright, beautiful yellow stripe across the top of its head.

"The dragon has now recognized you as its family member. You will forever be protected."

The dragon then turned, bellowed out a screech followed by a line of fire, then took off into the northern sky.

"Well done, Sonia."

"Well done? What just happened? I'm not sure if you understand from my perspective but this morning started with me getting my kids ready for school. My day was great, normal, and I was doing just fine until this debacle. I have no idea what is going on. My kids are late to school. I am way off track from where they are supposed to be. I'm in the presence of a bunch of little people…"

"Dwarves. We are Dwarvians but prefer to be called Dwarves as the Commoners now refer to us."

"Wait, what? The Commoners? Whatever! I fed my blood to a baby bird…"

"Um, baby dragon, ma'am," one of the Dwarves interjected.

"Really? I'm losing out on a technicality? I feel like I'm in some fantasy world that shouldn't exist surrounded by a bunch of Dwarves that apparently know me. Can somebody please tell me what is going on?"

"Hello Sonia. My name is Timmons Taberlong. I can't tell you everything now, but I ask that you meet with us so we can sit and discuss what is going on."

"Ya think? I honestly feel like I'm about to lose my mind."

"No mind, quite the contrary. I'm Gideon Enderling and I can assure you that you have found your mind…and will soon learn the truth behind it all."

"Ok, I've had enough. Melanie, Franklin, let's go."

"Thank you, Miss Sonia. We'll be in touch."

"Actually, please don't. This little masquerade was enough to last me the next ten Halloweens. Please, just leave me and my family alone."

Sonia stormed off with her kids, put them in the car, and left abruptly. As she drove away, the Dwarves stood, watching the dust storm she created from the speed at which she was driving.

"Cuttle, I'm not sure she is ready," Timmons stated.

"Timmons, there isn't anymore time left. And she came to us. Somehow, she knew we'd be out here today."

"Wait, you didn't summons her or send her an Encrestment or give her any forewarning," Gideon asked.

"Why would she know what an Encrestment is? Or a summons? No…today, she came here and knew without knowing. We need to watch over her and her kids. They are going to play a big role when all is said and done."

The Dwarves all nodded in agreement and stood as they watched the dust storm Sonia's car made as she sped off down the dirt road.