The Final Battle

There weren't always dragons in the Valley.

I know this to be true as sure as I know that tomorrow, Zekang will rain down more death, fire and destruction onto the people that call this valley home.

How would I know that there weren’t always dragons here?

Well, I’m sure I’m the only one who could know. I would know that better than any creature living today because I was the first.

My name is Sulina, and I am the first, the first of my kind, the first dragon anywhere, not just in the valley.

A long time ago, so long ago it’s hard to count the days without confusion, my form changed from that of a small human girl child into what I am today. It’s well over one hundred years since that day, the day of my transformation.

I know what you’re thinking, you’re thinking, who is this Sulina, and why does she believe that she's the first dragon? Is she out of her mind crazy like so many others in this time?

You may be right about that last question. Maybe I am a little crazy but wouldn’t you be just as crazy if you suddenly changed into something that had never been seen. Something that could not, or should not, be possible. Some winged creature that could breathe fire and bring fear to the hearts of all that crossed your path. It’s not possible, right? How could an insignificant young girl, who had been bullied her whole life, metamorphosis into something feared the world over?

Well, you’ll think me even crazier, if that's possible, when I tell you that I didn't arrive alone. I found out the hard way, several months later, that I carried the first of my offspring, six others inside my body, into this world with me.

Trying to answer the how of it all is next to impossible for me; it would be like an infant human trying to understand how they suddenly arrived in this world. I don't know how or why it happened, but I do know that just like a child exiting the birth canal, I arrived kicking and screaming with fear.

It’s so hard to capture the emotions of that day in words, as I don't believe any words could adequately describe the confusion, pain and fear I felt. But what I can say with certainty is everything changed that day. Everything that every soul believed about the cycle of life and took for granted changed.

For thousands of years, humans were the dominant species on the planet and ruled as any species that were at the top of the food chain would. They multiplied at an alarming rate and developed an intelligence that rendered all other species as either prey or beasts of burden to serve them.

The masters of all that walked, crawled, flew or swam under the sun, they were the pinnacle of life on the planet, the apex predator and feared by all others that shared their space. They truly believed they were the chosen ones and that everything else on the planet was given to them as gifts from the gods.

But life was becoming unbalanced as arrogance led the unchallenged humans to believe they could bend nature to their will. Blinded by their god-like power and unmatched intelligence, they couldn't or wouldn't see what was inevitable.

A change was coming!

Over millennia Mother Nature has adapted many times and brought forth overwhelming change to reset the balance of life. There have always been events or signposts on the passage of time that signalled the coming of great change to this world. Some of those events are easy to see and seem natural, such as an ice age, a massive volcanic event, or a rock larger than this valley falling from the sky.

But my arrival into this world in this form cannot be seen as natural. How could it be? If anything, it seems to be supernatural and even though my transformation couldn't be considered as grand as the other events I've listed, it's had a similar effect; it just took longer. The change that nature required slowly evolved from the day of my rebirth and took several decades to achieve balance. A balance that was precarious at first as the humans did what their nature had always pushed them to do. They tried to eliminate anything they feared, and the things they feared the most were me and my offspring.

Many lives were lost during that time, from both sides, but over time we learned to live together in peace. That peace had reigned for many decades and had even become something close to friendship as we learned to work together for the better of all. It felt like Nature had succeeded, and true balance had been achieved.

****

But now everything is changing again, with death and destruction occurring every day in every hamlet.

With smoke rising from every corner of the valley and hatred growing in every human heart, the balance is gone. Everything we've built together, human and dragon, is at stake now. All could be lost because of one, the only other one that was not born a dragon but transformed from human form as I had.

It’s been ten years since," Zekang," a young man from a distant village with a history of cruelty and a lust for power, experienced the change.

I remember that day as clearly as I remember the day of my own transformation. I could feel his changing in everything around me; every blade of grass, treetop, mountain top and cloud in the sky quivered at the moment of his arrival. It felt as if a darkness was approaching like the coming of a violent storm; even the scales on my body and the air in my lungs could feel it. I couldn't understand how or why this was happening, but I knew somewhere deep inside me that he was here. I could feel his heartbeat as sure as I could feel my own which caused me to feel something I hadn't felt in a long time or thought I ever would again.

Fear!

I knew that things would never be the same, life would be different in every way, and the peace we cherished would reign no longer. The time was here, and Zekang was here, signalling what was inevitable.

A great change was coming!

****

The change was slow at first as Zekang was alone in his beliefs. It took several years for him to bring an army of followers under his wings, dragons that were acquiring the same beliefs and tastes as their leader. They believed that dragons were now the dominant species and humans were as insignificant and useless as an annoying insect that needed to be squashed.

What began as a few random killings in the isolated northern villages soon became something much more ominous as Zekang gathered more and more followers. The dragon population was becoming divided into those that believed in the equality of all that shared the valley and those that believed dragons were the only species truly worthy of life.

This clash of beliefs quickly turned into a war of epic proportions with great airborne battles involving hundreds of dragons. Thousands died in the first few weeks of the war, both dragon and human, as great swaths of the valley were consumed by fire.

These fires changed everything! They changed the direction and intensity of the war as the scent from the burning villages changed the way Zekang felt about the usefulness of the human population. He no longer looked at them like insects to be squashed but as prey to feed his army.

He and his followers had acquired a taste that changed their hatred of humans to love. They loved the scent and taste of human flesh.

Zekang started changing his tactics from attacking in large groups and razing a human village to ashes to attacking in groups of four or five. They would approach without fire and snatch as many humans as they could in a few minutes before flying them to holding pens in the mountains. The humans were held in these pens and forced to mate until they were needed as feed for the forward army.

The brutality of Zekang’s new tactics had an effect he didn’t see coming as the human’s most primal instincts rose to the surface. With the overwhelming need to protect their young and hatred burning their souls, they overcame their fear and fought back with a vengeance. Large groups of humans formed to defend their families and homes; in fact, they called themselves the Defenders.

Their numbers grew every day until they became what they are today; an army.

It’s said that need is the mother of invention, and what the Defenders needed most were viable weapons to fight and kill their much larger and better-equipped aggressors. With their superior intelligence and ingenuity, they developed weapons of incredible power. An intricate machine that could throw a steel spear that weighed more than two humans, hundreds of yards with such force that it could split a large oak tree in half and a device that could throw a flame as hot as and as far as any dragon could are just two of those weapons.

But these weren't the only weapons the humans developed.

An elite fighting force was forming among them and were becoming their most dangerous weapon. They were called “Dragon Slayers," and they lived up to their name.

A leader was emerging among this group of slayers, a leader with an almost magical fighting ability who had an uncanny sense of when and where Zekang would attack.

Andrea, a young girl not yet twenty one with an overwhelming beauty that camouflaged her abilities, was becoming a legend among humans and dragons alike. Stories of her fighting prowess and tactical awareness were told on both sides of the front.

I saw her once, a long time ago, in a battle along the great river. She slew several of Zekang's forward group that day, and I remember thinking I had seen her before.

I know now where I’d seen her before; it was on the day that Zekang transformed. Her face appeared to me while Zekang was changing, and I know now why.

I will be meeting with Andrea today to discuss her idea of an alliance between her army and mine to end this war. She has a plan that she calls "The Final Battle," but she needs my help to make this plan work.

***

Now, as I hover, looking down on the vultures that feed on the multitude of bodies, human and dragon, that litter the valley floor, while the river runs red with blood, I realize that she will have to answer one question truthfully before I agree to the alliance.

I know now, or maybe I always did, that when Zekang left the human world, he left behind a family. A mother and father, but most importantly, he left behind a younger sister.

If she is that sister, I will agree to the alliance, and tomorrow will bring forth great change, a change that will lead to the Final Battle.