The Great Beginning

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. Then again, there wasn’t always a Valley either. Just shy of 25 years ago, the world’s greatest scientists collaborated for the NIPCA Project (Nuclear International Particle Collision Accelerator). This was in attempt to save our dying world by creating a simulated reality where trials and errors can be replicated and solutions to such concerns could be resolved in a safely controlled environment and in a time efficient manner. In success of the project, however, it grew wearily apparent that our own world may very well be that of a simulation as well. Not long after, anything became possible – Myth became truth, and things once thought to be true, mere speculation. The nations of the world swiftly banded together in attempt to protect the project and control the mass of information dumping into a society not quite ready to receive it. Yet the inevitable was bound to occur. Partial knowledge progressed to confusion, followed by anger, and finally war. Amid the chaos nearly half a year from its birth, project NIPCA proved to not only be the proof that with time, life can flourish from nothingness, but that control, ignorance and fear will continue to be possible catalysts to tear that life apart.

Project NIPCA contained so many wonders. I still remember the broadcasted exhibition showcasing the jump from the Paleozoic to Mesozoic era to medieval periods. Life effortlessly forming as we, the observers, watched on in awe at the wonders of our world. Shortly after, an additional exhibition was created to attract sponsors to show how fun things can be in the simulated world as well. How we can create our own controls, rules and paradigms and watch the world evolve around it. How we can bend the world to our liking, while forgetting the original purpose of using our manmade tools to benefit the world. The Dragon exhibition magnificently captured everyone’s attention, both good and bad. But it was at this point where that shift in society’s mindset came about.

Do we truly need this? Are we playing God? Are we indirectly creating one?

During the war, the live simulation began to ‘bleed’ into our known reality. No one truly knows how it came to be or why. Today’s rumors speak of possible causes being a compromised security, inside job, a hacking in attempt to save the simulated species or a physical disturbance of the control facilities during the attack. But what if it was simpler than that? What if life within the simulation was simply mimicking what life had been doing for millions of years – survival?

The Valley developed on its own over time ever since the bleeding occurred. It served as the perfect marriage between our world and the simulated. Year after year, the territory continues to organically expand miles with the most robust plants and wildlife slowly taking over the world we originally lived in. Some life being of our era, some of the simulated, and others newly evolved and yet to be discovered. The vast, lush and beautifully dense lands proving through time to be a limbo of harmony until one either takes over, or neither will ever exist as it did before. It is the beginning of a new age. All that resides in the Valley exists for the very purpose of life to thrive within it, and for that reality to exist, mankind cannot. This reality is cruel, but beautiful.

The simulated world mankind created in its own world’s image will become the demise that swallows humanity whole. And perhaps it’s for the best. Usually, whatever happens in the Valley stays in the Valley. Those who go in deep, rarely come out. And while many forms of life may be responsible for this outcome, one that has never been shown to be of any harm, help or even the slightest contact with mankind have been the dragons. Why is that?

At the start of the bleeding, it’s as if the dragons had vanished. Never seen by the eyes of another person, merely fading into another myth. Is that what you wanted? I have had recurrent dreams where I gazed far into the mid horizon where the land stretches into the sea, the large three peaked mountains that stretch high beyond the clouds; and there I saw them. Very faint and small in the distance, but majestic in presence. Eyes so intense and with purpose. It’s as if I could feel them there connecting directly to my soul. Dragons, in their utmost glory, gazing down as if through me, into the world below almost as if we were the ones being observed. It’s as if I can feel them calling. Waiting… But for what? How is this even possible? I must know. It’s strange…For years I’ve grown evident of the new truths of this world and have come to accept the inevitable reality we now face, but I can’t help but feel that maybe there is a greater purpose for my life until that time comes. This connection, it’s real and it grows stronger. I know it. These dreams, these visions. Could they be a sign? From whom? From what? From you?

It’s been two weeks now since we’ve embarked. As I get closer to the Valley, I can feel the lines of the message become less blurred. Something is coming and soon. Whatever it takes, I will be ready. Guide me one step at a time. Where am I to begin?