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The New Age of Dragons

The Fantasy Prologue

By Kristopher Michael CafaldoPublished 2 years ago 9 min read
1

There weren’t always dragons in the valley…none that we knew of. My village lives a peaceful life within the blue mountains which surround us on every side. Our families have been here for centuries. It’s like we were placed here. We were born here. We didn’t come from anywhere else. Dragons are thought to be our creators. They are something our parents told us about as kids to teach us about challenges. “Be Brave, Be Strong, for when the world turns its back, we must rise to the occasion and endure the attack.” I have always wanted to meet a dragon one day. My parents told me that when I was born, I stretched out my limbs so far that it looked like I was trying to take off and soar in the clouds, so they appropriately named me Zweven, which means soar in my language.

The elders in our village all revere dragons and our leader is said to be a descendent from a dragon. Throughout the year, we perform rituals and ceremonies to give reverence to the magical beings. All boys growing up must partake in an initiation ceremony where we are meant to feel the fear and the pain of facing the wrath of a dragon, so that we may overcome and triumph against all obstacles that life gives us. Those who are successful are marked with scales in permanent ink. I completed my ceremony just four years ago, and later this year, I have another major trial that young men face to become adults. The more trials one faces, the more scales they receive. All of the elders have almost their whole bodies covered in scales. I can’t wait to be like that.

This is the way that we live our lives and have been doing so for hundreds of years. This year is different though. Last year, our leader passed away of old age, so the leader we have now, Dacoorgott, is new to the position. He is known to have very progressive worldviews and his role as our leader has worried many of the villagers, including my parents. Most leaders stay secluded in the main hall, but Dacoorgott has been very active in village activities. He has demanded longer working hours for the farmers because he wants to expand our borders and increase our numbers. Instead of preparing and participating in our ceremonies, Dacoorgott has been forcing people to skip the ceremonies to keep up production.

For the first time ever, some of our crops failed. Our most important crop, Dragon Thistle, is essential to our rituals and this year, none of the crops grew. What’s more is young boys have been failing their initiation ceremonies, many of them becoming injured and some of them have perished because of the extra work demands placed upon them by Dacoorgott. That has never happened before. Our village elders have been locked away in their chambers deliberating over a looming catastrophe. Some of the elders even criticize Dacoorgott for forsaking holy ceremonies and believe that he might be to blame for everything that’s happening, but they are quickly silenced and threatened by Dacoorgott’s silver tongue. Everyone in the village is scared. To add to that fear, something unthinkable started to happen.

Two nights ago, our valley was filled with an unfamiliar screeching sound. It has occurred every night since then. It makes the skin crawl, paralyzes the meek and instills fear in all of the children. Others have reported nightmares and insomnia. One of our major ceremonies was to be performed three days ago, but without the Dragon Thistle, and with Dacoorgott’s demands, the ceremony could not be completed. I fear that we have angered the gods and now they are punishing us.

My dreams have been different. I wouldn’t call them nightmares, rather, I’d call them journeys. I was visited by a man dressed in blue with white hair and pointed ears. The man tells me that I am to find him in the waking world. “Be warned” he says, “By the time you find me, disaster will have struck.” I am then taken to fields of blazing fire, smoldering ashes raining from the sky, complete panic and terror from my village crumbling underneath the flames. Finally, I see them. Dragons. Some big and some small, but always one massive dragon with black scales and red eyes. These dreams have always ended with this black dragon looking at me with its piercing, blood red eyes and roaring so loudly that my head feels as if it would pop. It sounds just like the screeching that everyone else has been hearing.

I’ve never seen a man like the one in my dreams. I didn’t know that anything or anyone else existed that looked like that. I’m not sure exactly how I’ll find him, but considering the way that things seem to be going, I suppose I’ll be meeting him very soon.

***

It is the middle of the night. I lay awake in bed awaiting the night birds’ song. The logs in the fireplace unleash a loud crack, which makes me sit up. “Something’s not right, now the birds do not even sing.” I slump back down and drift into sleep. I find myself in a dark place with tiny embers swirling all around me. I hear the faint voice of a girl echoing in the distance, “This light is the spark of a new age….” I yell out to the voice, “What do you mean?”

No response. I try moving forward but my legs seem to be stuck in place. I look above me, and at the second that my head turns, the black dragon crashes down next to me. He puts his eye right up to me and, speaking slowly, his guttural voice pierces my entire body, “A new age of dragons!” The embers turn into meteors that blast into the ground around me. I put my hands over my eyes. “No, no nooooo!”

I am woken up by the sound of my neighbor banging on the door urgently. I quickly run to open the door.

“Get to the middle of town, the elders are gathering us.”

I grab my shawl and run out of the door. Everyone is running around in a panic. The animals are all restless and I can’t help but feel that something really bad is going to happen. I make my way over to the middle of town. I see our leader Dacoorgott waiting to address everyone.

“Brothers and Sisters, please be at ease. I have spoken with the elders and we have decided that the disturbances that our village has been experiencing has nothing to do with our ceremonies not being observed. There was a time before we had those ceremonies and the people that lived then had not experienced anything like this. We are being tested and it is our duty to remain faithful to those that have given us form.”

“What about the screeching?” someone whispered.

“What about the animals? They will not eat!” someone else cried.

“There has to be some reason for all of this!” another cried out.

“I realize that these times may be difficult and uncertain, but we must try our best to keep our composure” Dacoorgott continued. “I promise you all that there is nothing to worry about. Keep working and practicing your faith. Trust that we will be able to face whatever may come our way.”

“This is all your fault!” some yell from the crowd. “If you hadn’t made us miss our ceremonies, none of this would be happening!” cried another.

“Silence!” Dacoorgott slams his scepter into the ground. “I will not be disrespected nor blamed for your shortcomings. I am your leader, your god. I hear the wishes of the dragons, and they are not pleased with the way our ‘quaint’ little village has been.”

Dacoorgott turns around and retreats back to the main hall and the elders follow.

The whispers continue: “Whatever may come our way? What does he mean by that?”

“Quiet! We must not question our leader! Do as you’re told!”

That would be the last time that I ever see Dacoorgott. Only a few moments pass when the screeching starts to blast the village louder than ever before. Multiple voices can be heard as if it were a choir of banshees. The sound is so overwhelming that most people are forced to the ground, covering their heads. I look up and I see the black scaled dragon from my dreams peering over the mountainside. He climbs down the cliffs and pushes off from them to fly. He starts heading right for the village. Other smaller dragons begin to appear from underneath his wings. He unleashes a fury of flames upon the land, seeking to destroy our entire village.

I run as fast as I can. Everyone is falling around me while trying to take cover. I see a woman hiding with her children as a massive fireball smothers them and their house. I run over to try and help them, but it is too late. I look around to try and find my parents.

“Mother! Father! Where are you?!”

No answer. I run over to our house to find it engulfed in flames. A dragon lands on top of the building and caves it in. He smashes through the walls with his tail, unleashing a fireball that destroys the rest of the house. I stand frozen, unable to move out of the way, accepting my fate…

“What are you doing?! Get out of the way!” A man tackles me down and saves me from the fireball. I look up and see that it is the man from my dreams. Pointy ears and white hair. His outfit is torn and charred from the fire.

“We need to get out of here, now!”

“But, how did you get-”

“Now!”

He pulls me up and we run to the outskirts of town. I look back to see the black dragon destroying the main hall. He picks up Dacoorgott with the edge of his massive claw and devours him. He utters his loudest roar yet, and annihilates the rest of the hall with his fire.

“Come on, no looking back now. We’ve got to hurry. I have a safe place on the other side of the mountain.”

“No one’s ever been outside of the mountains! Nothing exists out there!”

“That’s what you’ve been told all of your lives, but there is indeed a world beyond your valley, and it’s time you see it.”

Adventure
1

About the Creator

Kristopher Michael Cafaldo

A writer interested in all things human. From psychology to poetry, anything that makes you think hard and feel even harder.

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