The Scales are Grey...

“There weren't always dragons in the Valley... but then again, we didn't always travel through wormholes. It wasn't until we discovered what black holes actually were, that dimensional travel became possible. By the look on your face, I can see I need to explain things. That's OK...you're still young. It's pretty simple. First, you lay a piece of toilet paper flat in between your hands and then rub one hand against the other. What happens? It rolls into a tube. That's what happens when galaxies collide... they rub up against each other like two hands and make a worm-hole. When you look at a black hole, you're just looking at one end of the wormhole. You can't see any light because the walls of the wormhole diffuses the light from the stars. The dragons came from the dimension where the dinosaurs survived the asteroid. Cedric Blackstone thought he would get rich by bringing some eggs back with him (which he did get rich). Now, they're all over the place. Would you like some dinner now?”

Trullin shook her head no, she only felt nauseous. The dragons would leave a noxious stench in the air when they moved from one feeding ground to another. After they had filled their bellies, the dragons would lay down, scratch their old scales off and sleep until it was time to move again. Drun and Trullin would come in after the dragons had left, and collect scales for making armor. Usually, Trullin didn't mind when Drun would ramble... it helped the time to pass by. Today was not the day... she was ready to go home.” Maybe we could go home today?”, said Trullin. Drun could tell she had been out of sorts lately. She used to get excited when she found colorful or big scales and hold them up in the air for him to see, but now... she just wouldn't even talk. It would mean barely breaking even on the trip, but Drun hated seeing her this way. “Well... if we work tonight for a little while, we should have enough to be able to leave in the morning. What do you think?”, replied Drun. “Oh yes!”, answered Trullin and started moving faster. Drun smiled to himself. He was getting more work out of her in these last few hours than he had gotten out of her all day. Don't get me wrong... Trullin was a good worker, there was just something off with her lately and Drun couldn't put his finger on it. He was glad to see her spirits lift... even if it was only for a short while.

The next morning, Trullin was up before Drun... which was highly unusual. The fire was built, the willow and sage tea was brewing in the pot and Trullin was loading the horses with the gear and the treasures they had found. The world was so much different now than when Drun was her age. The dragons had made his world their home. Ever since Mr. Blackstone had crossed dimensions, it had altered the atmosphere. There were no more rainbows and it wouldn't rain. It's like all the water was sucked up into the earth, and in the mornings...dew would collect in pockets and on what vegetation that was left. The dragons had scorched the earth. They were so heavy, that all the buildings had been reduced to rubble. Even the big piles were once “skyscrapers”, Drun called them. Trullin couldn't understand why anyone would want to scrape the sky, but she didn't want to ask cause he would just go on another one of his long explanations. It's like the dragons were obsessed with perching like a bird. They would keep landing on a building every time they changed feeding areas until the poor building would be reduced to as close to ground level as time would allow. Bridges suffered the same fate. It wouldn't pay to build anything, because they would just come by and knock it down.

Drun sat up, put his boots on, rolled his bedroll and tied it on his saddle. “Thanks for making tea.”, he said to Trullin. “No problem.”, Trullin replied making a quick scan of the area to see if there was anything else to be done. Drun sat down by the fire. It would be a full day's journey to get to “Nomad Village”. At least they were traveling north which cut down distance Drun and Trullin would have to travel to reach them.