Valley of the Sun

There weren't always Dragons in the Valley. There are few today who were alive during the Awakening, and even fewer still old enough to remember what really happened. The stories they tell have minor discrepancies; What caused the Dragons to arise, where they first began their War of Human Extermination, how many Dragons are left. Each remaining settlement, every band of human remaining tells the same beginning: It has been nearly one hundred years since the Earth split open, and Humanity's grim obsession with fighting monsters finally came to fruition. The epicenter of this catastrophe was called "The Valley of the Sun." A dry, hot, miserable place that housed one of the most populous cities in the country. Over eight million people spread across this vast basin. Their homes kept cool all summer long with electricity powered by a hydroelectric plant a hundred miles away, every lawn a lush, verdant green thanks to water siphoned from every available well and mountain spring. Water was even trucked in to maintain this illogical and farcical city. Yet it thrived. Several of the largest universities were in this place, globally recognized restaurants were filled every night, and there was no shortage of museums and cultural centers.

On the day of the Awakening, some describe a loud crack or pop and others say the sound was more of a whistle or high-pitched hissing, the Valley folded inward on itself, and unleashed what Elder Hughes describes as "The End Humanity has been waiting for." According to the Elder, nobody in the Valley survived the Emergence of the Dragons. It is now a blasted crevice in the planet's surface, the sand and rock heated so suddenly and extremely it all turned to sharp spears of glass. The Dragons poured into our world, destroying every sign of humanity. Whole cities raced to underground sanctuaries, but found no refuge. The Dragons' fire seemed to have a sensory perception all its own; It snakes through tunnels to ferret out every shuddering, hidden human being.

"A last ditch effort by the planet," Elder Hughes laughs, "to save itself from Humanity." I can't agree with that sentiment, although we do owe our continued survival to the physiological changes brought on by ingesting Dragon Blood. Listen: The first Dragon that fell to a Human was cut open from the inside. Most of our conventional weapons from before the Emergence had no effect on the Dragons' armor. The Elder speaks of great missiles that could obliterate anything they came in contact with, but the means to fire these weapons has been lost. When that human emerged from his enemy's gullet, coated with viscera and coughing up Dragon Blood, onlookers could see his body start to change.

The eyes are the first thing to change, your sclera filling with a deep, swirling blackness. As soon as that process is finished a horrendous pain shoots out of every pore in your body. Your Human blood is being replaced, or at least augmented, with Dragon Blood. It fills any small gaps in your bones and coats your muscles in harder, denser tissue. Your skin becomes thicker and harder to pierce. I was happy to report that I even grew three inches, although that is not common. Ingesting the blood of these monsters gives us the strength to fight back, and from their bones, teeth, and bodies we can craft weapons and armor to aid us.

Of course, the easiest way to kill a Dragon is from the inside, so we still have to charge knife-first into the belly of the beast, so to speak. There are Hybrids that boast of penetrating a Dragon's two meter thick breastplate with a Talon Lance, or using a Scale Saw to hack away at one's spine, decapitating the beast. I've never seen such a feat, though I have witnessed plenty of us misjudge the gap between a Dragon's teeth and wind up only partially inside the monster (and very much dead). For all of our newfound resilience, we are still very susceptible to being crushed, or mauled, impaled, or dropped from hundreds of feet.

All of the physical ways we can be unmade aside, there are Humans who view us as traitors; People are scared, and the process of becoming a Hybrid is not always successful. There are many who think that the impetus for Hybridization was a seed planted by the Dragons themselves. That we are the final part of the plan to eradicate all Humanity. Obviously that's just fear and paranoia playing to the rafters, but I can't blame Humans for being scared.

I don't sleep much since the Change. None of us do, an hour or two of sleep every other day is enough to keep me in fighting shape. When I do drift off to sleep, I find myself overcome with a sense of dread. There are hands reaching out to push or pull me in various directions, but I can't see where any of the paths lead. Then there's a voice, a low, grumbling voice that always says "Fall." I awake from every slumber with a racing heart and a soaring temperature. None of the other Hybrids have had such anxious dreams. Elder Hughes jokes that "fall" refers to the wings I'll sprout any day now. "Just think," he chuckles, "we won't have to wait for them to get in spitting distance anymore. You can take sweet death straight to the bastards!"

Most Dragons nest high up in the mountains, but I've heard others nestle into the ruins of cities that have been reduced to piles of ash. The other Hybrids in my Settlement are making plans to hunt another Dragon. We have taken down three Dragons so far, and since my time among their ranks our numbers have been thirteen, down to five, and now up to seven. There was a large city to the West, at the base of a great mountain range, we'll either find our prey in the ruins or at the summit of the mountain. My group is positive, they relish a fight. I share their enthusiasm, but every hunt we go on, I feel a nagging pull on my arms. A word echoes in the back of my mind. "Fall."