Of Living in the Valley

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley.

Elliwesis wasn’t old enough to remember those days. Neither was her mother.

Her grandfather, however, was. And he told the most marvelous stories-

Of giant ships powered by steam that crossed the oceans, and giant metal buildings that touched the sky that could fit thousands of people. Of things called “guns” that exploded deadly projectiles, of a single weapon that had not only levels a “city” but had left it uninhabitable for decades after, and of how humanity had flown-

How they had reached for the stars, in the Days Before. Of how a human had set foot on the moon that was in their sky-

And how the stars had reached back.

The dragons had lived beyond the stars. They had seen our hubris, and they had come to our little planet.

And then they had shown us our folly.

Elliwesis listened to tales of the Days Before with awe-

But she wouldn’t live there. In those days. Not by choice.

The dragons had brought many things with them- and they had shown humanity how to unlock their true potential-

The potential that had once been blocked by anger and destruction. All sources agreed that humanity had been a destructive force unlike any other on Earth. That they had nearly destroyed the planet.

Even grandpa, who wishes for the Days Before. Grandma had said, before she had died, that that was because he had been young when the dragons came. Called it “nostalgia”.

Elliwesis wasn’t sure what “nostalgia” was, but it could turn grandpa into someone she didn’t want to be around.

Sometimes, when he would talk about the Days Before, he would look at her without really seeing her. Sometimes he would start crying, and none of them could comfort him.

Other times, when the “nostalgia” was really bad, she would come home to hear him yelling at the sky, cursing the dragons who had brought them so much.

Not all of the changes the dragons had brought were changes only in who ruled the world and inside of them.

Elliwesis was young. Only about 30 or so, her growing was nearly done, and yet she still had a couple of decades before she was considered an adult. Yet she was taller than her grandfather had ever been in her life.

She, like many others of her generation, could look into her own eyes and sees the stars sparkling in her pupils.

Her mother was taller than her grandfather, but she had no stars in her eyes.

She could feel the fear in her mother sometimes. It was like an itch she couldn’t scratch-

In fact, it wasn’t just her mother she could understand on such a primitive level. She could sense the emotions of anyone and everyone in the Valley, once she was close enough.

Her brother, Brando, could hear things no one else could. She always knew when he was listening - his ears would twitch, and his eyes would go distant, even if he walked beside her. She knew that she could always trust his information.

Even though lately it had been… Getting strange. Neither of them knew what to do about it- past experiences told them they could trust the Whispers after all but this information-

The information made no sense. It mentioned things that were either impossible or unknown.

The whispers told of some humans who had refused to submit to the dragons - and whose descendants still lived-

And of a weapon that was called a “nuclear bomb”.