The dragon's den

   The dragon flew over us and then straight for the city. From our vantage point, we were able to see how the creature spew fire all over the place, making fires light up the morning landscape. The crimson color of the flames combined itself with the pink and blue hues of the morning haze, which looked beautiful but wasn’t any of the sort for the people in that place. Some had already died and others would die pretty soon, for sure. They didn’t even have the opportunity to wake up and see what was going on, as life had just caught up with them in the most awful of ways. Death was always an unwelcomed guest.

 The group overlooking the city soon split into two groups: some of them were responsible for the release of the creature and ran somewhere to try and contain it. Doing that was ridiculous and they knew it very well, but it would have been worse if they had stayed there, looking at the creature destroy the nearest center of population. They disappeared quickly and left the rest of the people there, only a handful of humans that had no real connection between themselves except the fact that they had learned of the other people’s plans and had attempted to thwart them, failing horribly in a matter of minutes.

 They had carried a bomb with them, hoping to seal the cave the creature had been sleeping in for centuries, but the device had failed and now they needed to know what to do. The destruction of their birthplace had begun and it was very possible that the creature would turn it all into ashes before they could do something to capture it or, of course, killing it. It was an obvious idea to have after seeing the creature for the first time. It was such a huge amount of flesh and bones, heavy, with fangs protruding out of its mouth and the deadly capacity of producing the deadliest fires one could ever imagine.

 The creature, to be fair, didn’t seem to have much of a mind, but it was precisely that what scared people so easily. They couldn’t know what kinds of things that beast was able to do. The only real problem was that one group of people decided to wake it up and find out, while the others only wanted to keep the creature away from the rest of the planet, sealing it away in order to protect them from a potential catastrophe, that ultimately happened. They had neglected to realized that some of nature’s creations cannot be controlled, no matter how much effort and money people could put into it. It wasn’t like that at all.

 So, the creature had awakened, as they had planned, but it had escaped in a matter of minutes and now death and more loomed over them. Several transports carrying personnel from the team that released the creature, cruised through the forest in order to get close enough to attempt some kind of trapping mission, which was obviously not the best idea to have but it certainly was one of the few things they could do, without losing the support of the people.

 But when they reached the outskirts of the city, they realized what the dragon had actually done: it wasn’t burning the city randomly, as it had seemed to them from the top of the mountain. The creature had created a perimeter of fire, burning houses, buildings and so on to create some sort of ring to protect its new home. As they couldn’t see it in the air, they sent robots and drones to check for the creature’s position, only to find out that the dragon was sleeping quietly in the center of the city, where a large square surrounded by ancient buildings enclosed a yard made with very old bricks and stones from many parts of the country.

 Apparently, the creature was exhausted and had decided to avoid looking for food, as sleeping to gain strength back was the wisest idea, or at least it felt like that. The creature did not seem dangerous at all, but the group behind its release was not going to let it go so easily. They had decided it was better to pretend there was a bigger crisis and use that to propel their own image in the face of such a strange occurrence. So, in a matter of hours, they helped evacuate the whole city by piercing a whole in the fire ring with the help of some very powerful fireman hoses that they had available for other emergencies.

 The creature did not notice the humans in the outskirts and slept all day, almost through sunset. Unexpected as they always were, a group of humans, not allies of those idiots that had liberated the creature from the cave, decided to infiltrate the city through another point that the dragon had not completely covered in fire. It was difficult and they risked their lives when doing so, but it was worth it as they believed the creature was not one to be disturbed and they needed it to understand that it was better for its well-being to fly away to some other place, instead of sleeping in the middle of a square, an easy target.

 Although many humans infiltrated the city, only three were brave enough to come closer to the creature. As soon as they got too close, the beast opened its eyes and looked straight at them. Then, two of those people ran away and only one remained. The dragon moved its formidable paws in order to get closer and the poor human shook nervously, but did not move from the position it had been when the dragon opened up its eyes. The creature grew as close as it liked and then sniffed the human for a long time. It was as if it was looking for something special, as if it knew something that no human knew anything about.

 The dragon then put his nose very close the human’s chest and started building up some fire. Of course, everyone in the vicinity thought that poor person was going to die in moments, burned alive by the fiery flames of a creature that people didn’t even thought existed. But the dragon did not kill the person, it just heated up its nose and then expanded its wings and flew away, somewhere where he wouldn’t be bothered, very far from those greedy bastards trying to make money out of it.

 The creature was never really seen again. Some reports came to the ears and eyes of the people in that region, but nothing could never be really confirmed. In time, the fires where finally extinguished and people were able to go back to their homes and enjoy their city again. The ones responsible for the destruction were brought to justice after some private citizens had formed a coalition who brought up proof that they had been planning for a long time the awakening of the creature to use it in many kinds of tests and medical investigations.

 The people of the city, however, never thought of the whole things as something inherently bad. After finishing repairs in many parts of the city, the mayor decided to erect a huge statue honoring the dragon, right in the middle of the square where it had slept. Most people in town were very happy about the idea and many children, as well as adults, submitted thousands of designs for the statue. It was unveiled a full year after the events of that day, when they had been awakened by the rumbling of such a majestic and mysterious creature. It became a legend of the region and a story to pass down through the generations.

 As for the dragon itself, no one knows where it rests these days. Some say it must have looked for another cave. Other claims that it now takes advantage of its freedom and roams the world changing its home from time to time. That idea is very popular with children, as they seem to enjoy a lot the idea of a travelling dragon. But the truth is that most people just want to see it once again, just once before they each return to the ground, as we all must do.

 And maybe it will happen… Maybe it has already happened. But that’s a story for another day.

Dragon Valley

   The real treasure of the mountains was hidden beyond the highest peaks, in a very difficult to reach valley. The water there was the purest in the world and those who went there had, in general, no intention of going back. The monastery of the valley of the Dragon was the crown jewel of the mountain range, covered in gold leaf and constructed for thousands of years, with the help of every single monk that had ever arrived there to dedicate his or her life to the cause of enlightenment and knowledge.

 Men and women were allowed in the temple and they were not segregated in any way. Actually, people of every single ethnicity had at one point lived there as a monk. It was a welcoming community, who had no interest in the personal lives of their people. They only lived to achieve the highest state of knowledge and compassion. They believed humanity existed to learn all that it could and to teach others about the wonders of the universe. They thought that teaching and learning were the pillars of any civilized society.

 That’s why, once in a lifetime for every single monk, they had to live the monastery and journey to the outside world in order to teach somewhere whatever they thought people had to learn. Some went to the villages in the outskirts of the mountain range. Meanwhile, others were more adventurous and traveled further, to enormous cities and remote towns where they felt they could make a real connection with people. Each one decided the destination on his or her own, no obligations attached, except for one.

 They always had to come back. The life of the monks of the Valley of the Dragon was forever tied to the monastery. After a year outside, they were obliged to come back and dedicate the rest of their lives to further learning and teaching, in the form of writing books or painting illustrative art. They could also help restoring the building, as it was getting very old or they could even attempt to take care of the few crops and animals that they had in that remote space so far into the mountain, so high up too.

 Most of the monks never had a problem with coming back to their monastery. After all, it was there where they had felt the ray of enlightenment for the first time and that was a sensation no one could really forget or dismiss so easily. That’s why they felt compelled to go back and keep helping their fellow monks and humanity in their quest to be more cultured and aware of the wisdom that was in all things. However, they had been various exceptions of monks not coming back the moment they were supposed to, which was dealt with in the most sensitive but also serious way their community could.

 They would send another monk to the place were the person that didn’t want to go back was and they attempted to talk to them in order to understand why they want to stay in the outside world. They would hear the complaints and the thought of their fellow brothers and sisters and then they would try to make them realize how all of their fears came from places of insecurity and not from any hatred or ill will against their faith. After such a profound conversation, most runaway monks would come to their senses and head back home.

 But yes, they were very few that even after the conversation had no intention of going back. Maybe they had remembered what they had missed from the outside world and they just wanted to experience all of that more permanently. Complaints of that nature were unfounded as the monastery had found a way to use technology in their own advantage, for example protecting the most ancient texts with the help of very advances machines and using the internet to further their cause and connect with others seeking the same goal.

 The monastery had actually been in contact with several universities in the world and they would often send their monks to those places in their year of teaching, in order to exchange ideas and learn from others who were also seeking the answers in nature. It was mutually beneficial and it was an experience that could make a person grow beyond his or hers wildest dreams. Maybe even love would be born from such exchanges and the monastery welcomed it with open arms. They were not celibate.

 In recent years, the monastery had allowed the construction of small huts all around the Dragon Valley in order to accommodate some families that had decided to live there permanently. Life was much simpler, filled with hard work but with a sense of being able to actually help people in a meaningful way. That’s why every monk could decide when and where to go for his teaching year. It was left open to their choices in order to let them feel their way through life, not based on what others said.

 However, the place was still remote. Technology had also been used in order to install disruptors in the vicinity of the mountains, in order for satellite imagery to be unavailable for the whole area and to render high-tech equipment obsolete if someone wanted to find the valley through “easier” means. Whoever wanted to join the order had to do it with conviction, by foot and with effort. It couldn’t be in any other way. Men, women and children were all equals in that way and it happened to be the best way to make a proper selection of who deserved to be there and who didn’t.

 Dragon Valley was therefore a small fragment of the world that most people had never seen or even heard of in their lives. Sometimes it sounded like a myth or a legend, and people would even dismiss it as fictional. That wasn’t a problem for the people that lived there, at all.

 They would live their lives trying hard to actually have something to show for after years of studying and learning from the world around them. They tried not to just be here, doing things, but actually trying to hear the world and also speaking back to it. Their lives were always filled with purpose.

Purple eyes

   The knight in shining armor was running through the hallways, make a clanking noise that was very hard to miss. He had entered the castle through the back, by a courtyard that had never been seen by eyes different than the ones of the cooks and maids that had worked there when the castle lived its golden age. Now, it building was empty and some areas were ruins, crumbling slowly into the ground.

 When he arrived at the end of one of the hallways, he took out a map from his pocket. It wasn’t very easy to take anything out of there with that costume on, so he decided to remove the leg parts in order to be faster. He wasn’t as big and powerful as one would guess so for a charming prince, but that’s what he was. He checked the map and then ran towards the left, down a very long corridor that connected the main part of the building with the south tower of the complex.

 He finally found the door that lead to the second tower. With one it of his sword, he was able to make the door collapse to the ground. He stepped on the remains of the door and started climbing the stairs, step by step. He got tired after the first fifty. He had to stop running so he sat down by a small opening to the side of the tower and saw the world from there. He could see the former gardens and the courtyard below but he was still too close to the ground to see any fantastic views.

 After a while, he kept on climbing, his armor was still making the clinking sound, with every single step he made. He stopped again after climbing for a long time and he saw, through another window, that he was close to his goal. He could see the road from the window and also the forest that existed between the castle and the rest of the civilized world. Some said the forest was created to keep everyone away from the castle but that hadn’t stopped many men from risking their lives and go there.

 Many died in the forest, attacked by packs of hungry wolves or by some huge bears that lived around. There were also rumors of ghosts and various monsters that only rose when the fog was thick or it was very late at night. But the biggest legend surrounding the area was that a dragon protected the building and it had burned knights to their deaths when they had tried to enter the castle without permission.

As he walked the few steps that distanced him from the room in the upper level of the tower, the knight celebrated the fact that he had wore the full armor to defend himself on his way to the top. He had killed a few wild animals with his sword but that was it. That’s why he felt that something was wrong. It had been too busy, not according to the legend that everyone knew by heart.

 When he got to the upper room, he knocked gently and presented himself as Knight of Vals and Dam, sir Tristane Deschamps. But even speaking loudly wasn’t good enough to make anyone open the door from inside. So he pushed the door opened and looked around to see if the rest of the legend was true. If there really was a very beautiful woman sleeping in the tower, waiting for someone to rescue her from imprisonment. He looked around but so no one.

 He entered the room and walked to what appeared to be a bed and checked, in order to know if the person that had lay there had left a moment ago or many years ago. He put his hand covered in metal on the bed and realized it was warm. There had been someone sleeping in it. Out of nowhere, a young woman appeared behind him and held him tightly with a knife to his throat. The knight felt hard to the floor. He couldn’t move there.

 The woman asked who he was and he repeated his name. Then she asked what he was doing there and he just looked at her a bit confused. He asked her if she wasn’t the beautiful lady that lived inside a castle waiting for a knight in shining armor to save her and take care of her for the rest of her life. She looked at him as if he had just heard someone speak in a strange language. The woman released him from her grip but told him to stay down.

 - You don’t need to rescue me.

 The knight was about to ask something else but then a sound was heard very loudly and appeared to come from the first floor. The knight had never heard anything like it, like a thousand lions roaring at the same time or many pieces of silverware falling to the ground. It was very unsettling and that’s why he couldn’t move, he couldn’t do anything more that advise the woman to live the castle with her as she was in mortal danger if that was the dragon.

 She didn’t appear to listen, instead helping him getting up. She seemed to be thinking about something else or was at least too distracted by other thought in her mind. The knight insisted she should go with him in order to fulfill the legend. He knew that she would be very well received in his towns and that everyone would love her.

 That apparently convinced the young woman. She stopped walking around and told the knight she would go with him. They went out of the door and slowly walked back down, each step being easier as they headed to freedom and civilization. The knight was happy about it because he had never thought he would be able to fulfill such a difficult task.

 When they arrived to the back courtyard, through which the knight had arrived, the woman stopped running behind the man. She just stood there, like frozen in time. Her heart was racing but none of her limbs could move. He got near her and tried to determine what was wrong with her and he couldn’t point it out. The roaring of the dragon seemed to grow closer so he decided he would carry the princess to the backdoor but that didn’t work because, somehow, she was very heavy.

 He doubted that was something natural. It had to be some kind of black magic in order not to take the woman out of the castle without fighting the dragon. Probably, whoever put her there, had left very specific instructions in order to safe her and killing the dragon was probably one of those. So he let her where she was and he stepped into the grass patch of the courtyard and looked up.

 The dragon wasn’t flying, as he had thought. He appeared from the opposite side of the courtyard, tearing down a wall with its enormous paws. It was very big, just like a gigantic lizard with blackish wings and a sickening greenish skin. The dragon pushed the wall, launching several stones towards the knight. He avoided them easily. He decided to grab his sword and run towards the dragon. He had to fulfill his destiny.

 But his arms were almost broken when the sword hit the dragon’s skin and it did absolutely no damage. Not only that, but the body of the creature seemed so big and resistant, that the blow had actually affected the knight more than the dragon. The creature did nothing. He just watched him trying to feel his arms again and grabbing his sword to try again with same results.

 He then realized there was no way of killing the creature, so he ran towards the princess in order to wake her up from her trance. The dragon was only looking at him so he thought it was a safe thing to do. When he reached the woman, he realized she was very cold, her hands almost feeling like ice. The dragon watched as the knight tried like a fool to “wake” her up fro whatever was happening to her.

 But then the dragon just grew closer and ate the knight in one gulp. The girl was then able to move but her eyes were not the same as before. They were purple, just like the eyes of the dragon. She blinked and the dragon blinked. She thought about tearing down the wall and the dragon did exactly that with ease. The princess was the monster everyone was afraid of. That’s why she couldn’t leave her castle. Because she shouldn’t. There was no way in trying to prevent evil from pouring out of her. So she kept herself locked away, even if sometimes she needed to breath like anyone else, to run away.