FFM 2017 Day 11- Who History Forgot

  The room was filled with the thumping of tails and claws scritching on the stone floor.  The hatchlings whispered and nudged one another, then yelped as the wood pile in front of them burst into flames.  Behind it stood a sky-blue dragon with a ruby strung around her neck.  She grinned, and the hatchlings’ eyes grew wide.

  “Hush now, children, and listen.  Here is the story of how our magic came to be.

  “Perhaps in the very beginning, the world was peaceful.  It did not last.  The first of dragonkind ravaged the land until there was nothing left to ravage, and then they began to ravage each other.  There was no love, no family.  Until…”

                                 ~~~

  The dragoness dove into a shallow tunnel and curled up to become as small as possible.  Her pursuers screeched nearby; they’d find her, and soon, but escaping them here had not been the point.  She stared out at the wasteland for a moment, panting, then began to check over the egg in her skeletal claws.  No cracks or dents, only grime.  She sighed in relief.

  Don’t worry, my little one.  I won’t let them hurt you.  I’ll find somewhere safe for us, I promise.  Somewhere where we’ll never be found.

                                  ~~~

  “...After losing Her clutch to starving dragons, She travelled the world in search of abandoned eggs to call Her own.  On Her journey, She discovered a paradise of gemstones and life under the earth, and took the eggs there, hatched them, and raised them as Her children.  She taught them kindness, and to believe in a world where all could live in peace…”

                                  ~~~

  Kukull stared at what they’d done.  The forest, the whole forest, was blackened and shriveled.  The air stank of acid; pools of it ate into the dirt.  The sounds were gone- the birdsong, the rustling of leaves, all of it- things they realized they missed only after it was too late.

  The ghost’s voice whispered in the back of their skull.  “Yes, there it is.  That magic.  That Power.  You can wield it just as well as anyone else.  Better, even.  Imagine the looks on their faces when they find that out-”

  “No!”  Kukull staggered backward and dropped the amethyst clutched in their claws.  “No no no, the forest, it’s gone, it’s dead, my home is dead, this will-

  “...This will kill everyone.  Everyone.  This will destroy the whole planet.  We’ll go back to the wastelands, to starving and hurting each other and dying-”

  “Yes!  The Powerful dragons will suffer and perish, and the world we want will be built upon their bones!”

  “I don’t want that!  I don’t want them to die!  I don’t want to hurt them!”

  “Do you think that I wanted to hurt the dragons that attacked my mother?  Do you think that I wanted to kill them?  It’s not about what we want.  It’s about what they want, and they want to hurt and kill and destroy everyone who isn’t like them.

  “They murdered The Great Dragoness, Kukull.  They murdered their god.  They murdered my mother.  They deserve to pay.”

                                   ~~~

  “... But in time, the other dragons discovered Her paradise and desired it for themselves.  She fended them off to protect Her children, but not without the cost of Her life…”

                                   ~~~

  The oldest hatchling turned to look at her siblings.  “We have to help her.”

  They glared at her, ten sets of glittering eyes.

  “What!?  Mother told us to stay here!”

  “Yeah, are you crazy!?”

  “We would get hurt!”

  “We can’t just stay here!” she persisted.  “She’s outnumbered; she needs our help!”

  The second-oldest, Ruby, narrowed her eyes.  “She told us to stay.  Here.”

  She turned away, back to the sounds of fighting and the smell of barren dirt.  “You adopted cowards do what you want.  I’m going to protect my mother.”

  She scrabbled out of the tunnel.  She fought.

  She died.

                                    ~~~

  “...And so the ten children of The Great Dragoness donned necklaces of crystal and became the first Power Masters.  They flew into the broken world and rebuilt it, creating oceans and tundras and volcanoes and canyons.  They shaped the land, sea, and sky as we know it.  Once they had done that, they turned to the Powerless dragons.  Following the teachings of their Mother, they forgave them for their mistakes and offered them a piece of their Power.  Thus, the world became one of unity and magic, as it remains to this day and shall forevermore.”

  The hatchlings oohed and ahhed and clacked their claws together.  Meanwhile, a shadow no one could see stood on the wall, plotting the demise of each and every one of them.