FICTION | LIFE | LIFE LESSONS | FANTASY | SELF IMPROVEMENT
Forest Dragons Don’t Always Breathe Fire
Sometimes, they are sent to protect us from the world in which we live.
There weren’t always dragons in the valley where I lived — their appearance came spontaneously and was an unbelievable sight to behold. Why they had shown themselves at this time and in this location was anybody’s guess.
One moment, they would magically appear, revealing themselves in all their beauty and glory. The next moment, they may not show up at all, instead preferring to hide behind a tree, or leap into the heavy brush of the forest.
Dragons are fickle like that. They would materialize from a poof of smoke and, when they were done doing what they do, poof, just like that they would disappear into thin air.
“How is this possible,” I wondered aloud.
I then realized that wondering aloud is only helpful when someone is near enough to hear me. At that moment, my question had fallen on deaf ears. No one had heard me speak.
We heard their thunderous footsteps before we actually saw them. None of us had ever heard such a commotion before. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked in the direction of the noise.
The noise was frightening, although somewhat muted. It sounded as though it came from a far off distance and rumbled toward us like thunder through the clouds. And, just like thunder, the closer it came to us, the louder it got.
My neighbor, Lucy, was the first to notice them.
“Look,” she exclaimed! “Over there, by the Knobs” she pointed. “What is that?”
Far off in the distance, we could barely make out two silhouettes moving slowly, but methodically toward us. As their shadows grew, they became clearer and more gargantuan.
The area where they first appeared is known in these parts as Floyds Knobs, a series of inundating, rolling hills that stretch across two counties. The dragons must have dug out a cave for themselves, to hibernate in and to protect them from the wintertime.
