Breaking News: Oil Prices Soar

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. But then again, there weren’t always self-driving cars or even cell phones for that matter. It wasn’t like this was unprecedented. It was more like a long time coming. The way that things were going, it wasn’t a surprise that we were thrown back in time. With the discovery of new tech, it was bound to happen. I mean, if you think about it, it was as if they wanted this to happen. All my life, playing games online and watching films about it, there were always hints to opening “star gates” or “worm holes”. People called this the “Desensitizing of the masses”. So that when it happens, people wouldn’t be so afraid.

So that’s exactly how it worked. One day, boom, dragons in the Valley. And people just went on about their business. As if it were something completely normal.

Pretty soon, the police became a band of knights. The scientists were considered magicians and warlocks. Hospitals became healing centers with apothecaries administering potions. Schools, well, they stayed schools. But the curriculum became much different. Albeit, there was still math we had to take. I hate math. How does math defeat a dragon anyway?

The only real difference was that there were now dragons in the Valley. Especially strong and able to burn down whole city blocks. But people just saw it as another thing that the government should have taken care of already. It wasn’t as if it was our fault that all of this happened. If it wasn’t for those damnable scientists, er… wizards, we wouldn’t be in this mess.

According to the news, where we had dragons, other places had goblins and fairies. Or worse… mermaids. Real mermaids. The kind that drag people under the water and do unspeakable things to them. Kind of makes me feel lucky. I also heard that there is a place just north of here that has unicorns. Lucky bastards.

And through all of this, its just another day in the city, er… village. Where there was once a neighborhood watch there is now a dragon patrol. You can imagine that the firefighters have their hands full quite a bit, so there is always a help wanted sign out in front of the station. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve thought about applying sometimes. But every time I’ve tried to submit my resume, they are never there because there is always trouble. Some building on fire or cat stuck in a tree. Typical fireman problems.

Supposedly, there are about a dozen dragons out there hiding at the tops of some of the older buildings. And I know what you’re thinking: “Why don’t we just kill ‘em all already?” Well, you see, it’s not that simple. First off, these flying reptiles aren’t your average wild game. They are smarter than you think. Whenever the “knights” get close to one, they zip straight into the sky. Not only that, but bullets don’t do anything. So mostly, it’s just like trying to keep a possum out of the garbage. A very mean, fire-breathing possum.

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley, but now that there are, people have just tried to live their lives around them. Each and every day they’re still getting to work late or missing the bus; people don’t seem to mind that things have changed so drastically in such a short amount of time. The barista at the coffee shop is still getting yelled at for not making the latte properly. Pizza men are getting in car crashes and the hungry family is still wondering where there food went. Business as usual.

My principle says that since this all happened, it was likely that the school year would end earlier and we would have to pick up a trade. Either in dragon defense or healing. Another option would be dragon hunter, but it was a perilous job that no one really cared to do. One mistake and you’d be done for. Burnt to a crisp. At least the pay was decent. Supposing that you lived long enough to spend that type of money. So that sort of thing was left to criminals trying to get off early.

By now, you’re probably wondering: “What about the military? Why aren’t they helping?” Well, the truth is simple, we still have wars going on that need attention, and a few dragons weren’t about to stop the flow of oil or cheaper clothes. It would really send us back to the stone age if we didn’t have the latest fashion at our fingertips at discounted prices.

And then there’s me. It’s not like I wasn’t prepared for this sort of thing. All that time spent in my room reading lore and studying alchemy books led me to this point. Looking underneath each conspiracy with a knack for suspicion, it was as if I had trained all my life to be in this timeline. Now, all I have to do is pass senior year and I’ll be able to make a difference.