Dragon Valley

There weren't always dragons in the Valley.

But when there were, there were always dragon hunters who would risk their lives chasing after them.

Bluville is a small village near a snow mountain, with John Albert growing up inside it.

As John grows up, he spends most of his time on wondering about the two most important things:

The first thing is the sun, which John has always been trying to stare at, and asks, “Why does it shine? And why does it rise and fall?”

And the second thing is the dragons. Since he was little, he dreamed of being a dragon hunter, a heroic decapitator of these flying tyrants.

When John turns 18, he ends up enrolling at Lana University of a nearby town, majoring mechanical engineering on (dragon) hunting weaponries, while minoring chemical engineering on (dragon) hunting explosives. In the meantime, he works for a small hunting team led by captain Mal Doon, a lancer, on taking down small sized raptors, to protect the local livestocks from being eaten.

“Oh man, there is too much snow on the ground, and the air is getting so thin.” says Paul Shaw, an RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade) gunner of Mal’s hunting team, “I can barely breathe at this altitude.”

“Yep, you should be very lucky that there are actually no large dragons in sight.” says Mal Doon, “Because it is now only you, me, and John, three of us, here on a no man’s mountain top.”

“So, John, you said there will be a meteor shower here tonight, right?” Paul suddenly feels a breath of optimism rising up from his lungs.

“Yes, yes.” John suddenly feels excited, and lightens up, with sparks coming out of his eyes, and explains, “It should show up anytime now. Look at the sky, it is beautiful”

“Oh, yeah, it looks so purple.” says Paul, “Purple somehow reminds me of the purpose of my everyday’s life, you know.”

“Which is?” ask John.

“Dragon hunting!” Paul laughs out.

“And?” asks John.

Paul suddenly fades out his smile, and slowly raises his head up to the sky, then pulling out the cigarette out of his lips, says, “and to see another day, of course.”

“Look, look, a meteor just crossed by.” shouts out John.

“Oh yes, yes, someone make a wish, quick!” says Paul.

“OK, I wish one day I could finally fight a real dragon.” says John, “Not just these tiny little chicken raptors.”

“Good one John, that’s the spirit!” says Mal, “Keep it up! Keep it up! Because you’ll never know when your time’s up!”

“Wow, wow, wow, slow down boys. Slooowww Downnnnn.” says Paul, “Have you felt it? That the ground is shaking?”

“Oh yes.” says Mal, “It feels like… a dragon. And it also feels like… a very big one!”

“Yes!” John grasps his fists, and jumps into the mid air, “Finally, a real dragon!”

“Sh, sh…” says Paul, “Nobody talks. Unless you want this big guy to find us early. Now, wear your wireless headsets. From now on, we will communicate through our walkie talkies, instead of shouting at each other over the air. Go, go!”

“Look! Look! A giant dragon just walked out from the other side of that stone wall! It is almost as high as a 3-story building.” John carefully speaks with confidence, “And it has wings on its back! It's walking on two legs like a person, with his claws hanging in front of his bellies!”

“Wow, is that the legendary crimson dragon?” Asked Paul.

“Well, apparently, it is.” says Mal, “Listen everyone, this is considered to be one of the most dangerous dragons in the history of dragon hunting. We must play with this one very carefully, or we may get killed. It is literally a live or die situation.”

“Everyone, bend your head and waist down, walk slowly, talk quietly through our headsets, and spread ourselves out.” says Paul, “Do it now.”

The 3-story building tall, crimson colored gentlemen, tardily walks into the full sight of John, as snow and meteor slowly showers down from the night heaven in the back ground. Now everyone, including the three humans and the dragon, is like the big elephant in the room. Everyone already sees everyone else, but nobody talks.

As John and his teammates slowly crawl away in front of the Crimson dragon, with their asses on their back, the dragon seems to be losing patients of pretending to be a gentlemen. The dragon starts to wave his neck, with his head pointing towards the heavens, and then he roars.

“Shit, it found us!” says John, “Thank God our headsets have such great noise canceling capabilities. Otherwise, my ear may just break because of his scream. ”

“Everyone, stand up, start running.” says Mal, “We are now officially in battle mode, get your weapons ready, quick!”

“Any plans? Boss?” Paul asks

“We need to break its wings first.” says Mal, “If he flies around too often with his wings, it is gonna be a big trouble for us to hunt it down. Paul, the RPG Gunner, and John the Archer, aim the dragon’s wings, and keep yourselves safe from a distance.”

“Yes, Boss!”

The dragon is then suddenly undertaking heavy fire and bombardments from Paul and John, and after a few misses with its claw’s attack, the dragon finally gets angry. It roars again, and takes off by spreading its wings, then flies to a nearby mountain top.

“What is it doing? Is it running away? ” asks Paul.

“Oh, shit, No!” Mal says, “Everyone, don’t stop, keep running, and spread out!”

“What’s going on boss?” Paul asks.

“This dragon,” says Mal, “Is said to be celestial telekinetic.”

“What does that mean, boss?” Paul asks.

“Telekinetic means it can move objects, like stones, with its mind.” Mal explains, “Celestial telekinetic means it can move celestial objects, with its mind.”

“Like moving meteors? And direct them towards us, by only using its mind?” Paul asks, “So he is basically summoning meteors upon us?”

“Yes, that is right.” Mal explains, “Which means one hit on your head, can basically kill you. So that is why we now have to keep moving and running, to make it harder to aim.”

“OK boss.”

“I think it’s directing a meteor at you, John.” says Mal, “Jump, NOW!”

John then pushes his legs hard against the cold ground, and takes a big leap forward. A giant fireball soon hits the ground right behind him and explodes while causing a small earthquake to the nearby land area.

“Are you fine? John?” asks Mal, “Are you hurt? Are you bleeding?”

“No, I’m fine, thanks.” John quickly gets up, and replies through his headset, “I am OK, except having a bunch of snow robbed all over my face.”

“Haha, nice, kid.” Paul smiles, “How does it taste?”

“Like water-ice, my favorite refreshment in the village.” John says, “That dragon is now flying away from that mountain top, and heading towards us again.”

“It finished summoning the meteors. Celestial telekinesis is very mind consuming. Its mind must be tired and in need of a break.” says Mal, “He will continue to hit us with his body and physical attacks. So be careful.”

“The dragon has landed near us, Sir.” says John.

“Paul, and John, break its wings now with your RPGs and arrows.” says Mal, “Don’t let it fly away again, break its wings now!”

“Yes Boss!”

After a massive siege of RPGs from Paul and John’s arrows, the wings of the crimson dragon are now full of holes.

“How do you like it now Boss?” asks Paul.

“Perfect. We are now done with its wings.” says Mal.

“So it can no longer fly away, right?” Paul asks.

“No, it can still fly.” says Mal, “But flying will be much harder and painful for it to achieve.”

“Alright, got it.” Paul then asks, “What’s our next plan Boss?”

“John, we are counting on you next.” says Mal, “I need you to aim at its eyes with your bow, to see if you can take out its one eye. If it becomes partially blind, then it is going to be very hard for it to aim at us.”

“Got it boss, I’m on it.” says John.

“Its head…”

“What about it John?” says Mal.

“It's moving, all the time.” John says, “I have been missing too many shots, I am afraid that I will run out of arrows soon.”

“Then keep your shots.” says Mal, “Until its head stops moving.”

“Watchout!” says Paul, “What is that man? Was that a fireball that just came out of its mouth? I am so glad that it just missed me.”

“Oh yes, I’ve heard this creature is good at shooting fire balls” says Mal, “Just don’t stand still, keep running, or you will be its next luck shot.”

“Wow, what is it doing now?” John asks, “Is it summoning a meteor again?”

“Apparently.” Says Mal.

“Its head is not moving much when it is summoning.” says John, “Maybe a good time to take a shot at his eyes. Thank god it did not fly away for doing this.”

“Just be careful of the meteor.” says Mal, “Because as you are aiming at it, it may also aim at you.”

“Sure sir.” says John, “I will take my shot.”

John then slowly loads an arrow, then raises his bow, and carefully aims at the eyes of the crimson dragon, while running on foot.

“That’s it lad, you can do it!” says Paul.

“Watch Out, everyone! A meteor is running at us.” says Mal.

“Almost, almost.” says John, while running, and loading his arrow onto his bow.

“I think the meteor is on its way towards you, John.” says Mal, “Don’t stop, keep running!”

“Take this!” says John as he releases his arrow.

“John, Jump, Now!” Paul shouts out aloud.

John then quickly takes another giant leap forward, as another meteor strikes and explodes right behind him.

The crimson dragon suddenly screams loudly, as fluids bleeding out from one of its eyes.

“Good job, John.” says Mal.

As the dragon’s one eye is blinded, it cannot aim and attack efficiently anymore. Instead, the dragon, in anguish, blindly shoots fireballs with his mouth, and summons an increased number of meteors to strike randomly at nearby areas. In the meantime, the dragon also sweeps its tail back and forth.

“This dragon looks so crazy right now.” says Paul, “We have to watch out not to be knocked away by its tail and meteor strikes. What’s our next move, boss?”

“I am planning to strike this dragon in its chest, with my lance.” says Mal, “But its chest plate is too thick. I need you, Paul, to use your RPG to blow its chest open. So I can stick my lance right into its flesh.”

“Right at it boss.” says Paul, “But I don’t have many rounds left.”

“Then don’t waste any of your shots,” says Mal, “Aim carefully, before you fire.”

“Yes sir.”

It turns out that a lack of ammunition is not the only challenge Paul has. When firing each round with his gun, a recoil will set him back, or even throw his ass right onto the hard, cold ground behind him. He will lose balance for a while after each shot, which is an opening, a great risk, that the crimson dragon can use to attack Paul.

Nevertheless, Paul carefully takes his every shot. The dragon is constantly knocked off of its balance, as rounds after rounds of RPGs hit right into its chest.

“How do you do on its chest, Paul?” says Mal, “A fire ball almost hit me. Not sure if we can keep running like this for much longer.”

“I am on my last round, boss.” says Paul, “Need to take a leap of faith now.”

“Then make it a good news,” says Mal, “Its chest seems already badly blown up, it just needs a little bit more of an explosion to break it open completely.”

“I will then give you the breaking news.” says Paul, “I promise.”

Paul then carefully waits for his chance, as the dragon burns out its own strength, little by little, it suddenly pauses for a bit, for just a moment of rest.

“Now!” Mal shouts out.

“I’m on it!” says Paul, “Your meal is coming, big creature, right into your belly.”

Paul then blows his final round of RPG into the dragon's chest, and causes the dragon to cry loud into agony, as its chest plate is blown up wide open, leaving his fleshy meat completely exposed.

“That’s amazing Paul!” Mal suddenly gets excited, “Now is finally my turn.”

“That’s actually a good news and a bad news for you, boss.” Paul seems very tired, and hardly pushes his words out, “The good news is, its chest is finally open. The bad news is, I am running out of ammo. I am not going to be of any use to you guys anymore.”

“Then just keep on running and don’t get hit.” says Mal, “The rest is on me. John, shoot the dragon’s head with your arrows. I want to keep this dragon distracted, while I am striking its chest over and over with my lance.”

“Yes sir!”

Mal then grabs his lance and shield, and slowly walks to the front of the dragon. The standing-on-two-feet dragon then raises his claws, and smashes it onto Mal, as Mal stands firmly onto his ground and quickly raises his shield to block the dragon’s claw attacks. After each claw attack, Mal then carefully finds an opening, to strike the dragon's chest over, and over, until the dragon strikes him back with its claws again, in which case, Mal then quickly raises back his shield to block the attack, and then finds another opening to strike its chest afterwards.

Mal’s spear is made from the bones of a very rare and powerful dragon, and it is believed that the dragon bones will make the best weapon to defeat the dragons themselves.

“What is that, the thing just falls off onto the ground near me?” asks Mal.

“That’s the dragon’s horn, sir.” says John, “I just broke it off of its head by using my arrows.”

“Good job son.” says Mal, “and here goes nothing!”

Mal suddenly strikes the dragon hard, with his lance. And the dragon has finally run out of life and health, after a while of struggling to keep its balance. It finally lays down right beside Mal, and becomes dead.

“Finally…” John hardly speaks, as tiredness has slowly taken him over, “I wish I could be happier, but I am basically just as dead as this dead dragon.”

“I am calling the creature corpse transport service.” says Mal, “They're gonna ship this body to the village and cut it up into pieces. We're gonna make a lot of money off its body parts, as its hide, scales, claws, tail, horn, eye, and bones are well traded commodities. Of course, we also get to keep whichever the part that is useful for us.”

“And that’s the smell of money.” shouts out Paul, “We are going to be rich, for risking our lives, oh yeah!”

“I read about this crimson dragon before.” John speaks, “They live in the volcanic areas, don’t they? What are they doing here on snow mountains?”

“They lay their eggs in the snowy mountains.” says Mal, “If I recall it right.”

“Are you saying that there are crimson dragon eggs around here?” says Paul, “That is like a bonus! Where? Where? Those eggs could be worth a lot of money too.”

“There is a cave nearby.” says Mal, “Should we check?”

“Yes, yes, please!” says Paul.

The team then walks into a dark icy cave nearby, with flash lights tied around their foreheads. They slowly walk past the small raptors and try not to engage in any unnecessary fights. As they arrive at the end of this dark cave, they find a wyvern nest, on top of a hathpace.

“There are three giant wyvern eggs in this nest.” says John, “These could belong to the crimson dragon. And if this is true, then it must be very rare to find one like this around.”

“Then they are like golden eggs baby!” says Paul.

“Don’t get too excited yet, boys.” says Mal, “Finding the eggs may be easy, but carrying them out of the snow mountains is hard, that few people would like to be contracted with this kind of task. Which means we have to do it ourselves.”

“OK, boss, so what should we do then?” asks Paul.

“Each dragon egg is very heavy, even when being carried with both arms.” says Mal, “One man can only carry one of these eggs at one time.”

“No problem boss!” says Paul, “We’ve got three people here, each person carrying one, right?”

“No, only one person should be carrying at one time.” says Mal, “The other two teammates will then have to cover the egg carrier. It is because the raptors will be drawn to the egg for its taste, and will attack the carrier to steal the egg. And if anything goes wrong with the carrier, the egg could simply be shuttered onto the ground.”

“OK,” says Paul, “I am the one running out of ammos, how about I do the carrying, and you guys cover for me?”

“Right, that is a good plan.” says Mal, “I will stand by Paul with my lance as his bodyguard and his last line of defense. John, use your bow to shoot raptors that are far away, to scare them off before they would come any closer.”

“Yes sir.”

“Oh this baby is so heavy.” says Paul, as he lifts up one of these three dragon eggs.

“Be careful and walk slowly.” Mal warns Paul, “Otherwise, you will easily break it. And John, ready your bow, let’s cover Paul!”

Paul walks slowly with this giant dragon egg inside his arms.

“There are still many frozen ice surfaces on the ground,” Paul complains, “and the weight of this thing is killing me!”

“Hold it up man, you can do it.” says Mal.

Paul bears the egg, and carefully walks alone. But before he makes it anywhere further, a herd of raptors gather near them, while staring at the egg. Mal and John try their best to defend Paul, but they are simply outnumbered, the first egg drops to the ground, as Paul tries to get away from a raptor that is chasing him, and runs onto a piece of ice, then loses his balance.

The raptors then quickly rush to the egg white and yolk that is still left on the ground and start to drink it before it is all gone.

The team then tries the same thing again on the second egg, only to feed more of these raptors.

“I am sorry man.” says Paul, “I guess I am just so tired.”

“It is OK, This is not your fault.” says Mal, “I am the one who should be doing a better job on protecting you and the egg.”

“There is only one egg left now.” says Paul, “I say we just leave it here for now. And we go back to the village, take a rest, bring some backup, and then we come back to this egg again.”

“I don’t think so.” says John, “I think we just killed the egg’s parent. Without its parent’s protection, and the amount of raptors creeping nearby, I am afraid this egg won’t be here the next time we come back.”

“The kid’s got a point.” says Mal, “so we either carry this last egg out now, or we lose it forever.”

“But we don’t even get anywhere far on the first two attempts.” says Paul, “Why do you think things are going to be different then?”

“If I remember right,” says John, “This cave has a ‘back door’. An opening hole that you can jump down, to quickly get out of the cave, without running through the raptors.”

“But that ‘back door’ is just too high above the ground.” says Mal, “You will easily break yourself if you try to jump out of it, not to mention the egg you carry.”

“But the snow is very thick on the ground isn’t it?” John asks.

“Yes, but I still won’t consider taking that chance.” says Mal.

“I will carry the egg, and jump with it.” says John, “You two meet me on the outside.”

“OK, how about this.” says Mal, “Me and Paul, will also go through that back door, before you. Except we will be climbing down with our hands. And then we will be waiting there for you, in case you still want to jump with the egg.”

“Cool.”

Mal and Paul then slowly climb down to the ground right below the cave. John then stands on the edge of the cave’s back door, with the giant dragon egg inside his arms.

“Wanna change your mind now, kid?” asks Paul, as he talks with John through his headset “You really don’t have to do this.”

“No, I’m positive.” says John, “Here I come, guys.”

John then jumps down from the cave while hugging the egg, as he slams down onto the ground, John suddenly loses his consciousness.

When John wakes up again, he finds himself right at home in the Bluville, with Mal, Paul, and the village chief, Thomas, sitting and waiting right beside his bed.

“Sir Thomas, it’s… it’s… nice to finally meet you, face to face.” John struggles, as he is trying to recover from the wounds of his recent fall.

“Take it easy lad,” says the village chief, “You need a break. You are on the news here, like a hero, for defeating the almighty crimson dragon.”

“Oh that dragon.” says John, “Well I just did my part, you know. Anyways, how is the egg?”

“The egg is fine. It is in my house right now.” says the village chief, “I am hatching it with my equipment, and keeping it safe. But should there be any luck, like a baby dragon coming out, I will let you know.”

For the next a few months, John stays rested to recover some of his broken bones. In the meantime, he gets a temporary job at a local child care center, to tell the kids his stories of fighting dragons.

And then as more months have passed, one day, on his birthday, he got a special mail, from the village chief, says the following:

“

Dear John,

It has been a while since the last time I talked to you. Have you recovered from your wounds?

Do you still remember? That, on your bedside, I promised you I will let you know when the dragon egg has been hatched?

Well, it has been hatched, into a baby girl. And since you risked your life protecting it from the raptors, I decide to pass this baby dragon onto you, as your new pet.

Are you interested?

If you do, please come by my house quickly, before I change my mind.

Thomas.

”