Dragons of Romina

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley, but that didn’t start happening until technology and A.I became evolved enough were scientist and engineers made it so dragons could be more than fairy-tale.

Southern Romina, they have the climate and the space to create and produce dragons. They have all organic natural bodies but a machine, computer, for a brain. Some dragons have special abilities, unlike most dragons. Which makes them unique. All dragons are able to control the size of their body, like going from a full-size dragon and then being able to fit in your pocket.

For centuries dragons have been a fairy tale or a legend until something went wrong in South Romina and a few dragons got loose.

There was a war between the humans and dragons. Humans and dragons learned they can coexist with one another. 150 years later Dragons are a common thing flying around.

You can own a dragon if the dragon wishes to be owned by human. Mind you there are some dragons who are enslaved and still enslaved today.

~

It’s now June of 3056 the South side of Manhattan, Nina’s favourite time of year. Where it's finally at that nice warm weather starts and all the trees and flowers are fully bloomed. It’s especially nice when you go down the art alley. The ally is beautifully lit with paintings and sculptures, and booths where artists of every kind can come set up a little shop or just hang out on benches and draw your mind and hand away.

Nina always wanted to make a career out of being an artist, but her parents wouldn’t have it. They insisted on Nina becoming a lawyer just like her. Nina and her mother would always be in some sort of argument about it. At 19 Nina had enough and left her family home to adventure out on her own.

At least Nina always has Molly. Nina and Molly stumbled up on each other four years ago on one of Nina’s day trip into the forest at the end of town. Ever since then they‘ve been inseparable. Molly being a dragon and having the ability to become pocket size, making it a little better for Nina to be able to keep Molly. That and Nina is a little tech-savvy and hacked the system to become the owner of Molly.

When Nina gets back to her loft downtown, she looks around the street to make sure no one is watching or has followed her home. Nina opens her door and looks around, it’s not much but it’s enough for her to be able to paint and with the luxury of having a dragon that goes pocket size. It’s not too bad. Molly flies off Nina’s shoulder and flies around the half-empty coffee mugs and paint and sits in her comfy spot by the window and yawns.

“Are we going to have enough till we get paid from the next seller?” Molly asked, watching her put the groceries away. Even though having the luxury of being pocket size, Molly is still a dragon that requires a lot of food. Which means Molly every so often will spend a night flying around the sky to stretch out her wings and to catch dinner.

Nina sighs and continues to put away the groceries; “It’s going to have to make do, Molly.”

After a few minutes Nina enters the living space; “Have you had the chance to get something to eat?”

“Yes, I have. I went early this morning. With curfew and shortage of food for the dragons I try to get out as early as possible, so I’m least able to eat something,” Molly explained.

“I think that’s bullshit,” Nina replied infuriated.

Molly sighed; “Well, dragons were once just legends. This world isn’t built for both humans and dragons to co-exist.”

“Doesn’t mean it’s not bullshit.”

“That may be true. What do we do now?”

Nina for the most part tries to keep it together for Molly but sometimes she wonders if she made the right choices and path. What if she could go back to her parents and just follow the career path as a lawyer. Nina looks a Molly and the life they have. It’s honestly not so bad. Yes, they may be on the broke side living gig to gig but at least they have a home, each other, and a little bit of food.

“There is the buyer of this painting I’m working on. It does pay much but it’s something and there’s also a small art crawl downtown this weekend if you wanted to go. See what old paintings we can find around here and maybe paint a few and see what we get?” Nina suggested.

“Hell yea!” Molly was stocked for that idea.

It was a rainy Tuesday night, Molly curled up in her usual spot in between all the coffee mugs and art supplies in the big bay windows. The loft was on the top floor of the five-story building.

So, it had a big bay window leading up to the ceiling with a skylight. Which made it a perfect night to paint.

Nina was in a dreamland painting when someone started pounding on the door, BOOM-BOOM-OOM. Nina startled, turned down the music.

Molly woke up from the pounding at the door; “Who in the world would be knocking at this hour?”

“I don’t know,” Nina quietly walked to the door and peeked through the hole. “It’s Matt.”

Molly looked confused as to why Matt would be knocking at this hour. Matt is Nina’s best friend; he also happens to live in the building.

“What’s going on?”

“Nina, their back. You need to collect your things, grab Molly and let’s go. I’ll explain everything in the car”

Nina grab whatever she could, a sketchbook few art supplies some clothes, the little food they did have, and Molly. In the car, Matt explained there were some computations he overheard at work. Matt works for the company that created and built the dragons. So, he overheard his boss and one other man from HR that there had been spotting of Molly in the area.

Molly is a rare breed of dragon that was created that not only can she change the size of her body, but she can also shape shift and able communicate telepathically. If the company does catch Molly, she’ll basically be on a metal slab being experimented on. Molly is 1 of 5 dragons with these abilities.

The company has been looking for her for the past four years. At least Nina and molly were able to live in this cozy loft for 8 months. That’s a total of 6 weeks longer than the last.

“Where are we going to go?” Nina said it, Molly thought it.

Matt looks over at Nina and Molly who are curled up in the backseat; “Ever been to L.A.? I have a buddy there who’ll be able to help us out.”

“We will now,” Nina let out an awkward laugh.

The three of them took the 42-hour drive to Los Angeles. Matt turns to Nina; “Oh yea, Happy Birthday Kid. How old are you? 26?”

“Something like that, yea,” Nina sighs and looks up from her drawing.

“I got you something.”

“Oh, you didn’t have to,” Nina blushes and takes the gift. “Thank you.”

“I hope you like it,” Matt and Nina have been friends for years. So, he’s aware of how much Nina Loves to draw, which made this easy with getting a new sketchbook to replace the one she’s currently working on.

“You know, they won’t stop hunting for me, right?”

“Yea I know. You know, I won’t stop trying to keep you safe, right?”

“Yea I know.”

“So, what happens now Matt?” Nina asked.

Matt thought about it for a while; “I don’t know yet. Figured we get to L.A. then figure it after that.”

Molly looked worried but nothing much anyone can do besides to keep on the down-low and try to live their lives in between being on the run. Being a freelance artist like Nina means she can make money on the way and not have to worry too much.

Back at the loft in Manhattan, the company had come to ransack the loft looking for Molly and Nina. Nina’s phone lit up showing a notification from her camera. She clicked on it to watch her loft be trashed; “I guess it’s a good thing we left when we did”

Nina holds up her phone to show Matt; “Yea, definitely.”

~End of Chapter 1~