Exordium: Maka's Magic Journey

“What is it?! What is it?! Can we keep it? We saw it first!”. “We are not keeping it. It’s probably dangerous or something.”. “Oh, yes, great idea! Why don’t we keep the dangerous thing. Makes perfect sense. Why didn’t I think of that?!”. “Probably because you’re not as smart as me.”. “Neither one of you are smart! That’s why I was always in charge.”. “Or maybe we just let you think that.”. This was the conversation that took place between the three heads of a hydra dragon, Sparky. Sparky was a monsterous, red dragon. Each of his heads had a different temperament. The left head was more silly, fun, and pleasant. The middle head being very stern, somewhat nasty, and swore he was in charge. The right head was the sarcastically honest one. Some even referred to the right head as a tad rude at times, but he was more passive-aggressive than anything.

While out for his morning lap around the outskirts of the village, Sparky stumbled upon what seemed to be a tiny version of a human being. It was all alone and crying wandering through the forest. There was no other human in sight. In fact, no humans really enter this part of the woods, so this was definitely a rarity. While Sparky was standing there debating with himself about what to do with the human, the little one snuggled up with Sparky’s tail wrapped around it; nice and cozy like a blanket. It was fast asleep. “Great, now what?!”. “Guess we aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.”. “Why? This thing is not ours and we don’t have to worry about disturbing it.”. “Gee, you’re so sweet!”. “Well, I’m not moving and I’m keeping it!”. “Well, you don’t really have a choice if we move.” "Who knows, maybe this time you won't. Why don't we try it?". "Let's not and say we did. I'm not getting hurt over you two smart guys!". Sparky continued arguing.

Just then the tiny human started to stir. Then the crying started. Sparky’s three heads all looked at each other in shock. “What do we do?!”. “What’s wrong with it?!”. “You think I know?”, Sparky said to himself. The human continued to cry louder and louder. At that moment, a female dragon flew up and landed right next to Sparky. “It probably needs food.”, the dragon said smugly. To which Sparky replied, “Well, is it a herbivore, carnivore, or omnivore?”. “Try both plants and meats. Then you go by whatever one this thing actually eats and make sure whatever you feed it doesn’t kill the thing.”, the dragon said. So that’s exactly what Sparky did. He kept offering the little human different foods to try. The little one decided on a bunch of fruit. That made Sparky certain this thing was a herbivore, for sure.

Sparky fed the human and started to walk away, but the little one followed. “Go away!”, “You don’t belong to us.”, “Stay here!”, Sparky kept saying to the small human. However, it would not leave Sparky’s side. It would seem that Sparky now had a new pet; a miniature human. Owning a human was never in Sparky’s plans. Not in a million years would he have ever dreamed he would end up responsible for another life, let alone a human life. Not that he could have planned for something like this, but the best things tend to come that way or so it seems.

Two months have passed since the human became Sparky’s pet. The last eight weeks have really been rough for Sparky trying to learn how to care for a human. It was completely different than raising a dragon. This thing can’t even spit fire from it’s mouth. Though, it’s probably a good thing considering it cried a LOT. Imagine a temper tantrum with a fire-breathing, human toddler. It would destroy literally everything in its path! For not a very big being this tiny male human was loud.

Although Sparky had no idea what he was doing with this human, he did know that he cared about it, deeply. Even the big, bad, angry head started to develop a bond with the mini human. It had burrowed its way deep into Sparky’s heart and wasn’t going anywhere from this point forward. The human was looked at more like the dragon’s offspring than as a pet. Sparky would take it everywhere he went with him. This human became his best friend.

Besides their own three heads, Sparky didn’t have many actual friends. Other dragons didn’t really take to all the arguing done with himself. That left Sparky alone for a good portion of his lifetime, but not anymore. Now, Sparky had this whole other life to care for. He never had a responsibility as big as this one. He even found himself worrying more about this human than he did about himself. That was completely new for Sparky. Before he stumbled upon this little being, he was a rather selfish dragon. Not many things would make Sparky seem like a caring and kind creature, but this human seemed to bring that side out of him.

While walking through the woods one day, Sparky and his tiny friend were passing by a group of elder dragons. One of the elders stopped them and asked their names. “Well I’m Sparky and this is… This is… Well, it doesn’t have a name.”, Sparky replied. The elder then said to Sparky before turning and walking away, “I have seen you walking around with this thing, so it would seem as though you are planning to keep it. If you are, I would suggest giving it a name. How else will it know when you are addressing it? That’s just my opinion though. Take it however you like or not at all. It’s going to make for quite the hard time once it starts wandering further away from you. Maybe you should consider what to call it. Good luck, Sparky.”. Before Sparky was able to say anything at all, the elder was already walking away.

Sparky and the human continued along with their stroll, but Sparky just couldn’t seem to get what the elder dragon had said to him out of his head. After all, the elder did have a very good point. This thing is going to be growing and he won’t be easy to locate without a name to call when that time comes. Naming another species isn’t exactly a simple task, however, and Sparky was really feeling the pressure of it now. He kept thinking of things to call the little human, but nothing seemed to fit it right. Just then, Sparky’s tiny friend tugged on his tail and mumbled out, “Pablamaablabla”. Sparky had never heard it speak before, so he was taken back by surprise. Then he leaned one head down and said, “So you do speak. Well then, what do I call you?”. The little one looked up at Sparky with his big blue eyes and mumbled, “Maka”. “Maka? Is that what you want to be called? Maka. I like it! Maka it is!”, Sparky announced loudly, even though nobody was anywhere in sight.

As time went on, Sparky and Maka grew even closer. The closer they grew, the bigger Maka grew too! He was growing bigger and stronger daily. One day when playing along the river, Maka was watching all of the younger dragons splashing about in the water and thought it looked like fun, so he slowly entered into the river. He kept inching out further and further until, all of the sudden, he couldn’t feel any ground beneath his feet. Maka immediately started to panic and started flailing his arms around in desperate hope of salvation. One of the young dragons came over and grabbed him from the water, but little Maka wasn’t moving once he was upon dry land. A crowd of young dragons were surrounding him, but had no idea how to help a human being that was drowning. They were hoping that Maka wasn’t pulled from the water too late.

Sparky had fallen asleep under a tree while Maka was playing earlier and had not noticed him trot off into the river. He was awoken by a commotion coming from closer to the water. “Let’s go see what this is about, Maka.”, Sparky yelled out while surveillancing the area, but Maka was nowhere in sight. Sparky hurried over to the crowd of young dragons to see if he was in the mix. When he got there he noticed them all crowding around something, so he pushed his way through. Just as Sparky made it to the front the crowd let out a huge cheer! Maka was lying there coughing up water, but was breathing again. Sparky dropped down to Maka hugging him so tightly while profusely apologizing for dozing off and not protecting him. Maka was just so worn out from the experience that Sparky carried the little one all the way back to their lair.

Once the two had returned to their lair, Sparky had sat Maka down to explain that, though Maka is his very best friend, kind of like a son, he is not actually a dragon and should not run off to do things that he sees dragons do. Maka wasn’t comprehending how he was so different from the dragons. He lives just like they do. He even eats what they eat. Why can he not do what they do then? It made no sense to him. Sparky knew what he had to do at this point in time. He knew this day would come, but he didn’t expect it so soon. He was going to have to show Sparky the others like him. They would have to get close enough to the village to see them, but not be seen at the same time.

Not being seen when you’re a gigantic, red dragon is not exactly an easy feat. Sparky knew in order to get Maka close enough, he would have to send him further ahead of him to take a look, alone. He stressed how important it was for Maka not to get caught by the others like him. Sparky had this feeling that if Maka was noticed he would be taken to live with the others like him. There is no way they would allow a dragon to raise one of their own. Their kind thought all dragons were killers and out to eat them. They never even thanked the dragons that did help them when they had no one else around. Unfortunately, dragons were always judged as bad without anyone trying to get to know them. Sparky was not ready to lose Maka. He finally had fullness in his heart with Maka around.

The day had come where Sparky was going to take Maka to see the others. Overwhelmed with anxiety, Sparky took Maka by the hand and led him toward the village. Maka walked about fifteen feet ahead of Sparky to get a closer look of the villagers. Before walking closer to the village alone, Maka agreed to return upon Sparky’s whistle. Sparky had told Maka that he would be whistling when time was up and Maka would have to return.

When Maka got close enough to the village, he could see so many others that looked just like him. He couldn’t believe his eyes! He thought he was the only one like him. This made Maka extremely curious. Upon Sparky’s whistle, Maka ran quickly over to him with an overabundance of excitement. He couldn’t wait to find out why the others looked like him and what those funny things they had clad attop themselves. Sparky didn’t have all the answers, but tried his best to answer so that Maka wouldn’t be any more curious about his own kind. Suddenly, a new fear seemed to come through for Sparky. Now, his biggest fear was Maka leaving to find out more about his kind.

Turns out, Sparky’s fear was right. Everyday he would find Maka playing closer and closer to the village and, everyday, it would take Maka a little longer to respond to Sparky’s whistle. Maka was genuinely interested in what the villagers did and how they lived. As he got older, Maka would grow brazen enough to step foot in the village. He snuck all around with no concept on how to live as an actual human being. If he saw something he liked, he took it. He would come home with all sorts of different things. Sparky didn’t know how to put a stop to Maka wanting to return to the village and eventually never coming back. He thought about how to put an end to Maka’s new fondness of his own kind for a few days. He was about to give up when Sparky had what one of his heads deemed “the best idea ever” hit him like a ton of bricks. He was going to go into the village when Maka was wandering about and was going to show him just how evil his kind can be. He was sure that the villagers would immediately attack him and Maka would never want to have anything to do with any of his kind once and for all.

The very next day, Sparky waited about ten minutes after Maka left to explore before he set off towards the village. He was always so scared to enter the village with no other dragon in sight, but he couldn't think of any other way to fully bring Maka back to him again. He was coming closer to the main road and his anxiety was growing immensely. His whole life Sparky was told to never go near the village unless with a thunder. There is nothing more powerful than a group of dragons. He was told if a human ever laid eyes on him inside their village, the villagers would attack, and they would be slain. Every dragon he knew stressed this to him constantly growing up. Sparky may not be the smartest dragon out there, but he knew enough to stay away when his life was in danger.

With so many thoughts engulfing his mind, Sparky hadn’t even realized he was on the main road and had already entered the village. There were not many humans walking around at this time of day, but Sparky definitely didn't go unnoticed along his stroll. Some of the villagers gasped and screamed, while others fainted. However, not a single villager tried to slay him. In fact, Sparky was starting to think that the villagers were actually afraid of him. He wasn’t quite sure how to react to everyone as more and more people started appearing from their homes. His paws just seemed to be moving him right through the village without a thought. That’s when Maka noticed Sparky strolling through.

Maka immediately ran up to Sparky, grabbed his paw, and headed out of the village with him. “What are you out of your mind?!”, Maka said loudly. “Why would you do such a stupid thing?”, he continued, “What if you would have been slain? Then what?”. Maka’s point was valid. Sparky never even thought about what would happen to Maka if he were to be slain. He was all that Maka had. “I had to show you.”, Sparky began explaining, “I had to show you how your kind are evil towards dragons. I thought if you found out too much about the others like you, you would leave me and want to live among them. It’s silly, I know, but it could happen. Before I found you, I thought my life was fine, but since you came into my life I feel like my life is complete and I’m finally happy. I just don’t want to lose you.”.

Maka was taken by surprise by this. “How could I ever leave you? You were the only one there for me when I had absolutely nothing and no one. You brought me into your lair and made me feel loved. That’s something you just don’t walk away from.”, Maka said. Sparky had no idea that Maka felt this way. This made him feel horrible about how he put his life at risk trying to prevent something that wasn’t ever a thought in Maka’s mind. He began to apologize to Maka for being so negligent with his own life. He never considered how it would affect Maka’s life if something were to happen to him. It should have never gotten as far as Sparky walking into the village alone, but Sparky was never responsible for another life before, so he had no idea how to communicate or express his feelings. Clearly, having Maka around was going to be a learning experience for the both of them.

There was one thing that Sparky could not get over regarding his stroll through the village, however. Why would all of the villagers not automatically attack him? He was so confused over this. That is what he was told would happen his entire life and nothing happened. They seemed more scared than evil. He went to Maka to see if he knew why he wasn’t slain. Maka, now familiar with both dragons and human beings, explained to Sparky that both groups were only out there killing each other because they are scared of the other. “Humans, scared of me?! Ha! They are the ones that kill the dragons!’, Sparky snarled back, “We may look ferocious, but we are probably the most harmless out of the two.”. Maka laughed, “Both can be harmful to the other, Sparky, but we shouldn’t condemn a whole group just because of a few. You obviously can see that. I mean you took me in and I’m a human. You didn’t kill me as soon as you saw me. I may have been smaller, but I am still a human.”. Sparky never even thought about that before. He never condemned Maka for what he was. He just took him in and took care of him.

Maybe Sparky was getting softer at heart because of Maka being in his life or maybe just because he was taught something his whole life doesn’t automatically make it true. Sparky was realizing that maybe he was wrong to believe everything that was taught to be true to him without questioning anything. It's not always a bad thing to learn about things you weren't accustomed to while growing up. Just because you're taught things are a certain way doesn't mean that's necessarily the truth or, maybe, at some point it was the absolute truth, but things evolve. Things are supposed to evolve over time. Maybe years ago, human beings would slay whatever dragon came near their village. Who knows why really. Maybe it was done out of fear or even to show dominance over something like land. Once Sparky started communicating with Maka about how other humans acted with dragons, Maka used the knowledge he would gain from the villagers during his daily escapades through the village to educate Sparky.

This was only the beginning of what Maka and Sparky were going to learn from each other. They have only been together a few years now. That means they had the rest of their lives to learn new things and stop all the close mindedness that Sparky had become accustomed to. For Maka, it was about learning everything new; but for Sparky, it was about learning different perspectives of things he’s known and learning to evolve. Sparky had no idea things continued to evolve once fully grown before Maka came into his life. There was no doubt that these two were destined to find each other. They were brought together that day without having any clue that they were exactly what the other needed.