Myth, Reality, Or Simply A Bad Nightmare?

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. Time had governed that history should have stayed where it had been. Forever to reside within the minds of historians, only to be given the breath of new life through the fresh, youthful, innocent minds of school kids, eager to learn about their ancestors' lives. The same kids that had never before been faced with those same fears & misfortunes that had long ago befallen those primitive humans of a tragic existence ravaged, and long forgotten by time itself.

********

It was forever a memory that demonstrated just how destructive this world could be at times; that humans were definitely not sitting safely at the uppermost point of the food chain. History had proven beyond a doubt, that there were other forms of life that had a never-ending thirst for the flesh & blood of the human form.

Historians had recorded times long gone by of bloodthirsty swooping emerald & aqua-colored creatures, with two arms and two legs, the size of the average wingspans of a modern-day Boeing 747 aircraft, each with four fully grown talons of two-foot in length growing from each of the creature's limbs. Talons with the intensity of industrial-strength trash compactors that were used for crushing cars, with a seven-foot-long constantly swishing tail, the thickness of an African elephant's trunk, with six-inch sinewy spikes adorning its length. The creature's mouth allowed for no escape for its prey to say the very least, with its large conically shaped head housing no less than forty serrated teeth, and a blast of fire emanating from within, capable of blistering and ravaging anyone or anything that came into its deadly line of sight.

********

The 'Blessed valley' name had been handed down for thousands of years after the historical reports, written in the scrawl of an ancient tongue by its then village elders (had recorded in words for the future to one day discover and read about aghast) how the once serene valley that had solely been inhabited by a religious following of monks, had been desecrated by the deadly appearance of these fire-wielding dragons.

Mercifully for the sake of the human race, times were not advanced around the time of the blood-thirsty wrath that swooped down upon the valley. The fiery death invasion from the unwelcomed dragons came at a moment when 'planetary defense' had remained unheard of. Humanity remained isolated and blissfully unaware of the fast-approaching death-dealing asteroid, that was within reach of decimating the entire eastern continent around where the village resided.

When the moment came of the impending decimation from the approaching asteroid, the inhabitants had absolutely no warning of any kind in aiding their survival. Although to be fair, the villager's time was being screechingly savaged by the rapidity of descent from the evil & callous mythical dragon onslaught (well, a myth they certainly were not.)

The unforgiving force of the plummeting asteroid was creating what some would have described, as a pleasing relief from those attacking creatures. Why, because none of those dragons could fight off the blistering havoc caused by the wake of destruction left by the asteroid. No dragons survived other than the few that had retreated after feasting on the flesh of those they had roasted alive and ripped apart with their razor-edged talons. Not one of those villagers saw the mass of the asteroid shards filling the skies above them for the horrendous clamor of screeching creatures swooping down on their running victims, talons ripping into their bodies and taking flight for the tip of the valley ridge to feast upon their live prize. Not one was aware of the approaching darkness brought about by the enormity of the alien construct raking across the skies above them.

Full and contented from their feast, they retreated to where?

No one knew where the dragons went, just that they did. Peace began returning albeit for a short time, prior to splinters crashing to the ground with the super-heated rocks igniting flash fires across their scathing paths. The largest of the asteroids mass plummeting to earth's ocean some seventy miles away.

But this was not to be the end. Within all of a single hour, the village had been swamped under three hundred feet of inland sea waters, in the wake of a far greater threat of an approaching tsunami. Indeed the threat of the dragon onslaught had gone, but a greater threat to life had brought about the final end...

Many hundreds of years passed by before modern-day humans discovered the desolate and hidden ruins of the ancient valley that had once been the monks' place of sanctity

********

The year was 2156, and the excavation crew were hard at work at a piece of unchartered land that had been laid to waste for the last 125 years. Much of the area had been left for some reason that could not be explained away by logic alone.

Up until now...

The entire 2-mile region had been, over the many long years, been allowed to become reclaimed by nature itself after the waters had receded from the ravages of the tsunami many years back. Land from as far away as the coastal region had been already mapped many decades ago but, no reason was ever resolved as to the explanation why this 2-mile stretch had not been touched, and reclaimed by a thriving society that had turned the major area from the ocean right up to this excavation site labelled of 'special interest' by the company team tasked with unearthing the stretch into a scientific base for space exploration focusing on searching the heavens for signs of life amongst the stars.

Trees and bracken filled the outlying grounds, and the excavation team were busy clearing more ground day-by-day. To say the job was hard, despite the advancements in technology to hand, was pretty much a massive understatement.

********

The light began to fail with very little warning all around the housing quarters near by, casting shadows all around. A group of kids no older than about 11-13 years-of-age, stood overlooking the metal fencing, staring through the gaps in it, attempting to get a glimpse of the excavation crew with their laser cutters who were making slow headway in clearing the area that had long ago remained untouched.

The new sign placed on the fencing stated:

'Danger keep out - excavation in progress - entry prohibited other than authorized staff.'

As children are, one of them wanted to explore what was inside that fence. Leave it to a child, and they'll find a way in. It was inherent of their youthful ignorance and thirst for adventure that made them just that way.

Daylight was rapidly deteriorating as the children tried to get better views of the other side of the fence. They could see that the workmen were downing their tools for the day, loading their vehicles with gear to knock of for the day. Ordinarily the workmen would have still be working there through the long hours of the night, under constant floodlight conditions but for now, due to the major depths of the surrounding undergrowth and thick trees with overhanging branches larger than the Empire state building at that, the stage of floodlit working conditions, were no way near viable yet.

As the last of the gear was securely stored away on trucks, one of the excavators came stumbling out from within the tree-shrouded undergrowth shouting to the site-manager.

"Joe... take a look at what we unearthed just before we downed tools today!" The man carried a look of shock & disbelief as he scanned what seemed to be charred remains of parchment clutched in his hands.

Joe took hold of the bundle being handed to him by the worker. Quickly skim reading, he shouted out, "bloody hell this is a village record kept up right up until..." his voice lowered and his jaw dropped in disbelief.

"Right up until what Joe?" responded Matt, the foreperson that had discovered the bundle earlier.

Joe didn't answer. He was concentrating on trying to make out more of the scrawl.

"Lets get going Joe," suggested Matt, "...away from here back to the office so we can take a look at it all for more close-up attention to the details on it."

********

The kids watching from the far side of the fencing looked over at each other mouthing the words overhead. 'Dragon?'

Obviously they had to get through the fence, one way or another, to find out more...

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you have enjoyed this. Please read and click the heart after reading. Anyone choosing to tip me, well, thank you so much for your generosity and kindness shown by this - hearts are great but tips help me succeed and do better but remember they are not obligatory.

More of my articles can be found by clicking on my profile page.

If you are feeling adventurous and creative, then why not join us at the Vocal+ platform by clicking on this here. Should you like what you read here on vocal and would like to become a member, then please do subscribe to the community here.

Or why not come and chat with me on Twitter?