Fantasy
Hurricane Season
There weren't always dragons in the Valley. The Valley was rather far off the normal migration routes. Dragons flying north to the Canadian Rockies kept to the airways over the Sierra Nevada range, the Cascades, and the Rockies. Those heading for their normal breeding grounds in the eastern portions of North America—the Great Adirondack Park, and further north into maritime Canada—usually kept to the route above the Appalachians and Adirondacks. Dragons seldom veered off-route to fly over the Blue Ridge Mountains.
By Hillora Lang4 years ago in Fiction
Blue
“There weren't always dragons in the Valley. There wasn’t always a valley. Before valleys became popular, most places just had big flat spaces— then someone decided to, quite literally, shake things up a bit. That’s how we got all this topsy turvy stuff going on with high bits and low bits. Somehow the high bits got higher and the low bits got even lower until some clever bugger decided it would be a good idea to throw fire into the mix— which of course set off the chain reaction of lava sprouting everywhere and before you could say ‘what’s that sulphur smell?’ we had volcanoes. I won’t tell you who brought in the water, but I guess it had to be done. Somehow the water went from up in the sky to down on the ground. Then it just kept going in a cycle until we had these long flowing snake-like things that went into big pools of goodness knows what, but it can’t have been good for anyone because before you knew it, we had this green stuff growing everywhere, I don’t know why it was green, and who got to decide what green even is but they clearly didn’t know what was good for themselves. Or for us. That’s how we got these big green bits and small green bits. Then of course, some clever dick decided we had to name all this stuff— dunno whose idea that was but of course it brought on disagreements on all sides because— what is a name? I don’t know why they decided these names, but they did, and now we have mountains and rivers and trees and grasslands and heather and council meetings and taxes and rebates and valleys. And that Valley in particular was pleasant and peaceful and quiet and nobody was that fussed about naming anything because… well we’d already been through all that. Nothing new. No more names. Peace was a plenty. We were full of peace.
By Matt Baron4 years ago in Fiction
Charta et Chao
There weren't always dragons in the Valley. I know. That one is definitely on me. My bad. Yesterday’s inconveniences may be partially my fault. In my defense, when I first created them, they were cute and tiny babies, like myself, and I obviously didn’t know better. I was barely 10! How was I supposed to know 12 years later they would grow into these gargantuan uncontrollable flying flamethrowers? Besides, you HAVE to look at the bright side! Tourism in the Valley has never been better. I mean, what other town in the world has a sign that reads “Human population: 45,000. Dragon population: 2.” Thanks to the dragons, we had an influx of people wanting to move nearby which stimulated the economy of the town. A lot of jobs opened up, we needed more construction workers than ever. Even our college mascot is way cooler now. “Nevada Valley’s Dragons” instead of the “Nevada Valley’s Tumbleweeds” (remember that?). Point is, it’s not ALL that bad.
By Matias Costa4 years ago in Fiction
Born of Ash and Torn Asunder
There weren't always dragons in the Valley. Of course depending on the time frame one is considering, there wasn't always a valley either. Go back far enough and what is now a valley was once a chasm which split wide the floor of an ancient sea. That sea teemed with creatures that many thought were dragons, but turned out to be nothing more than rather large fish with fins on each side running the lengths of their massive bodies. When they leapt from the water, which they had the propensity to do quite often, their great fins would spread wide to each side, pushed apart by the rushing air. This gave them the appearance of flight to the naïve fishermen who first spotted them. They called them aquaero' dr'aco, and they were greatly feared. It turned out their fear was misplaced as the aquaero' ate nothing but phytoplankton. The reason they leapt from the water was not in pursuit of other fish or even sea mammals to eat, but so they might strain another ton of tasty microbial life through their gaping maws. They had no teeth nor even any jaws to hold them, and reportedly were gentle and highly intelligent. That realization did not stop the ancient Kromlize people from hunting them to extinction. They were prized for their blubber, and most importantly the webbing which was packed like a cotton plug into the gigantic plankton filtering orifice which served as the mouth of the aquaero'. The webbing could be used for many things the Kromlize found particularly useful, not the least of which was building nets to trap ever more of the giant fish. Over time the practice of net trapping decimated their slowly reproducing population until suddenly, before anyone knew what was happening, they were gone. Every last one. Dead. Species never to be seen on this world again. It is a great historical and tragically sad irony that an entire race of majestic sea creatures was wiped from the face of Lasion by an ignorant race of people using the dr'aco's own anatomy as the instrument of their doom.
By Everyday Junglist4 years ago in Fiction
The Scales are Grey...
“There weren't always dragons in the Valley... but then again, we didn't always travel through wormholes. It wasn't until we discovered what black holes actually were, that dimensional travel became possible. By the look on your face, I can see I need to explain things. That's OK...you're still young. It's pretty simple. First, you lay a piece of toilet paper flat in between your hands and then rub one hand against the other. What happens? It rolls into a tube. That's what happens when galaxies collide... they rub up against each other like two hands and make a worm-hole. When you look at a black hole, you're just looking at one end of the wormhole. You can't see any light because the walls of the wormhole diffuses the light from the stars. The dragons came from the dimension where the dinosaurs survived the asteroid. Cedric Blackstone thought he would get rich by bringing some eggs back with him (which he did get rich). Now, they're all over the place. Would you like some dinner now?”
By Robin Neudeck4 years ago in Fiction
Real Steel
There was a knock at the door. Impatient. It was much heavier than the usual tapping by Corvo. He opened his eyes and saw the flicker of dying candle light. Asleep at his desk, again. Ink slowly crawled along his arithmetic, ruining the his night’s work. The knocking intensified. Biezel straightened his desk, throwing the ruined scrolls into his fireplace. He stood straighter and tried to look regal. Wondering what the time was, the young prince walked over and opened his chamber door, hoping it was just Kareen, coming to say hello.
By James Archbold4 years ago in Fiction
The Reign Of Moira Fenriz
Chapter One Void was the first thing that came to mind as I began regaining consciousness. An empty bottomless pit of darkness surrounding my senses. I felt as though I was an astronaut drifting silently through the cold emptiness of space.
By Talisha Hunt4 years ago in Fiction
