The Dragon

The Dragon,

A guttural scream reverberated through the trees. What followed was the loudest silence. Even the trees stopped moving in reverence. The magical creature whose iridescent cobalt and golden scales shimmered in the filtered sunlight hung her head in profound grief. From the broken shell lay her lifeless offspring.

I am no longer of this world. I write to you from another, where the constraints of the earthly body are no longer needed. I transcend through the veil which separates my world and the one my little boy remains. He is three years old and left alone. His little arms embracing my cold rigid body, strapped in the seat of a little plane that did not have enough fuel to complete its short journey. Somehow my neck had broken in the sharp descent. The pilot lay on the forest bed. I hoped that Luka wouldn’t see him. His mangled body no longer resembled anything human. Luka was asleep. The torrent of tears had exhausted him. His little mind couldn’t understand why mummy wouldn’t wake up. I longed for him to sense me, but his fear and confusion had clouded that ability.

I watched over him for the entire night, watching him sleep. I longed to touch him, warm him. I needed a body, any body.

Daylight broke through the densely populated terrain. The Eucalyptus trees stood mightily, their canopy hovering over the mangled mess, but the sun’s rays managed to filter through. Luka’s eyes flickered open but did not move. His little fingers started stroking my lifeless face, but he did not cry. I could hear his thoughts…wake up mummy, wake up…. He sat up hungry. Remembering the snacks, he walked over tentatively reached for the strewn bag on the ground. He reached in and grabbed his bottle of water. I needed to find him help. He was in the middle of nowhere.

I was impressed with Luka’s resolve; he was scared but I could sense his courage. He stood up and looked around, wondering what to do. He couldn’t see the pilot and I was the only other body on the plane.

It was strange, this out of body experience. I could sense things and see things from a perspective I could have never imagined. I knew every detail of the plane’s descent. I could almost hear the metal as if it had a life of its own, moaning in its pain. I knew the pilots last thoughts, his regrets and sorrow that his family was left with no income. His sorrow for me and Luka, that he had put us in this danger, the packages he was carrying. But he was gone. I had to stay for Luka. There were men coming. Coming for the white poison that made them millions. I had to get Luka out of there.

I sensed a shimmering wall beyond the crash site, it was ever so slight, but it was there, like water, a glassy lakes rippling, on a summer’s day. My perception was becoming stronger. The longer I was out of my body the wider my perception spanned, so much so that I could sense a life beyond the invisible wall, it was like the opening of a portal. A concept that I would have ridiculed in my life and yet here it was before me. I heard the scream, a roaring cry of grief. I recognized it. I recognized the pain as I had experienced it after the loss of my daughter. Emma lived for all of 5 hours before succumbing to death. I don’t remember much else other than them clearing the room for me so that I could just hold her, mourn her, cry.

I could now see beyond the wall and noticed the shadow of the most exquisite creature. It trembled. Its scales were of a cobalt blue, and golden flecks. It must have sensed me as its head lifted towards my direction. It was a dragon. I saw wings. I could have never imagined such a majestic animal. I had always thought they were the creatures who live in fairytales, a figment of a writer’s imagination, but one stood before me now. I knew she was female and then noticed her baby before her, lifeless. She was deeply grieving, nudging the little one tentatively, knowing that he wouldn’t wake up, but trying just the same.

The landscape here was no different to the one I came from, yet it was more beautiful somehow. The colours of the leaves brighter, denser, the contrast. It was like magic hour, that small window before the sun sets, where the sky I illuminates the earth below. My expanded consciousness understood that this was a higher dimension. It was of earth but only the creatures of higher consciousness could see it, live in it. It was home to many mythical creatures that would not survive in the dense dimension of people.

I was transfixed with this creature and she turned to notice my presence. I was not visible. I just was and this beautiful creature knew it. Perhaps she could help me, help my boy.

In ways I couldn’t explain in earthly terms, I had braided myself with the dragon. In laymans terms, I was sharing her body and with that was experiencing her pain, and with that she was sharing mine.

Understanding that we had to save Luka, she dismissed her feelings and kindly took on mine. We had a child to save.

I admired our body, the scales iridescent and soft. I imagined them to be cold and hard but they were soft. the underbelly was velvety and sensitive. Walking past the trees tickled as the leaves above stroked the long and languid neck. We were tall, our eyes scanning the tops of the trees and the smell, the smell of the Eucalyptus was intoxicating. the sense of smell was unlike anything I had experienced in my lifetime. I could sense her scouring the surroundings, checking for danger, trying to remember how to get to my Luka.

Small short snorts echoed up her throat. It was a tactic to scan the surroundings. Our head swayed side to side, the eyes capturing the landscape from many angles and as fast as the decision was to pass the shimmering veil, we were in front of the crash site and Luka.

Luka was sitting by my body. Touching my arm. I couldn’t feel it, but seeing him looking for that warmth that I was unable to give him was torturous.

We appeared before the plane. Luke seeing us would be terrifying, so I thought, but when I saw our reflection in the window, I knew he would be ok, The golden thorns, and gold flecks made her look regal, magical. I hope he sees the magic.

I took the lead now and hesitantly reached in. the break in the plane was enough to take a child out. I needed to get him to my parents’ farm, they were expecting us and know they would know about the plane crash by now. What they didn’t know, was the cargo.

I wanted to make a noise to let Luka know that I was there. A little snort escaped. Luka looked up and gasped. We lowered the head, slowly to show that we were not harming him. He stood up and reached out to stroke us. It was beautiful to feel his little hands. We reached out to him and grabbed his little body in our claws, softly. He nuzzled his head against the velvet neck and I held him for an eternal moment. I reached in again and hooked my bag with a claw. My parents would want it and need it.

I sensed danger. It was time to go. It was time to fly. We need to be invisible again. Whatever I thought, the dragon would enact. I didn’t even know her name. Eelie, I heard. It was the closest thing to a name that I could conjure, so Eelie it was. We were up in the air. Eelie was controlling the wings while I held Luka tightly. He closed his eyes whilst the wind blew his hair. I controlled the direction of the flight. We were about 20 mins flying time. I looked down to the roads to guide me to my childhood home.

I saw the orchard in the distance, recognizing the family billboard. We descended gently behind the barn. I ushered Luka towards the house, watching him run towards the door.

We watched my mother open the screen door scooping my little boy in her arms. He was safe.

It was time for me to go. Another dimension beyond even Eelie’s home.

We returned to her home, and I exited her beautiful body. I thanked her profusely and let the next steps to take their natural course.

My next role will be heavenly.