The Guardians of the Sky

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. So let me tell you the story of how it happened.

Long ago, when no one knew that the earth expanded past the village, a tribe of warriors lived among the clouds. They were called, "The Guardians of the Sky."

The guardians of the sky were the keepers of the dragons. Dragons were not allowed to roam the grounds of earth. The village people thought the dragons were too dangerous. Dragons were not seen as the beautiful and elegant creatures we know them to be. They were seen as these ferocious, ugly, and disgusting monsters. Their thunderous roars echoed through the sky, sending fear into the villagers below. The villagers could see the dragons circling the sky above. However, they knew the guardians would keep them safe.

The guardians of the sky were sent by the gods of Valhalla to protect the earth and everyone living within. They helped everyone when help was needed. If there was a drought, they sent rain; if there was a flood, they sent the sun to shine; if there were plagues, they sent witch doctors; if there was a famine, they sent healthy crops. There are rumours that the guardians were demigods. Demigods are when children have one parent who is a god or goddess while the other is only human. However, these demigods were more human than God and were not strong enough to withstand the powers of Valhalla; so instead were sent to live among the clouds.

One day, a young Chuvash dragon escaped the clouded sanctuary and stormed down to earth, throwing fire out of all extremities, sending the villagers below into a panic; children were screaming, mothers cradling their babies to their chests, covering their eyes so they couldn’t see the horrors above.

After a few seconds, the dragon made it to earth. The villagers who couldn’t find shelter in time just stood there, frozen with absolute terror as they had never seen a dragon up close before.

The young dragon stood on all fours towering over the scared villagers, smoke billowing out of its nose and ears, its red scales glistening in the sunlight.

Suddenly, a loud screech came from the sky.

It was the chief of the guardians of the sky. They called him Ryuu. It was fitting as it meant “Dragon Spirit.”

The villagers watched in awe as he leapt from the clouds, plummeting down to earth, and headed straight for the dragon. Ryuu landed with a thud on the dragon's back. The dragon tried to resist as it was being harnessed. After a few minutes of struggling, the dragon was fully secured. Ryuu jumped down from the dragon and turned to the frightened villagers.

“My sincerest apologies. This was an unfortunate accident that I promise will never happen again.”

Ryuu then climbed up the dragon's back and led him back into the clouds, leaving the villagers standing there in disbelief.

“I’ve never seen a dragon on earth before,” said one of the village elders. The other elders all nodded in unison.

“What a time to be alive!” cheered one of the children.

“No! That was NOT good!” “We could have been killed!” an elder yelled back at the child.

Once back in the clouds, Ryuu tied the dragon to a post in the dragon sanctuary and scolded him for leaving the safe space.

“You can’t do that!” his voice echoed through the sky. “The people down there aren’t like the demigods here; they don’t understand you as we do. Leaving here is not an option for you.” Ryuu explained to the dragon, who looked ashamed of what he had done. “You sit here! You think about what you’ve done and how you will NEVER do it again.”

Ryuu left the dragon alone and went to speak to the other demigods.

“I hope this is not the start of a dragon rebellion,” sighed Atara. “This won’t be! Don’t think like that,” shouted a worried Ryuu.

Suddenly, the dragon sanctuary erupted into a ball of flames.

“What the hell.” the demigods yelled. They all ran over to where the dragons were being kept.

“What happened?” Ryuu asked with a worried look on his face.

“I had a tickle in my throat,” the Chuvash dragon wheezed and shot fire from his mouth again.

“This is not normal,” said Atara.

“You don’t think that I already know that?” Ryuu sneered at Atara. “I am the chief here; I know what is and isn’t normal.”

“What are you going to do about it then, chief” Atara replied with a smidge of attitude in her voice.

“I don’t know yet….” Ryuu said softly.

After spending most of the night thinking about what had happened and what he would do about it, Ryuu started to come down with a fever.

“That’s odd. The god in me should outweigh the human. I should not be able to get a fever; something must really be wrong.” Ryuu thought silently.

The following day when the demigods awoke, they all had fevers and coughs.

“The world must be ending.” Atara panicked.

“Oh, would you shut up! The world is not ending.” Ryuu exclaimed.

All of a sudden, Ryuu lost consciousness and fell to earth. The demigods gasped in unison. Then one by one, each demigod lost consciousness and fell to earth.