The Myth of Dragon Valley

There weren't always dragons in the valley. But the story of how they arrived changes depending on who you ask. I always knew that it had something to do with the darkness that you can feel as soon as you get close to the valley entrance.

The darkness is more than just a feeling it's an energy that is as real as the fog over the western mountains. All the elders in my village say that the valley is a dangerous and cursed land. I happen to believe that none of the elders know anything about the valley.

Tales of Dragons, and cursed land seemed a little too medieval for me, especially since I had other issues to occupy myself with. I had to focus on surviving medium-sized village politics.

Our village was made up of several different types of families and the merchant families were at the top of the power structure in our village. Elders and community advisors were the hired puppets for the merchant class families.

My father was a community advisor and he was constantly under stress from the demands of his superiors. My dad had three superiors that were in charge of the entire village. Even though my father was so high up in the Village Community Advisement Council or the VCAC, he seemed powerless compared to his bosses.

There was Grenette, she was second in command on paper, but in reality, she was truly the top boss. The older and much less competent boss on paper was Flander, but his name should have been flounder cause he looks like a fish. He also is a complete train wreck of a human being and I cannot comprehend how he becomes the leader of an organization like VCAC.

The one with the most likable personality is the one with a job directly overseeing my dad. His name is Asserto and although he acts like a whiny baby and throws fits, he is by far my dad's favorite. My dad's least favorite co-worker was Flander, but who could be surprised by that.

Flander was a product of nepotism and showed it almost every single day. He was a member of a merchant family but was sent to do the work of a village community advisor. The role of VCAC leadership is not always an unimpressive position, it's just that the VCAC of our village was no elite western village.

The elite western villages were the center of fashion, art, entertainment, and education. They had the nicest luxury homes, stores, and marketplaces. They created the trends that every village near and far wished to mimic.

Flander, Grenette, Asserto, and my father were the VCAC leaders of an average central village. The central villages were third-tier compared to the elite western villages and the modern eastern villages. Nonetheless, I was proud of my father and received certain societal privileges because of his status.

The downside of my father's work was my constant associations with Flander, Grenette, and Asserto. They were like uncles and an aunt to me but I never loved interacting with them. The truth is that they were not the worst but I had a strong general dislike for everything and everyone.

Call it teen angst or call it intelligence but I was coming of age and discovering just how duplicitous and corrupt the world truly was. I gained this knowledge by jumping through all of society's hoops while also secretly being a law-breaking villager.

Before I mention any more about the law-breaking part, it's what I learned from the VCAC leadership that caused me to rebel. The truth of VCAC and my village is that what appears on paper matters most. My village is the center of documents and records.

On paper, I had become an excellent student and a stand-out swish ball athlete. I was seen as highly favorable among the VCAC for my involvement in the central village young VCAC club. I just won the most prestigious award at the previous VCAC convention. On paper, I was like Grenette, highly qualified for leadership.

In my free time, I was secretly a part of a radical reform anti VCAC group, because it was the ONLY way for me to get past the Cauzmics Security System or CSS. The CSS was my biggest enemy because they made it impossible for villagers to get access to the valley entrance. With my anti- VCAC group, I could travel the secret central tunnels valley area.

The perfectly small-minded elders of the central village travel center were the perfect cover for my secret mischief. They literally would ramble on and on and on about dragons, cursed lands, witches, and dragon slayers. It was quite exhausting to endure but bless their little hearts, working the night shift was the easiest cover.

My shift was always from afternoon until late evening meaning that all the elders at the facility were extremely likely to snooze. Like clockwork, the elders would snooze and I would be free to "disappear" for several hours each night. The thing about Elders and central villages, in general, was that paperwork was sacred. On paper, I spend every night from 3 c.z.- to 12 c.z at the travel center, and every week a small-minded elder signs my sheet.

The way in which I found out about the anti- VCAC secret central tunnels to the valley entrance, was the same way a young man finds out anything about the happening outside of our village, from an eastern village traveler. Many visitors from the eastern village come to learn about the sacred and also well-dated system of paper record keeping. It is one of the few things that keeps our village marketplace afloat, considering many farmers and laborers don't earn enough money to shop for goods.

A woman three years older than me from an eastern village called Nathalia slipped the information to me during an advanced paperwork filing class at the village printing press. Paperwork Filing 101 was a tough class, but this course was destroying me until I met Nathalia.

Nathalia took over my course work and in return, I had to spend a lot of time with Nathalia outside of our courses. She was using me to gain social prowess among the native central village paperwork students. I was annoyed by her demands of me, but I did need her to continue my perfect courses score. There was nothing wrong with Nathalia and most of the time she was pleasant. I played the role of her suitor in return for her to help me in our advanced printing press courses.

The arrangement made society happy and gave the impression that I was destined to pursue VCAC leadership in a prominent village. My father was proud and even my "uncles" and "aunt" approved of the relationship. Once again the politics in our medium-sized village are off the charts. Luckily Nathalia's eastern roots took the pressure off of me and painted me as the golden boy of VCAC leadership.

The thing about Nathalia that no one knew was that her cousin Gingacita had joined an anti-VCAC group in order to have access to the secret central tunnels that can get to the valley without the CSS knowing. This was the thing about Nathalia that I ended up loving the most.

Nathalia had told me wild, and outlandish stories about Gingacita, so when Nathalia told me that Gingacita was coming to town I had high expectations.

Meeting Gingacita changed my life. She had traveled all around the villages and had even been across seas to different kingdoms. The stories she told inspired me to wish for my own grand adventures.

Her eyes were so wild her stride was so carefree, Gingacita was ambitious, and a daredevil. That's why when she mentioned the valley entrance I was obsessed. I knew I would never forgive myself if I did not take the risk. With Nathalia's hand in my hand and Gingacita's arms around us both, we hatched plans to explore the valley.

There weren't always dragons in the valley. But we made a plan to find out if there were still dragons in the forbidden and mysterious valley!