The Only Female Dragon

Since the beginning of time itself, there has existed a species blessed by God to protect and guide human evolution. God said to Aitraf and Cilon, "You are the first life I am creating for this planet. You shall always be the steward and protectors of this realm. What I bring to you is an abundance of all the creatures for you to satiate your hunger that you never look upon the humans as nourishment."

"Creator, what would you have us do for you? What are these humans that you would create us, with magic, an understanding of all your works in the cosmos and such powerful strength?" Aitraf inquired.

"The humans are a bipedal species, much like you can be, born with an unquenchable thirst of curiosity and wonder. They will be the most dangerous of creatures on this planet but also the most loving and sincere."

Cilon looked skeptical. "Creator, we also love and posses wonder and curiosity. Our very claws and teeth can rend the flesh from any creature. I find it hard to believe that there could be any other creature besides us that you would hold in such regard."

"My dear sweet Cilon, though I love you and Aitraf more than you could ever comprehend, even with your superior intellect, you will never be able to balance your power and superiority enough to achieve that which the humans will. They, much like you, are special in a different way. They posses a free will which you can never truly have. Your kind will always be slave to your own desires and hungers. You will always be selfish and exist as solitary creatures. It is not done as a punishment to you, but because I need you for so much more."

Aitraf puffed his large turquoise chest in indignation. "Creator, it feels like a punishment. While I do know you love us, we have such limitations placed upon us. To be slave to our desires and with such selfishness. I can't imagine my life without Cilon, she is my world and I shall willingly seed many offspring with her."

God chuckled. "Aitraf, you shall certainly bring forth many offspring, and you will even love them. However, in time once you have lived a few hundred years, you will begin to understand."

Cilon tilted her rose colored head toward Aitraf."I shall bear many strong offspring with you Aitraf, my love. We shall watch over our brood for as long as time permits. However, even now, our Creator speaks truth. While I know I love you, I do not feel the overwhelming desire to have you near me at all times. I do feel the desire to bare many offspring, but I also don't feel the overwhelming desire to keep them near me for all time."

God looked upon Aitraf and Cilon with a softness in his eyes. "You shall both bring many strong offspring into this world. You will reign over all the creatures that scamper and stomp and fly. For a time you will also be adored by the humans, and then feared. You will however, always feel the overwhelming need to protect them, for they are fragile beings and much will need to be done to protect them in the light and from the shadows."

With that, God bestowed a powerful blessing upon them, and quietly faded away.

Aitraf and Cilon watched from the highest mountains once God finished them. They saw all manner of plants and animals spring forth into being. They watched as oceans and lakes were carefully sculpted and all the while bore their offspring. For several hundred years Aitraf and Cilon wandered the beautiful world. They sometimes traveled together, mostly to mate and occasionally for conversation, but mostly mating.

Eventually God did as was promised and brought into the world the tiny and weak creatures referred to as humans. Although Aitraf and Cilon were both very old at this point, they could not help but gaze upon them whenever they could. Darval and Copsen always assumed human forms and would live among the humans for decades at a time. They would never interfere or direct, but would always protect the fragile beings from large predator's and other less obvious threats.

The very desire to protect the humans to help them flourish was written into every cell of their being. They felt such joy among them and watching them.

For 3,000 years this continued. Every dragon throughout the world watched on in curiosity. The humans began to spread quickly around the world. Some solitary dragons were alarmed by the new presence, but never angry. Aitraf and Cilon both passed away by this point, but their legacy remained. All dragons carried on the work and Silece became the new Matriarch and her mate Abirot the Patriarch.

Although all the dragons knew who was in charge and could communicate from anywhere at any time, it changed little. The dragons all kept to themselves with the exception of chance meetings and a desire to mate. The number of dragons would ebb and flow over the thousands of years, but would never grow to be obvious in the extreme. Humans slowly forgot the dragons. They had once loved them and revered them, but now hated and feared them. Many dragons felt betrayed even knowing the tales of what God had said. Some wanted to continue trying to be with humans and always it would turn into them being shunned. They were such large and majestic creatures compared to humans.

Mostly the fear of the dragons was from the leadership of the humans. They were consumed with fear that the dragons would take over and that they would lose their power over meaningless plots of dirt. Dragons had dominion over all, why would they want to "control" a piece of dirt. Dragons preferred grand mountains both above land and below. Many chose to live under water where they considered it quiet. Others found grand caverns inside the Earth where it was quiet and warm.

Wherever they found solace and peace, they always kept a watchful eye on the humans. Where things changed was when the dragons began being hunted in earnest. Dragons had many shapes and forms, all were equally imposing but not all were massive. There are many tales today that refer to large dragons, wyverns and mini dragons. The large dragons were the safest as humans feared them the most. The rest were fair game to the hunters. Kingdoms around the world paid handsomely for various parts of the dragons for many different medicinal purposes and many uncouth rituals.

As all dragons were hard wired to not harm humans, the massacres were very one sided. For hundreds of years, humans became more and more afraid of the dragons. Humans have always been very impressionable to those with a solid or somewhat plausible argument about why a thing is a thing. As the numbers dwindled, the third reign of the royal dragon family made a drastic decision. This decision was for the Queen and the King to use their power to sterilize all dragons with the exception of the Queen. The Queen could use her power at any time to mate and repopulate as deemed necessary.

At first the dragons were outraged and threatened to rebel. A great meeting of the dragons occurred far from any humans and the terms were laid out before all. The Queen looked upon her kind and sat beside her mate as the life left him. He had used all his magic power so that the Queen might survive. A single tear formed under the Queens eye and while she said nothing, the sorrow she felt was real. The waves of sorrow spread throughout the world to all the dragons not in attendance. The very feelings made it clear to the dragons why this was so important.

While they loved the humans, there was no longer a place for them among them as there once was. God was silent and they all knew that regardless of the promise that was made, one day there would be a generation so fueled by anger and the desire for revenge, that a dragon would one day take the life of a human. They all knew it. They all accepted this reality and the rebellion never occurred.

Over the next several hundred years, the Queen watched all the humans and what remained of her kind. She was the only one to maintain her dragon form now. The rest were among the humans. They numbered in the low thousands now. But they remained true to their mission. Much of their magic was gone, as it took an immense amount of power to take on the human form. But they all took on the mantle gratefully.

After a few more generations, the Queen began to remove the memories of who the dragons were from her own kind. Slowly, they forgot who they were. Human form became natural to them as they blended in and became just a normal human. The Queen permitted the forgotten to reproduce once again. It was important to keep the dragons alive after all. It was important to God. Her heart felt broken as she could no longer talk to her own kind anymore. She could hear their thoughts. She could feel what they felt, but she could never talk to them.

Sometimes, while some dreamed, they would have fantasy dreams of being dragons. The Queen would smile for a moment and then feel the pangs of sadness once again. As the Queen felt the time coming for her to pass on her mantle, she knew what she must do. She needed a mate to spawn a new Queen. She could feel her magic focusing on her womb like it had so long ago. She touched the minds of her kind around the world, trying to find the one that would be most compatible. She could sense him. As she had for a time now. He was young, so she would need to be patient. She still had time.

She began seeing him in her dreams. Vague at first. Letting him grow comfortable with her, to establish the need to come to her. It wouldn't be long.