War of the Dragon King

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. Once it had belonged to the humans and their ilk, or so I was told. As for myself, the Valley was where I had been hatched, it was the first and only place I could comfortably call home.

"Elena!" A deep resounding voice roared, echoing through the cavern, "Elena! Did you run off again?"

"Not yet Dad!" I shouted back, my own voice bouncing off the walls. Turning back to the half melted wall before me, I inhaled deeply, preparing to do what all dragons do, and unleash my inner fire. Among us dragons, the unleashing of one's inner fire was a special occasion, it marked the beginning of one's adulthood years. A coming of age, if you would. I had spent countless days here, preparing myself. After sucking in all the air I could muster I released it, imagining the fire fierce enough to melt stone, that would follow after... but none did. All that came out of my open maw was dampened air. I hung my head, frustrated at the lack of results. I was in such a hurry to grow up... If only I'd known then, what awaited me on the other side of that barrier, maybe I wouldn't have rushed after it so blindly.

"What do you mean 'Not yet'?" His voice was closer, just around the corner, turning to face the opening in the wall that led out I saw my father's head poke it's way in. His red iridescent scales, so different from my own pale pink, seemed to glow ever so faintly with his inner fire, gold inlay surrounded his head giving him a majestic appearance. The rest of his body remained beyond the door just out of sight, his sheer mass preventing him from entering any further, even now his head barely fit through the hole. "You can't run off today, today's the Festival of Memories!" the Festival of Memories was an event that came around only once every few years at the beginning of the change in weathers. It was often during this Festival that dragons across the Valley would share their inner fire, for the younger dragons this was an opportunity to be recognized as full fledged dragons. For the old ones it was a chance to impart their wisdom to those who hadn't lived so long and didn't remember the old ways, thus passing down our history.

"I know that dad." I grumbled, after all, I had been looking forward to showing off my own inner fire with the rest of my clansmen. My inner fire seemed to have other plans though as it had yet to make itself known.

"Are you still worried about not having your inner fire?" His eyes wandered to the wall, "You know, this was the very wall that many of your ancestors used to bring out their own fires, why even-"

"Yea, yea, even you used this wall. I get it dad. Would you just leave me alone?" my growl came out more vicious than I'd intended it to. I wanted to apologize, but kept my mouth firmly shut.

"R-right. Sorry to have bothered you... I'll be going now." Slowly he started pulling his head back through the narrow opening. "Ack!" Some of his scales caught on the walls causing him to make a rather undignified sound, but he quickly righted his position and finished withdrawing from the room. If he got too much bigger even his head would not likely fit through the opening. I clawed at the ground in frustration, why couldn't my fire hurry up and come to me? I turned back to the wall to try again, maybe I just wasn't focused enough before. Yea, that had to be the reason, this time I'd succeed for certain!

Exiting the cave my father and I called home I let my tail droop and wings drag in disappointment. I'd spent hours in front of that stupid wall trying to ignite my inner fire, with nothing to show for it but a sore throat. A massive shadow covered me, it's owner slowly descending before landing in front of me, I had to crane my neck to see their face, though I already knew who they were. It was my dad, he was the largest of the dragons living in the Valley and as such, our designated leader.

"Elena! How kind of you to join us!" I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or genuine with his greeting.

"Whatever..." I mumbled.

"Sorry, what was that? I didn't quite catch what you said."

"I said I was happy to be here!" I raised my voice, rolling my eyes. "So, what are we doing?"

"Right, well," he let out a deep sigh, "since you haven't awakened your fire, I thought we could watch the burning lights and listen to the elders tell their stories."

"I'm not a kid anymore dad!" The burning lights were basically a bunch of dragons showing off their inner fires, making a light show out of it. When I was young I loved watching them, but now it just stung since mine had yet to manifest.

"Well, u-uhm," he stammered, eyes flicking about looking for something else he could suggest, "Oh! how about the Sharpest Claws and Fangs contest? that could be fun!"

"Dad, You always win that when we go, there's no point in going if you already know the outcome."

"Then I'll refrain from entering."

"The others will just rope you into it one way or another. As I said, there's just no point." my exasperation must have slipped into my voice just a bit since my dad fell silent.

After a moment he finally spoke somewhat hesitantly, "So... what do you want to do?" honestly it kind of made me feel bad for ruining what was supposed to be a fun day for all us dragons.

"I guess we can go watch the burning lights..." I sighed.

"O-okay."

He seemed confused, if a little happy. Honestly, he was more of a kid than I was sometimes! He wasn't even going to question my change in opinion, yep, just gonna role with it. I let out another deep sigh.

"Hmm? Is something wrong?" he looked at me curiously.

"No, nothing. Let's get going." I rolled my eyes, urging him onwards.

After that we talked, ok it was mostly dad doing the talking, he would point out the complex patterns, shapes and colors that were presented in the burning lights explaining how difficult this was or how you had to chew on a certain ore to get that color etc. It was almost fun, I almost forgot about my problems manifesting my inner fire... almost.

It happened about halfway through the show, we didn't even realize something was off until the sound of pained roars reached us.

"Elena, go back to the cave. Find a safe place and wait until I come find you."

"D-dad? What's going on?" I was scared, I'd never seen that expression on dad's face. He was a happy person, always joking around, laughing... this was... serious, sharp, and it scared me.

"Go! Now!" he snapped before expanding his wings and flying off with a mighty boom towards the sounds of the commotion. Slowly i opened my own wings, i aimed to make it back to our cave as swiftly as possible... but something tugged at the back of my mind. Just what could happen to cause dad to look like that? I craned my neck around looking in the direction dad went. I hardly weighed my options at all, immediately taking off after him. I kept myself low, where I would hopefully be overlooked. Once I could see dad's massive form through the trees I landed and crept closer to get a better view of what was going on.

"-think you can just walk away after that? After abandoning all of us like that?" an unfamiliar growl echoed through the clearing my father was in, but I couldn't see who was speaking since my father was straight ahead blocking off my view.

"I wasn't the one to abandoned you! Don't forget, it was you who turned traitor and joined up with that monster!"

"That monster is your brother, the king of dragons, show the proper respect when speaking of him!"

Wait, dad has a brother? I have an Uncle? And he's a king? Does that make me nobility? Why hadn't I ever heard any of this until just now?! While daydreaming about what it must be like to live as a noble dragon, I didn't notice that I had been found out.

"Now what do we have here?" The thick oily voice sent a shiver down my spine and roused me from my pointless thoughts. A long sinewy neck covered in green scales stretched around a nearby tree, following it I found myself face to face with another dragon. Narrow sleek features, with a few small scars along his jaw, and a pair of fangs dripping with a substance that smoked on contact with the ground. "Such a young dragon, all alone and far from the nest." he taunted while slowly circling me. "But what a strange color?" He cocked his head, "Tell me little one, you are of the red dragons yes?" a part of me knew I should deny it, if he was here to attack us because we were red dragons, then telling him I was one would put me in danger. But my pride as a dragon wouldn't let me!

"I am the daughter of the leader of the red dragons!" I proclaimed

"Pfft, she readily admits it!" He snorted, " You are either incredibly foolish or stupidly brave!" he chuckled mocking me, but then his features settled into a more serious appearance "So, you're the spawn of that traitor." his eyes flitted behind me towards my father were filled with a deep-set hatred

"He's not a traitor! Take that back!" I did my best to growl intimidatingly. But in reality, I wasn't so certain. My dad never spoke of the time before the Valley, while he was by far the oldest dragon here, he never participated in the sharing of memories... Made you wonder what he was hiding.

"You poor, poor little dragon." the green dragon grinned at me, you have no idea, but don't worry. Soon it won't matter, I'm certain that our king will reward us for bringing back his long lost niece." his words ended in a hiss sending a shiver up my spine.

"No you won't!" at some point my father had noticed us and came charging over destroying everything in his path, trees splintered and uprooted, boulders cracked. "Elena get out of here!"

spreading my wings I leapt as my father bowled into the green dragon, I only looked back once as I flew away. The image of my father surrounded by dragons will forever be burned into my mind.