The Passing Of An Ancient

Howl of the wind,

Rush of the snow,

It all deepens the dragons’ fires below.

Gath’red in the volcanoes

Singing to the molten flames,

The dragons wait

And watch

As the greatest among them

Shifts on ancient talons,

Ready for her death.

The volcano strikes up the earth,

And all of the dragons tremble

And throw their heads back and scream

And furiously alight away,

Until only the greatest one of them

Is left.

Her talons creak when she walks

Her scales are ancient and flaking,

Her head-frills are paper-thin,

And her teeth are yellow and falling out,

But still the embers of her eyes glow

And the fire in her belly churns

And the spark of life is still roaring within her;

Even if only for moments longer.

Abruptly she twists

And her old, creaky wings take her up

And every draconic eye fixates upon her.

Her scales,

Once golden as the sunrise,

Brighter than gemstones

Reflect the lava one last time,

Glowing faintly as they had in her youth

So, so many eons ago.

As she turns,

A glint of fire

Of determination

Of finality

Burns in her eyes

And then she dives

Crying out as she goes down,

As her wings catch fire and burn up

Like paper

As her scales heat up and melt

Like metal

As her eyeballs sizzle,

As her very claws burn,

As she elongates her body

And spreads her veined, flaming wings one last time

And roars out one last gout of fire.

She’s gone within the next moment

Nothing left but her most fireproof odds and ends

As the entire draconic audience throws back their heads

And fires in salute to her passing,

And when the predator mouths close,

Every dragon bows their head

Each creature remembering

The gnarled, unspeakably ancient dragon

Who chose to die, as she was born

In fire.