Once there was a tiiiiiiiiiiiiny little Dragon, who was ever-so-excited!
She woke up and streeeeetched all the way, batting at the air around her. The wind made little ripples in her water, and she realized she was thirsty. She went and took a very big drink, and then, the cool water enticed her, and she took a long run and LEAPED right in! Water flew everywhere!
The little Dragon was very happy, and splashed around. She splished over this way, and then she splushed over that way, and she had a marvelous time! She played with some itsy-bitsy fishies, but they were scaredy-cats and swam away. That was okay! She had fun anyway.
Then she decided to have a little snack, because she was feeling peckish. It’s always so lovely to have something in your tummy!
Then she stopped by her doll-house. She was just a little Dragon, so she was a little clumsy, and it was hard to play with all the delicate pieces inside. But that’s okay! Sometimes being a small Dragon means smashing things by accident, and that’s perfectly fine.
Then she had another snack, being careful not to eat the stick. She was hungry. Playing is hard work!
Now, she was already just a bit bigger. And not imperceptibly, like a little Human, who might grow an inch over a few months, if she’s really growing fast, but visibly, because Dragons grow very quickly. Soon, the little Dragon might become a big Dragon and join her family in their Dragon’s Nest. But for now, it was time to frolic!
* * *
Floating high above in the atmosphere, enclosed in the biggest ship the Wizards could enchant, enclose, and lift, the remaining members of the Royal Family watched in silence. The few peasants and townspeople they’d been able to save with them were in tears.
The Nest, an object so vast that it had disrupted the planet’s tides, was on the other side of that unfortunate celestial globe; but the Wizards knew perfectly well that eventually it would swing ’round and find them. When they were devoured, it would be without anything Humans might call malice; Dragons float from star to star, acting as they will, but they do need to consume nutrition, and they crave the spark that lies within sentient beings. We know not why; who has survived to do the research?
The Wizardly shell had taken half a decade of magical research; this was approximately half the time which had passed since they’d first detected the coming of the Dragons, and begun their now-clearly-futile attempts at communication, defense, and, eventually, supplication.
They looked down at the wreckage of the Kingdom: the Knights all consumed; the Sea swallowed and splashed into a puddle, unable to hydrate anyone; the great Castle and its ancient furnishings, now a vast wreck.
Small Dragons are, actually, by Human standards, incredibly, unbelievably, inconceivably cyclopean.
Everything is relative, and most things are edible.
So it goes.
My name is Jeff Mach (“Dark Lord” is optional) and I build communities and create things. Every year, I put on Evil Expo, the Greatest Place in the World to be a Villain. I also write a lot of fantasy and science fiction.. You can get most of my books right here. Go ahead, pre-order “I HATE Your Prophecy“. It may make you into a bad person, but I can live with that.
