The Little Silver Dragon
A short fictional novel
Sukyee Pang
[Pick the date]
The Little Silver Dragon
I am a little different from the others. There had never been a silver scaled dragon in our history before. They only existed in humans and dragon's mythology. But yet I existed.
I am one of the many daughters of the Great Dragon King, who ruled the skies and the seas. He was the most powerful and oldest dragon in the world. He was 523,067,098 years old.
We were powerful beasts. Our snake-like body had two forearms and hind-legs that resembled the claws and talons of an eagle. Our slender head and neck were covered with a fine mane. We were covered with a coat of shiny scales, which kept our heat in and deflected the rain.
My father was an enormous black dragon, and my mother was pure white. My sisters were an array of the colour spectrum that made up the rainbows.
Our homes were in the skies, set above the tops of the highest clouds. Thick layers of clouds enclosed our kingdom making it invisible to humans. We were so far up, that the stars were almost graspable. We lived in caves made of gold and silver, with precious gems and stones set into the walls. The caves are kept boiling hot, by an eternally burning furnace. Our baths were filled with molten silver.
Only dragons can reach the kingdom of the skies. Space shuttles and aircrafts were barred from entering, our trusty servant- the powerful wind, would blow them away with a turbulent gust.
My sisters and I played in the gardens. It was made of vibrantly coloured clouds, intricately sculpted by our long flexible tails. Sometimes we made them resemble human objects that our mother had described in our nighttimes' stories.
We blew holes in the clouds and when we sneezed, a torrential draught blows them away, letting the sunlight shower to the floor of the earth. When we were bored of playing hide and seek, we gathered the clouds together until they were thick and heavy. They would bursts, releasing large bobs of pelting rain. Our father doesn't like that game, he says it was his job to make it rain, and he would use his tail to punish us, making loud thunderclaps and flying sparks from our coat of scales.
Dragons slept as soon as the sunset. The temperature would plummet, and it would be too cold to stay out. One night, whilst everyone was sleeping in their caves, I slithered out. I dared myself to be disobedient; after all, rules were made to be broken. I began my descent to the earth, in hope for a little adventure, and to find someone special.
We weren't allowed to be unaccompanied on the mortal soil. We had to be supervised by an adult dragon, which at minimum have to be at least 700 years old, in human years.
I was seven and I was almost half a metre long. My seven scales mounted across my forehead and cheeks. In a dragon's life, the number of scales marked your age. Scales began sprouting after the first year of life, the first scale would grow from the top of your head, and every year another scale would be laid on top.
Dragons never stopped growing. Some were so gargantuan that they had to use their magical powers to make themselves appear smaller in order to see their friends and families. In a tale told by my mother, an ancient dragon was 5 billion years old and had 5 billion sparkling scales. He was the size of the moon when he was coiled. He had to shrink himself to match the size of a 1 million year old dragon in order to be seen by his great, great, great, great, great, great, great... grandchildren.
The moonlight danced on my silver scales, making me sparkle like the surface of water. I donned on a coat made of clouds, to keep me warm. My rapid descent made the wind whistle pass my ears, they were trying to warn me that I would get into trouble. I ignored them and continued on. When I reached the level where I had to leave my clouds behind, I made my scales shift colours to match my surrounding, making me camouflaged.
My mother told me countless tales about the humans. In one tale, a 5 billion year old dragon gave life to the world. He plucked out 5 billion scales and from it created humans, animals, fishes, insects, microorganisms, vegetation. He planted them all over the earth. At the time the oceans swallowed the entire surface of the globe. But the dragon drank half of it, revealing a third of the ocean's floor, which became land. He used his blood to create clouds and the wind, until he was bled dry. He used his skeleton, made up of precious metals and gems to plant hidden treasures under earth's blanket. When the other dragons woke, it was too late to reverse the changes. The ancient dragon had vanished, there was nothing left of him, not even a bone.
As I approached the earth's surface, I navigated towards the zone that I had once fallen.
Dragons were born without scales. Our parents carried us inside their mouths to protect us. A newborn dragon was extremely tiny, no longer than the length of the word "dragon". We clung onto one of the neat rows of hundreds of teeth to stop ourselves from being swallowed by them.
I have 2678 sisters whom were the same age as I. Sometimes we would naughtily tickle the back of our father's throat, to make him cough so that we would be flung out of his jaws in all directions. Mother would hurriedly fetch each of us in her mouth before we fall to the earth. Because I was silver, it was harder for my mother to see, as our eyes are made of molten silver. One occasion, when we were 5 years old, I fell all the way to earth and landed on top of a human boy's head. He was surprised at first, and held me in his large hands, I was as tiny as his little finger. He told me he was also 5 years old. I changed into my human form and we played all day, it was so fun. Until, my furious mother commanded for a scroll of wind to steal me away. I never forgot his beautiful black hair and deep brown eyes.
I wanted to find him again and have a happy ever after ending. I found the spot where we first met, it was on Hampstead Heath, by one of the dainty ponds. I had landed on his head while he was taking a walk to the adventure playground with his father.
The lights from the houses speckled across the landscape like stars. The skies were a dull grey in contrast with the silhouettes of hollow buildings. There were red neon lights marking the top of sky scrapers. The red, amber and green traffic lights kept changing, ordering the lines of cars to follow or halt.
I scouted for a suitable place to land, and effortlessly transformed into my human form. I landed on the luscious green grass with my bare feet, it was cold and wet. My silvery blonde hair was long and straight, and the wind attempted to rustle it, but they knew better than to mess it up, so they blew right through it, deliberately keeping each strand immaculate. They blew again for the second time, this time a stronger gale. They were trying to warn me that I would get into big trouble with my father.
"I am already in trouble, so why not make more trouble? Now be still and tell me where the boy is."
"We don't know," said the wind, shaking the grass before me and rustling the leaves of the trees.
But I knew the wind was lying, because they were the best whisperers in the world, they were anywhere and everywhere. I pestered them until they told me, and threatened that I would stop playing with them. Eventually the wind asked me to follow.
They pushed me and my human feet forwards and towards one direction, we moved at an incredible speed. They would occasionally cause my feet to do little leaps and jumps to avoid the bumpy land. The boy didn't live far. We stopped in front of a flat. They rattled the window of it. But there was no response. So they shook the window again. Dreamily, a young boy with black hair and brown eyes peeled back the curtains and peered out. His eyes were transfixed onto mine. He looked older and taller. He was 7 years old like me.
"Yes it's me, come out to me," I whispered.
He heard me, as my voice penetrated through the pores of the glass of his window. He nodded and opened his window, and climbed out. His window was on the first floor, and the drop looked dangerous. But he was daring and clung onto the window ledge and hoisted himself down, the wind cushioned his fall.
We walked slowly towards each other, our hands interlaced by our fingers. He recognised me and missed me.
"Do you want to play?" I asked.
"Sure."
We jumped from roof to roof of buildings, we ran across the surface of the oceans. We dangled on the tops of the trees. When we met rain on our journey, the wind would blow them away. A welcoming warm current wrapped itself around us like a coat to keep us comfortably warm. It would be terrible if we caught a cold. We cut through the entire ocean, the sea separated for us, it knew who I was. After circling the globe, we sat on the highest peaks of the pyramids.
"Where do you live?" he asked, as we looked at the large moon illuminated us.
"I live in the skies."
He turned his head. "Can I see it? Your home?"
I nodded, and stood and shifted into my dragon form. My scales bristled, rippling out neatly upon my face. I was only half a metre long, so I extended myself to three metres using magic.
"Climb on," I requested, tilting my head towards my back. "And hang on."
He climbed onto my back, holding onto my soft mane. I leapt from the peak of the pyramid and into the thick night. I circled once around the pyramid to build up speed before I bolted through the skies. It was a long way from home, and I had to fly back fast before the night ends and everyone wakes. We climbed above the thin wispy clouds and the heavy gigantic ones.
I reached the barrier that enclosed the kingdom. The wind let us pass, but they were talking among themselves.
"She's going to get into trouble."
"Did you see that human on her back?"
In the cave, the dragons were all deep in their slumbers, wrapped up warm by the clouds. When we get too cold, we have to bath ourselves in molten lava to heat our bodies. By sunrise, each would awaken, their blood and soul warmed by the magnificent energy from the sun, our souls were as hot as the sun.
I crept into my clouds and told the boy to keep quiet.
The dragons stirred one by one, they yawned and protruded their thick fiery tongues from between their sharp teeth.
"Good morning," said my sister as she rushed into my room, she was a velvety lilac dragon. "Did you have a wonderful dream?" She twirled her body into a coil before unravelling.
I nodded. "Yes, did you?"
She stopped and sniffed the air. "Hey I smell something strange. What are you hiding?"
I shook my head. "Nothing," I replied, placing my body in front of my doorway to stop her from intruding in.
Father approached me, his voice shook the earth when he spoke. Sometimes he caused nasty gusts of sudden wind which knocked poor grannies onto their knees.
"What is this about?" he asked, his silvery eyes gleamed with curiosity. "Show me."
The boy poked his head through the cotton wool shaped cloud.
"What?!" he roared. "A human? Is this your doing?" He bellowed at me. "We have to send him back."
"No Father! He is my friend!"
"And you are only 7 years old! How can you possibly know what is good for you?"
I snatched the boy and ran away, darting out of the caves and sought the clouds for cover. But father was quick, he caught me between his teeth, holding me inside his mouth.
I felt his angry breath. I blew a gust of wind at the back of his throat, hoping to tickle him enough for him to sneeze or cough. He did sneeze, but he used his thick slimy tongue to hold me still.
"Oh dear," said my mother as she watched me squirm. "What are we ever going to do with you?"
"You can send me to earth to live with him," I suggested, hopefully.
"No, you will get cold, and we wouldn't want that," said my mother.
"Well why not?" I pressed.
"You will disappear and become a cloud if you get too cold."
"Can he stay than?"
My parents peered at the boy, he nodded his head eagerly.
"I suppose so," said my mother. "He is young. Does he want to become a dragon?"
I turned to the boy who clung to my mane. He nodded.
"A legend once said that if a human eats a silver scale he can turn into a dragon," explained my mother.
"Wait," I said. "But what about his parents and his siblings?"
I felt selfish; he would be taken away from his family and friends. I could not bear the thought of being away from everyone I had loved. The boy looked at me with sorrow.
"Maybe I can visit him at nights," I said.
His expression perked and my parents agreed.
The wind carried him back home and tucked him in bed before his parents woke.
I visited him every week, but it was not long before he grew up- to me it happened overnight. He grew into a young man, and met a girl whom after a few years he married and had three children. They years crept by and his children became adults and they too, married and had children. He had forgotten me by my 22nd birthday. Even though he had been buried for 459 years, I never forgot him.