From the gates of the underworld, the ruler, Hades, was in a foul mood. He was rejected again to speak in the court of the Assembly of the Gods. He decided to get back Zeus, the king of the Gods, for intentionally dismissing him from the Assembly. He pulled out part of universe, causing another dimension to form. This was called a black hole.
For many days, this dimension sucked energy out of the stars, causing them to turn black and dead. Before long, almost three-fourths of the stars of the universe fell before this curse. Many of the Gods lost their powers.
Zeus knew that something must be done about the clog in the middle of the universe, before it destroyed all living creation. But unfortunately, as Gods, they could not reverse what another God has done. So he called the immortal blacksmith, Hephaestus.
"Hephaestus, since Hades will not do anything about the black hole, and the rest of us Gods are very drained of energy, we need you to forge creatures out of your most durable substances to save the remaining stars and Earth."
For days and nights, Hephaestus worked hard at his volcanic forge with the metals available. But nothing was strong enough to stand the magic emissions that Hephaestus attempted to forge with the sculptures.
Soon, he figured out if he boiled the metals together, they would be stronger. Thus Hephaestus invented alloys.
Lumps of lifeless metal were encased inside a golden chamber. Hephaestus made what seemed like lumps of metal capable of flying, have awesome strength, and other features that were approved by the Gods at the Assembly.
A whoosh, followed by a loud clank, and the seal on the golden chamber broke. The lumps stirred. They opened their eyes and spread their wings. With a screeching cry, the creatures flew from the gates of Heaven and to the planet Earth, driven by instinct.
"Good work, Hephaestus." Remarked Zeus. "What shall we name these creatures?"
"I think I shall call them 'dragons'," replied Hephaestus. A sad look crossed his face.
"Isn't it hard to part with your greatest works of metal?"
"It sure is." Hephaestus paused for a moment. "Can I make a request?"
"Ask away."
"I would like to stay with my dragons on Earth, maybe help them and monitor their progress?"
"Yes, you can stay with your dragons until the calamity of the black hole is over."
The dragons divided the parts of the Earth among themselves to breathe life into.
The wind dragon owned the sky, the water dragon controlled the seas, the ice dragon controlled the glaciers, the light dragon brought light to the sky every day, and the darkness dragon brought darkness to the sky every day. The king of the dragons made the earth rotate and spin on its axis, and the queen grew life on Earth.
Hephaestus was proud of his creations and the jobs they accomplished so easily. He could only hope that the dragons would not be as emotional and quarrelsome as the Gods.
But he was wrong. Soon, the light dragon and the dark dragon argued over whose possession should be in the sky longer. The king of the dragons tried to explain the spinning on the axis should affect how long the sun and the moon would stay in the sky.
Unfortunately, the dark and light dragon would not listen to reason. The outcome became an all-out fight. Each dragon tried to shine light or cast darkness in the sky for as long as possible. This caused an unbalance in the life on the planet.
To prevent any more damage to the Earth, Hephaestus limited the dragons' powers by transforming them. The wind dragon became the first bird, the water dragon became the first fish, the ice dragon became the furry mammal, the king stayed a reptile (that's what dragons basically were), and the queen became some of the first plants.
Well, the darkness dragon became the moon and the light dragon became the sun. To this day, they still compete for attention in the sky. In the winter, the darkness dragon is stronger. In the summer, the light dragon is stronger. In a great clash, the moon will cross over the sun in what we know as an eclipse.
Eventually, the calamity was depleted by what little power the dragons had left. The Gods restored their powers and peace slowly flowed back into the universe.
Hephaestus sighed. "Well, I hope my dragons are still okay on Earth."
"They'll be fine," Zeus replied, "they just got a little feisty, that's all. You did the right thing by limiting their strength."
"But it's strange to think how, at one time, they had more power than us."
"Power isn't everything. It's how you use the power…" Zeus stopped short as the moon crossed over the sun yet again.