Side-Write: Lucky Dragon (Patreon)

I'm finally getting to the point I actually have writing to do again! But so far it's pretty basic stuff with a lot of focus on being just the right amount of vague, and I've found myself yearning just a little for a good narrative again.

So I thought some about what kind of story I could tell in the world we're developing for Project Wild One, and settled on finding a way to explore just a little of a slightly more "normal" life. Lots of people in this world lead lives that are pretty normal and boring, of course, but many of them will have details that are pretty weird to us. And it's in how similar to us and yet how different they can be that we can start to see just how this society diverges from ours. That's one of the most fun and fascinating parts of fantasy and sci-fi, I think. It ended up going rather long, but I hope you find it an interesting read!

As always, this is not necessarily canon, so much as an insight into what may be!

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I've always considered myself pretty lucky. I could have ended up in an orphanage, or just thrown on the street, but my parents left me at the church before they left. So I was raised in safety, with food and my own bed, as long as I worked. And more importantly, they taught me how to read and write! So now I never have to worry about finding a job. There's always someone that needs letters composed, books copied, or records organized. I never have to carry heavy things, or fight, or farm, or get dirty. A merchant hired me recently too, so I don't even have to hunt down work each day, she has lots to keep me busy, and pays better than I'm used to.

And honestly, I do feel sort of lucky to not have any family. I see so many people struggling to support children or parents, to find help for sick siblings or the like, or even just trying to find someone to start a family with. It all seems so exhausting and stressful. It makes so many problems for them. I count myself lucky that I don't have anyone like that, and that I don't feel compelled to find anyone. I do just fine by myself, especially since...

It was pretty lucky that I showed up that day, too, now I think of it. I was looking for work and an alchemist wanted someone to copy a book for him. It was fascinating! It talked about all sorts of creatures we've seen in the wilds, monsters of all shapes and sizes, some with anatomy from dissections, some no more than rumors. But at the very end of the book... was a whole chapter about dragons. Not the people, not drakes, but the real thing. Massive, winged reptiles with strange powers, incredibly strong but agile, graceful. Beautiful. I memorized every one of those sketches, and in my mind I could see them prowling, flying, roaring. And they say they're probably smarter than us, too. Better than us in every way.

So I count myself lucky that I found something better. I don't go looking for fights during my time off, or watching them at the arena, like so many do. I don't chase after sex, or liquor, or opium. I'm not fascinated with the feeling of being killed, and I'm not obsessed with having children. I think the only thing worth devoting so much thought and time and emotion to... is them. The great ones. Dragons. I've made it my personal mission to find them.

That's where my luck has really shone, too. Like it was meant to be. First of all, you have to leave the city to find any sort of monsters, and only the people that don't work heavy, physical jobs have the energy to get all the way out there and back again during the weekend. Second, we're pretty close to the mountains, where dragons are more likely to be found. Third, the trapper that watches the road to the mountain is actually pretty nice. I've spoken to a few of the trappers that work to keep the lands near the city clear of monsters, and most of them are... strange. It's a terrible job, so I can't really blame them, but at least this one seemed to care about other people. Every time I came by to ask if he'd seen any dragons, he'd tell me about how I shouldn't seek them out, how it's dangerous out there and how dragons especially were too smart to be trifled with. "If one comes to like you too much, or dislike you too much, you might never come back." I'd just smile and thank him as I went on to look around.

I knew my luck was good when I asked him on Friday if he'd seen one, and he was silent. Usually he was pretty gruff about how glad he was not to have seen one in over a year. He knew something, and I was tingling all over realizing this might really be it. I'd been wandering the mountains almost every weekend for months and the most I'd seen were a few tracks. But he'd seen the real thing, I knew it. I tried to pay him to tell me, but he wouldn't accept my money. He started talking about all the things that could go wrong, and how dangerous dragons were, and I was shaking on the spot, nodding through it all. I already knew it, of course, and more besides. I'd managed a peek into just about every book in town remotely related to the subject by now. Finally, though... finally, he told me where he'd spotted it.

I was lucky I'd brought money with me, too, actually. Not usually much use for it out there, but it was just enough for me to go back to the edge of town and rent a horse. I'm not very good at riding, but I knew I'd get further, faster, and I needed every minute I could get in the mountains. Plus it was much easier to avoid or outrun most of the other creatures that wandered the land out here on horseback! Often I'd end up delayed by a few wandering werewolves or savages along the way, and I'd have to either evade them or just bite down on a medicine pellet and let them do what they wanted with my numbed body. But coming back to life takes time too, and I couldn't stand to waste so much time when I was this close! We rode through the night, and come morning we were climbing the foothills. My eyes strained from constantly searching the mountainsides stretching to either side, and the sky above besides. It could be anywhere now, but I had some good guesses about where to start looking.

And what could it be but luck that brought me to that spot just as I was having trouble keeping my eyes open any longer? We found a stream, and at its side, I recognized the tracks instantly. The dragon had been here. Recently. I tied up the horse by the stream, and I curled up with a blanket in the dried indent left by one of its feet, though it was just a little too small for me. It was hard for me to slow my beating heart, but I thought that I could almost smell it. The dragon. It had been right here. That was enough to let me drift off into an uneasy sleep.

At first, I thought my luck had finally broken. I woke to the sound of my horse breaking free and fleeing back down the path, crying out its terror. As if it had never been killed before! I was bringing a medicine pellet to my mouth as I turned to see what had scared it-- and froze.

It was as if the sun itself had dripped down onto the earth, forming a golden, beautiful avatar, shining with unbearable brilliance, a perfect sculpting of bristling edges and smooth curves. Every scale smoother than glass, shining with a richer lustre than any coin, yet edged with a point sharper than any dagger. A body that screamed power and grace in every detail, solid and broad yet supple and dextrous, with wings that surely could stretch wider than many buildings, scaled so finely they glittered like sand, or like the night sky. And under a stern brow, set against black sclera, were bright red eyes, slitted and keen, unspeakably savage yet wise. Staring at me.

This is how I know I'm lucky. I could have cried. I could have bawled and thrown myself at its feet. I could scarcely control my desire to do so, but I'd spent a very long time deciding what I would do if I ever had a chance like this. Slowly, I stuffed my medicine pellet into my bag. If she --the dragon was female, I could tell from the shape of the shoulders and haunches-- if she wanted to do anything to me, I wanted to feel every moment. Instead... I pulled out a flute. Still slowly, careful not to make any sudden movements. She was still watching me in silence, save the subtle rumble of her breathing, which I could feel in my chest almost as much as in my ears.

I didn't think I'd ever be lucky enough to actually play for a dragon, but I've practiced every day for almost two years now just in case. I played on my own, and for others, on street corners and in taverns, and especially for any drakes I met. If I could find a song that was just a little more likely to please them, then...! As I raised the flute to my lips, though, I felt foolish. I felt... dirty. I was in the presence of such beauty, and I wanted to sully the air with my feeble sounds? B-but... I believed this was my only chance. To... be accepted by one of them. To be some part, however small, of something greater. My eyes were searching the ground for courage, but... when they landed on her again, I found my shaking stopped. And I played.

I was already lucky she wasn't too hungry. She was giving me a chance, which I knew might never happen even if I did meet one. So I played, fighting against the wind to let every note shine through, yet keep that delicate lilt, gentle and fragile, bittersweet. This was the song that was... my life, and my feelings, and all my frustration and hopes and dreams. I was a small, miserable, useless thing before her, but... she gave me hope. She and those like her. I wanted to be with her, however she would have me. The song ended on a long, yearning note of hope, reaching out, alone.

And by some blessing of fate, she had sat down to listen. It was the very climax of my self-control that I had kept playing smoothly when she'd moved, and as the flute fell from my lips, tears stung cold on my face. I looked at her, and she did not move. I put away my flute, and slowly, I rose to my feet. I... approached her, steeling myself, silencing all my doubts and self-admonishments. She could strike me down with barely a breath if she thought me unworthy. We could not communicate by any other means, so... my only choice was to see if she would accept me.

In my dreams, I had reflected that I was lucky also to be exposed so much to language. I was learning snippets of many different tongues, and in the dark of night I had eventually come to decide that, if I ever had the chance, I would try with all my might to learn the language of the dragons, if they truly had one. The scholars believed dragons must have some way to communicate, that they were too intelligent not to, but they were so rare and so dangerous that nothing concrete was known. I am not a scholar, but I think I do have the skills to at least begin to bridge this gap between us. I dreamed of finding some way to communicate with them, to understand and be understood by these incredible beings. And the first step to that... was here.

I watched her for any twitch of motion, to attack or pull away, as I eased closer, but my luck seemed to hold. She watched me as I approached the stream, and crossed it. I could feel the heat of her breath puff against me, and I shivered. Slowly, I rolled up one sleeve to reveal my arm, showing her both sides of my paw. I could not possibly harm her. And... I reached out. Her eyes alone were enormous, this close, as they fixed on my paw... and then on me. I reached up, and for just a moment my palm hovered inches from her shoulder. I touched her.

I've led a very lucky life. Even so, in this moment I could not believe this was real. I thought I was surely about to wake, that somehow this was an incredible hallucination, or... But it kept going. She was incredible. Warm, and smooth, her scales harder than steel yet yielding under pressure. The feeling of her scales subtly rippling under my fingers was addictive, but I could tell from the way each one grazed across my fingers that a little too much pressure in the wrong direction would shred me to the bone. She was perfect.

But I didn't know just how lucky I was. Before long, she rose, and with a wing, she guided me to move with her. She wanted me to come with her! She led me to a more comfortable hollow, sheltered from the wind with a bit of grass. There, she guided me with a few gestures, and... it's hard to describe my delight, but she wanted me to groom her. I picked out bits of dirt and sand that dared to stick to her beautiful form, I scratched where she itched, and rubbed where she needed it. I was... being useful! To a dragon! It was all I could do not to laugh aloud of joy every moment. Maybe later I, I could bring brushes, tweezers, hardened tools and do a better job, but for now, my paws weren't battered too much. Writing would be difficult, but I didn't care. If she had use for me, then...

Well. As luck would have it, she does indeed truly have use for me. I don't know that I could imagine any greater flattery than when she revealed, after I had massaged almost every other part of her, that she has one part more than I'd expected, which, now... she seems to want me to massage as well. With my insides. It is larger than my leg, and I know it would kill me, but...

I mean, I AM very lucky, aren't I? Incredibly lucky, every step of the way in my life, to even get here. So... surely, if my luck holds, then I'll come back to life relatively close by. Close enough to find her again! Maybe... if I'm VERY lucky, I might even come back right here! That's... possible, right? Or... or maybe she'll... maybe she'll... look for me? Could I dare to believe I might be so lucky? If I do this... will she let me... W-will she... keep me?

I've led such a charmed life so far. If my luck holds out just a little longer... if I can just have this... I won't wish or want for anything else again. Someone else can have the rest of my luck. Just... let me have one more roll of the dice go my way. This is all I want.