Once a dragon roamed wild, majestic, and free, (just like they do in the old stories.) When a clever young fae approached the old beast, And begged it to measure its glories. “How wide are you wings?” he wondered aloud, “How hot is the fire you spit?” “How sharp are the talons that skewer young knights?” “Tell me of your pride and your wit.” So the dragon did speak of his greatness, of heroes and monsters and prey. Each achievement recorded with diligent quill, for such is the weapon of fae. The telling had ended by sunset, and darkness came over the wood. The dragon grew bored of the tiny young thing, and washed him in flame where he stood. But when smoke and flame had abated, the faerie stood there unharmed. He produced from his robes his scales and fresh quill, and thus for the battle was armed. “You stand a titan! A giant!” “Fifty tons borne on each claw.” “But what creatures bones can bear such a weight?” So was rendered the natural law. The dragon’s legs shattered, snapped easy in two. His ribs followed shortly thereafter. Energy laws starved his flame from within. And the faerie was given to laughter. “You’re not for this time,” he stroked the poor beast, “But don’t fear, for you will live on.” He crafted a story from what he observed, and then the last dragon was gone. [hr] Once man feared the crawling things, the little things, the stinging things. Until he found a hefty stone, a stinger he could call his own. Once man feared the running things, the hunting things, the biting things. Until he found a sharpened spear, slew the beasts and claimed the deer. Once man feared the roaring things, the giant things, the charging things. Until he found a ready bow, a from afar he struck a blow. Then approached a scaly thing, a burning thing, a magic thing. The power that no man could smite, the beast of all-surpassing might. “Behold my form.” A fleshy thing, a mighty thing, a wondrous thing. “I am wonder, I am story.” “I am mystery, I am glory!” “Hear my wit.” A whispered thing, a clever thing, a hunting thing. “I am the thing that you abhor.” “And the thing that you adore!” “Feel my greed.” A grasping thing. A clawing thing. A crushing thing. “All that was yours I shall keep.” “My hunger endless, I shall reap!” But men did not fear the dragon thing, a familiar thing, a warming thing. “I did not know we had a brother.” “But now I see there is another!” What became of crawling things, the working things, the slaving things? “Their greatest treasures we will claim.” “Gold or honey just the same.” What became of running things, the dying things, the bleeding things? “All they are reduced to meat.” “Subject to flame before we eat.” What became of roaring things, the vanished things, the hidden things? “Their leather is our armored scale.” “Their spirits now beyond the veil.” The dragon looked at mankind, and knew its kin. It fled.