A Little Character
Azar the Dragon with burning red eyes
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The small tremor that shook the earth and sent shivers of fear into the nearby human settlements slowly faded away. Quake, was the agreed upon explanation....though the strange sounds that accompanied it, like the low deep throated purr of some huge cat, vibrating the windows, raising the hairs of all living things, did not make any sense.
The humans cast wary eyes at the shadowy mountain that loomed over them, at once protective and foreboding, and scurried back in to their homes, to bury themselves in dreams and try to forget the oddness that had befallen the night.
The sounds and trembles came from there.
Deep with in the piles of stone and boulders something awakened, shifting, stretching after too long a sleep, purring with contentment at the pleasure of slipping into the waking world once more.
A thick, sinewy tail idly undulated, slapping scaly skin against time worn rocks, sending them crashing down the mountainside, the humans wondered about aftershocks.
Sigal blinked her eyes, fiery red, staring out at the world that had forgotten she existed. The night air was cool, refreshing, soothing on her face after so many centuries buried under ground. A dragon chose her resting place wisely. Aware of the weakness of humans to make their mark on the landscape, to scrape and scratch every available surface, digging and building until the world hardly resembled what it once was.... But they hadn't found her, years of quiet, undisturbed slumber had been hers, for having chosen the side of a rocky mountain where humans still dared not dig.
Sigal looked out across the valley, lights glittering like fallen stars, the homes of humans were greater than she remembered. Shinier too, some of them rose like great sparkling spears from the earth putting redwoods and hilltops to shame. Sigal smiled, marveling at the ingenuity of the humans even as she admitted confusion.
Why must they live so high? They hadn't wings, not that she had checked in a thousand years or so. And why must they light up the dark with their brilliant lights that didn't flicker like the torches she remembered from long ago?
Whatever the earth provided those stubborn humans seemed to want to conquer... Sigal laughed, a low crackling sound like embers bursting, knowing as all dragons did, that the earth wasn't to be conquered but embraced.
Life and the planet were a marriage.
Sigal stretched, shifting upon the smooth rock she'd chosen as her resting place so many years ago. The cave like nest had kept her well, the cool rocks her pillows, the scent of earth and the subtle sounds of the mountain her lullaby.
Now her limbs tingled as they awakened, the fire in her belly rekindling, growing hotter and stronger with every waking moment.
Already she could see the faint tendrils of smoke drifting away on the night breezes with every breath she took. The rock beneath her grew warmer as the fire inside flared to life, hotter with every passing moment. Her wings lifted away from her back, stretching, fluttering, relishing the freedom of movement once more.
Soon Sigal would lift herself from this rocky bed and go out into the world and examine it further. She wanted a closer look at those silvery dwellings that crowded close together, reaching for the sky. She wanted to peer inside them where she could see the lights faintly glowing and the movement of humans, her keen eyes noticing the abundance of those fragile creatures.
Strength was returning, as the moments passed her body and mind grew more accustomed to wakefulness. Years of dreams now hovered just beyond the borders of her memories. Slipping further and further into the silky grey fog of forgetfulness as all dreams do. Sigal let them go, her interest was in the waking world now.
The changes she could see spread across it's landscape.
She flexed her legs, lifted her wings again to let them flutter in the breeze, turned her long neck this way and that working out the kinks, relishing the fluid feeling of moving that was overtaking her body.
It felt good to sleep but it felt oh so verrrrry good to feel the old familiar urges to leap across the ground let her tail whip behind her, ducking her head so that her horns met anything that stood in her way, to run and run and finally thrust her body into the air like a bird...but so different. A dragon, like no other creature but her own kind.
Her ruby eyes glittered, patience slipping away as softly as her dreams.
Soon, soon she'd leave her little rocky nest and make her way into the world once more. Her tail cut the air faster, scales shimmering under the moonlight, from a distance a human might catch sight of the shimmering purple on the side of the mountain...their eyes would see but their mind would deny it...a trick of the light, a flight of fancy....
Sigal growled her low hungry purr, anxious for the process of awakening to be over. The stones around her shook, vibrating and rattling from their nooks and crevices, skittering down the hill.
The little avalanche was music to Sigal, a song of awakening and joy and the power of a dragon. Soon she'd be slipping through the skies, clouds teasing her wings once more, the world and the curiosities of humans at her feet...soon.
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