The golden dragon

“What?”

My sleep-drunk, clouded, befogged brain needed significantly more time for processing than normal.

“A dragon has found us!” the daimon girl whispered urgently. “But not a normal one. This one is golden!”

“Aha…”

Still muddled and slow...

“Some cultures call them dragon gods, others legendary dragons, and some civilizations speak of them as ‘evolved dragons’.” Al’Reeza added.

“I’d choose the latter, because it mirrors most exactly what can happen to any individual of an intelligent species with abnormally high amounts of manærite in their bodies: They evolve beyond the boundaries of their kin, some say, even beyond normal life. It’s extremely rare to happen, so our encounter certainly counts as a one in a lifetime experience!”

Slowly my brain started to stutter back to normal speed. I resumed a standing position, but took my time. Interesting, how I started to get used to the higher effort it took here than on earth. Al’Reeza of course stood up gracefully and effortlessly. Together we left the cabin. The mast in the middle of the ‘Ice Wallow’ now stood upright, its sail still and unmoving. My Munchie sat tightly secured in front of it (I sighed inwardly with relief!) and next to it, standing with their backs to us, Lily and Illyára, motionless, without moving a muscle.

Just thirty feet away, blocking our path forward, lay an enormous dragon, golden in colour, like Al’Reeza told me, with intricate black, swirling fractal patterns etched onto its skin. The general shape was that of a giant sky dragon, about three hundred feet long, sleek body with four short legs, ginormous (now folded) wings and an unremarkable, smooth, aerodynamically shaped head.

But it had a presence, a noble, almost aristocratic atmosphere around it, that demanded modesty and humbleness. Slowly we joined our companions.

The majestic being stood up and approached us at a very measured pace. We looked like playthings in comparison to this behemoth. It absolutely dwarfed us and our vehicles, even blocking out the sun. Then it spoke.

“So you are the reason for this disturbance!”

Its voice was incredibly deep and reverberated over the ice plains like an omnipresent thunder. The girls shuddered, but I didn’t sense any malice or hate in this being, even when its enormous golden, slitted eyes locked onto me and my Munchie.

“Little human, what are you doing here with your machine?”

God, this voice went through all my body, mind and soul!

“I don’t know,” I replied factually, sounding tiny and insignificant.

“How long are you here?”

“I arrived two days ago through unknown means. I went to sleep in my homeworld and woke up five hundred miles from here to the north in a cave near a lava lake. I don’t know how I got there.”

There was no question to share the whole, raw truth. The answering deep growl could be a sign of approval.

“And you,” the being shifted its attention to the girls, “what are you doing here?”

Illyára answered, her voice despite all its beauty also sounding thin and weak.

“We are the sole survivors of a mission to investigate the cause, why the sky dragons are recently migrating south in such great numbers. We discovered green oases in big volcano calderas near the north peak, but got inexplicably and unexpectedly attacked by the sky dragons. All members of our group got killed. We are the only ones to survive and successfully sneak away - ‘till now at least…”

Ah, so our oasis was not the only one! Further thoughts were drowned, as the golden dragon spoke again.

“Fear not! I have quelled the unnatural, magically induced aggression of the northern clans.” its voice boomed across the empty plains. “I will further investigate, who has caused this - for it certainly had no natural cause!”

“Somebody has managed to influence a horde of dragons?” Al’Reeza asked in disbelief. It was funny, how even her deep, rich, a little bit raspy contralto sounded squeaky in comparison to the mighty dragon’s voice.

“Every living being in this world can be influenced.” answered the sentient behemoth before us gravelly. “Why do you think this is so impossible?”

“Well, as far as I know, nobody has ever managed to tame a dragon, communicate with or influence it by any means.” the daimon answered.

“And yet we are speaking to each other.” the dragon countered, unperturbed. “Things often seem impossible until they happen.”

“But I’ve felt their minds, I tried to understand them, to tell them we were no threat. Nothing worked! My attempts were feeble against these overwhelmingly mighty, wild emotions!”

The giant head of the dragon inched a little bit closer to the daimon mage.

“Well, read my mind. What do you see?”

Al’Reeza’s eyes went wide, her mouth opened, she froze in a silent cry. Then she collapsed unceremoniously.

“I thought so.” nodded the giant beast. “Don’t use your little mind as the standard measure for the phenomena of this world and all the others.”

“What happened?! What did you do to her?!” cried Lily, who immediately rushed to the aid of her comrade. Even her booming voice was nothing against the dragon’s.

“Don’t worry, little furball. She was a little bit overwhelmed, that’s all. She will recover soon. Maybe it will even serve as a lesson in modesty and humility.”

Illyára was also at the side of the unconscious daimon and asked very politely: “Might I ask, what brought you here in these inhospitable lands and why do you deign to honor us with your presence?”

The dragon snorted amused.

“Don’t think your polite words might have an effect on me! You all are fine beings, but you are not the reason I’m here, it’s him!”

With that he shifted his attention back to me.

“Two days ago, at the exact moment of the midsummer solstice in this hemisphere, I sensed a big ripple going through the mana field of Liyúra, a giant discharge of magic like I’ve never encountered, centered at the northernmost peak of the world. That caught my interest and I flew over to search for its origin. I encountered several clans, their members entangled in a dark mind net clouding their judgement of specific beings. I freed them from the shackles they didn’t even know they were wearing and noticed your faint trail in this course. Tracking it, your soul stood out like a beacon, because it doesn’t belong here. Yet it seems it has a deep connection to this world, albeit formed elsewhere.”

The mighty being fell silent, for the first time having sounded not entirely sure. I took the opportunity to speak up.

“Apologies, but do you perhaps know how I came into this world, or how I might get back to my old one?”

The dragon pulled back its lips in a monstrous smile to expose sharp, jagged teeth.

“Little human, what do you know about the nature of reality?”

Oh, what a delight! A philosophical dragon!

“Well, from what I can say, the concept of reality is …very relative.” I answered carefully. “Every individual has a slightly different perception in body and mind, therefore everyone has a different picture of reality.”

“But that is not what I’d asked.” interrupted the dragon. “I didn’t ask about perceptions, concepts or pictures, but about reality itself.”

I nodded.

“I understand, but from my understanding, there is not one objective reality, only different perceptions of a multitude of possible realities.”

The dragon smiled again (meaning, exposed its teeth).

“Well, what do you say, a liberal human being!” he laughed. The blast nearly knocked me down.

“Are you aware of the implications of your view?”

I nodded solemnly.

“Yes, there is no last truth, no objective certainty, just alternative truths and realities." I admitted and thought in shame about social media, conspiracy theories and corporate denial campaigns in my home world.

The dragon tilted its head.

“Well, here is some of my perception of reality, if I may stick to your term. The fabric of reality is woven from countless threads, not all visible, some even not invisible. Some are infinitely small, some impossibly large, but not even one exists alone or separated from the others.”

His gaze once anew concentrated its focus on me.

“Your world, Earth, and this world, Liyúra, are tightly interwoven threads, even when its inhabitants are largely oblivious to this fact. And Earth and Liyúra are not the only worlds connected in such way. There are possibly more worlds intertwined, but I never studied this subject closely, so I may be wrong. Fact is, somebody studied it, way beyond my knowledge, and summoned you here. And that someone I’m now going to seek.”

With that the mighty being spread its wings and attempted to take off.

“Please wait!” I cried. “Can I come with you?”

Surprisingly the giant dragon lowered its wings.

“No little human, you can not. I can’t burden myself with a passenger of your fragile nature.” he explained, voice softening. “You have your own journey with its challenges and tasks ahead. But I promise that everything I unravel about your transgression into our world will be revealed to you in due time.”

Then he lowered his head and voice until he was almost level with me.

“Take good care and be cautious and alert.”

It was funny to see how such a ginormous creature was trying to whisper - and failing completely.

“Coming from another world, be aware and reflect, how every of your actions, words and decisions may affect this world. And how this world and its experiences may affect you.”

With that the golden dragon once again spread its wings, jumped with an immensely powerful and graceful movement into the air (finally knocking me over in the process) and flew with slow, deliberate strokes away, towards the north.