Fantasy and Myth

Summit Meeting

The sky was obscured by clouds, blocking the light of the moon and stars. It was the perfect night for dragons like me. Our ability to shapeshift has kept the humans from discovering we still exist, but on dark nights we can be ourselves again, spreading our wings and taking to the skies.

Flying among skyscrapers can be a hazard even on the darkest of nights as they reach great heights, and the artificial light inside can cast its glow through the building's walls of glass. Most dragons avoid the downtown area as it brings too much risk. My problem was I enjoyed it.

Dodging between buildings with only the thickness of a claw between my scales and the glass windows was great fun, but it also drew unwanted attention, both from the humans who might see me and from the dragons who believed I was endangering all our kind.

As much as I didn't want to admit it, the dragons were right. Whatever enjoyment I got from my excursions, it wasn't worth causing problems for everyone else. I decided to confine my flights to canyons, high mountain peaks, and thick forests where I could weave my way through the narrow gaps in the terrain. Although still enjoyable, I missed being able to see my reflection in the glass walls of the skyscrapers.

The arid region outside of town was covered by tall columns of rocks resembling a forest made of stone. Even with all the precautions I took to not be seen, it remained impossible to avoid the humans entirely. Which brings me to how I met Julia. How was I to know a rock climber would reach the pinnacle at the same time I did?

It was a strange moment. My talons dug into the rust colored earth and my wings kicked up a small cloud of dust as I landed. The flat topped column where I'd come down was barely large enough for me to stand without my body sticking over the edges. My tail did prove a bit too long, but I wrapped it around the stone formation for additional balance.

It was then I noticed a scent upon the breeze. I inhaled deeply through my nose, closing my eyes to savor the scent and study it. The smell was definitely human. Female. And, it was especially close. Turning my gaze downward, I watched as a small hand, relatively speaking of course, reached over the edge of the rock formation and touched one of my talons.

I didn't move because I didn't know what to do. If I flew away, it might cause the human to fall, and I didn't want to be responsible for her demise. However, if I didn't leave immediately, she was certain to see me and know dragons still exist in the modern world. While I'd been so busy thinking about the best course of action, the human had pulled herself up and was staring at me with wide eyes, a diminutive light strapped to her forehead casting a bright beam across me and my gleaming green scales.

"Greetings," I rumbled, not really knowing anything better to say.

The human took a nervous step back, but there wasn't anywhere to step back to, and she fell off the side. Without thinking, I struck out with a clawed hand and snatched her out of the air, returning her gently to the top of the stone column. My claws were nearly as large as she was, so her nervousness at being in my presence was understandable. After nearly falling to her death and now standing in front of a dragon, her stress level must have been extreme. To her credit, she didn't faint or scream, merely stood staring at me.

I asked if she was alright and what her name might be. She tried to speak twice before the words actually came out. She said her name was Julia and she was fine. As her fear wore off, she asked many questions about me and my fellow dragons. I answered only the questions about myself as I didn't want her to know too much until I knew she could be trusted with the information.

We met atop the rock formation the next night as the cloud cover lingered for several days. Since my dragon name was unpronounceable by humans, she took to calling me Emerald because of the color of my scales. We spoke of many things, her job as an airline pilot, how long she'd been rock climbing for fun, and how she felt about dragons in general and myself in particular. Unlike some of the humans we'd encountered over the centuries, she was perfectly happy to share the world with dragons.

In time, it became a standing appointment.  Whenever the clouds darkened the skies, we would meet at the summit. Eventually, I even told her about my ability to shapeshift. Although she liked my human form, she was just as happy to converse with a dragon, letting me be my true self. I started allowing her to climb up between the horns on my head for flights across the countryside.

A few dragons didn't like me fraternizing with a human, but others defended me, saying she represented the kind of human we needed to find and protect. If we could locate more humans who weren't hostile toward dragons, it might lead to us not having to hide any more. We could share the world with humans, and dragons might fill the skies in daylight as they did long ago. Julia and those like her are the key to that future.

I'd sworn myself to never fall in love with a human, but she'd made it too hard not to.