They arrived from many places around the world, and yet, they all seemed to know how to get to the village. Those from other nations found funds and tickets to planes waiting for them, as well as all information they needed to get to that place. The ones already in that continent traveling on foot, by surprisingly convenient rides, by rail, etc., all the same, to find themselves on a wide, easily traversed, path into the forests. The strange thing is, the only ones that seemed to be able to even see the path were the children, some very young, some older, carrying eggs or young dragons with them.
The village was rustic looking and the people there seemed not only unconcerned at seeing so many that were still quite young entering the village, but any time someone asked where they were supposed to go, pointed to a road that lead to a large building that looked like a large, old-fashioned, boarding school. They would finally get answers to where they were going, who the dragons were, and learn their destinies.
Prompt from https://steemit.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-02547-f357-now-there-be-dragons -- DaniAndShali
It had started as a heap on the brink of becoming condemned. Once, it had been a boarding school that promised a prestigious education for the mining town's social upper-class. It would, the builder promised, bring new business and prosperity. That dream died. Nobody came for a comprehensive education from kindergarten to college, with all the facilities one could want.
It was a landmark. The local kids went in its halls and spoke the names on the carved statues as a dare. Lee managed to buy it for a dollar at an estate auction. Her dragon, Elation, was already hunting the rats that had taken over the gloomy corners. It was a fixer-upper, but thanks to Uncle, she wasn't afraid of hard work.
She called herself Lee Draconis, now. And as it happened, her identity was part of an ongoing investigation since Uncle had no records of her birth. She was old enough to be naturalised regardless of her point of origin and had new paperwork to match her new life. An emancipated minor with an actual dragon by her side seemed to get a lot granted to them.
Water connected, power connected, a good broom and some neighbourly charity had her basics covered. Then the others started drifting in. One whose family used her to get into the crawlspaces and between. the walls to fix the plumbing. One who had no fear of the dark or rats because of the basement where he was kept. One who yearned to clean because of the hoard that had nearly killed them. One who knew woodwork because it was work or starve. One who knew couponing because their homeschooling consisted of scouring the coupon pages for everything their grandma could want or need.
All the unwanted. All the rejected. One in a weathered T-shirt and ill-fitting underwear, borne in the jaws of her dragon by a harness with the tether clearly chewed away. The dragon was named Hope, and she said I don't know what to do, as she introduced her child to the growing group.
In a roundabout way, the old heap became a place of learning. From kindergarten to college, as once promised. It was just that the lesson plan was very different. They taught each other skills and tricks. They taught each other that showing love and being loved was not weakness. They taught each other how to read, how to do maths. How to care. How to grow. How to make, create, laugh, and be whole.
A little girl once named You became Persimmon, because she liked the word. Persi for short. It caused some confusion in the early months because her matted hair had to be cut off, but Persi didn't mind. She grew a tree "named like me" and prospered with dragons to guard her from her nightmares.
They also taught each other how to fight. The dragons grew, as dragons do, into truly fearsome beasts, yet those who had dragons had no fear of them. When Lee reached adulthood, there was another vision. A dream of a comforting figure telling her all.
An information dump that she shared with the rest of them, dragons included.
Once upon a time, there were dragons, and there was magic...
Science didn't end the time of dragons, but greed certainly did. Greed and the hunger for power drove out the need for dragons. Magic simply faded in the light of science, but now? Now the world was falling apart and there were children crying out for help where help should be readily available.
Lee wasn't the only one to start a school for the chosen of dragons. There were countries all over the world where children were simply neglected to death. Because they were a girl. Because they were expensive. Because they weren't planned. Because they weren't what the parents imagined. Because their mother was young and frightened and didn't know anything. Because, because, because...
But because they. believed in dragons or, in the case of Persi, had wanted to grow up and be a dragon, the dragons came. The dragons came to become a part of their lives that was sorely lacking. Hope, Elation, Joy, Wonder, Strength... A hundred or more.
There were others who had nothing left to believe in. No hope, no wonder, no dreams of dragons. Only fear and tears in the dark.
When the dragons were grown, when their people were ready, and had learned their magics, they would fly. They would find the lost, scared, and lonely, and take on their darkness for them. They would use everything in their power to end needless brutality before it could perpetuate.
Those who reigned their tiny territories with an iron fist and. a belt of reprisal would very soon be learning that they could not threaten a dragon.
And they would not frighten a dragonmage.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / outsiderzone]
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