The Dragon of Knowledge

The Dragon of Knowledge.

A large crack in the planets crust brought a quake that shuddered throughout it’s mantle. Along the seam, hot air burst forth through the lakes, riverbeds and into the village of Buee. This forced the villagers to take to their shelter in the mountains bedrock. After the ripples of shock, the planet calmed it’s moving parts and settled, as an obsidian orb popped out of from the event horizon and floated to the surface. The orb drifted amid the aftermath towards a beach made of blue sand and came to rest, water lapping it into a nest of sand.

This was a standard delivery for the dragons of planet Nuage. The planet abundant with magic, only gave birth when a new role was required for the general upkeep of this magical realm. It was a peaceful but organized existence on Nuage. Every creature birthed by the planetary core knew their individual purpose and never asked why. Dust faeries born to keep the villages clean, elven creatures for the collection of information, Satyrs as chef’s for their imaginative culinary skills and unicorns for consumption.

All the dragons needed care you see, for their talons were too awkward for complex activities like cooking and daily chores. This reality made the Dragons not question the life that their mother planet delivered. Instead floated through their existence as spoiled children, languishing in the freedom of having no responsibility, seeing no importance in the knowledge collected by the elves in the Buee Library. That was, until today.

Back to the indigo beach, not too far from the village of Buee. The orb, an egg made of obsidian, split open and a gloomy ichor bubbled from the fracture. A bewitching dragon made of onyx and volcanic ash arose from her universal slumber with an insatiable appetite, wanting to ingest whatever surrounded her. First she ate the beach where she lay, then the hills and valley’s leading to the village of Buee. The elder dragons suspected she was meant to destroy their beautiful kingdom because of their ineptness, but were too afraid to approach the frenzied feast. Instead they petitioned their care givers to stop the onslaught. Together the magical guardians tried to arrest the young dragons hunger by using spells and potions. The raven scaled dragon only continued to consume and grew with every bite, nothing safe in the wake of her giant maw. After running out of ideas and potions, the inhabitants of Buee figured that it may be time for them to leave.

Believing that Buee was lost, the villagers frantically gathered all the items needed for surviving what seemed to be the apocalypse. The plan was to hide in the mountains, where they would usually wait out the planetary birth cycle for dragons. The faeries, satyr’s and the elves used up their remaining magic to protect themselves and their life’s work as the elders took off for the nearby summit, fearful of what was to become of their homes. The monstrous and expanding black dragon continued to eat, ignorant to the crisis she had created, never taking a moment to digest.

Suddenly the masticating roar of destruction came to an abrupt stop and the creatures of Buee slowed their harried pace. The faeries noticed it first, already being so close to the wreckage, and gathered where the dust began to settle. The satyr’s following suit, pensively tied up the remaining unicorns on a nearby tree and walked back to where the faeries had assembled. Soon all the caretakers of fair Buee were glued to the scene unfolding before them. They waited with bated breath for the reveal, curious as to what stopped the baby dragons feast.

There she was in the clearing, settled on top of the library, reclined and reading ‘The humble beginnings of Buee’. Her hunger squelched. The custodians of Buee erupted into a joyous cheer as the elder dragons flew back from the mountain, eager to embrace the new addition to their lives. The young dragon brought a long shiny talon to her lips and hushed the group, forcing the elders to a halt.

“So sorry for the mess, My name is Genius... I was only looking for the knowledge our mother had promised.”

It dawned on the dragons how important it was for them to have more understanding of their great mother, the planet Nuage. Witnessing their sister reach satisfaction after outright destruction was illuminating. The elders realized they had taken their positions for granted and their home, treating it more like a never ending playground. Nuage may always supply their needs, but it was up to the dragons to take care of all the life created to support them. The dragons felt ashamed for exhausting their helpers and decided that day, to never misuse their community again.

The Buee Library became Genius’s home, since she never left the rooftop of the building. Creatures came from near and far to meet the great knowledge dragon, a moniker given to Genius by the new followers of Mother Nuage.

As time went on, the Buee library gained favour and the elves could not keep up with it’s increasing popularity. This forced the elders to create a special day in hopes to slow the constant missionaries to their small village, as well as, share the wealth of information their mother had supplied. Considering the avoided destruction of Buee and the body of work the elves painstakingly gathered over the years, the dragons settled on calling this special day, ‘The day of appetite’ giving the term ‘genius’ to any creature visiting the humble village on sabbatical.

The vacuity of the Library was no more and all the creatures of Buee lived happily ever after.

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