A Dragon’s Alphabet – Chapter 15 – O is for Ominous – #AtoZChallenge

Greene had been sitting at the back of the mass of dragons who were all staring in horror at the dragon king who sat in the middle. She recognized many of the dragons here, but had been surprised to not see multiple faces. Orris wasn’t here. Neither were a few dragons that hatched around the same time as her.

The dragon king was Obsidian, a dragon who had lived for a little over a millennium. He was far older than any other dragon still alive. His territory included both the hatching grounds where she was born and the assembly grounds. He was also the only dragon with the power to declare an assembly. It was against dragon law to declare an assembly without being the king, but any dragon could go to petition him.

They were all horrified at him because of something he had said.

“The humans have been growing way too powerful. A few of them have been stealing our flames. A few dragons have already fallen because their hearts were taken.” His mouth was wreathed in flame and smoke, anger and shame. “I’ve called you all here because we need to do something about it. Does anyone have any suggestions?”

One large blue dragon who was only a little bit older than Greene raised his wings. “For their crimes, we should treat them as though they had destroyed one of our hoards. We should burn down their cities and destroy them as much as they’ve disrespected us.”

Many of the younger dragons roared in agreement. Greene didn’t join in.
Obsidian lifted one massive talon and everyone went silent before he put it back down.

It would not do well to offend the oldest of the dragons.

“No, we should not destroy them. It is only a small group of them and humans are a part of this world as much as we are,” he explained. “We would not go after all the dragons to punish all of us just because one dragon was a little bit fire-hungry, would we? Besides I feel like attacking them will only make the situation worse.”
Some murmurs could be heard within the assembly.

“Any more ideas?”

An older green dragon who had to be a few centuries old raised her wings. “I suggest we go after and destroy any human who kills us only for our flames. Is there any way to tell the difference between a human who has killed one of us because of need and one who has slain one of us for our flame?”

“Yes. These humans don’t use the iron talons that humans seem to use to fight. They use something else. And when you look upon them you can see our flame within them, darkened and wrong, twisted into something without beauty.”
Greene tensed up as she tried to make herself smaller in the back. She remembered the eyes of Timiditempestius. The terror she had felt when she saw what was behind them.

The murmurs among the assembly got louder.

“That is a good idea,” Obsidian said loudly. “Although I would add that if any dragon comes across one of these humans and they don’t think they can take them, they should flee and get another dragon to help them. It is up to all of us to make our world safe for the new hatchlings. All dragons in favour, raise both wings.”

Not a single wing remained unraised.

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