A little over a year ago a young female Emerald dragon called out to me and urged yours truly, Tanis Nickolai Theatra, to go to Mt. Drago. That's the mountain of the dragons, for the uninitiated. Needless to say, she changed my life in more ways than I am willing to admit . . . well, so far.
Her name is Demios Reptillus Stagg, and she is now a tad over four years old. She has matured since I first bonded /impressed with her and gotten dramatically larger during that time. Flying as her rider, helper, and confidante has proven eye opening to say the least, but as a completely different species, I was surprised how quickly she became my best friend.
In our previous adventure we procured a crystal key, saved Mt. Drago, and kept the world from being overrun by demons from the Provinces of Hell. Not bad, Huh? Of course, I also had dinner at a local burger joint with my significant other too. After so many missions and a topsy-turvy lifestyle, sometimes it's the little things that make a difference. The undisputed leader of Mt. Drago is a woman we call Queen Mother, aka The Ariella, and also my significant other; her duties at the mountain kind of add a whirlwind effect to the existence I call my life. On the upside there's never a dull moment, and on the downside there's never a dull moment.
Mt. Drago is tucked away in the middle of nowhere, or Arizona as the citizens call it, but I call it home. From the time I got to the mountain until this very minute; my life has been a constant set of misadventures, near calamities, and ultimately life altering changes that I wouldn't have missed for love or money. Understand that I have an enormous amount of the former, and a sad lack of the latter.
I have seen a change in the Grottos, the Gold, Green, and Brown in particular. The riders in the Gold Grotto became arrogant and the other two had sunk into the loss of their superiority. The Section Leader for the Gold Grotto lost his life in a bid for political upheaval, where his plan for assassinating Queen Mother became his own end instead. The Green and Brown Grottos respectively had been relegated to nannies and babysitters for the nurseries. All of that changed shortly after I came to the mountain. I'm not saying I changed it now mind you, but I think Demios became the catalyst due to her orphan like beginnings.
You see, Demi (That's what I call Demios), wasn't born in either of the nurseries. Her egg was ferreted away and allowed to hatch elsewhere in Mt. Drago. When she was old enough, she wandered around the mountain basically being ignored by all but a few. Those few fed her and gave the necessities that every young dragon needs. To make sure that she found these goodies, they put them in shiny garbage cans. The normal garbage cans were all made of flat, grey colored plastic and designed to hold all forms of trash in large amounts. The lids sealed into place to keep the smell down, and everyone knew to stay away from them. The shiny ones, on the other hand were made out of high gloss metal, had virtually no seal, and stood out like sore thumbs. These were summarily dubbed as Holders of Things and always had fun stuff inside. She was sure to find beef, a type of sesame candy, and Frisbees.
Her life continued like this for about three years until she called me. I'm to understand that any dragon, once they have secured their rider, is entitled to an area within the appropriate Grotto. So, armed with me, she could finally come out of the closet, so to speak. You see, all the Greens and Browns are wingless dragons, and as such didn't want Demi; a Winged Green, actually an Emerald which is what we call her kind now. Further, they sure didn't want her or me for that matter, living in their Grottos. Months later a new Grotto was built, and we moved in; problem solved.
The Crystal Key I mentioned earlier is one of three, and we're looking for the other two. Yeah, you heard me, the other two. The bad guys are looking for them as well, and if the other crystals work like the first one, well . . . the barrier keeping the two sides apart will come crashing down and all hell will break loose. I don't say that lightly or figuratively, it's just the way things are. I'm not sure if that’s good or bad, but all of us here at Drago have to live with that concept hanging over our heads every day.
When we got back from our last run across the Provinces, there was a huge, rather impromptu party regaling our success, and that's when Queen Mother was informed that one of the Aguiva Dragons had gone AWOL into the world away from Mt. Drago. Needless to say, a dragon outside of the mountain constitutes a monumental boo-boo in the total scheme of things. Everyone knows what happens if the outside world spots a dragon on the loose. They shoot first and ask questions later. Then they're going to wonder where it came from, which leads to prying eyes and eventually the complete loss of security. Trust me; this world is not ready for Mt. Drago.