Wordcount: 464 words
Rating/Warnings: PG-13
Summary: Flame is officially ‘too old for this shit’ and is going to enjoy things while they last.
NOTE: This is the first draft of a story, so it will most likely contain plot holes, retcons, and other inconsistencies. I’ll come back and fix things once the story (or arc) is complete!
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I Make No Promises
Flame knew he was dreaming, in that sure certainty he never had when he was awake. So he stretched his wings, unkinked his back and took a nice long roll in the grass. Ahhh, he itched his shoulders against the soft ground and muttered happily to himself.
“This is an odd dream,” Came a voice from above him and he looked up to see a long ribbon of fire circling high above him. “Where is this place?”
“It’s the old meadows above Sheppard’s Point.” Said Flame, “It’s not there anymore, not since the rockslide, but it was my favorite place to be when I was younger.”
“And you’re old now?” Asked the voice, bemused.
“Older than I was,” Flame admitted, with another happy wiggle in the grass. “I don’t dream of it much anymore.”
“Why dream of it now?” The fire was drifting lower in the sky and he could make out the translucent wings of flame that framed the undulating body.
“Because I’m tired, and old, and saving the world is meant for younger folk.” He sighed and rolled over, standing up and giving a good shake to free the grass from his coat. “You are the oracle?”
“No,” admitted the dragon as it landed, shuttering its flames so the grass around it merely withered. “I dream strange dreams and see strange futures, but I have never been an oracle.”
“I had a feeling.” Said Flame, looking up at the serpentine head. “But why are you here?”
“I was tired, so I slept.” Said the dragon, looking out across the meadows. “I slept and could not wake, and now I hunger.” The fire rippled for a moment, turning the grass around the dragon to ash. “So hungry.”
“You’ve turned the land to dust.” Flame said, and the view around them rippled and turned to desert. “You’ll eat the world, if you’re not careful.”
“I don’t mean to,” the dragon said, “but I’m so hungry.” It looked down at him. “Why are you here, strange little dreams, to torment me with what I cannot have?”
“We came to ask for help,” Flame said.
“It’s been too long,” Said the dragon. “The hunger is too great– I don’t give, I take.”
“What do we have to give?” asked Flame. “Such small things as we are, I can’t think of gifts large enough to matter.”
“Dream with me,” the dragon whispered, “Remind me of the things I used to have. It’s bitter, but it’s better than the void.”
“That, that I can do.” Laughed Flame, “Come dream my little dreams then, just mind your fire.”
And he led the dragon back through his youth—the pine forests, the great oak forests, the sheep-filled hills and fast moving rivers.
And for a while, the dragon dreamed.
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