GA Writing Prompts - 36. # 77 Egg of the Dragon

Egg of the Dragon

"Goodness! What a fuss they make of it," I said to myself. I was feeling annoyed.

They had found the skeleton of a dragon. The news on TV and the newspapers were full with it. The scientists of course said that the skeleton was that of a dinosaur. And, in fact, it resembled one. There was just one difference that the scientists were unable to explain. The skeleton had wings. This alone would not have caused much stir if the skeleton was small enough to be the skeleton of a common ancestor of the dinosaurs and the birds. The skeleton, however, was huge. It was as big as the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The scientists had difficulties to explain how such a huge creature had been able to fly. They said, of course, the creature did never fly. They said that the wings had been useless appendages, like the appendix for instance. Their explanations were totally ridiculous. And the more they tried to explain away the fact, the more resistance to their explanations rose. The esoterics, of course, led the party of the critics. They unfolded their theories on dragons to everyone who was interested and also to those who were not. The discussions had turned into hateful arguments within a couple of days. And people from all over the country and meanwhile from all over the world travelled here to have a personal look on the skeleton. They did not have the opportunity, however, to have a look on it. The skeleton had hastily been removed from the ground and had been taken to some secret place. So the people visited the archeological excavation site instead. There they gazed into a deep hole in the ground.

The city council of our small town had rejoiced at first. The visitors spent a lot of money in the hotels, the guesthouses, the restaurants, and the bars. Unfortunately, the visitors meanwhile were too many to offer them appropriate accommodation and catering. The whole town was a helter-skelter. The citizens had turned to retreat into their houses and shut the windows and lock the doors. So did I as well. I did not only feel molested by the crowd. I had a more important reason to shut myself up from the world. I had a secret. I guarded the last egg of the dragon. No one knew and no one would ever learn of it.

I had come to the small town a couple of weeks ago. I had told the people I had left a big city because of the stress that life had caused me there. I told them that I worked for a publishing company. I told them I worked in my home office and that this was no problem at all due to the internet. I told them that I got and sent my data online. I doubted, however, that they believed me. Perhaps they did not even understand my explanations as the place was a bit backwards in time. I was not sure they all had already heard of the internet. However, I did not care if they believed me or not. I had told lies anyway. I had not come from a big city. I had in fact come here sort out of nowhere. I had come from the wood that was not far from the town. It was the place where they had found the skeleton. I had not lived in the wood, of course. It was just the place where I had first touched earthly ground. To tell the truth, I came from another world where magic had still survived. They sent me here to get the one precious thing that the magicians had located in the human world. The precious thing was the egg of the dragon.

Dragons still live in my world. They are in fact fairly common. However, one line of dragons had ceased to exist when the last species had died in a mighty thunderstorm. These dragons were called the king’s dragons. They only lived on royal ground. The death of the last of their kind had caused a big stir in my world. These dragons were the symbols of the king’s might and power. Their death indicated that the king would soon lose his power. And this was a thing that was not supposed to happen. The mighty magicians gathered and consulted with each other for several days. They made an attempt to revive the dead creatures. These attempts, however, failed. They finally scanned the world with their magical senses in hope to locate a colony of king’s dragons that had perhaps escaped from the royal compound in previous times. Unfortunately, they were not able to locate one single dragon. The line of the king’s dragons had definitely died out. One of the magicians, however, was very smart. He did not only scan our world. He scanned the other worlds as well. This endeavor exhausted him largely, but he was lucky. He located an intact egg of a dragon. This egg was to be found and brought to my world. There the egg could be revived with powerful magic. The egg was located in the human world. I was sent there to find it and take it to my world. The magicians established a magical gate close to where they had located the egg. I crossed the gate a couple of months ago and found myself in a wood.

I had hoped to find the egg quickly. But my hopes were in vain. I did not find the egg close to the gate. The scan had not been very exact. I realized that I had to search the whole wood. That was why I left the forest and entered the small town. I needed a place to live in. The nights in the forest were too cold for me to sustain them. I was not accustomed to the harsh earthly climate. It was late autumn when I arrived. And I was dressed only with a light tunic and thin pants and I had not taken with me sufficient equipment. I could not go back either since the magicians had already closed the gate. A passage between worlds swallows up large amounts of magical energy. I had to chant a certain code in order to open the gate again. But I could not dare to waste my energy. So I wandered into the town instead.

Luckily, I had informed myself a bit on the humans. So I was not entirely surprised by what I found. The humans, however, were largely surprised when they caught sight of me. It was not so much my weird clothes that attracted attention. I learned later that I was dressed like the typical esoterics who often came to the countryside for some strange rituals. I watched a few of them a couple of weeks ago. They stood in the center of a stone circle and chanted a weird song. I could only shake my head. Such behavior had nothing to do with magic. I found the humans were weird and totally backwards in some things. Anyway, what most surprised the people was that I apparently had come from the big city by foot. I had thought it natural to tell that I had walked all the way. At least, I had no horse with me. So how would I have come here? I learned later, however, that they used all kind of vehicles in order to move from one point to the other. This was indeed new to me and at first I found we should think of using this technique of travelling in my world also. I changed my attitude, however, when I learned of the pollution that those vehicles produced.

Anyway, I managed to rent a house and provide me with all sorts of things. I’m not a powerful magician, but in my world everybody knows how to use some simple magic. I tested the magic and rejoiced when I found that simple magic worked in the human world also. It helped me to provide myself with food and clothes and of course money. Thus I was able to pay the rent of the house for a few weeks in advance. I then started to explore the wood. I am a skilled scout. And I knew the energy pattern of a dragon’s egg. The magician had taught me the pattern. And so I started to look out for it. I also know how to use my sixth sense, although my abilities are limited and cannot be compared to those of a skilled magician.

It took me four weeks to locate the egg. It took me another two weeks to dig a hole and retrieve the egg from the ground. The place was deep in the wood, luckily. No one ever came and caught me in the act. I used a wheel barrow to take the egg to my house. The egg was the size of a bedside table. It was not exactly heavy. I needed some time, however, to find a way to lift it up. A short time later, however, I thought that it was a bad idea to take the egg to my house. I should have opened the gate instantly after retrieving the egg from the ground. But that day, unfortunately, I had had a sore throat. The harsh winter climate had made me fall ill. I had tried to chant the magical code. But my voice was hoarse. The gate didn’t recognize it. The gate did not open whatever I did and however hard I tried. So I pondered on what to do with the egg. I could not just leave it on the forest ground. It was the size of a bedside table. So far, nobody had come to the place. But what if I left and just that day some random wanderer passed by? I was not willing to take that risk. That was why I hurried back and fetched the wheel barrow. Dusk had already fallen when I came back with the egg in it. I had placed a blanket over it. But I was certain it looked somewhat odd, I mean me pushing a wheel barrow with some huge thing in it that was covered with a blanket. I meanwhile knew how the humans ticked. They would have instantly suspected that I had killed somebody and that I was about to get rid of the body. However, I could not definitely say if somebody watched me that evening. Nobody mentioned the incident, at least.

I had found the egg and had taken it to my home just one day before a Chinese team of archaeologists arrived and, despite the cold winter, started to dig a hole in the ground. It was a tedious effort. I could tell for I also had just dug a hole in the ground. I had used simple magic to make my work easier. The Chinese team, however, used what they called high-technique. They dug like maniacs and within a few days had found the skeleton of the dragon. I don’t know how they had located it. Someone told me they had used air images. But I don’t think this term is identical with the exact term that we use for a certain magical technique in my world. In my world it is the technique of visualizing and producing holograms with sheer force of will. It is a mind focusing technique that only skilled magicians know how to use perfectly. I don’t think this was the technique that the Chinese team used for locating the skeleton of the dragon.

I wondered if they had searched for the skeleton of the dragon or if they had just searched for a skeleton of a dinosaur. They said in the news that the Chinese team had permission to excavate the skeleton of a dinosaur. I personally doubt, however, that they just looked for a dinosaur. When I learned about Chinese dragons, my doubts were instantly raised. It was all in the news. They showed images of dragons. This made it clear to me that not only the magicians of my world searched for the egg of the dragon. These Chinese pseudo scientists apparently also were after the egg. I had no idea, however, how they had found out about it. Perhaps they knew more about magic in China than the people of the small town or the people in the news on TV knew. After all, magic is often kept secret and only chosen adepts are let into it.

I could have left when the Chinese team arrived and dug the hole. I should have better done so. But my curiosity was raised. I felt the need to find out who these men were and what they were after. When finally my suspicions were confirmed, I was in doubt whether it was good or bad to leave instantly. I decided to stay for some time longer. The egg of the dragon was safe in my house. I had built a wooden box and had put the egg in it. The egg shell was hard and thick. The egg was still intact. I put a tablecloth on the box. Thus it looked like a cocktail table.

And then the visitors came to the small town. They came in flocks. They came in droves. There was an endless stream of them. I should have left earlier. Why had I not done so? One afternoon the city mayor personally knocked at my door. He told me that I was the only one who so far had not taken in visitors. I shrugged and wanted to close the door. But the man stepped in quickly and harangued until I gave in and agreed to take in a man who had come here by bus in order to have a look at the skeleton. The man was seventy-nine years of age. The journey had exhausted him. He had almost fainted at the excavation site. The hospital was already crowded. They looked for someone to see to the man. I wondered why I was the one who seemed to be qualified to look after a seventy-six year old man. Anyway, I could not object. They took the man to my house. I had to offer him the couch for the night. If I was lucky, the man felt better the following day and would leave the town by bus again. For the time being, however, the man rested on my couch. And in front of the couch stood the pseudo cocktail table. The man had put his glasses on it. He had no clue of what the tablecloth hid and I would not tell him, of course. This all meant, unfortunately, that my departure was delayed. I could barely dare to open the gate in my living room with the old man resting on the couch. There was a risk that I took him with me into my world. The man was too close to the box with the egg. Reluctantly, I gave in to my fate. I could barely sleep at night. I got up at sunrise and sat in the kitchen until the old man awoke.

A Samaritan team finally came to pick him up. His son had driven all night to pick up his crazy father. I sent mental thanks to the man. The old man thanked me several times. He wanted to give me some money. I refused and kept countenance until he had left. Then I closed the door, leaned against it, and let out a deep sigh. I was hesitating, however, for only a minute. Then I pulled the tablecloth from the box. I opened the box. The egg was intact. I stood next to the box and then I chanted the code as loud and as clear as I could.

The magical gate opened at once. I pushed the box with the egg through it. I had barely passed the gate when it already closed again. The wise and powerful magicians welcomed me. They carried the box with the egg away. I was led to some noble man of high rank. I received a medal, a certificate, and a few written lines of deep gratitude that they claimed the king had written. I doubted this, however, although I saw the king’s signature on the paper. I folded the sheet and put it into the pocket of my pants. Then I bowed to the noble man. They showed me out. The whole procedure had taken only ten minutes.

I learned some time later that the magicians had managed to revive the egg of the dragon. They had bred an animal and then a powerful magician had cloned the first dragon. Five king’s dragons live in the royal compound meanwhile. I was there yesterday and had a look at them. They do in fact remind me of the Chinese dragons. They resemble the images I had seen on TV. I sometimes wonder if the excavation team has found another egg. Perhaps the humans managed to revive it, not with magic of course, but with what they call high-technique. Perhaps king’s dragons also live in a compound in the human world. Or maybe they even fly high in the air.

I could go and have a look. I still know by heart the chant that opens the gate. But I delay my choice. So far, I have not had the courage to visit the human world again. The crowds of visitors had been annoying me. There were too many people in every place. So far, I prefer to live in the tranquility of my own world where people still ride on horseback or walk by foot and where magicians are at work and where dragons still fly high in the air. But the time might come when I want to set out for an adventure. And then I might visit the human world again. Who knows what lies ahead in time?