A red-scaled dragon by the name of Esubirn flew high above a lush forest. Esubirn's goal was to fly to Pleura and have some fun destroying the city. Esubirn woke up from a short 5000 years nap an hour ago. Life of a dragon was easy, they napped a lot, played a lot and knew neither need nor want.

  Esubirn was a young dragon and he was known in the legends of the little folk, as he called them, as a calamity.

  Far below, Esubirn saw a dark shape. Curious, he circled around, descending. The dark shape, a wolf, looked above, pausing in whatever it was doing. Which seemed to be digging a pit with a shovel. An apparently body lay nearby.

  “What's going on, fam?”, the dragon asked in greeting.

  The wolf observed him with apparent caution but only for a moment. He continued digging his pit.

  “Digging a pit for this buddy over there”, the wolf said.

  Esubirn shifted his enormous face down to see the body closer up. He leaned forward with interest and inspected it. He tilted his head and looked up at the wolf. “Isn't this just a dead human?”

  “Yeah, but can't eat it ‘cause it's spoiled.”

  “Ahh, I see. So that's how it is. Yes, food must be of great quality.” Esubirn said approvingly and lifted his head away from the apparently spoiled human.

  “You know, I thought dragons were extinct”, the wolf said.

  “Huh? Since when?”, Esubirn asked, tilting his head in confusion.

  “I heard the last time a dragon was seen was five thousand years ago.”

  Esubirn waited for the wolf to continue, but it became clear this was what he wanted to say. He replied, “Right… I see. Why did you say you thought dragons were extinct, though?”

  The wolf stopped digging for a moment. He glanced up at Esubirn and then he continued his work again. “When was the last time you saw another dragon?”

  “Like, thirty-four thousand years ago. Had lunch with my mom.”

  The wolf replied to this remark without missing a beat, “Ah… Okay, I get it. I guess…”, all the while he dug without pause.

  “You're saying your little species thought dragons got extinct because you haven't seen one for five thousand years?” Esubirn laughed at their cute antics.”

  “Well, I guess our lifespans differ very much”, the wolf remarked.

  “Hm, you have some good points”, Esubirn commented with a tilt of his head.

  “Oh, well. It's fun meeting you, mister dragon. What's your name? I am Daser.”

  “Daser! A most wonderful name!”, Esubirn boomed approvingly, “Well met. I am Esubirn of the east caves.”

  “Well met, Esubirn! What city you gonna burn now, hommie?”

  “Pleura it'scalled, you know, a small city around here?”

  Daser finished his task and walked towards Esubirn with his shovel. “Never heard of any Pleura.”

  Esubirn gasped. “Don't tell me it's already replaced by some other city? Gosh, you little folk change so fast.”

  Daser shrugged with a smile and said, “Perhaps. The closest city I know of is a border city of a country named Euma, I think. About 100 miles from here”, he pointed helpfully.

  “Oh, I see. Well, thanks for letting me know, I will go there!”, exclaimed Esubirn.

  “Hm, how about you take me with you? I always wanted to see a city.”

  Esubirn shrugged. “Sure. Come over here.” He moved his talons to Daser. The wolf lifted an index finger and said, “Before you take off, wait until I climb up on your head.”

  “Eh, why?”

  “Well, I have never flown on a dragon before, but I heard this is the most comfortable spot to be on.”

  Esubirn looked at Daser without much comprehension. “Sure, whatever you want, friend.”

  Daser ran up Esubirn and on top of his giant head.

  “You feeling comfy up there, little Daser?”

  “First of all,” said Daser importantly as he lifted a finger, “I'm not little, second of all,” he lifted a second finger, “yes.”

  Esubirn laughed and shook his head. Daser fell down and immediately ran off. Esubirn smiled at that, following Daser with his eyes.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Bye, bye,” Esubirn waved with a claw.

  He then took off, the air gusts destroying more nearby trees, and flew in the direction of where he believed a city was nearest, where Daser pointed at.

  After about 10 minutes of flying, Esubirn felt something brush against his abdomen. He looked down and saw a small shape launching several bolts of magic at him. Confused at this turn of events, Esubirn slowed his flight and pondered if he should descend. The small animal moved forward now, and appeared to be running away.

  “What is going on down there?”, Esubirn thought with confusion.

  He dived down. The person increased their running speed, not that it did them any good, and Esubirn landed just behind them. The air blew them off their feet and with a yelp they were launched forward.

  Esubirn walked after them slowly. “Hey, what's up?”

  He looked on at the person. They ran without looking back in the same direction where he was also headed, apparently towards Euma or whatever.

  “Hey, where are you going, little critter?!”, he shouted and received a magic bolt aimed at his snout as a response. He huffed and launched a small fireball from his mouth forward. He saw that the little bipedal animal blocked it with a magical shield of some sort.

  “Hm, impressive”, he praised.

  He walked on his four limbs forward slowly.

  This time the person didn't ran away. Esubirn saw that it was a bipedal. He combed his mind for a classification.

  “Ah, yes, the elves you're called, correct? You're an elf,” Esubirn laughed proudly, “How is my knowledge of your species, impressive, right?”

  The elf stared at him, her face was guarded. She narrowed her eyes.

  “Eh, can you speak? Or have you lost the ability, maybe?

  Eh, so be it, I guess your short life spans can result in quick behavioural changes. Wait, but weren't elves’ lifespans longer than other bipedals’? Eh, maybe I am mistaken,” Esubirn mused to himself. “Well, anyway, little elf, see ya.”

  Her demanding shout of “Halt!” made him look back at the elf.

  “Oh? Yes. So still you can talk? How old are you?”

  “Evil dragon Esubirn, I will destroy you!”, the elf promised. Esubirn was surprised to hear that.

  Esubirn was somewhat taken aback by the sudden proclamation. “Eh, what for, little bipedal?”

  Few seconds paused of silence. Only wind blew up clouds of dust.

  Finally, the woman spoke, “I really hoped you were dead, but I see you have been in hiding all this time. Are you prepared to die?” The elf lowered her hood and glared daggers at him, pointing the palm of her right hand at his face.

  Esubirn was curious and observed her with expectation.

  “Ehncakh!”, the elf screamed as her eyes widened and her voice warped with mana. Three rays formed instantly at her outstretched palm and flew towards Esubirn, causing dust to fly all over the empty land.

  The rays emitted peculiar soundwaves that might be described as oscillations between low and high vibrations as they travelled. Their appearance was a mix that was 80 percent rainbow-looking and 20 percent spiraling dark blue mana. They collided with Esubirn's giant body but did not appear to inflict any damage on him.

  “What a nice, colorful spell. But what is it's purpose?”, the dragon commented.

  The elf didn't seem deterred. A couple dozen small dark blue spheres appeared around her hand and then became rays that attacked Esubirn. The sound that each ray made was quite fear-inducing indeed, more so than the previous attack.

  She looked on as her attack again had no discernible effect on her enemy. Her eyes narrowed. The two said nothing for a couple seconds. Esubirn merely watched her, seeking nothing much except entertainment, while the elf pondered what should her next course of action be.

  Should she try more spells, perhaps, or flee and try her luck after more training?

  Here fate had given her an opportunity to kill one she hated the most, handed to her on a silver platter, really. Probably, it would make more sense for her to press on. Fate was in her favour, after all, why else would it cause her to stumble on Esubirn randomly in the middle of nowhere?

  “Well, little elf, any more interesting spells you can showcase?”

  The elf slowly walked to the right, circling his enormous figure.

  “Tell me, Esubirn, what have you been up to these last few thousand years?” She asked this question calmly.

  “Oh. A short nap took I. How about you? I imagine your little live has been much more eventful, given the difference in our–”, Esubirn said but he didn't finish before an eardrum-bursting sound overpowered the volume of his voice.

  An enormous ray of dark mana suddenly appeared in some distance in front of him and travelled in his direction. From all sides then yellow lightning-like energy moved towards him from above. It was evident that the elf was dabbling in magic of questionable natures, because the enormous ray of dark maana she summoned, which was perhaps more than one fourth the size of Esubirn, was clearly black in nature, and even just looking at it from afar might cause someone to enter a state of utter despair.

  The ground around the two blackened.

  The lightning-like spell bounced off of Esubirn and sank into the ground. Still, the dragon seemed completely unscathed.

  All the spells the elf had used now could destroy cities, or nations, really, easily.

  Well, at least it was now obvious exactly what the legends her people mentioned back five thousand years ago when they still lived meant when mentioning Esubirn, it being an unyielding force of destruction which doesn't destroy the world merely because of it's will.

  This elf had lived for more than five thousand years and now possessed an enormous power which she could use to destroy vast areas of land and inflict countless terror on it's inhabitants yet none of what she now tried did anything to harm the ancient Esubirn. Even after perfecting her sorcery for millenia, she still seemed outmatched by the mythical entity.

  A short laugh escaped her lips.

  “After you killed my people, I trained myself long years to kill you. This is unfair,” she complained.

  Esubirn titled his head to the side at her words. ”What does me killing your people have to do with you proclaiming your desire to kill me?”

  The elf let out another laugh, looking up at him incredulously. “What do you mean? What if I came to your home and killed all your friends, what would you do?”

  Esubirn looked at her questioningly. “My reaction if you came to my home and killed my friends?”

  “Exactly! You understand now, don't you, you dunderhead?”

  “I don't get the point you're trying to make,” Esubirn replied as if he had no comprehension of what the elf meant, “And don't call me dunderhead, I am very smart, just for your information.”

  “Y-you don't understand, huh?”

  For some reason, this apparent total lack of the ability to comprehend the reason for her goal on Esubirn's side lead to various emotions bubbling up in her mind. She took a couple steps back, breaking into tears.

  “Huh?”, Esubirn muttered. He tilted his head at her. Crying was a behavior he was familiar with, usually the little bipedal animals did that whenever he had fun destroying their settlements. He kinda assumed they did it to help moisturize their faces because of the heat of his fire, but apparently this wasn't necessarily the case. Perhaps the air here was dryer than usual or something? A lot of hypothesis his scientific brain could work on.

  The black-haired elf tried to stop crying. She wiped her eyes, and through tears that weren't stopping despite her efforts, asked the dragon, “W-well, w-what are you u-up t-to now, Esu-birn?” as she looked up at him, her blue eyes obscured by tears and her hands.

  “Well. I was going to burn down a town called Preula but a guy told me it no longer exists. So now I'm going to Euma.”

  The elf's demeanor changed subtly, not that Esubirn took note of that. “Oh, I see”, she said. “Just so y-you know, Preula is the name of the country and that o-other word is… well, it's a derogatory name for the s-same.”

  Esubirn stared at her for a moment. The elf's crying levels seemed to decrease. “Oh, I see.”, he said.

  “I see you met someone on your way here. Did you make a friend?”, the elf asked.

  “Sure! Just met a wolf, his name was Daser! We parted ways best buddies, you see”, Esubirn said with satisfaction.

  “I see. And what is this Daser guy doing now?”

  Esubirn scratched his head, “A most fair question! Well, I would theorize that he is hunting for food now, perhaps resting after the strenuous repetitive activity of digging a hole and then burrying it again.”

  For some reason the elf looked curious as if she wanted to ask something else as well but she refrained and said instead, “Well, Esubirn, I really wanna watch you burn Preula to the ground, sounds kinda fun, you know? Can I come with you?”

  Esubirn seemed enthusiastic at this idea and responded with, “Oh, a wonderful thought! Well, I will meet you there!” He soared up into the sky, ready to fly towards the town or the country or whatever the little bipedals called Preula.

  “Wait!”, the elf shouted.

  He looked down at the ground and descended. “Yeah? What's up, elf?”

  The elf looked at him with annoyance. “You realize I can't follow your speed, yes? Take me with you.”

  Esubirn said, “Right, right. I guess it would take you a while to walk ‘til there, I understand that.”

  “Well, I will move on top of your head now, if you don't mind”

  “Haa, why are you so attracted to my head? Does it resemble a tasty fruit or something?”

  The elf deftly maneuvered up his limb and settled on Esubirn'a giant head.

  “What do you mean, ‘attracted to your head’?” she asked lightly as she settled down, her expression very thoughtful and concentrated.

  Esubirn took off. “Daser also wanted to climb my head. I am getting a little curious about the scientific explanation for this apparent tendency of your species to climb my head”

  “No one has a ‘tendecy to climb your head’! It's easier to hold on to, especially now.”, the elf said with irritation.

  “You mean, now that we are flying?”, Esubirn asked with curiosity. “Okay, I understand! Mystery solved, but what a boring answer it is”, he complained. “I was kinda considering whether it's time to make a thesis entitled ‘Why bipedals seem attracted to dragon heads’. Well, anyway, on to burn Pleura!”

  The elf gave no verbal response at first, but she appeared concerned, not that Esubirn could see that. “Sometimes, the solution is something simple,” she said without enthusiasm.

  “I know, right! I am always happy to learn new things!”