Banished
A brave mountain climber had just finished scaling a part of the mountain, and had stopped to set up camp on the flat space he had just found. He pulled out a flashlight; the sun was quickly sinking below the horizon. As the beam of light cut through the darkness, it found a cave. The climber noticed the cave was perfectly tucked away. One of the best places I could have found to spend the night, especially since it might rain! the climber thought to himself. He set up his small camping equipment around the cave and his sleeping gear inside, then quickly fell asleep, as a day of climbing had exhausted him. So exhausted, in fact, that he didn’t notice the low, deep, growling sound that started a few hours after he had fallen asleep. When the sun arose, only a deserted climber’s camp remained, and a single claw mark in the rock - perhaps meant as a warning.
“You can't just sit there, doing nothing! This is the fourth death this month alone!”
“I’m doing all I can, Mrs. Blexli.”
“Well, it's not enough.”
“Remember to whom you are speaking with.”
“Apologies, Your Majesty.”
“I’ll send people to thoroughly investigate, if it makes you feel any better.”
“It would.”
Mrs. Blexli respectfully bowed and left the room. Emperor Gaodi sighed and called for his head guard. “Send a troop of twenty-some to find the cause of these deaths. Last we heard, they mostly occurred in the Himalayas.”
“Sir, yes, sir.” The Head Guard quickly walked out, ready to alert his troops of their task. What have I gotten myself into? Emperor Gaodi thought to himself. Never a day’s rest for an Emperor.
Outside, a goose followed the Head Guard. “Okay, men, we’ve been asked to investigate a series of deaths in the Himalayas. Pack your bags, and get ready to go. We will eliminate this threat to our kingdom. But, before we leave tonight, send up offerings to the yellow dragon, the dragon of imperial authority.”
“Yes, sir!”
The goose honked, being the goose it was. She felt bad for the poor dragon who had twenty soldiers coming straight to her lair. Well, it's obviously a dragon, what else could make such a large claw mark? Oh! Look! A vibrant patch of grass! Yum! The goose, Matilda did not have a long attention span. It was about as short as the blink of an eye. But, this time, she remembered that she needed to warn this poor dragon, before she was killed or worse, banished. To be banished was the worst possible fate for a dragon. You would lose total control of your element, all of the other dragons’ respect for you, and be, obviously, banished to the NoLands, the unconquered lands full of looting bandits and rogue killers. Matilda shuddered thinking about it. Oh! Look! A vibrant patch of grass! Yum! How didn’t I notice this before? Matilda’s memory wasn’t very good, either. It looks like the Grass Dragon blesses this area! Dragon….Oh! I must warn the dragon in the mountains! Matilda flew off in a flurry of feathers.
Deep in a cave inside the Himalayas, Xilang the dragon, who hadn’t seen the sun for years, sat restlessly. With scales as black as a shadow that had a certain blue-green-purple-gold glimmer if you tilted your head. A long, scaly tail wrapped around a stalagmite. Dilong, the dragon of the underground had allowed her to stay here for a while, as long as she continued to bless places he specifically picked out. She had agreed, having nowhere else to go.
She jolted up with a start, when she heard a loud honking coming in from the mouth of the cave. I’m going to kill that goose one day! she thought irritatedly. She moved herself up to the cave to see what Matilda wanted.
“Honk! Honk!” Matilda was seriously getting on her nerves.
“Are you ever quiet, Matilda?”
“Have you ever considered growing some lovely grass up here?”
“Is that what you came to tell me?”
“Yes. No. Maybe. I don’t remember. Have you ever considered growing some grass up here? It would look nice.”
“Matilda! No grass! Forget the grass! Try to remember what you wanted to tell me.”
“Tell you...tell you...Oh! The emperor sent some soldiers to see why that other climber, that you ate, disappeared. Also-”
“NO! I DON’T WANT GRASS UP HERE!”
“Geez, I was going to suggest some decorations. Like, a bench, or some flowers.”
“Wait, soldiers are coming? To this mountain?!”
“Yeah. And, do you want to hear my opinion?”
“Sure, Matilda,” she said tiredly, hoping that she had good advice, for once, on how to defend against the soldiers.
“I think that some grass would look nice over there,” Matilda pointed to a barren rock next to the cave entrance. Xilang lunged for Matilda, yelling,”GET OUT OF HERE!”
After Matilda had flown away, Xiliang drew back into her cave. If the soldiers come here, and find me, I’m done for. I could definitely kill them, but what happens then? They send the rest of the army after me to kill the “murderous, blood-thirsty dragon.” I can’t flee, they’ll see me. I don’t have any options. Other than to turn myself in, which always ends up in Banishment. They don't care, anyways. A loss of the oil dragon is of no issue to them. I've got it! If they are to kill me, then I will make oil hard for them to obtain. Only once every thousands of year can oil be found. Let them remember me every time they run out of fuel.
Xilang felt the vibrations of a small army approaching and braced herself for the worst. Thud, thud, thud...