I stopped in my tracks noticing a giant closed eyelid among the gold. I took a step back and stepped on some pebbles. The eyelid slowly opened revealing a glittering blue eye. The eye resembled a diamond, it was beautiful but hard, and devoid of emotions. It was a dragon.

“Who are you and why have you awoken me?” he said in a rich base that made my bones rumble. He got up to reveal his true size. He was easily 3 stories tall. What I though was gold turned out to be bright shining scales and the drapes were his wings.

“I am but a humble adventurer. I came to investigate the poising of our town’s river.” I said, trying to keep the fear out of my voice.

“Poisoning, what kind of poison?” he said in a deep rumble.

“The freshwater river has turned to salt water. Our crops and cattle are dying. I came to find the source but to no avail.” The dragon stared at me for a while. The expression on his face did not change but I could tell he was deep in though.

“It seems she has awakened” he finally said.

“Come we must find Aether, if she is awake the world will drown.” He stepped closer and picked up from the collar of my shirt and threw me onto his back.

“Wait my horse Arion, I can’t leave him.”

“He will find his way back to your town, he is already on his way. His harness broke and he ran off in fear.” The dragon spreads it golden wings making the lake look like a polished plate of gold. He launched himself into the air and flew through an opening in the roof. As we flew into the sky, many questions circle my head. Who was this ‘she’? Where was this dragon taking me? Who was he? I thought back to the myth and tried to remember the names of the dragons. The air dragon was Aether. The sea dragon was Tiamat, that left only Seb the earth dragon. The realization of who he was hit me hard. He was one of the ancient dragons and the ‘she’ he is talking about must be Tiamat, the strongest of the three. We travelled for a while until we reached a tall mountain.

The mountain was extremely tall and pierced the clouds. As we flew up ice cold wind brushed against my face. We flew through the white clouds and landed on a platform. The stone was smooth and looked like a pathway. I climbed off Seb’s back and entered Aether’s domain.

The first thing I noticed was how heavy the air was. It felt like I was breathing water. The next thing I noticed was the sky. It looked like a giant cathedral, made of roiling thunderclouds. The walls, the ceiling, even arches and buttresses, all looked like thunderclouds so dense that they appeared solid. In fact, even the floor was made of clouds. I panicked for a moment, then realized that the clouds felt even more secure than a regular stone floor.

Suddenly, the floor moved, it looked like something was emerging, and from the floor something that looked like a galaxy moved through the clouds, they clung to it like a cloak, and as more of this galaxy emerged, I realized, it was another dragon.

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Aether looked like a gigantic dragon made of galaxies, with spiraling nebulae contained within its wings. The spikes on its back were like sunbursts, and its tails looked like planetary rings.

His eyes shone like two stars, bright and magnificent. He was the opposite of Seb. Seb represented all the riches off the earth while Aether was the sky and all the wonders contained in it.

“It is good to see you again Seb, and welcome young traveler. But what brings you here?” He had a voice like rolling thunder that echoed through his domain. Seb looked at me before he answered his brother.

“Tiamat is awakening, this boy has witnessed the signs first hand.” Aether turned his head to look at me and the bright light of his eyes seemed to dim just slightly.

“Please explain what you saw young man.” I told Aether about the rivers that had turned to salt water. The dying of the crops and cattle. He was quiet for a long while. “It seems we have failed. Seb, have you told him the tale of Tiamat yet.”

“No, I have not. I waited to meet with you before telling it to him.” Seb answered. Aether nodded and turned to me and told me the tale of Tiamat.

Tiamat is the strongest of the three ancient dragons. She helped to create the world you now live in. When human life was starting to flourish Tiamat became bitter. She complained that humans would destroy the world, she had seen their fate in a vision. Her bothers ignored her and continued to help the humans grow. Tiamat grew distant, she started plotting a way the world could return to the way she wanted. She started turning freshwater streams into saltwater streams. All that live in and around the rivers perished. She was planning to create tidal waves big enough to consume all who lived, even her brothers. Seb and Aether caught wind of her plans and tried to stop her, but they were too weak. They put Tiamat in a dormant state to save the world they cared for. They knew the spell would not last, but there was nothing else they could do. Years have passed and Tiamat never woke. They started to relax and tried to forget the horrors.

I was shocked to the core, if these two magnificent creatures could not defeat her, what hope was there for humanity. My voice broke as I spoke. “I- Is there nothing we can do to stop her.” Seb and Aether looked at each other before Seb answered.

“We have spent years creating a seal that can contain her. The problem is that we cannot enter her domain. Tiamat has closed of her domain to us and only humans can enter. Her domain opens once a year to allow humans and animals to enter. This is how she gets her food.” I tried to stop my hands from shaking. I knew if Tiamat was allowed to wake up our whole world would perish.

“We will have to ask you, young traveller to go to Tiamat’s domain and stop her. This is a lot to ask, but we would be eternally grateful. We will lend you a fraction of our power, this should allow you to cast the seal.” Aether said in a sombre tone.

“How do you know this will work?” I snapped. “If the two of you could not even stop her, how am I, a mere mortal, supposed to stop her?” I was full of anger. They just met me and asked me to go on a mission and stop someone who even they could not stop. They were basically sending me to my death.

“We know this is a heavy burden we are placing on you, but there will not be time to find someone else, if you don’t do this everything in this world will die.” Seb sounded sad as he said this. I thought about my family back at home and how young my brother was. I did not want to die at such a young age. I walked out of Aether’s domain and looked over the landscape below. The green rolling hills and small steams would all be destroyed if Tiamat was not stopped. I took a deep breath and walked back in.

“I will do it, but I will need your help."