Inside the cave, the sun rays propagated from the entrance and refracted through piles of coins and jewels scattered here and there, hitting a vast red-scaled body still coming up from slumber. Their energy gave the enormous creature a pleasant sensation, which was connected to his body getting the necessary heat to live another day as an apex predator. The creature opened one eye and raised his head, sniffing the air and getting the first drops of saliva inside his mouth. Fresh mountain breeze, shining sun and smell of live prey: for Rivkar the red dragon, that smelt like another good day in his vast personal territory.
After making a big yawn, Rivkar got up. Despite being considerably hungry, he couldn’t not begin the day by admiring his personal hoard. An ocean of glittering gold surrounded the dragon in its splendid shininess, with the occasional glitter of ruby, emerald and other colorful stones. So big to even rival his own height, and he was as tall as a pine tree.
Now though, the rumble from his stomach was so loud, it echoed through the cave. Regretfully, Rivkar turned his back to his precious and sniffed the air more in depth to get the prey’s direction-
Then he smelt another kind of prey, one way more annoying.
Humans?
His heart almost fell off. It had been centuries since the last time they had tried coming here! Indeed, Rivkar had even stopped hiring kobolds to guard his hoard after they had started becoming more of a nuisance than a necessity. If anything, he had given them a honorable end inside his belly. He didn’t want to go through the pain of finding new ones and leaving his hoard unattended! Why had humans suddenly decided to resume stealing from his hoard? Hadn’t he made himself clear enough ages ago?
With anger in his heart, he sniffed again, this time concentrated on that damn monkey scent. It wasn’t too close, but not far enough to not be ignored. His stomach begged to have them for himself, but Rivkar knew better: to prevent others from coming, he had to make sure they’d spread the message, and then eat the ones who’d come after. He walked out of the cave and spread his wings.
It didn’t take long to spot them out. But what horrified him the most was they were much more than he was used to. In ancient times, it was one, two, at most three, but now a whole dozen were standing on a rock cliff. However, the feeling was quickly replaced by bewilderment as the humans turned out to have nothing metallic on them. Many held something on their hands, keeping it above their heads. But the most strange thing was they were making enthusiastic noises. Were they so willing to be eaten? But Rivkar had to review that thought when their enthusiasm turned into panic as he got close. The humans stopped raising those strange objects above their heads, and many screamed, fleeing. That reassured the dragon: it was just what it was supposed to happen.
Rivkar landed on the ground, at a distance that was big enough to show them they would survive if they just left. The fact they were on the top of a rock also let them be at his head’s same height. Some were using that strange object again, and strong, irritating lights came out of some of them.
“STOP THOSE LIGHTS!” Rivkar roared. All the humans stopped using the object. “You may explain what brings you here. And I’ll let you know, that I can smell when you lie.”
One of the humans bravely made a step ahead, not before saying something Rivkar couldn’t understand: something that sounded like “Alright, no more photos with flash!”. Then he turned to the dragon.
“You do not have to worry. We came here only to see you.”
Rivkar sniffed as much as he could to make sure he hadn’t missed any scent of lies, but none came. Now his mind was very confused, and he didn’t like it.
“See me? Why would you want to see me? Haven’t I terrorized your kind enough?”
“Because we have passed through that!” The human said with a ridiculous wide smile in his face. “Gone are the days when creatures like yours were demonized as bloodthirsty monsters. People today have a green sensibility, and ecotourism is booming!”
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“Green what? Eco what? Speak clear!”
“Forgive me. What I mean is, we no longer see you as a threat, instead we are committed to protect key species like yours, and the environment that hosts you. And to do it better, we offer wildlife watching tours to give the unique opportunity of seeing them in real life!”
No, still no smell of lies. But the dragon’s mind was a confused pastiche of foreign concepts. A very irritating feeling.
“Let me guess this straight. You come here and bring other humans here...just to see me?”
“Yes.”
“Are you aware I killed plenty of humans in the past?”
“But that was the past. We’ll never come inside your cave, or made any other behavior that could disturb you.”
“How do I know it?”
“See this?” The human indicated with his finger a badge on his chest, which said Authorized Hiking Guide. “I do this for a job. I get paid to bring them here and see creatures like you, and it’s my duty to make sure nobody causes any disturb to-”
“Wait,” Rivkar abruptly interrupted him. The human had said a very, very interesting word that could change everything. “They pay you to see me?”
“Yes! Their money helps us in protecting the environment where you l-”
“Well, why didn’t you tell me earlier!” The dragon boomed. “If these humans are willing to give gold only to see me, I’ll gladly let them. I can’t believe you used to steal gold...how have you changed in centuries!”
The human now looked agitated, and so were his companions. Some were holding their hands.
“Hem...what I meant is...they pay me, and the money goes to defending this-”
“I meant what I meant,” the dragon growled, making sure his fangs were visible.
“Oh...yes, yes, of course! How much?”
“Don’t worry, I’m reasonable. Just a small offer will be fine for today. You can use the rest for defending my territory.”
The human nodded, a single sweat drop running through his front. Then he turned back to the rest of the group. “Well, gentleman, if you please...I’ll make sure you’ll get refunded when we’re back at the camp!”
Obsequiously, all the humans left an offer of coins at the edge of the cliff. Rivkar watched in great satisfaction as they paid homage to him. This was the beginning of a new era! An era where humans wouldn’t be a nuisance, but an aid to make his hoard grow even faster!
“Hem, one last thing, Mr Dragon…”
“Rivkar.”
“Alright, Rivkar...could we take a photo with you?”
“A what?”
“Oh, hem, I’ll show you. Guys, group selfie! Get all behind him.”
The humans then behaved in a strange way. They all gathered at the same spot and turned their backs behind him. Then the humans Rivkar had talked to extracted the object that emitted that annoying light.
“ARE YOU TRYING TO BLIND ME?”
“No, no! I turned the flash off. I’ll show you later, I promise, it’s harmless!”
The dragon could finally see the other side of the object. It showed the exact the group of humans, exactly where they were, and he appeared behind them – just as if it was water.
“What…”
“Done!” The human exclaimed, and the others turned back again. “Look here, Rivkar!”
He got closer to his hand, which was holding that strange object. A still picture of the humans with him behind was showing off.
“What is…”
“It’s a phone. It can do many things, including taking photos. It captures a moment in a certain place forever.”
“Interesting.”
“I can show you many other interesting things, if you allow me to return regularly.”
“As long as you pay me,” the dragon replied. He wouldn’t certainly miss that golden opportunity.
“Of course, of course,” the human said, shaking a little bit.
***
One year later, Rivkar had never enjoyed humans so much. Not as a meal, but as actual useful beings.
Sure, having to show himself in front of that cliff once every three days was getting annoying, but the reward was immense. The groups of humans were getting bigger and bigger, and when they left, he got amazing piles of coins to add to his hoard, and if that was a lucky day, even jewels, cups and shining colorful stones! He didn’t know what had made humans change so radically, but he didn’t worry too much about it. His cave had never been so plentiful! They even had hired for him a pair of humans to guard his cave when he was outside – they called them ‘rangers’, but ‘hoard protectors’ sounded much better in his opinion.
Sometimes he wondered whether other creatures could start doing the same. Of course, prey species were out of question since he still needed to eat, but maybe wolves or eagles? He only had to try. One day or another, he should pay a visit to a wolf pack and see what would happen.
He would think about it tomorrow. Another day of showing himself off had passed, and his paws were full as always. The hoard protectors saluted him as he landed with a respectful “Greetings, Rivkar.”
“Greetings, protectors. You may now leave this place.” As much as he had started liking humans, he was still a solitary creature by heart, with no need for company other than his beloved hoard.
“Yes.” They never protested any of his orders, bless them. Rivkar proceeded to enter his home and threw the new loot into the giant pile that was taking his cave over. He didn’t mind...it was the best bed ever. He got comfortable on it and rolled on its shininess.
“Ohhh, yesssss!”