In a magic land from another universe, there were three brothers, seasoned adventurers who had travelled through mountains and oceans, caves and dungeons, in search of experience and excitement. Wandering and adventuring was their life, and the brothers were inseparable.
One day, returning from their last dungeon, they were walking in the direction of the closest village, where to get beds, some drinks and good music at the local tavern. While crossing a forest situated in the mountains, they noticed, below a large pine tree, something unusual. An object, that looked like a stone, but that couldn't be a stone: its color was of a brilliant emerald that no stone could ever hope to have, and its surface wasn't smooth, but like if it was covered in scales.
“What’s that?” said one of them in both alarm and amazement. None of them were sure, but still, it was the most beautiful thing they had ever seen. “How much do you think it’s worthy?” Questioned another one. “It looks like it’s been abandoned. Let's take it with us!”
But as he moved his first steps towards the beautiful object, that cracked unexpectedly. From a hole came a head, then four small paws, and then two wings, until from the stone, which had to be an egg, had hatched a small green dragon. The little creature watched the three brothers in curiosity, but not as much as they did. In all their years of adventures, never had they seen a dragon! The most legendary and of all creatures!
“Let’s kill it before it grows and slays men!” Proposed the first brother, a skilled ranger who had slain hundreds of dangerous and terrific monsters. His glorious sword was ready to do what it did best.
“Are you crazy? This is a great occasion!” replied the second, a professional rogue who had successfully looted thousands of pockets to sustain them in their journeys. “Let’s keep it and grow it as if it's ours, and we’ll have a dragon pet to love and who will fight for us!”
“Dragons are not pets, you foolish!” Said instead the third, a druid who knew better than anyone else the forest and its living spirits to guide them. “They belong to the mountains, and there it deserves to live. We should bring it to a dragon home, where it can grow as a dragon should.”
The other two brothers watched him in incredulity. “And how could we ever find their home and hope to go out alive?”
“If we respect them as we should, there is no reason we can't survive as we’ve always done.”
“But we’ll never find a dragon home! In all our travels, never did we! Keeping it with us is the best we can do, don't you think?” Smiled he, maliciously.
“Aaah, you idiots!” Cried the first. “You keep forgetting what it’s going to become once it grows: a lethal human eater!” Once again, he prepared his sword and raised it to the sky. “The only good dragon is a dead dragon!”
“How about we decide it like this, then?” The druid took his bag and extracted a game die they used to play with in taverns. “If the result is one or two, we’ll kill it. Three or four, we keep it as a pet. Five or six…”
“Don’t think you can fool us!” The ranger shouted. “You’ll rotate the die with one of your spells, so that the number you hope for will come out!”
“Then you can throw it, and I’ll keep my hands up, so I won’t perform any magic,” the druid answered. “How about that?”
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The other two brothers watched each other. “Only because I don’t want to argue,” the thief said. “I can’t wait to get to that damn village and have five beers! Let’s make it quick.”
So the ranger took the die and threw it, while the little emerald dragon watched them, begging to be fed with its large, yellow eyes. In the end, they all looked together at the result: a five.
“So, we’ll bring it back to where it belongs” the druid nodded satisfied. “Sorry, my dear. You’ll have to wait for drinking, but I promise I’ll pay you all the beers you’ll want next time.”
And so they kept travelling for the rest of the day, with the dragonlet in the hands of the druid, who would sing it lullabies, while the other two brothers watched in discomfort. The prospect of a long and difficult travel awaited for them, in the uncomfortableness of the cold mountains where the dragons were told to live.
That same night, while sitting in their campfire, just before getting ready to go to sleep, a powerful, majestic roar came from above their heads. The cold earth shook as the three brothers watched in terror and amazement, and a huge green dragon obscured the sight of the stars. The huge monster landed in front of them, its yellow eyes full of anger.
“YOU!” The dragon roared, with a mighty feminine voice. “You are the ones who stole my baby? You will pay this insult!” Smoke came from her nostrils. “You will pay it...with your LIFE!”
Of the three brothers, only the druid was not too petrified from fear to avoid acting. With a brave step ahead, he spoke to the furious dragon mother.
“We are not thieves,” he began, resisting the instinct of looking at his rogue brother, “we are here to return the baby to its kind. We have found it on a human path, and vowed to take care of it until we would find its parents.”
The dragon got closer. “Is it true? What would make me believe small mortals like you?”
“If we were thieves, we would have brought it to our home and kept it there, far away from other dragons. Instead, we decided to travel here.” He took the little dragon, who now was smelling the bigger version of itself. “Here it is. We give it to you, in peace.”
The eyes of the dragon mother became sweeter, until she lowered her head. “Fine. I believe you. I thank you for bringing my baby back.” Then she added, with an important tone: “You have helped a dragon. For this, one day you will be certainly repaid for this.”
But years passed, and the three brothers still had to wait how the dragon would repay them. Meanwhile, they had narrated that little adventure in every tavern they found, getting both admiration and criticism for their act. But they had met no more the dragon mother, nor her cub. Until in one of their new adventures, they were chased in the wild by a pack of deadly monsters. Tired and older, they were succumbing. The ranger had lost his force, the rogue was not the agile feline that he was, the druid’s spells didn’t connect him to his surroundings like before. The monsters were big and strong. They knew that would be their last adventure.
But when death was coming for them, as a monster jumping towards their direction, a powerful roar shook the ground...the same roar they had heard many years ago. The monsters ceased their attack, and they looked at the sky. It was the dragon mother they helped many years ago! She landed, and with a mighty fire spit, the monsters were defeated instantly, saving thus the three brothers.
As they ran to the dragon, full of joy and thankfulness, the dragon spoke, revealing not to be the mother they had met, but a male. “Finally, I have found you,” he grunted full of satisfaction.
The three brothers stopped running. “Who are you?”
The dragon lowered his head. “I am the dragon you rescued long ago. My mother used to tell me about the brave humans who found me and give me back to my kind, so that I could grow as a dragon. I have flown for a long time to meet my saviors.” He smiled content. “My gratitude is immense, and I’ll be glad to help you whenever you are in danger.”
The three brothers looked at each other for a long time, speechless. Then the druid laughed. “Ah! See that it was the best thing to do?” He turned to the dragon. “Thank you for rescuing us as well.”
So the three adventurers kept traveling, and their aging did nothing to their spirit, keeping finding wonderful treasures and incredible adventures, with the blessing of a dragon friendship on them.