It was a sunny, warm day in Alm, and you were still a child. On that day, you had gotten lost, despite you parents' warnings. Your parents told you not to wander too far into the forest, or else a dragon would come and eat you. Of course you didn't listen, everyone knows dragons aren't real.
As you walked in circles (you swear you passed the same tree three times now) you start to smell something bitter-sweet. As a Wolfan, you pride yourself on your sense of smell (ignoring that you couldn't smell your home at all). And yet, this smell in particular was strange; it was too artificial, and worst of all, you did not recognize it.
Curiosity filled that young brain of yours, so you followed the scent. Within three steps, you came upon a clearing in the forest. There, a cottage, strangely shaped, with an 'open' sign. A store, though you did not know of what. But maybe the person inside could help you go home.
Stepping in, you were bombarded by hundreds of tiny little smells. The faint bitterness of bad tea, right next to sweet, perfectly brewed tea. A strange rotten smell, though not of sewage or corpses, but of old books and wet logs. And most notably, the smell of a raven hiding above you... or maybe that's a crow?
A loud thump snaps you out of your musings. In front of you is an old lady... you're not quite sure of their race. They start talking in an unfamiliar, raspy language, before coughing. Suddenly, their voice is smooth, comforting Brivian.
"Welcome to my bookstore. I have everything you want, need, and hate. So, what are you here for?"
You nod, glancing at the giant bookshelf behind her. (how had you not noticed such a large thing?) You knew your parents would be worried, so you decided against any curious questioning. You asked for a map home, though in retrospect, you never told her where your home was. Despite this, the old librarian reached into the bookshelf and handed you a large book.
It was filled with hundreds of maps, ranging anywhere from the whole world (or at least the 4 main continents), to the specific location of every tree within this forest (though it was horribly outdated). However, as you were looking for the one that would lead you home, you saw a strange map with an even stranger subtitle. 'Map of dragons.' There was a singular red dot in Mount Ouroboros.
Curiosity is a dangerous instinct. But of course, as a child, you did not know that. And so, without restraint, you asked the librarian about the map. They nodded and reached into the bookshelf, but as they handed you another large book, they chastised you.
"Aren't you supposed to be heading home soon? Your parents will be worried, and the sun is already halfway to setting."
For a moment, you swore the title had the word 'dragon' in it, but looking again it says 'How the story ends'. Shrugging, you thank the librarian and begin reading it, forgetting about the dwindling time. Despite the apparent thickness of the book, it was quite short.
'As the battle's last remnant faded, the survivors celebrated their victories. Vildra celebrated her survival and victory over the hundreds of dragons. Her cheer was only enhanced by the news of the dragons' extinction. Liberos celebrated just as hard, though there was a sad undertone, as if uncertain of a friend's fate. The Esmos, on the other hand, were euphorically ecstatic. For they had done their duty as Vildra's family; refused to let her die. Aesmo's evolution was simply a bonus to their happiness.
Within the plane of minds, two angels and a demon share a dining table. Across from them, a hundred dragons try their best to entertain the three, hoping to be spared from destruction. Unfortunately, there was no one to prepare the food, and so the angels and demon were forced to feast on their entertainers. Worst of all, they didn't have enough salt, and so had to conjure an ocean to dip their food into.
Then, as a final celebratory surprise, Tildra sent a loving letter to her daughter and their new family. Liberos was relieved, Cesmo was laughing, and Vildra started a group hug; not the hug of dragons, but the hug of an immortal family.
The extinction of dragons was realized slowly. The first day went unnoticed. The first week raised suspicion. The first month filled with confusion and anxiety. By the end of the first year, everyone couldn't deny it; dragons had disappeared.
No one really knew how to react. While the peace was welcomed, the power vacuum left behind was unstable. Over time, it would be filled by tyrants and lords and good kings and fools and... it matters not anymore.
Within a hundred years, people started to forget about dragons. Within 500 years, dragons were mostly remembered by poorly maintained documents. By 2000 years, dragons were known more from myths and legends than as actual creatures. And now, all that remains of dragons are inconsistent descriptions from fragments of retold myths, and the few fossils that prove they existed, at the very least.
Yet, there is a rumor that outlasted every myth; in Mount Ouroboros there lives a dragon, who shall gift you riches if you can reach them. To this day, many claim to have seen a dragon fly out from the peak, just below the laser eye. If only Aesmo wasn't wrapped around the base; then someone would've climbed the mountain a long time ago.'
As you finish reading, a cup of tea is placed in front of you. Yet, looking up, no one is there. The room is quite dark now. On the desk where the librarian was, a 'closed' placard shines into your eyes. You were distracted for too long.
Running out of the bookstore, you find the sun half set. A faint rosy smell signals you mother, which you run towards. From that day onwards, you never wandered into the forest alone.
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Back home, next to your bed, you found a book. You swear it was the same book you read, 'How the story ends', and yet the title had changed. You opened it, and a letter dropped out of it.
"I shall reward your curiosity. This is her story."
That was the moment you started reading 'Diary of a Mining Dragon'.
Hm? Who am I? Why am I narrating your own backstory to you? Well, let's begin with the first question. I am Cesmo, yes, the same Cesmo. I'm here to answer those curious questions you have! So, what's your first question?
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"What happened to the Grandmother (Lapis Miltos)"
Well, they went hunting for one of the last angels still alive, named Rephantasia. Rephantasia managed to trap Lapis in a mind palace, where her memories slowly deteriorated. Lapis was prepared for that tough, looping a recording of their name and objective. At some point, the recording breaks, leaving Lapis with only the objective to escape the mind palace.
After a few thousand years, Lapis barely has any memories left, and even her cognition started getting damaged. Luckily, Rephantasia let her out in order to trap Vildra. When Vildra got trapped, she dropped her diary. Lapis, who managed to keep a single memory of 'I wrote about myself in my diary', saw the diary Vildra dropped, read it, and assumed they were Vildra.
The Esmos were not fooled by her misunderstanding, and captured her. Then, when Vildra came back, she didn't know the captured dragon pretending to be her was her own grandmother, and ate her. Now that I say that out loud, it sounds like quite the tragedy.
...
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Arthor's retropsective;
That's the end of this story. Honestly, I wanted to end it sooner, but also didn't want it to end. The only reason I ended it is because I hate stories that don't have a proper ending. I already had an ending in mind since the third chapter, and the dragon war was supposed to end climatically with Aesmo and the other Esmos fusing into a titan and eating Uildra before she casts a powerful spell. The problem was that it felt like a deus ex machina, as I barely even mentioned the titans at that point.
So I rewrote that section into what it now is. It gave me time to build up the context and foreshadowing and stuff needed for the real ending. But I felt like starting the ending too soon was a bad idea since a climactic moment just happened. So I just focused on the monthly shenanigans of Vildra and Esmos, such as finding out how quartz works, and death rays.
And then the time skip happened. One of those 'love it or hate it' things that I personally don't hate. Sure, it was sudden, but It gave me an excuse to move the world forward in time without Vildra causing another war. The problem was that I wrote it right around when college started. I didn't write for a few weeks, and when I came back, I was less coordinated. As a result, I focused less on the 'slice of life' elements that I cared about initially.
I chose around that time to start building towards the ending. I needed to give context, pass through a few different arcs such as Vildra's initial transformation, and foreshadow through Liberos. In the end, 'slice of life' suffered in favor of lore and story and stuff, which I already regret. Everything after the time skip should've lasted for a decade at least, but instead was condensed to within 4 years. And in the end, the ending was unsatisfactory, I rushed it too much and swapped Povs too often.
Well, at least I know how to improve things if I ever do a rewrite. Assuming I ever will.
Now from here on, I'll be talking about how I came up with the story and stuff:
It all started with a conversation with a friend; "Why do dragons have hoards of gold?"
We ended up arguing about what the first dragon was, and if the hydra counted as a dragon or not, and if Chinese dragons have hoards. Though we agreed that most of the time, dragon hoards are stolen goods.
Then I though, "What if a dragon's hoard isn't stolen at all? What if it was 100% from the dragon's own efforts? Oh shit, what if a dragon mined all their gold!?" And so I came up with the idea of a mining dragon.
When I tried writing it though, I realized that mining isn't exactly the most exciting thing to write about. So then, let's just make it slice-of-life! The mining is only a part of the story, and the more interesting parts will be about the dragon dealing with dragon problems and stuff.
So I wrote a first draft of a dragon's life in first and third person. It sucked. No matter what, it was too slow. Which felt ironic, since I already had the idea that dragons lived for a long time. They don't care how long something takes, they have a thousand years to do it. I needed some time=skips, but that's risky. They might be too jarring, or they might miss important moments, or etc...
I needed some way to tell the story that included timeskips and could excuse missing lots of details and events while still maintaining the feeling of non-human pov stories. And then I had the idea of making it the dragon's diary. And it worked out.
The dragons in the story started as normal western dragons, but I hated it cause it felt too normal. I decided 'whatever these dragons are, they're not the dragons [you] know'. And so I never describe them, gave them 6 wings, the ability to temporarily transform into (up to) 4 legged 8 armed creatures, and left it at that.
The whole 'desire' thing was an unintended side effect of mentioning that Vildra didn't care about money despite seemingly everyone else caring (she assumed it was an adult thing). This was partially based on my own experience with not understanding romance or sexual attraction, assuming it was an adult thing (turns out I'm ace). Fun fact, I have no idea what people even mean when they call someone attractive or hot, everyone just looks the same to me.
Anyways, I guess the unintended message with desires and stuff is to accept others and yourself as they are, especially when it isn't hurting anyone. Oh fuck, is this queer coding? I had many different ideas about how to turn Vildra's lack of desire relevant to the story, but hated all of them cause it completely removed the individuality of Vildra and made her into either a victim, or someone who should change, which isn't the best message for myself.
On an unrelated note, Vildra being a cannibal was another unintended side effect. It went like this; bastards are basically half-dragons. Eating bastards technically isn't cannibalism. "Hey Vildra, why the fuck do you know that?" Short answer, she's a cannibal. Why? She likes the taste + manacus (everyone else who taste dragon flesh hates it).
Next, Aesmo's very existence started as a meme. I don't think I'm legally allowed to say why, but just know that the Esmos exist because of a meme. Cesmo is herself a meme, referencing the 'no one will believe you' talking animal meme. Eesmo has incredible stealth abilities because I don't know how to pronounce her name (e-esmo? e-smo? idk). Uesmo, Wesmo, and Xesmo never show up in the story.
My favorite minor character is Brildlid. Dude encountered Vildra 3 separate times, and made deals twice. He's definitely a legend for his bravery. Second favorite is Sarah the Scylla, she has more character than the dragon lords.
On a related note, fuck the dragon lords. I don't even know their names. They don't deserve to be remembered for the absolute shit they made me suffer through. I never should've made the dragon lord council a thing. Such a disappointment on all aspects.