dragons of tind [https://dragonshortstories.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/img_4635.png]
Many things contributed to the dragon war. One of them was Tind, a commune of dragons meant for crossbreeding to create specific dragons. Tind was named for the many fire dragons that lived there.
Tind was a government-controlled area that kept dragon shifters locked within a forest that was guarded by military soldiers. Spearheaded by the North American and Canadian governments, Tind was also meant to strengthen their ties with Italy. This was to help create positive perception of dragons because at this time American and Canadian media was inundated with propaganda against dragons in recent years.
Tind itself was surrounded by a barrier meant to keep most flying dragons out, a suspicious feature that alarmed the royal family, but they agreed to it nonetheless. Dragons have crafty was of infiltrating anywhere. Why worry?
Previous presidents treated the project with respect, but President O’Shelly, the newest president, used the project to his own benefit. Every night a client of the black market would come to Tind for a trade: one pitcher of Juice from a dragon. 38% of the money went to O’Shelly, 40% went to the top military officials while the rest went to maintaining Tind.
Several hatchlings would go missing—usually hatchlings with rapid growth cycles. Italian intel reported adult dragons matching the hatchlings’ descriptions were found in military battles in other countries. Ashuton himself met with one of these dragons—a Gracefulwing with a broken horn. He couldn’t speak but communicated through drawings. Pictures of a dragon strapped down, people in white coats surrounding him. Written repeatedly on the drawing was “hurt, hurt, hurt.”
Ashuton’s heart wept for this dragon who had his early days ripped from him. Did he even know the warmth of a parent?
Ashuton envelops him in a gentle embrace, telepathically broadcasting his feelings to the wounded wyrm. “You are safe now,” he told him, over and over.
“You are safe.”
Aronne sent two of his friends to check the wellness of Tind. Li Yen, who served in a Ming Dynasty war, and Kyrylo, a survivor of World War Two.
O’Shelly had the dragons threatened to act on their best behavior. They weren’t immortal, he could threaten them in many ways. When the draconic emissaries arrived, they were given a personal tour by O’Shelly. Things seemed normal. Dragons were outside doing their daily duties: tending to their crops and gardens, hanging clothes out to dry, keeping an eye on their children as they played, or bartering at the market.
“This is great and all,” Li Yen said, “but I want to speak with the dragons myself.”
“Of course!” O’Shelly replied and walked with Li Yen for a moment. Wait a minute…
Li Yen stopped, “I would like to speak with them alone.”
“Oh…”
Li Yen continued onward while O’Shelly stood there, dumbfounded.
Li Yen met with Juan, a wyrm who told him about what was going on and to be quiet about it until they got help. Li Yen was caught leaving Juan’s cottage, and at the same time another dragon came out of the forest shouting. She was shaking, teary-eyed and trembling.
“We are suffering here! They use us for their gains!” She shook Li Yen as hard as she could, “save us!”
The sound of gunshots rung, and the pleading dragoness went limp. A young soldier had panicked and couldn’t figure out a faster way to silence her.
“What did you do???” one of the soldiers shouted to him.
“I-I-I had to! She… she…” the young soldier stammered as coherent words refused to form.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Li Yen shifts into his dragonself. Kyrylo, feeling Li Yen’s desperation and shifting, also switches into his dragonself. The soldiers held their fire.
Li Yen asked O’Shelly to tell the truth about Tind. Instead, O’Shelly puts on a mask and orders the soldiers to use Copperminer rounds—deadly minerals to a certain species of dragon. Li Yen warns O’Shelly, but the soldiers continue to reload their clips.
Li Yen, furious at this little human’s arrogance, roars and showers the soldiers with fire as they shoot him. Kyrylo flies upward and grabs Li Yen with his claws. He takes a few bullets to his wings and is unable to break past Tind’s barrier—which is strange because Kyrylo is part of the flying dragon species that can get past the barrier. More bullets hit him but he’s able to shield Li Yen by sitting on him.
The soldiers draw closer. Kyrylo takes flight again, this time pushing against the barrier repeatedly until he was able to shatter it for a few seconds, long enough to get him and Li Yen out.
O’Shelly sighed, “time for Nightfall.”
Li Yen and Kyrylo were treated at the Karrucci Estate, personally healed by Aronne. The bullets were extracted by a few servants. The emperor nestled against the duo, emitting soft vibrations to facilitate tissue regrowth. Kyrylo delivered the news about Tind’s truth and Li Yen gave a detailed report about what Juan told him.
Ashuton revoked the United States’ access to Tind and shut them down. That same day he said he would travel to America to retrieve the dragons.
When O’Shelly received word of the cancellation, he allowed his pettiness to take hold. He had already gathered a team of humans and dragon-humans he controlled and took the quickest flight to the Tind compound. No one understood why he was rushing or why he was bringing military.
“Nightfall is the last option,” he said to one of the generals.
They touched down outside Tind and O’Shelly finally told them what they would do: terminate all subjects. There were gasps—questions, even! Why kill the innocent? He had a perfect excuse. None would dare question him because he is the president, and the president is always right!
“The dragons within are tainted, just like the dragons in Italy. Ashuton just shut down our operations. No doubt he’s going to claim these dragons and have any army under his control big enough to set America on fire.”
These lies would be weak on their own, had it not been for anti-dragon propaganda that leaked into the American news and media over time.
The dragons had been prepared to fight. Juan was leading them.
Everyone wanted to feel the freedom, and they all rebelled against the militants. The children and teenagers fought alongside their parents, each of them varying in sizes and fighting prowess. The soldiers were given orders to refrain from shooting the “products,” but when one of them started to open fire, the rest of them followed. The young ones, inexperienced in the art of war, were the first ones to be shot without mercy. The dragon-shifters of Tind weren’t allowed any type of education in Dragonism, so they never knew techniques like speed slowing—wherein a dragon can slow incoming attacks—existed, but they had proper knowledge about their homeworld’s culture. They dreamed of being with their cousins and living the life a Dragon should be living, but they were confined to a town guarded by their worst nightmares.
The fighting waged on, but the dead outnumbered the living. The raining sound of bullets and shell cases was a hollow and frightening sound of bewilderment to anyone listening from a distance. One little dragonchild tried to use the power of Hynodii to deflect an attack on his Mother, singing to create a barrier around her, but his little powers couldn’t hold it. Three bullets was all it took to send the child tumbling to the ground.
When the Officials escaped the hell of battle, the few hundred civilians were cornered at gunpoint. Things were in silent tension for a whole week.
Word had spread about Tind and O’Shelly was impeached from the White House and his presidency. He retreated to one of the many ghost islands off the coast of Italy, which was a fatal choice. He gave the order for the militants left under his command to assassinate anything living in that village. Every wyrm man, woman and hatchling were to be executed. No shifters left alive. That night the civilians were gathered by the firefly pond. Some cuddled by their family members for comfort, while others gave warning stares at their assassinators.
The general gave the order, “Ready, Aim, FIRE!”
The sound of a hundred gunshots sounded all at once, and the remaining dragon-shifters of Tind were killed, execution style, and none were left alive.
The next morning, one of the Officials returned with Ashuton, Aaron and a few other dragon princes, but were too late to stop the slaughter. The dragons in Tind village were dead. All of them, in human and dragon forms, were dead in their own pool of blood and spilled organs. Ashuton discovered the executed civilians by the pond, and the sight sent his mind reeling. They were lifeless shells, their eyes were puffy from tears of fear and their skulls shattered by bullets.
Prince Ashuton cared deeply for every dragon he birthed. Every egg that came from his body was filled with his love, and to see his own children DEAD, executed and dismembered was like a punch to his heart. This was probably the three-thousandth time he’d seen something like this in the twenty-year period. Dragons were being treated poorly for ages. He couldn’t stand it anymore. He had to bring his children out of the darkness.