"Slaves, didn't I instruct you to lull him into sleep?" echoed the deep voice of the green dragon throughout the cave.

Trembling with fear, the man with the scar replied, "Master, we tried! We told him bedtime stories."

"What kind of stories?"

"Bedtime guardians meant to reassure the child—angels, unicorns, and..." Under the dragon mother's intimidating gaze, his voice faded to a mere whisper.

The mother dragon extended a claw, smeared with bits of flesh, "Useless lower beings."

The dwarf and the elf screamed and retreated, as the scarred man exclaimed, "No, I'm still of value! I still—"

But then, the mother dragon's movements stiffened, her wings slightly folded, and with a fierce swish of her tail, she turned around in the tight cave with the help of the tail's momentum. Her tail, like a scythe through wheat, swept off the heads of the humans and elves, and in the moment of touching the young dragon, the force softened, lifting the young dragon gently with the tip of her tail, then with all four limbs, she sprang out of the cave.

Only then did the two bodies fall to the ground. The dwarf touched the top of his head, incredulous that his short stature had saved him. At that moment, he noticed a crack in the stone above, through which a sliver of light seeped.

Two seconds later, the crack widened rapidly, and a blazing column of light shone directly to the bottom of the cave, enveloping the dwarf in intense heat, vaporizing him instantly without even a scream.

The mother dragon, with her offspring, charged out of the cave, their roars and the tumultuous air of battle overwhelming everything in their wake.

In the hellish crimson sky, a distinctive boundary appeared. Beyond the sky, a faint golden glow contrasted sharply with the crimson, at the center of which a fortress seemed to be made of clouds, its cyan walls standing tall in mid-air, stretching as far as the eye could see. That was the projection of Northwind Fortress, the abode of the good dragons on the Mountain of Heaven, metallic dragons launching from the wall. On the ground, far away, the Evil Scales Fortress had a thousand cursed stone pillars piercing the sky, emitting endless tainted light rays.

The sky was filled with good metallic dragons, the evil chromatic dragons, and the opportunist gem dragons. Thousands of dragons and their tens of thousands of vassals, dragonkin, and sworn dragon followers clashed in the crowded sky.

Spectacular spells crossed the sky, various dragon breaths rained down, the falling corpses of vassals like rain, and the landed giants roared and took to the sky again.

The Dragonfall War.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

A male brass dragon flew low overhead, noticing the green dragon mother and child, issuing a ferocious roar, turning away in the distance, then charging towards them. The young dragon clung fearfully to the spikes on his mother's back.

With one claw, the mother dragon lifted him and whispered tenderly, "Don't be afraid, a few more kills and I will have fulfilled my war duty to the Dragon Queen. Come, let mom tell you a real bedtime story."

It was too late to take off now, as the first few seconds of ascension would make her a target in mid-air. The mother dragon's eyes closely followed the diving angle of the brass dragon and softly began:

"In a lush, warm jungle lived a distressed little green dragon."

The young dragon lifted his head, tilting his ear to listen.

"He was strong, cunning, and cruel. Adult giants praised him as a fine lad, then secretly feared him."

The brass dragon folded its wings, accelerating its dive, a hot stream passed through its abdominal scales, extending to its throat, hot dragon breath seeping from the corners of its mouth.

"But he was unhappy because his treasury was empty..."

The story was interrupted by a blast of flame, the fire column from the brass dragon's mouth shooting past, as the green dragon's back leg muscles tensed all at once, leaping up, the dragon breath grazing past her belly scales, scorching them.

The green dragon bit the tail tip of the brass dragon, using gravity to pull it towards the ground. The brass dragon sank before struggling to ascend. The green dragon simply used the momentum to fly upwards.

"So he prayed to the Dragon Queen, who promised him: 'Then I shall grant you a precious gift—a band of dragon slayers!'"

The mother dragon's voice rose, atonal for she was tearing at the brass dragon when a silver dragon attacked from behind, claws ripping off dozens of pounds of her scales and flesh. The brass dragon, rejuvenated, backed away from the mother dragon, took a deep breath for another burst of dragon breath, while the silver dragon circled for another attack.

"A dragon-slaying troupe composed of weak lower beings proclaiming themselves as heroes, coveted the little green dragon's strength and territory, coming towards the jungle."

The green dragon threw her offspring into the air, catching him with her tail, freeing her right claw. She did not choose to flee, took a breath, continued the story, while pulling back from the brass dragon.

"The little green dragon cunningly set up ambushes, one by one, capturing the heroes. Tearing their arms and legs in the bushes, spewing poison in the valley, pulling them up high to drop them!"

The claws of the attacker were almost upon her, the mother dragon charged forward, ignoring the clawing of the brass dragon's talons, directing the flaming dragon breath towards her back, hitting the silver dragon's chest squarely!

"The remaining heroes collapsed, weeping before the little green dragon, willing to offer an entire city to spare their lives. The little green dragon was troubled again, for he had to return most of the acquired wealth to the Dragon Queen. He was a devout wicked dragon, but also a greedy dragon."

The mother dragon flicked her tail, tossing her offspring back into the air, catching him in her jaws, her claws clamping down on the brass dragon's forelimbs, leveraging her weight forcefully downward. The young dragon, in his mother's mouth, smelled the blood, listening carefully to the muddled story. Even if it was just a story, he wanted to take all the treasures.

"He made the heroes overlay gold with silver, and silver with gold, offering them as sacrifices to the Dragon Queen to atone for their sins."

Thump! The brass dragon crashed heavily, the mother dragon breaking dozens of his ribs, blood and flames mixed with howls spraying from the brass dragon's mouth.

Panting heavily, the mother dragon spat her offspring onto her wings.

"What do you think happened next?"

The young dragon's eyes were as big and bright as stars.

"The little green dragon cheated the Dragon Queen of her share! The heroes were torn apart by the Dragon Queen in the sacrifice, the entire city was leveled. Only the little green dragon, with most of the treasures, returned to his dragon nest, filling his treasury."

The young dragon let out a blissful sigh, leaning back, his face full of happiness.

The brass dragon still struggled, the mother dragon holding his upper and lower jaws, accompanied by an extremely pitiful scream, the brass dragon's lower jaw along with half of his neck was torn off, exposing the neck bone and trachea, the tongue trembling like a dead fish.

"The little green dragon thus slept amidst the treasures, waiting for the next dragon-slaying hero."

As she spoke, the mother dragon bit her throat, slowly lifted her head, her face smeared with blood, telling her son, "Sleep, my son, Standroad." At the same time, three good dragons in the sky saw the bloody act, furiously rushing in. The mother dragon surveyed the sky with a sinister smile, "Sleep, my mom is here."

The outside noise gradually faded, the little green dragon, Standroad, curled into a ball, his arms around his chest, his mouth on his tail tip, smacking his lips, welcoming sleep.

Every robustly growing little wicked dragon found their own dragon-slaying hero in their dreams.