In a dark cavern, deep within the olden mountains, an ancient beast slept, unaware of the world outside. It was one of the last, the creature that knew no equal neither in the arcane arts, nor in brutal strength for its claws were sturdier than any sword and its breath was as hot as the sun itself. In the whole world, there was no one as divine and pure as this dragon.

Its sleep would have been eternal, if not a random visitor, a human boy whose fate was to find greatness and raise above the others. However, for now, he was just this – a mere human – a member of the weakest species in the world. Humans were, for the lack of better word, average in all aspects: they weren’t as strong as mighty ogres or as smart as high elves, and even goblins, despite their shortcomings, were the fast-breeders with cunning minds.

In short, humanity’s prolonged survival at this point of time was very unlikely, if it wasn’t for a single brave soul.

He was not of a noble origin, a son of the inn owner, who always wanted to be something more. What was his real desire? To seek justice for his people? To acquire numerous riches? To rule over the common man? Alas, this shall be a mystery, hidden deep within the annals of history.

However, this boy, Arthur, once heard a legend about the dragon who choose the mountain range near his home town as the place for his slumber. In this legend, there was said that the one who awakens the dragon could ask any wish and it will come true. It was a mere fairy tale and nobody would have taken it seriously – nobody, but Arthur.

And thus, he travelled and faced adversaries and other various troubles, too numerous to list on these pages. Finally, our Arthur had found the dragon and was utterly overwhelmed by this majestic visage: its scales, white as freshly fallen snow and more beautiful than any precious stones, were mightier than any armor, and its wings – oh, those wings – were as big as the whole islands.

“Oh, the great dragon,” Arthur said, “Please, grant your blessing to me and my people! I wish for the humanity’s salvation! I want you to stop this oppression and return justice to this world! Heed my words, great dragon, for I, Arthur, will be worthy of your compassion!”

At this, the dragon opened its eyes. Blue, thought Arthur, such a beautiful color! He looked deep within the creature’s eyes, marred with wisdom and knowledge of the forgotten times, when gods roamed, creating the races and monsters to inhabit this world. It opened its mouth, showing him pearl white fangs, answering on a language no one knew at this age, for it was the language of magic itself, ingrained deep within this world’s core. However, anyone could understand them: it was the power of the draconic language.

It answered…

“Yo! What’s up? Who are you? You look tiny. Like, really, really tiny. Do you eat properly? My brothers told me that proper nutrition is important for a growing organism. They also told me that naps are super-important too. If I want to be a great dragon, they said, I should always take my tap to sleep as much as I want”

At this… honestly, Arthur couldn’t say anything. It’s true that he tried, but only some funny sounds made their way out of his mouth. It sounded almost like a dying mouse or any other rodent. Yes, that kind of funny sounds.

“I am sorry,” said Arthur, “but you are a dragon, correct?”

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“I guess I am. I, like, have wings and scales and stuff, so this must mean I mean I am a dragon. Wait!”

“What?”

“You’re not a dragon! What are you, funny thing? Are you tasty?”

“Not! I am not!”

“Glad to meet you, Not, so are you tasty or not?”

“I am not tasty! And I am not “Not”! My name is Arthur and I am a human”

“Eh? Human? Does this mean those hairy monkeys have already evolved?”

“Excuse me, what was that?”

“Nothing! I mean, this information not for your simple mind, mortal. So, what do you want, human Arthur?”

“I want you to grant my wish!”

“Don’t wanna! Why would you I do this?”

“It’s because I found you and awakened you from your slumber! For this, you shall grant me my heart’s desire!”

“That sounds pretty stupid to me, human Arthur. It’s like I can go to your house, disturb your peaceful sleep and then demand a wish from you. It sounds very retarded to me”

“B-But! What about my people?! We are oppressed, looked down upon and treated no better than slaves! We need your help, great dragon!”

‘Hey, you see this bug over there”

“Y-Yes, I do, great dragon”

“Its species gets horribly oppressed, too. If you see a bug, you don’t care that it has a family or friends because it’s simply a bug. So, why should I care?”

“I-I don’t quite understand the analogy, great dragon”

“In my eyes, a human’s life isn’t that different from a bug’s. I mean, both of life do nothing but mess with my nerves, and you live about the same time, give or take two decades”

“We are better than bugs!”

“Sure you are”

“Honestly, what kind of a dragon you are?”

“The one whose nap was disturbed. Say, what year it is?”

“I-It’s the tenth year of the dawn era”

“Oh, yikes! Did I oversleep? If my brothers ever hear about this, they will… wait”

“Wh-What is it, great dragon?”

“I had one more century to sleep!”

“A century? You have already slept for ten thousand years now! How much can you sleep?”

“And my lifespan counts thousands of millions years. Your point?”

“I-I… Listen, let’s just pretend than this conversation never happened. I will get out of here, so you can resume your nap…”

“Nice! I knew you had this in you, human Arthur!”

“… If you give something to free my people…”

“…”

“Well?”

“…”

“Well?”

“… Oh, to the hell with this, here, have my last baby tooth!”

“What would I do with your tooth? I have mine… about twelve of them”

“I don’t care. Make a sword or something! If you still want to nag at me, then have this. I give you my blessing. *ahem* I shall hereby grant you the divine rule to – blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda – you have the dragon blood in your veins. Congratulations. Now out of my home!”

After this, the dragon transported Arthur to his bed and the deep slumber resumed once again. As for Arthur, he managed to unite the mankind under his rule, create a kingdom, marry a nice enough girl and father a huge number of children, making the humanity a leading race. Even now, the legend about the divine sword, Excalibur, and the chosen king, Arthur, and the unnamed dragon remains popular.