When I woke up the sky had turned green, or at least that’s what it looked like. When I saw the green canopy above me I sat up quickly and nearly fell. I couldn’t believe what had happened as I was sleeping; a whole tree had grown beneath me. I was currently situated on one of the higher branches. It looked like it was six or seven feet to the ground. I had no idea where this tree came from or how I was going to get down. I guess I’ll have to jump. I grabbed on to the branch and carefully lowered myself closer to the ground then dropped the rest of the way. I managed to land on my feet, the drop must've been shorter than I thought, there was no sting from my landing. Now that I was on the ground I was able to take a better look at the tree.

The tree was huge; its trunk was so thick I wouldn’t be able to wrap my arms around it. I couldn’t see how high the tree reached so I started backing away. The farther back I went to the taller the tree seemed to be and the more out of place it looked. Nothing else had changed besides the tree growing. All around me was flat desert, no sign of life anywhere, and the sun still waited at the center of the sky. Finally I could see the top of the tree; I estimated it to be 30 feet tall and 10 feet in width. After seeing the top I quickly ran back to the base of the tree. I looked at the branch I had woken up on. Maybe if I get back up there I can climb to the top and get a better look around. However that branch was the lowest on the tree and out of my jumping range.

I made my way over to the other side of the tree hoping a lower branch would be present. As I circled the tree I didn’t see any low branches, but I found something else on the opposite side, a large opening in the tree. I was amazed the opening was shaped like a large doorway and gave a clear view of the hollow interior of the tree. A soft blue light showered the tree’s inside. I stepped closer to the opening and listened for any signs of life.

When nothing could be heard I took another step forward and called out, still no response. I was a bit disappointed at the results of my search but it did look like it would be safe to go inside the tree.

Stepping into the tree I saw that the blue light was coming from glowing mushrooms that lined the edge of the small space. The mushrooms looked oddly familiar but I couldn’t remember where I had seen them before. In the center of the room was a ring of the glowing mushrooms, in the center of the ring sat a large egg. I’ve never seen an egg that big before, it had to be one foot tall. I once read that ostriches laid the biggest eggs in the world but this didn’t look like an ostrich egg. The mushrooms gave it a light blue hue and it had a pattern on it that looked like scales. I approached the egg, noticing that the room wasn’t as big as the tree itself. It only looked about 6 feet wide and was only a little taller than I was. I watched the egg for a moment waiting for any sign of it hatching.

When nothing happened I reached out and carefully tapped its shell. The egg was warm and the marks I saw were actually dark grooves in the shell. I rested my hand on the egg enjoying the warmth. Then I reached down with my other hand and picked it up, it was surprisingly light for its size. I carefully carried it out into the sun to get a better look, I had to walk out of the shade from the tree then set it down to bask in the sunlight. Now with better lighting I saw the egg was actually a pale green instead of the blue caused by the mushrooms. I sat down facing the egg and laid my hands on it.

“So now it’s just me and you,” I said to the egg. Even though I knew the egg or whatever could be inside it wouldn’t respond, it was comforting having something to talk to.

It finally dawned on me that something had to have laid the egg and I started to worry about how it was going to act when it found me holding its unhatched child. I stood up, deciding to put the egg back where I found it, as I reached down to pick it up I saw a small bump come from inside it causing the egg to roll onto its side. I stepped back as the egg continued to roll around the ground as whatever was inside it fought for its freedom.

Finally after a moment of struggle I heard the first breaking of the shell. I couldn’t see where it had broken. The egg became silent after the first breaking; I took a step forward trying to see what was coming out of the egg, but then the creature inside let loose a whole new spurt of energy into its breakout. I saw a crack form on the top of the egg right before the creature inside thrusted through its prison. A small arm covered in pale green scales that matched the egg’s stuck out; the hand on top was clenched in a fist as if the creature was celebrating its new found freedom.

The fist dove back into the shell and continued the assault. I was shocked by what I had seen; I have never seen anything like it before. I started backing away. I didn’t know what was breaking free but I didn’t want to be there when it came out. Before I could get any farther back the shell finally shattered and in the broken pieces sat something that I thought was impossible. A real live dragon sat staring curiously at me; its head was cocked to the side like a confused dog. I froze, unable to process that the beast in front of me could be what I really thought it was. It looked exactly as I had imagined. Scales covered its body, reptilian eyes the color of emeralds, and the pair of miniature leathery wings on its back completed the image. I have always been interested in fantasy and mythology, even as a kid I wouldn’t listen to a story if the word magic wasn’t in it so seeing a dragon in real life was both my greatest dream and worst nightmare. Just last week I had read a tale about a dragon that had supposedly terrorized England; he would set a village on fire then eat any villager that would try to escape.

As I remained frozen in place, the small green dragon stood and shook itself clean of any egg shell still on it, not unlike how a dog shakes itself dry. After cleaning itself the dragon began shakily walking towards me. It looked like it wasn’t used to its legs yet. That was all I needed to start moving. I started backing away from the approaching monster. When the dragon saw me backing away he must have thought it was some game because its mouth opened, giving a great view of its pointed teeth in what I hope is a playful smile. It started crawling faster; its four legs began working perfectly, increasing its speed and decreasing the distance between us. I turned and began sprinting towards the tree but a few steps in I were tackled from behind and was forced to the ground. I closed my eyes afraid to see how the dragon would end me, but instead of attacking me it simply stepped off me. I opened my eyes and saw the dragon now sitting in front of me it's emerald eyes staring into my blue eyes. It stared at me as if waiting for something.

“Hello” was all I could think of to say. It wasn’t easy to think of something to say with a dragon staring at you.

“Hello,” the dragon answered in a child-like voice. The reply was surprising. I stared at the dragon not sure if it had actually spoken or I was just hearing things. I carefully raised myself off the ground making sure I wouldn’t be attacked and got into a more comfortable sitting position.

“Did you just say something?” I asked the newly hatched dragon.

“Yes I did” it replied I judged from the voice that it was a boy. Again we stared at each other, him waiting for me to say something and me trying to think of what to say. The last time I had read about dragon hatchlings it had said that they wouldn’t be capable of speech for at least four months after they were hatched, but then again that was just someone’s imagination of a dragon. This in front of me looked to be the real thing.

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“Are you… Are you a dragon?” I finally asked. I didn’t think it would really know what it was since it had only just hatched.

“Yes I am” He answered simply, this confused me even more.

“How do you know that you’re a dragon?”

“I don’t know” He said “All I know is that I’m a dragon and that I came from you”. This only added to my confusion... I knew for certain that I had never laid an egg before.

“What do you mean you came from me?” I inquired. I really hope he will start giving me some answers.

“I’m not sure. All I know is that I came from you and that I’m a dragon.” Was that the only answer he had to offer? I let out a small sigh; it seems that he really is just a newborn. The young dragon took notice of the large tree behind him and ran up to explore its opening. I watched as he vanished inside the long tree before lying down on my back. This just got a lot more complicated, not only do I have to figure out how I got here now I have to learn where this dragon came from or even how it’s possible for him to exist.

“Hey what’s this?” The dragon brought me out of my thoughts. I sat up and saw he had some of the glowing mushrooms in his mouth. He spat the mushroom down on the ground; now that I saw the mushroom on the ground in the sunlight I realized where I recognized them from.

“It’s a Fairy Mushroom!” I shouted, scaring the young dragon. I had read about them in an encyclopedia about magical creatures a few days ago.

“A Fairy Mushroom, What’s that?” he asked.

“It’s a type of mushroom that grows during a special ceremony held by the fairies. They are supposed to drive away evil spirits.” I informed the curious hatchling.

“Oh then I guess I should go put it back” He asked looking a bit guilty.

“No, they should still work even out of the ground.” I clarified. The book said people would often sell them as charms to travelers. I picked up the mushroom to take a closer look at it. I couldn’t believe that these were actually the Fairy Mushrooms I read about a few days ago. Though after witnessing a dragon hatching and having a giant tree growing underneath me I guess anything is possible in this place.

“Does this mean there are fairies flying around?” the Dragon asked.

“Maybe,” Was all I could say. “I haven’t seen any. You’re the first person I’ve talked to since I came here.”

“How did you get here?”

“I’m honestly not sure” I told him of my encounter with the golden light and everything that had happened till now.

He looked confused for a while then asked “So what’s a God”

“A God is a very powerful person who usually is worshiped and is in charge of molding the world.” I answered.

“So then if you’re a God then you can make the world however you want it?” The dragon asked.

“Um maybe, honestly I wouldn’t even know how to start” I hadn’t even considered trying to change anything or even taken the golden light seriously about me being a God.

“How did the other Gods create your world?”

“Well they started by creating other Gods to help”

“Well why don’t you start there?” He said excitedly. I thought about it, it would be nice to have more people around but I don’t know how I could do that . In Norse mythology the Gods came from a giant’s body parts, in Greek mythology all the Gods started from the earth titan Gaia who gave birth through her own conception and in Egyptian mythology the gods rose out of a sea of chaos. None of these were options for me and I couldn’t remember any other ways gods were created. I turned to the young dragon to see if he had any idea as to how I could create another being.

“Do you have any ideas on how I can create a God?”

“No, but I think you should create a God who can do something about the ground. It looks too boring to explore.” He told me. An earth god would be the most useful there, but I still didn’t know how I could create it. This was crazy. I was actually trying to come up with ideas to create Gods. I looked at the dragon and noticed how his eyes really were the color of emeralds. As I looked at his eyes I remember how the emerald was usually related to Gods of earth and life, so were diamonds. A new idea popped in my head and I couldn’t hold back my grin.

“Did you think of something?” He asked, taking notice of my change in mood.

“Maybe, I have an idea,” I answered. The Fairy Mushroom from inside the cave was still in my hand, it would work best for my plan. I covered it with my other hand and closed my eyes for the magic I was about to try. Transmutation, it was a scientific magic that is most common with alchemists. It worked on the understanding that if everything is made up of the same matter then with magic one thing would become something else. It was like how in the Bible Jesus was able to turn water into wine. In my mind I pictured the mushroom. I imagined the mushroom breaking apart into billions of particles then coming back together. Only this time instead of being a mushroom it was made of a diamond. My hands grew warmer and for a moment it felt as though the mushroom had vanished from my hands but then came back and was noticeably heavier.

I opened my eyes and the heat from my hands disappeared, the hatching was staring at me with his mouth hanging open. It was a sight that probably would have been funnier if not for the dozens of pointed teeth. I slowly opened my hands to see if I had really done it and there it was a perfect diamond in the shape of a mushroom.

“It worked!” I cried out amazed at what I had just done. The dragon came closer and saw the newly changed mushroom

“Wow, How did you do that?” he asked, just as amazed as I was.

“Magic” I said at a loss for words. Did this mean that I have really become a God?

“That’s nice but how does this help create another God?” He inquired. I had almost forgotten about that. In all the excitement I forgot why I was even trying my experiment.

“Well I want to use this diamond as the core for the Gods life energy” I explained.

“I don’t really know what you mean but go for it” The young dragon cheered. I placed the gem on the ground and stood up careful not to step on it. I backed away from it as did the dragon. I closed my eyes once again and lowered my head with my hands pressed together as if I were praying. I pictured the diamond on the ground. I imagine a small light growing inside it. Thinking about it, I pictured the hills that surrounded the town I lived in, I recalled the meadows covered in flowers from my mom’s calendar, I saw the mountain ranges we studied in geography and many more. Every scene that I have seen of the Earth I sent out into the gem and the more images I sent in the brighter the light inside it would grow.

As I continued to send the images into the gem the light grew to surround the gem and went even farther, it began to take the shape of a human. The last image I sent in was a picture of the earth titan Gaia in the Greek mythology book I’ve had since I was a child. Having nothing more to give the gem I stopped my concentration. I opened my eyes and as I expected a woman now stood before me.

She had long brown hair that hung down to her back and dark skin; she also looked taller than me at 6 foot. She gave me a warm smile that felt very comforting; her warm brown eyes gave a sense of serenity. She thankfully had a long green dress on that looked like it was made of hundreds of different flowers and plants.

“Hello,” She said, her voice low but tranquil. “I am the Earth Goddess you have created. Can you please tell me your name father?” I was shocked when she called me father, but I guess since I created her I was technically her parent. Great, now I’m a God and a teenage father.