The Dragon

Sometimes you have strange thoughts in your backyard.

1. The Dragon is old. The Dragon was alive when our great-grandfathers are alive, and has only grown more terrible with each passing year.
2. The Dragon is immense. In terms of sheer scale, no twenty of our men could hope to match it.
3. The Dragon is powerful. In the past, our strongest fighters could hope to drive it back. But they are gone, and the Dragon is still here. Our best weapons cannot hurt it. It does not even notice.
4. The Dragon manipulates nature. Should it desire to, it may call down soothing rains. It is by the will of the dragon that water flows in this land.
5. The Dragon can be fled from. It is large, and it cannot follow into the depths of the forest. But the Dragon is clever. It knows where we sleep. It may seal us in if it wishes, and it may do as it pleases while we rest. When the time comes, it will come while we are at our most vulnerable.
6. The Dragon takes sacrifices. It takes the youngest and strongest of the men, and takes them as its victims. It spares the women and the girls, and it leaves the older men. But there are so few of them, and at the close of each generation, there are but a few who remain.
7. The Dragon shows favorites. Sometimes it admires the brave and foolish, and spares them. Sometimes it prefers those who come to it. But the Dragon is fickle, and we cannot judge the exact nature behind its whims.
8. The Dragon is not alone. There are others like it, though we see less of them. They are no less powerful. Perhaps there are even more.
9. The Dragon controls other beasts. They are not so intelligent or mighty, but their power is greater than the sum of ours nonetheless. If not for the Dragon, they would rampage across the land.
10. The Dragon is a protector. The lesser beasts, which refuse to acknowledge its power, might harass us. When they arrive, it beast them back. When needed, it calls upon magic and flame to annihilate them.
11. The Dragon brings forth food. Some among us say this is for the sake of fattening us up, others that it is a kindness, and others still a simple part of its nature.
12. The Dragon dwells in a strange place, where the natural order is defied. There are lights in the darkness, the air is shifted, and great treasures and strange foods can be found scattered about.
13. The Dragon, it is said - or others like it - is responsible for the very homes we dwell in, in a time long before our distant ancestors. Or perhaps this was a different Dragon, and a people from before even our ancestors.
14. The Dragon is not a god. It is still bound to the rules of the world. It must eat to survive, and it must rest as well. It is an existence above our own, but it is not an all-powerful one. One day it, too, shall die.