Unyielding were the howling winds that grazed the dry, death ridden dunes. Their sands used as building blocks to give shape to rolling dunes stretching hundreds of miles in all directions. Each hill reflected shades of tan and beige, complementing the hue of the god-like rays emitting from the sweltering ball of flame suspended over open air.
Any living creature unfortunate enough to be caught unprotected from the golden light would surely fry and cook until only a husk remained. Such was reason why many intellectually gifted creatures would steer clear of the brutal atmosphere generated by the ever-shifting geography of the land and the overpowering intensity of the heat of the sun.
The desert was a soul-eater. A consumer of life with a hunger unmatched by any neighboring biome.
An organism well adapted to the grueling hellscape would follow instinctual advice to bury itself within the flowing sands to take shelter during the day to avoid its ravenous appetite. Thus, the desert’s meals consisted mainly of lone travelers blissfully ignorant to the lengths at which they must stride to reach its end, or poor souls exiled from their homes with nowhere else to go, or the select few who come only wishing to cut their own life short. Those who gave their highest effort to survive were inevitably digested inside the belly of the beast.
Ultimately, remains of the living are swallowed, never to be seen again.
But as the sun approached the horizon, briefly transitioning the sky into an amber orange, the moon breached into view casting a silver glow onto the landscape below. This was the beginning of another beautiful night. And it was this night that the desert slept.
Gone was the blistering heat of the sun.
Ceased were the growling winds that carried sand to and fro.
A peaceful silence fell over the terrain.
The air was still, and the sands just the same. From within the sands arose life. All creatures of the night awoke and emerged from their homes to take advantage of the calmed storm.
Almost immediately, a sagebrush lizard climbed out of a lost drinking mug to search for that juicy beetle he saw roaming around earlier. A scorpion crawled out from under a skull—likely belonging to a much larger being—whilst carrying her children aboard her back. A sidewinder gazed at the scorpion with slitted pupils as she slithered out from a pit in the sand silently hoping she’d one day have a family of her own.
Upon the graveyard which thousands of lost souls lie, many young souls continue their routine as nature intended. The desert was a cruel, barbaric wasteland. But from under the sands, life found a way.
From above, the sky was littered with specs of light collectively creating a starry canvas against the black void of outer space. But they were all dwarfed by the gargantuan, luminous sphere hanging midway above the horizon.
The moon.
If one were to look closely, it would appear to have a faded marking of a creature of equestrian nature donned with a horn sprouting from its head.
The lunar body would also appear to be glowing a deep green along its outer circumference while radiating an arc of electricity around its equator. Light reflected from its surfaced dimmed to a barely perceivable level before projecting its energy into a slender beam. The laser punched through the emptiness of space and the planet’s thick atmosphere, drilling into the ground and amassing a devastating blast.
Then all was quiet once again.
The moon returned to its natural luminescence fast enough to shine light on the desert’s inhabitants frantically scurrying about from the unwelcomed disturbance to their night of peace. Frantically, many clambered away from the newly formed crater that now lay etched into the local geography.
For a while, nothing else came from this bout of excitement. Smoke and steam continuously emanated from the crater’s center, signifying that this event involved an astronomical amount of heat. This, in turn, had pulverized some of the surrounding sand into tiny shards of glass.
As if the world had finally gone back to rest, the silence was broken when something stirred under the sand. A small part of the land had become alive, rolling and twisting. From under the ground grew a sizeable mound of sand that began to give way to reveal what was underneath.
A wing erupted from the mound.
Its leathery membrane stretched outward allowing sand particles to slide off. Its outer brim, lined with gray-colored scales, creaked and popped with strained muscle before curling back in towards its owner. Next, the second wing extended to repeat a similar process.
One after the other, parts began to show from under the sand: four legs sprawled underneath it each ending with a paw equipped with razor sharp claws, a long tail with short spines running its length, a head topped with a pair of horns and a thick black mane, and a long muzzle decorated with rows of jagged teeth.
A dragon.
He lay on his side in the sand, eyes closed. With his snout now clear of obstruction, he took his first full breath, expanding his lungs as far as they could go before letting it out in a soft sigh. It was smooth going in and out. The air was dry, but it was clear. This made it a little easier to jolt the rest of his body awake by arching his back and tensing every muscle to force blood-flow through the veins and vessels in his limbs.
Lifting a paw, he leisurely brushed the length of his muzzle feeling the scales that covered his skin shortly before reaching another paw to rub the back of his head and run his digits through his thick mane. He tasted the inside of his mouth and ran his tongue along his teeth.
He felt real. Real, like the physical manifestation of being in his own body was new to him, and that every sensation, breath, and heartbeat was telling him he was alive. It had been a long time since he last felt that way.
The journey wasn’t over, because the desire to see the world became overwhelming.
Slowly wrenching his eyelids open, the darkness of the night made its presence known. When his pupils dilated to accommodate for the lack of light, he began to make out the environment he was resting in.
Sand upon sand. There seemed to be nothing else to focus on but the sand that blanketed the very ground beneath him. But glancing up, he set eyes on the most beautiful night sky. Such a bright moon. He squinted to view its surface more clearly. Since the last time he saw it, it most definitely received a makeover by some extraordinary phenomena.
The dragon gazed at the moon for quite some time. Its natural radiance enraptured his focus away from everything petty or small compared to its charm. Eventually, curiosity took the wheel as he lowered his gaze to himself.
His body was steel-gray in color with crimson streaks highlighting his wings and his tail. Laying on his side, he could see that his underbelly was a lighter gray than the darker tone on the outer part of his hide.
Familiar.
He held an outstretched paw in front and flexed his toes around to feel the muscular contraction responsiveness within his tissue. Clenching and relaxing a fist, he extended his claws. Each, black in color, came to a fine point. A few looked damaged.
Satisfied knowing his body was indeed his own, the dragon rolled onto his stomach and slid his legs underneath. Like waking up after a long nap, he tried pushing himself on his feet but fell back to the ground. Jaw clenched, he heaved himself upward, finally putting his weight on his legs.
From a higher elevation, the dragon was able to view the crater in which he spawned. Its diameter be ten times his length from head to tail, an indication that, from who knows where, he arrived on impact. He looked around, hoping he didn’t crash into anything, or rather, anyone. But the sand dunes were barren. Nothing marked the desert save for a deceased corpse in the early stages of nature’s slow burial process.
The dragon tilted his reptilian nostrils to the sky and took a whiff of the air.
With great speed and ferocity, he leapt off his hind legs and sprung his wings into flight. The sudden gust of wind emitting from his powerful strokes blew the sand below him into large dust clouds. He ascended into the sky so quickly he even surprised himself.
After circling in place, the dragon chose a direction.
And he flew.