Emberflame Ridge Clashing Dragons

Tohka was satisfied with the other’s comment about daydreaming, seeming to partly agree with her father, but still saying a little fantasy is fine. She was a bit surprised when he said he had never heard of dragons, but she was pleased that he showed interest in them and asked her to tell him about them. Although, she had never tried to explain them to someone who had no prior knowledge of them.

She slowly and deliberately sat down, mirroring the other’s pose, and buying a few seconds to get her thoughts in order before proceeding. Once seated, she began to speak. “My uncle’s been telling me about dragons since I was a pup. I guess they look something like the salamanders you might find under rocks near a river, but they’re not bite-sized. Instead, they’re huge- like, maybe the size of a really big elk, or perhaps even bigger, and some of them have have massive wings and can fly. They also use magic, and each one has its own element, like the fire dragon has fire magic, the ice dragon has ice magic, and so on. Of course I’ve never seen one so I’m not sure, but it’s what my uncle said, and he’s told me about ten different kinds, but they’re supposed to be very big and very powerful.”

She paused for a few seconds to take a breath, then continued. “Anyway, I was just thinking about two of those dragons just now. The thunder dragon is called Taranau, and her domain is the storm-clouds and she breathes lightning. The wood dragon is called Taijo, and his domain is the forests. The two are locked in combat, but neither one can defeat the other. Taijo is rooted to the ground, and the ground absorbs Taranau’s lightning, but he can’t reach Taranau because she is flying in the clouds and he can’t leave the ground to chase her. It’s a fight that’s so old that neither of them even remember why they fought in the first place, and the real danger is to the plants and animals that get caught in between them, like this tree here.” She gestured towards the tree that that was still smoldering from a recent lightning strike.

Tohka wanted to tell some kind of story about the dragons, but she had yet to come up with one. Everything she had just described was only background. She thought maybe the tree could be home to a fairy or something, but other than that, she hadn’t thought of much. “I was kinda trying to come up with a story, but I haven’t really thought of anything,” she finally admitted, looking down towards the other’s feet.