YOC: Hic Suc Dracones in OD

Written for Year of Creativity

Prompt: Here be dragons

And you think dragons don’t exist? You know, I’m going to have to have words with that teacher of yours. Imagine telling you an outrageous lie like that. Next you’ll be telling me you don’t believe in unicorns either.

Of course dragons exist. What do you think keeps the inside of volcanoes so hot? Back when the Norse, Celtic, Greek and Roman gods were around there were no such things as matches and lighters. Who do you think it was that lit their cigars and ceremonial fires? Dragons, of course. Special dragons that they kept for just such an occasion. The use of animals for household use wasn’t invented for The Flintstones, you know.

I recognise that look on your face. But dad, you are wondering, if dragons do actually exist, where do they live? They don’t live in Britain. Well, as far as you know.

You know that we’ve explored most of the world. Well, there are some places that you think are uninhabitable, but that’s just for humans. Other creatures can live in these places. Let’s see. Pixies and faeries live on a group of islands in the Federated States of Micronesia. I believe that unicorns, seeing as I mentioned them before, are from somewhere near Papua New Guinea.

And dragons?

Well, they live on an island, shaped like a claw, just off the coast of Greenland. That may surprise you, given that they breathe fire, but it’s because of that. The fire they breathe lives inside them and they get kind of hot. So they need to live somewhere cold to compensate for that. The fire acts as central heating for their bodies.

Forget what you’ve read about dragons. Some of it is true, such as the fire breathing, and the descriptions are generally right, but they are not the evil creatures you may well imagine them to be. They are actually nice and helpful. Of course, you get some that are bad natured, as with any creature, but on the most part they like humans. Some of them power the furnaces in Santa’s workshop.

Sadly, they can be destructive. It’s not deliberate, just because of the fire thing. The great fire of London is rumoured to have been started by a dragon that was flying overhead at the time and sneezed at the wrong moment. Volcano eruptions are supposed to be the result of a dragon dying. I happen to know that’s what causes forest fires, but even they can be useful. It can help keep the forest from spreading too much without needing to cut down the trees. They are only a problem if they threaten human habitats.

Humans can see them. Humans have. Looking out the window of a plane, usually late at night. Glimpsing up to the sky. The reason it’s not more widely reported is because of people like your teacher. They can’t believe they actually saw it so they pretend it’s something else.

There you have it. I will ask you not to reveal this conversation to your teacher, because I’m not sure she’ll actually be too happy with me. Just as long as you know the truth.

Will