Dragon cursed

Sundreize POV -Leap day, 02/29/1684 Three more hours. It’s still dark out and I shiver from the chill of the February frost. Yawning, I shake the snow off my wings and stretch. If only I could get a little more sleep. Two more hours. I woke again and huffed, seeing my breath in front of me. I breathed a little fire on to the stones at my feet warming my temporary bed. I laid back down to try to catch as much sleep before we had to leave. One more hour before it’s time to begin the evacuation... I couldn’t help but feel ever restless and exhausted from a long night of very little sleep. The council has nearly all magical creatures of Earth gathered, awaiting the orders to begin the evacuation effort. Massive camps of different creatures, all the last of our kinds, grouped near a giant stone arch below the beautiful dormant Katla volcano of Iceland. The newly constructed arch named The Grand Gate is carved from giant blocks of rock and stone surrounding the first leap year portal. The gate’s massive stones are each woven with magic to expand the portal’s diameter, and to increase it’s stability to allow such a mass immigration of creatures to our new home. The Leap year portals are natural gateways to an alternate world still unnamed, this particular portal within the Grand Gate was the first discovered portal and so far the largest stable one. My brilliant blue scales began to shimmer in the first morning rays of sunshine and my body burned in anticipation despite the winter morning chill. I stretched my wings to rid them of the morning frost again. The other dragons in our camp begin to sturr from their beds they had made the night before by melting the snow down to the rock and creating coal each with their fiery breath. Growing more irritated by the weather, I shiver from the cold wind. As a dragon it’s difficult to remain obedient, grounded, and patient. I just want to fly back home to my warm, misty jungle mountains of Brazil, I miss the heat of the equator and open skies. Beside the dragon camp, the unicorns were also waking and many becoming just as impatient as myself. Most were sleep deprived as well. Several I could see snorting and pacing through the snow. Their population had declined to the point of being classified as endangered, all from being hunted for their horns. I understand their pain and anguish as my mother and many other dragons I knew had been hunted purely for sport. This world has not been kind to the likes of magic with the way humans are reproducing like a plague. Compared to the likes of magic creatures who live their lives 5 times as long on average, humans were like rabbits. It has been centuries since we had gone into hiding and over time many humans have accepted the cover story that we are fictional. However we are all still vulnerable to those who do not believe us to be only be in fairytales, and all we can do is wait and keep swallowing our fears of being discovered. It’s unusual for any of us creatures to be out in the open, let alone amassed in hordes all in one place as we are right now, uneasy. We hold on to the hope of gaining a new world, safe from the hands of greedy humans. … 20 minutes left … 10 minutes until evacuation The pixies were finishing waking and rounding up the different creatures’ camps and now organizing us into a line towards the portal. Once all the creatures were ready to pass through the Grand Gate, the pixies blew their tiny horns signaling the official start of the evacuation. It was a grueling process of patiently trudging through the snow toward the portal. The wait was agonizing. I couldn’t help picturing a horde of human knights appearing suddenly over the horizon. You could smell the fear heavy in the air, I would be surprised if I was the only one imagining the worst… Now it’s my turn. I remind myself that once I’m on the other side I will be free to spread my wings for the first time without fear. I take a deep breath and steady myself. There was a slight shimmer in the air in front of me, it was the only thing within the giant stone archway that is the Grand Gate that gave the portal away. I took one of my claws and grazed it across the surface and the portal rippled, I pressed on and slithered my small scaly frame through the portal within the gate, it was easy to fit as I am just a young dragon and the gate was designed to fit all creatures. Once on the other side, I opened my eyes to the last of the warm sunlight peeking through the trees, kissing my scales with its warmth. I smelled the grass at my feet and looked up at the purplish sky. I heard the bubbling of a creek nearby. I made it. The other creatures ahead of me were working hard to set up camps for the night. The time difference will be something we need to get used to as it was just morning back on Earth. I wondered aloud, “what will we name our new home, And how do we decide how to divide up the land?” Curiosity peaked as I stared into the sunset. I was glad to not have to spend another night in the cold of the Icelandic landscape we just evacuated. This new world was beautiful and I’m so glad it was discovered and the brave pixies who explored it and developed the gate to stabilize the portal were successful. Finally a place to Truly call HOME!