Alexander, the Extremely Lonely Dragon in a Dystopic Future
#1 of Slices of Life
A Slice of Life written for James.
The Slice of Life is a commission experiment aimed at capturing a glimpse of someone's character in action. The idea is to see if a quality piece of writing can be made in a short length of time, and if someone would be amenable to paying for such a thing. They involve four prompts, ten minutes of writing, and five to ten additional minutes of finalization.
The prompts for this story were
Name: Alexander
Species: Dragon
Descriptor: Extremely Lonely
Setting: Dystopic Future
Alexander, the Extremely Lonely Dragon in a Dystopic Future By Finn Panther
How was it meant to be like this? Alexander wished that he knew. Elongated life or not, it didn't matter much if there wasn't much to live for anyway. Maybe other dragons could remember how it all happened. Maybe there had been others who had seen the regime form, from the beginning to the horrible, horrible end. That is, if there were any other dragons left.
Even a fire breathing dragon could become cold and frigid - not only in his environment, but also in his heart. And right now, Alexander was feeling both. Out here in the wastelands, with not a soul to be seen, and with only the bitter wind, drenched in the stabbing, unforgiving rain - well, there wasn't a single way to further chill the soul. That was for sure.
A dark cloud of a puff was all that his fire breath amounted to, now. It had been his last saving grace. Maybe this was how the regime had killed the others. Starvation, exile. What good was a dragon without his fire? If even the most powerful, exotic creature of the living realm could have his spirit broken, what else could they do? And what's more - how could it have come to this in the first place?
Even his red scales had dulled over time. He brought no reflection through the wasteland, even had there been sunlight in the first place. His tail dragged limply behind him, lifelessly. And in his state of despair, Alexander couldn't help but imagine that the rest of himself would follow. How could he last like this? Wandering, lonely and lost. He just had to believe that there was something out there. Anything else, anything more. But most of his hope had been lost long ago.
There was a time, although it was difficult to remember, when the dragon did have hope. He had been younger, then. A child - and also a fool. A fool who believed in a long lost legend. His brethren were out there, somewhere. Look to the West, they said. The Forgotten Ones had not all fallen lost. It was a child's tale, but it was all that he had.
But, for now, it didn't seem like the West had much in store for him. Alexander huffed another breath, hoping for a small manner of comfort, but not even smoke came out, now. Maybe the West really was just a wasteland. Maybe the words of the regime had been true.
Maybe the Forgotten Ones really had fallen.
But still, even with all hope lost, and with his heart frozen to its core, a part of Alexander was convinced that they were still out there.
They had to be.