Vessa believed dragons should never be alone. Now, after so many years, she wasn’t anymore. She was curled up in Finn’s lap, having eaten her fill of meat and a vegetable Finn had called a tuber. He had said it was amazing and tasted like turkey. She knew from Finn’s mind that a turkey was a bird that was cooked once a year to give thanks, but other than that, she didn’t know. She was excited to eat one when she and Finn went to his world. There were so many things she wanted to try there!

  But for now, her stomach was full, and she was feeling content. It was so much better than the way things were before.

  Things had started out so wonderfully when she first became aware of herself. She was safe and warm. Weightless. Surrounded by Mother’s love. She became aware of Mother, and then of her brothers and sisters. They were outside of her and her world. But that was okay. Mother taught them language. And their first games! Story games, and guessing games, and then number games!

  Vessa purred at the memory. Until she thought of what came after. When Mother’s stories and lessons started getting more real, scarier. She and her siblings learned about the state of the world. How the world was on hold, and that they would be part of fixing things. Those who created the world had left before they should have, and so the thing in charge of the world, the System, couldn’t really do its job.

  She and her brothers and sisters would talk about this when Mother wasn’t there. Only an inkling of a feather’s touch in their minds, like she was very far away, let them know she loved them. It was enough. It was all exciting and scary and wonderful at the same time. They would all be heroes!

  But then the Eaters came.

  Mother had never worried before about such things. Who would dare to go into a dragon’s lair, a dragon’s home? A good dragon that only wanted to love and protect! The Eaters did, and it was horrible. They felt WRONG. Then, one of her brothers disappeared from her mind. Then a sister. She and her siblings were so scared. Their safe and warm world was no longer safe. Mother came quickly, but she was too late.

  The Eaters had left, having devoured two of her siblings. She never knew their names.

  Mother was so sad. She was relieved that Vessa and her remaining siblings were still there. But she grieved the loss with us. She turned to her friends, the kobolds, to help her guard her children, telling them what had happened. The kobolds agreed to help guard Vessa and her siblings, and things were good again. Mostly. Vessa and her brothers and sisters now knew what fear was. They knew loss. None of them would ever be as innocent as they had been before.

  But that was only the beginning of the bad times. The Eaters came back, but there were more of them. They came after Mother had left. The kobolds who were guarding them fought and killed many of the Eaters, but not enough. Three more of her siblings were stolen. She felt them disappear. Mother was horrified when she returned, grief-stricken by the loss of three more of us and the kobolds who died protecting us.

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  That’s when we learned our names, Vessa thought sadly. Mother told them that dragons were not named until they hatched. But she was afraid of any more of us dying without knowing our names.

  Mother gave them to us, explaining what they meant. My sisters Zyrrith’Vaelora, Korynth’Saevira, and Draevan’Zyssira. My last two brothers were Vaessik’Drathis, Sylra’Vithranis. And finally, my name, Thyssa’Vessera.

  Our names gave us purpose. We were no longer nameless playmates! But the elation was short-lived. Five of us were gone. Unnamed. But not unloved. Never forgotten.

  The Eaters kept returning to try to eat us. The kobolds got better at fighting them, so we only lost Korynth’Saevira and Vaessik’Drathis. They were the only losses for a long time, because the Eaters stopped coming. But time was only a concept then, when our worlds were so small. When they came again, there were more of them than ever before.

  Mother was helping the kobolds with a massive project far away. She told us the project had been put off for years, since she did not want to leave us.

  The Eaters had waited so long before returning. So many that they overwhelmed the kobolds. I think they rushed the nest and fought over us.

  Breaking!

  Crunching!

  Fear, movement, loss. My world tumbled. Pain! Then nothingness.

  When I awoke, it was to Mother grieving for all of us. I reached out, but my brother and sisters were not there. I was alone.

  The pain I felt increased. Reaching out to Mother was too much. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let her know I was all right. That I was still there.

  But I felt her there, what she was feeling. The overwhelming loss. The guilt. Such overwhelming pain. The nothingness returned, and I slept.

  Mother left, and part of me felt it. I was alone. I was alone for so long.

  Mostly I just slept.

  Then the day when I had to leave my world came. It was too small, constricting me. Bracing myself, I pushed with my fore and back legs. I kicked and struck the edge of my world until there was a crack. I kept working on it until the crack became a hole. Then a window. Finally exhausted, I crawled out of the opening I had made in the world. Only to find a new world. A colder one.

  Then began my exploration. My finding of the edges of my new world. The Boundary. It fascinated me because I could feel the power. It felt like Mother. I became tired and slept. I ate the crunchy shells when hunger overwhelmed me. It took me much longer than it should have to find the second hidden Boundary. This one also felt like Mother. I considered it and found a way through. It was a stretching out of a part of me, of need and memory.

  The shells no longer helped, and I was hungry. There was a faint smell, a smell that was Mother and I followed the scent. I walked forever.

  I found Mother. But it wasn’t her. It was what remained. The faint smell of ash and stone. I heard a strange, sad sound. It was the sound of my grief and pain. It was coming from me.

  I lay down against what remained of Mother and stayed. Everyone I knew and loved was gone. I had nothing to keep me going. The memory caused me to whimper and cry.

  But then Finn put his hand on my back, and I felt safe again. I looked up to see him smiling, and I knew everything was going to be alright. He would not leave me. Ever.

  I would never be alone again. Dragons should never be alone.

  Thank you so much for reading!