Another bit of short fiction is up at Noble Cobra Magazine.

This one is a little different; first that it’s presented as a myth, and second that it’s actually an excerpt from a work in progress. I don’t want to say too much about it just yet, except that all the main characters are dragons from a whole culture of dragons. Part of the events of the story involve them telling each other the myths and folk tales of dragonkind, and this is one of them: the creation story according to dragons.

Enjoy!

In the beginning, all was darkness and chaos, and the earth was without form, the deep waters surged above the empty abyss.

Then there came Light. The first rays of dawn shone upon the empty world, driving the darkness back. And from those first rays there were born the first Dragon Lords: Ahmet and Haaratzah, Sibahn and Tsukah. These were the very first of the Light Dragons, and the first living creatures born into this world. They arose in the morning, and beheld the evening of the First Day.

Then the waters were divided, and a great dome appeared, splitting the waters below from the waters above, and the dome was called the Sky. From the sky there came clouds and the four winds, and at the first breath of each wind, a dragon was born: Tsaron and Daron, Mizrah and Maarah, who were the first of the Sky Dragons. They arose in the morning and beheld the evening of the Second Day.

Then the waters of the sea were drawn back, and a boundary set to their course, and the dry land appeared, and from the land were brought forth every tree and plant and fruit, and all manner of gems, ore, and precious metals. And as the first fruits of the newly risen land, in a great shaking of the earth, Dragons emerged from the ground: Machtzar and Otzah, Praiar and Perah. They were the first of the Earth Dragons, and they arose in the morning and beheld the evening of the Third Day.

Then two great lamps were set in the firmament. The greater, which was to rule the day, was lit first with living fire, and the lesser, which was to rule the night, took her flame from the first. The greater lamp was called ‘the sun’ and the lesser ‘the moon’, and her attendant lamps the stars. They were to mark the changing of days and months, seasons and years, and the patterns of coming and going. And from this first union of the sun and the moon, there were born the Fire Dragons: Ahvan and Yofiya, Yomun and Layla. They arose in the morning and beheld the evening of the Fourth Day.

Then the churning waters were tamed and set in their courses of currents and tides, of flow and ebb, of rising and falling back, and from this cycle were born all the teaming creatures that dwell in the deep, the fish and leviathans and reptiles, and from the foams cast from the waves there came the birds and reptiles of the air to populate the skies. But first of all were born the Sea Dragons: Osher and Mazzah, Yazmak and Zhiyra. They arose in the morning and beheld the evening of the Fifth Day.

Then from shadows of the new wooded places, battle arose. For Death looked in from the shadows outside and saw the goodness of the world. And Death lusted to possess this world and so strove to enter and take it by force. But the bright new world, in the first fullness of its strength, repelled the invader, and he set no foot within it yet. But from this struggle were born the beasts that walk and crawl upon the earth. Of these some received the breath of life and became the Logai, those who know, and Death hated them most of all. And in the first clash of this first battle, dragons were born in the untouched woods. They were Koach and Tzedea, Ciboran and Rahma, the first of the Forest Dragons. They arose in the morning and beheld the evening of the Sixth Day.

Read the rest here.