Radioactive Evolution

Chapter 3: A Dragon's Legacy

I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die...

Slowly, arms raised, Jared turned around. He expected to see an angry maw filled with razor sharp death descending toward him; Scarlet's promise not withstanding. Instead, all he saw were massive tree-trunk legs covered in blood-red scales.

Jared swallowed hard and craned his neck up... Dang...

Unprepared for the visage before him, Jared stood in shock. The dragon loomed imposing, magnificent, terrifying, and fantastical. He blinked a few times and felt like this was just a dream. How could such a creature exist in secrecy? Jared knew the answer from Scarlet's explanation of dragon's history, but it all seemed unbelievable that something so incredible stayed hidden for so long.

The queen of fire dragons stood one hundred meters tall on her hind legs and had a wingspan that required Tristen to crane his head as far left and right as possible. Her scales, the color of fresh spilt blood, covered every inch of her body. Her underbelly appeared less armored. Appeared was the operative word because with her massive legs tipped with razor sharp claws, she was anything but vulnerable. Her claws easily sliced into the concrete and metal as if made of butter.

Jared shuddered at the thought of getting slashed by them. His body would separate into as many pieces as she had claws with one swift blow. Her upper arms gave way to the massive scaled wings. Each wing had multiple bony protrusions that looked just as sharp as her claws. The wings seemed perfectly capable of lifting the behemoth from the Earth... I wonder why Scarlet said she can't fly?

A snort and gout of super-heated breath brought Jared back to his predicament. The queen dropped to all fours, and the ground shook with the force causing rocks and debris to cascade into the rock bed below.

Wow, she's even more intimidating like this.

Jared got a better look at her head and the top of her body. Tipped with curved horns that swept back toward her tail, she had a row of spikes that started from the crown of her head and tracked down her back all the way to the spike tipped tail, similar to Scarlet's own. Each horn looked like deadly Katana's and the spikes could impale a man through with room to spare.

This creature from myth and legend descended her head toward Jared and rested it on her forearms. She collapsed her wings which folded in half and draped her body in a protective shell. Settled into this position, she resembled a hardened mound of spikes, bone, scales and death.

With her head on the ground, Jared looked into her eye and felt his innermost thoughts laid bare for this sentient being. She looked into his soul and flayed open his mind. Nothing remained hidden from the queen of fire dragon's. Her slitted irises burned with an inner light and reflected flame like molten pools of magma. Jared felt naked in front of her gaze and dared not move an inch lest she forgo her promise to Scarlet and bite him in half.

She could just swallow me whole and end my existence.

The dragon's lips pulled back into a feral grin as he had these thoughts and he heard a great huffing noise like a steam-powered engine wheezing to life. When her lips pulled back, Jared smelled the fetid scent of death and decay from the many creatures whose life ended in her jaws. He could see pieces of flesh and bone between her sharp teeth and shuddered at what looked eerily like a human fibula.

Jared stood petrified at this terrible and awesome creature. He couldn't form a single coherent thought or word to speak. While he stood immobile, Scarlet slithered around her mother's legs and came to rest near her head. He shifted his eyes to Scarlet to see her relaxed and curled up next to her mother. He felt a little tension ease, but he dare not move or relax his posture.