Aqua and I were inconsolable.

"Waaaaaahhh, WAhhhhhhh, Fuchurrr!!!!"

We rolled around in grief and Auberon joined us in this infernal trio.

Falkor and two other dragons came back down to see the damage and if the probe was intact or missing and he cleared some rubble. Some objects were left untouched at the bottom of the cave.

The cutlery, wine and flags were taken back and the precious notes, the 4 V2 engines too. What was in the bottom was spared but we had no more shelters and we joined the 3 other tribes. We spread out like this, Aqua and Falkor went to the water dragons and me and Auberone, we put ourselves with the earth dragons, jade and yellow textured black/yellow, poisonous like me. Eut had also suffered a lot and the mountain was not great for them.

To bring them back to their senses, I told them what I had managed to understand. They spoke English and although I was French-speaking, I understood English perfectly before. Our first mission was a success in the sense that the eggs and Fuchur are safe on board. I had left Fuchur one of my last manacom and he still had it.

I was trying to communicate but it wasn't working. I'm thinking maybe flying higher. So I flew away and went up and up, but the air was getting thinner and I was getting harder. I felt that I could live in space without air, but the lift and my muscles needed oxygen to support my weight.

Fuchur? Fuchur?

krrr... Vermithraxa??

Yeah, you all right?

Yes, vermi, they've put me in an iron chamber and I can see the planet I'm on. It's full of clouds. You can see all the stars. Heater is nice to me.

Fuchur, don't get the eggs out! We will if we get there. And if we don't, wait until they're gone and then wait until they're far away. If they get the eggs now, we risk them leaving us here. If they don't and they see that you're a male, they'll probably come looking for a female or two. We'll have a chance to leave together then. But think of yourself first and above all, don't get angry. Even if they beat you, endure and agree. I know it's hard, but a ticket to life isn't often free.

Krrrr.

Transmission cut.

Krrr

Love you, we love you Fuchur, goodbye!

Don't forget us!

I heard crying and wailing and cut the transmission for fear of compromising Fuchur.

I arrived at Aqua's group and gave them the latest information about their little one and that he was being treated well.

She cried, but relieved. At least he wasn't in a cage.

Inside the ship, it was the big move. In the cargo area, they were moving objects and ammunition and preparing containers - cages and cryogenic modules for a group of large animals. Cages were provided for hunting and capturing large animals of all kinds, cryostasis and keeping them alive and well.

Fuchur followed Heater and did not leave her side, his tears having stopped and with high hopes.

Although Fuchur's jaw was very frightening to the staff, it was not deemed necessary to put a muzzle or leash on him.

Heater said to Fuchur, "We'll go to my office. "

They entered an office, and in the middle of the room, toys were lying around. Toys for dogs, cats and birds and then toys for very young humans, blocks to stack, an electric train to push and cowboys and Indians, knights and dragons and castle.

Fuchur threw himself into the ball pool and drowned in it. He played like crazy!

Heater, she was taking notes and Fuchur touched the toys of the dogs and cats and left them after taking the chicken that goes "pouet pouet" to have fun making noise then he rushed to the castle with the knights and put them in order of battle and played the role of the evil dragon and the princess. He played with the train and pushed the wagons on the track. He dismantled the circuit and reassembled it and pushed it through the castle and put the knights on the wagon and made tchouuk tchoouuk as he played with me, Vermithraxa.

Heater was surprised to see and hear the word tchouk tchouk from a steam train. How did Fuchur know how to associate a wooden train with a steam locomotive? Human intelligence.

Then he played with the blocks of letters, but they meant nothing to him. The common being too far from French or English.

So she took the letter A and made Fuchur repeat the sound A. Fuchur repeated A.

to the last letter of the alphabet.

She came back to the commander and reported back to him.

Perry: "So? How's our resident?"

"He suddenly stopped crying as if he had received a message of comfort! but he reacted like a human child with toys. I had put some pet food in a bowl, he ignored it and threw himself on the toys. An animal would have thrown itself on the food. He didn't. He imitated the whistle of a steam train on a wooden train and went all the way back and invented new possibilities with the guards on the car. Their intelligence is at least that of a seven-year-old child. I'd even say it's equivalent to ours.

He eats now but he prefers sweets, pastries and viennoiseries with a preference for chocolate and sparkling coke. A bone and some bleeding meat and prey samples we brought back with the shuttle, he ignored them and put them on the side.

He eats off a plate and not on the floor. He's a truly intelligent alien. He was probably raised by humans, there's no other way.

We're gonna go after him with smarter games and video games.

Fuchur understood without having to be told how to launch the game console.

He learned the words quickly and became a little kid. He understood the words like forbidden, play, sleep and the rules in the ship. If he behaved well he would be free and if he was bad they would lock him up. He followed Heater and when Heater asked him to stay there, he stayed there. He was afraid.

But in the meantime the shuttles left the ship and came close to the cave whose entrance was cleared and the scree was put back up like a fortress wall. We had worked very hard to secure the place and when the shuttle landed, they saw that we had prepared the objects they were interested in, documents and antique objects. And especially the manacom on the stone table, intact.

The items were packed in military crates and then Perry came back and waved me to follow him. He made gestures when he spoke that I was to bring the dragons by color to the containers, cages. He was pleasantly surprised that I gave a few grunts and the pairs of dark dragons entered the containers on their own.

Then he pointed to the greens and the greens entered but some licked the yellows and the water yellows as if they were separated forever. They all made the same scene: they approached the container, sniffed and looked one last time at the scenery around them, then uttered a cry of domination, as if to say goodbye to the planet that was theirs and one of them started singing and then another and then all of us sang about the sun and our earth and we cried as we sang.

The humans were moved.

Mandrake didn't lose a second of the show that the manacom transmitted to him. He saw and heard everything from his secret lab.

He wept as he watched the most beautiful creatures in his kingdom disappear.

Then it was the turn of auberone, s'aqua and Falkor.

And I was the last.

Perry beckoned me to come, but I beckoned him, and he came. He sent back the shuttles that took off and the dragons left this planet forever, their own.

As the dragons left the atmosphere, I felt something strange inside me: the magic was flickering! and all the power of magic was gathering inside me.

It was like carrying the world. But I felt like I still had to do something.

Perry climbed on my back and I took off with him.

He stood behind my neck and held onto my horns like a motorcycle handlebar.

We headed towards the sea and there near an islet stood a couple and their 2 child sea dragons. They didn't fly and had flippers instead of wings but they were beautiful. Little leviathans.

I landed near them and explained the situation to them and they agreed with us.

It was agreed that if the dragons did not come they had no choice but to enter the great hibernation which could last a thousand years but meant a 50% chance of being discovered and killed in their sleep.

Some had opted for this extreme solution, but the magic of this world was about to collapse with the departure of the last five dragons, Me, the sea dragons and their two children.

GRAO!" I said as I showed the remaining dragons to Perry.

A shuttle soon landed and the four dragons entered the containers.

Then Perry took out a holographic screen and showed me some species to capture and I did GRAO!

He wanted dinosaurs. There was a dinosaur valley and I flew over the hidden area and he was surprised. There were not all the species but terrestrial dragonoids, raptors and pterodactyls, primitive kinds of birds. To his surprise I used my dart and the victims were curarized, but alive.

Perry was over the moon, dragon hunting! Ride the beast!

Then we went to the old forge and Perry didn't expect to see a girl run up to me and jump on my neck. I didn't speak and Perry and the girl couldn't communicate. She offered Perry some wine and beer and showed him around the forge.

To his surprise he saw the mini foundry, the steam engine and belt drive, the wind turbine and especially the lathe and half-mounted milling machine. But the controls were oversized, like a dragon... It clicked for Perry, who stared at me interrogatingly. Then he saw me take some vegetables, put them in the big pot and prepare our last soup with my niece. Everything was made clean and with spices and Perry settled down and then Paul came to join us. He greeted Perry and gave me a hug.

I knew it was the last time we'd ever see each other. My niece knew a few drastic words and said, "Can't talk?"

"That's right. I love you. All aboard ship, last meal together! Goodbye. Goodbye."

Then Marie asked: "What if we come with? "Not me decide."

Then Mary made a drawing of stars and a boat in the stars and drew her leaving with stars.

But Captain Perry refused. Maybe later.

Then Paul gave Captain Perry some books that John had taken to teach me and Auberone the rudiments of the language. But I pretended not to know. Paul understood that it might harm me and did not insist.

Perry appreciated the soup made with real vegetables and not synthetic vegetables and he took seeds and samples to reprogram the food generator to recover the lost aromas of real vegetables. He had never eaten so well in his life.

Paul handed over missives and orders to slay dragons and bounties. Perry understood the value then Mary made drawings with a crown of a mad king, and of the war between dragons and humans and Perry finally understood that I was a princess. With a family tree, he understood that I was a threat to the kingdom and that dragons could rule but that humans did not want to share the power with other species.

Then I flew over the Black Fortress, what was left of it, and we narrowly escaped ballista throws.

Perry was very hung up on me and we trusted each other, but relatively speaking. The tongues would loosen when we were far, very, very far away, if ever.

Then we got to a point where he pointed to me, turning my horns to guide me, and I landed.

He looked very, very happy. A shuttle was waiting for us and I entered it like the others. But a huge structure was in the way: a flying fortress.

A real castle of 100 by 100 meters was at 1000 meters above sea level and was still climbing. Some magi started shooting after the shuttle and we turned around, we had to reach space by going around the fortress that was obviously not following. Perry was very worried and saw that not all the dragons were targeted, but they too. Perry didn't engage the hostilities and continued to climb. And when we reached orbit, the fortress fell like a pebble and exploded into billions of dust, killing all the men inside.

The buildings built by magic collapsed. the lamps went out. the manacoms fell silent, the vision globes became opaque and everything that had anything to do with magic stopped or ceased to function.

Magic had died with the last dragon. No one in the council foresaw this and all the blame and blame was laid on Profion and the nobility.

Weapons, enchantments, prosthetics, ovens and ships. That day, everything stopped. Temples collapsed, high towers with reinforced foundations collapsed and collapsed all over the world. No corner was spared. The magically cultivated areas dried up and the whole society as they knew it disappeared.

Society slowed down 100 times.

Profion and his clique were executed and all the ancient magicians burned their books and knowledge became useless. Even the magic of healing disappeared. The priests were soon mistaken for charlatans and the kingdom sank into chaos. He never recovered.

The people, too worried for their survival, went to the farms and armies were raised to find the dragons and raise them, but as many were foolish, the order to find the dragons and save them became to save us from the dragons and they would not admit the reality: no dragons, no magic. They blamed the dragons out of sheer stupidity. The kingdoms were rebuilt, but without magic. The magi were forced to become merchants, chemists, pharmacists (apothecaries).

We were in a ship and we were waiting for the next step. We were all cryogenically frozen except for me and Fuchur.

The commander respected me as a person and not as an animal.

Fuchur understood a little English and when he saw me with Perry, he ran to jump on my neck with joy.

I started crawling in front of Perry to thank him, but it really marked the beginning of our adventures. Nothing was ever going to be over.

The ship split in two and one part went back to Earth and the other part stayed here for diplomatic or colonial missions.

I didn't give a damn what would happen to them but all that mattered to me was a future alive and not with my head on a wooden plaque as a trophy.

I was given tests, scans and MRIs and to their surprise, human DNA existed in me. The dragons had a brain developed like humans but very much oriented towards hunting, navigation and flight. But mine was denser, more sophisticated, they said.

The crew were suspicious of me and saw me as the alien queen in the famous science fiction movie.

The comedy wasn't working and they knew I was hiding my true intelligence...

Perry took me to a part of the ship with plants and a big garden. A real one, not a virtual one and there was a stump of wood and sat down. He made a block of stone appear and took some carving tools and started making art.

A block appeared in front of me with tools and I took them. And I began to carve abstract shapes, a gothic window on a sphere and the window looked out on flying dragons.

Then another block and this time I was carving an egg. And out of that egg, a woman's arm would come out.

Perry: "Wonderful, you know art! You are a superior being!

The egg or the promise of life, the hand reaching into the future. First you show the future and then you show me freedom.

Then I carved the sound and the musical notes:

Perry: "Yes, harmony!"

Then I fell asleep, tired, exhausted, and Fuchur came to meet me in the garden and he snuggled up with me and we slept together for the first time carefree, one of the swords of Damocles taken away.

Perry left the room and dimmed the light. I then covered Fuchur with my wing and we were rocked in the arms of Morpheus.