Water dripped steadily from the ceiling, drawing stalactites down from the limestone at an invisible pace. A stream trickled in and out of the light cast by a lone headlamp. Fragile yet stifling silence bore down on everything else.

Spooky cave noises were Brianna's favorite real-life backing track. The cheery bustle of her part-time job was her second favorite, and if pressed for specifics she'd name the magic shop as her top pick among the little locales of the park. Nothing beat the gentle rhythm of books flipping open and closed on their own, accompanied by whispering flute music and twinkling novelty trinkets. The conspicuous lack of loudmouths pretending to be noble warriors that were a little too fond of ale helped.

Brianna worked at a fantasy themed amusement park, of course. Spelunking in the town's nearby cave systems was just her hobby.

She skirted a large rocky protrusion, careful of slipping on the slick terrain. She was aiming to find a new area and leave without any scrapes this time. The caves Brianna frequented were fairly easy to traverse, but somewhat difficult to navigate.

The last marker she'd set the previous trip appeared at the edge of her light. Her best guess was that she was nearly a half mile into her route and a hundred feet below where she'd started. Now for the real challenge: charting new territory.

Stepping past the most recent marker always gave her a little chill, and this time was no exception. The way forward was fairly straight and smooth for an untouched cave. Not that Brianna was completely sure nobody had visited this system, although certainly no one in town seemed all that interested. Even to her knowledge there weren't any truly magnificent spectacles to see here.

Five minutes, ten minutes, twenty minutes later and no new intersections appeared. The route wiggled but didn't snake like the other two she'd already explored.

Brianna checked her watch. Hmm. I made good time getting here, but it seems I might not see anything here today. She squinted into the dark. The tunnel does appear to be widening, though, so no more squeezing by.

Suddenly her headlamp flickered out. Brianna cursed. The batteries are still pretty new! Good grief... She rummaged around in her fanny pack for her spare flashlight, flicking it on.

An enormous set of reptilian teeth and nostrils greeted her.

Brianna clamped down on her surprise ... That wasn't there a minute ago... She leaned in closer, studying the texture and minute details. That's... really detailed? Wait, what kind of animatronic would be here? Much less be big enough to fill this tunnel? Huh??

Before she could sort her thoughts, it spoke. "Hello!"

"AAGH!"

"Aaah!"

Brianna leapt backwards. "You— it— what?!"

"Yes?" The maw patiently asked in a mellow tenor voice.

"What... what are you?!"

"Oh! I'm a dragon."

Silence.

Brianna's flashlight traced the pearlescent fangs up to scaly, maroon lips, arched nostrils, and further back a pair of twinkling amber eyes slitted like a cat's. "I.... guess so? I mean... yeah. Are you going to eat me?" The most important question on her mind slipped out.

"Eat you? Why would I do that?"

"Because... well, because you're a dragon?"

"So?"

"And I'm not?"

"So?"

"So, what have you been eating down here?!" Brianna tried to reign in her impatience, but in her opinion the dragon wasn't being very transparent about its position or attitude.

"Oh! Nothing."

"... Really?"

"Yes! I do not require food since the energy in my cave is fairly sufficient, although I believe my growth is slower than it would have been otherwise."

"Oh... kay." How does it know that? Wait, how does that work?

Silence again.

"So... are we done here? I think I need to go..." Brianna really didn't want to stick around longer than necessary. Regardless of its dragon status, its mouth was big enough to eat her in one bite, and she needed to... process all of this. In private.

"Oh! Please don't leave!" The mouth scooched towards her.

Brianna took a couple more steps back than necessary.

"Um, why not?"

The dragon cleared its throat— a terrifying phlegmy sound— before mustering a questionably serious expression. "Yes. I need your help."

Brianna waited for it to explain.

And waited.

"Do you... want to get out of here?"

"Kinda."

"... Do you know how to?"

It tilted its head. "Mm... Nope!"

She was really getting tired of this. "Then what do you need my help for?!"

"I don't really know!"

What. The. HELL?

"That's it. I have to go."

"Oh! I know, could you please come back?"

Brianna froze in her tracks. It almost sounded...

"... Why do you want me to come back?"

The head shifted side to side. "Mmm, I think it's because... I'm lonely?"

"... Is that a question or...?"

"Oh! I'm not sure. I've never talked to anyone before. The bugs and bats aren't really much for conversation."

Ouch. "... Okay."

"Really?"

I'm so going to regret this. "Yeah, really. I'll come back next week."

"Yay! What's a week?"

Brianna left after explaining the concept of a day/night cycle (it understood this) and what a week was and which days were which (it didn't understand this). She stood outside the cave system, staring at the forested hills around her. Its knowledge is so strange. I guess I'll have to ask about it next time.

Now that she wasn't within biting range, the encounter weighed heavily— and more logically— on her mind.

She sighed. "What have I gotten myself into?"

The fantasy park was open seven days a week during the summer. Brianna worked on the rides, primarily operating and maintaining them, although sometimes she covered for other employees at the food stalls or themed shops. Her position afforded her one day off, and she usually took the afternoon to closing shift; early mornings were not in her vocabulary.

She woke up at 8:00 am sharp on the day she was to go back to the caves. Work kept her thoughts off of the impending visit, but it seemed they had come back to haunt her.

Knee pads, helmet, gloves, headlamp (with replaced batteries), and a new mega flashlight all went into her car. Brianna tried to think of anything else she might need to talk to a dragon. Guns are out of the question, not that they'd help. I'll probably be down there a while, so... She snagged a water bottle and some granola bars before stepping out of her duplex and locking the door behind her.

Fifteen minutes of driving brought her to the trail head that would lead to the caves. Five minutes of hiking brought her to the entrance. Deep breaths, deep breaths... and, go. One step at a time, Brianna retraced her route from before, past the last marker and into the straight tunnel beyond. Her headlamp shone on.

She reached the place where she'd met the dragon. Or its head, at least. She continued walking through the damp tunnel until a large cavern opened up in front of her.

"... Hello?"

A huge head dropped down in front of her. "Hello!"

Brianna squeaked, but she didn't run. Okay, okay... first, small talk. "Um... what's your name?"

"Oh! I forgot to tell you. My name is Dolomir. What's yours?"

"... Brianna."

"Nice to meet you, Brianna!"

"... Nice to meet you too, Dolomir."

Dolomir showed a spiky grin worthy of a horror movie. "This is so great! Here, I'll show you around my cave."

Apparently the rest of Dolomir's body was up on a rocky shelf, because he had to step down to get to Brianna's level. Brianna pulled out her mega flashlight and turned it on. She mostly watched Dolomir as he shuffled around the cave only a few times larger than himself.

He was a bit longer than a bus, and easily taller than one at the shoulders, with four limbs, a long neck, and a pair of wings furled tightly against his back. Her flashlight revealed shiny black claws clacking across the ground. Similarly colored horns adorned his head, swept back over floppy, leaf-shaped ears that seemed almost equally ornamental. Softer ivory colored scales covered his belly and the bottom side of his tail, which was somewhat fat like a boa constrictor's. The scales on his spine formed a subtle ridge.

All in all, a fairly typical fantasy dragon, if a bit meek-looking. Appropriate, I guess.

"... And finally, this is the alcove where some bats used to nest. They stopped coming here around a year ago. And then I met you!"

"Wait, you've never met anyone else before? Not in, what, twenty years?"

"Nope!"

"What about your parents? And how do you... know stuff? Like language?"

"Oh..." Dolomir scratched his chin with a claw. "I came here when I was very little. From what I remember, dragons are quick to learn things, and slower to grow up fully. I knew how to talk before I ended up here. As for my parents... Well, I don't know."

"You don't know where they are?"

He shook his head, which was large enough to make an audible woosh. "No. I don't know how I got here, either. I just remember... a lot of panic. And then being here."

"... That sucks."

"Sucks?"

"I mean... that's bad. I'm sorry that happened to you." Brianna awkwardly avoided eye contact.

"Oh, don't be! It's so much better having someone to talk to." Dolomir flopped down on his belly, causing Brianna to stumble. "Now, tell me what it's like outside! I've never been."

"Um... well..."

Brianna tried to explain how things were outside the caves, starting with the nearby town. It was a little difficult, since Dolomir kept getting hung up on things like restaurants and cars, but eventually she told him about her job.

"Fantasy? As in not real?"

"Yep. It's a pretty overt way of escaping reality for a while, but it has its charms. Dragons are fictional here, you know."

"What? But I'm here!"

"Why do you think I was so surprised to see you?"

"Wow! That does make sense..." Dolomir huffed, sending pebbles skittering across the floor.

Brianna watched from her seat ten feet away. Maybe... "Do you want to leave this place?"

He dragged a clawtip back and forth across the stone. "Kind of. It takes forever to dig, though, and I have no idea where I'm going. As boring as it can be in this cave, I don't know anything about what's outside of it. Well, maybe I do now." He eyed Brianna.

She stared back, a plan taking shape in her mind. "I think there's something I can do... Several somethings."

For the next two weeks Brianna used all of her spare time to visit Dolomir in the caves, guiding him as he hollowed out the tunnels Brianna knew would get him to the entrance the quickest. It helped that his claws could cut through stone like butter. Frozen butter, but he could work nearly non-stop.

She bided her time at work, waiting for the right moment to ask a particular question. Finally, a day came when her manager was idling in the break room with her.

“... Hey Mark, are you still working on that order for the new ride?”

Mark glanced up from his phone. “Yeah. We’re looking to get a good deal on an animatronic from Model Studios, but negotiations are an... ongoing effort. Why do you ask?”

“... What if I told you I had a better deal?”

They stood outside Dolomir’s cave system. The dragon had managed to work his way to the entrance, a mere twenty feet of stone standing between him and freedom. He was currently poking his head out of the cave, much like Brianna had first seen him.

“No.”

“What?”

“I said no!” Mark exclaimed. “We’re not taking a live effing dragon to the park! How’d you even find him?!”

“I was exploring when I walked into his cave. He’s very nice, I’m sure he wouldn’t cause any trouble!”

“Oh, I won’t!”

Mark pinched the bridge of his nose. “We can’t even feed him!”

“He’d feed himself!”

“Brianna, NO—!”

“Yes, the energy outside the caves is much the same as inside. I won’t grow any bigger, and you won’t have to find food!”

“See? He’s free! No maintenance, no nothing!”

Mark sighed, not quite in relief, and started pacing.

Brianna and Dolomir waited patiently.

A minute later Mark stopped. “There’s so many things we’d have to plan...”

The pair gave equally draconic grins.

Dolomir finished carving his way out, and for the next few weeks he stretched his limbs and wings outside as quietly as he could. At night. Late at night. Nobody else needed to know there was an actual dragon flying around.

Brianna and Mark worked on preparing a place for Dolomir at the amusement park, slowly bringing the regular employees into the loop. Not many of them fully believed the two, but the night came when all doubts would be put to rest. It was time for Dolomir to move in.

"You ready Dolomir?" Brianna asked, patting his foreleg.

"Yes!" He looked to the stars overhead. "Yes."

"Why do you get to ride an effing dragon?" Mark pouted off to the side.

"Would you do it?" Brianna arched an eyebrow at him.

"... Not right now, I wouldn't..."

"Hmph. Then you'll just have to wait your turn." She turned to Dolomir. "All right, you've gotta crouch. I can't get up like this."

Dolomir complied, and Brianna clambered up onto his shoulders, a couple feet in front of his wings. After situating herself, she called out, "Let's go, Dolomir! See you at the park, Mark!"

"See you!" Mark yelled, but they were already rising up, up into the air.

Each beat of Dolomir's wings sent her hair whipping across her face, but Brianna didn't care. It was exhilarating. Her stomach dropped out from under her as the ground spiraled away, Mark shrinking too small to see. The lights of the town twinkled below them.

Dolomir leaned forward and they began to swoop towards their destination under her direction. The park was on the other side of town from the cave system, so they had to skirt the edge of town, taking a graceful glide just below the sparse clouds decorating the sky.

Brianna cackled while Dolomir chuckled at her joy. Her fingers were chilled to the bone and her face was nipped red by the wind, but nothing could take her mind off of the moment. It was a flight to remember.

All too soon they began their descent. Thankfully the new ride was on the far side of the park, which was already on the edge of town. Unless somebody had a pair of night vision binoculars out they wouldn't be spotted.

Mark was already there, waiting for them. "Took your sweet time."

"Don't be so jealous," Brianna said, sliding off Dolomir's back.

Dolomir shuffled in place. "Ooh, is this it? Is this the ride?"

"Indeed it is." Marked waved him in. "C'mon, let's get you settled. I want to sleep some time tonight."

Some of the extra money they'd saved from the animatronic budget had gone towards a giant set of sliding back doors and an awning leading to the last section of the ride, where Dolomir would be posted.

Dolomir sniffed deeply. "Mm... new smells."

"We've got pads down in the corner over here, and this curtain gives you some privacy from the ride. As discussed, you'll just need to poke your head out and roar whenever the green light over there goes off. That's when the ride pauses outside your area. In the meantime, get comfortable, and I'll see you at work tomorrow. Bye!" Mark trotted off.

"Bye! Sheesh, I know we'll be back tomorrow, but he's in a hurry." Brianna turned to Dolomir. "Are you good for the night? Need anything?"

"I'm great! This is great. I practiced my roar and everything!" Dolomir smiled as widely as he could.

"Okay. See you tomorrow, then."

"See you tomorrow!" Dolomir watched her leave. "... Tomorrow." Finally, he was really looking forward to it.

The next day marked the beginning of a new era for the park. The employees that had been told about their newest hire varied from surprised to near-heart-attack shocked to see that he actually showed up. And that he was a dragon.

Dolomir's roar wouldn't let him voice act for monster movies, but the life-like (of course) performance and minor variations between rides kept people coming back for more. It was safe to say he was a hit, and Brianna and co. celebrated it with proffered snacks from the deli section of the town's best grocery store.

As for the volunteers and temporary employees, they couldn't help but wonder why people kept disappearing for the night with cuts of meat in hand, or what the weird flying shadows around the new ride were. Some even said they saw someone riding the shadow, screaming into the distance...