Mother Lake

The mountain lake shimmered sapphire in the thin high altitude air. It was an almost inaccessible pocket of the purest water. Far from the reach of the most destructive force the world had ever known this one sanctuary lay undisturbed. Everything in the area spoke of a time of innocents -a time long lost to the raped lands below. Even the sparse air smelt sweeter than that of the lowlands.

I knew why I had come to this hallowed place. However, I still didn't know why I felt I had the right to be here. Why I believed that I was superior, that my human stench was more acceptable, my form less repulsive, my soul cleaner, I'll never even try to know. The only thing I truly understood was the reason I had undertaken the treacherous journey: to see the Gods. Perhaps even to truly prove to myself once and for all that I was indeed superior to the humans who's form I unfortunately shared.

Full of self confidence I made my way to the lake which I felt couldn't lay more than a mile away. To show that I was separate from the rest I had left all my human trappings behind. I knew I was getting closer to the land of the Gods when the bite of the chilly mountain air no longer nipped at my naked skin. Even the pain of my cut feet vanished.

The surrounding countryside held an alien beauty with long blue-green grass and a myriad of colourful flowers that I had never seen in any florist boutique. The trees all had metallic coloured bark and were indescribably intricate in their branch growth. Walking further on I came to were the Gods themselves resided.

Despite His diminutive size the first of these Gods that I came across was breathtaking. He was shier than I expected. However He had taken a form I had expected. The humming bird sized dragon hovered on gossamer wings just beyond my reach, not that I would have dared touch Him without permission. He had no legs, just a serpentine body with dragonfly wings and a little fleshy crest that ran the length of his body.

I had long believed that the reason that there were no more dragons in the world was not simply because they were a myth, but because they, as Gods, had abandoned the world. Now with this tiny winged scaly creature in front of me I knew I had been right. No one would believe me when I returned, but that didn't matter. I wasn't here to prove anything to the humans, just myself.

The God danced and swirled in the sugary air. Each of His tiny blue scales reflected light like a butterfly's wing. Opening his tiny reptilian jaws He let out a puff of iridescence along with a noise that sounded like a baby sneezing. I couldn't help but giggle at the wee God's attempt to be impressive. Apparently He took offense to my twittering. The multi coloured lizard inflated His chest like a child's balloon and then quickly exhaled it. This caused the whole petite God to go flinging backwards. As the deity retreated I swore I could hear Him say in a high pitched voice:

"I'm going to tell Mother!"

The next Dragon God I cam upon was much larger, yet flightless. This one struck more as a Goddess than a God. Perhaps that was simply due to the fact that this one's scales were more of a mother of pearl colour. The Goddess was not nearly as coy as the God. She continued to slither about Her business on eight synchronized legs. Flowing like liquid She moved into a patch of blood coloured flowers. She did afford me one sidelong glance with her deep aqua eyes. The incredible blue eyes held more than just curiosity, they held an insight that was clearly visible in the glassy orbs. Ignoring me she started to munch on the red flowers. I briefly thought of sampling one of the flowers myself, but decided against pushing my luck. After all I was not put to prove myself as these magnificent Gods equals. I just wished to be accepted by them, since the humans had never truly considered me as one of their own either.

Moving past the Goddess I walked briskly to the lake which had suddenly come into view. The mirror flat lake was surrounded by a beach that appeared to be made of diamond dust. The far shore was just barely visible. Suddenly the little serpentine God appeared right in front of my face. Startled I took a second to catch my breath. The God puffed up again and blew his iridescent breath in my eyes.

My vision blurred for a moment from the warm magical spray. When they cleared I had to rub them again to make sure I still wasn't seeing things. A Dragon like none I'd ever even dreamed of lay in the waters before me. This was most certainly the Mother Goddess. Just gazing upon Her was almost more than my heart could take. Her enormous wings were feathered yet membranous all at the same time. It wasn't Her individual scales that sparkled, it was Her entire hide that swirled with more colours than any mere rainbow could offer.

The stunning presents rose to Her full height with the crystalline waters running off her like She was made of glass. Without pause or effort the Goddess curved her long serpentine neck down. Faster than light, perhaps faster than even thought she opened and closed her massive jaws: making sure not to let a single drop of poisonous blood soil Her Water.