* Purloined letters: #2 - Remillia, and the Verdant Dragon

At your request, the date in full words, with explanation: Friday (5th in a 7 day week) the 16th (out of 30 days, an arbitrarily chosen range) of July (Name of the sixth in a series of twelve, roughly lunar-aligned cycles), 2017 (I’m glad this one was clear enough last time).

06/16/2017 xX - Remilla

Dear Professor Mandrake,

You will not believe this, I have seen a Verdant Dragon in this world, a real one! Like the ones in our murals, equally awe-inspiring. This one had no wings yet, but I infer that it will grow them eventually.

I am sitting now in the backyard of John’s house, where I saw the Dragon. It turns out his name is not John Johnny, just John. The backyard is large and dotted with trees of all sizes. Some of these seem familiar to me, but they are not from our region. You’ll find attached some drawings, made by a machine, of what these trees look like.

The locals call this specimen in particular “The Evil Tree.” They told me the story of how, every autumn, it sheds balls of spikes with the intent of harming little FruFru, the family’s guardian spirit. I can’t wait to see the tree expressing it’s malice this autumn, they despise it so much that they have called an entire squadron of men to take it down, but they will take months to get here, until then, they just restrict FruFru to the inside of their abode. FruFru and most of the guardians I have seen look like fast moving Sloths.

I am confident it is not a Sloth, however, as the Sloths of this world seem to be almost identical to the ones of our world, just smaller, so much so that they can’t be mounted.

I don’t know where the four-legged guardians like FruFru come from, as I have never seen anybody summoning them, but I am reluctant to think they are natural creatures. They must be spirits. FruFru, for example, would charge a creature like the Verdant Dragon with such confidence, that there must be a supernatural aspect to the ferocity of her kin, as their physical form alone would stand no chance against the might of a Dragon. This and the blind trust people place in their own guardians, but not in others’, also suggests some kind of magical covenant.

I am not sure if it is Dragons that bring the heat or heat that brings Dragons, but as vegetation ‘appeared’, so appeared these creatures. Ah, yes, vegetation seems to occur in patches and by seasons, isn’t that amazing? Life simply dies off and springs back up to life. Sadly, they only call Spring Spring and not Dies, Dies. If we ever have these in our side, this is what they should be called.

But I’m straying from the matter of this letter. The Verdant Dragon. I saw one, in the flesh and bone. Just like in the stories, it formed out of the grass, head raised up against the scorched black earth (they call it ‘asphalt’), and it floated away, looking at me with its vertical pupils. Like I mentioned, it had no wings, but no other appendices either, so I’m confident it must have been a Verdant Dragon. I believe the wings sprout at a later age.

There is ample recorded evidence of that kind of magic in this world. In the natural realm, some animals seem to have the innate magical capability of completely transforming from one thing to another, fish that walk on land, worms that fly, I don’t know if the humans of this world share that with their natural realm, but I have already seen a few changing their hair color in matter of days, even to palettes extremely scarce in the rest of nature.

So I didn’t know if I should warn my friend of this matter, and I regret I may have made a poor decision. You see, the Dragon appeared at a time when John was inside refreshing from the scorching heat, I’m surprised he didn’t read the signals. Up until that point, he had been, for some reason, and this is a bit hard to understand, but I urge you to imagine it:

He had been cutting every single plant in a heavily crowded garden he planted earlier in the season, he trimmed all weeds very close to the ground, but without killing them. This patch of trimmed vegetation then grows green and becomes visually, and arguably in texture, like a natural rug. Apparently there is no reason to do this other than status and visual appeal.

I recommend we adopt something similar at the tower, I think it would be the envy of those nosy royals. See the attached list for species I think could work as “natural rug”.

When the Dragon appeared, I had to cover my mouth to drown the noise. I think I managed to avoid startling it, but it became painfully aware of me. It then proceeded to float across the scorched earth while waving its body. I didn’t want to move from fear that I may incur its rage, but I also figured that such a powerful creature, at such a vulnerable stage in its life, would be a prime target for bands of hunters. I don’t know if they have them here, but I wouldn’t want to find out. Sadly, of what I’m sure is that no single warrior would be able to take it on alone, even at such a stage. What it lacks in physical size it probably more than makes up in wisdom and magic. Even some myths from this world world seem to agree.

It stopped for a moment. I nodded in reverence and it went away, entering some sort of shed the family has by carving a hole through the painted wood. As it left, I also felt its magic receding from the garden, I got the chills even in such a heat.

Apparently, the shed itself was once meant for “cars”, those transporting machines I mentioned in my last letter, but they are instead used for anything and everything but cars. Some things are like that in this world, meant for one thing but used for another.

I told John of the Dragon, but I withheld its whereabouts, hoping he would form a search party or give an alarm that would be enough to scare the creature away. Instead, he assured me that I shouldn’t worry and that it wasn’t a problem.

I think, however, that John isn’t a particularly well versed outdoorsman, as he seems to lack even basic knowledge of the nature of his world, unlike his father, who seems to be able to remember the common and formal name of every single avian that gets in view of his window.

His grandfather, shockingly, showed no concern about the Dragon either. So I think it is me who is to blame. I must have diminished the nature of our encounter too much when I related my encounter to them. The scorched earth and the heat, the clear skies and the barren patches of salted earth, everything points at it being a Verdant Dragon.

I think only now that, had I been more emphatic about this, had I revealed the fact that it is in direct contact with their human-hoard, perhaps John and his family would have understood that there were more pressing risks than just a passing Dragon. The creature may be planning to slowly claim possession of the family’s hoard. If that happens, this tiny problem will turn into a shed-sized one. Although I’d be lying if I said that such a prospect isn’t interesting in itself, perhaps by hoarding they get their wings?

Nonetheless, I want to warn my friend of this terrible danger, but I’m afraid that I may offend John if I press the matter further.

I was hoping you could recommend a course of action, Professor. As I fear I may have put the life of my friend, his family and his community at risk. For now, I say goodbye, as my friend has returned and now we are going to eat “baby back ribs.” Which, I'm assured, is not brutal cannibalism, even if it sounds like it, and seems to be, instead, rather delicious.

Your faithful student,

P.S. Your last letter found me well, except for the fact that idiot Remilla opened it, assuming I wouldn’t notice. I urge you punish her. This time I’m sending you a sample of “canned food.” The metal container is enchanted, anything put inside of it will last forever, but once you open it, the enchantment is broken. Pretty nifty magic, eh? Make sure it reached you and Remilla didn’t steal it.

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Hello!

Thank you for reading and supporting this short series! Here is the previous letter if you'd like to take a look at it:

# 1 - A first look at this strange distant world, its secrets and its culture.

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