WARNING!! This story contains implied sex between two consenting dragon-forms.

Glass Dragon

    How could I ever forget the first time I saw her, my little Child of Glass, standing small beneath ancient trees, staring at me with eyes of somber blue? I had been distracted, lost in wistful thoughts of times past, when I became aware of her presence and looked down to meet her gaze.  She, just a slight child, was not afraid of the fierce and powerful dragon which towered above her, hot with inner fire and smelling of liquid copper. She did not fear my roar, nor tremble at my growls. She simply stood, a angelic smile of wonder lighting her crystalline face.

    She made the endless years more bearable. She continued to come and visit me, seeking out my companionship instead of the company of her own kind. In all my hundreds of years, I had never encountered a creature as exquisitely made as she. Her silvery hair was soft when she rested her head against my bronze scales. Her eyes were large, too large for her face in fact, but so abyssal. When she looked at me, I felt as though I could fall into her gaze and be lost forever within her. Her slender fingers tracing the line of my eye ridges would cause me to shiver to the very core of my fire. The very sound of her name, Shmiri, was caressed by my tongue like fragile crystal.

    But though she matured as the years silvered by, her child's body giving way to the woman within, she did not grow. She did not prosper.  Shmiri remained crystalline and delicate, her skin remained as translucent as moonstone, she was often tired and quiet.  Still, I cherished the times when she would come. She would press her thin frame against the sleekness of my scales, she would run her hands over me, she would sing softly to me in tones as clear as raindrops, or simply speak my name, Phhohl'erz, until the sounds lost their meaning. She did not mind my past of violence, she did not cringe at my stories of men killed, other dragons fought, and fires unleashed. She would listen to my words, with always the shimmer of fascination in her large blue eyes, as she curled securely within the cradle of my talons.

    In all my long life, I had never known a love like hers.

    One diamond wintery evening Shmiri came to me, appearing like a glowing ghost beneath the light of the ice moon. I held her close to the heat of my chest, my fingers careful not to close too tightly, lest I shatter her fragile bones. She rested her spun silver head against my chest plates, gently ran her fingertips along their silica surface. We had known each other for many years now. She was no longer a child, but retained her young wonder. But there was a change, I could sense it in the energies which murmured in the air around her, and in how she held herself. There was a longing to her now. She needed something beyond what I was able to give her, and my heart grieved to realize it.

    She needed someone of her own kind to be close to, someone she could touch, who would hold her and treasure her as I did. I sensed this change in her body and silently mourned the passing of the woman-child I so loved.

    She did not speak of it, however. "I can see my reflection in the bronze mirror of your armor, Phhohl'erz," she whispered, her voice gentle as a breeze in the night. I drew in a breath that rumbled through my chest. She smiled and leaned forward to kiss my chest plate. I felt the touch like a shiver of electric through my nerves.

    "You are troubled tonight, Shmiri?" I asked in the quietest voice I possessed, so not to disturb the cave around us or hurt her delicate ears.

    She tipped her head, still looking at herself in the shiny surface of my scales. Her eyes were sad. "Perhaps. How much do you know of humans, my beautiful dragon? Do you know how different I am from my kind?"

    "I have some sense of it. You are the only human I have ever known who would willingly seek out the friendship of a dragon."

    "I speak of my body, dear one."

    She was fragile. I knew this, but for the first time I thought about it and realized what she really meant. She was not a healthy human. She was delicate and breakable, and this was the reason for her loneliness. Despite her beauty, none of her own kind wanted her. I was at once angered by their narrow-mindedness and crushed by the hurt that was visited on my Child of Glass daily. How it must hurt her to live in the world of humans! This beautiful creature, whom I loved over all else, how could I stand it to see her in pain and not be able to do anything to save her from it?

    "I love you, Phhohl'erz. I wish I could make love to you."

    I turned my gaze down to her, feeling fluid weakness within each of my joints. Here was I, a dragon old beyond centuries, fearsome and strong in battle and murder, so completely charmed by a little glass human. How I cherished her! How beautiful, precious, and luminous she was! To make love to her would be beyond heaven. But I knew that it was impossible. I was so very much larger then she, forged of bronze and molten copper. She was spun glass. I was unable to give her the one thing she really wanted, the intimate touch of one who loved her.

    I thought about it endlessly as days wore on and I saw her gentle spirit fading from loneliness and disappointment. She spoke to me in whispers about how she was treated in the village where she lived. She was avoided and pitied. No male of her own kind even considered her, for in these hard times men wanted strong women who could bear many children and responsibilities. Shmiri spun for me a tale of endless unattainable dreams, with a crystal tear standing in her ocean blue eyes. She felt ostracized by her own kind, never a part of them. She looked at her life through a frosted window, as if watching someone else live it, trying to distance herself from the pain. I was, she said, the one bright spot in her existence, the one being she could touch and feel. But I knew that even I was letting her down. Even I could not be everything she wanted, no matter the love between us.

    But a half-remembered thought began to dance at the edge of my mind one evening as I stared into the reflecting pool outside my cave, contemplating the movements of the moon on the water. Long ago, there had been a dragon who had shed his physical body to accompany his mate on a journey to the astral plane.  He, this great sage dragon, had been able to return to his physical form, why could I not do something similar? How many eons ago had I been told the story as I, barely more then an eggling, sat enthralled at the talons of my grand dam? Had she not said that, with dragons, all things are possible? A dragon had only to try.

    The next time that she came to me, I was ready. I had been practicing and eager to surprise her with my discovery. She stepped into my cave, her luminous form appearing like a ghost in the light from the stars. Her spirit was low, and I wanted nothing more than to bring her joy.

    Carefully I brought my head down until it lay beside her. She was barely as tall as my eye, a glimmering specter who literally filled my vision. "Close your eyes," I rumbled as quietly as I could to protect her ears, "Trust me and let go."

    She smiled, not questioning this new game, and closed her eyes.

    I pulled myself out of my physical body, billowing out into the astral, my true self a scintillating bronze entity of energy and light. It was a wondrous sensation that I was already addicted to, though I was new at the practice. I roared into the universe, feeling the brethren stars sweep past me in majestic eternal dance. All of reality was open to me. I was a dragon of galaxy fire.

    I reached out with an infinite limb and drew Shmiri from her body as well. Within me, I felt her initial delight at the wild sensation. As I pulled her into the universe with me, the first feature of her astral form to manifest were her eyes, sapphire flames which burned even brighter then I. Her illumination was white and silver, her astral body long and slender. I reeled as she unfurled wings of glass, trembling out the stiffness of eternity, and spreading them full for the first time. Her slender head swivelled to meet mine, a multi-faceted jewel of crystal. Gaping, I could only stare. It was no wonder she felt separated from her human kind, for she was not one of them!

    Shmiri's true form was that of a dragon, the most beautiful and shimmering dragon that I could ever imagine!

    There was joy in her first roar, there was unending pleasure in her first flight through the stars with me by her side. She was like a youngling, elated and unrestricted for the first time in her memory. I nudged her as we played tag between stars, rubbing my fiery head against her shimmering hide. She hummed in delight, rolling in mid-flight, presenting her belly to my questing tongue of flame. Her hide was cool and tasted of silver light, in contrast to my form of molten bronze. As the universe turned around us, we embraced, our unique energies intermingling, our souls entwining. Glass and fire.

    We became one, exploring each other's embodiments with wild desire. The stimuli was so intense that it hurt, but it was a hurt I never wanted to end. She drew her talons of glass through my fire, causing me only to burn hotter and brighter. We pressed together until we were more a single creature then two, both lost in each other. She surprised me with the intensity of her emotions. Her desire was a living entity, stroking my body. She ran slender silver talons along my contours, feeling each lick of flame. Her hips nudged mine, she lay herself open for me, wanting me to fill her with fire. I erupted within her, and we free-fell through the universe, rolling over and over with each other. My roars shattered stars, her humming created them again.

    It was the actual beginning of our love, and we manifested it as many times as we could, until we were both exhausted and could no longer go on.

    Making love on the astral plane became a much cherished nightly ritual.

    But, like all things, even this had to come to an end.

    My glass dragon came to me for the last time tonight. We did not make love, for I could sense her weariness, could see the fading light in the translucence of her skin. She smiled at me, her somber eyes hazed with exhaustion. I did not show her how I felt, I did not let her see how I was breaking inside. When I held her to my chest, she pressed her cheek tightly to my chest plates and spoke of endings until she no longer had the strength to, her voice fading away into the night. Together, we watched the stars make their slow way across the skies, until her eyes closed. I felt one final touch of silver on the scales of my muzzle and then she was gone.

    My heart shattered from the pain, and I roared my pain to the night. I could have never imagined that the molten copper dragon could be so easily broken. Perhaps it had been I that was made from glass.

    I held her until all the light had faded from her crystalline form.

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Copyright 1999 raptor@LD4.myip.org