Musa

STORY
Musa is my first Dragon. He is a rather gentle fellow, enjoying his serene life guarding a slightly-magical grove of bananas.

Now, you may wonder, why are slightly-magical bananas important to Musa? Before he came to the grove as a young dragon he was a fairly ugly steel grey and dirt brown colour. He was flying, as dragons are wont to do, in a spectacular monsoon storm - looping and curling in the lashing rain, dodging lightening bolts with speed and agility. Suddenly, he entered a bizarre clear spot inside the storm. The sky was still raging outside but inside this clearing, directly atop a large grove of bananas, there was a calm serenity. An impenetrable forcefield of calm, preventing all but a steady stream of rain.

He glided down into the grove, smelling the sweet scent of bananas. As a Guardian, he had been seeking a worthy 'thing' to protect - but not bananas. No. What dragon protects bananas? Does the fruit even need protecting, he pondered. It seemed to be doing a jolly good job on it's own, being situated as it was under a calm shield. Nature surely couldn't destroy it. Surely he should protect something more important.

It was at this moment he spotted an incredibly small thing. He was a learned dragon and thought perhaps it was a 'bird' - one of those ridiculous flying things that was so inferior to a dragon it was barely worth mentioning. He'd eat it, he decided. He would clean his teeth with it's tiny bones. He tensed himself into a crouch as it approached then suddenly reached for it, his neck extending at lightening speed, but was flabbergasted when the thing quickly spun to the side elegantly, screeching at him. In this moment as the thing was so close to his face he noticed it's delicate features - no 'feathers', as birds had, but skin as he. A tiny, tiny dragon. One of the Fae.

He had heard of the Fae, piled high in their rock face nests, all atop each other in a swarming mass of bodies, more like insects than real dragons such as he. He bowed, as was only polite when meeting another of his kind, and the Fae made a high-pitched snorting noise.

"Oh, so first you try to eat me but now you treat me like royalty? You pompous Guardian, I am neither a meal nor like you in any way. Now get out of my grove, the insects here are MINE." It flew at his face, battering it's wings at him.

A low laugh rumbled inside him at it's efforts and as it escaped his maw and lifted his head, the stupid little thing got caught inside his beard! As it struggled to free itself, he said, "Do you think a dragon such as I eats INSECTS? No, dear Fae, I would NEVER eat insects, that is vile."

The fae escaped, then darted to a tree. The little thing tugged at leaves, then a spider fell upon it, almost the same size as it. With a deft swing, the spider was a launched at Musa's face. His mouth, slightly ajar, was suddenly inside his mouth. In an odd reaction, he bit down on the wriggling thing. It exploded inside his mouth - beautifully sweet, tasting like the smell of the banana grove. It was the best darn thing he had ever eaten. He swallowed it before licking his maw.

"Ah, now I see why you are so greedy. That was a rather fine delicacy. I think mayhaps.. you will not get me to leave here." He grinned wickedly then lay on the floor, stretching himself out and flexing his muscles, getting ready to sleep.

"No no no, you can't sleep down there! You stupid thing, stupid stupid thing. Get up at this once and away from here!" The Fae shouted in it's high pitched squeak. Musa just closed his eyes. He felt the small thing darting at him, tugging at his chin hairs, nipping his nose, scratching his cheek with it's tiny feet.

Suddenly, he heard a disturbance in the grass close by his tail. The Fae shrieked and he heard it fleeing - it's tiny wings making a buzzing noise as it darted away. What creature is this Fae was scared of, he wondered - it would be scared of a bunny rabbit, he thought, it being so small everything must frighten it. He opened one eye, lazily, to see.

At that moment, huge fangs bit into the end of his tail. A huge dark purple serpent, a Death Wrym, was latched on to him. He felt it's poison seep into his blood - ice cold, his eyes misted as he recoiled slowly towards a tree. One of his large front claws swiped at the snake, ripping out an eye and making a deep welt. It's blood trickled freely, black and sticky onto the undergrowth.

He flapped his wings helplessly as first a wave of unbearable pain then a wave of excruciating, stomach-twitching nausea came over him. He screamed out, almost noiselessly, as first a piercing white light engulfed his vision then tremors rendered him flat on his back. His eyes reeled into the back of his head.

He saw visions, flashes of dragons - dancing, swirling, leaping and diving in an endless puff of smoke, ever climbing towards the unseen heavens above. This lasted for an eternity until he was slowly aware of another thing - a crawling sensation. What was that? His visions changed. Instead of dragons going upwards, spiders were now reeling downwards on their silky strings towards the ground. Towards... the ground.

Soon, the smoke started to clear. The spiders dropped down.. down.. he could now see the grove as he had seen it earlier in the day. Peaceful, serene. The spiders worked closer - the leaves sparkled with raindrops, the bananas hung, ripe and juicy. He passed the treetops into the undergrowth with them and spotted a body - no, his body, on the floor, like a strewn leaf.

Slowly, the spider lowered into the body's mouth. His mouth. He felt it's eight legs working around his jaw, trying to grab hold of his tongue, his teeth. He willed his jaw to clamp down, his teeth piercing it's tiny body. The spider's sweet juices and blood exploded once again inside his mouth and trickled down his throat.

The buzzing sound returned and he opened his mouth again instinctively. Another spider dropped inside and he repeated the process. Again and again, until he had eaten at least fifty spiders. His eyes fluttered open fully now to see the worried face of the Fae. His head rolled to the side.

There, still latched to the end of his tail, lay the serpent - it's brains spilling out through it's eye socket. He was alive. It was dead.

"They are everywhere on the ground, but too large to climb the trees. It isn't safe here, but the bananas hold a magical healing property against the serpent venom. I'm too small to pull the bananas, but the spiders.. well, I can handle a spider." The fae puffed itself up, proud.

And that, my dear friend, is why dragons must protect magical bananas. Over time, Musa built a nest in the treetops and killed many a serpent. There is still a large infestation outside of the banana grove but he tends to the grove and treats it as his life - it saved his, that and the pesky Fae named Vine.

In time, Musa ate so many bananas and spiders that his skin changed to that of a ripe banana, his wings like their leaves. He thinks it might be the magic inside them, but for now, he is happy to just guard his trees and live his life with the pesky Fae.


Familiar gifted by the lovely @Strychnine , thank you so much for reading the story & sending over a pesky serpent!