They were so beautiful. Can you even blame me?

I was beautiful, too. Back then. With a mane that shimmered in the moonlight and scales of glistening sapphire. With eyes that glowed a sharp, bright green against the darkness of my hide. With the jawline of a carved stone statue. I was so, so beautiful.

And they were the most gorgeous thing I had ever seen. Isn't that funny? So simple-looking, so plain and normal and easy. A dragon which thought nothing much of themselves, only the little creatures they studied. So silly, I used to think, to be so absorbed in the toads and slugs and hornets when I was there. Right there.

"There's something mysterious in those woods," I would tell them. "With black shimmering feathers, or fur-- I can't be sure. You must find it!"

"Why, that sounds like a black bear, Epoch," they would respond, not even bothering to look up.

"No!" I would protest in desperation. "This fur moves and grasps at things all on its own! Like little tentacles… it is no bear." A lie, of course. My mane did not twist and grab and pull at things like tentacles. But perhaps it would make them go look.

They disappeared for days. In my loneliness, I taught my mane to dance like tendrils, waiting to show them when they returned.

"I found nothing," they said.

"Oh, dear. Must have been a nightmare."

They smiled. "No matter. I gathered so much data while I was searching!" They produced a massive volume, a journal stuffed to the gills with samples and tattered bits of paper. "I can't wait to catalogue it all!"

Again, they vanished into their work.

Upon my next visit, I spun another tale.

"There is something magical in the woods!" I told them. "It has wonderful shining blue scales… you must find it!"

"That sounds like a skink," they replied, never looking up. "It does not have any magic."

"No!" I protested. "These scales drop off with every step, the creature litters the ground with shimmering sapphires! Please find it, it is surely an omen of good!"

And again they disappeared, not understanding that I wanted them to find me.

They were gone for weeks. I taught my scales to break off and grow back, to produce a great many pounds of precious gemstones.

When they returned, they showed me everything they had discovered-- everything but the magical creature which could creature jewels. They began to work once more.

Again, I visited. Again, I tried to tell them what they should be looking for.

"There is something evil in the woods!" I told them. "With glowing green eyes!"

"That sounds like a jaguar," they said. "Surely jaguars are dangerous, but they could not be capable of evil."

"No!" I protested. "These eyes shoot beams into the night like flashlights, and they burn everything they touch… the creature is dangerous, and must be found!"

Again they disappeared. While they were gone, I taught my eyes to burn through paper, wood, metal, stone, and flesh.

They returned many months later, with four great books filled with tiny scrawls of data. I visited to spin my final tale.

"There is something in the village," I said.

"Aye?"

"Aye. It has a mane like tentacles. Its hide drops little sapphires with every step. Its eyes can burn through paper, scale, and flesh alike. It is carved from solid stone, and surely it could kill. Won't you find it?"

At last, they looked up. And they were ugly and plain. They could not do the things I had taught my body to do. They could not find me no matter how many times I gave myself up. They were weak and small.

"Why, aren't you made from stone?" They asked.

"Aye," I said.

And I grabbed them in the tentacles of my mane. And I burned them until they melted. And I left a pile of sapphires in the puddle that once was them.

I used to be so beautiful. Now I am a monster.

I will make you a monster, too.