[ WP ] Write a classic fantasy adventure story in the style of science fiction .

Hidden within a dark cave at the top of a mountain, there was a dragon. It had existed for over four billion years, and even then, it was still almost a baby by the standards of its species. Dragons had lifespans far too long for them to have evolved within the vast stretch of time since the beginning of the universe. Rather, their origin was far more mysterious than that. Just as snowflakes are just something that water droplets do under the right conditions, dragons are just something that huge masses of rock, metal and carbon do under the right conditions. Yes, the process is much more mysterious than the formation of snowflakes, considering that no one has been fortunate enough to actually observe it in action. Nevertheless, like a miracle written into the laws of physics, it happens. 
 
 The right conditions for the emergence of dragons tend to occur during the time of a planet's formation. Not every rocky planet produces a dragon when it forms, of course, but surprisingly many do. Earth, for example. This dragon was Earth's dragon. It was alone on the planet, and had been since the planet first formed. It had no parents, no others of its kind within four light years. And with its mass, the thought of leaving Earth's gravity well was unthinkable. And so Earth's dragon slept in its cave, way up high. Well I say sleep, but really, this time was spent in a strange mixture of thoughts and dreams. Dreams where the dragon was not alone. Dreams where it flew between the stars. Thoughts that unravelled the secrets of the universe from observations that the dragon had made while it was awake. For the dragon did sometimes awake. Every thousand years, it would leave its cave, and check to see what had changed. In the later billions of years, to see what had gone on with this strange “ life ” experiment that it had started. 
 
 What had started as an interesting experiment with chemicals had blown up into the greatest bloom of organized chaos that the dragon had ever seen. Life could improve itself almost magically through the simple process of natural selection. It turned up forms and ecosystems that were sometimes beautiful, sometimes terrifying. 
 
 Several times when the dragon had awoken, the world had been flooded with carbon dioxide. Other times, it had been covered in a cloud of ash from a particularly nasty volcanic eruption, or from a meteorite strike. Only twice had the dragon had to intervene. One was to prevent a runaway greenhouse effect during one of the periods of high carbon. The second time was to reverse the spread of glaciers over almost the entire surface, a development that would have rendered Earth a icy world until the sun became hotter ( a billion years away by the dragon's best guess ). Now, however, something altogether interesting was happening. 
 
 -- - 
 
 “ What was that? ” cried Murphy. 
 
 Something very very large had just rustled in the trees nearby. 
 
 “ I do n't know ” said King Rufus. He had tried to hold his voice steady, but a faint tremor had crept its way in. 
 
 “ Do n't worry, ” said John, one of the king's knights on the hunt, “ if its anything dangerous, I'll handle it. ” 
 
 “ Or it will handle you, ” said Murphy, “ legend tells of strange and violent beasts in these parts. So I mentioned when it was suggested that we hunt in these woods. ” 
 
 “ Yes, yes, ” said John, “ your famous'Murphy's Law.' Always so pessimistic. It's probably nothing but a particularly large stag. Now let us stalk it, instead of gibbering around here like noisy idiots. ” 
 
 He started forward. 
 
 The king coughed loudly. 
 
 “ Let us remember, ” said King Rufus, “ that I am the king here. And I give the orders. Forward! ” 
 
 Then King Rufus and John the knight both rode onwards through the brush. They were followed by various other court members and knights and dog handlers. In front of them sniffed the hounds themselves. A safe distance behind, came Murphy, publicity officer to the king. After all, he reasoned, if the king were to die, then someone would be needed to make sure that his death was recorded gloriously in all of the newspapers of the realm. 
 
 The hunt progressed for some time, but the hounds could not catch any kind of scent. Just as they were on the verge of giving up, they came upon a massive rock that was n't quite like a rock. Its surface was covered in patches of moss, and even below the moss, it was coloured a coppery green. It was stretched out between the trees. A few unlucky trees had been crushed beneath it. There was no doubt that it was an animal of some kind. The strange beast tapered off into a tail at one end, and at the other, there was a large horned head intently watching some birds undergoing a mating ritual in a tree. The birds scattered at their approach, and a few terrifying moments later, the beast's head turned towards them, looking at them with deep green silica eyes, and pure black pupils. 
 
 Despite himself, Murphy edged closer, in order to better see the action. The dragon watched them for a long moment, doing nothing. Then, with an astonishing speed, it whooshed away, its body sliding off in front of the like a moving wall of stone. 
 
 “ What. The. Hell. Was. That. ” said the King. 
 
 “ I have no idea, ” said Murphy. 
 
 “ See, ” knight John said triumphantly to Murphy, “ we survived after all. ” 
 
 “ I noticed, ” said Murphy. 
 
 -- - 
 
 Over the next few weeks, the dragon was sighted in and around the village. Mostly it was in the surrounding forest, but one day it had turned up right in the middle of town, just sitting there and watching people go about their business. People tended not to go about their business in the presence of the dragon, however. It was widely acknowledged that the dragon was up to no good. Eventually, the king decided that something had to done. He issued a proclamation that the dragon had to be killed. There was a reward. Quite a substantial one. Eventually one came forward brave enough to accept the challenge. Actually, quite a few came forward. The reward was, after all, quite substantial. In the end, however, the one selected for the task was John the knight. John rode out into the forest in search of the dragon. By bad fortune, or good, he had come on the day that the dragon was leaving town for good. He saw it rise up over the trees many miles away, and head like an arrow towards its mountain nearby. 
 
 And so, John rode for many days and nights until he came to the base of the mountain. Then he walked up the side of the mountain in his heavy metal armour. Finally, exhausted, he came to the cave of the dragon. And there slumbered the dragon. With one mighty stroke, he brought down his sword on the dragon's neck. The sword bounced off with a clang, of course, and the metal warped and its edge dulled by the blow. The dragon, for its part, appeared undisturbed, though it did open its eyes to see who had disturbed its slumber. 
 
 “ Hello, ” it said in John's native language, “ what brings you here? ” 
 
 “ I've come to kill you, ” said John, “ you're a menace to the village. ” 
 
 “ No I'm not, ” said the dragon, “ I'm a mere observer. ” 
 
 “ Humph, ” said John, “ I doubt it. In any case, even if you're not a menace, you're obviously some kind of demon. An abomination. Ca n't be up to any good in my opinion. Plus, you've got a reward on your head. A lot of gold. ” 
 
 “ You want to kill me for gold? ” asked the dragon. 
 
 “ Well, it was a secondary consideration, after of course the obvious righteousness of me killing you. ” 
 
 “ Of course, ” said the dragon sarcastically, “ I suppose then that now the only question is how you are going to kill me. ” 
 
 John the knight grinned, “ that is the question, is n't it? ” 
 
 -- - 
 
 The headlines in Murphy's newspapers read, upon John's triumphant return, “ Local Knight Slays Dragon With Heart of Gold. ” This was a bit of humour on their part. When John the knight had returned from the mountain, he had brought back a large heart made entirely of gold. This, he said, he had cut out of the dragon's chest. Between the heart and the reward, John was the wealthiest man in the entire village. 
 
 I know what you're asking. Did John really kill the dragon, or was he just lying? Perhaps John and the dragon cut a deal, the dragon gave John a massive chunk of heart shaped gold, and the dragon went off to fulfill its long-held dream of exploring the stars. I do n't know. But considering that the dragon has never been seen again since that time, there is one thing that is certain: Earth's dragon is no longer on Earth.
