[ WP ] As a dragon of innumerable age you have guarded your gold horde for millennium . Many heroes have come with long speeches on how they will slay you , the great evil , none finish . However this one is odd.He throws a coin on your stash , looks you in the eyes and says `` I have a proposition for you . ''

*Clink*. The sound of a single gold coin sliding caught my attention. A flick of my tail scattered hundreds more as I stretched, reaching for wakefulness. Diamond ’ s scraped against my underbelly but the same sensation I had enjoyed for eternity was beginning to seem less satisfactory. I had an itch, and it needed scratching. As the cacophony of my shifting horde died down I picked it out, the laboured breathing of my intruder. Short, punctured, laboured breaths cloyed the air. 
 
 ** “ I feel your fear human. It stirs nothing in me. ” ** 
 
 Lazily I flicked an eye open to see the startled creature meet my gaze. 
 
 “ Y…Yes my lord. ” 
 
 ** “ Lord? ” ** I laughed, dragging myself to my feet. The beast was odd, scared, obviously, but not fleeing. It did, however slink backwards, seemingly attempting merge with the stone behind it. Needless to say its efforts, if that ’ s what they were, ended in failure. ** “ If I am a lord, I am a lord of but bones and dust. ” ** I came closer to the small thing, close enough that my eye drew level and the smoke emanating from my jaws began to settle around it, the smell permeating the strange cloth it wore. Cloth. 
 
 ** “ Human! ” ** I cried, pulling my face away to better view it. ** “ Where is your armour, your sword? ” ** 
 
 “ If you ’ ll forgive me… my lord, I have none. ” The voice wavered, but the words were clear. 
 
 ** “ No weapons with which to smite the great beast, no plate with which to bake in its unholy fire. How is it you propose to slay me and win your kingdom? ” ** The sharp intake of breath surprised me, almost as much as the words that followed. 
 
 “ Oh no! No! ” the brightly clad thing stumbled down the slopes of gold and jewels lining the cavern desperately. It slipped and stumbled but managed to avoid falling as it ran, panicking towards me. “ I have no such intentions, please! I assure you! ” 
 
 It was an odd creature, slightly plump at the middle and would not have made for a warrior of any great renown. The cloth about its shoulders was thick by human standards, a bright red hue and it carried a stick. A waxy moustache curled from its upper lip, thick and bushy, the human apparently saw fit to groom itself before death. 
 
 ** “ I do not believe you creature. For time immeasurable heroes have come here seeking glory and riches. Which king has promised you gold, titles or his daughter? Where is your weaponry hidden!? ” ** 
 
 “ I.. I, please, listen! ” 
 
 ** “ Then what do you seek!? ” ** I thundered, I always thundered when angry. It was a gift. ** “ You seek power? Wisdom? A pact with the magical beast? ” ** 
 
 “ I want to understand! ” He yelled. I was stunned. Quietly, I blinked. The silence stretched as I waited for him to continue. “ The world has changed my Lord. ” He stammered, attempting reason in the face of fear. “ You have not been seen in the outside world in centuries. ” 
 
 ** “ Then I have slept for longer than I thought. ” ** 
 
 “ I… we, we don ’ t even have a King anymore. ” The man was babbling, it made no sense. 
 
 ** “ The King is dead? Then who rules? ” ** 
 
 “ We… we vote. We have a parliament you see… and we elect representatives who, erm, they act on behalf of the people and… ” 
 
 ** “ Enough. Tell me why you are here, Morsel. ” ** 
 
 “ I want to show you the world, the new world. We have done, seen so much these last few centuries. Here… look! ” the man reached into his pockets, withdrawing an odd, circular device with moving rods. “ It ’ s a pocket watch! It… measures time. ” I had to admit, the little thing was fascinating, and oddly pretty. 
 
 ** “ I want it. ” ** 
 
 “ Yes, yes, of course. ” He set it gently on the pile. “ Please, my lord. The world is not what you knew, our new railways span the continent taking men as fast as the dra… crow flies. We have explored the corners of our globe and explained much that we could not understand. 
 
 ** “ Then what do you seek? ” ** 
 
 “ I seek wonder my lord. I seek your majesty and power, your awe and magnificence. The world is a shrinking place, one in which every mystery will soon be uncovered, where children will have nothing to imagine and everything to learn. I need you to teach us. ” 
 
 ** “ To teach you? ” ** 
 
 “ That we are not masters of this world. ” 

