HOME | DD

Description
“Alright. Let’s all go outside now. It’s almost time.” Arwin ushered Serina and his children out of the cave before following after her. The family of dragons quickly assembled in the field below the stone rise. It was a cold morning. Already, there were large patches of snow on the surrounding mountains. Their breaths produced clouds of steam in the air as the dragons patiently waited. Both Arwin and Serina had helped the younger dragons cast enchantments over their eyes to help protect them from the harsh sunlight. Fliz shifted anxiously and looked up at her mother. “When is the eclipse going to start?” “Soon dear. Very soon.” Serina gave her daughter a reassuring smile which made the young frost dragon feel a little better. She was still finding it hard to calm her anxiety over the event. Fliz really didn’t understand how her brothers could be so much less fearful. Drex was sitting next to her between their parents. His eyes were glued to the sky, trying to see just how close the moon currently was to the sun. He would occasionally wag his tail a little in anticipation.
“Oh, it isn’t soon enough!” He exclaimed, “I can’t wait! This is gonna be awesome!” “How are you not freaking out about this?” Fliz glared at him. The red dragon shrugged as if the answer didn’t matter. “You’re not scared of lunar eclipses. The positions are just reversed.” “That’s different.” Fliz shuddered. “So, so different.” Vliticus stood next to his siblings, wrapped in a blanket and wearing his favorite blue bandana around the base of his horns. He didn’t pay any attention to his brother and sister arguing, at least not until he heard his name being called. The yellow dragon perked his ears up and glanced over at Fliz. “What do you think? Are you nervous?” Vliticus shifted in his blanket before looking at her again. “Hmmm. A little. This is a first for all three of us, so I’m a little scared.” “See, it bothers Vliti.” quipped Fliz. Drex finally looked over at her blankly. “So? We’ve never seen this before. I’m a little nervous too. But I’m more excited to see what happens.” They were suddenly interrupted when their father spoke up. “This is it everyone! Here we go!” Sure enough, a black shadow began to appear, creeping farther and farther across the sun as they watched. It’s light becoming dimmer and dimmer as the sun was reduced to a crescent-shaped sliver. The dragons and their surroundings were plunged into an erie twilight within minutes. Fliz huddled closer to her mother while Drex raised his wings and whooped. “Dude! That’s wicked!” Vliticus simply watched with nervous fascination. “Now if we were farther south, then we could have seen a more complete coverage.” Their father explained, “We’re somewhere on the shadows edge.” ”Have you ever seen an eclipse before?” Arwin turned to Serina and chuckled. “Oh aye. Several actually. Have you?” The orange dragon shook her head before looking up again. Turning his own eyes skyward, the green dragon spoke some more. “My parents never really paid much attention to them. Father understood what eclipses were, but he would still visit the Lakota and pray with them for the sun to come back. It took me decades to get used to these events.” “That’s not surprising.” Fliz whined. A huge cloud of steam erupted from Arwin’s nostrils when he snorted in amusement. “The first one or two complete eclipses I’d witnessed were as frightening as you’d expect, but after that it was clearer to me that they were natural. My very first was back in 1778 when I was about three or four. I hid under Father’s wing the entire time.” They went back to watching in silence for a few minutes, captivated by the spectacle. “Do these happen very often?” Serina finally asked. Arwin draped his wing over her with a smile. “It’s harder to predict than a lunar eclipse and there’s only a narrow path where the totality can be viewed best, but it’s a pretty common cycle of the moon. Most of the time this happens over parts of the world that are too remote and inaccessible for humans. I think there’s only been five or six of these over North America in the time since I hatched.” “That sounds like a pretty rare thing to witness.” Vliticus determined, “Have to be in the right place at the right time or you’ll miss it.” Drex slowly looked over at his brother while a new idea formed in his head. “But… we didn’t have to go…. anywhere. This came to us. We’ve been marked for something special! This is toTALLY AWESOME!!!” The red dragon began leaping and running about, much to the amusement of his family. The little sliver of sun was beginning to get larger now. The shadow that had blocked it slowly retreated. Sounds of life returned to the valley as the world slowly brightened once more. Fliz and Serina went back inside, leaving Drex and Vliticus with their father as the eclipse came to an end.

Description
“Alright. Let’s all go outside now. It’s almost time.” Arwin ushered Serina and his children out of the cave before following after her. The family of dragons quickly assembled in the field below the stone rise. It was a cold morning. Already, there were large patches of snow on the surrounding mountains. Their breaths produced clouds of steam in the air as the dragons patiently waited. Both Arwin and Serina had helped the younger dragons cast enchantments over their eyes to help protect them from the harsh sunlight. Fliz shifted anxiously and looked up at her mother. “When is the eclipse going to start?” “Soon dear. Very soon.” Serina gave her daughter a reassuring smile which made the young frost dragon feel a little better. She was still finding it hard to calm her anxiety over the event. Fliz really didn’t understand how her brothers could be so much less fearful. Drex was sitting next to her between their parents. His eyes were glued to the sky, trying to see just how close the moon currently was to the sun. He would occasionally wag his tail a little in anticipation.
“Oh, it isn’t soon enough!” He exclaimed, “I can’t wait! This is gonna be awesome!” “How are you not freaking out about this?” Fliz glared at him. The red dragon shrugged as if the answer didn’t matter. “You’re not scared of lunar eclipses. The positions are just reversed.” “That’s different.” Fliz shuddered. “So, so different.” Vliticus stood next to his siblings, wrapped in a blanket and wearing his favorite blue bandana around the base of his horns. He didn’t pay any attention to his brother and sister arguing, at least not until he heard his name being called. The yellow dragon perked his ears up and glanced over at Fliz. “What do you think? Are you nervous?” Vliticus shifted in his blanket before looking at her again. “Hmmm. A little. This is a first for all three of us, so I’m a little scared.” “See, it bothers Vliti.” quipped Fliz. Drex finally looked over at her blankly. “So? We’ve never seen this before. I’m a little nervous too. But I’m more excited to see what happens.” They were suddenly interrupted when their father spoke up. “This is it everyone! Here we go!” Sure enough, a black shadow began to appear, creeping farther and farther across the sun as they watched. It’s light becoming dimmer and dimmer as the sun was reduced to a crescent-shaped sliver. The dragons and their surroundings were plunged into an erie twilight within minutes. Fliz huddled closer to her mother while Drex raised his wings and whooped. “Dude! That’s wicked!” Vliticus simply watched with nervous fascination. “Now if we were farther south, then we could have seen a more complete coverage.” Their father explained, “We’re somewhere on the shadows edge.” ”Have you ever seen an eclipse before?” Arwin turned to Serina and chuckled. “Oh aye. Several actually. Have you?” The orange dragon shook her head before looking up again. Turning his own eyes skyward, the green dragon spoke some more. “My parents never really paid much attention to them. Father understood what eclipses were, but he would still visit the Lakota and pray with them for the sun to come back. It took me decades to get used to these events.” “That’s not surprising.” Fliz whined. A huge cloud of steam erupted from Arwin’s nostrils when he snorted in amusement. “The first one or two complete eclipses I’d witnessed were as frightening as you’d expect, but after that it was clearer to me that they were natural. My very first was back in 1778 when I was about three or four. I hid under Father’s wing the entire time.” They went back to watching in silence for a few minutes, captivated by the spectacle. “Do these happen very often?” Serina finally asked. Arwin draped his wing over her with a smile. “It’s harder to predict than a lunar eclipse and there’s only a narrow path where the totality can be viewed best, but it’s a pretty common cycle of the moon. Most of the time this happens over parts of the world that are too remote and inaccessible for humans. I think there’s only been five or six of these over North America in the time since I hatched.” “That sounds like a pretty rare thing to witness.” Vliticus determined, “Have to be in the right place at the right time or you’ll miss it.” Drex slowly looked over at his brother while a new idea formed in his head. “But… we didn’t have to go…. anywhere. This came to us. We’ve been marked for something special! This is toTALLY AWESOME!!!” The red dragon began leaping and running about, much to the amusement of his family. The little sliver of sun was beginning to get larger now. The shadow that had blocked it slowly retreated. Sounds of life returned to the valley as the world slowly brightened once more. Fliz and Serina went back inside, leaving Drex and Vliticus with their father as the eclipse came to an end.