[ the prologue for a very exciting series involving dragons that was never actually put into use, written long ago during my months of amatuership ]

Scales glinted in the single ray of light cast by the brightly glowing white moon as the little dragon shifted to get closer to her mother, who lifted a large wing over her daughter, pressing her up against her warm, thin-scaled belly.

"Today, I'll be telling you about the Red Goddess. Would you like that, my dear?" she asked. The dragon titled up its head to look at her mother. Her large, brilliant ruby eyes, tinted with the gold of a cub's, shone intently in the sparse light, the obsidian colored pupils focused on her mother.

"Yes! Of course I do! You know how much I love the Old Tales, Mater," she responded, a squeaky note common to the young evident in her words.

The dragoness chuckled, a low sound that make the ground rumble and her sides vibrate against her tiny offspring. "Ah, yes, you sure do, my dear little one. However could I forget with you asking me for one of them every time I get a spare moment?"

The cub shrunk into itself as dragons did when they became embarrassed. A faint tint of red emerged upon her pure white scales. "I'm sorry, Mater."

"No, no, it's alright, dear. It's only to be expected of a cub." The dragoness swung her rather large tail around to pat her young one's head. She shifted as she prepared to tell one of the stories that so captivated her little one.

"Long long ago, the entire world was made up of only five things. These were all important in their own ways, and without one, the others would not survive. One of these things was fire, what we of the Red Race represent. But the Red Race didn't exist back then. At least, not until the Red Goddess was born."

The little cub hung onto every word of her mother's, staring into her eyes, which were the same color as what the Red Race represented, a bright, bright, orange that seemed to glow in the dimness of the night.

"The Red Goddess was the third of the gods to happen. For that was exactly what went on when the gods were made. One moment, there was nothing there except for the thing that they represented, and the next, a fully formed, roaring, flaming dragon was there!" The tiny dragoness gasped, and started to form a word, but her mother went on with the story, cutting her off.

"The Red Goddess was created in the same way. One day, fire was burning across the same plains that we of the Red Race live on today, and then suddenly a massive dragoness emerged from the flames! Her head reached up to the Golden Goddess's realm and each step she took carved valleys and dips and her claws gouged rifts and deep gorges. When she spread her wings and flew for the first time, she blotted out the entire sky." Awe crossed over the listening dragon's face as she imagined what her mother was describing.

"As the Red Goddess stood there, knowledge flowed into her mind, knowledge about everything inside her, everything under her, everything above her, everything next to her, everything she could see and everything she couldn't see. But of all those things, one shined most brightly. It was her name, a burning name full of fire and and heat. Do you know what her name was, little one?"

"Aresien," the cub breathed, respect and admiration dancing across her face. "Aresien, the Red Goddess of Fire." She shivered as she said the name, a sense of wonder filling her. She imagined the great goddess watching her from above and felt an urge to dip her head to the invisible power that she was sure existed somewhere.

"That is correct, my dear. Her name was Aresien, the Red Goddess of Fire. Her name was the knowledge that she gained last, and after that, her knowledge of the world was complete. She took to the skies, every flap of her great wings creating a gust of wind that would knock a dozen dragons of my size out of the air. She opened her maw, and as the knowledge had told her to, broke open the Shell inside of her, just as you will in time. 

"When the Shell broke, fire coursed through her throat, and out into the open air. She swept her great head from side to side, burning all the land beneath her. Piles of smoldering ashes were formed, and from these, we dragons of the Red Race were born, popping up like rubies among the dusty remains of the land. Then, after she had infused all of our territories with dragons, she lighted down upon the ground and called them to her. 

"They gathered around her, and as they listened, she shared with them a small portion of the vast knowledge she had acquired from her birthing. She told them that they were of the Red Race and that they were all one. She told them about the other races, the ones that were already there along with the ones that were to come. She told them how to survive. She told them everything they needed. After that, when she had deemed the amount of knowledge she had imparted enough, she took up flight once more. Only this time, the dragons of the Red Race were there to see her immense wings cover the sky and to feel the effect of her flapping wings as they were thrown backwards by the powerful wind. It is because of they that we know of the gods, their names, and what they look like."

"After the Red Goddess left, the dragons put to use the knowledge given to them. They put together dens, picked their leaders, and communicated with the other races. And they did not stop doing that then. We still do all those things and more to this day, and it is all because of the Red Goddess that we can."

The cub waited for more, but that was all. The dragoness was finished with her story. "Is that all?" the little dragon asked. "Is there really no more?"

"Of course there is more, my dear dragonet, but that will have to wait for another night. It's time for you to sleep now," her mother answered, amused.

"But, Mater-"

"Oh, no, I'm not going to budge, little one. You need to get to sleep, and so do I." She shifted into a position where her body curved around the cub and her wing spread out over her, forming a sort of shelter.

"Okay, Mater. But you have to tell me another one tomorrow!" The cub's muffled voice squeaked up.

"Alright, dear, alright. I will. May the Luna light your dreams, dear little one."

"Yours too, Mater."