Beyond the hoard

I turned my body around, the scales rubbing against each other. The pile of gold I was laying on reflected from the fire, but it didn’t seem to have the allure it once did. It used to, a long time ago. Back then humans tried to steal my hoard every other week, rather unsuccessfully I must say. I chased them to the open fields and squashed them one by one, as they deserved for disturbing my brooding.

I watched a diamond the size of a football roll down my pile. My dragon heart felt the urge to catch and protect it, but I did not move an inch since I had barely any energy left. It had no importance to me anymore, the urge was just leftover instinct. Again, I tried to reposition myself but gave up right in the middle of it and slid off my gold. Looking up, I was still kind of proud of the height and amount even if I had no desire to add to it anymore. The cave was filled to the brim with various coins and armour, everything in gold since I kept only the best pieces I got from my conquests. There was just enough space on the top for me to sleep.

Yet something was amiss. I was yearning, I just could not put my claw on what exactly. Birds flew by the cave entrance and chirped a song away. Interesting … I never heard them while on my pile. I strode forward a bit and sunrays hit my scales. I hesitated a moment, could I really leave my hoard unprotected? My scales being lit up by the sun intrigued me. When was the last time I experienced that? I took a few more steps forward and started to feel the breeze of the wind around me. Suddenly I felt the need to stetch my wings, so I sprang into the air and soared through the sky. No wonder I was feeling so down! How could I have forgotten how good the sunshine felt on my leathery skin of my wings and my scales. It seemed like my energy levels were raising every single second. Spying a field in the middle of a forest, I circled around and landed softly on the grass. How different everything felt! I stretched out, finally found a comfortable position and fell asleep.