Dragons' Truth

Chapter 11

Permalink for this paragraph 0 And so it went.  The passion spread across America quickly.  This was a good thing for students of all ages whose normal studies had suddenly been altered to suit their just-as-suddenly altered attitudes about education.  They were learning more, faster, and in more depth than had ever occurred.  At the same time, tens of thousands of new students were applying to get into all the schools, to go back and really learn what they had only touched the surface of before, and to prepare themselves for careers they had long thought unreachable in the face of simple misunderstandings about the nature of reality.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 And all the things Ghadshyk had predicted began to unfold.  People leaving their jobs created problems for everyone else and things didn’t look so good for the average citizen.  At the same time, Larry’s changes under the influence of the enchanted stairwell progressed at a steady rate until before the end of the school year he reached Ghadshyk’s underground home entirely transformed into a true blue dragon.  They had already covered every conventional subject that the entire school district was prepared to handle, and until he was ready to attend the now over-full colleges, Larry was on his own with Ghadshyk.  They had even given Larry his High School diploma, as he had easily mastered more than was required by the state for such a thing.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 They began working on the teachings of the dragons, since Larry clearly had the interest to at least try to learn their ways.  Merle had still be un-contactable, and while Ghadshyk was not worried about his well-being, he was uncertain about what might be so occupying Merle that he could not reply for so long.  Ghadshyk knew that Merle was not dead; he could still feel a very strong and living connection to him.  And until they could contact Merle about the long-term effects of the enchantment, Ghadshyk and Larry had agreed that they would only work through the dragon teachings in normal time, not at an accelerated pace.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 They finished out that school year and worked all through the summer, eight or twelve hours a day on weekdays but always with weekends off.  They began with the basic dragon language, en-dragon.  Since his dragon body had naturally formed into the proper shapes, Larry had none of the difficulty that Merle had experienced his first day as a dragon at pronunciation, and since en-dragon would be his fourth language – he and Ghadshyk had covered Latin and Mandarin during the school year – he picked it up at a rate that seemed alarmingly fast to Ghadshyk.  By the end of only two months’ study Larry’s understanding of en-dragon was that of a fifteen-year-old dragon.  They decided to move on to high-dragon tongue immediately, and to cover advanced en-dragon when it came up.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Only three days into their study of the high-dragon tongue, they were interrupted as the lower door to Ghadshyk’s home burst open.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “What have you done?!”  The pink dragon standing just inside the thrust-open door was panting for breath.  “Ghadshyk, what have you done?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “What do you mean?  Is it the humans, or something else?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “How could it be something else?  Do you realize that what you’ve done goes way beyond teaching one wizard in the dark ages about dragon wisdom?  You’ve changed the course of human history by letting them in on it, letting them teach each other.  You haven’t given them any of the texts yet, have you?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “No, I…”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Good.  They won’t be able to defend themselves, then.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Now it was Larry’s turn to speak up; even though the entire conversation had taken place in the high-dragon tongue, he had somehow been able to follow the whole thing.  He found himself responding in a language he’d expected would take years, perhaps decades, of careful study, “What do you mean, defend themselves?  Are humans in some kind of danger?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Who’s this, Ghadshyk?  I don’t recognize him.  He looks to be the size of … wait!  This is another human, isn’t it?  What have you done now?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Calm down, Merle.  This is Larry.  He just had his thirteenth birthday, and yes, he used to be a human.  It was your stairwell that made him this way.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “So… we can change him back by sending him back up the stairs?  Let’s do it, then!  Right away.”  He reached out to grab Larry by the arm and drag him to the door.  Just before his hand reached Larry’s arm, a tiny blast of fire reached Merle’s hand.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “After all this time, you’re still so impatient.  How old are you now?  Magic and all?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I don’t know anymore.  Something like eight thousand years, but I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Any true dragon would have a greater peace in his heart than he had in his youth, and yet you seem to grow more impatient the longer you fly the skies.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “You’re one to talk!  Look how rash you’ve been with the humans.  Teaching them how to learn, and why?  You were asking for trouble.  If any other dragons had any idea where you were living out your exile –”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Larry wanted to gasp, but he was trying to be a good example for Merle; to make him believe he was worthy of remaining, so he kept his voice calm and even as he addressed Ghadshyk, “Exile?  I thought you told me you left the enclave of your own free will, to escape their persecution.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “You’ve been lying to him?  What sort of a dragon did you think he would turn out to be if you didn’t tell him the truth?  You and your ideals have always gotten you into trouble Ghadshyk, and for as long as you live, they always will.”  Merle finally addressed Larry, as though he had only just realized that he was more than an inanimate object to be disposed of.  “Yes, Larry.  We fought tooth and nail to get them to stand by their own laws and Tyllym’s decrees, but they changed their laws and had us both exiled.  It was extremely swift justice for dragons; they only took three years deliberating it before the two of us were banished.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “No Merle, you don’t have to –”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I think I do.  The boy doesn’t know what he’s got himself into.  You see, Larry, the reason I’ve spent so much time in the fold, reaching a previously unheard of age, has been to try to find a way to get my friend here integrated back into dragon society.  I built him this place, and several before it, so that he could live out his exile without anyone discovering he was anything other than human, and he was supposed to stay to himself while I worked on it.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I never expected you to succeed, Merle.  I haven’t heard from you in eight decades, one way or the other.  How long was I expected to wait for you to try to force me back into a society that no longer wants me?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “If you’d waited one more year before you went blabbing…”  Merle collapsed on the false treasure mound, trying to relax, “You have unleashed a great fury on humankind, Ghadshyk.  They are on their way.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “On their way?  The dragons?  Here?”  Larry’s voice trembled as he pushed the high-dragon words out.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Yes, Larry.  Because of Ghadshyk’s foolishness, the dragons have rallied their forces together and are right now on their way to America.  They don’t know that Ghadshyk is behind it all, or where it started, but I was there when word came that humans had begun to learn the way to enlightenment.  The issue of my existence was suddenly moot after four hundred years.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “So they think humanity has done this on their own?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I didn’t tell them otherwise, or they would have killed me on the spot.  The way it’s come across to them is that a grassroots movement has begun to spread across America that happens to include a few key pieces of wisdom that the dragons don’t want humans to have.  I thought you might be involved, and when I got more information about where it had spread from – well, I’ll just say it’s a good thing no one else knows you’re here.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “So now they plan to annihilate humanity before it can reach enlightenment?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Something like that.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “All of a sudden I have the urge to go back to the enclave.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Ghadshyk, what are you thinking?”  Merle was confused, Larry just continued watching them both, in stunned silence.  “Do you think you can turn yourself in?  You’ll never get away with it.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I thought you said they were all on their way, Merle.  The enclave is empty.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Wouldn’t they have left someone behind to guard it?” asked Larry.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Why would they?  No one knows of its existence except other dragons, and they’re all on their way to America.  Any dragons not part of the group would be in hiding by now.  I’m now able to go home for the first time in four hundred years.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “But what’s the point?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Merle, can you take Larry into the fold with you?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I suppose so, but –”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I need you to teach him everything you know.  Not just what you knew when we first went to the enclave, but everything.  Go through every text; they’re all here, tell him every story, and if you can, teach him everything you’ve spent seven thousand and a half years learning as well.  I have a feeling…”  Ghadshyk looked deep into Larry’s all-black eyes for what seemed like an eternity, “Just do it, will you, Merle?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “You’re not going to tell me why?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “And what about me?  Don’t I get a say in this?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Larry, you’ve already begun down this path.  In fact … well, normally I wouldn’t say, but with the sight I can see how this part will work out.  You’ll figure it out soon enough, Larry.  I have faith in you.”  He looked back to Merle, “There’s no time to waste.  Do it now.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “But don’t you think we –”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “No.  Here, I’m going to fly up towards the exit, turn around, and come back down.  By the time I get back, I expect Larry to at the very least be at your level of understanding and wisdom, and perhaps a bit more,” a wink at Larry, “Larry, you won’t see me again for a long time, perhaps centuries, but know that I am with you.”  He moved up with a great flourish of wings to an opening in the ceiling that Larry had not noticed before, calling out “Trust me.”  Ghadshyk moved a little ways up the shaft and was about to turn a corner when suddenly he froze.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 And it was very still all around Larry and very silent.  The air seemed thick all around him, but he could still move.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I don’t know what he’s up to,” said Merle, “but I trust him.  You’ve already learned too much to go back.  How long did it take you to master the high-dragon tongue?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I err…  We just started a couple of days ago.  I have no idea now I know as much as I do already…  I just…  I heard you two speaking in it, and I understood… and then I found myself speaking it.  Nothing like learning Mandarin, or en-dragon; those took a lot of work and study… months.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “You learned en-dragon in months?  And Mandarin in months?  Did Ghadshyk teach you Mandarin, or did you work from modern … well, let’s just see.”  Merle switched to Mandarin, “Do you understand what I am saying now?  Does it sound right, or a little off?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Larry responded in Mandarin, “You maybe sound like you have a little accent, but to the best of my knowledge, that is the same language I learned.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Merle returned to the high-dragon tongue, “He taught you an ancient form of Mandarin that is spoken by very few in the world.  If you went to China, only a few scholars would be able to speak with you, but you would be able to read all their ancient texts… if he taught you the written language, too?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Of course.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Have you learned how to read the high-dragon script yet at all?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “No, we were just working on basic sounds and words.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Merle was pulling a scroll down from one of Ghadshyk’s shelves.  He brought it over to Larry and unrolled it part-way, “Can you read this?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “That says ‘Why We Breathe’ … How can I read that?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I’m not sure yet.  But I guess this is where you should start.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I have some questions, first.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Like what?  We have plenty of time here in the fold, and the kitchen will remain magically restocked as long as we need it to.  Ask as many questions as you like.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “You said the dragons were coming, right?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Right.  To attack America.  Last I heard, they were simply planning on killing every last man, woman, and child alive in America.  A basic massacre.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “And you said it was because humans were finally getting the big picture, getting to know how and why to learn, and …”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “And they don’t want that to happen, basically.  It’s more complicated than that, Larry, but that’s basically it.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I know I’m still a child in your eyes, but that doesn’t mean I can’t understand a complicated situation.”  Larry was growing increasingly upset as he spoke, “But that is what I am asking you to explain.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “What about it?  Do you know something I don’t, somehow?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Of course I do.  I know about myself, and you didn’t know me until a moment ago, so I’d say that was something.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Come on, don’t be this way.  We need to be able to get along and communicate, Larry.  We’ll be working very closely for …”  Merle looked in Ghadshyk’s direction; he was still frozen in space, blocking the route Merle had created for Ghadshyk to come and go in dragon form.  “Well, it could be a very long time, if we stick to what he said.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Then that’s what we’ve got to do.  Give me that scroll.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Tell me first what’s got you so upset.  You’ll learn better if you and I can work through these emotions and get you to a better base state.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “It’s all my fault.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “What do you mean it’s all your fault?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “All of it.  The humans learning what they’ve been learning, the dragons coming, and soon the annihilation of America, and perhaps my entire species.  It’s all my fault.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “What do you mean?  You didn’t teach humans these things.  It had to have come from Ghadshyk.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “If it weren’t for me, he never would have started teaching them.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Tell me everything that happened.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 And so he did.  Larry told Merle about sneaking down the first day and being discovered by Ghadshyk.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “He never should have invited you back,” was Merle’s response.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Larry told Merle about their arrangement, that in exchange for Ghadshyk’s stories and explanations, Larry would agree to be tutored.  He told Merle about what had happened with his friend that second day, and while Merle seemed to realize what had been going on, he did not tell Larry what it was.  Larry explained that as soon as he’d begun to see the world in a new way, his teachers had become concerned, and about the meetings, and about the rapid changes in his school.  Larry explained what he knew of how it had spread.  Merle had been able to find out more about the spread by studying old newspapers before he’d arrived.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “So if I had gone to school instead of hunting for dragons that first day, or if I’d been too afraid to come back, or if I had kept Ghadshyk a secret from my teachers… my parents, my friends, my country wouldn’t be facing extinction.  Ghadshyk was just doing what he thought was best at the time.  Dealing with me.  If not for me…”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Don’t blame yourself.  This is all much bigger than you now, Larry.  You were just a catalyst; I had expected that eventually some human would really begin to reach enlightenment on his own someday.  Siddhartha did it, and Jesus did it, and Hubbard eventually got it, though by then it was too late to change everything he’d written before…  But circumstances seemed to prevent them from getting it to spread like it has here.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “What circumstances?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Well, with Siddhartha, it was a dragon’s intervention more than anything.  The dragons found out what was happening, that he was gaining followers, and they sent one of their best to confuse him with false teachings.  Everything in Buddhism comes from a combination of the truth, the dragon’s lies, and the future misinterpretations of those who passed the teachings down.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “They didn’t just kill him?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “No, they wanted to be sure that his teachings would not spread as they have here.  So they made him believe things that would keep future generations from reaching the real truth by following the path he laid out.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “And Jesus?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “He was a real man.  He may have been more.  You’ve heard the stories of the devil tempting him in the desert?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Are you going to tell me that that was actually a dragon?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “You’ve got it, Larry.  Again, this force for the enlightenment of mankind popped up, and the dragons sent a representative to try to confuse his teachings.  He was not affected by anything the dragons could throw at him, to their dismay.  Now, I’m working from multiple, ancient and hard-to-confirm sources here, but there are some who say that after Jesus was not swayed by the dragon’s words, the dragon tried to burn him alive, and found he was impervious.  Others say the dragon simply followed orders and left, watching from the sidelines for future chances to corrupt his teachings.  In what the dragons consider a stroke of luck, there were men who conspired to prevent his teachings from spreading as well, and as he was tortured and killed, so did they infiltrate their men into the early church to confuse the message.  The dragons did not need to take any further action, as the humans had done the work for them.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “What about the resurrection?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “The dragon histories do not believe in it, but some of the sources that said he was impervious to fire also implied that he may have been a divine being after all.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Does that imply that some dragons are Christians?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Never openly.  Their traditions say that humans are lower beings than dragons, so how could a human be the true representative or incarnation of a higher being?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Ghadshyk never painted dragons as being this closed-minded.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I’m sure he was shielding you like he tried to shield me, but you can’t shield a human from a dragon’s fire.  I’m still not really impervious to it myself, and I’ve been this way for longer than man has had language at all.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Through your magic, like we are now, right?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Right, but it’s still time to me.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “It sure feels like time.”  Larry took a sip of his tea.  The steam followed only slowly behind it, and it tasted cold to him.  He set it back down with a strange look on his face.  “And the third?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Oh, Hubbard?  He reached a point of enlightenment about three decades too late.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “But I thought it extended your life.  How could it have been too late?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “It wasn’t that he came to enlightenment too old, but that the life he had lead beforehand had made his enlightenment irrelevant, at least as far as dragons were concerned.  See, from 1949 on, he built a cult following around his writings.  He had been a Science Fiction writer and had decided one day to develop a religion instead of scraping out a living selling short stories and novels.  He devoted decades of his life to creating something that would not only give him the sort of lifestyle that he wanted, but that could actually have an effect on people’s lives.  Some of what he developed in that time was actually effective and sound and did the people it touched a lot of good.  Unfortunately, due to a variety of reasons, most of them coming from the same basis that humans have been coming from for most of history, his principles could not actually lead to enlightenment on their own.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “So how did he get there?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Well, after years of persecution from governments the world over and the growing dissent from the people who had been following him the longest without reaching the enlightenment he had promised, he ‘retired’ from public life and really did begin to think critically about philosophy and the nature of thought and reason and not very long afterwards, began on the path to true enlightenment.  He finally saw how to learn, and what he wanted from his own life, and found a happiness that no amount of money, women, power, or the rest of it had even given him a glimpse into.  He started talking about completely reworking the religion he had created to instead be based on the true wisdom he had finally stumbled upon, but he faced resistance from those in the church who liked the power base, the money, the women, and everything else his creation had given them as the new heads of the organization.  They announced Hubbard’s death in 1981, saying he had ‘ascended’ from this world.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Was he really dead?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “No, only under the threat of death.  Along with being a true potential for enlightenment for millions, if Hubbard’s new ideas had taken hold, it would have meant an end to the billions of dollars of ‘donations’ that his church was extracting from its members for their false teachings, and those at the top of the organization did what was necessary to keep Hubbard from trying to spread the truth.  So, still alive, but afraid of doing anything else, he returned to his passion of writing Science Fiction.  Between 1981 and 1986 – which is when he really did give up and die – Hubbard wrote some of the best-remembered works of his life, and while the church insists that they simply hold up the backbone of their religion, there are hints of his true understanding buried in all the books he wrote from then on.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “So again, humanity itself kept enlightenment from getting out.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Right, whereas the way you did it, as it should have been done, from a mouth with no force, unselfishly, to help your immediate community, and in an age where ideas move faster than governments, seems finally to have gotten it out.  The message, finished and refined by dragons, was able to burst onto the scene instead of appearing as a new, unpolished idea, and with modern communication and travel technologies, it has spread faster than any dark conspiracy or major organization could have stopped it.  It has spread faster than any number of dragons could have confused the issue, and while very few have actually made the steps towards true enlightenment, there is already a deepening of philosophy from what you said Ghadshyk explained to those first teachers.  That represents something beyond anything you could have effected; it represents actual human growth, on their own, towards enlightenment, and it has been fast.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I still feel responsible.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “And what does your heart tell you to do about it?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Try to make it right.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “And how can you do that?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I don’t know.  I just…  I guess I don’t know enough about dragons to know how to defeat or stop them.  I don’t really understand their motivations for trying to keep humanity from enlightenment, though…” Larry paused for a moment in thought, moving his claws as though sketching out an equation on an invisible blackboard in front of him, “I guess from what you’ve said, and not said, that dragons are worried that if humans reach enlightenment, dragons will no longer be the highest life form on the planet, and they do not wish to lose that position of power, even if it is a secret one.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “That has been my conclusion, and was what I was only beginning to address with them when the information came in.  I suspect that is what Ghadshyk wants to go back to the enclave to investigate; the real reasons that dragons believe so much that is not true about humans, and why they propagate these clear lies from one generation to the next as truths.  I suspect that he may be able to find a real solution to the matter with his understanding of humans from a dragon’s perspective, and from a human’s perspective of dragons.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Then what does he need me for?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “That, I cannot say for certain, but know that if you focus yourself on your studies with me, if you focus your energies on doing what is laid out ahead of you, a clear path, you will know what to do when the time comes.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Then let us begin.  I want to get through this so I can get to that next step of knowing how to help.”