Dragon Father and Dragon Little reached the end of the woods, just before the goblin village on Goblin Planet.
Dragon Father was walking slowly and badly with his left leg “wounded”, as he used the big stick he summoned to lean on.
“Look at that!” They both peered from behind the cover of the forest.
Goblins are usually smaller than Dragon Father, but now the village was under attack by a huge goblin, three times the size of a regular goblin.
Bodies of goblins lay strewn in the street. The huge goblin was stomping the rest.
Dragon Father’s dreams do not usually summon such grim images. I have seen such things before, and it was hard to look at. I have seen a slaughter of dragons so horrible, so terrible…
I will not speak of it. I will only tell you of Dragon Little now.
“Where are all the kids?” Dragon Father whispered. “This is a village where the goblins bring their children to learn and play.”
With all the adult goblins dead, the huge goblin looked around himself.
He chose a hut and with a swing of his hand, threw the roof aside and a wall collapsed outward.
Dozens of goblin children, who were not there an instant ago, ran out of the hut in panic.
“Oh my god, he’s going to kill the children!” Dragon Father said as his daughter looked horrified at the village. “Joy! We have to stop him and I can’t do it!”
She nodded.
“This is the only weapon that will kill such a big goblin,” he handed her a rocket launcher that looked like a gun and that was almost as big as her. “It can only work from up close, and I can’t get close enough,” he pointed at his leg.
She nodded as goblin children screamed in panic in the village.
“Hold it on your shoulder, point, and shoot!”
She nodded. The violence was clearly affecting her.
“Go, Joy! Go! Kill him!”
This was the moment I realized what Dragon Father’s subconscious was trying to do. He would force her to kill a monster. He would show her such a grim outcome that she would have to kill.
Dragon Little was five and a half years old and although she had a lived a life of adventure, she was innocent.
Somehow, somewhere inside him, Dragon Father knew he would have to teach her to kill to survive. It hurt me to think that her innocence would be lost. And yet, I knew better than him, of the horrifying creatures that searched for Dragon Little outside his dream.
To survive, she would have to lose her innocence. To survive, she would have to learn to kill.
I took in a deep breath. So did Dragon Little.
Dragging a weapon almost as big as herself, she emerged from the woods and headed for the huge goblin.
Tomorrow I will tell you of their encounter.
—Told by The Red Dragon