mystery of the red dragon

"So this is the Dragon's Lair, huh?" Fire Spirit smirked as he stepped in front of a huge set of iron gates. "I've finally found it."

As he stepped through the gates, he felt the heat grow stronger and the fire burned brighter. But it didn't bother him. After all, he was created by flames. Through the hot flames, Fire Spirit stepped over the narrow passages and onto a small circle of land. He heard growling above him.

Turning up, he saw a massive head towering above him. It was... a dragon?

"Woah, buddy!" Fire Spirit jumped back. "Don't eat me!"

The dragon didn't respond. Instead, it hopped down from the ledge it stood on and began circling him.

"Uh... I'm sorry for invading your home?"

Stopping right in front of him, the dragon extended its neck so that their faces were only three feet apart.

"How did you get here?" the dragon asked. It had a mellow, female voice.

"Uh, through that gate?" Fire Spirit laughed nervously, trying to be funny.

The dragon gave him an unamused expression.

"Okay, okay, fine..." Fire Spirit rubbed the back of his head. "I've always lived in the Dragon's Valley. I kind of just... got curious and decided to enter the Dragon's Lair today.

"You... lived in the Dragon's Valley?"

"Pretty deep in, yeah."

Extending to its full size, the dragon sat up and spread out its wings.

"Not many individuals can survive the heat of the Dragon's Valley and much less find my lair," her voice boomed across the land. "Come with me."

Hurriedly, Fire Spirit followed the massive red dragon as she led him up a winding staircase.

Oh god, is she gonna eat me? he thought with every step he took. I don't even taste that good. I'm literally just made out of fire.

They stopped in front of a cave and the dragon entered it. Gulping, Fire Spirit stepped in after her to see a bunch of colorful child Cookies.

"Hey!" Fire Spirit exclaimed angrily. "Are you gonna eat these Cookies?!"

"No, no." The dragon lay down beside the kids. "These are my children. As you can see, they are Cookies right now."

"How-how does that work-" Fire Spirit's mind formed math equations in his confusion.

"They will be able to transform into dragons when the time comes," she explained as she nuzzled one of the children. "Since you clearly have potential for wielding the Dragon's Bead, I will lend you my power to help me protect these children."

"But, you're a dragon, right?" Fire Spirit laughed. "You're much more powerful than me. What can I even do?"

"I may not be as strong as I seem," the dragon confessed. "and I am not immortal. If my power is lost in the passage of time, then nobody will know it anymore."

A child Cookie tugged at Fire Spirit's sleeve.

"Daddy?" it looked up at him.

Fire Spirit chuckled and knelt down in front of it.

"I'm not your dad, kid, but I guess I could be," he smiled at the kid. Then, he turned to the dragon and asked, "Can we make a deal?"

"What is it?"

"If I manage to even steal a fraction of your power, then I get to hang out with this kid," Fire Spirit proposed. "Take him around the Cookie World. Raid a couple houses. Basically just fool around. Sounds good?"

"Oh?" The dragon sat up, interested. "Just this child? And you're willing to perform such a feat just to hang out with him?"

"Of course!" Fire Spirit exclaimed. "He did address me as a dad after all. I'm willing to do stupid things to have some father-son bonding time."

He pat the child's head.

"What's your name, kid?" he asked the small Cookie.

"Dwagonfwuit," the child responded, obviously not pronouncing his R's right.

"Watch out, momma dragon," Fire Spirit smirked. "Once I steal your power, this kid is gonna have an awesome life."

"That doesn't sound very threatening," the dragon laughed. "But I'll accept the deal."

Fire Spirit stood up and smiled. He didn't think a day that started out normally would end up to be an interesting event.

"Alright." He straightened his collar. "Teach me how to wield the Dragon's Bead."

He thought things wouldn't change from here. He expected the passing years to be him learning the powers and trying to steal the dragon's strength. But as the years went by, everything changed. He never would have thought that he would get his end of the deal fulfilled without even stealing the dragon's power. Because on that fateful day, Fire Spirit walked into the cave to find the dragon dead and every kid except Dragonfruit gone.