Pebbles clattered as a young boy warily entered the luminous cave. Each step echoed eerily as he delved deeper into the dimly crystal lit cavern. Water dripped off the stalactites from above and joined his footsteps. The two sounds synced together as they broke through the silence and encouraged the boy to continue. He marched onwards, his gaze darting from place to place in awe. However, his journey was cut short when he bumped into a wall- at least what appeared to be a wall. A little bit disoriented, the boy placed his hands on the wall to recover his bearings only to feel the wall rumble and pull away from his touch. In a flash the braziers on the wall were lit up. With the light, the boy could now see what he bumped into. Shadows flickered on the scaly hide as large emerald eyes glowered at him. The boy froze in fear as he locked eyes.
“Why have you trespassed, human? Haven’t your kin ever told you to never enter my abode?” A booming feminine voice echoed through the cave. The dragon hadn’t opened her mouth but, the voice could be heard loud and clear.
“Or are you not afraid of death?” She grinned exposing her pearly rows of razor sharp teeth. The young boy was frozen and could only stare up at her fierce eyes.
“Well, are you or are you not?” She roared her teeth gnashing as she whipped her tail, destroying one of the surrounding crystals. The boy fearing for his life nodded vehemently.  The dragon snorted and a puff of smoke escaped her nostrils dissipating into the air. She then opened her mouth causing the boy to close his eyes; fearing for the worse. However, he didn’t feel anything and reopened them. The dragon had turned around and in her gaping maw was some of the broken crystal from earlier.
“Take this and get out of my sight. Don’t ever return to my home or I will feed you to my young!” She hissed as she threw the crystal at the young boy’s feet. Under her intense gaze, the boy bent down slowly and picked up the large chunk of crystal with both hands. When those emerald spheres finally averted their gaze, the boy frantically stumbled back to where he entered from.

The young boy entered a village that was midst a beautiful forest. As he reached the village entrance, he stumbled and the crystal went skittering away. One of the village men happened to walk by and picked it up. The evil intentions unbeknownst to the young boy, the villager walked towards him.

“Greetings, youn’ Olive. Where did you get this here crystal?” He asked with a smile as he helped the child up and handed the crystal back to him.

“Greetings, elder Crocuta. The other kids said I could not do it, but I went to that cave! I got this out all by myself.”

“Hmmm, I see. Thank you for the information. You run along to your mother now. She was worried sick.” Olive nodded his head gratefully before walking down the road.

Olive sat happily eating his fill of the food he exchanged for the crystal when suddenly screams were heard. Olive ran to the open door and his vision was filled with blue. The heat burned brightly as Olive cowered and ran from the village. As he was scrambling up a tree he heard a familiar roar.

“Where is my child, pitiful humans?! Give her back to me! Don’t think I, Sahara, won’t burn your puny village and forest down!” The majestically scaled beast soared through the air spitting sorrowful flames. It was only now that Olive could really comprehend the size of the dragon. Olive curled up attempting to remain out of sight as screams rang throughout the air that night.

For days and nights, the blue flames burned as the dragon scoured through the skies in search of her lost child. The flames had burned so deeply and fiercely that by the first night, Olive had been forced to flee, but he couldn’t erase the image of Sahara’s cries and the flames that followed. Months after the flames had died down, Olive returned to the place his home use to be.

For miles, there was no longer any of the beautiful trees and lush bushes that dotted the land. They had all burned away and what was left behind was an endlessly sandy burial ground. Olive left and never went back to that place in his lifetime, but he decided to leave behind a tale for his future generations. A simple story titled “Sahara” which told of the creation of the desert and the dragon behind it.