***
The Dragon knew the caverns of the mountain. It had spent years there, and had learnt every crook and cranny. The Dragon remembered how he had woken after an age from his slumber. He had had a terrible gnawing hunger that he had sought to satisfy, and whilst doing so he had found how his territory had been violated once more by men. Urged on by this need to both feed and protect his lair, he had devastated the lands all around Ruin Mountain even as far as the man settlement at the foot of Grand Mountain. Now with his apatite almost satisfied, he was prepared to sleep once more, but with his understanding of men he was prevented from doing so, as he knew that they would try to destroy him, they had tried in the past, and they would try in the future, unless he destroyed them first. Man of all the creatures under the sun, was the most uncompromising and inflexible, a beast that hunted relentlessly. It always ate more than its fill, was never content with what existed; always changing the world for its own benefit. Man was a strange ravenous creature that behaved like the locust. It was a Beast forever in conflict with itself and its neighbours.
The Dragon stopped a moment, its head turning one way then the other, listening, smelling as it went, before continuing on. The tunnel opened out at its end into a large cavern, on the ceiling hung conical shaped columns of all sizes, dripping with sulphurous excrement. This was the heart of the mountain. There was a river running through it, a golden fiery furnace flowing like honey. The Dragon stood over it and seemed to breathe in the poisonous fume. It turned its head to the side and spat out a toxic venom at the wall dissolving it on impact, leaving a strangely smooth surface. It did this a few times before leaving to seek out its prey. Since man had come to hunt him, then man in turn would be hunted by him.