I was in flight. I had been called by Dragon Father, but I had not come because he called. 

I have told you of the world of slaves he had created in order to rescue it and of the unspeakable memories it had brought back to me. 

I was furious at him, furious at this dream of slavery. 

Dragon Father and four-and-a-half-year-old Dragon Little stood on top of a mountain, calling me. 

I flapped my wings to stop and rest in the air in front of Dragon Father. 

“Red!” Dragon Little jumped up and down in excitement. But at the moment I did not care for her. 

“Good, you’re here! Thank you for coming,” Dragon Father said. “The situation is--”

“Dragon Father…” I began, and then realized I did not want to call him that. “Justin Shelley,” I corrected myself. 

Justin Shelley stopped, surprised. 

“There will not be a slave planet!” 

“Yeah,” he said. “We want you to help us stop this--”

“There will NOT be a slave planet, Justin Shelley!” 

“Yeah. That’s what we’re talking ab--”

“Justin Shelley. YOU will stop it. Just YOU. Right now. I will count to three and you will make it disappear!” 

“What do you mean?” He seemed confused. Joy was also confused - yes, right now she was no longer my Dragon Little. I only cared about this at that moment. 

“One…” I counted, my voice so loud Joy had to put her hands on her ears. 

“Red, what’s going on?” 

“Two!” 

“Red! Stop!” 

“Three!” 

Justin did not understand what I wanted from him. He did not know he was creating the dream. I did not care. I could still hear each and every whip, each and every scrape, whimper and beating going on within the entire planet. 

I opened my mouth and fired a ball of fire at Justin Shelley. 

“Ahhhhh!” he screamed as the fire engulfed him. 

“Red!” screamed Dragon Little simultaneously. 

Dragon Father disappeared, as I knew he would. He woke up out of fear. 

As he disappeared, the entire planet disappeared. My ears were free of hearing slavery again. 

Joy, little Joy, was standing on nothing, and began to fall.

I quickly flew underneath her and gathered her. 

“Red! What did you do?” 

“He’ll be fine, Joy,” I said. “Let’s go meet him on the deck of the ship.” 

And I flew her back to Bonny’s Revenge. 

Now I must rest again. Tomorrow I will tell you what happened after Dragon Father returned. 

—Told by The Red Dragon