01.26.08
The Firebird.
An adult dragon is one of the largest creatures on the planet. At the shoulder, they stand about five stories high. From snout to tail, they are about a quarter mile long.
That’s about three and two-third football fields, for those having some trouble visualizing.
Their scales are the size of dinner plates, and as thick as two of your fingers. Their talons are about as long as a car. Their teeth are the length of an adult human. One of their eyes is bigger than your front door.
Yeah. Dragons are massive. We are rodents, compared to them.
But they are not the largest creatures on Earth. There is one larger.
The firebird.
From beak to tail, the firebird is about 300 miles long. Its wingspan is nearly twice that. Its beak is about twice the size of Manhattan. Its longest feathers would easily span Washington DC.
Yeah, I said “its”. There’s only ever one at a time.
Which is probably a good thing. The firebird eats energy – lightning, sunlight, heat, radiation, et cetera. But there’s only so much energy to be found on Earth, and the rest of us lowly creatures need some too.
The firebird is almost incomprehensible. Compared to it, we are fleas.
Fortunately, it seems to like us.
