The dragon's diaspora

This article has been written as a response to a Summer Camp '24 prompt, it is a WIP and will be expanded and edited during July and after

Living Legends

Did you really think that we just left the world for you to rule it?

Contrary to popular belief, the dragons didn't actually leave Hislariya or died.
Most of them chose to enter a long dormient status deeper in unaccessible caves, others elected to cerry a new life disguised long term as humans (or makaharids) and others sought new locations still unreached by the human's greed and carried on with their life of hunting and soaring above the Hislariya's seas.
While most of the ancient ones preferred to lay dormient waiting for better times, and most of the mature but strongly connected deemed profitable to maintain their power and control disguised as humans, the last  group of dragons is mostly formed by creatures still in their prime, who felt beneath a dragon to disguise as humans and were too temperamental and full of energy to just hide and fall asleep for centuries.
There are obviously exceptions, with some young dragons simply being too dependent on their elders to make a decision for their own, and older dragons being too stubborn and proud to let go of their days of hunting and flying.

Hidden in plain sight

Most of these dragons dispersed in small islands off the coast and in hidden caves and some are not even hidden at all, but they are granted the protection of neighbouring folks who either consider them mythological creatures or wisely choose to keep their presence a secret and not incur in their anger.
Some dragons choose to hide on top of non volcanic mountains in the continent, and while they can enjoy the safety of the remote and unusual for their species location, they have the challenge of the adverse climate and living conditions, that makes particularly difficult for them to lay and incubate eggs.
These are usually dragons who are not really interested in reproducing anyway, or that are more interested in human companions and can circumvent that environmental disadvantage having their children been carried by their human partners.

Dragons

The former rulers of Hislariya... or are they?

Talbenth

Among the peaks of Kithanda's mountains, a solitary young dragon of the diaspora found solace in the encounter with a group of adventurous makarids.