A wonderful piece by   Neteyron of Ahmran enjoying his time in a small waterfall hidden within some ruins. As usual i have a fun little story to go along with the piece of the golden boy exploring the ruins before deciding to enjoy the water

When you have a love, nearly a hunger, for the lost and forgotten trinkets every new land selfishly hides away you inevitably find yourself in some fantastical places. The lush fern filled jungle whispered with the mountain winds that swept over them, the air alive with the thousand varied calls of animals seen only on this world.
Tragedy always shadowed lost places like this, something had to happen for the place to become forgotten. Sometimes it was war, other times it was disease or famine, his favorite was a small magical civilization that figured out how to travel the stars in order to escape their world that they thought was going to end according to their calendar and a rare astral coincidence. The tragedy also depended on how advanced the culture on the world was. More advanced species had the added woes from ecological destruction or runaway tech. He had managed to upgrade his portal tech thanks to a world that had recovered from ecological disaster after the dominant species had hooked all their minds into a massive simulation over three centuries prior, they were still in there when he visited, minds all uploaded and trapped in a solar power data center.
This set of ruins were no different to many other ruins in magic worlds. Ahmran flew over the land that had been mostly reclaimed by nature, his golden scales glimmering as the early morning light from a dwarf star. His wrist terminal scanned the land below and made use of predictive algorithms to get a general sense of what was below, how safe it was, any written languages, and where might the more delicious trinkets might be stored.
He had had a few... interesting… run ins with magical ruins so he was not going to land until he made sure his non magical rear was not going to be blown up or stuffed. It took him a good few days to escape that tentacle trap in the ruins of a temple to a fertility god and a month to recover from an exploding glyph at a magical military base
His terminal chimed that the ruin seems to have fallen into the annals of history from a shifting climate. His read out showed damage that was congruent with a glacial period that froze out this more northern sitting culture. Large gouges carved through the surrounding stone landscape and the less sturdy structures all pushed over in the same direction and rounded. It has been close to 5000 years since then and it appeared that this either set the current dominant species back quite a bit or a new species had taken over the ruins of the old.
Given the atmospheric conditions his terminal displayed they, whether new or old, were in the middle of an industrial revolution. This seemed to be thanks to a very warm start to an interglacial period, it was a perfect time to explore without worry of getting caught or impacting the local culture. As cool as it would be, he did not want to be the source of myths and legends, especially if he wanted to come back and explore other sites on this world.
On wings that could easily pass for those of a butterfly in their patterning he descended on the ruins, alighting down in a spot comfortably large enough for his sizable but lithe frame. Tall mosses bowed their sky reaching forms as his wings battered the ground, rapidly returning to normal upon his paws touching down.
He bounced around on the spongy ground like a dragonet who just found their first puddle and decided to love water. He may be a fully grown adult Deathsong but he had quite the silly side that enjoyed these small things. He collected up a few samples of the moss for later, he was going to see if a comfy pet bed could be grown from the plant for more nature based beings that visit his shop.
Like islands of stone in a sea of emerald green an ancient path made of large shale slabs trailed out of what appeared to be a form of activity or assembly field. Dark emerald shadows traced his path back to his landing point, each flickering like fey spirit barely able to hold its corporeal form in the wind.
The structures that remained standing were those that the magical architects had formed out of solid bedrock lifted from below. These structures must have been the more important or central to them as what appeared to be the habitations were formed from stacked stone, well… formally stacked. Even his terminal was struggling to predict the original shape with the glacial damaged. What was not damage by the glaciers was buried under a thick mat of sand and gravel. He picked up one of the many stones, lichen clung to the side that once face opposite to the sun. The gold dragon tossed it from paw to paw, it must weigh roughly 100 kilograms and yet he tossed it about like a pebble. He eventually set it back down and collected a few more, creating a carne that he was sure would confuse future explorers of the land.
He circled a tower like building, it one of those made of solid stone and seemed to be of great import given its rather central location. He carefully pulled down a creeping vine that was using the structure to get a better vantage on the sunlight to reveal what may lay below. He stood back in curious glee as he saw a carved mural that seemed to depict a great story, one he suspected was of the city’s founding. Seemed two tribes of people were feuding for generations and some… sadly that was when he got to the faces that were to the north and were illegible from the passing ice. He scanned what he could along with a pictogram based writing system that flowed with the mural, he’d eventually decode it when he got back to the shop.
He meandered off from the tower towards what sounded like running water. From his preliminary scans he caught signs of an aquifer fed aqueduct that crisscrossed the city and, if the running water was any sign, it was still functional. He had to push through some heavy growths of vines and sap covered brush to make it a beautiful sight.
Before him was an amazing pool of some of the most blue water he had seen in a ruin. Ancient stones held the lip of the waterfall aloft, crystal clear water struck a center plinth that stood just above a flooded walkway. He sat at the water’s edge picking leaves off of his scales pondering what this place for, amber eyes scanning the cobbled edge. He spied several pots partially of what look like lumpy sand that surrounded the sunken section of the city. It must have survived the ice age by having constantly running water that kept the ice from freezing it over and dashing it to pieces. He collected a pawful of the strange sand, the ancient pot disintegrating from the simple disturbance. It was gritty like he expected but also seemed to have a secondary quality in the clumps which squished and shifted in his grip.
Having an idea he dipped a sandy paw in the babbling water which revealed the nature of the substance. It was a soap that looked perfect for getting all the stuck on plants off of his hide. He pulled his wrist terminal off and set his bags down and got to scrubbing at what he now saw as a communal shower. The sand filled soap felt amazing on his tough scales, the grit making quick work of the sap and plant material.
Now any normal dragon would have either cupped the water over themselves or gone straight for the artificial waterfall to rinse off but not Ahmran. He lowered his chest to the ground and raised his rear into the air, legs poised to spring. And spring he did as he leapt into the deep blue pool, transitioning from dragon mode to snake mode. He swam and dove in the pool over and over, enjoying his dip in the warm water and the refreshing feeling of getting clean after several hours of exploring. He set about to floating in the calming water, blowing little bubbles out of his nostrils for fun from the remnants of the soap.
His bright eyes drifted over to the waterfall that was just so enticing for his playful spirit. He transitioned back from snake mode to dragon mode as he made it to the flooded walkway. He padded rapidly over to the waterfall where he reared back on his haunches, letting the water strike is snout first. He purred happily as the soothing water ran over him, wings drooping as he rinsed off. The water brought him such a calm that he could just stand there for ages. Listening to the water on his scales and how it drips off onto the stone and into the pool, feeling the multitude of rivulets streaming down his body, and feeling nothing but peace.