The Dragon

A micro-fiction Fantasy One Shot

Photo by Jade Lee on Unsplash

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Thank you to

Turtles of Alchemy

for the prompt which can be found here. The prompt was “dragon” with a limit of 300 words, this comes in at 281.

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The Wheel turns once more and the dragon cometh.

To the peoples of the east the dragon represents harmony, prosperity, and good fortune, but for those to the west the dragon is a symbol of desolation, greed, and evil.

I can only mould myself to the idea that mortals have of me. Bound by my nature as a I am, created to serve those petty folk in the way they need most. I have provided wise counsel, been worshipped as a god only to be forgotten for a millennia, I have been imagined as an ancient, extinct beast of the earth, and a cosmic being that swims the infinite black sea. I am all of these; I am none of these.

The Wheel turns and I am summoned to play my part.

The skies part as I plunge from the cosmic void in a maelstrom of crimson clouds and lightning. Wings sprout from my hide, luminescent scales become hard and dull, a raging pit opens within my chest and my breath tastes of smoke. I am in the west and I have come to bring destruction.

I unfurl my wings and roar, catching the currents above the wispy clouds of early summer, the sea glistens below. I roar again, knowing the sound will carry to the shore and take pleasure in knowing the terror stricken in the hearts of the multitudes. Bells will be rung, couriers sent, soldiers mustered.

All of it will be for naught for I am the Terror of the Skies, Destroyer of Mankind, the Harbinger of the End.

Time will tell if a hero will rise in the west, the Wheel turns but prophesies can be fickle.

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Thanks for reading, The Mandate of Heaven - Part 2 will be posted next week. if you have yet to read Part 1, now is your chance: