Flight of the Serpent

Note: This is one of the first stories that actually finished writing after I started it. Most of the time I would write a few paragraphs and that was it. This was before I took a creative writing course and was forced to finish what I started for the sake of my grades.

The light of the sun slowly rose up from the horizon as a new day began. The world was reborn with every sunrise and this was no exception. Everywhere life was blooming, even in the most barren and dead of places. Covered with reddish clay and dirt, this barren land showed life, even if it was just a little.

Surrounded by the remains of dead bushes, in the deepest part of the barren land, laid a single black egg. Abandoned, with no protection, the egg rested in a bed of dead leaves till it hatches. This day, as the sun started to rise, the egg started to show its first signs of life.

The silence of the new day was quickly broken as the sun rose. At first there was only a quiet tapping, but it quickly grew in strength. The egg began to crack, as the tapping became a loud banging from within. Piece by piece, the egg fell apart. From a hole in the egg, a serpent’s head popped out. The small creature quickly began to force his way out from his prison, and was soon lying in a pile of broken eggshells.

From head to tail, this creature was no bigger than a man. From against his body, two large, leathery wings unfolded and stretched out. The serpent’s body was covered with red stripes lying in a sea of black scales. With his muscular limbs, the creature rose, walked in a small circle, and sat. A long tongue made its way between rows of razor sharp teeth, and the serpent proceeded to lick himself clean. This little serpent was no mere serpent, but what legends are made from. This creature was a dragon.

* * *

In a place not far from the dragon’s nest, the land is lush and green. In a pine forest, on the edge of the barren land, a low fire slowly burns out. As the sun rose in the sky, a lone figure rose with it. From next to the fire, this warrior gathered his belongs and left the grove. With a sword at his side and bow over his shoulder, the hunter headed out towards the sun and the barren land.

Many have entered the barren land without returning, but the hunter showed no sign of fear. Passion burned in his eyes as he embarked on his journey. A silver arrow was slowly withdrawn from the folds of his sleeveless tunic. The hunter cut into his muscular arm with the head of the arrow. But it was just another cut, another scar among the many on his arm. When returning the blood-coated arrow to its place in the tunic, he had to brush his long, white hair out of the way. The hunter knew his age was now showing, but he didn’t care. It was now a job he had to do, even if it will be his last. One scar for each kill meant he would die trying for his kill.

As the sun continued to rise, a lone hunter enters a place of death. A place where the cruelest of nature lived and only the fools and glory seekers seemed to enter.

* * *

The little dragon’s boredom increased as the day grew towards the midday. Leaving the shelter of the nest, the serpent went out into the unknown world. Wondering from his birthplace, it was not long before the creature found something of interest. Everything seemed to catch his attention, but nothing held it for long.

Creeping out from under a rock, a small, yellow lizard made its way into the open

air in hope of finding its morning meal. The dragon quickly noticed the lizard, but the lizard didn’t notice the dragon. Not knowing if the lizard was food, or caring, the dragon pounced for it. The yellow lizard nearly missed being shredded by the dragon’s sharp claws when it raced out of the way of its attacker. Realizing that his meal was running off, the dragon took up pursuit.

Where ever the lizard went, the dragon was not far behind. The lizard was determined not to become food for the dragon, but the dragon insisted that it would be. This game of cat and mouse went on for some time. With no real shelter the little lizard had no choice, but to run for its life.

The young dragon started to grow tired and slowly fell back. The lizard saw this advantage and disappeared behind some rocks. The creature used his last burst of energy, and leapt for the rocks and the lizard in hope of trapping it. Instead, the inexperienced serpent misjudged his leap and hit the ground behind the rocks hard and nearly slid off into the open air. The dragon quickly got up and peered down the all to close cliff. Then the serpent turned his attention to the frightened lizard.

It sounded like the earth was opening up as the ground under the dragon fell apart. The dragon fell with the earth under him and continued to fall into the empty air. The cliff had collapsed from under the dragon’s weight and now the little serpent dropped towards the solid ground.

The little dragon was no longer concerned with the yellow lizard. Panic was something the serpent never felt, but he had no wish to feel it anymore. Scared to death, adrenaline raced through the dragon’s body and his natural instincts kicked in.

Without knowledge of it, until it was done, the little dragon unfolded his leathery wings as he plunged towards the solid ground. The air caught the underside of the wings and the dragon was lifted upward into the sky before he hit the hard earth.

The baby dragon felt the rush that flying gave him and decided to go out into the new found world. Everything the creature did was a new experience and everything he saw was a new vision. The world was his to explore and he could do anything.

* * *

The sun rested high in the sky as the dragon flew through the clear sky. Flying gave the little serpent the feeling of power like he could strike terror in anything he saw. But at the moment, causing fear was not what the dragon wanted. The desire for food and the thought of endless hunger filled the dragon’s mind.

When the serpent dropped towards the ground to look for some food, a grove of trees caught his eye. Without thinking, the little dragon had dropped to close to the treetops. The impact into the tree snapped it in half and the dragon dropped to the forest floor. This time there was no room to open up his wings and the creature hit the ground hard.

After coming to his senses, the serpent realized that he had crashed into the exact

spot he was trying to reach. Trees baring fruit towered over the dragon’s head and berry covered bushes surrounded him. An unusual sound caught the young dragon’s ears as he started to nibble at some berries. For the first time in his life, the little dragon heard the gentle chirping of the birds that inhabited the surrounding world.

Finished with his first meal of berries and fruit, the dragon decided to settle down for a rest. His first flight had tired him and the serpent needed sleep. Before he had a chance to lie down and rest, the baby dragon felt a burning from within climb to the back of his throat. When the creature opened his mouth to belch, he belched out a short, gentle stream of fire. The stream of flames raced from the mouth of the beast and engulfed a tree. Within seconds, the tree was turned into a pile of ashes. The serpent opened his mouth a second time, but this time the dragon had more control. The steady stream of fire increased in length and one tree after another was cremated. Fire breathing fascinated the baby dragon, so he figured that sleep could wait for a while.

* * *

After playing with his fire breathing for some time, the dragon decided to walk through the surrounding wilderness. Flying was something the beast enjoyed, but he didn’t have much chance to enjoy the natural world. This would give him the chance.

The dragon was lost in thought when a new noise caught his attention. This was not like the other sounds of the woods. The noise was a faint one at first, then it was clear

and distinct. Even though the dragon could not understand the noise, he knew it was a cry for help. With the wind to his back, the little serpent took off towards the cry.

In the blink of an eye, the dragon had gone through the dense woods. The creature broke out of the woods into a small opening in the thick vegetation within only a few seconds. On the other side of the opening, a large man with a sword loomed over a small boy.

When the dragon saw the brute raise his arm to strike the boy, the beast’s instincts told him to help. Before the serpent realized what he was doing, he had taken flight and had his claws poised for attack. The little serpent never touched the ground. Instead he hit the man from behind and dug his claws into his back.

* * *

“Where is it, boy?” the large, warrior-like brute demanded as he pushed his deep, red hair out of the way of his eyes.

“I didn’t take anything!” the small boy cried when the man asked for the necklace yet another time. The boy had been running for what seemed like hours and now had finally collapsed. His already tattered clothes where now ripped even more. Cuts and bruises covered the young boy’s body and now he had started to cry.

* * *

When the dragon saw the brute of a man raise his arm to strike the boy, the beast’s instincts told him to help. Before the serpent realized what he was doing, he had taken flight and had his claws poised for attack. The little serpent never touched the ground. Instead he hit the man from behind and dug his claws into his back.

The pain was almost too much for the warrior to take. He collapsed to the ground under the pain and weight of the dragon. In the fall, the man got a glance at the dragon and he knew that this would be the fight of his life.

Man and beast struggled on the ground. The dragon attempted to bite the man as the man tried to hit the beast with the edge of his sword. This went on until finally the dragon sat on the attacker’s chest, pinning him. No matter how much he tried, the man could not get out from under the dragon.

This man knew what he was doing. When he knew he could not move the dragon off of him, the man carefully withdrew a curved dagger from his boot. As hard as he could, the large man tried to thrust the dagger into the dragon’s side. Even though the only thing the blow did was loosen a scale, but it did hurt the baby dragon a little. In one quick motion, the serpent jumped backwards away from the attacker.

The warrior of a man took advantage of the situation and charged with sword and dagger in hand. Startled and caught off guard, the dragon opened his mouth to let out a cry. Instead, a funnel of dancing fire came forth and nearly engulfed the man as he jumped to the ground.

The brute’s side felt warm as he got back up. When he went tried to brace himself with his dagger arm, the man just fell over. He quickly realized that his arm was gone. The heat from the flames cremated his arm and fused the wound shut. Once again, the man tried to get up. This time the large man braced himself with his remaining arm. Anger and revenge filled the man’s mind as he got ready to make another attack on the dragon. The man turned his sword around so that the blade faced the ground and tightened his grip.

The brute of a man leapt into the air towards the dragon. The dragon stepped back away from his attacker as the man closed in on the beast. This time the flames came out twice as intense when the serpent opened his mouth. There wasn’t much of anything the man could do as he fell into the flames, except hope.

The air was filled with the screams of a dying man. The screams bothered the surrounding wildlife. Birds took flight and others ran from the noise, but then there was only silence. The ashes that were once a man slowly blew away in a light breeze. All that was left was the remains of a melted sword.

After things calmed down, the dragon settled down and fell asleep. The young boy just laid where he was and thought about what had just happened. A feeling of debt filled his mind as he laid there. Soon he too was fast asleep.

* * *

The yawn of the waking dragon was that of a rolling thunder. The noise of the dragon hardly disturbed the boy, but he awoke anyway. The little serpent rose from the ground and stood staring at the boy. The boy also rose; but instead of just standing there, he approached the dragon. From within his tunic, the little boy removed a small, gold necklace with a pendent in the shape of a dragon. He held the necklace in the sunlight and dropped it to the ground.

The dragon picked up the necklace with his clawed hand. The creature stood there and looked at the necklace as he tried to figure out the meaning of the gift. Then the serpent reached over and removed the loose scale from his side. The dragon placed the scale on the ground and backed away.

When the boy picked up the scale, it was warm to the touch. The boy seemed to get lost in the deep black of the scale, but was drawn to the river of red that ran through it. Looking up from his present, he noticed that the dragon was gone. The boy thought he saw the serpent as he scanned the open sky, but he decided that it was just a bird. When he gave up looking, the boy turned his attention back to the scale.

* * *

The day was starting to come to its closing as the sun slowly dropped behind the horizon. Soon it would be dark and the dragon did not know what to expect in the darkness of the twilight. So, the dragon did what he believed to be right and headed home.

The serpent had long since placed the necklace around his neck, but he could not keep his mind off of it. As he flew through the sky, the little dragon kept playing with the necklace. No matter how hard he tried, the dragon kept thinking of his prize. The creature’s first in hundreds that he would horde into a treasure that many would seek, but the necklace would be special. It was his first.

The closer the dragon got to his nest and birthplace, the more excited he got. It had been his first day on earth and the serpent had enjoyed every minute of it. Soon the little dragon would be in the safety of his home and fast asleep. Tomorrow would be another day.

The nest soon came into the dragon’s view and he started to descend to the ground. Within minutes the serpent would be home. Then, without warning, a sharp pain over came his body. The dragon lost his concentration and fell to the ground. The impact was hard and the serpent slid across the rough dirt. He stopped just feet from his nest.

Terror filled the dragon as he searched for the cause of the pain and found an arrow in the place his scale once was. Using all his strength, the baby dragon tried to remove the arrow from his side, but he could not come up with enough power. The little creature decided tit was hopeless and too late. He turned his attention to the necklace. The dragon picked up the pendent in his clawed hands and held to it tightly.

The sun made its way towards the horizon as another day came to a closing. When the sun slowly fell behind the horizon, the baby dragon’s eyes closed with it.

* * *

As another day came to an end, a lone figure left a barren land. With sword at his side and bow over his shoulder, he casually strode into a lush green land. The sun set behind the horizon and the man disappeared into the pine forest.