The Dragon Knight

Chapter 1

There once was a knight with long black hair
Who protected a town from raiders
He was one with the people
And loved them as he did his own family.

He waved to neighbors,
Helped with work,
Aided in charity,
And accompanied them in their grief.

One day the raiders launched another raid
So he led the charge, despite his fear of death
For his love of his people was greater,
Then the pain and tears of his end.

But still the fear remained,
And when he was cornered in an alley
Their axes filled with greed crashed down on his helmet
Bashing and cracking his head nearly to death.

Then the town fighters came,
The brave ones that fought side by side
They took him away
And healed him.

Though while he rested
His soul was restless
It was filled with fear
And the dread of his guilt.

Not of just his death,
But of his comrades he wasn’t able to protect
It was his duty to protect their lives
Of himself and those he loved.

And to do that,
He needed to conquer death
And so his soul sought power
The strength that would defeat the raiders.

Chapter 2

So once he recovered
He ventured out into the world
Seeking an answer to his need
An avenue for more power.

And then in a tavern he overheard some men,
There was a rumor of a way,
To no longer fear death
By becoming as hardened as a dragon.

And so he traveled the land
To a city at the foot of the mountains
He talked to men in black robes
With dragon scales drawn in red dye.

There he paid them gold and his blood
To transform, he risked his life
Though it was worth it in his mind
As he remembered the grief of broken families.

His muscles grew
Wings sprouted through
Purple scales covered his skin
As he became a dragon knight.

Chapter 3

He returned to the town
Though his people wary
The knight believed he was hardened with power
But the people saw his heart hardened as well.

The kindness once in his eyes lost
As he lost compassion for his enemies
Those he used to spare
He no longer did.

Again came the raiders the next day,
And the knight fought with the strength of ten men
His longsword cut down men and shields like grass
He flew with the swiftness of a bird
And his mouth spewed fires of hate and his fear on them.
With an anger and merciless violence
Of a heart lost in the battlefield
He protected his people
But forgot what he was fighting for.

And after the fires were but just smoke
He was left alone,
Cold,
And numb.

His people fled in fear
And despite how hard he fought
He couldn’t save everyone
Including from disease.

Tears filled his eyes
As nothing had changed
In trying to protect everything,
He had lost everything.

Chapter 4

The warm town turned cold to him
As the people hid while they peeked
So he left to find what he lost
And followed his reflection along a river.

Until a day later he passed by the city
And between the hills of the mountains
Then he suddenly heard an ancient voice
Come from the mouth of the mountain.

“Lost brethren, descend our depths
And you will find what you have lost.”
A puff of smoke billowed out of the cave
So the knight flew up to the cave and entered with a torch in hand.

Chapter 5

As he clambered down rocks and boulders
He soon found a large cave with a floor of human bones
And there stood a dragon towering as a hill
With black scales that grew into the darkness of the cave.

Broken and cynical it whispered,
“There is nothing to return to
No undoing what you have done
There is nothing you can do.”

But the knight didn’t give in
A feeling still burned bright within him
The dragon moved to block his path
But the knight walked right through him.

Chapter 6

He descended deeper into the cave
Down slopes and through splitting tunnels
Until he walked into a ruby cave that spewed flames
And there a dragon stood with red scales.

It roared in accusation,
“You are weak!
Even with all that power, you still can’t protect them!
How many you promised to protect, have died under your watch!?”

The knight replied,
“You’re right, I couldn’t protect everyone
I failed my promise, but I don’t have enough power
To protect everyone from everything, unless I was a god.”

Then the dragon added,
“Then what you need is more power.
Then you can protect everyone,
No longer weak and limited,
And no one will die on your watch.”

But the knight retorted,
“Has any man become as strong as the gods?
To conquer disease and death?”

The dragon grew silent and small.

The knight reflected,
“I’ve lost enough so far
Power is not the answer
And I don’t have to fight for everyone
Each person is able to fight for themselves and each other.”

Then the knight walked past the little hissy red dragon
While holding tightly onto his torch
He descended further into the depths
Holding onto the answer that lies below.

Chapter 7

The tunnels soon were overgrown with foliage of the surface
Trees and bushes, with vines easy to be tangled in
But then they opened up into a wide cave with plants that glowed
With the color of orange yolk like the sunlight.

But as the knight walked into a clearing in the bushes
He was suddenly wrapped up by a long tail
From a serpent like dragon that hid in the bushes
Blending in with scales as green as grass.

The dragon hissed,
“We’ve heard much about you, dragon knight.”
The knight questioned,
“How did you and the other dragon know about me?”

The dragon giggled,
“Oh, it was our brother who lives in the deepest depths,
He showed us everything about you,
You’re just a fun bundle of drama, aren’t you?”

The knight’s voice trembled,
“Everything…?”

“Everything, now tell me,
Do you care about the townspeople?”

The knight thought for a while,
He couldn’t decide.

The dragon cackled with wicked curiosity,
“How about if I poisoned their drinking well!?”

The knight shouted,
“Don’t you dare!”

The dragon’s face lit up with intrigue,
“Ah, so you do care! 
You seemed really on the fence about that.
Well, now that you’ve made up your mind, I’m bored.”

The dragon’s tail slithered away from him
As the dragon slinked back into the underbrush
And the knight continued on his journey,
Hacking through the many vines that tangled him.

Chapter 8

The knight came to a cold and windy tunnel
With puddles of water
And the linings of ice over everything growing thicker
The deeper he went.

He pushed through, shielding his torch with his cloak
No matter how much harder the wind blew as he pushed further
And no matter how much the cold bit his bones and took away his life
He stepped foot after foot until he reached it.

But suddenly many icicles fly towards him
So he swiftly drew his blade
And sliced each one clean in half
With only a single hand.

But the icicles never stopped
They steadily continued
Until they began to overwhelm him
And one of them stabbed his shoulder.

He was knocked to the ground before soon clawing his way back up
Then he saw at the end of the glacier like cave, a dragon with blue scales sitting
It continued to shoot icicles at him with its breath
All while calmly asking him,
“Why do you continue to fight, even in the face of death?”

The knight shouted in reply as he stood back up
And hacked through the barrage of icicles with his resolve
Though a few more still stab him
“Because there’s people worth fighting to protect!”

The dragon replied,
“Aren’t you afraid of dying?”

The knight cried out from his soul,
“I’m more afraid of losing them, if I’m not doing anything!
My grandpa died, I know what loss feels like!
I won’t let that happen to others,
It’s why I became a knight!”

The dragon inquisitive replied,
“I see, it’s your heart that drives you,
Your love for others is greater than the fear of death itself.”

The knight then roared as he dashed toward the dragon
But with a puff of a blizzard, he disappeared
The knight caught his breath then continued
Trying to warm up with his torch once he left the frozen cave.

Chapter 9

But his torch was dim but still alive
The flame dancing between life and death
He was cold and injured as he limped forward
The fire was too dim to stay and warm up.

He passed through countless gigantic caves
Nearly collapsing at every step
Though he still pushed himself forward
He wasn’t going to die before he reached the answer he’s been seeking.

Then he saw something that bordered on a mirage
It looked like the trick of the mind with his blurry vision
A forest of stone trees leading up to the cave ceiling
Which was lined with a pattern of diamond shaped gems.

It glowed with every color of the rainbow
And shined as bright as sunlight through stained glass
As the knight entered everything finally grew faint
And he fell toward the floor.

But a pair of large soft scaly hands caught him.
The dragon whispered,
“Rest easy dragon knight.”

Then the knight’s body was filled with warmth,
And the icicles were lifted,
And the wounds were healed.
Then the knight propped himself up

He saw the white dragon, the only dragon that comforted him so far
The knight asked in surprise while patting himself,
“Am I still alive?”
The dragon chuckled,
“You certainly are.”

The knight then questioned,
“Your voice, you were the one I heard from the mountain!
Are you the brother who lives in the deepest part of this cave?”

The dragon answered,
“I am.
I guide those to wisdom who’s ears will listen and who’s hearts truly seek it
You have worked hard and shown such noble bravery
You’ve continued where many turn tail at the beginning
You have earned my respect and your answer.
Please, look into my orb.”
The dragon then held up a giant crystal ball for the knight to peer through
It showed every dragon he came across along the way
But from an outside perspective.
“You have already found the answer you’ve been seeking
It is sometimes found again through a journey
And you had the power to confront yourself
And find the conclusion.”

The realisation struck the knight like lightning
As he found the truth within himself he chased.
Then the dragon showed in his orb the many lives and deaths
Of many living things
From trees to bugs
To animals to humans.

“Everything is connected to everything else
This is the tapestry of life.
But what is beyond death?
It is our impact on others lives
Their eyes see us
And their hearts feel us
And your bravery can inspire others to be brave
Just as your grandpa had inspired you.
No matter what lies beyond the grave for your soul
You can trust that you have lived
And have been a part of the larger design of the universe
Your impact is much more than you can imagine
And many lives have felt the worthwhile goodness of your actions.
Even if your life was logically meaningless,
It isn’t emotionally, there are things worth fighting for.”

Then the knight asked,
“But what about protecting the lives of others?
My limits get in the way.”

The dragon replied,
“You don’t need to change yourself so forcefully
Just as a deer is limited to being a deer
A human is limited to being a human
And within these limitations
Is our designed purpose.
You pursued the power of a dragon
But you lost sight of your humanity
And in turn, everything.”

The knight nodded solemnly in agreement
And the dragon knew that in the knight’s heart
He truly wanted to become human again.

“You prioritized defeating the raiders and protecting them from death
But what you truly valued was being someone to take refuge in
A person of safety and comfort for others.”

Then the dragon picked up the knight and placed him gently on his back
Before flapping it’s vast wings
And soaring through the caves and tunnels with grace
Making the journey back through the dragon tunnels brief in comparison.

They soon shot out of the cave
Into the fresh morning sky of a new dawn
As the sunlight touches the knight’s skin,
His purple scales flake off and shimmer like glitter
As it is blown away by the wind.

Revealing the man beneath the dragon
Though scabs of purple scales remained.

After so long underground,
The sun has never felt warmer
And more welcoming than now
As he hugged it.

Then the dragon glided toward the forest next to the town
And landed in a clearing, the wildlife skittering away.
“You are the knight
And you are the dragon
You are the sword that protects
And the sword that kills
You are love
And you are hate
The choice of what you want to become is up to you.”

The dragon held out his hand
And the knight stepped onto it
He was soon gently carried down.
Then the dragon looked back over its shoulder and said,

“Now live.”

The knight smiled and nodded.
Then the dragon flapped its wings and returned to the mountain.
And with a lighter heart, the knight walked back to the town.

The End