The Dragon
Once upon a time, a magnificent and fierce dragon flew over a vast kingdom. Down, down he swooped, and with his great fiery eyes, he could see the world below.
There were things happening the dragon did not understand. The flapping of his wings pushed the heavy fog away that was lying over the ground like an oppressive blanket. He needed a closer look.
There was a woman with a crystal ball, casting a terrible spell. She saw the dragon and glared at him with such beautiful eyes, the dragon was immediately drawn to her.
“What spell are you casting?” he asked, his slender tongue brushing against his enormous razor sharp teeth.
“Who are you, Dragon, that I should answer to you?” she said with unwavering voice.
They stared at each other for a long moment, the dragon’s wings blowing the woman’s dark tresses this way and that.
While the dragon was curious about the woman and her spell, he had pressing matters elsewhere.
“You have great courage to speak to me in such a manner,” he bellowed, his hot breath stopping just short of burning the delicate skin on her face. “Because you do not fear me, I will reward your bravery by not intervening.”
“Wise choice,” the woman spat, the ferocity in her dark eyes matching his.
The dragon considered burning this woman into black ash on the ground with his dragon fire for speaking so boldly to him. But the world would miss her beauty too much. And so he soared over her head to the moon filled sky, and out of sight.
The Witch
The woman turned back to her blazing crystal ball. The red hot glow did not burn her palm, neither did she squint her eyes even as it scorched her sleeve.
She had great power and could even shape the world around her as she chose.
The man had wronged her and there could be no forgiveness. Instead, she would curse him.
The woman did not need to rely on a book for her magic, for anything she wished became reality.
What she wished for the man was something terrible. He was to walk the earth from that day to his last as a wild beast.
When the kingdom saw the beast, no one would ever dare hurt or betray her again.
Realizing the kingdom would suffer greatly as long as the beast lived, she took the man-beast’s sword and sunk it into a large rock, almost to the hilt. Then she cast a spell so that whoever was able to pull the sword from the rock would be the man and weapon to finally kill the beast.
The Beast
Cursed, he was to roam the earth as this stinking, hideous thing.
Feral instincts hid the intellect and being of the person he once was. All that mattered was sustenance, violence, rampaging, and procreation.
Even so, somewhere in his core, bits of memory would break through his fevered brain. He would catch glimpses of shoeing a horse… marrying a beautiful woman… a castle high atop a cliff overlooking the kingdom.
When he began to realize things were not as they were supposed to be, he would sense animals and creatures of the forest. Logic would fall away as if it had never been there, and the entire process of killing and rampaging would begin all over again.
Years would pass, but he would be unaware of the passage of time.
The Prince
All Prince Hugo’s life, stories were told about the king who deserted them, absconding with the valuable ring only the king was allowed to wear.
That king was the father he had never met. Even though the king had callously cast off his responsibilities, Prince Hugo’s mother, the queen consort, never spoke ill of him.
From the time he was born, she murmured sweet tales of the king, how they had met and fallen in love, and how he had disappeared the day after their wedding ceremony. It had broken her heart, but she was sure he would have never left her under his own volition. At every turn, she defended the man who had treated her so ill.
Prince Hugo was uncertain what he thought about his father. Instead, he was focused on the fact that in just a few days he would come into his majority, and the Regent would step aside. Prince Hugo would be crowned king in his own right.
How he wished his father was there so he would not have these responsibilities so soon. At the very least, if he’d grown up with his father present, perhaps he would feel more confident because he would have seen and learned all he needed to know by his father’s example.
At least he was able to hunt. He had even been to battle before, although he was forced to watch from a safe vantage point. His sword was specially crafted just for him, yet it wasn’t comfortable in his hand.
What kind of king would he be if he was not also a warrior?
Down below, in the kingdom he had barely visited, a ferocious beast had been terrorizing the people for years. When he wasn’t maiming and killing people, he was killing their livestock and the deer in the forests.
There was a rumor that by the sea was a sword sunken into a rock. No one had ever been able to pull it out, but whoever did, would be able to kill the beast with it. Although the townsfolk had tried for years to capture or kill the beast, their efforts were all in vain.
One morning, the Prince woke up early and sneaked out of the castle, down a forest path, to the seaside below. To his astonishment, he came upon a sword in the rock, buried almost to the hilt. Could the rumors actually be true?
The Battle
To Prince Hugo’s surprise, he was able to slide the sword from the rock without any resistance at all! He pointed the beautiful sword, his arm outstretched, and it felt like a part of his body.
With this accomplishment under his belt, he set out to become the warrior his own father had been.
The forest was a dark place with strange sounds Prince Hugo could not identify. He was deep in the woods where the canopy above kept out all the light before he found deep gouges in the bark of a tree. Claw marks like those must have been made by a frightful beast indeed!
Near the same tree, the beast had left heavy footprints in the mud. The beast appeared to be larger than anything Prince Hugo had ever faced before.
Still, onward he went, following more claw marks and footprints until he came upon a dark cave. Inspecting the cave’s opening for any sight or sound of the beast, he heard a woman’s screams coming from the stream behind him.
Without thinking, he ran toward the screaming woman to discover she was being attacked by the beast!
“Drop that woman and face me!” Prince Hugo demanded with more bravado than he felt.
All at once, the beast threw the woman to the ground and whirled around to face the prince, saliva dripping from his sharp teeth and red eyes glaring.
Prince Hugo attacked the beast with the sword, and while they fought, the beast lost a finger. The prince realized the significance of this because to everyone’s knowledge, the beast had never been injured nor suffered any type of pain from those who had tried before.
Yowling in pain, the beast ran away.
Once the prince was certain the beast would not return, he scooped the finger up from the ground and a heavy gold ring with the royal sigil fell into his palm.
Prince Hugo stared at the ring in disbelief, and with a heavy heart, he returned the woman to her home, then he went to the castle. Upon showing the ring to his mother, she cried with joy. She recognized her husband’s royal ring. But when Prince Hugo told her all that had happened, she realized that the king must also be the beast that had been terrorizing their people all those years.
“You must go into the woods and slay him,” she said as she wept. “You are the only one who can stop his misery.”
The Prince and His Father
Disheartened by the task he must complete, the prince took up the enchanted sword and went back to the cave near where he had first seen the beast.
Instead of the beast, an old man sat near the cave’s opening, a rag wrapped around his hand. The prince realized this must be his father and he was no longer a beast.
The witch’s spell had been broken. The king told his son about the witch who tried to persuade him to marry her, but he was in love with Prince Hugo’s mother. The witch’s wrath had been loosed upon him, and she had changed him into the beast.
The Raven
Prince Hugo brought his father home and reunited him with his mother.
Three days later, Hugo was crowned king of all the land, and his parents fell in love again.
“Was the witch angry her spell was broken?”
“Did Prince Hugo live happily ever after?”
“Tell us more! Tell us more!” the baby raven chicks begged their mother.
The raven cocked her head to the side and gently said, “Now it is a time for sleep. Tomorrow, I will tell you about the dragon.”
The End.
Happy timezones, Friends! This post is for Kevin’s No Theme Thursday (04/25/24). NTT is my one of my favorite things! Kevin makes such awesome pictures to choose from, and this time, I found it impossible to choose just one! Thank you, Kevin!
Special thanks to Bee (Stories by Bee / Poses by Bee) for editing this story.
Thank you so much for reading, liking, lurking, and commenting! You are important!
Credits:
Images by Kevin.
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I’m ready for more! Especially since I’m a dragon fan.
tell us more!! tell us more!!
WOW, what a story Kymber! 🐲🐉🐲 Love that image of the dragon…so powerful. There are certainly a lot of great characters in your story and they each tell about their personal journey. Love your creativity with this prompt. Great job ChickieDee. 😍🥂🥰
Quite a tale there, Kymber! You and Kevin could write and illustrate a book together.
Lovely tale, and so appropriate for a Raven mother to tell her chicks – The greatest of beasts (the Dragon) must naturally be a fellow flier!
Delightful!
Honestly, I agree with the raven chicks. I need more of this fairytale. 🥺 Marvelous!
Awe, wonderful tale and the use of Kevin’s dragon really sprung the story to life! My fav read today and can’t wait for more caws and squawking to come! New follower here 🙂 !! <3
You have awoken the child in me. I like fairytales, and you can never go wrong with a Dragon. That’s the first time that I was totally in the story. I loved it. (I like the other stories too, but I am just not good with names and then it’s gets confusing, sigh, I guess I am officially older.)
LOL You sound like me. haha I guess I’m officially older, too, now.
I love fairytales, too. I’m so glad you liked the story.
A few years ago, back then before we lost everything, we were in the position to send a girl to summer camp. We don’t have children (it wasn’t in the cards) and we were happy to do so. The girl was 13 years old and loved to read. I went shopping for everything that the summer camp demanded (and it’s a lot) and decided to buy her a book. The book was “Eragon”. Back home, two days before the summer camp started, I decided to read into the book, just to make sure it was age appropriate and then I got hooked. The girl left to summer camp without the book. I read it first (bad I know) and then made a package and send it to her a week later. Gosh, I love dragons 🙂
Well written, engaging, intriguing, had me fixed to the page Kymber. I missed something though (I feel a little silly) as the story and the dragon don’t seem to be connected. Given the title: ‘From An Unusual Point of View’ there must be a connection – help me… I really did enjoy the the read. Thank you. Blessings, Peter-James.
No you didn’t miss anything at all, dear Peter James. 😀 So, the dragon left because he had somewhere he had to be and I ended the story with the little raven chicks being told they would hear a story about the dragon the next day. By then, I couldn’t write another word. LOLOL
You did leave us with a cliffhanger.
Why do I always do that? LOL
Hi kymber i followed you over a month ago and yet you don’t show up on my reader. 😔
Yes, I see you began following on March 18. I don’t know what is happening but it seems to be a glitch in WordPress. You are not the only one to tell me this, and I’m trying to figure it out. Thank you for coming by and also for letting me know. I appreciate it.
Hi Kymber! Could you please check your subscribers list to see if my name is on it? I’m a bit confused because I’ve already followed you, but under your profile picture, there’s a plus sign to subscribe.
I just checked and you’re on it as of March 28, so this is definitely a WordPress glitch. So weird!
Yeah, it’s weird because I tried clicking it several times, but when I refreshed the page, the plus sign showed up. Anyway, I’m on your list, so it’s just another glitch in WordPress. Calling the attention of Kevin, our WordPress mayorilla, to take action on this. Hahaha!
LOL Our Mayorilla! I looove it! LOLOL
Yes, I don’t know if there is anything I can do or not. This has also happened to me at least once where it kept showing I wasn’t following someone who I knew I was. I’m looking into the problem and I thank you again for letting me know.
Let me know if Mayorilla has any advice. 😀
A well told tale. There are many differnt sides to each story and you captured them well. Happy Tuesday Kymber. Allan
Thank you so much, Allan. 🙂 Happy Tuesday to you, too!
Cool how you rotated the points of view in the sections, each like showing a side of the story box. And an entertaining, fantastical story box it is. Well crafted!
Thank you so much, Dave. I’m so glad you were entertained.
You have a wonderful mind Kymber.
Awwww… thanks, Cindy! 🙂
Just wow wow, Kymber…. wonderfully weaved 🌷🤍🎉
I’m so pleased you enjoyed it, Destiny. xo
I loved the different POVs and how wonderfully created the characters are. Bravo!
Thank you so much! I’m so glad you enjoyed the story and the characters.
Fantastic job! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼🩵
Thank you so much. xo
What an enchanting tale Kymber! The way it weaves together the perspectives of the dragon, the witch, the beast, the prince, and even the raven creates a rich tapestry of storytelling. Each character is imbued with depth and complexity, making them feel alive within the narrative.
Thank you so much. I’m so glad you enjoyed seeing all the characters and their stories. xo
Wow that is an incredible story, so imaginative and so engaging. I love it.
Thank you, Thomas. I can’t tell you how glad I am that you enjoyed it.
Awesome… so engaging, I want more! Beautiful writing Kymber.
Hi, Lorrie! It’s great to see you! Thank you for your kind words. I’m glad you liked the story.
Wow, what a great storytelling. Very engaging. <3
Thank you so much. It means a lot to me that you enjoyed the story.
<3
Wow! This is epic!! 💜 completely amazing! 🙏
Hi, Laura! Your words mean so much to me. Thank you. xo
What a fantastic tale, Kymber! Absolutely great! 👏👏👏
Hi, Kevin! Thank you. I’m so glad you liked it. Thank you for your lovely and inspiring pictures!