Where I Came From (681 hits)
Category: UberMadness! EntryRating: 2 on 1 review (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Julia (View user info) at 2004-10-07 16:33:13 EDT
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I lived in the lair of the golden dragon for almost as long as I can remember.
It's difficult to recall, exactly, how much time had passed since she came to me and carried me away. Time is different here, inside, but I seemed much smaller then. I remember crossing a street near my house--and by that I mean where I lived before--carrying my favorite book. Two brilliant silver lights shone into my eyes, and I froze, afraid and astonished. I didn't even see all of her until her claws closed around me and into me, and I screamed out in pain. The agony only lasted a moment, though, and she has been gentler with me since then.
Whenever she slept I lay in the cage of her folded talons, but she allowed me to roam among the heaps of gilded coins and chalices when she was awake. I brandished the swords I found and played with rubies and opals like jacks, and she would tell me the tales of her treasures. Still, sometimes I was lonely, so the golden dragon brought me a white peacock in a pearl cage, who told me all of the stories I loved so much from before, the ones in my book: courageous princes saved by talking carp, princesses tossing on a stack of lumpy mattresses.
Once I thought I heard someone call to me from outside, in a voice that sparked sleeping memories, and I tried venturing beyond the cave. The golden dragon was before me, terrible and angry, beating her wings in time with my thudding heart. I knew afterward that she cared for me and wanted to keep me safe. Sometimes strange wizards in white garments would approach, wearing silver amulets that they pressed to my heart before the golden dragon chased them away. Occasionally they were able to get close to me, and they stabbed me with their daggers or made me taste disgusting concoctions. I was afraid of them. They spoke words I knew from before, and I could understand that they wanted to save me. Save me from what? I had no idea.
One day the voice was back, speaking my name, while the golden dragon slept. "Lillian, Lillian." I saw the knight hiding behind a hill of gems. He was not dressed like the others. His face looked like mine from when I had seen its reflection in a cursed king's shield. I knew his name was Luke.
He wanted me to go with him. I had grown so big that the golden dragon could not hold me tightly as she slept, and I crept between her claws. I don't know what made me go with him, outside into the waiting crowd of white-robed magicians, or why she didn't follow when she awoke and saw me stealing away. I wish she had stopped me. Outside, the bright lights hurt my eyes, and all things are cold and ugly. The wizards will not let me leave, and there are no treasures here.
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Submitted by youarsoghey (user info) at 2005-01-16 12:05:33 EST (#)
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