Hearth and Guidance

The sound of children gathered around a glorious campfire echoed in the starry night. One could sense their excitement as they sat within earshot of a blind old man who smiled at the fire as if looking at a loved one. Everyone, even adults, rallied around, knowing their time with this wise grandfather figure was limited. Not because they were worried he would pass away (although, because of his long beard, withering strength, and an overall sense of eternal peace, some did genuinely believe it was past his eternal bedtime) but because he came but once a year to this small village deep in the forest, miles away from the nearest kingdom and only told one story before picking up his humble belongings and moving on. He had been doing this for about a decade now, every year without fault or pause, he rested around the fire on the eve of Spring, always with a new story to tell. Because of this routine, the kids grew up hearing his fantastical stories once a year, yearning for more and had affectionally nicknamed him Grampa Tales.

His stories were always so colorful and imaginary that they were thought to be just ancient legends, but he spoke with such regal softness, in a way the very fires seemed to dance along to his words, even the adults tended to doubt if he was a teller of fact or fiction. It was as if he was recounting stories and memories from his own lifetime (however long that had been). And so, the village gathered around Grampa Tales awaiting his next adventure.

“A tale from long ago” he began with a soft and deep voice, unfitting someone of his apparent age, “spoke of dragons abducting abandoned children to scare them into never escaping and never leaving their parent’s side. It tells of a young kid who ran away into the forest one night because of his anger towards his family since they made him do chores he did not want to do and all that was found the next day was a massive footprint - the footprint of a dragon that had carried him away. With this fable, children would not complain while doing chores (or at least won’t act in childish anger). While this story is not true, the origin of it is, and it is much more tragic than a simple cautionary tale but with a message much more comforting. The truth is, a young toddler was taken by a dragon, but it wasn’t because the child was running away.

You see, long ago in this very forest you call home, lived a much smaller group of people. A village of outcasts and failures destined to remain banished from society forever because of their social shortcomings. They were all runaways from the nearby kingdom, fleeing from their oppressors and bullies. The kingdom was not as accepting of cripples and uneducated individuals as they are now, as they were deemed unfit to contribute to the tyrannical king’s society. This is the true setting of the story of the Child and the Dragon.

Back then, dragons, though unusual, weren’t mythological beings. Like shooting stars, they were only seen by those paying attention. They were beasts of great power and symbols of unshakeable courage. Seeing one was considered a great omen as if the very heavens were communicating with you through a sign of pride, stability and hearth. In the mind of the foolish King of the kingdom, they represented perfection, so he would constantly banish people and families who didn’t fit this image of his.

Imagine the disgust and terror when he found out his grandson and future heir to the royal crown was an offspring of his son falling in love with the daughter of an ‘imperfect’ blind man. Unable to live with the sin of his son, he hired an assassin to take out the entire stain on his family tree - including his 2-year-old heir. The Prince, being observant enough to know his Highness would go through any measures in order to maintain his vision a reality, convinced his secret wife to take their child and escape the Kingdom. He promised he would meet with them later, after stalling their oppressors.

He was unable to keep the promise.

The assassin stabbed his poisoned knife while he was preparing to leave, and the King took this opportunity to blame the poor woman for murder and conspiring for the throne. The whole kingdom was in an uproar as the Prince was a beloved man. Justice had to be met.

The new widow tried escaping from the Royal Guards and the angry mob, protecting her only begotten with everything she had in the dark of the night. As she closed into the secret passageway out of the Kingdom, the guards found her and started raining arrows on her location. Her adrenaline surged through her veins as she dodged, weaved, ran, and hid. Seemingly unscathed, she was able to reach the outside of the walls and hurried to Outcast Forest, as it was known. As she slowed down, the adrenaline began to lower, knowing she had escaped her captors. Now, with the feeling of peril scratching at her back gone, she took a moment to try and catch her breath as she took in where she was. Her beautiful toddle was fast asleep, and all seemed well. That is until she realized that it wasn’t peril that was scratching her back and she couldn’t catch her breath. Her back felt damp and sticky, but not like sweat would make you feel. With a grim realization, four arrows had pierced her like a pincushion and were clearly mortal wounds. Panic took over her as she took in the situation. She was alone, on her deathbed, with her toddler, in the middle of the woods, a child who mere moments ago had also just lost his father. Her infant son had gone from a future king to a lost orphan. With her last breaths, she gasped at the heavens to please protect her beloved child, but her whispers were lost to the deafening silence of the forest.

And so the baby was crying alone, his parents taken away from him by his own family. Sadly, this wasn’t the first child to go through this. But something happened that was not expected. Whether the loving mother's prayer was heard or some random trick of fate, a majestic beast descended to the forest where it heard a heartbreaking cry. It followed the sounds until it reached the sound’s origin. Looking around, this wise creature understood what had happened and shed a tear at this horrible scene. The Dragon then proceeded to slowly close in on the baby, grumbling as if savoring its next prey. But something curious happened after this.

The Dragon’s grumble was actually an attempt at a soothing sound, a lullaby, for the child. The baby, calmed by the warmth he felt in his heart and by the sounds of the beast, fell deeply asleep. The Dragon picked him up with his front paw, a single claw already larger than the toddler, with impossible fragility, making sure it didn’t wake the baby, and flew to the skies, away from view. The Dragon was taking the baby to its nest.

Contrary to popular belief, dragons don’t nest in deep caves. They actually make a home in the highest peaks, above the clouds, where only the wind is able to reach. The child woke up mid-air, held by the massive claw, but it didn’t fear. It felt safe in the hands of its new protector. They were crossing the clouds, but still, he felt no cold. They flew through for what seemed like hours

Finally, they emerged from the clouds into the sky, and what the innocent eyes of the child widened at the sight of something that we wouldn’t even believe ourselves. Closer to the unknowns of space, the peak of the mountain moved, and floated, as if it were an island on an ocean of clouds. A whole clan of dragons, both adult and newborn, lived on that fantastical island. And, even more curiously, there were people! People lived alongside them, men, women, and children. Most adults and children wore simple shirts that seemed to be made out of chainmail, but were all different colors. But there were some adults that had full body armor. These were also every shade of the rainbow but they were sleek and perfectly polished and seem to reflect the light that shone on them in a way that didn’t make sense to the eyes. Their helmets were shaped like a dragon’s head, it’s snout covering the eyes and nose of the person within it. They weren’t elaborate and ornate like one would think. On the contrary, they were simple and austere, almost plain if not for the reflection of any natural light that shone on it. And all of them had a buckler hanging from it’s back and the same two weapons: a long staff with a bladed spear tip and a short sword on their side.

The toddler was mesmerized by the colorful and bright image infront of him he did not realize his transport had already placed him on a bed of tall grass. All the inhabitants of this floating island went over to greet him, both human and dragon, with hugs and silent cries of sadness. It was as if his very being there was already a hearbreaking tragedy. They shared kindness and sympathy, love and affection, for this new member of their clan, as a gesture of welcome that a toddle would clearly NOT understand. But the had-been future kind was at peace, feeling safety and, most importantly, feeling found.

And so, the people raised him as their own, growing with other children his age, slowly forgetting the few years he spent on the ground underneath. He grew strong and learned quick the teachings of this new people. He learned that they were all, at some point, orphaned and brought here by their scaly protectors. He learned how to fight and how to ride, as they all would, but no matter how long he spent there, no matter how the memories of his past faded into the depths of his mind, the feeling of abandonment and loss never did fully depart his heart. He couldn’t stand the feeling that so many other children felt the same way, lost and alone. So he one day took his first protector down underneath the clouds, hoping to find a way to calm his fear and remedy the pain in his soul.

Flying well above the ground, his armor shimmering in the moonlight, redirecting the glow of the night back to the earth, they flew through the sky, not sure what he was looking for. They went on until they heard a cry, a young child, lost from home. This image tugged at his memory, urging him to do something. They landed next to the child and were able to guide him home to his village, where the entire town gasped at the unearthly sight in front of them. The rider greeted them and spoke with the village people, trying to find the young gir’s parents. After they got over the shock of the situation, they confessed that they didn’t know and that it was most likely an orphan, a child left to die in the forest by the King. This was what unlocked his mind to the reason of all his sorrows - the kingdom that took his family from him. In an act of rage, the Dragon and Rider flew to their heavenly kingdom and took the rest of the dragon warriors with them to exact vengeance on the evil tyrant leaving so many infants homeless and alone.

Like a meteor shower, the army of the skies rained fire on this castle, burning wood and stone. The Rider went into the burning pyre that was the towers looking for the King. And there he sat, unmoving on his throne of discrimination. The Rider, overtaken by his emotions, told the King of his memories, his desolation and despair but also his pride and joy in the new family he had found. All the while the old ruler, now weak and hunched from very old age, stared and listened.

“You will leave no more orphans on this earth! The Dragon riders and I will make sure of this!” Exlaimed the Rider

“But you will be feared by all, my naive grandson, my ignorant heir.” And with an evil cacle, he wheezed his last breath.

Realization dawned on the Hero, now grasping who he truly was, and taking in the last words of this vile monarch that had been his own family. He jumped on his flying mount and rose to the sky to see the result of his anger. On his wake, they left nothing but fear and destruction, the spectators not knowing of the purpose behind their righteous anger.

Word spread through the land about the true dangers of the dragons and they became creatures of hell, symbols of scorching earths and damaged lands. They couldn’t fly down anymore because people feared dragons as they feared death. They couldn’t fulfill their promise to save the future youth who might suffer a fate similar to theirs. And so, dragons and riders were seen no more, becoming tales of legend and myth.

‘So. Are dragons bad and do they kidnap children? Not at all, but they say that they can’t protect the children anymore. However, more and more, we hear stories of children who stray too far from the path, or get lost, or maybe even suffer through awful experiences, that they find their way back, claiming that all they had to do was follow the warmth they felt in their hearts when looking for their homes. Whether it is by the loving mother's prayer or some random trick of fate, people do not know why this beautiful phenomenon happens. Me? I like to believe that dragons and their riders are still out there, in secret, protecting our children and those lost souls who just want some rest and a home to go back to.”