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Rise

failure is not an option

By Sarah MarchelliPublished 2 years ago 3 min read
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Rise
Photo by Jade Lee on Unsplash

There weren't always dragons in the valley. We had heard stories from travelers, their homes and families torn apart by the monsters that took their time searching for even the tiniest of humans, seeming to smirk as they slurped every drop of human blood they could consume. We were lucky, up until now.

My father used to farm this land. We kept a barrier around us of lush green forest full of life. Beautiful waterfalls that danced down the mountain calmed me as a girl. Whenever I would be made fun of as a child for being the daughter of a poor farmer my father would take me to wash away all of my stresses away in the clear waters. The dirt flowed away and took every worry I had with it. This was my place of solitude. Wise father was sure to leave enough of the forest to ensure the prey of the dragons would have enough space to flourish and leave man's livestock untouched. He was intelligent and kind. But when the king felt he was underproducing in his duties he was left in the stocks to die in the most public way. I brought him water and food under the veil of the night, but my efforts were of no matter. He had given up he was so ashamed of having soiled himself in the square.

Now the kingdom is expanding, a ravenous silver and jeweled fungus slowly creeping over the once beautiful untainted lands.

Here I am, my father's efforts to protect us from the untamable beasts went unnoticed. I think they have noticed now. The daily attacks by the dragons are wreaking havoc on day-to-day operations. Families, sometimes entire villages are being consumed in a single attack. The dragons, their stomachs bulging, claws dripping in crimson that flies through the air as they fling their heads back and swallow whole people with a single crunch of their fragile bones. The blood joined the ruby and silver of the buildings they had ripped through just moments before. Our best arrows lack enough power to pierce their armored skin.

I hunt the beasts. We find their caves, large open, red-stained caverns in the mountains. Five people enter burdened with the weight of three swords and multiple daggers. We tie the devils down using our best metal-laden rope and slice through their armor at their neck and every artery we can access with our blades that must be sharpened after every single slice. The blood spills, flowing like the rivers I enjoyed as a boy. Yet not nearly enough to cover even one attack from a single beast in the kingdom. We must be cautious there is never just one monster in each cave. As we spill the life of one, many more come from the shadows, they take the life of yet another innocent man. We have lost more lives than having had successful missions. Yet we always go back. We must always try to defend our lands, no matter what our personal feelings may be.

It is time to take massive action. We cannot continue living in fear. We cannot continue losing children, our future. We have all lost so much. I have lost everything. It is time to take this next step and show these evil soulless beasts that their reign of terror has come to an end.

We are taking back the kingdom they have stolen from us, tonight. I will find a way to get my father's land back and it all starts by being the hero and leading my men to a higher status than the king.

Fantasy
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About the Creator

Sarah Marchelli

I was an amazing writer, and my journalism degree killed all creativity. I am working towards finding my voice again so my personal development book for weirdos will sound like me! I love being able to explore my creativity! Here on vocal+!

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