Short Story Part 1

Okay, so recently my mom told me about this cool little writing challenge that I committed myself to trying.  It's where you get a couple people to tell you things that need to be included in a short story (of any length), and then you include those elements, no matter how different or crazy they may seem.  Sound fun?  It is.  My mom and my sister each gave me one thing that I needed to include.  Here they are *drumroll* 

• A stone falling on a dragon's head (my mom's suggestion)
• A character who can't say anything but the truth (my sister's contribution)

Now I shall endeavor to meet these requirements with a short story that will hopefully be entertaining, enlightening, fun, majestic, grand in scope, all those good things.  

Quick unrelated fact before we get started:  I just added a new "Follow by Email" gadget thing to the side over there >>>>> that you should be able to reach and follow my posts, no email required!  Or wait... maybe you need an email... Whatever the case is, you now can follow me and get all my new posts via email!  And for no cost O.o I really should charge for people getting the privilege of reading my thoughts and ruminations... No matter.  Here we go --...

Wait, no, I just found out another cool little tidbit of useless trivia: I was intrigued by the word blog (say it ten times fast and it starts to sound like something I'd say when I just woke up in the middle of the night and I'm starving and need to get something to drink because my throat is raspy).  I searched it up on Wikipedia (the most reliable Internet resource out there ^.^) and found out that it's just the shortened version of web log.  Interesting.  

Without further ado, here we go on this incredible story, which I have decided to call: "The Short Story Consisting of Words in Which a Dragon Who Cannot Tell a Single Lie Gets Hit in the Head With a Boulder".  (It took me literally seconds to think of that one.  I'm so proud :D)  This is the first part out of who knows how many parts, so be sure to tell me what you think!  :D  I'll keep this all serial-like so you'll be intrigued and want to come back for more ;P  Which is why I introduced that little Follow by Email thing.  Oh the cleverness of me! XD 

The Short Story Consisting of Words in Which a Dragon Who Cannot Tell a Single Lie Gets Hit in the Head With a Boulder Part One

Having to tell the truth all the time was hard. Marius would know.  Everyone has little secrets that they keep hiding in the darkest, deepest crevices of their mind, but with a curse like Marius's, access to those dark, deep places was as easy as merely opening a book, or perhaps counting from one to three.  (Marius didn't like that simile, as he has always had some degree of difficulty in counting from one to three.)

When his enemies got hold of him and opened past the cover page of his figurative book, they started learning all sorts of secrets that Marius would've preferred stayed with him and him alone.  Soon, he found out that the best response was no response.  True, his curse urged him to spit out the truthful response, and he could never overcome that desire and tell a lie, but keeping silent wasn't the same as lying, so keeping silent he could pull off.

When he started this, his enemies were frustrated, because they were sure that they had yet to get to the best chapters.  "What are dragons afraid of?" they'd keep asking, all to no avail.  Marius would never answer that one.  (Unless his enemies found some sort of curse that could keep him from remaining silent.  That would prove problematic.)  Marius would never betray his own kind.

Marius, as you might have guessed, was a dragon.

But Marius is, of course, only a human-given name because his actual name is in the ancient language of dragons which has no written form and contains sounds that is impossible for humans to reproduce.  

But a certain General Vaidd Marius Verinicus VII (son of Vaidd Marius Verinicues VI, and so on) had discovered the dragon while the creature was sleeping, so upon capture of the beast, he had the dragon named after him.

Marius.  The sound of that name disgusted the dragon.  His name in his language was regal, royal.  It was majestic; it was a name that could not be matched in any name humans could give him.

And because of his truthful tendencies, he failed not to mention that fact to his human captors on several occasions.

After weeks of incarceration, General Vaidd Marius Verinicus VII grew agitated and irascible with the dragon's contemptible silence, and decided to resort to more drastic measures. 

"Find me someone who can curse this stupid dragon so that he cannot remain silent anymore," he said to his second-in-command, a muscular brute named Thezin.  "This is a mission of the utmost importance.  Succeed, and I promise you that you will count among the richest men in the whole land.  Fail, and you will wish that you had never been born."

Thezin nodded and grunted.  "I will find someone, milord.  And I will return ere a fortnight has passed."

Vaidd nodded.  "Very well.  Now leave me and return when you have succeeded.  Do not return should you fail.  Should you fail, try and escape.  But I warn you with this: you will never escape my wrath, no matter how far you run or how high you climb or how deep you dig.  There is nowhere you can go that is out of my reach."

Thezin bowed and left Vaidd's chambers.

A boy who sat in a throne beside Vaidd's said in a quiet voice, "Why does knowing this secret, this... what the dragons fear... why does know this mean so much to you, Father?"

"Know you nothing of the world, boy?" Vaidd questioned softly.  "Have I truly neglected being your father to the extent that I haven't told you about what the dragons did to me... what the dragons did to us?"

The young boy shook his head.  "No, Father. You haven't told me this story."

"The world is full of darkness, son," Vaidd said.  "Some darkness forms in the shape of men.  Some darkness forms in the shapes of creatures that dwell deep beneath the surface of the earth.  And some darkness forms in the shapes of dragons.  When I was a young boy, I lived in a palace with my father as king over the realm.  One day we were celebrating someone's birthday (perhaps it was my great-great aunt Broomhilda's birthday... I can't remember) when the dragons attacked, spewing fire all over the kingdom.  My father sent my mother and me into the back halls, where we ran from the dragons while he and his soldiers fought back.

"I was filled with so much fear that day as my mother and I ran for our lives, and Father and his soldiers gave theirs to buy us time.  Mother and I survived, as did many of peasants in the kingdom.  But all the soldiers who defended themselves against the dragons' unprovoked attack perished.  All including my father.  

"Ever since that day, son, I have sworn to discover what it is that the dragons fear most.  I have sworn to use that against them, as they used my greatest fear against me."

"What was your greatest fear, Father?" the boy asked in a trembling voice.

Vaidd looked at his son, tears in his eyes.  "My greatest fear was that my father, when he rode to war with his soldiers, wouldn't come back.  My greatest fear was that he would die in battle."

----

Marius's cell lay at the top of the highest tower, where he could see the sky and the ground around him, making him long for the free feeling of flying.  But the bars surrounding him were forged of a metal that dragons couldn't bend or break, no matter how hard they rammed into the bars.  And Marius was a small dragon to begin with, so he was doubly inadequate.  

He didn't want to give up his honor by revealing the dragons' greatest secret, but what choice did he have?  What if he never gave up the secret and Vaidd would just let him die in this cell?  

He curled up on the floor and surrendered himself to the world of dreams, which was his only escape.  He could fly in his dreams.  But the terrifying thing was that in all his dreams, he knew that soon he would have to wake up.

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The end of part one!  So, what did you think?  Hopefully not too long-winded XD  I literally wrote this just now, so I hope it's good.  

So, yeah!  Tell me what you think.  What you liked/what you didn't like.  What you'd like to see more of, that sort of thing.  

As always,

Myth: the "Panda With a Pencil"