This post was inspired by an image-based writing prompt in the Freewriters community, A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
Just for a laugh, I set myself an additional challenge; to write exactly 1000 words excluding this intro 😁
Here is the wonderful image created by @wakeupkitty -
"Why have you bought me here, Melfass ?"
Zithaka looked around, absorbing her surroundings and trying to make sense of the unearthly vista before her.
The sky was a uniform peacock blue colour, and the uneven landscape was covered with alien tree-like things and giant mushrooms glowing with a strange magenta faerie light.
The sorcerer seemed more relaxed. He smiled a grim smile, and said, "As you know, we're in the Feywild, but an obscure corner or it even by the standards of such an unusual place. Pay no heed to the glowing mushrooms, or the fungus trees. They are just part of the landscape, and mostly harmless. Mostly."
That didn't reassure Zithaka in the slightest. Melfass was a strange fellow, and was rumoured to be Fey-touched in some way himself. She knew he had spent an unnatural amount of time here, some of it involuntary, and the Feywild changed those who were over-exposed to it. On the one hand, she knew he was vastly inferior to her in experience and power, but on the other, they were on his home territory. That was bound to give him a significant advantage if the tension between them came to open strife.
The expression on Melfass' face grew more tense. "I haven't bought you here to harm you, or trick you. I want you to see something. A terrible creature which is something completely new. It could be a terrible threat to our world."
Now Zithaka was worried. Melfass wasn't the sort who cared about others much. But for him to seek to warn her of a danger to the mundane world they shared, he must truly be afraid.
Her train of thought was broken by the sound of distant wings. A slow, steady pulse that grew louder as it grew closer.
Melfass pulled her under the cover of a giant mushroom, a monster of a fungus fully ten feet tall.
The she saw what was flying their way. A dragon, and a large one at that.
With a burst of speed, the huge beast rolled over in flight and dived for the ground. It landed no more than two hundred feet from Melfass and Zithaka as they huddled under their mushroom.
On the ground, the monster was even larger than it had first seemed. The wedge-like head rose fully forty feet above the ground on a long, scaly sinewy neck. The wings were like no other dragon they knew off; gossamer and bright, almost insubstantial, like the ghost of peacock feathers.
The dragon's eyes burned with a purple fire, mirroring the light from the mushrooms. There was a terrible, terrifying malevolence in them, a hatred for all life.
Strangest of all was it's colouration. It was crystalline, a beautiful translucent turquoise colour. Almost like cut glass. But it shaded to the darkest jet black all along the length of it's underside, glossy sable scales glinting in the mushroom-light. The dragon's topmost scales were a complete contrast. They were the colour of ice in the sunlight, a white so bright that it seemed to glow in places, although it dulled down towards the tail.
The dragon looked around for a few moments, sniffing the air.
Then it's head dropped and it pulled a mushroom up in it's tremendous jaws, tilting it's head back to swallow the thing whole. It did this two or three more times, swallowing the mushrooms in a single gulp in the same kind of way a snake swallows a mouse.
Zithaka and Melfass looked at each other. They were both holding their breaths, trying to remain absolutely silent. Two more mushrooms and the dragon would be at their one. Would it even notice two crunchy mortal morsels ingested at the same time as their protective shelter ?
Then, inexplicably, the huge monster stretched, beat it's wings to create a great downdraft, and took to the air once more.
As fast as it had arrived, it was gone. Sated, for now.
Zithaka looked at Melfass. "What.... the.... hell... was.... that ?" she grated out.
"That, my dear, is a new sort of dragon. One more evil and powerful than any other we have yet heard of."
He pulled out a leather-bound notebook. "I've been observing it for a while. Usually from a much safer distance than today's little encounter. Let me tell you what I have found."
His manner was like that of a schoolmaster to a very junior and exceptionally sullen student, but Zithaka let that go. For now.
The sorcerer continued. "I'm sure you know that most dragons are either coloured or metallic. Coloured ones tend to be evil, and metallic ones tend to be benevolent, at least in dragon terms. Perhaps you have heard that some good dragons have become corrupted by evil. They change, and become what we call Tarnish Dragons. They take on some characteristics of their opposite colour, but don't fully change colour. Instead, they become something halfway. For example, Gold Dragons don't go Red, they become Rust Dragons, and Copper Dragons become Verdigris Dragons."
Zithaka nodded impatiently. She knew all this.
"But did you know of Gem Dragons ? A third type entirely. Mostly neutral in outlook. We think this one was originally already a cross-breed, between an Emerald Dragon and a Sapphire one. But now it has become corrupted, terribly so. It's coloured opposites appear to be black and white, which would normally be opposite in turn. Yet it is picking up traits of both, and can breath death both cold and acid simultaneously."
This was a shock to Zithaka. She could see immediately how such versatility combined with an absolute evil nature could be a threat.
"So then, what do you call it ?" she asked.
Melfass shrugged. "Damned if I know. The best I've come up with so far is Zebra Dragon."
Scoffing, Zithaka laughed, "That doesn't do it justice at all. I'm sure we can do better than that. How about we call it the Peacock Dragon ?"
Melfass...what does he know. He sounds like an old fool to me. Dragons bring luck and this one is so special. Let's see if we can find one of the feathers. 😁
I love the 1000 words exactly I think you are the very first doing so. I only thought about it. 😉
Thanks ! Yeah, Melfass is pretty dodgy. He's one of my D&D characters, but Zithaka is one of my oldest NPC's and is smart enough to know that he'll have his own agenda. She's likely to want to do a lot more investigating before taking action..... but that'll be something for another post 😀
Thanks for the update. I hope to find more time to read and write. A great day to you.
The Zebra dragon got me. hahaha I wonder how the other dragons (especially the crossbred ones) look like. ^^ Nice story! <3
Thank you ! I must admit I haven't worked out the other crossbreeds or the other Gem dragons yet. I've done the metal to colour ones;
Brass to Blue – Cadmia
Bronze to Black – Carbonate
Copper to Green – Verdigris
Gold to Red – Rust
Silver to White – Sulphide
I've run one Dungeons & Dragons game with one in, it was great fun and a thoroughly nasty shock for the characters 😀
Oooohhh... For some reasons, I can imagine what most of them would look like. It's amazing how you could come up with these... 😎✨
I'm not familiar with the game... I've only heard about it from Stranger Things... 😅😁
Isn’t peacock more harmless? lol. This was informative to me and I enjoyed especially your intricate use of words. I wish I knew how to bring words to life like that.
Thank you ! Peacocks are beautiful birds, but far from harmless - it's better to think of them as over-decorated geese, and with just as much attitude 😆 They're fiercely territorial and just about have the edge in fights with geese. Spurs and claws give them an advantage, but the geese will win if they outnumber the peacocks because they work better together in groups.
I remember hearing the cry of a peacock once. I couldn’t sleep that night. My uncle had just returned to Nigeria and booked us a night in a hotel for the reunion. I first thought it was a human being because… she was freaking loud!
That was a long story... I actually thought about the peacock. Because the dragon wings looks like a peacock
Thank you ! Yeah, I sometimes like to set myself additional challenges with writing prompts, just to push myself a little. It was only when I finished that I realised how long 1000 words would look on the screen....
I got u... I feel that way too sometimes.