Optional text prompt: The dwarves of D’veen were known for their incredible inventions, including lifelike automatons that seemed to think and feel like a living thing. The dwarves are long gone, but their inventions live on. Write a story or poem about a dragon who repairs and befriends one of these ancient robots, discovering there is far more to them than history describes…
A dragon crossed the mountain pass,
Where dwarven halls lay still,
And found a rusted giant there,
Half buried on the hill.
Its battered plates were green with age,
Its gears were locked with grime.
The dragon cleared the stones away
And studied its design.
It gathered scraps from dwarven halls,
From forges cold and dim,
Then tempered steel with dragonflame
And shaped each battered limb.
One iron finger stirred at last,
Then slowly its head turned.
A blue light flickered into life
As ancient engines burned.
On heavy feet the giant rose,
One leg still bent and slow.
The dragon matched its measured stride
Wherever they would go.
They wandered mountain roads by day,
Through valleys green and wide.
The dragon filled the miles with tales,
The giant at its side.
Then something stirred behind his eyes,
Deep in his fractured core,
A dwarven king before his ranks,
The thunderous march of war.
He saw the clockwork ranks advance,
Great swords in iron hands,
While dragons wheeled across the sky
Above the dwarven lands.
Another vision seized his mind,
A dragon struck below,
A broadsword flashing in his hand
To deal the final blow.
“They forged me once to hunt your kind,
To strike you from the sky.”
He looked upon his dragon friend
And could not fathom why.
“The memories feel far away,
Like tales that are not true.
But if that giant once was me,
What am I now to you?”
The dragon touched his iron hand,
Then gave a gentle smile.
“You choose the one you wish to be.
You’ve done so all this while.”
The giant searched his ancient core,
Where memories remain,
Then looked upon his dragon friend
And knew which self he’d claim.
“My makers chose my path before.
That path has reached its end.
I choose the one I follow now.
I choose to be your friend.”
By Heather Patton / Verdant Butterfly
Written for The Circus Dragon & Bradley Ramsey August Challenge
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By Heather Patton · Launched a year ago
A creative space with over 170 enchanting stories and poems. I write fantasy, folklore and genre bending prose that can step off the path into comedy, adventure or the unsettling at any moment.
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