'Legon!

'LEGON!

         The dragon heaved a sigh, his great snout emitting dark, gray smoke. The giant reptile staggered into his dark cave and lay down — wincing when he felt his bones cracking.

         He was old, not in his prime anymore. His eyes didn’t shine their usual violet rays like they used to, his once-powerful muscles were now weak and aching frequently, and his great wings were old and tattered — the result of the many great battles and slayings he had managed to escape.

         He was dying.

         Dragons are long-lived creatures, but not immortal. For him to reach the age of 578 was a record in itself. His other fellows were either slain or captured by local sorcerers. He was the last free dragon, as far as he knew… but even that was going to change.

         The dragon sighed again, clenching his eyes shut in defeat. It’s over... It’s finally over… he thought. He could feel Death slowly creeping towards him. It was his time to leave; he had no more reasons to live. He had no more strength, no more friends, no more —

         “‘Legon!” said a sudden voice.

         The dragon slowly lifted his eyelid. Standing before him was an eight-year-old boy. He wore a rusty knight's helmet and shoulder pads which were a little bit too big for his size. His left hand held the lid of a garbage can as a shield, while in his right hand, was a sword made from a broom handle that was repeatedly being poked into the dragon’s forearm. Won’t he ever give up? thought the dragon.

          “‘Legon!” the kid shouted again.

         The dragon winced at the poor effort of pronouncing his species’ name correctly. He eyed the innocent, brave boy in a reluctant manner, casting an underestimating look at the human child. He eventually decided that it would be a waste of time to ‘play along’ with him again and slowly clenched his eyes shut once more.

         The small knight wanna-be had been fussing around the ancient dragon for a week now, poking and shouting at the dragon in his underdeveloped language. He would even occasionally open the reptile’s eyelid or lip before the creature would move and growl menacingly at the boy — which usually resulted in the boy’s running away.

         But the dragon was in no mood for playing around now... He wanted to reminisce his great past. His past that was filled with courageous escapades. He reminisced about the group of dragons he led when he was still young and powerful — long, long centuries ago… He remembered the mortal combats he once had with other dragons and vicious knights, and of his sharp, mighty roars that made any creature tremble whenever he let it out.

         Ah… those were the times… he thought sadly. He was no longer the great, powerful dragon he was. Not the elegant, high-class creature that everyone admired, not —

         “‘LEGON!!”

         A sharp jab on his side.

         The ancient creature snapped out from his train of thoughts at the shout and stab of the boy. Why, that little rascal! He had forgotten about him for a while. The dragon shifted upwards and gave a low, menacing growl. The kid was instantly startled and ran away.

         The dragon sighed in relief, folded his wings, and lay down once more. The annoying brat was gone, and he could focus more on his memories again. But before he had the chance…

         “There! ‘Legon! Bad ‘Legon! ‘ttack bad ‘Legon!” the dragon heard a very familiar voice. It was the voice that bugged him day and night — the brat’s voice.

         The giant reptile turned around and, to his horror, found not only the brat but also 3 more friends of his — all in those stupid hand-made armors. The dragon, now seriously irritated, quickly stood up on his hind legs, spread his tattered wings, and roared loudly in dragon's language, “Leave! I don’t want to see you lot anymore!”

         The kids were literally white in fear since the dragon's language sounded like thunderstorms. They dropped their ‘swords’ and ‘shields’ before scurrying away in panic, screaming and shouting for help along the way. The last of the group even tripped on a tree branch and tumbled down, but he continued running in sheer terror.

         The ancient creature hollered in glee when he watched the whole scenario before him. Why, he even held his stomach in pain from his laughter! After a while, he regained his composure and made a radical decision, “I can’t die now! As long as there are insolent brats like them, I’ll continue on living! I’ll show them who’s the boss around here!”

         And, with his newfound spirit and mischievous snicker on his reptile face, he soared into the sky to hunt the poor children down...

         So... happily ever after?

~*END*~