The Purple Dragon

There he was, a beast so magnificent that no kingly or knightly force could contain his splendor. The wings of a thousand wings, so broad and deft. This was a dragon who could not be seen, though his gaze could not be avoided. His bright, purple skin, like the video game dragons of old, foretold his royal stature and.

Kenset was scared. Standing next to her dragon flying trainer, her physical nature showing only her youth, only her inexperience. How would she be able to change this world, if even in a way that her young mind could understand?

"Why do I have to do it?" said Kenset, standing as though she would rather be sitting. "I just want to play with Dollie."

"You have to do this," said her trainer, Baskets, looking down at her, his eyes beginning to tear. "You have to fly this dragon into the heat of the Marshlands. This is your destiny."

"But I'm just a little girl. I can't even read good. Shouldn't my daddy...?"

"None of us is skilled enough. We don't have the strength, the power. With the rest of us, even your father, the great dragon is unruly, uncontrollable. He's bucked us all off more times than I can count. But you are different."

Baskets then released her hand and walked over to a shelf that had been erected in the dragon's lair, full of dragon training implements: a whistle, a beta light, and some magical rings and pendants.

"You're going to have to be strong. You have to enter the Marshlands. You know what that means now."

"Does it mean that I'm-I might die?"

"Yes. It could happen."

"What does dying mean?"

"I'm glad you asked that question."

Baskets removed a device from the shelf, a special compass that could see the future. He looked down at it, not trying to hide his obsession, his need to discover the mystery.

"Baskets, what's dying?"

"I hear you, my young one. I hear you."

Baskets then pressed the compass against his chest.

"Dying in the service of your people is the most pleasurable experience one can have. It's the most beautiful, the most loving; the best gift one can bestow on themselves or others."

"Does it hurt?"

"Only if it's done with selfish motives."

Within a few minutes, Kenset was flying her purple dragon through the sky. Her kingdom of Marbury, where she had lived her entire life, seemed like a picture on a piece of paper or a 3d-printed desk ornament. Her beautiful toy. To forget her own life for this moment and think of the kingdom. This seven-year-old girl was the first of her kind. The first of a generation. As she rode the dragon, her body swelled up and down along the long neck and back of the beast. It was as if she had been destined to do this since birth.

Having trained her stomach and sealed her energy, she did not bring any food or drink for the three-week journey. She wouldn't need it. This was it. This was her chance to see the world unfolding, to see the pain which had destroyed so many of her kinsmen and kinswomen, and destroy it in turn.

Suddenly, the purple dragon was struck by something moving at tremendous speed. She fell off the dragon and fell through the sky, not knowing if the dragon was still alive. What could have been traveling that fast? A magician's bullet? A wizard bird from Arendles?
Kenset's tiny body looked even smaller as she fell through the sky, her pockets emptying. She had no way of knowing what would befall her down below, in the Marshlands.

Suddenly, Kenset's uniform turned into a a glider. As she lowered herself through the air like a flying squirrel, she thought about everything that she had learned. What would be the best way to go about her mission? she thought, having already lost her dragon. Or so it would seem. As she glided down, she noticed a small village down below where the streets had cobblestones and the chimneys had each had a smoke and a fire.

After landing down near the edge of town, Kenset took inventory of her situation. Where was she, and what would she be doing if weren't for this dang-blasted war that was going on? She could hear the faint murmurs of battle in the distance as the artificial lighting burst in the far sky. Kenset was unblemished. She quickly went up to a tree with a low-hanging branch, ripped off a bare twig, bit off the end of it and chewed, then placed the rest of it in her pocket.

She looked around for someplace, anyplace, where she could get her bearings and find out what happened. Above, there was a sign for the Edensborough Tavbern. As Kenset approached, she looked from side to side, not knowing what to expect. When she got inside, it looked like a regular tavern, really. The barkeep was happy to make his presence felt, helping each of his patrons either into or out of their situations, as it may have been.

The barkeep was standing at the bar, cleaning glasses, when a small voice came to him from somewhere.

"Excuse me."

The barkeep looked around and saw no one standing there. He went back to what he was doing.

"Excuse me. Do you have rose-flavored ice cream?"

The barkeep knew he'd been had. He reached over the bar to get a better look and, seeing tiny little Kenset standing there, he about fell off his horse. The girl sat at the bar, eating her rose-flavored ice cream. Then, suddenly, a giant weight fell from the sky and landed at the village. There was a wind all around. It swirled and swooned about. Having finished her ice cream, Kenset said thank you, left the twig on the table as payment and went outside. There, she found her purple dragon waiting for her.

"I'm just a kid."