Wait! I Wrote That?

Story Eighteen - John Golden: A Legend is Born

Song: "Mighty Wings" - Cheap Trick

Genre (s): High Fantasy/Adventure

Written When? Freshman Year of College

Prologue

        "The Odd One". From the day he was born, that was John Golden's nickname. The only surviving chick of Eva and Robin Golden, the first thing he did when he finally gained his feathers was go on an adventure.

He fell out of the nest and hobbled over to the Maglin Woods Flying School, where, with beak dropped, he watched the birpils practice their great gift–the gift of flight. Taken so aback by the magnificent birds, John tried flying himself. He opened his tiny wings and gave them a quick flap.

When the birpils saw he had joined them in the training ring, they merely laughed at the chick and threw him out, as if he were garbage.

"Who wants to hang out with The Odd One of Maglin Woods?" was what they asked themselves. "He might as well become a bat instead and hang upside-down in a cave."

Poor John was heartbroken. On his way back to Bird Colony, he slathered himself down with mud, with the hope that nobody would recognize the skinny, Red-Crowned Crane, but by then, everybody knew who John was.

As he walked through the trees of his village, birds laughed, pointed, and called him out. "Look at that ridiculous red crown on top of his head!" yelled a stork. "Who does he work for–the Witcher?"

"Not the Witcher, but the Butcher, instead!" laughed a heron. He put his foot to the side of his beak and yelled at John. "Loser! Loser!"

"Odd One of Maglin Woods, why are you still here?" asked a snowy egret. "You belong on the grill! Get rid of that red crown! It makes me sick!"

John hated his red crown. For that reason, he always wore a hat on his head. He found his hat when he was out hunting one day in Maglin Woods and stumbled upon an abandoned campground. The campers took everything with them... Well, almost everything.

That was when John saw it. Sitting on top of the campground's picnic table was a straw beach hat. One look at it and John was fascinated. Finally, after what felt like forever, he found the solution to his ridiculous red crown.

With a smile on his face and wings folded, he came within reach of the picnic table and used his claws to pick up the hat. First, he shook the bugs off it. He checked it for stains and holes and finally... plop. He plopped it on his head. He went to take a look at his new accessory in a puddle of water, and his dark eyes instantly brightened when he no longer saw his red crown. For once, John knew he did something right.

When he returned home that night, Eva asked him, "John, where did you get that hat?" and John replied with merely four words:

"This hat is me."

John's early days were slow, but then Eva and Robin enrolled him in the Maglin Woods Flying School so he could master the art of flying. One can imagine he was not very excited about that, especially after what happened with the birpils when he was a chick.

However, if not for flying school, the story of John the Red-Crowned Crane would not be worth telling. It was flying school where he learned something that would forever change him. If not for flying school, he would have never learned the lost prince of Pinta Country was alive. If not for flying school, he would have never become a legendary bird. If not for flying school, he would not be John Golden.