The Dragon Prince

Into the Woods

Rohun fluttered towards the roars coming from the inner forest. The forest was suddenly a scary place, with huge leaves and even larger trees tightly woven together. The underbrush was too thick to fly through, and crawling would take forever. Rohun noticed that his compound eyes were somehow more adjusted to seeing differences in the leaves and being able to tell plants apart, and they helped him get a better look at his surroundings. He even smelled ones that would make a great snack, even though he had never seen them before. His reflexes were more adjusted to flying in-between small spaces in branches so he wouldn't crash. As his confidence in his new body increased, his flying speed did as well. He was now flying rather quickly through the dense forest toward the roars of some large creature deep in the forest.

Suddenly a small dragon flew straight at him at a speed twice as fast as Rohun's, and the two collided. It was another fairy dragon; this one was green with blue wings.

"Dear me, I'm terribly sorry 'bout that ol' chap. You alright?" the dragon said in a funny accent as he got back onto his feet.

"Yeah... what's going on?" Rohun replied, rubbing his head and fluttering his small wings to make sure they were ok.

"A giant wyrm appeared and its wreaking havoc on the forest!" The tiny dragon squeaked. "It's bloody huge!"

"I see..." Rohun sighed, wishing he was bigger now. It was obvious that Onikhah had intended for him to get involved in doing something about the wyrm. "Is there a way I can help?"

The small fairy gave him an odd look, as if he was trying to figure out if Rohun was joking or not. "You're a brave one, aren't 'cha, 'old chap? Well the few dragons that remain are in the base. Those are brave souls..."

"The base? Where is that?" Rohun asked.

The fairy dragon gave him another odd look. "You aren't from around here, are ye?" he asked, beginning to understand. "Well... you seem friendly, so I'll share some information. Ye aren't far from the base of our kingdom— my name's Niifkiir by the way. Just look for a large red mushroom and fly into the base."

Then Niifkiir flew away. Rohun followed his instructions and flew closer towards the sound of the wyrm. Suddenly the large serpent-like dragon burst out of the trees, chasing multiple fairy dragons as they fled for their lives. The wyrm's red scales shimmered like fire as it slithered them, snapping at them with its sharp teeth. Rohun flew higher, avoiding the wyrm's attention. He spotted a large red mushroom and dived down, hoping the wyrm was still behind him. He dived into a large hole in the base of the mushroom and landed on a deep mossy floor, taking a moment to catch his breath.

He gasped as he looked up. He expected to see a small house-like structure built within the mushroom, but instead he had entered a large underground space, much like the forest outside. The grass was replaced with soft moss, the tree trunks replaced with tree roots. Glow worms illuminated the ceiling with soft, blue light. It was the most beautiful thing Rohun had ever seen.

He spotted a small group of dragons shivering in a small clearing and hurried over to them. "What's going on?"

Some of the dragons gave him a quick glance. "We're trying to come up with a plan..." one of them said quietly, and began to discuss the plan with Rohun, unaware that he was an outsider. As they discussed, several dragons broke in and shared their own ideas, and it quickly became clear that although these dragons were perfectly capable of defeating the wyrm, what they needed desperately was a leader.

Rohun thought back to his own kingdom, and realized that he was no longer a prince, but a king. Might as well get some practice in... he thought to himself.

He cleared his throat and stepped up. "If I may... it seems to me that what you need it a leader. If I may... I would like to volunteer."

The eldest looking dragon eyed him carefully. "What makes you think you're fit to lead, gold one? Now that I think about it, I haven't seen ye around 'ere before. And your accent is funny... but never mind that. We already have a leader, In'Norokmal." The older dragon said, looking Rohun in the eye.