Lohikäärme: The Dragon's Descent (Revised)

Chapter I - Dancing Colors

This is the second draft of Lohikäärme. I'm uploading this for beta-readers. But of course, casual readers are very welcome, too. :)

Edit: I've divided the uploads into chapters instead of uploading them in one go, because I thought it would be easier to point out edits if it's done this way. :)

The first chapter is dedicated to Shadowes, because she has motivated me to continue writing as she reads this series. Her words remind me that there is someone out there who might appreciate my stories, and that I should write for something or someone worth writing for. <3 Thank you, Shadowes. :)

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Chapter I - Dancing Colors

          It had always started with chaos, people screaming my name. They were all afraid of the curse. They all hated the curse, but I was the curse itself.

          "BURN HER!"

          They would try everything to change it, but no one could change what was destined to happen. But there was one thing I knew for sure.

          It would always end the way it had begun.

          "What do you see on this one?" asked the crooked nosed physicker, raising another piece of thick paper.

          I looked up at the paper and squinted my eyes. Please, I begged, please make me see something different so all of this would finally end. But my eyes still saw nothing but swirling colors of red, brown, blue, yellow, and green on the paper, as everywhere else. The dancing colors filled the rectangular outline of the paper that marked the outer limits of the object. In my eyes, everything was no more than smudged blots with colors that could never stay still.

          Disappointed, I shook my head. "Only different colors moving from one place to another."

          The languid physicker bobbed his head, almost as if his neck would break if he nodded any faster, as he opened his notebook. He was a balding man who had more hair on his chin than the top of his head, with gaunt arms and a right eye which quivered for no reason. He rubbed his left eye and scribbled things on the notebook he always carried around, particularly inside our house.

          I knew nothing about the world outside our house. This was my world. The common room, the little kitchen to the right, the privy at the back connected to our house and the two bedchambers upstairs. We were the only people living in this island, but my parents found it best for me to stay inside at all times in fear of losing me to people who wanted me dead.

          Since the day my parents discovered that I was suffering from an unnamed illness no one else had, they had told me never to go outside because it was best for me. The common people condemned those who were different. Once, back before we moved here, I had become so curious about the outside world that I peered out the window and nearly fell from the second storey of our house if Mother hadn't been there to grab my arm and pull me back in. She had embraced me the whole night, weeping yet never giving me an answer but a shake of her head when I asked why. The following day, my parents and I had boated for one of the Southern isles to stay away from other people.

          I was shook out of my trance when Father stood up from one of our wooden chairs, unable to wait for the physicker's statement any longer. "How is she?"

          The physicker closed his eyes, his pointed nose making shrill sounds as he breathed. "I'm terribly sorry, but there has been no improvement since the day we started treating her illness. You say that your daughter drinks the milk of the gillyflower twice a day, and I believe you. I've known you for years, and if there's anything I've learned about your family, it's that you love your daughter so much and you wouldn't abandon her no matter what happens." He coughed. "But the magisters are concerned about your daughter's health. The members of the High Council have heard my reports, and they see it best for her to live there."