The Dragonboy

Once there was a boy named John, he was 18 years old.

One day he went on a camp in the forest. While he was venturing alone in the forest, an old man stopped him. The old man told him, "Beware!!! Once a dragon named Fire was the god of this city, but a man named Knuckles who had bad intensions captured him in a stone. After that day, Knuckles was not seen anywhere. Some say, that the stone is in this forest, but no one has ever seen it." Saying this the old man went away.

"I don't believe in such stories," John said to himself.

He came back to his tent after a long walk in the forest. "Nothing unusual," he said to himself, "The old man must not be having any entertainment out here, and hence he told me a fake story to vile away his time."

He had an early dinner which he cooked on a campfire, and then went off to sleep. He had to wake up early the next day. Deep in the night, he saw his tent lit up with light from outside. He remembered putting off his portable lamp."What light is this??" He wondered.

He could not go to sleep as he sensed something strange. "Who was it in the dark of the night, at this lonely place, playing with the light," He thought.

As he moved out of his tent, he saw something shining brightly. The light was coming from somewhere deep in the forest. The adventurer in John probed him to go ahead and explore the strange. He started walking towards the light. He soon reached its source, which was a huge rock. The light was blinding, yet he squeezed his eyes to capture an image of a lit dragon on the big rock. As he touched it, a fire ball went in his chest and he fell down. As he balanced himself back to strength, he saw the dragon sign on the stone gone and now his chest had the same dragon sign. The light went off and it was pitch dark again.

Very soon he started feeling lighter. His body had a burning feel from inside. He was a little scared now. As he was moving back to his tent, thinking about the old man and what he said, he knew the old man was not wrong.

It was pitch dark and he did not have a torch in hand. He moved fumbling, try to locate his tent. Just then someone leapt on him from behind. He gave a shout. As he turned, he saw a man with big ugly face and long dirty nails. He smelled rotten. This man sat on his back. John pulled himself away and dropped the ugly man on the floor. The ugly man tried to attack him, but John tried to scream and instead of a scream, fire came out of his mouth.

The ugly man said, "Dragon, so you are back?? I had frozen you in the rock years back. Who released you??"

The boy said, "Knuckles, its you?"

How can it be true, the boy still thought as Knuckles tried to attack him once again.

This time the boy tried to run, but instead, he began to fly as unknowingly he had got wings. He, unable to fly properly fell down and knuckles came and sat on his chest to attack him. The boy knowing now that he can emit fire, opened his mouth and blew the fire on Knuckle's face. Knuckles writhed in pain with the attack, and after sometime died.

The old man was watching all this and came towards the boy. He said, "I told you to be aware, Dragon Boy!!" Saying he smiled and vanished.

John knew the old man was none other than Fire, still acting guard and securing the forest.