In
our village we were about 120 inhabitants. Our families had lived in this
valley for hundreds of years. I liked our village, I liked the people there and
the valley itself. Everything could still have been exactly like it was then if
that day had never taken place…but it did…
It
was an ordinary day like any other. I was sitting with my family by the table
eating dinner. It was around midday. Suddenly a man, one of my father’s
friends, came rushing in and shouted; “He’s here! He’s here again!”. My father
quickly reacted and stood up, grabbed his bow and his quiver and ran out with
the man. My mother took me and my two sisters and led us upstairs where she
told us to stay until they returned. I wanted to follow them so when my mother
went I grabbed my dagger, a gift from my father, and ran out. It was a
beautiful day, the snow lay thick and reflected the sunshine. I stopped for a
moment. Everything was so beautiful. Then I suddenly remembered why I was out
here. I heard voices from the other edge of the village. I began running in
that direction. Then I saw him. Garfereas, the dragon who had punished our
village for many years. His wings threw a huge shadow over the village; it
almost seemed like the sun had disappeared. He was about 30 metres above ground
and his flames consumed the snow beneath him and ignited nearby houses. He
began to fly towards me. He crushed a house before he flew over me. I was
thrown backwards. I laid still, scared. I heard the sound of houses crumbling
behind me. I just couldn’t move. He seemed a lot larger when he was this close.
Minutes
passed. The dragon had flown away at least ten minutes ago. I stood up, still
shaking. I picked up my dagger which had been thrown away some meters when the
dragon passed over me. I looked around me in shock. The whole village was
destroyed, some houses were still burning and slowly falling apart. I began
walking to the other edge of the village from were I had heard voices before;
first with slow, shaking steps, but soon I found myself running. I came to the
slope were our village ends. Then I knew why the dragon had flown away from
there and into the main part of the village; his work here was done. I was
looking at a morbid scene of slain men and women, all of the village’s adults
were laying there scattered all over the area. Slain in the most ruthless ways.
My dagger fell from my hand. I couldn’t move. I knew my parents were down
there. I went down the slope. Some people had been charred unrecognisable by
the dragon's flames, others had been shredded by his claws, pierced by his
sharp tail or even bitten in half by his huge jaws. I wasn’t able to find my
parents among the recognizable bodies. The snow was red. It seemed that the sky
turned red too. My world trembled. I was left alone, alone in this world, alone
in the valley…
