Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 3 - 2017 | Page 266

Dragon
Po Leung Kuk Choi Kai Yau School, Ng, Katrina - 12
I
flapped my wings. Glancing back, I started – my wings were dissolving! I could only see wisps of green at where my
once bright green wings used to be and as I stared, the traces were blown away by the bitter wind. Not only that, the
tips of my wings were transparent, just the faintest dull green. My wings were smoky and translucent, hardly
providing me the ability to stay in the air. But I was so light now, I was suspended in the air without moving my once
magnificent wings. I knew I was dying. As a nature dragon, I would simply dissolve into smoke once I died.
Brushing against a nearby patch of trees, I subconsciously drew a fraction of energy from them in hopes to
become more solid, less spread out and translucent. With little power that remained, I slowly glided down to the little
village next to the sea that I saw before. When I landed, I called, “I am dying! I came from a faraway corner of the world.
I am a nature dragon from a beautiful city, full of gardens and trees. I took my power from the nature there. But those
foolish humans destroyed all the nature. They claimed it was more practical to build a few stone houses instead. With my
power being diminished, I decided to seek a forest to live in, with what is left of my strength. Let me draw energy from
your city and I will leave quickly, to the forests far away. I warn you though, I will need a lot of energy and some of your
crops will wither and die.” The villagers accepted without hesitation and my power grew strong again. Soon, I was
restored to my former glory, with a stunning emerald body, golden claws and sapphire eyes, each scale glinting in the sun,
a nature dragon at its greatest. In return, I taught the villagers to build a wall that would last for centuries and defend
them. I knew the village would be destroyed by pirates eventually if I left it alone. They had saved my life and it was the
least I could do. Deep in my heart, I knew the wall would not be enough – the stones were just too weak. But I could
only hope they would survive. With that, I flew away.
Decades later, I grew old and I knew this was the time to die. Yet there was something I wanted to do. I wasn’t
content with dissolving into smoke peacefully, being absorbed back into nature. I found myself flying across the oceans,
feeling that answers must lie on a shore somewhere far away.
A ship threw stone bricks at me as I passed, alleging that I had eaten all their fish. I felt the stone leach all the
energy away where it hit me. Stone tends to absorb my energy and become stronger whenever it touches me, similar to
me with plants. The soldiers on the ship yelled at me to leave those waters and hurled a few spears at me. Already
weakened, I left rapidly. I remembered a village next to the sea that had once helped me regain my strength. Was the
village still standing?
When I arrived, the village was still there, but barely surviving as I had predicted. The village had gained a name –
Shanghai. The walls were smashed in many places, the breaches were barricaded by a jumble of wood planks and broken
stone blocks.
Despite their poverty due to pirate raids, they still offered me crops so that I could draw energy from, knowing
full well if I took all of the energy from the meagre crops, they would crumble into nothingness. As I regained some