The Hiker and the Dragon

A story about fear and image. Made after a random thought.

Once, there lived a renowned man called the Hiker. He was a man of the wild, and often he would go exploring through uncharted caves and forests. Mostly, he loved climbing mountains.

In the area, there were rumors of a beast which would kill anyone who dared approach the mountain. But the Hiker did not know of them. His strength meant he needed constant challenge, and so explorations through more urban landscapes were of no interest to him. The only use he had for villages was rest.

The Hiker went up the fabled mountain, and only stopped when it began to rain. He had noticed in the distance a tornado, and as it appeared to stop swirling he knew he needed cover. Luckily, he had discovered a cave nearby, and he ventured inside to wait out the fierce weather.

As he walked into the cave, something filled his vision. A beast, at least ten times his size, slowly standing. At the fearsome sight, his legs locked in place. In all of his years as a man of the wild, he had never known fear- he was much too great, too much of an individual for such a useless feeling. Yet seeing the great green dragon slowly lower its head to him shocked him, and he began to back away towards the cave’s entrance.

As the dragon approached, his retreat halted. He had thumped his back against the stone walls of the cave, and with a shiver running down him he realized that he would meet his end here. The dragon lowered its snout even closer, and the man thought there was no doubt it would eat him.

Then, the dragon spoke.

“Why did you come here?”

Of course, the man was too paralyzed to answer. He couldn't face this beast. If he said the wrong thing, it would kill him. Just as he finally regained the will to move, the dragon’s giant claw wrapped around him. It hadn’t hurt, but what would come after? It was a dragon: a scary, cruel being which hurt people. It had already grabbed the man, and all that was left was to eat him whole.

But it never came. Instead, awkwardly moving with the man in claw, the dragon set him down a little ways off from the entrance to the cave before lying down, its snout still pointed at the man, blowing hot breath onto him. At this point, the Hiker had to run or be killed, and despite the dragon’s great body blocking every escape with a half circle around him, he still tried to climb over the creature to escape.

With a small movement, the dragon’s great wing knocked the man down. It was supposed to be gentle, but with the dragon’s size, the wing had accidentally harmed the Hiker modestly. The man let out a grunt of pain before laying still, and then beginning to cry. He had never faced his own mortality before, and he didn’t want to. It was a horrible feeling, to know that what was in front of you could inflict any type of suffering on you without your say.

The dragon opened its maw, and as the Hiker believed it was time for his death, the dragon simply tugged him closer by the leg, careful not to harm the man with its teeth. The Hiker was pulled along helplessly, but eventually came to his senses. Obviously the dragon didn’t want him immediately dead, but for what else? To play with him like a toy? To cause him suffering as some sort of odd revenge?

“Are you afraid of me?”

The man paused. The dragon had spoken before, but it was heard now for the first time. But he was the Hiker. The fearless, courageous Hiker who explored mountains and forests and stayed away from the things which were too weak for him and his mind.

“No.”

The dragon let out a small grunt, doubting the man instantly, but it let up as it spoke further.

“You shouldn’t run out there. There is a tornado.”

In his desperate haze to escape fate, the man had forgotten completely about the tornado. If he had been let loose, he may have been swept up, carried away by the unforgiving wind and water. But none of this mattered. He needed to leave this beast alone, he had no intention of staying.

“I have to leave…”

The dragon gave him an almost sorrowful look, but nodded.

“This is what I wanted to offer you.” The dragon lowered its huge, leathery wing. “I will guide you down the mountain.”

The Hiker hesitated, but ultimately agreed. If this dragon wanted to kill him or toy with him or torture him, it had every opportunity to do so. He stepped onto the wing, at first with fear of tearing it but then with none as he came to know the wing’s cartilage was thicker than his arm. He stepped onto the back of the creature, and as the tornado passed over, the dragon took flight.

Whipped by the wind, pelted by rain and dizzy from the speed, the man almost fell off the dragon's back. He had no experience with horse riding, which may have contributed to his slip. But a horse’s aid in travel was no use to the fabled Hiker, the most manly man who would never balk at travel on foot. In a single minute, the dragon had brought him down to the land beneath the mountain, though the hike to reach that point took the Hiker over an hour.

The dragon lowered, allowing the Hiker to get off. As the Hiker climbed down from the wings, he still felt dazed. Had a dragon really helped him? Now the dragon was turning away, and with the knowledge that the creature was leaving, the Hiker, never a man to be weak and polite, thanked him with a yell just loud enough to count in his mind, but just quiet enough for him to know it had not reached the beast. Turning to a dirt road, he began his trek away from the mountains.

As the Hiker entered a village, the villagers threw a welcome party. It wasn’t many times the Hiker would visit a town like theirs, and each one was worth a celebration. But as the story of the Hiker’s encounter spread, venomous shouts filled the air.

“You met the Dragon!”

“That beast isn’t right in the head!”

“He killed little Johnny on a hunting trip!”

“Look at your bruise! It hurt you!”

“You shouldn’t have trusted that Dragon!”

The more the shouts surrounded him, the quicker the Hiker felt himself be swept up in their sentiment. As a group, they decided that a grand hunt should be held and that the Dragon should be killed as soon as possible.

The hiker led the villagers to the Dragon, and armed with weapons they came into the cave. The dragon, groggy from sleep and with a horrible heaviness in his heart, backed away to the wall. Surrounded by the pitchforks and torches and swords and spears, the dragon let out a pained whimper before the first strike, and as planned, the hiker and the villagers took the life of the terrible Dragon.