Post by Lone Dancer on Dec 4, 2021 4:22:58 GMT
He was a very special dragon; something he was told since birth by all except his parents. He was the prince! That's something very few could claim. Yet, there something hollow within him. Something he hid with all his bravado and self-assurance. Something wasn't quite complete on the inside. He's tried to fill void the void with other dragons, not caring much about gender if only they could make him feel whole in a way he couldn't alone.
His subjects called him intelligent, clever. Fast with words and thinking. Sometimes dragons as well. In his kingdom, there was very few places he couldn't go. The interconnected and weaving bridges throughout the titanic trees, houses built within these towering columns; or the ladders formed by creeping vines. Up in the treetops, far above the ground, few felt the need to visit the forest floor.
Why go into the gloomy underdark when everything you needed as up above. Something he was asking himself now, as he traversed between the roots of the ancient trees that supported his kingdom. Little light reached down here, and the crown on his head didn't gleam with its usual splendor.
"What am I doing here?" He muttered to himself. He half-expected something to respond, but the forest merely ate up his words, leaving him with only silence.
"I'm me! I should go up and be with my people! Let them bask in my presence." He shook his claws upwards, before letting them fall back down, almost defeated.
"Yet- yet something isn't right."
Silence.
He continued onward, this time with a lack of commentary beyond annoyed grunts and occasional complaints as he stepped in something he wish he hadn't. The constant presence of trees only ever seemed to loom closer, almost suffocating. They made him feel so incredibly small. An emotion he didn't enjoy. Yet what was he to these ancient things, who've been around long before him, and will continue on long after him. He was just a speck to their own natural majesty.
"A prince shouldn't doubt himself so much!" He told himself in the solitude of the forest floor, where not even wild critters roamed. The words sounded hollow to him, despite how much confidence he put into them. He picked up a rock and tossed it at a trunk, which bore the strike as he roared in frustration. It bounced off, and landed back at his claws, staring up at him.
He knocked it away, fuming, but unsure of exactly why.
"I don't understand. I'm doing everything right!"
"Why can't they see that?"
"It feels like despite everything, I'm still failing."
Once the words left unbidden from his mouth, he felt ashamed of them. They were badges of weakness, to his eyes. But also the truth he didn't dare admit to himself. If anyone told you he sat alone, surrounded by the roots of a tree far older than his kingdom, with faint tears strolling down his face, they would probably be tossed into prison for slander against the prince.
After he finished with his... business, he got up. He hated how he didn't feel quite so empty anymore. Yet didn't.
"Well I'm certainly a mess of a dragon."
With those words, he began to head back to his civilization. He was pretty sure spending such long time down in the underdark wasn't good for him. As he began the climb up worn vines, he whispered to himself;
"I'm the prince, and everything is fine."
Even though it wasn't.
His subjects called him intelligent, clever. Fast with words and thinking. Sometimes dragons as well. In his kingdom, there was very few places he couldn't go. The interconnected and weaving bridges throughout the titanic trees, houses built within these towering columns; or the ladders formed by creeping vines. Up in the treetops, far above the ground, few felt the need to visit the forest floor.
Why go into the gloomy underdark when everything you needed as up above. Something he was asking himself now, as he traversed between the roots of the ancient trees that supported his kingdom. Little light reached down here, and the crown on his head didn't gleam with its usual splendor.
"What am I doing here?" He muttered to himself. He half-expected something to respond, but the forest merely ate up his words, leaving him with only silence.
"I'm me! I should go up and be with my people! Let them bask in my presence." He shook his claws upwards, before letting them fall back down, almost defeated.
"Yet- yet something isn't right."
Silence.
He continued onward, this time with a lack of commentary beyond annoyed grunts and occasional complaints as he stepped in something he wish he hadn't. The constant presence of trees only ever seemed to loom closer, almost suffocating. They made him feel so incredibly small. An emotion he didn't enjoy. Yet what was he to these ancient things, who've been around long before him, and will continue on long after him. He was just a speck to their own natural majesty.
"A prince shouldn't doubt himself so much!" He told himself in the solitude of the forest floor, where not even wild critters roamed. The words sounded hollow to him, despite how much confidence he put into them. He picked up a rock and tossed it at a trunk, which bore the strike as he roared in frustration. It bounced off, and landed back at his claws, staring up at him.
He knocked it away, fuming, but unsure of exactly why.
"I don't understand. I'm doing everything right!"
"Why can't they see that?"
"It feels like despite everything, I'm still failing."
Once the words left unbidden from his mouth, he felt ashamed of them. They were badges of weakness, to his eyes. But also the truth he didn't dare admit to himself. If anyone told you he sat alone, surrounded by the roots of a tree far older than his kingdom, with faint tears strolling down his face, they would probably be tossed into prison for slander against the prince.
After he finished with his... business, he got up. He hated how he didn't feel quite so empty anymore. Yet didn't.
"Well I'm certainly a mess of a dragon."
With those words, he began to head back to his civilization. He was pretty sure spending such long time down in the underdark wasn't good for him. As he began the climb up worn vines, he whispered to himself;
"I'm the prince, and everything is fine."
Even though it wasn't.