too late

I have made up a story behind this pic. The basic idea was stuck in my head for a long time. It was only a basic, little story in my head, but it turned out not so small when I wrote it down XD so many many thanks to the people that take the time to read it! Hope you will like it, it is a really happy, uplifting story, just like the pic *ahem* so yeah, don't read it if you like the 'they lived happily ever after' kind of stuff... 

ow, and sorry in advance for spelling and grammatical errors, I am no native English speaker and I don't know anything about how stories should be written XD

*story mode: ON*

Once upon a time, there was a boy, a son of a weaponsmith. A boy that dreamed of knighthood and doing heroic deeds every time his father showed him the magnificent blades he forged. But he was just a son of a smith. His father told him that one day, he will be able to make those blades himself, but that he will never wield them. And why would he go on adventure? The city the boy was living in was flourishing, growing larger and larger. It formed a safe haven in the vast, harsh lands surrounding it. Even though the land was cold and unforgiving, it also gave the city life. Food, fresh water, wood, everything the citizens needed. But it seemed like the forests became thinner and thinner every year. The river became polluted and food became harder to come by. It was hardly noticeable when this started, but it slowly got worse and now it drives the town insane. What had happened to this realm? ‘Is it caused by witches?’ someone asked. ‘No, that’s not possible. All were burned last year.’ was the reply. ‘Werewolves then? Vampires? Evil wizards? Maybe we must sacrifice some virgins, and hope the gods will bring us better times.’

At some point, just after another harvest had failed, the town talked about a wyvern. There were always legends about wyverns living in the area, but now a neighbouring village had seen one with young hatchlings. Within days everyone knew about the dangerous  wyvern, because gossip travels faster than anything else. Dragons and wyverns can poison even the most pure mountain stream by only touching it and they can destroy harvest with only their foul breath, that’s what the talk around town said. They will become even more dangerous when they have hatchlings, then they will terrorise everything for hundreds of miles around their lair. The son of the weaponsmith, now not a boy anymore, heard this talk as well and his inner dreams about knights and heroism came back.  One evening his longing for adventure became so strong that he could no longer ignore it. He stole one of his father’s swords, together with armour, some provisions and a horse. He took off in the middle of the night to seek out the wyvern.

Finding the wyvern was more difficult than the son thought. He expected the wyvern would leave a trail of diseases, ruined lands and burned forests, but that was not the case. It even looked like the land was more healthy and fertile when he closed in on the wyvern. But eventually he found her lair, together with her three hatchlings snuggled up against each other in a large nest. The son sneaked in as quiet as he could. The mother was nowhere to be found and the son thanked the gods for giving him that luck. He walked towards the nest and slew the first hatchling as fast as he could. The boy had never used a sword before, but the blade was sharp and it slit the wyvern’s throat without even waking him up. The second one stirred, as if he knew something dangerous was going on, but he was killed as well before he could open his eyes. Only the third one was too fast for the boy. It gave a loud, high-pitched shriek before the blade could make an end to its life. The son didn’t really care about that. The killing went smoother than he expected, he didn’t even had a scratch! He was very pleased with himself, but he realised he did not know what to do with the mother. ‘Well,’ the son thought, ‘with her children gone, everything will turn back the way it was.’ That sounded logical. With that thought, the boy went back to his horse and headed towards his home town.

However, the son did not realise that the mother wyvern had heard her child’s last scream and that she had picked up the scent of her children’s killer. The sound of thunder created by her wings was the only warning the boy had. He was paralyzed with fear when he saw her, he didn’t even had the guts to scream. His horse panicked and tried to get away from her, but the wyvern blocked every path to escape.

‘Who are you?’ The wyvern asked with a rasping voice, for she was not used to human speech. ‘And why did you kill my children?’ She stood before the son and his horse, towering over them while she spoke.

The boy gathered all the courage that was left in him and replied: ‘You are terrorising my land! You and your hatchlings! Our water is polluted, the land is poisoned and the forests are dying. Killing your children will bring back the way it was before they were born.’

The wyvern hissed angrily. ‘Fool! You think I did that? I’ve been living here for ages, raising hatchlings for ages! And the land did not change a single bit during those ages. Your foolishness has led to the death of three innocents! Give answer to my first question, I want to know the name of the slayer of my children!’

The boy felt even less comfortable now. Was the wyvern right? ‘I am Lenno…’

‘That’s it?', the wyvern asked angrily, 'No title? No hometown?’

The boy trembled. ‘It’s  Lenno… of Rockhall.’

‘Rockhall?’ The wyvern replied. ‘I know that place, that city is bursting out of its walls for decades. I’ll give you something to think about: What do humans do with water? They throw all kinds of nasty shit in it, so it gets polluted. What do humans do with the land? They’ll let the soil lose its nutrients, so it goes to waste. What do humans do with forest? They cut it down too fast, so the trees are not able to grow back and the forest will disappear. Nature can overcome a few humans, but if a city stuffed with your kind is expanding too fast, nature cannot recover. Maybe you should realize it is not your land and not your rivers and not your trees! Even if they were, you are not taking care of them properly, you only think about the land and creatures that are inside city walls.' The huge serpent hissed even more and  smoke came out of her nose. ' You must love Rockhall very much if you are willing to kill for it.'

The son could not find his voice. He could only give a small, trembling nod to the wyvern.

'Well, well... I'm curious about how you would feel if your family was ripped away from you... killed in cold blood. You know what, boy? I shall give you a second thing to think about...'  The wyvern came very close to the son, making his horse panic even more. The wyvern smiled, with revenge in her eyes.

'Never tell your enemies where your hart lies, unless you can outrun them.'

Then she took off, her giant wings flapping in the air. She changed direction with a graceful turn, heading in the direction the son feared for. The son regained control over the panicked horse and headed in the same direction as the wyvern, as fast as the horse could carry him. But what horse was ever born to outrun such a magnificent beast? It was already too late when he reached his destination. A gigantic winged creature sat on the top of the highest tower, looking proudly towards the son, with Rockhall burning below it. 

And that's how Lenno became known as Lenno the Lonely, because all his friends and family were gone.

the end