Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Juphikie t1_j63qi35 wrote

Never before had it happened.

The kingdom kept near perfect records on the Dragon Fates, drawings, paintings, even full books were made. The king knew exactly which dragon would hatch from which egg thanks to color and shape. They even had tried to tamper with the results a few times but it never seemed to help their chances in the winters.

They as a nation had grown up to live by the Dragon Fates, the center point of the kingdom having been built as an arena, so the masses could watch with bated breaths. There were even museums with the bones of which dragon had lost, the best museums having the blue dragons hide tanned and displayed proudly with the year the blue dragon fell.

Now there were not two eggs, but three! Three had never happened, perhaps the dragon ate more than it should have, and produced another egg by mistake? Or there was going to be two reds and one blue, or gods forbid two blues and one red.

It took some time for the panic to calm in the kingdom, the king assuring everyone that what ever the outcome they were safe and secure, that the gods would clear up the matter, or the scientists if need be. Even as he spoke to the crowd pushing to see this strange third egg there were historians around the clutch with every shred of information they had.

The Red and Blue eggs were marked already, painted stripes with tassels flowing in the wind, but the third egg seemed to be stumping the smartest of the kingdom.

“It is the same shape as the Red Egg” one noted, writing fearsomely into a book.

“The weight is that of a Blue Dragon!” Another exclaimed.

“The color matches the Red Egg, there fore it is Red!” A third notes, having a color sheet of all eggs know.

“The knock echo is the same as the Blue Egg!” Yet another replied to not but a crowd that was becoming more frustrated than the crowd held back by the guards.

It seemed to be a pattern, the egg sharing almost equal qualities and traits of both eggs, the men of the Gods would inspect the egg, testing it carefully “it could be a mix, Purple it be!” The holy man decreed, getting looks from all around.

It didn’t take long for the King himself to step in, preventing the three split sides from breaking out into a brawl. “Enough!” He bellowed, growling to make a point “I will inspect the eggs, I have seen 48 eggs before this three!” He says, taking a step towards the Third Egg. He took his time to think his mind, feeling the egg over as if it was a well rounded rump, knocking a few times. The scientists and Priests all stood by and watched, bated breath as they wondered what the king would say.

“I think…” he says, taking a deep breath “it is a Blue Egg, fore the inside qualities are that of a Blue Dragon!”

The scientists thought it over, and then agreed, fore the King himself had declared it to be Blue! And who dared tell the King he was wrong? And so they went to work, dressing up the third egg as a Blue, the King going on to the crowd waiting outside the closed gates to speak to them.

“Ladies and gentleman!” He called out, standing on a box of grain, his voice booming to get their attention. “It has been found, through both historians and I! That the third egg is that of a Blue Dragon!”

There was but one moment of silence after his decree, broken by the cries of displeasure and anger, how dare the Dragon Fates stack the odds against them!

“Smash the Third!” Came a cry.

“Poison the Blue! Protect the Red!” Came another.

“Quiet!” The king demanded, shouting over their voices, “not even our best weapons could dent those eggs! Not even the best poisons will harm the Dragons! We must be prepared for the outcome!”

“How can we prepare against bad luck!” One peasant asked.

“Simple! We prepare for a crop failure. It will insure we survive this winter!” The King replied, loud enough for all to hear. Scribes standing ready to spread his voice to those who could not hear. “The odds are against us, we must store more grain! More meat must be preserved! We must make it last longer as well! Eat less, Save more!”

“What of the animals?” One farmer asked “the herding dogs won’t like being shorted on their food! And the cats will flee to find better meals as well!”

“The animals must learn to survive the down sides of life” he says, holding his hands to his belly. “If it is needed, we must think of ourselves, the animals may become food too! Not just the horses but the dogs and cats as well, we will prevail!” He yelled, raising his hands in defiance of the Dragon Fates, his hand not the only one raising, as almost all the peasants agreed, they would survive.

The three eggs would sit there for the next four months, protected, cleaned, decorated. The scientists watched on closely as the days ticked by. At the end of the fourth month one of them would raise the alarm “They Shake!” He cried, signaling the Fates to be chosen within the fortnight.

The day of truth came, the stadium packed to the brim with peasants that had thinned with the times. Even the king himself, thinned down to save food, sat in his own special box high above the rest, flanked by his advisors and queen. The eggs would now and then sway in the non existent wing, the hatchlings slowly cracking apart their shells.

First came the Red, aggressive and brightly colored, shaking off the fluids that protected him.

Second came the Blue, dark in color, claws raking the smooth stone she stepped onto.

With bated breath the brother and sister waited with the crowd for the last egg, slowly cracking its way free. Soon the egg split cleanly down the middle, as if an expert warrior had swung his ax down and cleaved it in two.

With the shells rocking away from the Third Dragon, a loud gasp came from the crowd, the king slack jawed himself as he looked with his telescope. It didn’t take long to lower the tube and look at the lead Dragon Historians and his pope red faced.

“Why, pray tell” he started off, taking a deep breath to fill his lungs “is it Yellow!”

531

Juphikie t1_j66bjf7 wrote

(Seeing as how popular this got, this is the part 2, I’m surprised but I’ll do my best)

The Historian and Priests only shrugged, they didn’t know what had happened, and were just as confused as the King. They would only redirect their eyes to the three dragons who were around the shattered eggs.

The king only looked on, his hands coming together under his chin as the battle began. Red and Blue seemed more intent on fighting one another, leaving Yellow alone for the moment, and Yellow seemed content in not involving itself with the two.

One could best describe the fight between Red and Blue as a flying cat fight, claws flying at one another, wings flapping and maneuvering to get the upper hand. It seemed like they were an even match, the Red dragon ripping into Blue’s wing, and Blue latching onto Red’s tail, dragging it down and grounding the twin.

Dust was kicked up by the pair, the crowd cheering on Red, watching over the fight as Yellow just stood by, the Third Dragon watching the two fight against one another, claws and teeth and all. It seemed to be over in seconds when the dust began to settle.

Blue took deep breaths, blowing dust up as she stood over her slain brother, Red. She would roar and stand on her back legs like a dark stallion standing over its new lands.

The boos from the crowd were almost immediate, their voices however died down as Yellow roared to gat the attention of their sister. Blue would whip around, and roar back at Yellow, walking away from Red’s body, ready to fight Yellow but weakened by the fight with Red.

Yellow was slow, careful, sizing up their sister as Blue growled, torn wings spread wide, trying to intimidate Yellow. Yellow meanwhile only saw one thing in the display, weakness, and vulnerability.

Blue would fail the game of chicken, and charged at Yellow, roaring all the way until Yellow sidestepped and body checked her on to the hard stone floor, being silent as Blue tumbled.

Blue stood up, having expected Yellow to be on her and fighting, but the sibling just stood there, unmoving but ever so watchful. Blue had managed to hurt one of her arms, now on three legs as she huffed, roaring at Yellow, but being alone in the roar.

Yellow just watched, breathing slowly as she stairs down Blue, their wings folded neatly, legs planted into the stone like trees. Blue growled, and on her three legs charged again, being focused on Yellows head now, charging as fast as she could until Yellow spun, their tail tip striking Blue’s jaw, breaking it and sending Blue back to the dirt.

Each time Blue fell, the crowed would cheer on Yellow, no longer remembering Red who lays off to the side still. Blue stood back up, limping and jaw hanging open, her sides bleeding and mouth dripping as she roared weakly, trying to be strong but Yellow just walked up to her, and with an almost comically slow swipe, took hold of Blues head and forced her to roll on her side.

Blue shivered, unable to move, weakened by Yellow as she waited for the final blow, but still Yellow just stood there, holding Blue down. Yellow chittered with their teeth, seeming to speak to Blue for a moment before letting go. Blue didn’t dare get up, weakened by broken bones and blood loss, only able to watch as Yellow finally spread their wings.

With a gust of air and cloud of dust Yellow took off, flying high and leaving the arena, flying directly over the kings seat. The King only watched, amazed as this strange beast left, leaving a broken but living Blue behind.

“Have some men track it.” He ordered, one of his knights nodded and left to spread the word, the king then turned to the Historian and Priest “go down and capture the Blue Dragon, it is yours to do with” he says, the historian and Priest nodded, leaving the king to collect the Red body and Blue survivor.

The queen thinks, sipping her wine as she looked down to the arena “what do you think this means?” She asked, looking board more than anything.

“Nothing good.” The king says, grunting as he stood upright, standing to speak to his people, he would try and clear his throat. He couldn’t quite get the itch to go away, and would take the wine from his wife, taking a quick drink before coughing and speaking “my people!” He bellowed, looking to those in the stands “while we may not know what this winter brings, rest assured it will be nothing to hold us back, we will continue to grow and swell out over the Barbaric lands, and bring in a new year of peace, and prosperity!” He roared, smiling as the peasants roared in agreement. He would wash his throat with the rest of the wine in his wife’s cup, coughing some more before guiding the queen out of the stands.

The kingdom barely made it a month until the King began to get letters, from the boarder towns first, then closing in. A plague, starting with a cough, difficulty breathing, and sweating, which soon led to pale skin, dizziness, and diarrhea, and in some cases, Death. The king knew this well, as he was suffering from the same symptoms as he sat on his throne, wearing barely anything as he felt all too hot even with his feet in a bucket of ice.

He sat at his table, his advisors all huddled at the far end as to not catch the illness as he spoke. “We must find a way to cut this plague short.” He shouted, coughing hard and pounding the table with his fist. “What are in the notes on it!”

One advisor flipped through a book, frowning “there are reports of a large uptick in rodent populations, the wave of rats is often found around grain silos and other food storage sites.”

“The grain silos are bursting at the seems with extra grain, and with no cats to cut down those numbers of rodents, it’s a case of millions of rodents running rampant!” Another adviser exclaimed, putting down his book with some force.

“The rats must be spreading the plague” the third advisor says, grunting as he sat down, weakened by the limitation of food.

“Then the next best thing to do is to starve the rats” the king grunted, breathing in deeply although not deeply enough for his liking. “I want the spare grain silos to be burned, burn the rats with them.”

“Sir… that grain is our winter stock pile, the leafs haven’t even finished turning colors!” The first advisor replied, leaning on the table.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear about you’re recent promotion to King!” The king retorted, pointing at the first advisor “my word is law, now go! Or your head will go away from your shoulders!”

The advisors only nodded, grunting as they left the table, walking away as one of the doctors came over to check with the king.

125

pinowlgi t1_j66nucr wrote

This is such a good story!!! Blue bad luck Red good luck Yellow a plague

I wasn't expecting yellow, but the three primary colors make sense.

29

mandyjstew t1_j66lumx wrote

Part 3? 🤞🥺

11

Juphikie t1_j66vdcw wrote

Let’s see how things go

7

goathill t1_j6b74ra wrote

u/juphikie, I understand time is a limited resource, but holy smokes you have kept more people entertained and imagining worlds beyond our earthly realm than you even realize.

You have some serious talent for world building and story crafting. I hope you continue to write and share because I loved every, single, second of this story!!

5

Juphikie t1_j6e1ic6 wrote

I do write now and then, I’ve even been paid to do some small writing commissions, but for now I need to focus on school. But it means the world to me that you think so highly of my work, this is the first time I’ve done a successful writing prompt here.

2

goathill t1_j6e37it wrote

As dad would say, definitely stay in school because it'll help you pay the bills (hopefully so that you can write with your free time!!).

After reading this piece, I searched your history for more prompt responses and was astonished that I could not find more. Just because you haven't been "successful" here before doesn't mean you aren't talented (because you are!) Please, please, please keep writing! A few of us would be happy to support you in your future endeavors.

Fwiw, I have a new pipe dream about doing voice-over work for this 3 dragon egg piece. My dream last night was about your work, and I woke up with a shit-eating grin!

3

Pokerfakes t1_j6eay7m wrote

Interesting. I'm thinking about writing one, but I can't settle on the color. I'm thinking black for essentially Armageddon, gold for incredible prosperity like never before, or white for...something.

Also, what would happen to the winning dragons of prior years? Did they just fly off somewhere, or did they only live one year?

1

TheSeaMeat t1_j63xkih wrote

We need a sequel! Which dragon wins? What becomes of the yellow dragon?

73

angrycupcake56 t1_j64c35j wrote

It heralds an apocalypse! Fortune be in our favor though as only one needs to die. The other two out of instinct form an alliance. Good and bad luck over the end times. Lo, but he was merely the herald. With blood spilled war breaks out, blue promising life and power through battle. Ted promising prosperity and advancement through domination.

A lone historian researches further and discovers the yellow could have functioned as guardian over man should it have survived, but alas, we are doomed, unless…. It is another three egg year…. The earth rumbles and the volcanos churn. It is up to the historian now to ensure victory for the newest yellow.

-excerpt from The Third Egg by Leone Thearman a.k.a. That weirdo who was disgraced by the court for his fan fictions and poor taxidermy skills. Pfffft Purple.

66

thoughtsthoughtof t1_j64dysn wrote

I was thinking green (purple would work (or yellow) for other stuff though but yah when purple mentioned didn't really think so either) please tag me with next parts

11

thoughtsthoughtof t1_j65frrk wrote

Different possibilities including the ywellow one acts sorta calm older sibling stopped fights stuff and luck became more dependent on their actions. Ex: in weeks the one who said to smash it got bad luck particularly if luck wasn't super bad with blue before.

8