- DragonSlayer -
(Subtitled : - "It's shiny and it hurts")

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It was a warm sunny day in the forest, Enigma was gently napping on his stone in the middle of the lake of sorrows, Norman was polishing the chambers of his various firearms, and Bluey was happily tugging the reluctant Goldy deeper into the forest.

"But I don't wanna go exploring again!" Goldy whined, the heels of his feet buried into the ground throwing up clods of dirt as Bluey heaved him onwards.
"Some twin you are!" Bluey muttered, "You should be thrilled that me, the popular one, is spending time with you! When's the last time you put down those paint brushes of yours and got out for some exercise anyway?"
"Well yesterday I won half the events at that sports meet while you sat on your ass watching television. Does that count?"
Bluey shook his head, "Only half? No way! Anyway, I told you, yesterday I was doing vital research into daytime soaps."
"But it's not like we're going to get any exercise anyway!" Goldy continued, "We're just going to head up to the caves, find a bit you haven't collapsed, you'll start making an idiot of yourself, I'll tell you to stop, you'll get all macho and start shouting, then the cave will collapse on us, and next week the others will notice we're missing and come dig us out. Quite frankly, I'm sick of it!"
"Yap yap yap" Bluey animated his hand in sync. "Move it!"

An hour later, the two young dragons finally reached the entrance of the cave system. "Oh boy! Now we can pretend to be miners!" Bluey placed his torch hat on his head, and handed his brother another.
"Um, Bluey, someone's taken the batteries out of this one."
"Wozzat? I can't hear you over my Discman. Geez this thing churns through the power!"
Goldy rolled his eyes, and followed his blue skinned twin into the caves.
"Come on, down this way! Look, hardly anything's come off the walls, we mustn't have been down here before!" Belching fire onto a stick, Bluey handed the flaming torch to Goldy. "Hey look, I found pretty stuff!"
On closer inspection, Goldy recognised what appeared to be ancient paintings along the cave walls. "Hey Bluey, these are human paintings!"
"Humans!" Bluey scoffed, "What do they know about art? Not much! That's what!"
"Hmm, interesting… these look like, medieval or something. How strange. There's a picture of a dragon, and a sword... I don't know what this means!"
"Of course you don't!" Bluey shoved Goldy aside. "Ah hah! An arrow like thing! This says 'fame and fortune, that-a-way'!" Snatching the torch from Goldy's hand, he thundered towards the wall, his shoulder crushing through the fragile honeycombed cave structure, and falling the five or six meters to the cave floor below.
"Um, like ouch?" Bluey muttered from under the shards of rock.
While his twin dug himself out, Goldy fluttered down to the floor. The impact had knocked the flame from Bluey's torch. Picking up the stick, Goldy walked forwards, and with a splutter of flame, started it going again.

The torch hit the ground, plunging the cave again into darkness.

"Ouch!" Bluey cried cracking his knee in the pitch black cavern.
When the flame was re-lit, Goldy again looked in awe at the scene in front of him.

Bones. Gigantic bleached white bones filled the musty cavern, huge curving ribs many times the size of the tiny dragons who were exploring the cave. Delicate elongated wing bones stretched to the walls, the mighty dragon skull resting only a few meters to their right.
"Hmm, I wonder if we were any relation?" Bluey pondered, climbing up the massive vertebrae.
"I'm sure that's disrespectful," Goldy called out, but at that moment a sharp gleam caught his attention. Thrust up into the dragon's chest cavity, the blade of a sword was clearly visible. Goldy caught his breath. Climbing through the collarbone, he could now see the hilt clutched in a human skeletal hand. Dusting away with his hand, he quickly revealed the rest of the body - a full human skeleton crushed beneath the might of this dragon, sword thrust through the heart.
"Oh wow," Goldy uttered, "he must have slain the dragon only to be crushed by the falling giant!"
"Sucked in, human!" Bluey cried from behind him, "That'll teach him! Yeah! Go dragons, go dragons, go, go! Oh, finders keepers!" Bluey pushed forwards, and snapping the bones of the forearms, dragged the sword free of it's ancient resting ground.
Goldy glared at his brother as Bluey snapped the remaining finger bones from the handle.
"I'll polish this up real nice. It will look dandy hanging above my computer." Bluey ran his hand against the flat of the blade. "Or I could be like Conan! Yah!" with that he took the blade by two hands.

The impact hit him like a brick - Bluey's world flashed away in an instant, voices eons old contacted him, screams of death and destruction filled his head, sharp anger filled music scored his brain. "Cool!" Bluey managed. Visions of violence formed from the swirling maelstrom in front of his eyes, thousands of years of history, forced itself into his brain. The sword, the mighty Dragon Slayer of legend, passed down for generation after generation - countless enemies vanquished, forged they say by the wrath of the gods themselves, container of power such that few can handle it's deadly charms.

One hundred and eighty years ago - the son of a noble and renowned adventurer inherits his fathers weapon, only to be killed for it a month later in a far away town. Claimed by a pirate seeking it for it's fame, he attempts to use it's power to intimidate those he faces on the open sea.

Three hundred years ago - A farmer finds a sword buried in the swamps by his lands, the wetlands mysteriously forcing it to again rise to the surface after years of submergence. Wielding it, his urge for adventuring finally makes itself heard. Abandoning his family and lands, he heads out into the world on a quest for bloodshed. Killed in a brawl six years later, the sword is claimed by the town guards and added to the armoury.

Two hundred years ago - A barbarian is shot down by a hail of arrows while attacking the populous of a small town on the outskirts of humanity. Scavengers steal the man's goods including his mighty sword. Sold for a handful of gold at a stall the next week, an amateur adventurer embarks on a quest for glory.

Two hundred and thirty years ago - Atop a mountain, a rogue is chased by a mighty warrior on horseback. Strapped to the rogue's back is a sword stolen from the cities armoury, a commission job for the sultan of a far away kingdom. The warrior rides him down, scoring a bloody slash across his skull. Claiming the sword, the warrior smiles. He is no town guard, instead he has simply been looking to claim the mighty Dragon Slayer for himself. Three days later, another warrior does the same.

Thee hundred and sixty years ago - After playing a key role in the victory of the orc wars, a veteran fighter still clutching his mighty sword stumbles from the battle field. A deep belly wound seals his fate, yet he is determined to have his son, still only a boy in a city far away, inherit his weapon and legacy. Cruelly, he is taken down by a swamp dragon as he attempts to cut time off his journey. His corpse and sword slowly disappear into the swamp.

One hundred and forty years ago - an established warrior spies with his experienced eyes an enchanted weapon of great power being sold in the stall of a petty fisherman who had collected the sword from the ocean floor by accident when trawling for fish. Having it confirmed as the legendary Dragon Slayer, the warrior sets out on an epic journey, taking him through and across the mountains, and finally to a fearsome battle with a gigantic dragon.

The sword dropped from Bluey's fingers. "Whoops!" Bluey cried, scooping it back up. Ok, dopey, let's get moving! I wanna get polishing! This is going to be one hell of a letter opener!

Back at the forest, Goldy left Bluey to care for his sword while he returned to his spot in the clearing to watch clouds. It wasn't long before Norman was attracted by the raw power of the sword.
"Hey, fat head, what's that?" Norman asked, jumping onto the flat of the blade to better point at Bluey's nose.
"It's a sword." Bluey answered, using his polishing rag to push Norman from the blade.
Climbing back onto it Norman continued. "Yeah, I can tell that, one of my gun magazines did a big article on swords explaining why guns could kill people better. But what's with the sword?"
Bluey stopped. "Well, when I gripped the handle, I saw pretty pictures. I think it's one of those entertainment devices. Beats me what it was doing stuck through a skeletal dragon though."
Norman, more focused to the ways of the warrior than the young Dragon nodded. "Yuh huh. Entertainment device. Well, mind if I take it off your hands?"
Bluey looked at him. "Are you nuts? This is cool!"
Norman snorted and grabbed the handle with both hands. Surprisingly, the sword swung around, Norman, a tiny squirrel being able to wield it with ease. "Ok lizard, back against the tree!" Norman shouted.
Bluey backed away, a look of annoyance on his face. "That's mine!!"
"What ever," Norman replied, "but this is the mighty Dragon Slayer! The most powerful sword in the world! Enigma is doomed for sure now! Muhahahahaha!" With that he scurried away, the gigantic sword ridiculously clutched in one hand.
"Nuts." Bluey muttered. "Well, I guess there's nothing for it but to go and watch my screensavers some more."

Enigma's eyes snapped open in irritation. From the front of his lake he could hear Norman's whine. "What's that damn rat want this time?" Pulling himself awake, he looked in fascination to the small squirrel clutching a gigantic sword. "Not just any sword…" Enigma muttered in horror, "...the legendary Dragon Slayer! How did Norman get THAT?"
"I challenge you to a duel, um, in about twenty seconds, out in the clearing! MOVE it!" Norman shouted.
Enigma looked at him angrily. "Fine." Flapping his wings, he lifted off the rock.

In the clearing, the rest of the dragons had gathered. Nervous whispers filled the forest. Norman span the sword around in his paw a few times. "Ha haa!" he cried.
Enigma landed at the other side. "Nice sword, chipmunk."
"Don't call me that!!!" Norman screamed, "And I bet you don't have any clue what you're up against!"
"The Dragon Slayer. Sword of legend, most powerful in the world, bla bla, something about being forged by the wrath of gods?"
"Well, yes, but that was probably a lucky guess! Prepare to die!"
Enigma sighed. "Do you know what grown up dragons call knights in armour?"
Norman shrugged.
"Baked potatoes." With that Engima let forth a roar of white hot vaporising flame.
Screaming, Norman flung himself to the side, his tail hair well and truly scorched. In the scorched line along the ground lay the Dragon Slayer, gleaming all the more brightly for it's recent flaming treatment.
"Ha haa! It's not over yet!" Norman cried, diving back for the sword. "EEEEEK!" he cried, pulling his hand back from the red hot metal.
"You idiot," Enigma added, picking up the sword with ease. "you're no warrior. And I'm sick of this damn thing!" With that, he beat his wings, soaring into the sky. High above the dragons, he span around and around, finally releasing the sword, sending it flying with great force towards a distant lake.

Heading back to his own lake, Enigma muttered to himself, "Hah, that should keep it out of trouble! Bottom of a lake, what's the chances of it ever being rediscovered?"

Kilometers away, sinking slowly into the waters in a gout of steam, the Dragon Slayer hummed as if chuckling to itself.