Beyond the Lazuline Sea is an island. Past it’s fair sanded shores lies a green mountain peak covered in snow and pink cherry blossom trees. The island inhabitants were very kind, though a bit reserved. There were many small villages with colorful houses and ornate rooves scattered about the island.
From what I gathered much of the original island mythos has been largely forgotten by modern inhabitants. Thankfully much of it was preserved in ancient scripts and images, much of which is kept in the castle library. Right! I forgot the mention the beautiful castle near the mountain base! It had been built for the first royal family, and is still upkept to this day, though there are no longer any royal heirs or officials.
They told me a story that we have never heard before. A story of love, tragedy, and a dragon!
Long ago, there was a young dragon who fell in love with a human woman. A princess of the royal family living on the island. Although they were in love, he could not dwell long in the mortal realm as a human, for he was the ruler of the sky and the ocean. So most days he would reside above the clouds and wait until his beloved princes would come to meet him.
From the sky he brought the people clouds and rain. From the ocean he would chase fishes into the nets of the fishermen. Without him the people of the island would’ve struggle greatly, but it was known that dragons are not to trifle in the mortal realm, so the two did their best to conceal their secret.
Time passed and their bond grew. One meeting turned to five, then ten At night they would meet by the lake or shore spending hours in each other’s company. She was fascinated with the dragon, and he with her. Yet their love felt like a burden, as they could never truly be together. His duty was to the sea and the heavens, and hers to her people.
One night when they had planned to meet, the princess did not come. It turned out that she was to marry a prince of another empire. She was grieved deeply, and she could not bear to meet the dragon that night. Once they met again she told the dragon all that had happened, and he asked her to run away with him. Though she was torn, he heart was decided, she would escape with him.
However the prince slowly found out about the dragon, and he was overcome with wrath and jealousy. He bound the princess far away, and he waited for the dragon to come. Once he did, the prince shot him down. It was said that that was the day that the sky shattered. As a terrible storm filled the sky.
From the sky the dragon fell, but as it passed the clouds it was not a great dragon that fell, but a man pierced through the chest with an arrow. His blood filled the water. The prince tried to escape, realizing the mistake he made, but it was too late. He was swept away into the storm never to be seen again.
The princess took her horse and bow and raced to the lake, but she was too late. As the dragon lay dying on the shore, the princess wept with grief. She pulled the arrow that had pierced the dragon’s chest. In his last moments he gave her all that he had, and she became the ruler of the ocean and sky. With his dying breath he promised that one day they’d meet again. He died in her arms, his blood staining her elegant dress.
In the following weeks, news that the prince had died, had reached his land. Within days soldiers from the prince’s nation were upon her shores ready for battle, but when she slung the arrow that had slain her lover, lightning rained down from the sky, and the soldiers were struck dead where they stood. She desperately fought off the attackers to protect her people and her home, but she was greatly outnumbered.
Eventually she was surrounded. The people of the town retreated to the heights of the mountain. The princess remained at the lake, her final resting place. She fought like a dragon. It is said that flashes of lighting danced from her blade, and that her arrows would fracture the sky with cracks of light.
She had protected her people, and her family by sacrificing herself. To this day there is a shrine dedicated to her beside the lake. With her bow and sword as they were when she died. It is said that she still defends her land from all those who threaten the island. for they face fierce storms. Some even say you can still see her at the lake when it rains, waiting, hoping to see her love once more. Others say that she is still alive, that she had survive and disappeared. That amongst the dragon’s gift, the last thing he gave to her was his eternal protection.