Red Dragon Warrior’s Legend

by J. W. Cassandra

"Red Dragon Warrior's Legend": This is the sixth story in my book "Dragon Legends and Tales". The current story,  "Red Dragon Warrior's Legend", tells the story of one of the protagonists of my legends, who, according to legend, sprang from the fire of dragon's blood and moved like a tiger stalking its prey. The knight was a feared enemy of the evil dragons, around whose heroism legends were woven. It was also rumoured that he was invulnerable because he was defended by armour made of dragon skin. The story highlights a case when he gave a helping hand to a victim. A girl's cry for help leads the warrior to the beauty, Orient Aurora, who unwittingly mesmerizes him...

At the end of his adventures, the hero moved to one of the rocks of the Red Dragon Battlefield, but it is not known which rock it is. Therefore, the surrounding rocks are still today called the Red Dragon Rock or the Red Dragon Warrior's Rock. According to legend, the hero even today appears if necessary, but it is not easy to summon him: those who give their head to it must know a magical ritual and pass a trial.

In that far than distant, obscure past, when dragons punishing humans arrived on Earth, there lived a valiant warrior on Earth.  No one knew how he got here, no one saw him as a small child, his mother, father, and how he was raised remained unknown to everyone.  His origin was in the wind, that he had grown out of the fire of the spilling blood of the wisest, oldest, and arriving on Earth foremost dragon, and as soon as he sprang out, he immediately saw this daylight at the peak of his power and as a ready-made young valiant.

The young man's clothing was dark red, like dragon's blood, his waistband was adorned with dragon claws all around, on his tunic the buttons consisted of polished dragon scales similar to the nacreous glow of light, his graves were made of dragon skin, his weapons were made of hardened in dragon's fire, dipped in dragon blood, bow and arrow always hitting the target, a spear, sharp dagger, crooked, short sword and a flail, his projectile weapons like the shooting stars of the sky, and he found no defeater anywhere. He did not need a shield because some claimed he had cast dragon skin under his purple garment, and others claimed that the arrows deflected, the weapons bounced off as soon as they touched him: in a word, he was invulnerable.

His frightful reputation was enhanced by his grim figure and face: he was actually thin, sinewy, taller than the sons of the Dragons' Folk, but strong, hardy, flexible, and his face a bit elongated, finely cut, almost feminine, but this was forgotten for the beholder by the scar running from his right eyebrow across his temples and the remnant of another deep wound on his right cheek.

Yet his face was strange: beneath the straight, shiny, lank half-long hair, his eyebrows formed a black, dense, strong line resembling a triangular arc, his eyes were quite obliquely inclined, delicate, almond-cut, and curved upwards, but its shape was accentuated only by his protruding cheekbones, not reminiscent of the eyes of the people of the later Orient Aurora's Rays' Folk. Under his straight, relatively small nose, a mustache flagged slightly above his lips, and his chin ended in a fine line.

If only someone had looked at him, he would not have even shivered, but his gaze drilled into the beholder with such a penetrating glance that a dread moved into his heart, for he immediately felt that he read everybody like a book.

The Red Dragon Warrior really knew everything, surveyed everyone with a single glance, and used his knowledge to defeat the evil dragons.

He had learned everything from the Oldest Dragon, of whose purple blood he had been planted into Earth, and as a formidable warrior, he was the first to lash out at the evil dragons in battle, spurred his horse to gallop and outran everybody, and his weapons destroyed many evil dragons. When a dragon roar sounded, he spurred his horse's side and rushed at the enemy like a tempest.

A host of people could owe their lives to him, and he saved a lot of girls from being dragged into dragon caves and underwater dragon housings, and he also taught some young people the methods of dragon fighting.

But he could not find – though he was not looking for – friends for himself, and his enemies were only evil dragons.

People were glad of his help, but at the same time they were afraid of him, for he always appeared among them like a tiger stalking for his prey: with cautious, soft, delicate movements, stealthy footsteps, but ready to jump, and they did not know at what moment he would attack. And if he attacked, it was always deadly to his enemy.

It happened on one occasion that Red Dragon Warrior jumped into the saddle because of a girl's cry for help. The girl was robbed of her litter by a huge, strong, fearful monster with a body covered with chunky scales, inflicting a terrible wound on her body with its claws as it snatched her out of the carriage. When Red Dragon Warrior caught up with the evil beast on his magic stalk, it had just dropped the girl from the height, watching her fall and throwing his fire towards her... Red Dragon Warrior flew under the falling girl, caught her, and laid her on his saddle.

At this flash, the dragon attacked him with terrible fury, but Red Dragon Warrior was not caught by the dragon fire, nor the claws carved into his body, as he was protected by the blood of the Oldest and the dragon skin that he wore under his clothing.

But the girl was not protected by anything, so Red Dragon Warrior tore his dragon skin open so that it could be expanded, and covered her protégé. A long, bitter struggle had unfolded between the evil dragon and the warrior, and since by this time, the Red Dragon Warrior had already won countless battles, he had only finally prevailed. True, he also had to enlist the help of the Oldest from a distance.

The girl, meanwhile, saw that Red Dragon Warrior was bleeding from a million wounds as he resorted to his magic weapons, shouting loudly in the grip of the dragon hug, as the flames licked his face... Then, suddenly, a counter-fire broke out, spreading to the evil beast, who let go of his victim and began to defend itself against an invisible adversary.

The flames burnt out in front of Red Dragon Warrior's face, and as he caught his breath, he cast a look at the evil beast that made it yield out the ghost.

The girl closed her eyes. By the time she looked up again, a slightly scorched young warrior with hanging dragon scale buttons, bleeding from a thousand wounds, leaned over her, worry emanating from his strange, curved almond eyes, trying to bring her to life. As soon as he saw the girl's eyes open, he asked:

"Who are you, my beautiful sister?"

And she said she was a resident of the small country lying to the farthest east in the world, the daughter of the ruler of that country. And indeed she was beautiful: her delicate flower petal face had black eyes gleaming, her face was peach-flower-coloured, her lips were cherry-red, her figure pleasing, her hair shining with silky, and her thick braids of hair reached down to her ankles.

Red Dragon Warrior took the girl, Orient Aurora, home to her father and went to serve him. And he did all this because he was mesmerized by the beauty of the girl. He spent seven years serving for her, at which time the king celebrated Red Dragon Warrior's and Orient Aurora's wedding.

After the wedding ceremony and the merry-making were over, they returned to the land ravaged by the dragons and lived there. The girl, that is, Orient Aurora, also learned to fight against the beasts, after which they had four boys. The four boys were also taught everything, and all the people who were at the forefront of dragon fights were descended from them, which is how the two became the ancestors of the descendants of the many people who originally lived in the East but have since dispersed, who formed the Dragons' Folk on Earth.

Their facial features and stature also show some of the features of these ancestors to the attentive observer.

At the end of his long life, Red Dragon Warrior moved into one of the rocks of the Red Dragon Battlefield of where he used to revive from time to time when needed, and this remains the case while, on Earth, any dragons can occur, he can still appear today if the need calls for it. But it is impossible to know which rock is his, because it is protected by a charm, and therefore the surrounding rocks are still called the Red Dragon Rock, and all of them are known, also the Red Dragon Warrior's Rock.

Whoever wants to summon him since he moved here must stand in the middle of the field of the Red Dragon Battlefield at midnight of the full moon, sprinkle with purple-blooded wine in the silver moonlight the most dreaded rock, which rises northward from the middle, but must first climb in the scattered, ghostly light to the summit, which is never easy, for the midnight magic dew drizzles at that time, and sprinkles the magic upon it, so that only a man who is fearless and worthy in every way would be able to get the top and to summon one of the most formidable dragon warriors of all time on a peak sprinkled with purple-blooded wine. And if he succeeds, then comes the trial: the Red Dragon Warrior throws his arrows at him from all directions of space at once, attacking him with all sorts of weapons until he falls from the top or catches the middle one of the showering arrows: if he succeeds, he will prove worthy, and then the Red Dragon Warrior will come to his aid...

All this has always been the case ever since the heavy fight has ended, for a cowardly, idle, unworthy man cannot cast his gaze upon him: he would still defile the valiant, and then his invincible dragon-slaying power would be diminished!...

What will happen to Red Dragon Warrior once the dragons are extinct on Earth, that is veiled in a haze of dense secrets...

Written: 08 / 07. 2009. by J. W. Cassandra
Translated: 12 / 08. 2022. by J. W. Cassandra

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