On weaving winds,
through seas of sand,
rides a warrior,
sword in hand.
His quest began
untold lives ago.
His home's long gone,
he has nowhere to go.
With his trusty steed
he searches land and sky,
to fulfill a fate
from past gone by.
Cursed he is
for a youthful mistake.
A choice he once made,
now for him to unmake.
The sword he carries,
forged from crystal dark,
is his sole protection,
but also his mark.
In the lands he visits,
though unknown's his name,
the people that meet him
know from where he came.
To see his face
means a gruesome end.
The power that cursed him
forbids a friendly hand.
For his crime's so horrid,
monster, god nor man,
can undo his dreadful deed,
nor he himself can.
How Destiny toys
with his soul's so cruel,
'cause his only salvation
is Nature's jewel.
Alas for the warrior
Fate cannot be swayed.
That which can save him
is that which he slayed.
Last of the Dragons,
ancient, golden and wise,
held the key to his freedom,
but Nature mourns its demise.
Its eyes are blind,
its carcass lies rotten
in an unnamed swamp,
its knowledge forgotten.
A proud spear stands
near giant bones in the mud,
its owner's hands
are covered with blood.
Indeed, even Evil,
who pleasures in pain,
would not befoul the Earth
with blood of Dragon slain.
So the warrior rides
in this world all alone,
towards his dark future,
his hope's long gone.
His story fades to legend,
then turns into myth.
Until no one knows the warrior
and the curse he is with.
Many cities fall and
civilisations rise,
as he wanders the world
and all he knows, dies.
Now man visits the moon
in this wondrous new age.
Still there's no key
to escape from his cage.
He cannot be seen
by mortal eyes alone.
It seems that his destiny
is written solid in stone.
Until this one day
As he strides through a town
A lone girl looks up at him
Just as he looks down.
Their eyes surely meet,
and since that long damned day,
for the very first time
a person knows what to say.
"What was your crime?"
an innocent voice dares ask.
An internal urge makes
him explain his hard task.
His sad story makes
the child knows his quest
And inquires of him:
"Isn't that a hard test?"
Knight and steed nod
their weary heads and sigh.
Soon he tells the story
of generations gone by.
His audience listens.
When his story ends,
she stands up and reaches
for him with her hands.
The warrior startles and
his steed backs away
They fear for the life
of the child gone astray.
But when she touches
his leg they both know
his search nears the end.
She says: "Why won't you just go?
All these years you searched
and never gave up.
But perhaps the answer lies
in knowing when to stop."
"Could it be this simple?"
he asks himself plain.
"Has all my searching
all these years been in vain?"
"Maybe you're right,"
he speaks out loud,
"that I'd never find a dragon
has been without doubt."
"You mean the dragon
you carry within?
The wisest of creatures,
only one without sin?"
"The dragon in me?"
says the knight with surprise
"I carried him with me
ever since his demise?"
"He still lives within you,
waiting for the day
that you forgive yourself
and he can go his way."
The warrior wonders
how he all this years
only punished himself.
From his eyes fall two tears.
"Thank you for saving me."
The girl smiles and says: "No,
it was you who did it
and now you can go."
A dark, heavy sigh
escapes both horse and man,
full of sorrow and joy
to be free of this ban.
The girl laughs out loud
as she sees the pair go
in a dragon-shaped light
from which a deep voice sounds low.
The dragon booms loud:
"Your debt has been paid."
They vanish in thin air
thanks to the girl's aid.
Unseen by any man
the girl then disappears
after saying: "You've earned it
after all these long years."
Mother Nature may be cruel,
but she also is kind.
So the warrior goes home
and leaves his crime behind.