Our Guardian Dragons
Tsui Win
was playing on the Gold Mountain Range when I saw my first solar eclipse. I stared in amazement at the
gradually darkening sky, as light streaks of blue and green danced vigorously across.
The
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g Yuen, Group 2: Fiction, Diocesan Girls' Junior School
Suddenly, I felt something slimy land on the top of my head. They were silver, with claws and tails.
n, something roared huskily. I turned my head and saw a hideous beast. It had sharp, protruding fangs
three cunning, narrow eyes. It was staring at the slimy things. They squirmed under the dark glare
attempting to escape. I felt an obligation to protect them, so I gently slid them in my pocket. The beast
thundered again, and the ground started to crack. I racked my brains to get myself out of this sticky situation.
Ah-ha! As the crack widened, I jumped to one side at the last moment. The beast did not react fast enough and
fell down the abyss created by the growing crack.
I
As I speedily escaped into a nearby cave, the moon shifted and the world was once again bathed in soft
golden glamour.
I placed the slimy things on a pile of stones and studied them closely. I gasped at my hand in disbelief.
They were the length of my palm and looked like worms. I had actually risked my life to save a bunch of worms?
Oh, how stupid I am! But OK wait a moment. Since when do worms have scales? Or wings, for that matter?
And since when weren’t worms pale pink? Never mind, they are now my responsibility. I will take care of them.
The worms grew larger and larger under my attentive care. By the end of the week, they were as long as my
leg! They vaguely reminded me of a Chinese creature. What was that animal again? Oh no! My mouth gaped in
horror. Wasn’t it a ¡K a dragon? And weren’t they terribly dangerous? Nevertheless, I brushed aside my initial
concerns as they seemed mild. We grew continuously close.
Snow-white wings soon formed and they learnt how to fly. They would often lift me up on their wings for
adventure after adventure. We would fly above the clouds and look for places to lend a helping hand.
Once, we came across a flood in Japan. As the dragons dried up the water by evaporating the floodwater
with their fiery breaths, I helped the people into safety. The Japanese were so exceedingly grateful they gave us
an extensive amount of pure gold. And so, I shaped glittery, golden collars for each of the dragons, so shiny they
twinkled like stars under the bright sunlight.
Word spread quickly about my dragons’ extraordinary feats, and soon, everyone knew about them.
Whenever we were sighted, people would wave at us vigorously.
Another day, a black round ball the size of a watermelon almost hit one of my dragons! It whizzed towards
us at a great speed. My dragon was lucky to have been glancing in that direction to quickly shift away from its
path. We watched with sinking hearts as the ball zoomed to the ground, resulting in a large “BOOM!” and an
explosion of the entire city below us. A heavy gust of wind carrying the city’s ashes rose up and hovered above
the city like a dark cloud. The experience was profoundly unsettling. Not having been able to save the city of its
cruel fate, we went back to the cave with heavy hearts, swearing silently we would save whoever we could.
A few years quickly flew by, and I spent every day with my dragons helping people all around the world.
The dragons grew as long as the Yangtze River. The cave grew cramped in proportion, and we were forced to
live on top of the mountain.
My dragons were bathing under the sunlight to “recharge” one day, when another solar eclipse occurred.
Light streaks of blue and green again lit up the gradually darkening sky.
I heard a roar and then another and another. No! I pleaded silently. Please don’t tell me the beast is still
alive! I heard another resounding roar and the ground was instantly scattered with cracks. No, no, no! Not again!
A claw reached up from a pile of stones nearby. The beast is still alive! Fully aware of the threat the beast
might bring to China or even the whole world, the dragons, now entirely-grown, lost their initial fear towards
the beast and immediately plunged down to prevent it from bursting through the cracks. They lay on top of the
cracked ground, and exerted their full body weight downwards. So great was the applied strength the dragons
perspired profusely, turning sickly grey. I paled. It was something I had never seen from the dragons despite
their countless arduous tasks.
The moon shifted and the world was once again bathed in soft golden glamour. “Yes!” I thought silently.
“
Now the beast would freeze till the next eclipse! My dragons can finally absorb energy from the sun!”
But even the sun did not manage to lighten up the dragons’ ashy grey into their original light golden scales.
With their last few breaths, my dragons brushed away my concerns of their run-down final resting place, and
told me loyally it was their responsibility to stay put on top of the Gold Mountain Range, to prevent the beast
from threatening humankind when future solar eclipses take place, knowing they would not be here for us