Nikita and the Dragon’s Eye by Isabella V. and Paige B
Inside of a kingdom far away, a yearly competition was held. This competition was to determine who out of the masses would become the chosen warrior to protect the kingdom from outside harm. This year ten individuals were to compete and in order to win must pass through two perilous tasks.
The first was an obstacle course, which nearly all competitors succeeded in getting through. The second however was much more challenging. This task was akin to the hunger games. It lasted three days and every opponent was placed into an impromptu arena and fought like gladiators. Only one individual succeeded in this challenge. Her name was Nikita, the only woman inside this competition.
Despite completing all of these challenges with immense success, the king was skeptical on having a female warrior protect his beloved kingdom. Because of the king’s feelings, he proposed yet one more challenge for her to complete, one which was near impossible. Nikita was told that in order to claim her position she must go and obtain a dragon’s eye from deep within the forest.
She immediately set out, determined to win over the king’s trust. The only hint she was provided as to how to obtain the key, was that she needed to find a windmill somewhere inside of the massive forest. As she set out on her journey she faced rigorous weather, man eating ogres, and massive spiders. She hated spiders.
Eventually she managed to make it to a large clearing inside of the wall of trees. There she saw a glowing deer prancing among the wildflowers and long grass. She did not want to frighten this beautiful creature, so she dropped her weapons and carefully approached the deer with complete caution. After having so many bad encounters she was slightly afraid yet hopeful that the deer would somehow help her on her quest.
She was correct on this theory, and the deer led Nikita to a hollowed out tree stump which contained a fishing wire and hook. She was curious as to what she was meant to do with these supplies in a field of grass. However, when she turned to see where the glowing deer went, her eyes found the silent guardian circling a pond which magically appeared.
Nikita did not know what she was fishing for, but as soon as she sat down on some stones by the pond, something glittered from within. She quickly threw in the fishing line and out came a slightly rusted key. As if all of the knowledge of the universe was bestowed upon her, Nikita knew exactly what she needed to do with this key. She needed to find the windmill and gain the trust of a dragon.
After walking through the woods for hours, the windmill finally popped into view. There was a humongous, red, fire breathing dragon circling the surrounding areas. It was the Great Red Dragon’s duty to watch over this windmill and protect what was inside. Nikita cleverly determined that the best course of action was to attempt at befriending the dragon.
The dragon noticed her walking up to the windmill, and flew down to land in front of her. Fire billowed out of his growling mouth and Nikita had to take a few steps back in order to not get burned. She held up the key to the light and within seconds, all negative expression on the dragon’s face was replaced with one of simple contentment. As content as a dragon’s face could be. The dragon knew Nikita was the chosen one to enter the windmill and obtain his eye from its protected stash. The dragon swiftly moved to the side and Nikita was allowed into the windmill without aggression.
The top story of the windmill was overflowing with gold and other various treasures that the dragon hoarded. Despite the desire to take some of the gold for herself, she searched through the piles for the eye. A few minutes of searching led to her finding the transparent blue and white eye inside of a solid gold drinking goblet. Nikita took the eye and returned outside to the dragon. When she made it out, she was greeted by a bowing mass of scales. The dragon bowed to her and thanked her for being a great warrior, but also for not being greedy and stealing from his precious hoard.
He provided Nikita a lift back to the kingdom where the king was lazily drinking on his throne. When she entered through the main doors and he caught sight of both Nikita and the Great Red Dragon, he dropped his chalice and a look of complete astonishment took over his features. He was completely dumbfounded as to how she managed to complete such a near-difficult task. He had predicted that she would fail and never be seen again.
Since she was successful, she became the chosen warrior, seeing as the king could no longer protest. The whole kingdom kneeled to her out of complete respect. With the help of her new friend, the Great Red Dragon, they protected the kingdom together until her dying day.
