Of Winged Men and Dragons

by **Corenat Rovarnus** 2017-10-07, 23:39

Of Winged Men and Dragons:
A Chocolate Destiny Myth

One day many years ago, the King of the Quinates had an unusual visitor to his court.

This visitor looked like a well dressed nobleman, but with a curious oddity: large, feathery wings sprouted out of his back, that he claimed were functional.

The king was amazed by this. He asked for a demonstration, and the winged man did not disappoint.
Like a bird the winged man took to the skies, performing dazzling aerial tricks and maneuvers.

The king and his court lauded the winged man with countless accolades and unanimous praise, so awed they were by this display.
The winged man, wishing to appear humble, said that while he had absolute command of the air, the king had absolute command of his people, and their love.

This was not true, the king said, and went on to explain how God ruled over even him from heaven high above the clouds, and that there could be no greater love than the one shared between God and His kingdom.

The winged man was surprised. "If you love your God so much," he asked, "why not go to him in heaven?"

"Would that I could," the king lamented, "but He did not give me wings to fly like you."

The winged man thought for a while. At last he said: "You may not be able to fly, but you can climb.
What if you had built a tall wooden ladder, reaching all the way up to heaven itself, so that you may climb up and meet him?"

The king thought this was a good idea, and immediately commenced construction on a tower high enough to reach heaven.
As a show of good faith, the winged man stood present at every stage of the building.
And when the human workers could build no higher, the winged man even took it upon himself to continue raising the tower alone.

One day the winged man said to the king: "Come, the tower is high enough! Let us go to meet your God."

It was a long climb, but when they reached the top the king looked around, and realized they were only halfway to the sky, the clouds still an ever-distant utopia.

"This is nowhere near high enough." the king remarked.

"I know," the winged man replied, his eyes closed.

"Why did you lie to me?" the king asked.

The winged man's bright face suddenly twisted into an ugly shape, now filled with hatred and contempt.

"Because you are a fool," the winged man sneered, "you and all of your people. No matter how high a tower you build, you will never reach your God, for he is not real."

"Wrong!" the king cried. "We may not have reached him in body, but we have reached him in our hearts, and in our minds. Our souls are connected to Him."

"Then speak to him now," the winged man said, "ask him to save you from this." He stamped his foot hard on the tower.

Mortal wood cannot support its own weight past a certain limit, and this one well placed blow was all it took to break the rickety structure and send it crumbling to the ground.
The winged man merely spread his wings and flew away.

The king cried out as he fell among splinters of broken wood, clutching the symbol of Equinince with both hands.
Furious winds blew past him on his descent, drowning out his desperate prayers.
He wanted to look up to Heaven, but could not move, could not avert his gaze from the Earth rushing up to meet him.

His view of the ground was suddenly blocked by a magnificent red-scaled carapace, and the winds themselves were drowned out by a great roar.

He landed on it with a hard thump, and found himself borne up by a gargantuan dragon, savage yet noble, fierce yet holy: the ruler of the Rheejans.

After a gentle descent, the king was let down onto the ground, completely unharmed save for a sore behind.

Seated back on his throne, this he vowed: Never again shall we build with wood, but with stone. And never trust a man with wings.

Thus the Quinate royal line was preserved to today.

That particular winged man was not seen again, but the king recalled one last oddity about him in the brief time they had shared:

He never flew above the clouds himself.

~FIN~