Thai And The Golden Dragon Token

There weren’t always dragons in the valley...

When Thai was a boy he lived in a cabin near the village. Back then it was a quiet and peaceful place. One day when he was playing alone, which he often did being an only child, he wondered into the dark forest that was near to his home. He didn’t know that it was forbidden to man. He walked further into the dark foggy forest. He glanced to his side he jumped back from fear! He saw giant skeletons hanging in the trees. Taking a deep breath he walked further and found an abandoned camp. He went into the camp and saw skeletons scattered everywhere side by side. He was very nervous at this point! He walked further into the camp. Then he heard a strange whispering sound in the distance. He was trying to hear what it was saying when his attention was drawn to his mother’s voice calling him back home. He turned and ran home! He did not realize that his curiosity would one day drastically change his life and all of life in the peaceful valley.

When he reached home his mother said “son, you can not go wondering off like that when your only 8 years old.”

Thai lived on the edge of a small village called Lumani with his mother, Sena. In those days Thai and His mother Sena lived alone in the cabin left to them by Thai’s grandfather, who past of old age when Thai was just 3 years old. Thai’s father died in war three years before. They had only lived in the cabin for two years. They had to flee from spy’s that raided there previous home. Thai’s father had killed the general of the Suz army. They were seeking revenge but they were unaware that Thai’s father had died.

Once a week Thai and Sena would go into the village to gather supplies. This weeks trip to the village Sena had taken pots from along the road way that looked as if someone had abandoned them there. When she picked up the bowl that she had thought was empty she saw a dragon token belonging to the Demi gods. It was told in the old stories that these tokens held the powers of the Demi gods. She did not believe these legends so Sena gave the dragon token to Thai as a gift.

That night when they returned home and settled into bed, Thai had a dream. In his dream he was walking in the village at night. He saw a golden dragon flying in the sky. The dragon came closer. Close enough for Thai to hear him speak and to feel the wind of his wings on his face. He said to Thai “Humanity has chosen you to kill the king devil.” Thai woke with a fright! He was covered in sweat and his heart beating out of his chest! it wasn’t until later in his life that Thai would discover this dream was just the beginning of a world that he never thought could exist!

Years past and Thai grew to be a strong young man. Always working in the fields helping his mother. One day Sena called to Thai to come in from his work.

Thai and Sena sit down at the kitchen table. Their conversation begins with a stressed look on his mother’s face. “ Thai, I have to speak to you about something important. Since father left our lives it has been very difficult for me to support us by myself. Now that you are the age of 18 you can find work to help us. I ask that you travel to the next village to work with your uncle. Your uncle and aunt live in the village and have agreed for you to stay with them until you find a suitable place of your own . It will take a days travel to reach the village. What do you say my son?”

Thai looked confused! Thai says “why do I have to go away? Can’t I find work in our village?”

My son, your uncle Mardous, he owns a progressive wood shop. He can teach you the trade and you will gain skills that will help you throughout your life.”

Thai feels uncertain of his mother’s proposal but he agrees. “ if you think this will be the best solution for us, I honor your wishes and I will leave as soon as I can gather my things and travel on the next carriage to Hithray.”

As he goes into his room to collect his things, he sees the dragon token that his mother had given him so many years ago. It was sitting on his desk. He thought it was strange because he remembered placing it in a box in his closet. He shrugged his shoulders and reached for the token. As his hand came closer, the dragon on the token glowed with a golden light. On the token there was two moons, one black and the other white. The dragon moved it’s position clockwise toward the white moon like a hand turning on a clock and then was still and stopped glowing. Thai was shocked by what he had seen! But didn’t dare tell his mother because she did not believe in the legends and would think he was going crazy. He grabbed the token and put it back in the box and placed it in his travel bag. He continued to pack.

When he was finished packing he went to say goodbye to his mother.“Mother I will miss! You have been so good to me all my life. This is why I do not hesitate to take your advice and I will return one day and you will be proud of my success. Take good care of yourself.” With tears in both of their eyes they embraced in a long hug until Thai released his mother and walked into his future.

When he reached the place to take the carriage he was approached by a strange looking man with a hood. He could hardly see the man’s face. The old man was short and had to look up to see Thai because Thai had a very tall stature. Too Thai’s surprise the man’s eyes glowed the same golden color as the dragon token had earlier that day. When the man was standing right in front of him. He spoke. He gave Thai a warning. “Beware of the whispers in the dark.” The man turned and quickly crossed the street. In that moment the carriage came in front of Thai, blocking his view of the man. Thai ran around the other side of the carriage to catch another look at the man. But he was nowhere in sight, like he had vanished.

The coachman yelled to Thai “Hey you! You going to Hithray?”

Thai still stunned from the experience with the old man turned and said “Yes! Wait for me!” He knew the villagers from Hithray were not patient people.

“Alright hurry up! I’m on a schedule!” The man showed proof of this in his response to Thai.

Thai grabbed his baggage and hurried onto the carriage. “Thank you kindly!” Addressing the coachman with respect. One very valuable lesson his mother taught him is that you get more cooperation from people with sweet than sour.

When he sat down he had joined a lovely woman with a baby blue bonnet and a dress to match it. She looked like a Nobel man’s wife. But actually came from quite a humble background. She was a farmer’s daughter from the village of Lumani, who had moved to the larger village, Hithray, to study accounting. She was traveling back to Hithray after a short visit with her father. She had a book in her hand and was very engaged in her reading and hardly made a glance in Thai’s direction. It was obvious she had no interest in interacting with Thai at all. So Thai sat back and relaxed. He rolled his eyes and thought to himself maybe this will be a long silent journey.

Thai, after a moment he realized he knew this girl. He recognized her from his childhood, but she was certainly not a girl anymore. They had met at a village festival that was held there once a year in the summer. The festival was created to honor the late king and queen of the territory of Luthera, which both the villages where in the boundaries of Luthera.

Luthera was a territory told about in history. A lot of the legends are connected to this land. Legends tell of a time when mystical creatures lived amongst humans. Their is a prophecy that says one day a wizard will open the gates of the spirit realm and once again mysterious and mystical creatures will live in this world. But it is uncertain how well this will go between humans and these creatures because now people do not believe in them and it is said that this would create a lot of fear and separation within the villages of humans. The legend tells of a man that will come to power and unite the humans and creatures and create a balanced world.

As Thai was daydreaming about the past the carriage came to a sudden stop. Followed by men’s voices shouting at the coachman. The woman looked up from her book, her pale blue eyes staring at Thai with a terrified look on her face! Her face said protect me and stay away from me all at the same time! Thai realized that she was about to scream. He quickly moved next to her and covered her mouth with his hand to stop her from alarming the men of their presence. Her impulse was to bight his hand but she stopped herself. She did not realize in the moment why, but for some strange reason she trusted Thai. Thai listened to the voices out side. They were loud and were demanding the coachman to pay for passage through the forest. The coach man argued with them telling them they did not own this forest and he did not have to pay them. Thai realized these were mercenary bandits and would have no mercy on them. He picked up the young woman and with his finger pressed to his lips motioned for her to be silent. She complied and allowed Thai to carry her out of the carriage. Thai remembered his mother telling him about the trap door in the bottom of the carriage. In those days they built them in the carriages because there was a lot of bandits in the forest that raided the carriages quite often. She Hugged his chest like a scared child. They laid on the ground under the carriage Trying not to breathe hard from the fear of death.

Then they heard a gunshot and then silent. When the men spoke they spoke to each other. Not hearing the coachman’s voice, Thai realized they had killed him.

One man said to the other “you search the bags, I’ll look in the carriage.”

He heard one of the men walk around to the side of the carriage and quickly opened the door. He said “ no one here!” The other man said “I don’t see it, the token is nowhere!” He demanded “Look under the carriage!”

“No one here!”

“What? Barren said the boy got on the carriage!”

When Thai heard they were looking for the token he had taken it out of his bag. When he was packing he had placed the token inside the bag that he carried over his shoulder. When he had taken the token in his hand it started glowing again. It must have been the token that protected them and made them unable to be seen by the bandit.

They remain under the carriage. In the distance Thai hears the sound of alot of horses approaching.

One of the bandits says “we better get out of here! That’s the soldiers of Cothern!”

Cothern was an old abandoned village. One hundred years ago there was a plague that killed all the people there. Now it is occupied by the Luzine Army. They patrolled the valley to protect the people from the bandits. These were not ordinary soldiers. These soldiers trained with the ninjas from kinja. They were the most powerful soldiers in the triangle valley.

When the bandits had left. Thai and the woman came out from under the carriage. The woman’s bonnet had fallen off and now her hair was down. She had blond hair that fell to her waste. Now she had needles stuck in her hair like she was decorated like a Christmas tree. In a different situation Thai would have laughed at her because she looked so funny with all those needles in her hair. But instead he gave her a sideways smirk. Feeling bad about what happened. He said “Let me help you!” he started to reach for her hair and she pushed his hand away and with a very faint voice she said “No thank you, I can manage on my own.”

Thai saw the soldiers approaching them in the distance. Seeing that they had there swords and guns drawn, he took a stance like a soldier standing at attention and motioned the woman to follow him. The soldiers were on high alert because the carriage stopped in the middle of the road. Thai knew that to avoid any suspicion from the general they would need to look as if they had respect and held no threat to the soldiers. You had to approach them with seriousness or you would be in a dangerous situation. The soldiers did not hesitate to cut a head off if they deemed it necessary. They were the law in these parts.

The soldiers wore black and white uniforms. Their heads were covered like ninjas. They looked more like ninjas than soldiers. Being that they were trained by ninjas and also were trained soldiers they were definitely not a force you would want to challenge. Even the mercenary bandits who were very skilled at fighting in hand to hand combat were frightened to the bones at even the notion that a soldier was close. Explaining why the bandits ran off so quickly.

In a few moments of uncomfortable silence Thai and the woman stood still and waited for the soldiers to arrive. Thai in a moment of emotional relief grabbed the woman’s hand and said “Thank the one God we are still breathing!” Thai had no religion but in this moment he felt called to give gratitude for his life and was grateful the woman was not harmed at all. His mother told him some horrifying stories about what the bandits do to women they captured.

As the soldiers got closer the woman started to shake with nervous energy. Thai said “Relax. It’s ok. They are reasonable if they know that we are the victims in this situation. I will explain to the general what happened.” The woman had heard many tales from her father about the soldiers of their heroism but also of their power and strength. As Thai, she also knew they should be taken very seriously.The wait felt like eternity but finally the horses came to a stop in front of them.

The soldiers looked like statues sitting up, backs straight like boards and so still, looking straight forward, not a move or sound came from them. You would wonder if they were alive. They were very ghostly. The line of soldiers was so long it seemed to go on for miles.

The general was the only one who spoke but with very few words. “What happened here?” The general was still looking straight forward and hardly moved a muscle, only his mouth moved to speak. The horses also stood still like soldiers. They seemed to understand their role very well.

As Thai told the general what had happened. The general held up an open hand almost like a robot. “No more! I have heard enough! The only help I can give you is a horse and you can continue your journey.” It was like the general could read Thai’s mind and answered his questions before he could ask. “We will be patrolling the road to Hithray day and night, so you can feel safe to finish your travel. There is a hotel in the next village you can stay there for the night. From there just follow the road and signs to Hithray” The general made a motion to the soldier with his hand and one of the soldiers jumped off his horse “Take the horse.” The general demanded. Then the general commanded the soldier to take the horse from the carriage. He did and fell back in line with the other soldiers.

Thia took the horse by his lead. The general told them. “Gather your belongings and be on your way.” And with no words he motioned to his soldiers and led them away. The horses started off with a slow walk and then broke into a trot. With so many of them the dust started to fly. They waited while the soldiers passed. By the time the horses had all passed them they were both covered in dirt from head to toe. The horse was also covered, he did not look happy. When the dust cleared and Thai saw that they were both covered in dirt he began to laugh. The woman smiled a small smile, slumped her shoulders and walked to the carriage to gather her things. Thai followed after her. He again felt bad. “I’m sorry! I just needed to laugh at us because wow all that was all very intense!” And with a big sigh he grabbed his bag.

“We will have to fit all that we can in the sattle bags and leave the rest.” Thai told her

The woman replied with hesitation “I will not like to leave my things, but if it means getting to the next village and washing up and getting a good night's rest. I will do it.”

Thai went to get on the horse. He stopped. Inquisitively, Thai asked. “Have you ever rode a horse before?”

“Actually yes. I know everything about horses. I grew up with my own on my fathers farm.” Thai thinking she is over confident. Gives her his classic cheeky smirk. But Thai believed most people were over confident and not humble enough. With a sarcastic tone he responds “I’m sure you know everything, I mean everything about horses.”

“Believe me or not, I don’t care.” She Retorted.

“Well I will sit in front and you can show me how.” He said with a giggle.“Whatever, let's get going already!” Thai gets on the horse and reaches his hand out to her. Begrudgingly she grabs his hand and he helps her up. When she is settled. Thai took the reins and the horse started walking.

“I’m sorry! I think we were never properly introduced. I’m Thai. What’s you lovely name?”

“With a sigh of frustration she tells him “ my name is Maria.”

“Well it is very nice to meet you. If it wasn’t not for our unfortunate situation I think you would have never spoken a word to me or even raised your head from that book to look at me.” Maria hit him on the head! Not hard, just enough to let him know she was irritated.

They rode in silence for a few moments when suddenly the horse pranced around in a nervous panic. When Thai looked in front of them, he saw a very large snake. The horse turned and ran in a full sprint. Maria grabbed Thai and held him so tight he thought he would be sick. “You should have let me sit in front to direct the horse!”

“Yes miss know it all I think you are right!” Thai hands her the reins.”Here can you stop the horse from there?”

Maria would have to admit that this was the biggest challenge she had ever had on a horse yet. “I’ll try!” To both of their surprise she was able to stop the horse. Maria immediately jumped off the horse and grabbed the reins to steady the horse and tied him to a tree. Thai was still gripping the horses main.

“I think maybe we need a break. Get off the horse. There is a creek over there we can bathe and refresh and start back on our way.”

Thai jumps down from the horse. “Yes. But now we have a big problem! The horse ran so far away from the road I’m not sure if we can find our way back.”

“Well let’s freshen up anyway.” Maria persisted.

“Yes. Fine.” Thai was questioning his whole reason for leaving home.

They walked to the creek and Thai sat down at the bank. “I will go down here just for privacy.” Maria was a modest woman. Her mother passed away when she was a young girl, so she never had much time with her. But her father had given Maria her mother’s diary after her mother’s passing. Her mother had written a lot about how to be a proper lady.

Thai waited there by the creek just staring at the water. It had been a crazy day already and it was only half way over. He reached into his bag and brought out the box that contained the dragon token in it. He wondered, was all this bad luck from this little coin? Did it hold some magic and powers like the legends had told? Well he didn’t really want to know anymore about it. He thought maybe it would be safe at the bottom of this creek and it couldn’t harm anyone else. So he took it from the box and threw it in the creek. Just then, Maria walked up behind him.

“What was that you threw into the creek?” She asked.

“It was nothing.” Thai did not want to explain. She already seemed to not like him much and to make her think he was crazy too! He just shut his mouth.

They both stared into the water. Exhausted from all the events of the day. The sun was starting to creep into the sunset. So they decided to rest there by the creek that night and then start out early the next morning. Thai had packed two bed rolls with him. He always liked the extra one for when he traveled. So they laid them down to rest. As they lay there he started to remember about their childhood. It was the first moment he had the chance to ask her if she remembered him.

“Maria?” Thai checked to see if she was still awake.

“Yes. What is it?” Maria’s voice was weak from exhaustion.

“Do you remember me? From our childhood?” Hesitantly, Thai asked.

“Yes, I do. I thought you didn’t remember me. Because you asked my name, I thought you did not recognize me. I remember the festival and the magic of those four summer days. She smiled. One thing I think you didn’t know about me is that the King and Queen were my grandparents. I came from a long line of royal ancestry. So the celebration of the festival was always very special to me and that summer was even more special when I shared it with you.

It was just beginning to get dark and Thai was starting to drift off, so relaxed from the sound of Maria’s voice.

Thai sat up in a start! “Shhhhh! Did you hear that?”

“No! What?” She sat up alarmed by Thai’s sudden reaction.

“I heard a voice whisper!” The memory of the old man from that morning flashing into his mind.

“Come closer to me.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her close, as to protect her from something.

Thai saw a light start to shine out of the creek. It glowed brighter and brighter. A glowing golden light lit up the whole forest around them, as if it were day. The dragon token floated up to the top of the water. It was the token that was glowing. It floated higher, like it was in a fountain of water. Then the water turned the shape of a figure.

“It is like the water spirits told about in the legends!” Maria drew closer to Thai. She was very frightened. Because if legend is true the spirit was there for her!

Suddenly the spirit wrapped its arms around Maria’s waste and picked her up into the air. Thai had tried to hold her but the spirit was too powerful. Maria glowed the same golden color and she had formed wings on her back and looked as though she just flew away.

The spirit spoke to Thai. “You must take the dragon token and keep it safe! You must find your destiny young warrior! Only then will you release Maria from her family curse! Go now!”

As fast as it had come. The spirit was gone and so was Maria. Thai was left sitting alone in the dark forest. He dropped to his knees and took the token in his hands. He reached up to the sky and yelled with all of his strength. “I promise you Maria, I will save you and bring you home!” He ran to the horse and rode as fast as the horse could carry him! He rode all night toward Hithray, he hoped he would find the answers he seeked and the way to save Maria!