Wutha and Sabar: A tale of man and beast

It was in a town called Gregory; a town once known for its beauty, now brought to ashes and despair. The remains of those who had once lived there now cover a vast amount of land, it was a blood bath, splashes of blood everywhere, bloody fingerprints on the walls of the kingdom, and the land, which was once green, had now turned red. There was fire set in a circular motion to cover the walls of the kingdom and behold a clamorous sound of heavy breathing as though a thousand men chose to breath at the same time, just as that had happened, a monstrous shadow emerged from nowhere, the shadow of the cathedral was swallowed by this monstrous figure, and at that point, it became clear, it was a dragon.

This creature was not just any dragon. It was the dragon of Morphis, a dragon, men only heard about in folk tales. After the mayhem, this dragon walked across town before he flew into the forest nearby. Prior to this gruesome incident, there was a story behind this dragon and how it came to be.

It started in a town called Morphis, a place many believed was a myth. A hidden city surrounded by mountains and the clouds of heaven. It was a city known for its peace, practice of magic and the creatures that inhabit it. In this town, there was a wizard known as Livingstone Kirby, famous for his reputable magical skills. He was regarded to as “ Muchazi” meaning a great sorcerer. Livingstone’s father, Wallington Kirby, gifted him a dragon's egg before he passed away. His last words to Livingstone were “Take heed of what I am about to tell you, this egg is worth more than gold, once the egg hatches, the dragon acknowledges you as its master.” Seventy-seven days after the death of his father, the egg hatched. It was at the sight of the dragon that he realized that the words of his father were not lies. He was a male black dragon with golden wings, one of its kind. Livingstone named the baby dragon “wutha”

Livingstone nurtured and raised the dragon in an enclave. He developed a deep and intimate relationship with wutha. Their connection grew strong so much that they would often communicate with each other through the mind even when they were far apart from each other. On a dark Sunday noon, Livingstone was ecstatic about life and decided to fly with the dragon around the town of Morphis. As the dragon flapped his wings, it created an unusual sound that brought the town to a standstill, so loud that the kingdoms and towns far away from it were alarmed by it.

While Livingstone and his “pet” were enjoying their jolly flight, the king of Gregory ordered his guards to trail the sound and report back to him with news of what they had seen. Two guards named Loki and Charles were assigned by the King for the task. The guards immediately embarked on the journey to find the "mystery creature”. As they walked down the forest, the sound got louder and scarier. “This is no ordinary sound “, said Loki. Charles replied; “This is no time to be scared, we must return to the king with answers.” As they got deeper into the forest, they saw a glimpse of the large creature they had been trailing. Lo and behold, they arrived at a golden gate. They knocked on it and the gate keeper replied, “Welcome to Morphis, home of the impossible”. They were given a warm welcome by the elders of Morphis. While still introducing themselves to the elders, the creature they were trailing made a thunderous landing. Livingstone comes off the spiky back of the dragon and chooses to receive them with open arms, although it was unusual to receive visitors. He walks up to them and says; “my name is Livingstone, who are you?” Loki ignores his question and directs his attention to Charles, he says; “This cannot be real, we must report back to the king.” Yes, Charles nodded, and they walked back to Gregory. They were left with nothing but shock and amazement because of what they had seen. As soon as they arrived in Gregory, they ran into the palace and rushed to tell the king the news.

“My lord, my lord”, they said, “what is it, this time", the king replied. Loki looks up to the king with excitement and says, “The tales we have heard, are no longer tales. They are all real, a place called Morphis, the man called Livingstone and the dragon with golden wings.” In shock the king replies: “A dragon with golden wings, you say, if this is true, then it is good news, send them an invitation, tell them the king desires to feast with the entire town of Morphis.” The king wrote a letter and stamped it, then he handed it over to Charles to deliver his message. Charles rode his horse to Morphis, and when he got there, he left his horse at the gate, walked to the middle of the town and recited the letter to the people of Morphis, He got back on his horse and left with a farewell message, saying “please make sure you bring the dragon with you !!!”

The town was rejoiceful and well pleased with the invitation. However, before the town embarked on their journey, Livingstone mounted the pulpit and said; “I understand your excitement, but we must all be careful and remember not to trust royals for they have greed in their heart. “The people of the town replied, “you must also remember that this is a feast and not war “. The majority of Morphis were in favor of honoring the King's invitation. Consequently, they set out en masse for their journey with smiles on their faces.

When they got to Gregory, they were welcomed with praise, thousands of wooden tables were arranged and decorated for the feast to come. The table where the King sat was decorated with gold and bronze. Surrounded by his royal family members, the King invited Livingstone and the elders of Morphis to eat and drink with him at his table. As time went by, the town crier rang the bell and the feast began, beautiful maids came out of the palace, wearing a pink and brown garment, with their traditional ornaments on their necks. The maids dropped nice aromatic dishes on the table and then danced to entertain the guests. There was laughter and joy in the air and suddenly the King began asking questions; “Livingstone, I hear of a dragon with golden wings, is it true?” Livingstone replied; “Yes, it is, I suppose that shouldn’t be a problem?”. “Magic and sorcery are forbidden in this land, I called you all so that you may feast one more time before meeting your god “, the King said. The elders of Morphis were in fear, for they were unprepared for such a turnout of events. The King made eye contact with the town crier and as the bell rang, the slaughter began. It was a gory sight as there was an unprecedent bloodbath among the peace-loving people of Morphis.

Livingstone was in pain and despair. He ran around to find his family but discovered that they had been slaughtered and beheaded except for Sabar, his 2-year-old son. Blood stained and weak, Livingstone carried Sabar in his arms as he ran from the palace and headed for the forest. He dropped Sabar under a tree in a forest. He covered Sabar with leaves and instructed him to stay still. With a boiling anger, Livingstone ran back to Gregory and decided to fight for his people. Faced with a dire situation, the few warriors left among the people of Morphis fought back. The land was bloody. The people of Gregory attacked violently but the people of Morphis did not go down without a fight.

Livingstone called Wutha, the dragon, with his mind and told it to bring all the creatures within to battle. When wutha arrived, he bent his head. Livingstone climbed and sat on its back. Together they flew around Gregory as wutha spat hot fire on the warriors of Gregory. The creatures of Morphis ceaselessly attacked, ate and slaughtered the people of Gregory. The warriors of Gregory attacked these creatures with arrows of fire. The creatures dropped dead, one after the other leaving only wutha behind. Frustrated, the King ordered for the death of the dragon. He proclaimed that whoever killed the dragon would receive special royal honor. The dragon was impossible to kill for the King’s warriors. Therefore, the warriors went after the rider, Livingstone. The King went into his chambers, picked his favorite bow and arrow, and walked out with elegance but much bitterness.

The King stood upon a rock and aimed his bow at Livingstone, his arrow pierced through the head of Livingstone and killed him. Wutha grew angry and aimed for destruction, he burnt every soldier of Gregory to death, but he chose a different fate for the king. Wutha landed in a thunderous manner and walked slowly towards the King; fear grew in the heart of the King as the dragon drew closer. He screamed and said, “you hideous beast, move back!”. Wutha, the dragon, blew a little bit of fire on him and watched him scream, then he threw him up in the air and devoured him while he was burning. He took a painful look at Livingstone, and with anger, he released more fire in a circular motion, covering the walls of Gregory. Thereafter, Gregory became a desolate town with heaps of corpses all over it.

Wutha left the town and dove into the forest.

While storming through the forest, Wutha heard a familiar cry and perceived a familiar human scent. He trailed it and to his surprise, it was Sabar, son of Livingstone. Sabar cries: “Where is father, let’s find him.” Shockingly Wutha replies for the first time, not mentally but vocally; “little one, your father, Livingstone is dead, you must be strong and understand that you are now my master, I will nurture you and provide for you, I will do as you please.” The dragon picked Sabar up gently and delicately with his mouth and set out on their adventure to eternity.