Souryan Shrestha
As water filled Drauvas lungs, he felt heavy. He wanted to escape but couldn’t. He asked himself, “is this it?” Slowly losing his consciousness, he felt a dark, evil presence creeping behind him.
In a panic he opened his eyes and took a long gasp. He mumbled , “oh, it’s just another nightmare”. He washed his face, and headed to the kitchen and saw his sister, Thena. She was a very kind hearted and down to earth person, Her eyes were as blue as the ocean, her hair brighter than the night stars, she started to do the housework after their mom passed away.
After having his breakfast he headed towards the docks avoiding as many people as possible , soon he saw his dad talking to some of the other townspeople. As he went close to them he could see a worried look on their faces, Drauvas stood on his spot until the others left and went up close to his dad. He called his dad but his dad couldn’t hear him, his dad was lost in his thoughts which didn’t happen often. He went close and raised his voice. He called his dad one last time, loud enough to startle people around them . This time his dad heard Drauvas and came back to his senses and said “oh sorry son, I’m a little busy today.” With that he quickly went to the town hall. Drauvas stood there with confusion on his face, because he’s never seen his dad in such a rush before. His dad was just like how any Viking would be imagined, big, muscular, long dirty blond hair, a bushy beard and not only that, he was the chieftain of his town, a great leader who could take down big bears with his mighty fists, he could do anything with no sweat but this is the first time the boy saw this look on his face.
Drauvas only had two friends,because no one thought he’d ever be like his dad. He didn’t look strong, He didn’t talk to a lot of people, He can’t express his opinions, people thought he was a timid little boy hiding behind his dad’s shadow. He considered himself a disappointment. The two friends he had were Dane and Erik. Dane was the son of a priest, he was a very honest person, brutally honest even, he spoke the truth and only truth so many people didn’t like talking to him, because truth hurts. He had jet black hair and was as tall as a bamboo, so many people couldn’t hurt him even if he said a hurtful truth. And the next was Erik is the life in their team, He might have been short but he was stronger than anyone else . He had fiery red hair matching his personality. After Drauvas reached the place he always hung out with them, He told them about his dad and he found out that it’s the same for their parents as well. As they were talking, a gust of wind blew past them and Drauvas got a menacing feeling like something bad was going to happen. After meeting his friends he went to their farm and he helped around in the field until it was dusk.
Drauvas returned home and freshened up, he had his dinner.
The next day came and their dad with some of the adults went to the sea in search of the fishermen. Everyone said their goodbyes.
Months had passed and they hadn’t returned. The people of the town started to get worried. The town was in a state of panic as their leader was gone. Drauvas wasn’t able to lead the people like his dad, and so no one agreed on what he said. Drauvas was done waiting and was tired of the fact that no one would listen to him, so he decided to go to the sea in search of them. Fortunately for him the adults that decided to stay were about to head out too, so he and his friends got on the boat.
At first the sea was calm, a bit too calm and suddenly the shining blue sea turned dark, the boat started to tremble and THEN! A huge creature appeared in front of the ships, with one hit one of the ships was smashed into tiny pieces. Everyone was frozen in their place and so was Drauvas but he snapped out of it. And quickly took charge of the ship with the help of the harsh winds their ships were able to escape.
After a quick get away from the thing, Drauvas looks back and finds out that their ship was the only one that made it out. They head into the town library and after hours of searching Dane finds an old book that has a description on it. The creature was called the Kraken known to roam in the seas and destroy ships and people that approached it, once it found a prey it’ll hunt them down wherever they went. With fear on his face, Erik let out a scream realizing their town was going to be targeted.
They also found a way to stop the Kraken and it was to find a sacred necklace crafted by the ancient dwarves. The location of the necklace was in the haunted woods that were said to be ruled by demonic be- ings. They were hesitant but knowing they would have died either way they took the chance and ventured in, seeing their bravery the spirits of the forest allowed them to pass. But warned them about the creature they’d have to face so get the necklace.
Surprisingly, the necklace was totally unguarded and next to it stood a giant metal construct that was taller than any house they’d seen. It seemed to be rusted and unable to move as if fate wanted someone to take the necklace desperately. Drauvas didn’t give much thought to it and took the necklace with him. He sprinted all the way to his town alone and soon a giant figure appeared from the sea, it was just like the one from his nightmares and the ancient books. It had a giant, indigo body and tentacles big enough to crush a ship into pieces. It was slowly approaching their town.
With no time to waste , Drauvas put on the necklace and felt its power surging through his body. The power was so great he felt as if he was about to explode, but he stood his ground and took deep breaths to control his body. He also felt himself getting bigger and denser by the second. Eventually he was bigger than two town halls.People were run- ning like rats all around the town due to the approaching Kraken. Howev- er, they were more shocked by a giant human running towards the sea porch. A very sweet, gentle and small voice guided him. The closer he got, the more high tides hit him, the wind was blowing and a giant storm aspired. He looked up in the sky and it was as if gods themselves were here to witness this brawl. Its skin was slippery and so Drauvas couldn’t grab it, it slammed its giant tentacles as Drauvas got pushed back. It then lashed all its tentacles at him and tied his hands and feet. Drauvas was unable to move nor cut its tentacles. It slowly opened its mouth and came closer to him, its sharp teeth were enough to cut his thick skin and open right in front of him. Drauvas started to panic and tried to escape its grasp but it got tighter and tighter. His mind started to go haywire but then the sweet and gentle voice told him to calm down and to think of a weapon. That’s when he noticed he didn’t have a weapon in hand, he started thinking about a weapon, a weapon he’d only heard of gods carrying in stories. Abruptly, a blinding light was projected from the neck- lace and a majestic trident appeared cutting through the tentacles. He immediately grabbed the titanic trident and pierced through the Kraken with it. He used all his strength and flung it to the land. With all the blood coming out Drauvas thought it died. He let his guard down and it used its remaining tentacles to catch him again. As he was trying to release himself, the townsfolk used alcohol and fire to burn the kraken. It slowly died and then it was victory. The people started cheering in happiness. Drauvas went back to his normal size after removing the necklace.
He went up close to the Kraken that now lay dead, he was in shock as to how he was able to defeat such a thing. Then there was a smallmovement of the Kraken’s mouth. Drauvas immediately stood up and screamed at the people. They heard him and then they were all there looking at the creature’s mouth moving. He thought it was still alive, he fell to the ground because he had no strength left. It continued to move for a while until the mouth slowly opened and they heard a familiar voice shouting, It was Drauvas’s dad! He ran towards his dad but then he slowly lost consciousness and collapsed on the ground. A bright light hit his face and at once he opened his eyes and saw a field of flowers. He thought he was in Valhalla,a bright figure in white clothes came towards him, put his gentle, warm hands on his face and with her gentle and calming voice said, “I’m proud of you, son.” He recalled his memories and remembered that it was his mom that had been guiding him all this time. Drauvas wanted to talk to her, but then the whole place went dark with nothing in sight. Voices started flooding his ears, then with a long gasp he woke up. His sister looked at him and with tears in her eyes gave him a big hug, he looked towards the ceiling, and realized he was in my room. Few months later the town started rebuilding and was almost back to its original state.
Drauvas went back to the forest to return the necklace because it was way too powerful for a human like him. When he got there he saw the metal guard and it was moving. It came towards him as he went towards it. It extended its hand as if it wanted the necklace back. Drauvas placed the necklace on its hand and it returned to its cave.
Drauvas’s dad lost his leg so he decided to make Drauvas the next chief- tain after this incredible feat. After that day he wasn’t the same timid child anymore but a great leader that would bring joy to his land.
