King of the Sun

Long ago, long before the histories of humans commenced, the world was a quiet place filled only with dust and sand. The merciless sun would burn away everything that tried to live. Nothing had a chance, for inside the sun, in a grand palace of light and flames, lived a King who was cruel and unkind. There he sat, all by himself, on a golden glowing throne, surrounded by walls and columns of yellow and red fire. His skin shone gold and his eyes heavenly blue. He was jealous of the earth below. He thought it looked beautiful but at the same time he did not want anything to outshine his sun and himself. He was King.

The only force that matched his might was the Queen of the ocean who was kind and forgiving. Her skin was green and her eyes of a deep blue. Within her watery realm down below, life thrived and bloomed like nowhere else. Colourful fish and beautiful corals grew and thrived among green nature in the sparkling sea. The King, although brutal in nature, saw the beauty within the Queen and fell in love with her. Sometimes they would talk and wonder about the powers they had, and she persuaded him to give life a chance on land, but he would only do so if she would help him. She agreed and by the ocean, on the beaches, life began to thrive. Beautiful green plants grew on the borders of land and sea. Soon animals inhabited these new lands that the King and Queen had fashioned together. For a time, everything appeared to be in harmony.

But soon the King grew restless because he was always hungry for more. He wanted an heir, a son that would be like him, only better. Because one thing the King always had desired was perfection and he could sense deep down that even he had flaws. He wanted someone worthy to rule over earth and sun and so he asked the Queen if she would give him an heir. Because he knew even with all his power that the life within him would eventually cease and he would become one with the sun. The Queen of the ocean saw this as an opportunity to create something powerful and kind, something like a balance between the sun and the sea. So, she agreed.

A giant ball of fire erupted from the sun, roared down to earth and crushed down into the ocean. Chaos raged where the fire had hit the sea but out of this storm stepped a beautiful young man with green skin like the fruitful leaves of the earth, blue eyes like the ocean and golden hair like the sun. His mother and his father crowned him Prince of the earth. Within him was the combined power of ocean and sun. Wherever he walked life would follow.

The Queen of the ocean visited her son very often and taught him everything there was to know about life and how to make it thrive. The King of the sun though, grew tired and when he saw how close the Queen and the Prince became, he was soon jealous again and wondered if he had made a mistake. The Prince who became wise and kind like his mother tried to reach out to his father, but he kept on ignoring him and grew lonely in his palace of sunlight and golden flames.

The Prince of the earth soon was sad and lonely. His mother suggested that he should create children of his own. He was not sure what she meant so she showed him her own creations she had made all by herself in the depths of the sea. Her children were half female and half fish, like she was. Only they were much smaller and were tied to their bodies unlike the Queen of the ocean who could transform into wind and water. Her children were bound to the waters they lived in, they were mortal and would eventually fade and become one with the ocean.

The son agreed and took fertile soil from the ground and created men and women who would be able to walk and move on his earth just as his mother’s creations were able to swim in the sea. He showed them all the ways of life, where to live, what plants to eat, what animals to take care of and benefit from, and what animals to stay away from, as they were too wild to tame. The Prince of the earth and his people would sometimes go to the beach where they would meet his mother and her children of the ocean.

Soon they forgot about the King of the sun because they had everything they needed. Together they celebrated feasts and told each other stories by the beach and fell in love. Life was joyful.

But the more life grew and thrived on earth and in the ocean under the sun, the King grew jealous because he was the one who was the source of all life. Without the fire of his palace, without his warmth, no life would be possible anywhere. His jealousy transformed into anger and sparked vengeance. He wanted to show them that he could create life, more beautiful and terrifying than the Queen or the Prince ever could. So, he moved his fire with his arms, concentrated it and metamorphosed it. Like the Queen had turned water into flesh and formed her mermaids, he turned fire into flesh and before him rose four dragons, one bigger than the other, beautiful and horribly powerful.  Their bodies were long and covered in shimmering scales. Their heads were mighty and horned, their eyes could see better than any animal on land or in the ocean, their teeth were white and sharp, and their wings were covered in beautiful feathers. They could fly higher and faster than any bird of the earth below. And the King wanted to give them the most outstanding appearance, colours more beautiful than the ocean and the earth could ever produce. So, he took a string of sunlight raised it with both his hands and broke it in two. Out of it poured all the colours of the glittering rainbow and he painted his dragons with them. The smallest of the dragons received the colours purple and turquoise. It was a female and radiated brighter than any gemstone of the earth. The second one was male, and he painted the dragon green and blue. He shimmered more wonderful than the surface of the ocean and the fresh green of the treetops on land. The third one was even bigger than the other two. She was given the colours red like fire itself and magenta. And the fourth one was the largest and mightiest creature that would ever see this world. He glowed golden, orange and yellow like the rising sun itself. The four giant dragons bowed to their king. He ordered them to fly down and set the world ablaze. No one could surpass the creation of the King of the sun. They shall remember who their Lord was. The dragons rose into the blue sky but before they flew down to earth they drank the fire of the sun to unleash it upon the world.

The inhabitants of the ocean and the creatures on land had no idea what was coming for them. The only thing they saw were four shadows each one bigger than the other. For a moment everything went quiet. Warm wind brushed over the lands and the sea. Nothing moved. Then, firestorms, colourful and bright, erupted from the jaws of the dragons. Yellow flames in the north, red ones in the south, blue fire to the east and purple flames in the west. Filled with fear the children of the ocean fled deep into the cold waters where their mother could protect them. The moment the Prince of the earth saw what was happening, he tried to guide his children into the earth, deep underground where the flames could not reach them. But many fell victims to the inferno. All the lands were ablaze, only the ocean was still blue. The dragons turned to the blue waters and breathed fire upon the ocean. But the Queen’s magic was as strong as the King’s. The flames could not penetrate the waters. Disappointed, the dragons flew back to the land and observed what they had turned the land into.

Black smoke rose into the air and revealed a grey landscape that was once beautiful and green. But the King had made one mistake. He gifted the dragons with better eyesight than any creature in the world and with their eyes, seeing further than anyone else, they were also given wisdom. They could see what they had truly done. They had created terror and death for no reason. Filled with sadness they began to mourn the scorched earth beneath them.

The Queen of the ocean rose from below and the Prince of the earth came out of the caves, both watched them and wondered what they were doing. Why were they so sad now? In their eyes, although they had unleashed horror upon earth, they now appeared so glorious and beautiful in the sunlight. There was nothing that could defeat them. The King had bested the creations of Queen and Prince. The King had won.

The Queen and the Prince asked the dragons in the sky why they felt so miserable. As they were victorious why didn’t they claim the land for themselves? And they answered that they had not known what they were doing until it was too late. They had only known what their King had told them. But now, when they had seen this world, they could see clearer than anyone else. They knew what had to be done. They knew that the King had to be stopped.

But the Prince was not sure if his father could be defeated. Besides, he was uncertain if he was even able to die. And his mother agreed. It would be nearly impossible to destroy him. The Queen knew that the dragon’s fire was powerful but not strong enough. They had to give more strength to the dragons, now they were their only chance. With the dragons’ help they could deceive the King.

The dragons told them everything about how they were created and how they drank the fire of the sun. After they had destroyed the land, they sensed that the king was satisfied and went to sleep. Whatever they wanted to do, they had to act now while he was asleep in his palace. The Queen of the ocean had an idea. She told the dragons to fly over the sea and drink the water. Then they should unleash fire and water upon the King in his golden palace and maybe that was enough to vanquish him.

The four dragons agreed and rose into the heavens again, yellow, red, blue and purple. Together they flew over the ocean dived down and drank the waters of the sea. They could sense the power of the Queen of the ocean rising within them. Filled with water and fire the yellow one, gold and terrifying, led his siblings high up into the sky towards the sun, the palace of the King.

The dragons’ senses were right. The King had fallen asleep once the dragons had fulfilled his desires. They saw him how he rested on his golden throne. But the calls of the dragons woke him up and confused he looked around. The four dragons glided around him, wild like a storm of a rainbow. He did not know what was happening, but he could feel the magic of the Queen of the ocean. Something was wrong. The King of the sun wanted to rise, confront his children, but the dragons unleashed their fire. The King was annoyed. Why would they use fire against him? Fire could not harm him. But then, the largest one, shimmering purely golden, reflecting the flames of the palace on his scales, unleashed the first wave of ocean water upon the King. He screamed out in pain. The water burned him, weakened him, like he had never felt before. His first-born dragon, breathed purple fire and water upon him, magic so potent, it made the King go mad. But he was still strong. With one hand he reached for the purple and turquoise dragon, grabbed her by the neck and threw her out of the palace with such force that she crushed down into the earth like a fallen star and was buried. The other dragons were furious! They burned the King with fire and water, so hot and cold, the King feared he would die. With his last remaining strength, he reached out for the blue and red dragons and hit them so hard on their wings that they too fell from the heavens and were buried within the earth below. The last dragon, the golden one, unleashed all his fire power and the magic of the Queen. The palace pulsated with golden fire and blue water. Defeated, the King fell back into his throne but with the last bit of power that was left to him, he hit the dragon in the chest. Like a golden comet the dragon fell to the earth and was buried beneath the ashes of the once fertile soil.

But the King was vanquished too. His golden palace shone brighter than ever before, filled with the rainbow flames of the dragons, but he had found his end in fire and water. He would never torment anyone again.

The Queen of the ocean and the Prince of the earth embraced each other and were happy that the suffering of their people was now over. The Queen returned to the ocean, for she was already old and tired, and wanted to find peace below the waves and become one with the sea.

The Prince led his people out of the caves and wondered how they would rebuild the earth after the dragon fire had destroyed everything. It was a sad return because as far as they could see ashes and dust spread over all the lands. But suddenly, they could hear something coming from the craters where the four dragons had crushed into the earth and found their graves. The dragons’ wings and bodies were broken beneath the earth indeed, but their deep magic and their eyesight was still intact. And although their eyes were closed, they could see with their minds far and wide and knew what to do. From the four spots where they laid still, the water they had drunk gushed like fountains out of the ground and flowed freely over the lands. It was the final gesture of the dragons to say how sorry they were for burning the green earth.

Their waters soon turned into four great rivers which fertilised the earth and made it thrive. Life returned. The humans, the children of the Prince, settled by the rivers and started to rebuild, grow and create by the life-giving rivers. So, life had transformed once more, from fire into water creating a green earth and the humans would never forget the gift of the slumbering dragons.