Formulation Feed: "Under Scaled Bones"

For many, living under the bones of a titanic creature might seem scary, intimidating, or untoward. But I've never thought that. When I see the bones of that long-dead creature, I feel safe and secure. When those who would dare harm us attempted to siege our dear city, they found it difficult to attack us from any angle. The river sheltered the mouth of our city and the dragon's corpse covered us from north to east. With the mountains to the west, they could find no way to easily attack us. Our defenders held their ground and drove those would attack us away from our treasured city. I still smile when I look up and see that dragon, as if I know him as well as family.

Yet, when I go up to the bones and run my hands along their ancient surface, I can't help but feel a tinge of sadness. These massive titans had once roamed the lands and skies, majestic and graceful. But a cataclysm that happened thousands of years ago killed most of them and caused them to fly away from our land. Where they are now, no one knows. Some are still here. If you're extremely lucky, you might hear the rumblings of a centuries-old dragon living deep in a mountain, the sound of its roars echoing through caverns as old as the world itself.

Legends say that this dragon was peaceful. A protector and upholder of all that was good and holy. One who distributed justice with an even and fair hand. Destroying bandit hordes and taking down mischievous drakes. They say he died during the cataclysm while protecting a group of roaming nomads that eventually founded the beginnings of our village.

It's a nice story. I don't know if it's true, but I hope it is. I suppose it doesn't matter either way.

The dragon is here and it's protecting us and our families. That's enough to make me smile, so it's enough to make me happy.

(Credit to Chris Otrowski for the artwork. Thoughts and explanations under the break.)


Welcome to the Formulation Feed!

This pretentiously named writing prompt-esque thing is what I'll be doing to contribute some sense of the arts to the blog. Basically, I'll scour the internet or some other resource for a piece of art or an inspirational quote or something like that and I'll write something based off of it. Is it going to be any good? Well, that's really up to you to decide, but it's something that I can use to work out my creative juices every once in a while. And I believe that's always a good thing.

Occasionally, I'll also do these little meta-commentary things at the end that express some kind of deeper meaning behind what I wrote or maybe give a strange little anecdote that has some tangential connection to the piece of art that inspired me. That sort of thing.

For now, see you next time!