An original story written, by our student Ehsaas Agarwal.

Ehsaas is 11 years old young writer from Hyderabad. We are proud to have him as a student of the Little Writers Program, an Online Creative Writing Program using Applied Storytelling & Theatre tools under the mentorship of Trainer Khusshbo Chokhaani. We congratulate Ehsaas for this exemplary true self-expression.

Egg of the Dragon

It was a regular hot summer day in the palace garden. The priests were plucking Marigolds and adorning the idol. At the far end of the garden were small, beautiful nasturtium flowers. The smell of Champa wafted through the air. The delicate dahlias were feeling soft like the surrounding grass. The sound of honey bees was buzzing through the air as they sucked nectar from the sunflowers. The strong smell of jasmine enchanted everything around. The blue and violet hydrangea were doting the background. The shedding and rustling sounds made it a beautiful and ideal day.

Hidden behind the bushes was the biggest threat known to bees, Keshav Nair. He was the oldest prince of the dynasty. His brown complexion and sharp black eyes could lock onto any target. He was 15 but short for his age. He was powerful. He was going to catch a bee but got distracted by his younger brother Dev Nair. Dev was born dyslexic and lacked in studying. He was 12 years old but taller than Keshav. He had a sturdy body, strong arms, and a keen eye. Together they made a good team.

Keshav wasn’t very kind or compassionate. His ruthless eyes threatened all around.  His father wanted him to be a warrior. Whereas, Keshav didn’t like wars. He was fine with threatening, but not killing. Dev hated war as well. He wanted peace and justice. He only took archery lessons to please his father. Even though he was forced, he was excellent in archery. “You’re the Apollo of the modern age!” people used to praise him with this sentence.

Their kingdom, Udaynagar, was about to get raided over the dragon prince’s egg. Legend has it that in the oldest days, the people of Udaynagar stole the egg and supposedly destroyed it. Now the summer nymphs were mad and started invading Udaynagar.

“What’s that sound?” Dev asked groggily. “Just the fighting outside for the egg. Go back to sleep Dev”, said Keshav. Next day, Dev did his favorite thing in the morning, which was to steal tarts from the local baker. On the way to the shop through the vent, he found a massive blue rock blocking his way through. “Huh” he thought, “That’s an awful large rock blocking my path.” He completely forgot about the tart and took the rock home. He kept it in the attic of his room. “Keshav, come look what I found.” When Keshav came, his jaw hit the floor. “Dev, do you know what we are looking at?” Keshav questioned. “A glowing rock”, Dev replied. “Gosh ignorant as always”, Keshav muttered. “It’s that egg that started this war!” We need to return it now to the nymphs”, shouted Keshav.

But father told us not to leave the right wing of the palace.” Said Dev with sadness. “Then we will sneak through. Ok here’s the plan, we sneak out with the egg and get to the nymph kingdom, give back the egg, and stop the war,” suggested Keshav. They tried the plan but were caught almost immediately.

They improvised and thought of running away during the evening walk. When the time came, they ran into the forest. The egg was safe in Dev’s satchel. Right now, Dev had something more precious than life itself. There was one problem, if the egg was so precious, then robbers would come and steal the egg. The brothers hadn’t planned this far and were scared because the robbers were trained professionals and had weapons.  Then Keshav gave a completely crazy idea. “Pull out the egg Dev.” Keshav urged. “What!” Dev started to protest. “Just do it”, Keshav said annoyingly. “Fine,” Dev said and pulled out the egg.

Instantly, the robbers turned to stone. “That was awesome!” Dev exclaimed. Next, they crossed the treacherous ice valley where the egg suddenly stopped glowing. At the dawn of winter solstice, the boys reached the nymph kingdom.

They requested an audience with the king. The king was delighted. He called off all attacks. The brother felt glee and like a giant weight was lifted off their shoulders. “I guess people who strive to succeed and are desperate to do it always win,” Dev said. “I think so too”. Keshav sighed in relief.

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