The Scottish highlands were a mysterious place, filled with lore, with legend, and with its fair share of enchanting tales... This particular tale is a legend of a golden dragon that was fabled, that if one could tame it, they would live eternally, and rule all the lands.
It starts out with a small family, out performing their daily routine... The mother, Sharra, was grinding the freshly cut wheat. Jaine, the daughter was coming back from fetching the day's water. The father and son, Brasen and Errik had gone for a few days to cut wood. As Errik was cutting a small tree, his second of the day, he spotted an old abandoned cave, and something from deep within appeared to shine ever so faintly. He told his father and was told that it was just a natural spring of water in the cave, so they kept cutting till the sun went down, and made a makeshift camp for the night.
When he was sure his father was asleep, Errik snuck away from the camp to investigate this cave. Nighttime in the woods of the highlands was very dangerous. Wolves gave no second thought to a human invading the pack's territory. As this was a new cutting spot for the pair, they were unfamiliar with the area and its...inhabitants. Holding no concern to the danger, Errik found his way back to the cave in the dark.
As he entered the cave, he could still see the light that came from deep within. Having no light, he carefully stepped towards the glow inch by inch. Over sharp rocks and small streams he stepped, and nearly slipped and split his foot on a sheer rock, but he made it to a large cavern eventually. The glow was brighter than before, and was just across the cavern...he walked over to it.
He looked at it for a few minutes...and realized...It was, not one, but a whole clutch of golden eggs, embedded in the cave wall. He slid his hands softly over them, and they had a heavy sandpaper texture...He wanted to investigate them further, having no concern as to who, or what these eggs belong to. He finds a rock on the cavern floor and carefully pries one of the eggs from the clutch...It is warm. He puts his ear up to it, and hears faint heartbeats and feels small movements inside.
Suddenly without provocation, the egg cracks in his hands...he looks on in awe...a small lizard-like nose emerges cracking the egg...but this is no ordinary lizard. As the head popped out, the creature had tiny horns, and a hot breath...Errik had only heard legends...but it appears he had stumbled upon dragon eggs. And now, one of them is a living breathing dragon in the palm of his hand. The dragon lets out a loud cry...and no more than a few seconds later, Errik hears a deep bellowing sound from what appeared to be a dark dead end room.
He looks carefully...and suddenly, two glowing yellow eyes with red slits opened wide and stared directly at him... Another round of bellowing, and from nowhere, a Massive Dragon storms out of the cave directly at Errik...who is at this point too stunned to react. He saw the eyes rise higher into the air and the air began to feel hotter and hotter. The next thing he noticed was a huge fireball hurdling towards him. The mass of flames barrel closer as a herd of rhinos and then it splits off on either side of him. He was crouched down and unknowingly still clutching the child dragon in his hand held it in his arms as if to protect it from the flames. The flames never touched either of them but were hot enough to scorch patches from his clothing and mildly burn parts of his skin.
The flames subsided in magnificent swirls of light and as he slowly rose from his knees he unwound his arms from the baby dragon and he looked up. The mother dragon was not ten paces from where he stood. Fear once again seized his body. The baby dragon seemed cheerful but oddly did not leave Errik's grasp. The mother dragon now began walking around him and stopped and sat at the wall where he had first discovered the clutch. He slowly turned to observe. He noticed the mother whispering a phrase to the eggs almost. "Våkn mine barn." One by one the eggs began to hatch and out of each egg came a small dragon just as the one he yet held, only with unique color patterns; as each dragon came out the mother uttered one word to each child dragon as if naming them. One was called "Tapperhet" and another was called "Starkhjärtat." Errik stood in awe as the mother spoke a phrase to each of her six other dragon children.
After she had finished with those six, she turned to face him, with child dragon still in hand. She came close, close enough to touch. She uttered a phrase to the little one, but was not like the others. The baby uttered a phrase back. She then rose and spoke the phrase "Dovakhiin." She then turned her gaze to Errik as the little dragon curled up in his hold.
With a voice that shook the earth he heard the mother dragon begin to speak to him. She said, "Human, you have come to this birthing place and witnessed a rare occurrence. We Dova, or dragons as you call us, live millennia and are only born every thousand years. In even longer one of your kind stumbles upon the birthplace, and is chosen by the firstborn and become life partners. My firstborn has chosen you, and thus has been named Dovakhiin, or Dragon of Human. You are now only the third Dragon master in all of time. Your duty is to protect Dovakhiin and in return he will serve you and protect you. By being chosen by a Dova, you have proved yourself the worthiest of all humans, and thus with the power of the Dova you will rise to power and lead the rest of your kind. I am called Parthonaa, what is your birth name human?" He said in total awe, "My name...my name is Errik, of the Highlands." She then thundered, "Go! Errik. Go and do not return to this empowered ground until told by Dovakhiin. Leave and live your destiny!"
Errik then looked at Dovakhiin and she looked back at him with approving eyes and together they walked from the cave that had changed their lives and destiny forever. With their heads held high they returned to live their lives. The townspeople had mixed reactions. Some almost seemed to worship them as the Dragon pair of legend. Other's scowled and disapproved and hated the dragon. Some tried to harm the dragon, but each time Errik was there and fended them off. Together they rose and grew. Errik's bond with the dragon grew a mark on his hand and on Dovakhiin's crest. This mark exemplified their lifelong bond. Errik rose to power over years of cunning, strategizing and fair rule. Every day he would sit in his throne, and every day the dragon would lay behind him. This is the legend of Dovakhiin, and the man who was chosen by a dragon, and who led mankind into a new age of knowledge and prosperity. All good things come to an end however. Eventually Errik began to age and before long was at the end of his rope. Stories passed down through time say his last breath was to his dragon. No one knows what he said, but everyone tells the same tale. As his last word was spoken, both Errik and his dragon fell silent and disappeared in a bright glow that seemed of fire, leaving only the crown bearing a copy of the bond seal on Errik's right hand; and through the ages the stories of dragons began to wither although somewhere in the world, someone was telling the tale, of the man, chosen by the dragon.
