This is my entry for this week’s flash fiction challenge from Mondays Finish The Story. This challenge gives you a picture and an opening sentence and asks you to finish the story within 100-150 words. The opening sentence is given in italics.
Racing down into the atmosphere, the unidentified object crashed, leaving behind one heck of a huge crater and a plume of smoke that could be seen from miles around.
‘You idiot, Tinch,’ Mert whined. ‘What did you do that for?’
‘Me! It wasn’t my fault – you were supposed to catch it.’
‘And how exactly was I supposed to catch the flippin’ thing when you threw it like that?’
The scrape of claws on stone sounded behind them and the two giants looked at each other in alarm. Hesitantly they turned to face the mother dragon.
‘Where is my egg?’ Her voice was a sibilant hiss and smoke billowed ominously from her nostrils. Giants may be equal to dragons in size and strength but there are few things in existence that can withstand their flame.
‘It was his fault!’ Each pointed at the other.
Meanwhile, in the crater deep in the desert, a young dragon pushed his head through the cracks in his shell. He blinked at the sunlight touching him for the first time and gave a plaintive cry.
Word Count: 150
A fun tale!
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Thank you. I liked being able to link the picture to my more usual type of story! 🙂
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I would have picked this one out as yours, Lou, even if I hadn’t seen your name! Lovely little story . . . about dragons. Why am I not surprised by that? You’ve been writing about dragons since you were three. Giant ones are a little different, though.
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Thanks, Mum. 🙂 And stories are always better when they include dragons – you know that!
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Dragons and Giants! Love it! Thank you for taking part in this flash fiction challenge! I hope that you come back again this upcoming Monday! Be well! ^..^
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Thank you. 🙂 I love that this week’s prompt could be interpreted in my more usual fantastical way! I’m sure I will be back next week. I’m finding flash fiction a great writing exercise.
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It is a really great exercise of not only writing, but it is a good for the imagination! 🙂
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Great take on the prompt! And thanks for the ending. The moment I read “egg” I thought, oh no, the poor little baby! Glad he’s okay 🙂
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Thank you. 🙂 I guessed that most people would be going down the alien spaceship route and thought ‘d try something a little different. I’m thinking I might have to write more to this story sometime though – the poor little baby dragon needs to be found by someone…
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I was hoping Mum would hear the plaintive cry 🙂
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I’m thinking that she might do so soon – she will be flying in that direction, looking for him. The question is, who else might hear it first?
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Love this take.. a baby dragon born so maybe the motherly instincts of the the dragon mother will shift towards her baby and the giants will be spared her fiery breath.
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I originally included a line which had the mother dragon flying off in the direction her egg was thrown. The giants gave a big sigh of relief. Unfortunately I had too many words and it had to go! Thanks for commenting. 🙂
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I like the contrast of the conversation about blame and the lovely soft ending, that plaintiff cry works so very well.
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Thank you. 🙂 I just had to end it with the poor little (or maybe not-so-little) baby dragon in the crater! I’m glad you think it works.
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I’m so glad the baby dragon survived the tumble, A Fairy Mind. I guess dragons are fairly tough. Good story that followed the prompt well. Now mother dragon has to find him. Well done. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Thanks, Suzanne. I’m glad you like it. And I’ve already got a few ideas for a continuation piece floating around in my head. Mother dragon does indeed have to find him – before anyone / thing else does… 🙂
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Cool story. Loved the dragon angle 😀 NV
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Thanks, I love dragons and usually write stories about fairy tale type creatures, so it was great to have a prompt I could take that angle on. 🙂
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A very different unique and lovely response to the prompt. For a minute there I thought I would be treading on eggshells, and poor little baby would be lost forever. 🙂
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