The garden of life

Peter trudged across the meadow with his head down, each of his steps sinking slowly in the soft soil. Peters hair was scuffled and tangled. His short spiky beard grew untidy and grey hairs were visible growing among the black ones. The weight of despair pulling him down. Peter wore a ragged shirt and what would have once looked like respectable blue pants were now old and tattered. Peter stopped in his tracks and sank to his knees. A tear glistened in the corner of his eye and slowly slid down his cheek, leaving a glassy trail behind, then fell to the grass. Several other tears followed before Peter put his two hands together and started to pray. “O lord” Peter said “O l-lord, if there is a lord, why, why do this to me?” peter whispered. “MY ONLY CHILD IS DYING, WHY?” Peter shouted, his voice echoing across the valley, “WHY?” he shouted again.

Peter ripped his hands apart and fell face forward in the grass with his back to the sky. Silence passed over the valley and rested for a minute before a soft voice spoke with a rhythmic tone “Peter”. Slightly frightened by the sudden breaking of the silence. Peter shot upright and stared blankly in the distance curious as to who had called his name. His blank stare lasted only a few seconds before his stare turned into one of amazement, his mouth gaped open and he stared in disbelief. In front of Peter lying a patch of flowers, was a beautiful rainbow dragon bathed in a single ray of sunlight. The dragons magnificent golden eyes stared into his. its back was lined with sharp white spikes, its tail swayed softly back and forth with a gentle motion. Its wings curled around its stomach, and it clawed at the dirt with one of its many large talons. The light reflected off its scales portraying a magnificent sight of mixed colours. It looked as if it were relaxed and comfortable.

Peter knew how rare these dragons were. It was said that only one in a thousand men had ever seen one of these dragons before. They were the most powerful dragon known to man, they were said to perform powerful, magical miracles, and they were also the only breed of dragons that could speak in the language of man. All Peter could do was nothing but stare at the dragon that he had heard about in so many fairy tales. He had never expected the sight to be this brilliant. Peter had almost forgotten about his sadness. “Peter” the dragon said in the same rhythmic tone. It opened its maw to talk but its voice seemed to echo through his mind as it spoke. “I know your sadness Peter” the dragon said. It was just then that his full despair returned to haunt him. “Please O magical, O beautiful rainbow dragon, please I will do anything if you do something to help cure my daughter of her sickness. She is my only child I shall be terribly grieved if she is lost”. The dragon stared at him for a few seconds before it opened its mouth again, the same soft soothing voice filling his mind “Peter I am willing to take you to the sacred garden of life that only us dragons rainbow dragons have access to. The trees that grow in that garden bear apples that shall cure any illness with one bite. I warn you however they will not be given them for free. You will have to undergo certain tests before you shall be granted to honour to pick one of these apples”.
“I am willing to do anything that it takes” Peter shouted loudly but gently.
“very well” said the dragons voice “climb onto my back”.

Peter was suddenly feeling a slight jolt of relief. It had been a miracle that he had cast his eyes upon a rainbow dragon but he expected the tests that were to come, not to be easy. As he ran up to the dragon, it uncurled one of his wings and shot it out toward him, just touching the ground, Peter suspected to serve as a ramp aboard its back. Peter walked steadily along it wing and seated himself between two sharp spikes that shot up from its back. “hold on” the dragon said.

Without a flap of its wings, the dragon kicked of the zoomed upward. In seconds the clouds that were so high in the sky had rushed to meet him. Peter felt the force of the wind pushing his backward, and he knew that it was the dragons magic that was the reason was not being blown off the dragons back. The dragon did not stop flying when it reached the sky it continued on, until the they were surrounded by white mist. The dragon then glided gently with its wings in a straight line forward. Slowly the mist started to clear and there in the distance was a green patch of grass with a door in the middle that seemed to lead into mist. In front of the door stood a man with brown hair that was dressed in white.

The rainbow dragon touched down lightly on the grass. Peter whipped his leg over the dragons back so that both his legs were on the same side of the dragon and slid off onto the grass. Peter walked over to face the man that stood in front of the door. As he approached he turned to face the dragon, just in time to see it, jump off into the mist and like a flash of light it dived into the mist. Peter turned to face the man who stared intently at him before the man said “you have come seeking the fruit of life. You shall be given the fruit of life if you are able to pass the three tests that we have in store for you”. The man stepped aside and the door swung open, within it was darkness except for a small golden glow. “This is the entrance to the garden of life. Within the tunnel is priceless gold, treasure beyond any mans dreams. Proceed through the tunned and I shall be waiting for you in the garden of life”.

Although many questions stirred in Peters head, he knew it unwise to ask them and stepped in the door. The gold glow that Peter had seen from in front of the door had seemed to be surrounding him now, and Peter could make it out to be treasure, small gold coins scattered all over the floor except for a path were the gold parted for him to walk through. Peter was fascinated by the treasure suddenly felt the urge to take one, but resisted. He continued forward toward the garden of life. As he walked forward along the path, the treasure was piling up and looked more valuable. Rubies were added to the pile, more red then he had ever seen, swords that were made purely of gold, sapphires, and after a while he saw crowns had been add to the pile.

The pile now rose to his shoulders the glow of the treasure illuminating the tunnel. An image filled Peters head. He was lying in a nice bed. There were servants by his side, holding golden platters with green grapes sitting among them. He could almost feel them rubbing his feet, and then he was in a cart. The cart was nice and fine with leather cushions. He was dressed in nice clothing fit for a king and he could feel several cool golden rings wrapped around his fingers. A ruby studded crown slumped over his head and he held a glass of white whine sipping at it occasionally and there were people in the cart, that would do exactly what they were told to do. Everything was nice and soothing but suddenly it all vanished and he saw his sick daughter lying in the bed, and reality came back to him. He had his hand out inches from the treasure and he knew he would have taken a handful of those golden coins, he drew his hand back as quick as his could.

He continued through that tunnel but now he was not focusing on the treasure that surrounded him, but that one image of his daughter. As he continued through the tunnel and as he did a light had appeared in the distant. Not a golden one like the glow of treasure, but the feint glow of light. The as the light grew bigger his did not take his focus of the image of his daughter. The light grew closer now and he could make out the arches of the doorway. He stepped through to find himself in outside on a flat plain. The plain was strewn with dark green grass, as far as his eye could see, and throughout the pain grew large trees that bore bright red apples Peter knew these were the apples of life, the ones that he was seeking. Not far in front of him stood the same man who was dressed in white. The man eyed him and a fine smile grew on his face. “congratulations you have passed the first test” The man said. Amazement shot through Peter along with confusion. Peter pondered for no longer then one second before he said in confusion “I have not undertaken any test”.

“Yes, you have undertaken a test” The man said “it was to test you of your greed, and you are free of it. You passed through that tunnel without taking any gold. You are one of the few who make it into the garden without failing the first test”. Peter felt happiness inside him, and he felt highly reliefs, he knew how close he had been to taking the gold but he neglected to say anything to the man in fear it might ruing his success. “Your next test” the man said “is to slay an ancient demon”. Peters happiness ceased and the feeling of doom and despair crawled up inside him. Peter knew how powerful ancient demons were, many of the greatest nights in the history of men had sought them out to slay and few very few lived. Peter was no great night and doubted he would be able to for fill this next task.

“you shall be armed with a single sword as will the demon” The man said as he paced past Peter towards the door that he had entered through as he did so the man whispered in Peters ear “Let your hear win this battle” and then turned with his back facing the door. As Peter whipped his head back around he caught sight of a silver sword, lying flat on the green grass. “Arm yourself” The man behind Peter shouted. Peter snatched up the sword as quick as he and held it in front of him. Peter’s heart was beating against his chest now that he thought it might burst. He was filled with cold fear.

Peter jumped back slightly as the atmosphere in front of him seemed to tear, he was staring into a black abyss. Before Peter could guess what it might be a bald man stepped out of it. This man had bright yellow eyes and blazing red skin. It was clothed in only torn brown pants. It held a long silver sword that gleamed as the sun reflected off it. As soon as it had stepped out of the abyss it closed up. There was no evidence were it had come from.

The demon glared at Peter with its yellow eyes and Peter just caught a sight of its razor sharp teeth as it flung itself across the arena toward him and lashed its sword at his head. Peter flung his sword up and a small spark was emitted as swords collided. The demon stepped backward and Peter seized the opportunity by flinging four swift un aimed blows at the demon. One at the he one at its legs and two at its stomach but none of them pierced its skin as the demon dodged them with inhuman speed. The demon stood there with a slight smirk on its face and Peter eyes widened as he realised that it had just dodged the swings of his sword without effort.

The Demon looked at him for a second before he kicked Peter in the stomach so quickly that Peter had felt the pain before his mind had even been able to comprehend what had happened. Peter flew through the air and skidded along the ground as he landed. Peter caught a glimpse of a red flash and then the demon was in front of him with its sword pointed downwards inches from his stomach. The demon stood frozen as loud evil laughter poured out of its mouth. Peter squeezed the sword in his grip and was at lest grateful that he would die with his daughter instead of her dying alone.

Peters heart nearly came to a stop however as at the exact time that thought had flown through his head the demon staggered backwards as if something had pushed it and it was unable to balance. Peter jumped up and as he saw the fright in the demons eyes he was refilled with happiness and bright memories of his daughter. The sword slipped from the demons light grasp on it and it fell onto its knees. Peter strutted up to the demon and held his sword back ready to fling a powerful blow. Just before he was able to do so another memory of his daughter flickered through his mind and as it did the demon started to cough. Peter plunged his sword forward into the demons stomach and then yanked it back out.

The demon fell forward and it lay motionless on the floor before it sank into the ground and was out of sight. Peter gasped and fell onto his knees. Peter was relieved as he was curios. The man dressed in white approached and turned to face him. “you have passed the second test” The man said.
“h-h-how was I able to do it. How did I kill it” Peter said in a low and exhausted tone.
“the ancient demon can only be killed by love. That is its only weakness. Many worriers seek to slay the beast for fame and glory. The only nights who successfully slay the beast are the ones who slay it in order to defend their village” The man said.
The man dressed in white placed his palm on Peters forehead and he felt energy rush into him, refreshing him, blacking all of the pain out.

Peter pushed himself of the ground and stood upright. “the next test” Peter said in a loud eager voice. “follow me” The man said. The man strode forward and Peter followed. As they travelled through garden the trees that bore the red apples seem started to thicken. There was many Peter would have been able to easily reach up and grab, but he did not dare without the permission from its guardian. After a while the man came to a halt and Peter could see that behind him was a large golden basin and upon it rested a silver knife. “How much pain are you willing to go through for the fruit of life. How much blood will you shed. For the last test you must fill the basin with your blood”. The man then stepped aside and Peter stepped forward.

He snatched the knife of the basin and without hesitation he slid the knife along his arm. Pain shot through his arm and blood leaked out of the wound and fell into the basin. It did not come close to filling it. Peter did the same to his other arm, more blood filling the basin and more pain. Peter though of his daughter as he cut another gash along his arm. Peter continued to cut himself until he had three wounds on each arm. Peter fumble with the knife in his hand. The basin was not half full and Peter was starting to loose his balance. He cut his arm again and more blood leaked into the basin.

Peter vision started to blur and he started to wabble. Peter brang the knife up to cut his arm again. He knew that another cut may kill him which is why he hesitated but the thought of his daughter and drove the knife toward his arm Before it cut his arm Peter felt it fling magically out of his grasp. Peters vision started to clear and he regained his balance he looked down at his arms and he felt that under the blood that covered his arms his, wounds had magically healed. Peter stepped back and them man stepped in front of him. “You have shown how far you are willing to go. You have show that you are willing to die. You have passed the last test”.

Peter felt joy unfurl within his stomach. His daughter was going to be ok. Peter felt himself fling backwards into darkness and he saw the garden a bright light in the darkness that he floated in shooting away from him getting smaller and smaller. Then the light was gone. Peter lay back darkness filling his vision and it took him a while to realise he had his eyes closed. When he opened them he found himself lying in the exact same meadow that he had seen the dragon except that that dragon was not there. Peter almost shed a tear when he thought to himself that it had all been a dream, but that thought vanished when he felt something round in his hands. He pulled his arm up in front of his face to see himself holding a bright red apple identical to the ones he had seen in the garden of life.

Peter raced back to his town as quick as he could. It took him only minutes to find the hut his daughter was dying in. He swung the door open in joy to see his daughter how he had last seen her, lying in bed, her face pale and grey looking as though she were miserable and in pain. “eat darling eat” Said Peter as he raced over to her bed and thrust the apple into her palm. “I am not hungry father” She said in a low and croaky voice.
“eat it will help” Peter said with enthusiasm.
Obediently the girl sunk her teeth into the bright red apple and took a bite out of it. As soon as she swallowed her mouthful the colour returned to her face and she dropped the apple on the floor. “Father I feel better, I don’t feel tired anymore” the girl said and pulled her father into a tight hug. As Peter held his daughter tightly he saw through the window of the hut, the head of a rainbow dragon. It winked at him and then it was gone. Peter was happy and all was well.