"Wish of the Demon Within"

By skconnor@worldnet.att.net

	Sometimes you never really know who you really are. And this was the case for a 
young Alefgardian girl named Senda. This is the story of eternal doubt and question in a 
magical world.

	It begins on a calm afternoon. Senda was eating lunch with her family outside. 
Her two brothers were sword fighting with the wooden swords they had made. 

	"Jenta, Solten!" she called out. "Thou art pathetic little knaves! Put some 
muscle into it!" they all laughed and continued. She could always do a good imitation of 
their drill instructor.

	"Papa, can I join them?" she put down her jellied bread. She never liked the 
taste of it anyway...

"No thou may not!" her father vehemently denied. "Little girls must not play with 
swords. Thou must either watch or find something else to do."

	It came to her again. The anger, the rage. Boiling up inside of her like she 
would explode. She calmed it and looked at her father, smiling. "Ok. I'll just ask 
mother if she'll show me how to play the flute better."

	"Go play thy flute!" shouted Jenta. He laughed. Senta frowned. Swiping his 
brother on the head, Solten scolded Jenta. 

	"Never be mean to a girl. Especially thine own sister!" Jenta grimaced and 
rubbed his head.

	"Oh yeah? Take this!" Jenta tackled his brother and they continued fighting. You 
couldn't tell if they were having incredible fun or fighting for their lives. Perhaps 
both.

	Senda frowned again and looked at her father. He looked smug as he watched his 
sons' "epic battle." Senda wanted to have epic battles, and she promised herself that 
she would. "I'm the daughter of the military leader of his majesty, I deserve it. But 
first.. hmm... I think I'll talk to mama about that flute. I never really did get that 
tune quite right."

	She stepped into the house, a lavish building. She learned to be very careful. 
Living in luxury teaches children to be careful not to break things. But occasionally 
accidents happen. And one happened today.

	Senda muttered to herself as she rummaged through her shelves to find the flute, 
then she heard a crash. Mother had left a statuette of something on her shelf. It was 
indistinguishable now. Wonder what it was? A gift, maybe?

	"Mama..." she said apprehensively. "I broke something..." Her mother rushed in.

	"What? Oh... The statue... I left it there because... Senda! Thou must learn to 
pay attention! Haven't I told thee to be aware of what's going on? Dost thou want all 
these years I've raised thee to go to waste? No. I'd hope not! Now I want thee to stay 
in thy room until I come back. Hear me?"

	"Yes mother."

	"No dessert tonight!" The door slammed shut. Senda heard it lock.

	"Great. Locked up. I hate this family. It was an accident!" Anger flared within 
her again. "I wish I wasn't even born in this family."

	She picked up the silver flute her father had bought for her. She twisted in her 
fingers, put it to her mouth, then tried again to play her mother's song.

	The flute thrilled with amazing clarity. The sounds were each sweet perfection. 
She stopped playing, and looked at the flute in astonishment. "Hey... Was I really 
playing that?"

	Suddenly the flute felt ice cold. She dropped it. "What is going on?" Senda 
watched as the flute melted to liquid, and took the shape of a metal babble. Senda 
didn't cry. She looked at the babble. "You're... smiling?"

	"Master..." the babble gurbled.

	"Master...? Me?" she pointed to herself.

	The metal babble smiled up at her. "Blessed... master.... Dragon.. Lord...."

	"I don't understand..." Her father entered the room that instant, her mother 
stood behind him. And the slime formed into the flute on the floor before they could see 
what happened.

	"Ignorant little girl! Your mother told me what you did. You should be ashamed. 
A nice man wanted to give you that statue. Your mother left it there for you, and you 
break it! What am I going to do with you?"

	Senda stood there, silent. Her eyes didn't shift.

	He looked down at the flute on the ground. "You can't even pick up your own 
things. I can't seal with this." said the father. I have better things to attend to." he 
left the room. She heard her two brothers whispering outside the door.

	"Am I free to leave now mother?"

	"Art thou sorry."

	"Yeah."

	"Say it like thou meanst it then."

	"I beg thy forgiveness for my foolish behavior."

	Her mother looked confused. "Thou may leave, just... try to be a good girl, ok?"

	"Yes, mother."

	Her mother left the room. Senda shut the door behind her. The metal babble, 
reformed, crawled up next to her. It smiled at her. She smiled back. "Master..."

	"Babble. Do me a favor, alright?"

	"Yes, master..."

	"Fix my statue."

	The slime swallowed up the pieces of the statue on by one, and then crawled away 
a bit, leaving a slimy complete statue.

	"It's... a dragon? Unfitting for someone to give to a girl, don't you think, 
Babble?"

	The slime gurbled and shook.

	She picked the statue up and brushed off the slime. She looked at the engraving. 

	"To Senda, daughter of Alefgard's beloved general. May the light shine upon 
thee."

	Then she looked into the dragon's eyes. They began to glow red.

	"Senda. Thou art the chosen one who feels the anger burning within. A horde of 
demons rests with thy commands. Thou art the resurrected Dragon Lord. We went through 
great lengths to possess thy body with our master's soul. Release... Release thine own 
power."

	Senda stepped back. The statue dropped from her hands. It didn't break.

	"I.. I... I didn't want to be a part of this family, but I.. didn't expect 
this." Senda's eyes grew dimmer. "Ahh. Vengeance is mine. I -am- the Dragon Lord! And I 
shall start my feast with Alefgard's finest general! Babble! Come, let us feast upon the 
fine blood of those we hate!"

	The babble looked up and smiled.

	"Blessed master... Vengeance... is ours.." It crawled after her, feeding off the 
 blood left behind by the dragon that had awakened within that little girl.

	The Dragon Lord was back.

Hope you enjoyed my story of resurrection! This was more set in the Dragon Quest world 
than pertaining directly to the storyline, but I think it's pretty nice. Do you think I 
should give more stories happy endings? Give me some comments. :) Maybe more on the way, 
so keep checking. I enjoyed the other storys on the quest page as well. Please write to 
me at skconnor@worldnet.att.net or songokuh@geocities.com