This is the short story I wrote about why I am in Second Life. Galar is Gaelic for Disease. Happy snappies were staged in Second Life to add to the story. The story was published in Life To Life Magazine Summer 2009.
The Damsel Fights Back
The Damsel And The Dragon
On the heels of the Queen’s death and the conjoinment of Prince CuChulainn, Princess Emer and Duchess Ryanne, who were now ruling over of the kingdom, came an influx of new faces migrating to the Islands that are called Lost and blending into the fabric of the kingdom deeply enriching the Flanagan Clan. One of these fresh faces belonged to a comely damsel. She walked into Flanagan’s Pub one cold winter evening to attend a festive gathering and to satisfy her curiosity about the Clan and other people in the kingdom.
Putting on a name tag that simply read “Parker” she returned greetings with all the confidence and stability of a newborn kitten. Parker was careful not to make eye contact with any one, but remained on the sidelines watching in wonder and awe. The crowd was dense and she knew no one in the room. Slowly she meandered around the perimeter of the amazing ornately plain room. She studied with care the textures and moldings that would make this ballroom come alive even if no one was present.
Stepping through a side door the damsel had her breath taken away. She was in the original part of the pub and found herself reaching out and touching the smallest details with tender fingertips. Studying the richness of every crease and crevice, Parker lost all track of time. She allowed the music wafting in from the outer ballroom to lull her further into a mesmerizing trance that propelled her into the speculation of the history of the fine craftsmanship enveloping her. While her fingers ran along the ivory keys of the piano she did not realize her solitude had ended.
As she caressed the handiwork all around her, Parker was unaware of eyes studying her. She jumped at the greeting bestowed from behind. Turning toward the door, Parker was face-to-face with Prince CuChulainn and returned his greeting apologizing if she had entered a room not open to the public. The prince assured her that all rooms were opened for exploration. He went on to apologize for interrupting her reverie but explained that he was not given to crowds and much preferred smaller gatherings.
The pair chatted for a while then the prince went into a detailed history of the pub. Lovingly he explained how the queen had desired such a place for the Clan and all those in the kingdom to come together. Parker drank in every historical notation accounting the construction and dedication of the pub, its ballrooms and gardens. She did not want to miss one iota. The more the prince talked the deeper the damsel drifted into the manifestations that are the Flanagan Clan. In the same reality the deeper the prince took Parker’s thoughts into his recitations, the further she went from the nightmare in her own world.
One cold winter night in the warmth of a cozy pub, a friendship was formed between two unlikely souls. Parker and the prince would spend hours together talking and sharing their thoughts and their joys. Enthusiastically the pair explored various parts of the kingdom and enjoyed the richness and beauty therein. But, always close in the damsel’s conscience was the battle looming that she fought every day. Wanting to enjoy every blissful moment, the damsel knew she could not reveal to anyone in the kingdom (least of all the prince) that a dragon had come to claim her and threw her into a vicious battle that she fought alone in her own world.
Years before, without warning, Galar entered the damsel’s life. At first she did not think the dragon powerful and venomous. Time proved her wrong. However, knowing his strength would not have given Parker any foothold to banish him from her life for good. In the beginning Parker did not know what she was fighting and knew even less about how to fight dragons. Instead of fighting, the fair damsel gave up and ran away looking to find replacements for all that Galar had stolen from her. In her apparent flight from reality, Parker found herself continually on the Islands that are called Lost and enjoying the companionship of a prince.
Day after day the sweet damsel entered what she called her fairytale life. It was there that she could be herself again, be whole. In her fairytale life she could run and dance and even spread her arms to fly. There, Parker could control her own life and not be concerned with Galar looming behind rocks or lurking in caves waiting for a chance to spring, talons extended and deliver more crippling blows to her already fragile body.
In the fairytale land of the Islands that are called Lost, Galar dared not enter, but the moment Parker would step out of the fantasy, away from the beauty of the land and the companionship of her princely friend, Galar was waiting. His hot breath steaming through flared nostrils would cause her head to spin. Galar is a sneaky dragon and does not fight fair. He has a way of leaving his prey alone and just watching, waiting for just the moment that the intended victim would feel confident that he was finally gone and would plague them no more. Then at just the perfect moment Galar would extend his talons and use the full force of his mighty arm to knock the victim off their feet and leave the poor soul laying there writhing in pain.
One day, in the early spring of friendships blossom, a messenger arrived while Parker and CuChulainn were exploring gardens on the far side of the kingdom. Parker watched helplessly as news delivered to the prince that a knight, who was closer to him than a brother, had been murdered by a dragon. It was speculated that this dragon was of the same nest as the one which claimed the queen and another knight who was a boyhood friend of the prince. In his grief the prince ran off for the palace leaving the damsel to stand shivering with worry.
Parker return to her home and watched the day the prince rode off on his steed to hunt down the dragon which dared to enter the kingdom and take the life of one so loyal as Sir Jeff. Parker waved as CuChulainn rode by, but still buried in his grief the prince did not see his friend. In her heart of hearts, Parker knew she would never again spend time with the one who had given her many hours of relief from Galar. Demurely patting away the tears rolling down her cheeks with her lace handkerchief, she slowly turned and walked back into her home. Her reality. Her own personal battleground.
Deep concern for the prince allowed Galar another entrance into Parker’s world. She was already weakened from previous battles with her fierce enemy. Now, her heart broken, Galar wasted no time hurling his fiery darts in just the right places to send Parker crumbling to the ground. There was no one there to catch Parker as she fell and no one to help her fight this dragon she did not understand. Now, she no longer had any one to help her escape his relentless torment even for the briefest of time.
One brisk autumn day, lying in a sea of her own tears, Parker found herself curled up like a kitten shivering in pain and fear. Slowly, she pulled herself up. For the moment Galar did not appear to be around. Tattered and scarred, the once fair damsel knew in fractured clarity that she needed to fight back. After bathing, Parker put on fresh clothes and went in search of a friend. Stepping back into her fairytale world she reacquainted herself with others she had enjoyed the company of in time long since reverted to memory. Spending time in her fairytale land with acquaintances she felt comfort that she hadn’t felt since her time with the prince. Once again, Parker had found an escape for brief interludes from Galar’s ferocious attacks.
Slowly, the damsel regained the resilience she knew before Galar entered her life and wreaked havoc. As she felt surer of her footing she also found herself trusting. She began to share information of her battles with those who had taken her in as family and friend. Neither the Flanagan Clan nor the royals had fully accepted her, save the prince alone. She was a commoner and not a clansman therefore, they could never have fully accepted her. However, in a quaint little village known as the Bee Hive Township, there were those who offered hands to hold and arms to lean on whenever Parker was weary from her battles’ rage.
Seven souls welcomed Parker into their world and in return she began to trust their strength and learned to use it during the ensuing skirmishes with Galar. Even the times that Galar would have the upper hand, Parker knew she was not alone. There were seven angels who were each in their own way, there to catch her or to help her tend her wounds. Over time, in the fortitude of a few, Parker found herself winning the battles more and more. Galar turned his attention from the damsel with the help of a gentle wizard who truly knew how to fend him off.
Parker would return to the Islands that are called Lost from time to time and continued to be concerned for the prince. However, CuChulainn faced his own dragon and the sweet damsel held vigil against hers. The season’s changed as they always do, but Parker could now stand in both her fairytale world and her real world with trust in her heart with the weapons of friendship and love to wield whenever Galar came to prey. Deep within the damsel knew this dragon would never go away. But then again, neither will friendships found so true.
June 19, 2009
© DL Bach
The Damsel Is Victorious
**DISCLAIMER – The characters in this story are people in Second Life. I am not, in any way, attempting to mock or do harm to any deities. The people chose their own names and I just wrote my story.
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