This is to be my entry for the On Fire contest. What I'm really looking for is thoughts on the piece itself (ie., symbolism, etc.), especially the end. I'm not really satisfied with that in particular. =/ Oh, for contest purposes, this piece was inspired by the second picture.

Well, have at it!

************

Aquama Dragon

Darkness encompassed the whole of the underground chasm. Not even the miniscule light given them by the group’s torches could reach the distant walls on either side of the deep grotto. The quiet splashes made as the oars rhythmically split the water faded into nothing, heightening the feeling among the twenty men and boys that their existence was as nothing compared to the creature which they hunted.

The torches suddenly flickered in a breath of wind, the first the twenty comrades had felt since entering the gods-forsaken lair of the Aquama Dragon. In another instant, their tiny pinpoints of reassuring torchlight went out, and the company was plunged into death-like darkness. An older man cursed and rummaged around without success in the bow of his dinghy for something to relight the oiled cloth on his torch.

One of the youngest boys cried out in fear, pointing unseen through the darkness at a brief flash of bright light. Some of the older men, knowing more of the legend of the Aquama Dragon, covered their eyes as the pinprick suddenly exploded into a ball of fire and traced courses along the water’s surface as if following oil trails.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Dragon rears high over their heads. It has shown itself to these Seekers, shown itself as it is—born, made, killed by, and wreathed in Flame. Fire is the body and mind, heart and soul of this creature, created by Vulcan in the deepest mountain and volcano forges of the early Gods’ Age. Its Fire is unquenchable and cannot be doused by Water.

This is the essence of the Aquama Dragon—Fire dominating Water as no other creature known to Man has, had, or ever will. A sinuous shape shrouded in Fire sprouts from the Water into an inferno of Light too intense for mortals’ eyes. Its claws part Water as Man’s picks and axes tear up Earth. Without the Flame around its head, the skull is as large as two of Man’s dinghies moored end-to-end. It towers five stories over the quivering, cowering Men, its outstretched wingtips brushing the walls of the cavern and its nose-horn scraping the black rock above it.

It is Fire, it is Water—

It strikes fear of Fire

In Honest Men and Liars—

Even in those called Brave Seekers.

It is Aquama—Fire dominating Water.

Fire Can Never be Controlled.

Not by Gods and

Certainly Not by Men.

This is Why it Was Imprisoned—

Beneath Earth,

Above Water—

Chained by Its Creators.

It Was Left for All Eternity

To Wallow Between Water and

Earth Without a Single Breath

Of Air to Stir the

Flame.