A Window to the Birth of a Dragon
Existence trembles when a newly born dragon roars...a flash fiction story about human transcendence….
This flash fiction story was written for the Soaring Twenties Social Club (STSC) Symposium. The STSC is a small, exclusive online speakeasy where a dauntless band of raconteurs, writers, artists, philosophers, flaneurs, musicians, idlers, and bohemians share ideas and companionship. Occasionally, STSC members create something around a set theme. This time the theme was “windows.” If you are a writer, I encourage you to consider joining us, I’ve included details at the bottom of this post. Lastly, you can find all my past symposium pieces by clicking here.
Arthur sat at his desk and stared dreamily out his office window at the mid-autumn photonic ambrosia that beckoned him seductively. The fingers of sunlight seemed to reach into the room and silently plead for him to “come play.” It was the kind of day that warmed the soul while containing just a tiny hint of the acerbic bite of winter. A day of refreshing coolness. The house’s windows had eagerly opened themselves to the fresh fall air, which had created a sort of natural intoxication in the home’s animals and indeed, in the humans, as they were all vibrating in anticipation with a kind of irrational energy that put a pep in the step of people and the need to zoom uncontrollably into the feet of felines.
Arthur sighed at his lost focus and decided he needed to take a break. Perhaps today would be a good day to meditate outside.
***
Ten minutes later, Arthur sat on his back patio meditating.
“This is stupid,” he thought over and over.
He started to feel angry at the time he was wasting. During his last physical, his doctor had said that his blood pressure was too high and that one way to calm down and eliminate stress was to meditate. It all sounded like new age quackery to Arthur but he did need to bring his blood pressure down and he hated taking drugs if he didn’t have to, so he decided to try this meditation thing. “There is no try, only do, or do not.” he remembered Yoda had said.
“This is stupid” he thought again.
He took a deep breath and paid attention to the feeling of inhaling, the feeling of his lungs being full. And then he exhaled and felt the feeling of the air flowing out of his body.
By and by, it dawned on Arthur, for the first time in his life, that part of the world had just entered him and become part of him. And part of him had just left his body and entered the world. And that part of him that he had exhaled now nourished the plant life around him…and visa versa.
Where do I start and where do I end? He wondered.
Where does the world start and where does it end?
After Arthur exhaled, he didn’t immediately breath in again and suddenly became aware of a feeling of deep centeredness. A oneness with all. It felt like pure awareness, with no rational thought. And, just for a split second, he felt joyful and light.
He continued with this awareness for a while and by and by he saw an image of a single eye staring at him even as he stared back at the eye. It was startling at first, but he had read that people experience strange things while meditating, so, as he had been instructed, he returned his attention to his breath and continued.
The eye grew larger and larger in his mind until finally he “entered” the very center of it and there was the unmistakable face of a dragon staring back at him. Its eyes glowed red and a sort of pixelated colored energy smoldered out of its nostrils. As with the eye, the dragon got larger and larger in his mind until he also “entered” it.
At that instant, an energy jolt shot up his spine, from the base of his spine to the top of his head until it shot out the top of his head and, suddenly, he felt huge and powerful as if the whole universe was contained inside his dragonish body.
He opened his eyes and the world had stopped.
Not even the wind blew. There was no sound at all.
Arthur stood up and walked over to the large esperanza plant in the corner of his yard. The vividness of the yellow flowers with their slight burgundy lines extending out from the center vortex of each plant almost overwhelmed him in their vivid beauty. The bees still hovered in the air around the flowers, not moving as time stood still.
How can this be? He wondered.
Is this all in my mind?
Does it even matter?
Arthur stood in reverie of the flowers and the bees a while longer, a second, a minute, a year, a century…he wasn’t sure.
And then he looked up at the cloudless sky and roared his fearsome roar that told the world a powerful dragon had realized the truth of its existence…..the truth of its unlimited power.
With a shudder of realization, time started flowing again and existence trembled as it realized that another dragon had been born.
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These kinds of moments are as rare as they are empowering and humbling. Thanks for sharing.