literature

Suomen Lohikaarmeet

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At the peak of the white cliffs of Koli, two dragons met. They faced each other, exchanging ominous glares. A cool autumn breeze passed by them as they stood silently, watching each other, in anticipation.

On the left cliff perched the great Kalevi, the Overseer of Light. For thousands of years, Kalevi watched over Suomi and resided in the forested hills of Koli, observing the wildlife that began to populate the area. He silently took witness to the humans that came and made shelter in his homeland, deciding to let them populate in peace. Kalevi was a noble dragon with good intentions, who strived to keep order in the country.

On the right quartz cliff stood Taisto, the Overseer of Darkness. As ancient and nearly ageless as Kalevi, Taisto made his residence at the bottom of Lake Pielinen. Within his watery den, the primordial, serpentine beast could sense the presence of new inhabitants on his land. Unlike his counterpart, Taisto wanted to keep the humans, along with the other creatures, away from his homeland, so the dragons could forever thrive. Deep inside himself, he knew it would disrupt the balance of the Earth, but his selfishness got the better of him, and he vowed to one day slaughter all who set foot upon Suomi.

For this reason, on that day, the great immortal dragons stood against each other. Kalevi knew of the dark Overseer's plan, and he had to prevent him from bringing it into fruition. Kalevi took one step forward, lifted his head, and opened his powerful wings to their fullest span. The insides of his wings shimmered in the sunlight like dazzling, crystalline veils, and as he flapped them once, the sun rose higher into the sky, showering light upon everything around himself. He fixated his glowing diamond eyes on Taisto and dug his hollow, glasslike claws into the cliff.

Unimpressed by Kalevi's show, the dark dragon took two steps forward, opened his mouth, and let out a sharp hiss, while smoke began to billow past his thin, scaly lips. Taisto flicked his forked tongue eagerly and flashed his curved, scarlet teeth menacingly, growing impatient with every passing second. He arched his long, thin back, and opened his sleek ebony wings at his sides. His golden eyes pierced the white dragon across from him with murderous intent, as he pawed and scratched at the stone under him. Resisting his urge to battle no longer, Taisto leapt straight forward at Kalevi.

Without hesitation, the dragon of light opened his mouth wide and shot a stream of azure fire directly into Taisto's path. The black dragon shrieked and fell straight down into the trees. Kalevi took another step forward and peered over the cliff. He couldn't see his counterpart anywhere. He had expected to see the charred dragon fall to the ground, but he heard no sound of impact, and saw no burnt serpent. Unbeknownst to Kalevi, Taisto had clung to the side of the cliff with his hooked claws, waiting for Kalevi to let his guard down. Satisfied with the white dragon's confusion, Taisto sprung forward and slashed at Kalevi, scratching one of his eyes. Startled and now half blind, Kalevi jumped vertically, flapped his glimmering wings, and flew out towards the lake.

Taisto smirked. His opponent was heading straight towards the water, his home. Now assured that he was gaining the upper hand, Taisto opened his wings, raised his head and roared. Above him, the sky darkened, and the moon began to rise. The gentle, pale light washed over him, and the dark dragon quivered excitedly. He shot off the cliff after Kalevi once more, lashing his tail as he flew, cutting off the tops of trees with the scythe-like blade at the tip.

From the corner of his good eye, Kalevi could see the dark Overseer trailing him. He was surprised that the dark dragon could overcome his own blue flames, but he wasn't going to back down. He had to find a way to outsmart Taisto. He flew over the water at a fast pace, thinking as he did, struggling to stay as far away from Taisto as possible. As the black dragon grew closer, Kalevi dove into the water. As expected, Taisto followed him, gliding through the water effortlessly after his opponent. Kalevi knew well that he couldn't outrun Taisto underwater, but already knew what he would do. The white dragon swam up toward the surface, while the dark serpent followed at his heels, spitting clots of smog at him. Kalevi maneuvered around them, then spun around to face Taisto, opening his wings once again. The reflection of the moonlight caught onto the bright scaled on Kalevi's wings, and the black dragon was momentarily blinded by the sight. He spun around in the water, thrashing and hissing, while Kalevi dove back towards him.

The Overseer of Light grabbed hold of the other dragon and flew out of the water, back towards the forest. Digging his claws deep into Taisto's shoulders, Kalevi hurled him into the trees with all his might. Taisto slammed into several thick branches before hitting the ground. He staggered to all fours and growled at the sight of his own blood. Golden eyes glowing with malice, Taisto swung his tail at Kalevi, who sidestepped effortlessly and flew behind the serpent, spitting more flames as he did. The black dragon roared in pain as his sleek scales started to burn away. In a panic, he ran into the trunks of several trees, setting them ablaze. Kalevi flew up again to avoid the flames and watched as the forest started to burn.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake. Nearly losing his balance, Taisto staggered, then dashed towards Pielinen, dove into the water, and doused the flames. His relief was short-lived, however, as dozens of sinuous vines came bursting from the forest. They wrapped themselves around Taisto, who tried to rip himself free. They tightened as he did, cutting off his air. Despite this, he continued to struggle. Above him, he saw Kalevi, also wrapped in vines, being lowered into the wilderness. He, however, was still.

The forest god Tapio, along with Vellamo, the goddess of the lake, had been watching their conflict, and were both saddened and angered at the Overseers. From the vines, a potent spore arose, and seeped into the nostrils of both dragons. The spore put them both into a deep slumber. Though Kalevi had good intentions, he disrupted the peace of the forest during the fight, and was banished deep within the wooded hills, to sleep for thousands of years. Taisto, for his brash and selfish desires, was imprisoned by Vellamo beneath the lake. The day and night cycle was also out of balance due to the dragons. Päivätär, goddess of day, and Kuu, god of the moon, were reawakened to fix what the dragons had thrown into disarray.

Hundreds of years after their duel, Kalevi, Overseer of Light, and Taisto, Overseer of Darkness, still doze deep within Koli. The rest of their kind have gone, but they live on, to once again awaken. No one knows if, when the day comes, their battle will resume, and what will come of it.
*EDITPLZ* Changed the title to the more proper...thing, thanks to some feedback from :iconberrycake: THANK YOUUUUU. :iconwantcupcakesplz:

I wrote this for my mom's birthday, which is this Friday, because she likes dragons and shit. I just like Finland, so yeah.

I did a lot of research for such a short lil' drabble...it's partly inspired by Finnish mythology, so all those gods and goddesses mentioned at the end are their stuff. Koli National Park looks like an AWESOME place to be, so that's why I set the story there. Big-ass lake, forest with lots of hills and cliffs, FFFF. :iconwantplz: Also figured two dragons could have fun there. I wanted an open-ish area for them to fly around, but I wanted forests, water, and rock. GREATEST. COMBINATION. EVAAAAR. ILU FINLAND. YOU AND DEUTSCHLAND, HERE I COME. Country fagging over. Hope you like, I guess.

Story and dragon...character...things... © Amanda Poeschl aka :iconsquirrelywrath77:
Koli National Park, Lake Pielinen, and all them gods/goddesses belong to...Finland. :iconhellyeahplz:
© 2009 - 2024 SquirrelyWrath77
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Berrycake's avatar
Wow... what an interesting take on Finnish mythology. Though dragons aren't really usual in it, it's very fascinating reading how you put them in classical surroundings. Have you read Kalevala? :)

You seem interested in Finland, that's very sweet~ :3 It isn't very often I come across young (foreign) people in the internet who have created an affection/interest towards this small, cold country and it's mythology. There is one big name though who once created an interest in Finland: mr. J.R.R Tolkien. Actually the Quenya-language of the elves is created from the base of finnish language (there's also latin etc~), which is pretty interesting.

Indeed here are lots of lakes, actually Finland is often called "the land of a thousand lakes". Also of many national parks, near my home is the national park of Oulanka which is quite awesome place.

If you want the title of your deviation to be 100% correct finnish, it would be "Suomen Lohikäärmeet" ("Suomen Lohikaarmeet" -since your keyboard probably hasn't got the ä-letter). Finnish grammar is a "bit" confusing even to natives! :lol: lol! Well, everyone knows how to speak it correctly of course, but when studying the actual structure it starts to get complicated... :F Finnish grammar in school was one of the most unpleasant things ever, lol! However love the effort you've made, both in research and the finnish title. ^.^