Name: dragonsmemory
District: Fantasy
Based on: Poem #2
((AN: Well, it's back to the competition. Just thought I'd prolong the suspense with this note. Also, there's a lot of background to this particular tale. So, while your facepalming, allow me to explain.
The Shadows (see title) are the evil thoughts of men and the nightmares of dragons. They have always been a part of Earth, but they have grown stronger. The Shadows are on the verge of taking over the world. There is little hope left.
And now, without further ado, Team Dragonwriting proudly presents…"Lighting the Shadows."))


I looked out at the world. It was dark now, it always was. Where the brook once laughed and murmured to itself, there is now a bed of black stone. Where the great pines once stood tall and proud, there is now only a gray, charred scar. Happy, prospering villages, now burned to nothing, their citizens forced to work in the mines.
I had a task. I had been marked for this task the moment I was born. No one else could do it. There was only one thing that could fend off a Shadow: Hope. My task was to spread Hope as far as possible.
Hope was the light at the end of the tunnel, the soft bed at the end of the day, the roaring brand and hot foodof an inn. It was smiles, laughter, and good cheer. It was everything god in the world.

Carefully, I jumped down from the rock I was standing on. It was a long walk to my destination. As I walked, I thought about one of the old stories, the legend of Pandora's Box.
As thes story went, a great flood covered the earth and killed almost every living creature. The few that survived repopulated the earth.
Pandora had been gegeven a gift from the gods: a box containing all that was needed to rebuild the world. The box was not to be opened until the world was ready. In her curiosity, Pandora opened the box, releasing the Shadows into the world.
Once the Shadows had cleared out, Pandora noticed that there was one thing left in the box. That thing was Hope. Ever since, Pandora's Daughters carried it far and wide, rectifying the mistake made so many centuries ago.
Now it was my turn.

I set the ancient stone box in what used to be a plowed field. My mother had passed the box to me, and so I would when the time came for my daughter to take up the task.
Gently, I prised open thed lid. There was a soft golden glow at the bottom. I tipped Pandora's box on its side, restoring Hope to the area.


((I Hope u liked it. Yes, I worked in the Pandora story. I didn't originally plan it, but it worked. So, what did u think?))