~~~~~
‘Tis a sad, sad day we beckon away
In which we buried one of our own.
But a tragic tale mends as one life ends
In a battle tooth, nail, and bone.
He was the prophecy’s slave with the world to save
And all those in it watching him fight.
Little did he know that he was to go
Into his end that terrible night.
Time was winding down, and all of the town
Could smell the oncoming storm.
He knew too; it was happening soon,
The coming of the dreaded form.
But all too fast came the terrible mass
With eyes blood red and cold.
It snuck in the night, giving horrible fright
To the boy just nineteen years old.
He could not resist, or the people would miss
On a chance to more peacefully live.
For only he, though just nineteen,
Had the power of death to give.
A spell had been cast, many years in the past,
Making him the one to be chosen.
But the spell had failed, leaving the wizard nailed;
Its life and powers essentially frozen.
But then it was saved by one of its slaves
And frighteningly rose again.
It went back to its ways, from those long-ago days
When all it did was cause pain.
And now to die, it must be killed by the boy
Marked as its equal with a scar
And on that night, filled with fright,
The boy knew he’d have to go that far.
He was taken back to a forgotten shack
Known as the Riddle House.
His situation was dire, there was a large fire
Creeping towards him that he’d have to douse.
The evil snake man, confidently ran
Out leaving the boy all alone.
Leaving him to think, though he was on the brink
Of despair as he let out a moan.
But the light bulb went on, and soon he was gone
From the bonds that he’d magicked off.
At the realization, that with concentration,
For some spells, his wand he could doff.
He then retrieved his wand, for he needed its bond
If he wanted to end the thing’s life.
And he went to go find it, to then really wind it,
Causing it much annoyance and strife.
Because only then, would he be able to send
The snake man to its final doom.
With a loud sigh, knowing he might die,
The boy slowly left the room
He was not quite prepared for what he found there:
The blood and the guts and the gore
The stories were true; what the snake-man could do
Was in all of the rumors and lore.
At the end of the hall, watching something else crawl
Was the thing whose life needed to end.
He took a deep breath; he didn’t want to cause death
Though this one to hell he would send.
It took all his mind, he wanted to find
The power to call up the curse.
Before it found out he was out and about
Of his fiery prison first.
He steadied himself against a near shelf
And shouted the final part.
He had been in luck, the green light struck
The snake man right in the heart.
It hit the ground with a crunching sound
As all of its bones were crushed.
The boy stood wide-eyed; it was quite a sight
And it turned out to be too much.
He was found lying down on the cold wooden ground
His expression being one of great shock.
Upon seeing it fall, though he saved them all,
He had collapsed to the floor like a rock.
They’d taken him out, though they had their doubts
That he could still be revived.
With a whole lot of dread, they finally said,
He was no longer the boy who survived.
‘Tis a sad, sad day we beckon away
In which we buried one of our own.
But a tragic tale mends as one life ends
In a battle tooth, nail, and bone.
~~~~~
