by Park Moon
The Myth of the White Dragon
Park Moon
CHOICE
Copyright © 2021 Park Moon
All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
This is self-published by the CHOICE Publisher.
Original Title: The Myth of the White Dragon
Author: Park Moon
Layout: INNI LEE
Proofreading: Alice Katsuki
Cover and graphic design: INNI LEE
ISBN: Amazon Exclusive
Copyright © 2020-2021 PARK MOON
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Synopses:
Dan Lao, the White Dragon’s Lake, son of King Vant, the master of the Red Demons’s kingdom, with Queen Lan Du, daughter of the Sea Dragon with a mermaid.
Thus, Dan Lao has a strong bond connection with water, because of his mother’s Water Underworld origins. Dan was not accepted on land or sea. His mother created an island, invisible to human eyes, to protect him.
When his father died in an ambush and his mother abandoned the waters, Dan Lao was forced, as heir, to watch over the waters of the world.
Realizing that humans were cruel to creatures that did not look like them, Dan Lao decided to give up the mission.
There was no rain, no water in the springs. The sea no longer provided fish.
The Divine Oracle, the supreme God who ruled the Celestial Kingdom, requested Dan Lao to show empathy with humans, too ignorant to understand the magnitude of nature, but Dan refused it.
For many years, the land remained unproductive, and the men who ruled the people became desperate.
The Kan tribe, made up of fishermen who lived next to the sea, was the most affected by Dan Lao’s fury. Therefore, they summoned a shaman to find out a way to make the Water’s God and supreme White Dragon’s Lake stop his rage against the people.
The shaman said that a gift was something that would please the Dragon. However, not just any gift, the village’s most valuable asset.
The desperate leader of the tribe, with nothing valuable to offer, offered his only daughter...
In a story that mixes mythology and fantasy, you will meet Dan Lao, a mystical being who can transform into a merman and a dragon, but who prefers to isolate himself and avoid using his powers because his heart holds incalculable sorrows.
However, the four gods that take care of the elements that help the Divine Oracle to rule the Universe, want to eliminate Dan Lao from the position of God, due to his hybrid origins.
Dan Lao is not a simple god and hides some secrets, which only a good witness could notice...
The story mixes Vietnamese, Chinese and Korean mythology, creating a unique mythological fantasy.
Prelude
The Divine Oracle created the Universe, and on Earth, the Oracle chose five elements, which were to be ruled by gods.
These elements were earth, fire, metal, wood and water, together with air. Thus, everything had the perfect cycle of birth and death.
In the cycle of life generation, wood fed the fire, which, with the ashes, produced earth, which gathered the metal, the creator of the mountains, thus producing, in its springs, the water that, eventually, gave life to the tree, which would produce wood and the cycle would repeat itself.
In the cycle of death, the wood nourished the earth, which retained the water, and it put out the fire that melted the metal, which, finally, cut the wood.
The gods were chosen for their skills in handling these elements, not for their ethical qualities.
Wood was ruled by the god Seyru, a hornless dragon who lived in the east of the nation, with a kind heart. Seyru never thought of himself.
Fire was in the southern plains, ruled by San, a feared warrior. He, with Xi, created weapons, and, consequently, the wars.
Earth was in the center of the nation, led by the dragon Dilong, friend of San and Xi.
Metal was administered by Xi, the brutal and cruel dragon, the queen of the west.
Water was in the north, ruled by the sea dragon, Sia, who also took care of the air. Sia was a kind dragon who harmonized everything around him. He had also broken some rules, when he fell in love with a mermaid, and thus begot a hybrid daughter, going against the perfect cycle of the Oracle’s actions.
Prologue
Narrated by Jade, daughter of the Kan tribe leader.
The drought had lasted for years, precisely twenty years, and I can’t remember the last time I felt raindrops touch my hands, because I was too, too little to understand the complexity of the rain.
In vain, my father and his friends, his fellow fishermen, would take their boats and sail away, beyond our sight, searching for fish, always unsuccessful.
The rice, which needed water to nourish their grains, had died before it was born. Animals were perishing along the way, and our hope was losing strength.
The spring morning, which by divine decree would rain, was arid as a desert.
The sea was there, not as before, because the ocean level had never been the same after the excessive drought.
Looking at the sea, my Uncle Mao, with a piece of grass in his mouth, staring into the sea, sitting on top of the shore rocks.
I approached and he did not notice me, and even though I sat down next to him, he remained quiet.
“Uncle...” I tried to speak.
He sighed, threw the grass to the other side of his mouth, and he stared at me with his left eye.
“What do you want, little lotus flower?”
“Why do you always look at the sea, even though you know that the clouds will not show up on the horizon and the rain will not touch the dust on our tiles?” I chewed my words, with the usual regret.
“The gods are wise, little lotus!” he lifted his chin and turned his eyes to watch the waves swaying cheerlessly on the rock.
“I don’t think they are wise at all, because if they were, they would give water to people.”
“And, do the people deserve it, daughter? Tell me the truth!” he raised his left eyebrow.
“Yes, people need food. We are starving, Uncle Mao. Gods are tyrants and not merciful at all.
“I disagree, but I respect your indignation. I would be like that too, if I were your age. Because, one day I dared to fight with the gods. Oh!” he continued chewing the grass, thoughtfully.
“Are you going to start talking about the day you met the Water’s God?” I shrugged and rolled my eyes back.
“Why not? That event changed my life, child!”
“Uncle! If you know him, ask for his help! He is the god who rules the water and surely, he is the one to blame for this miserable drought!” I huffed, sure of my words.
“Don’t speak what you don’t know, daughter!”
“I dare to say, I would slap his face if I met him now!”
“Perhaps, in the conversations I had in front of the bonfire, when you were a little child to understand the greatness of certain things, I did not fully expose the saga about my encounter with the great and sovereign Water’s Dragon, the White Dragon’s Lake.
I rolled my eyes back again, because Uncle Mao always said the same things, and I was not willing to listen to the same nonsense again.
When I mentioned getting up, he took my right arm and pulled it around so that I could s
it down again.
Before I could mumble anything, he began:
“It was a stormy night, a long way from the drought that hung over the heads of our people. Me and some friends, fishermen as well, tried past the dragon’s throat. You know where it is.
I nodded, because the dragon’s throat was a rocky wall that encircled the bay that hugged the coast where we lived. This wall faced the big waves to reduce and calm it around us. However, in the middle of this wall, there was an opening, the dragon’s throat, whose space only a medium-sized boat could cross.
“We passed through the dragon’s throat and we touched the sea. Ah! Those big waves, darkness and the storm. When we left the village, the storm was only a subtle splash of rain.
“Just time to go back, Uncle!” I grumbled.
“Easy for you to say when you don’t know the direction of the wind, child. I hope you never experience that. However, when the sea was too rough, and we had no hope of getting back safely, a dragon appeared, white as the moon, in the middle of a big wave. My friends were desperate, and, even though they were stunned, they took their arrows and bows and tried to hit the poor white dragon.
“Did they kill him?”
“They couldn’t hold their legs in the boat, let alone hit a being that moved like a snake?”
“So, what happened?”
“I threw myself in front of one of my friends, but he pushed me, and I fell into the sea.”
“Why did you stand in front of him if you knew they wouldn’t hit the dragon?”
“Instinct, child! I was born to protect every living thing, no matter if it is big, small, animal, visible or invisible.”
“How did you survive, Uncle?”
“The boat capsized, with the thud of the great dragon’s tail.
“Uncle! You fell down before the boat capsized. How did you survive? Don’t make up stories!” I snorted.
“The dragon saved me!” he smiled.
At that instant, I got on my heels to stand up, but Uncle Mao was still holding my hand.
“Listen, dear! Because it will be useful soon!”
I shrugged, bent my knees and hugged it, as Uncle slowly let go of my hand.
“It all happened very quickly, child. I saw the water touch my pupils, and then I felt a tug, and finally darkness. I woke up, hours later, in a soft bed, with silks that I have never seen in the village, well... We never had silk in the village.” he picked up the grass and smiled faintly. “When I stood up, I saw the magnitude of the place where, someone or something, had settled me.”
“Did the dragon have a home?” my eyes widened.
“Home?” he laughed, throwing his back behind him. “He has an empire, my child!”
“What do you mean?”
“The White Dragon lives on an island, not far from our sight, but invisible to human eyes.”
“An invisible island? How can this be?”
“The gods can do anything!”
“Uncle?” I sighed, avoiding to show that I was curious.
It was so rare for me to listen to my Uncle, when he was sketching his fanciful stories. Still, I wanted to know more, out of an instinct I did not know.
“Can you tell me more about this story?”
“Of course! I am glad you are not calling me crazy now, as your mother and father do, whenever I start talking.”
“I want to know about it, even if it sounds something very, very different, and, yes, very fanciful.”
“Right! The Dragon gave me food and water, bed and protection. I was still a teenager, too ignorant to understand his wisdom. You know, when a wise man speaks, the ignorant just bow the head, not understanding, but accepting it.”
“What does the dragon look like? How did a dragon walk in the palace? Did it bump its tail on the columns?” I frowned, trying to imagine the scene of a dragon carrying a basket of fruit to Uncle Mao in bed.
Uncle Mao laughed again, a laugh that seemed to savor his vocal cords.
“Daughter! He is a man! I cannot believe you imagined he was spitting fire!”
“Man? He is a dragon! I do not get it!”
“He turns into a dragon when he wishes. I also knew, because it was his own words that explained it, that when he is in the lake, which is in the palace, raised by his mother, his ancestry coming from the mermaid mother, makes him a half fish.”
“You say he can be a dragon and a mermaid at the same time? What a bizarre thing!” I folded my arms.
“A man, half fish, only when he is in the lake. The reason for this, I am, in my infinite ignorance, unable to understand, nor can I explain.”
“Why does he become a dragon?”
“He is the son of a demon and the dragon’s daughter Sia, but his mother was also a combination of two species. She was a daughter of a dragon with a mermaid. Something affected the Dragon’s Lake heredity and made him that way. When he wants, he is a fish from the waist down. When he wishes, he is the White Dragon, king of the seas.”
“What does he look like? Is he big like the ogres of the North, Uncle? They say dragons are terrifying! You were afraid?”
“Oh, my dear! I have never seen such a good-looking man! His hair, white as moonbeams, touched his waist, I say, because I saw it with my tired eyes, and the strands flew like feathers. He wore the best hanfu, that beautiful clothing of the emperors, and he always wore a flower ornament in his hair. His gracefulness was terribly contracting with his tall, slender build. Her steps didn’t touch the ground, because his steps were light enough to float, but his hand would clasp a man’s neck and lift man’s body to the top, without making any effort, if he so desired.”
My astonishment was described by my ajar mouth and wide eyes. I was too curious to keep quiet for another second.
“Try to talk to him! Ask the dragon to stop the drought and bring prosperity to the people!”
“Oh, little lotus! He came here whenever he could, but something terrible happened.” He got up and walked through the stones and quickly, I stood up and followed him.
“What happened, Uncle? Did he give up on helping?” I jumped between the stones and ran to catch up with Uncle’s footsteps that seemed to run away from me.
“The Earth’s God doesn’t like the Water’s God to touch the edges of the shore, daughter. Each one is master of their own space. Therefore, when they learned that the hybrid son, grandson of the great dragon was walking on the lands, war broke out. His father, to protect him, went off to war and he did not come back, because the weapons of the gods that confronted him were superior to his strength. Without weapons, we cannot defend ourselves, right? The world is too cruel for the righteous.”
“I don’t understand it!”
“The demon father was killed and his wife fell ill, and she disappeared forever. Nobody has seen her since that sad day. His grandfather also perished. What a tragedy! By the ancestral lineage, the hybrid son would have to take the throne and continue to protect the waters and the air.”
“Did he give up? Did he give up on helping?”
“There was something worse, daughter.” he scratched his head. “Do you think he was coming here to visit your old uncle? No! When he brought me, Dan Lao, for that is his name, he was welcomed by my dear daughter, your cousin.”
“I didn’t know her, because I was born after she died, but I know that my Mother said she died too young. Uncle, why do you ever talk about this?”
“Remember how a wise man speaks and the ignorant accept it, without understanding? If I told you this story, when you were a little girl, you would not be able to understand the greatness of it. Now I see that you do.”
“Dan Lao... I mean, the White Dragon who saved you, met your daughter, and she died because of it?”
“Worse, much worse! Dan fell in love with the sweetness of my daughter. This was against the Heavenly rules. Humans cannot marry or love gods. He tried to explain about it and asked the Divine Oracle for some help. The gods were against it, and the Oracle si
ded with the majority.”
“I didn’t understand how she died! Why did she die?”
“The gods forbade Dan Lao to set foot on land that did not belong to him. He refused to obey the order and waited for the rainy days to camouflage himself and he waited for my daughter, on these rocks, the same ones that my feet now tread painfully.” Uncle Mao stooped down and touched one of the almost onyx stones. “My daughter loved him too much. She suffered so much, poor thing! However, I helped her, with all I could. I saw the gods appear on the shore and realized that Dan Lao was with my daughter. When the rays of fire came out of the hands of the great dragon San, my little daughter threw herself before Dan Lao, and in his arms, she died. The fire consumed the huts, everything was destroyed.”
“Uncle...” I cried. “I am so sorry!”
“Do you think it’s over?” he rubbed his hands over his watery eyes and stared at me. “The gods had inflated the fishermen’s anger against Dan Lao, claiming that he had caused the fire. He tried to take my daughter and run away with her body, but the people stoned him, and in a split second of carelessness, they took my daughter from his arms.” Uncle Mao paused his voice, pulled the tears into his heart, and continued. “He was furious and before us, he turned into that huge dragon, taking his beloved again and fleeing to the sea. That day was the worst storm I have ever witnessed in my whole life. Thunder shook the earth, lightning ripped through the skies, and rain flooded everything imaginable.”
“What did he do with your daughter?”
“I believe he buried her. Because his love was too great. I know that Dan Lao went into exile on the island, swearing that he would never help the people who stood by the gods that killed his beloved.”
“Did this event make the rain stop? Did Dan Lao make the rain stop?”
“Exactly, but he didn’t stop the rain overnight. During five years, gradually, he stopped helping. As he was pious and Dan Lao hoped that during this time, the people would ask for forgiveness. However, this did not happen and he, at the end of the fifth year, stopped sending rain clouds to the coast. In addition, the rest, you know it!”
