I was on vacation in the Mediterranean for the last two weeks, so I missed a couple of prompts. But I'm back this week. Here's the prompt:
Lorilei’s Wish
With Gran’s summoning spell, Lorilei never knew what she would get. Sometimes it was a frog, sometimes just a stinking caterpillar. Once she got a hawk. Almost lost an eye that time. She still bore the scar on her cheek. It wasn’t the spell’s fault, of course. Lorilei was the worst mage in her village.
Her Gran, the most powerful mage around, had done her best to teach Lorilei, but most sessions simply ended with a frown and shake of the head. As Gran said, unreliable magic could be worse than no magic at all.
You’re supposed to be able to control the thing summoned. The problem is you have to talk to it in a language it understands. Most wild things don’t understand anything other than staying alive, eating, and making more wild things.
“Uh, oh,” she said when she opened her eyes and saw the dragon. “What am I gonna do with you?”
“Well, by the rules of the spell, whatever you want to do...once.”
Lorilei was shocked. “You speak Human?”
The dragon sniffed. “I’ve been alive long enough to learn many languages.”
“So, you’ll grant me wishes?”
“One wish. Use it wisely.”
Lorilei screwed up her face. “I want...I want to be the most powerful mage in my village.”
The dragon lifted an enormous eyebrow. “This will take me a while,” it said, then lifted slowly into the air.
After an hour, Lorilei got bored and started home. When she saw the smoke on the horizon, she started running. At the top of the ridge, she stared in horror at the smoking ruin that was her village. Where her house had been, all that remained was a smoldering pile.
As she fell to her knees, the dragon landed beside her.
“Wish granted,” it said with a chuckle.
"Lorilei's Wish," featured as FWG Flash Fiction for 11/11/2023, unfolds a concise yet evocative tale that captures the essence of imagination and desire. Within the confines of flash fiction, the narrative skillfully weaves a story that resonates with readers, inviting them into a world where wishes come alive. Similarly, the concept of pay someone to take my online class introduces a pragmatic solution for those navigating the challenges of academic commitments.