Atreus' Clever Cloaking Conundrum

Atreus sat at the bar, minding his own business and sipping on a beer. He was still young, but he had seen plenty of action. His long brown hair was tied neatly into a ponytail, and his beard was trimmed. He wore a simple white tunic with black pants, and from his neck hung a scabbard with a sword.

He had been traveling for what felt like forever. The war was grueling and brutal, but he was determined to make it through alive. He was in the middle of taking a sip when he heard loud screams outside the tavern. He looked out the window, and saw that all the villagers were huddled up against their houses, hiding behind whatever they could find. A trail of smoke filled the air, and there was no sign of the villagers’ livestock or any other signs of life. Everyone was terrified by what they were seeing.

Atreus stood up and drew his sword, then made his way outside. As he exited the tavern, he ducked behind one of the houses, which had been set on fire. In front of him, he saw a huge dragon flying above the village square; it was breathing fire everywhere around it. The dragon turned its head in Atreus’ direction, but before it could react Atreus threw his sword at the creature’s eyes, blinding it. It flew away to try to regain its sight so Atreus could run forward and stab it where it counts; right between the legs.

He ran towards the dragon as quickly as possible, weaving through burning bodies and houses along the way until he reached where its legs were connected to its body. But when he got there…there was no spot for him to stab! The creature’s scales covered every part of its body except for its underbelly and face!

The dragon flew back down towards Atreus as he clutched his sword in frustration and fear; would this be his end? No! Suddenly Atreus remembered that years ago he had stolen some scales off of a fish! He untied his cloak from around his shoulders and wrapped it around himself like a blanket so that no-one could see him pull out one of his stolen scales from beneath it. When the dragon flew past him again Atreus leapt up as high as he could and grabbed onto one of its scales with both hands while trying not to fall off mid-flight!

After holding on for dear life for ten seconds or so without being able to do anything else but hold on, Atreus remembered that in order to be a hero you need wit too along with bravery! So he took the scale from underneath his cloak and stabbed it into the dragon’s leg next to him as hard as he could! The scale pierced through skin and bone easily (after all, those scales were sharp enough to cut fish!) and caused incredible pain for the creature! It cried out in pain in a deep voice then fell out of sky toward the ground below them both!

Atreus held tight onto the scale until they both hit ground hard enough that Atreus fell unconscious from hitting his head on something while falling down…but when he woke up later in an infirmary bed after being treated by the village priestess, everything had changed! People who once doubted his story now praised him as their savior! They gave him money and gold so much that even if he never fought another battle ever again he would have more than enough to last him forever…and they sent him on his way with a piece of advice: “travel far away from here today my boy; you have won our hearts but I fear your enemies will not be so easily convinced!”