The young girl took the gift with mystified eyes, gently pulling at the bright red ribbon. “Thank you Lord Aku!” It was clothing (that wasn’t rags or robes!) and a set of colorful books. Curiously, she opened one, gasping at the beautiful pictures inside. Paragraphs of text were arranged alongside the illustrations. Ashi squinted at them, only recognizing a few words.
“Lord Aku…what do these books say?”
That was the end? She didn’t understand why Aku thought it was so funny. Ashi felt kind of bad for the queen – she just wanted a normal child. But it was foolish of her to sniff both roses when the witch told her not to the child thought to herself. At least the queen had one normal baby.
Her father’s laughter stopped abruptly, and she looked up at him as he spoke to her. “No father, I-I haven’t.” She’d never heard of a lindworm either. She assumed it was a type of worm. The image of the queen holding a giant, slimy worm entered her mind, and she scrunched her little nose up in disgust.
“Look here and I will show you,” said Aku. He stretched out an arm and held it over the floor in front of where they sat. From his hand rose a small glob of darkness about the same size as Ashi. It broke away and landed on the floor where it quickly transformed into a long, serpentine creature with pointed ears and two arms that ended in clawed feet.
Like a small dragon, it breathed a small puff of flame into the air and wriggled about in a circle. It resembled Aku in many ways with its green muzzle, curved fangs and a tuft of red fluff on its chin. Soon, a pair of wings grew from its back and the creature took to the air with a bird-like shriek.
“It is no worm but a type of dragon,” he explained while the small monster dipped and soared.
The Shogun of Sorrow 