The Tale of the Desert Hero
Macau Anglican College, Myles Ng, Fiction: Group 2
G
arrow was watching the morning news. “A giant sandstorm is brewing in the Gobi
Desert. Scientists predict that it will sweep south all over the world. It will reach Macau
and Hong Kong in two months!” exclaimed the reporter. Garrow was extremely worried.
His grandfather, an old wise man, came into the room. Looking at Garrow brooding
in the corner, he decided to tell Garrow a secret that he had kept all these years. He told Garrow
that their family was a family of elves. That explains my pointed ears, heightened senses, agility
and speed, thought Garrow. His grandfather continued, “Our true homeland is the Gobi Desert,
and for nine generations, everyone in our family has been able to find a dragon hatchling and
make friends with it.”
As he went on, Garrow became determined to find a dragon, make friends with it, and save
the world. He expressed this idea to his grandfather, and his grandfather agreed. He advised
Garrow to build a wall to block the sand from sweeping south. The thought of building a forest
ran through Garrow. His grandfather gave Garrow his blessing so he packed all his necessities and
departed. The world’s fate now lay in Garrow’s hands. Garrow might not know it yet, but he would
never see this house again.
After flying in a plane to the northernmost part on China, he went on foot and hiked towards
the Desert. Soon it was night, and the freezing cold made Garrow roll out three layers of blankets
to sleep. The next day, he entered the Desert around midmorning, though he was still leagues away
from the Tian Shan Mountain Range, where dragons and their eggs were rumoured to be found.
His journey to the Tian Shan was uneventful, but once there, strange things started to
happen. First was the sudden small sandstorm, which almost blew him off the track. Then came a
suspicious old woman who asked him many questions. His every sense told him to get away from
this unearthly place, but yet he forged on.
Garrow ran through the dust, trying to see the pathway. The dust was still in the air after
the sudden sandstorm. His skin got torn on a random cactus blocking the way. He cursed it and
continued forward. The sandstorm had blown across the trail, leaving no sign whatsoever of the
strange animal tracks that led him into this strange part of the Mountain ranges.
As Garrow walked along the mountains, he saw fresh prints of a giant beast. He knelt down
and examined the prints. There were claws with three nails that pushed backwards with every
step. He saw that the tracks were far and few between, which meant the creature must have run.
Then, the tracks suddenly disappeared. He examined the tracks again. The last set of tracks was
parallel, and the claws pushed downward as well as backwards. Garrow guessed that the creature
must have flown. Disappointed, he had no choice but to continue his search.
The next day, Garrow found fresh prints of the giant beast again. It led to the summit of one
of the mountains. At the top, he was confronted with a lone shadow in the horizon. Then he heard
a crack. He looked backwards and saw a nest. All the eggs inside it burst open at once and a lot of
dragon heads squawked at him. Instinct told him that he was to choose one of them as his dragon
friend. Then voices inside his mind were conversing.
Hello, my friend.
Hi! My name is Garrow. What’s yours?
