Becoming a Hero the Hard Way
Is a path few men dare venture.
Leave it to me to take that road
Through my many misadventures.
Little did I know on that fateful day,
That my Quest would begin,
When I received the toothless dragon
And unlocked my destiny therein.
Who knew when I fought the Green Death
That I would begin my journey,
To go on these Impossible Quests
And surpass my Tribe's progeny?
I'm the Runt of Runts,
The weakling of my Tribe;
For years I have dealt with
Their insults, abuse, and jibs.
But against all odds, I have found
All of the King's Lost Things;
It will be these of Grimbeard's possessions
Of which I'll be made King:
A toothless dragon, Grimbeard's favorite sword,
A Roman shield, an arrow from a fantasy land,
The Ruby Heart's Stone, the Key-To-Open-All-Locks,
The Throne, too, I have found, on the Wilderwest Mainland.
The Crown I have now in my possession;
And now I have the last and best of all the Ten:
The Dragon Jewel, a dangerous weapon of great power —
The only thing that stands between extinction and men.
Along with these Things I have in my possession,
Are the lessons that the Things taught me.
They have guided me through my Quests,
And groomed me as a King-to-Be:
Lesson One: that fear and intimidation
Might not be the best way.
Lesson Two: that sometimes second-best
Is better than people say.
Lesson Three: that freedom, whatever the cost,
Must sometimes be fought for.
Lesson Four: that when you fight for your friend,
You're fighting for yourself and more.
Lesson Five from the Ruby Stone:
Love, when sincere and true, never dies;
Even if hate tries to stomp it out,
From the ashes, love shall thwart its demise.
Lesson Six: make things right in the Old World
Before you go looking for the New,
And sometimes the things that you are looking for
Are right here at home in front of you.
Lesson Seven: that accidents happen for a reason,
Even if you do not yet know the reason.
Lesson Eight: that power can corrupt;
Even the noblest of men can succumb to treason.
Lesson Nine: that you have to keep on trying
Even if you are beaten before you begin;
Overcome not with your physical strength
But use instead your wits and smarts to win.
Lesson Ten, the last and most important of all —
A lesson that most leaders are found lacking:
That you need to — and must — know what it is
To be a Slave before you can be a King.
All these Lessons I have learned and more,
And not just in these I have gained,
But in additional lessons that I met along the way.
And here are the lessons that I've obtained:
That the Best isn't the most Obvious;
That courage is something to be found within;
That what is within is always more important
Than what is without, we found to our chagrin.
How strange it was that all these Quests,
Which had seemed random at the time,
Twisting and turning this way and that
Like a labyrinth with mazes primed.
How when they were all added up together,
Did I see them for what they were giving.
And what did I see from this collection of Quests?
Simple. The education of a King.
Becoming a Hero the Hard Way,
Is a path few men wade.
But it is through trials and obstacles
From which a King is made.
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this poem. Sorry I haven't been pumping out a whole lot of HTTYD poems/stories, but I was more productive and inspired by Narnia, and they were more easy for me to pump out. Hopefully, I will be able to write more HTTYD poems, and eventually stories, in time.
I hope this finds you well and that you have an awesome weekend! Please like or review or even both if you wish and let me know what you think about it. Encouragement and constructive criticism is much appreciated and will help me improve as a writer and poet. :-)
Until next we meet, my friends.
- Noctus Fury
