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Tugarin Zmeyevich, the dragon-bodied knight of Slavic Mythology. Other than his crashing the banquets of Prince Vladimir and rivalry with the hero Alyosha, very little is known about the circumstances of Tugarin's life. He was supposedly born the child of a dragon and a human woman, but this is only rumor. Regardless of the truth behind his origins, Tugarin was persecuted from a young age due to rumors of his monstrous heritage. Even as a young boy Tugarin's body grew to be incredibly athletic and muscular, and he sometimes belched smoke when enraged, horrifying the people of his village.
Eventually Tugarin and his family were forced out of his village in the Steppes of Russia by a lynch mob. In the process, his father and younger sister were murdered by the mob before they could escape. The trauma of this event scarred Tugarin's heart, making him at first suspicious and hateful of humans.
Afterwards, Tugarin and his family wandered from the Steppes until they reached the city of Kiev. The city was filled with extravagance and luxury, a glorious city of the likes Tugarin had never laid eyes on before. But, Tugarin also picked up the less savory aspects of it. Commoners who begged for food on the gilded streets, their prayers unanswered by the sneering nobles. Slaves who were forced to toil for their owner's whim until their bodies gave out. The poor and crippled who were thrown aside like dirty rags.
When Tugarin saw this, he became filled with compassion for the plight of the poor and stricken humans. He recognized them as similar to himself. Those unwanted. Those despised. Those accursed. Driven by his compassion, Tugarin began to perform good deeds for the people in his area. He rescued slaves from their cruel owners, helped peasants pay off unreasonable debts and even slew a number of vicious monsters attacking the city.
His do-gooding eventually lead Tugarin to wander astray from his new home. Back in his native territory, the wild and untamed countryside of Russia, Tugarin participated in many more gallant adventures. At one point he met an elderly sorcerer after saving him from an angry mob. The sorcerer saw potential in Tugarin and mentored him for several years, teaching him a sliver of the Pagan old magic. When Tugarin eventually parted ways, the sorcerer gifted him with a powerful relic, an amulet and feathered cloak. As long as Tugarin had these items with him he only had to recite their true name and he could transform into a fearsome dragon.
After several more years for Tugarin to cement his reputation as a vagabond-hero, Prince Vladimir the Great, ruler of Kievan Rus, took notice of his exploits and fearsome strength. Despite Tugarin's disgraced heritage he offered the boy-turned-man to become a member of his knight-order, the Knights of the Fair Sun. The holy knights who swore to uphold justice, smite evil and defend the king to their dying breaths.
Eager to broaden his opportunities to do good, Tugarin accepted the prince's request and became a
. At first, Tugarin's fellow knights were horrified to have a rumored monster in their midst. Only Vladimir's word managed to still their objections. Birth and high blood are irrelevant for a knight. The only thing that matters is having the absolute strength to protect the kingdom and destroy enemies.
Even as he proved himself a worthy member of the order, Tugarin still had an uneasy relationship with his fellow knights. His straightforward nature and blunt words meant he would always point out faults and corruption in others. His intimidating appearance and habit of gorging himself obscenely after battle unsettled the other knights. Though grudgingly admiring his bravery and prowess in battle, they regarded him less as a comrade than a useful monster to be kept on a strict leash.
Only one other Bogatyr could truly be called his friend. Alyosha Popovich, a priest's son who ran away from his family at a young age to become a knight. Alyosha's carefree nature and easy sense of humor let him bond easily with Tugarin. Before long the two were fast friends, often accompanying each other on the most dangerous missions.
Tugarin treasures the memories of the time he spent alongside Alyosha within his heart. To him, those were the days he shone most brightly. Ever since his disgraced birth and struggle to survive in the world, Tugarin finally felt he had a place to belong and friends who appreciated him for who he was. But that happiness would soon be shattered.
Tugarin found out that another bogatyr had been secretly exploiting the people of a local village outside Kiev. He demanded high taxes in return for "protection", and if any of the villagers failed to pay up he would report to the king that they were a traitor and had them executed. Sometimes, he even demanded the most beautiful of the village girls share their bodies with him as payment.
Tugarin was disgusted when he found out about the ruse. Engulfed by blind fury, he drew his sword and killed the so-called "knight" on the spot. After obtaining proof of the man's crimes, Tugarin went to Prince Vladimir himself expected to be pardoned. However, he was horrified to find that the man he killed was still considered an important and valuable holy knight. The royal court actually knew of his crimes all along but ignored them because he was still a strong knight who helped defend the kingdom many times in the past.
For the unforgivable crime of bearing his blade against a fellow knight, Tugarin was sentenced to death. Enraged by this twist of fate, Tugarin assumed his dragon form and escaped by crashing through the palace walls. Now a wanted fugitive throughout the entire kingdom, Tugarin was pursued by countless of his former brothers in arms who sought to claim the hefty bounty on his life.
With his great strength and dragon-transformation, Tugarin managed to kill off all the knights who pursued him, only adding to his villainous reputation. He didn't want to turn his blade against his former comrades, but neither could he just surrender and accept death in the face of the screaming injustice he'd discovered.
Now Tugarin was disillusioned with the knight order, Prince Vladimir and Kievan Rus as a whole. He realized that the bogatyr were not all knights of justice like he'd thought, but many of them were merely puppets of a corrupt and arrogant aristocracy. To defend the king, to smite evil; those noble-sounding words were just pretty lies that disguised the true purpose of the knight order. Upholding the status quo and the king's authority at all costs.
Their blades were not wielded to lend succor to the weak, but to preserve the might of the strong.
Though a wanted man, Tugarin could effectively wander the countryside around Kiev without consequence because none of the other knights were strong enough to oppose him. Ilya, Dobrynya, Alyosha and the other knights who made up the "elite guard" of the bogatyr could've defeated him, but they stayed out of the conflict so far due to distaste with fighting a former comrade.
Even while embracing his reputation as a monster, Tugarin still refused to harm innocent civilians, only killing the knights sent to capture him. In fact, several times he even ended up shielding civilians from collateral damage during his fights or saving them from unrelated plights. Thus, even as he became reviled as a treacherous criminal, there were still some commoners who admired Tugarin and sympathized with him over the rest of the knights.
"Do you remember all the times he saved our asses in the past? If Tugarin's gone against the rest of the knights, there must be some good reason for it."
-Such words echoed in people's hearts.
But because voicing such sentiments in public would be tantamount to treason, they obviously kept quiet.
One of these people was Prince Vladimir's own wife, Apraxia. She met Tugarin while disguising herself as a commoner to give food and medical aid to the poor. Apraxia was being attacked by some hoodlums but Tugarin suddenly appeared to save her. At first he didn't know of her true identity. Afterwards they met several more times, with Apraxia secretly smuggling some food to Tugarin and tending to his wounds. She saw through his fearsome appearance and the violent reputation surrounding him to the kind and gentle young man he truly was. Over time, love even began to bloom between the princess and dragon outlaw.
However, Apraxia knew Tugarin couldn't evade the law forever. Eventually the knights would catch and kill him. Out of desperation she decided to reveal to the knights where Tugarin was hiding out, in return for pleading that he be sentenced leniently. Though her heart ached for betraying her lover, Apraxia felt this was the only way she could spare his life. But even that last wish was trampled on.
An army of Kiev's strongest knights was sent to ambush Tugarin. Transforming into a dragon, he defended himself and managed to kill most of them. But then Alyosha Popovich entered the fray, gracefully weaving between the streams of fire unleashed from Tugarin's dragon-heads.
"Alyosha?"
Tugarin was shocked to see his former friend on the battlefield again.
Alyosha just smiled grimly.
"It's nothing personal, old friend. Those who go corrupt have to be put down. Right now, you're an enemy of the kingdom I swore to protect."
The two battled fiercely. At first Tugarin had the advantage because of his dragon-body, but then Alyosha prayed to God to bring rain down on the battlefield. Having fought alongside Tugarin many times in the past, Alyosha knew his dragon-form was weak to water. As the rain washed in rivulets down the dragon's body it melted away and dissolved, reverting Tugarin to an ordinary human. Then they continued to fight in the pouring rain, no longer a dragon and hero but simply two men fighting with their lives and pride on the line.
At first Tugarin still had the upper hand. Alyosha used all his clever tactics to try and get the advantage, but he still couldn't overcome Tugarin's superior strength. But then, Tugarin's keen eyes saw on the edges of the battlefield his lover Apraxia. Her face was filled with sadness. Tears flowed freely from her pale blue eyes and trailed down her trembling delicate cheeks, mingling with the falling rain.
"I'm sorry," she whispered silently, more to herself than her lover.
Tugarin instantly realized what had happened, an icy dagger of betrayal forming in his heart. In that moment of hesitation Alyosha struck, his blade cleaving Tugarin's neck in a single deadly swing.
"I... ghrk! Forg...ive y...ou..." Tugarin gurgled and gasped, blood leaking from the corners of his mouth. Then his head toppled from his shoulders and fell to the earth. Whether those last words were aimed at his old friend for killing him, his lover for betraying him, or both, only Tugarin could know for sure.
As the dragon-knight fell, a cry of despair pierced the air. Apraxia ran to the fallen knight's body, weeping uncontrollably. Cradling Tugarin's severed head in her slender arms, the girl tearfully prayed for a miracle. But nothing came save for the cold rain that continued pouring indifferently from the sky.
"How could you do this?" She turned to Alyosha, her expression twisted into rage.
"Tugarin wasn't a monster, he was my dearest friend. And you killed him!"
With those words, a loud smack rang out through the cold air as Apraxia delivered a stinging slap to the knight's cheek. Alyosha bore her abuse emotionlessly. After all, he too knew the grief of having lost a beloved friend.
Thus Tugarin's legend came to a bitter end. After his death word of Tugarin's heroic deeds slowly faded from history, leaving only the monster that he became.
Even so, the commoners he saved would always remember the name of Tugarin Zmeyevich.
Originally Posted by 34
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