So this led me to think about what purposes your characters (a) have, (b) consider worthy, (c) would not go a million miles near no matter how much you paid them, or (d) intend to carry out, no matter how or of who tries to get in their way. How did they discover these purposes? What is behind their attitude towards them? Are societal/tribal pressures influencing them on how they should react/which purposes they should carry out or avoid?
A purpose will have a clearly stated aim so will automatically give your character something to either strive for or get away from, as the case may be. It will be the conflicts caused by that striving or avoiding which give you your story. The purpose has to be strong enough and definite. So a purpose of, say, killing the dragon terrifying the village is fine. A purpose of sitting down to think about what should be done about the dragon is not - far too wishy washy!
And talking of dragons, I’m glad to share a recently published flash fiction piece, Time for a Change, which has recently appeared on Cafelit. Hope you enjoy.