Hey guys! It's Jenn here. I spotted an interesting post in the tumblr tag for Wizard101 about a fic from the Rider era, so I thought, hey why not? So here's a quick one-shot I wrote in two days. I hope you like!
Swish!
Two drakes, one after another, easily flew two hundred feet over the Hatchery. Upside down. With humans attached.
"Faster, Nahir!" the smaller human, female by her voice, cheered. "We need to outrun Dmitri or I'll have to pay for lunch today!"
Nahir the drake grunted in acknowledgement and sped up. Behind the female Rider, the Dmitri squeezed his legs to convince his own drake to speed up. "Cmon, Avela," he muttered. Avela let out a rumble and flapped her wings harder, pursuing Nahir.
"You can't catch up," the girl sang.
"Just watch me, Elena!" Dmitri yelled, but he was grinning.
Elena and Dmitri, on Nahir and Avela respectively, looped and flew through the Hatchery. Dmitri slowly gained ground, but just as slowly he lost it. Elena led him around a tall tower before finally coming to a stop over the roof and letting him catch up.
"No fair," he grumbled, shifting in his saddle. Where one would expect the horn on the saddle to be, there was instead a sparkling crystal mined directly from the Crystal Grove. The crystal was the only reason that Dmitri and Elena hadn't yet been bucked off by their drakes.
"No fair what?" Elena laughed, twirling the staff she held in her hand. Elena had opted out of the crystal on the saddle, instead constructing her own Rider's Staff, one of the few trainees that had done so. "You picked the saddle, and I made the staff. And everyone-"
"I know," Dmitri interrupted. "Everyone knows that the Staves are better at controlling drakes than the saddle. But it's still not fair. If I had a Rider Staff, I totally would have beat you."
"Sure, sure." Elena's thighs visibly tightened as Nahir did a barrel roll. "Anyway, we ought to get back to the academy before the instructors find out that Nahir and Avela are missing. We aren't supposed to take 'em without permission."
"You could've asked."
"They never woulda let me saddle them up for a race!" Elena stuck her tongue out. "Anyway, it's late at night. I couldn't have asked anyway, all of them are asleep."
"Yeah, all the sane people are." Dmitri stuck his tongue out.
Elena returned it. "Sane people are boring!"
"If you say so," Dmitri replied, shrugging. "But we really do have to get them back. I mean, taking two drakes out of the Hatchery, when we're so close to graduation might I add, is insanity. We could get expelled."
"But we won't, because we won't get caught," Elena hummed.
Dmitri sighed. "You're impossible."
"Teehee!" Elena offered a grin.
Dmitri merely looked at her over rectangular lenses. "If you're done… can we go?"
Elena glanced towards the mountain and brushed her dark hair over her shoulders. "Actually… Dmitri, would you mind staying out a while longer? I have something important I want to tell you."
Nahir let out a snort.
"Quiet you!" Elena tapped the drake on the head.
"Is this something important so important that you can't risk telling me on the ground?" Dmitri said with a skeptical look.
"It's just super important, okay?" Elena pointed towards the mountain. "Can we go up there?"
Dmitri squinted. "To the Crown of Fire? Elena, nobody's supposed to go up there. Not even the elders. It's supposed to be the center of an active volcano. It's supposed to be dangerous."
"But Dmitri, it's… it's really important, okay? Except I can't tell you until we get there."
Dmitri squinted. Was Elena… blushing? Nah, she couldn't be. Elena was the most un-girl-like girl he'd ever met. Then again, in the Drake Rider Academy, he didn't meet a lot of girls. Elena was only one of maybe six or seven out of hundreds of trainees. But she was a good Rider, and a great friend.
"Alright," he finally said, shifting into the standard flying position. "Let's go up to the Crown of Fire."
Elena smiled. "Great! Let's go." She flew towards the mountain on Nahir.
"We still shouldn't be doing this," Dmitri grumbled as he squeezed Avela into action. "Taking drakes out for personal purposes is against the rules… we shouldn't be doing this…"
But they were. And as they flew higher and higher, Dmitri wondered what was stopping him from turning around and returning Avela right now, and abandoning Elena to fend for herself against the elders when they caught her. At least that way, he'd be able to graduate the following day. Then he'd be a full-fledged Rider, and then he would own Avela and Elena would own Nahir. Then they could do whatever silly thing they were flying up to the forbidden Crown for.
But no. Dmitri was a lot of things, but he wasn't coldhearted. If Elena went down, he would go down with her. So he followed her and Nahir as they made a sudden downward dive towards Dragon Claw Canyon.
Nahir slowed to a stop, and Avela stopped beside him. Elena pointed to the canyon. "That's the best way up."
"Why can't we just fly up?" Dmitri asked.
Elena looked skyward, but the top of the mountain was obscured by red-purple clouds. The sky beyond them was black as ink. Stars rarely shone in Dragonspyre. "The cloud cover's really hard to see through. We wouldn't really be able to see, so we'd probably overshoot or undershoot the Crown, and the drakes won't go into the clouds anyway. Something in the clouds is bad for them, remember?"
"Right," Dmitri said, though he'd totally forgotten. "So we go through the Canyon?"
Elena nodded. "It's a direct route into the Spyre, and then from there we can just walk to the Crown. There're still pathways up there from the First World days."
"How did the ancients even get up there in the old days?" Dmitri wondered aloud. "They didn't have Rider Staves."
"No," Elena agreed, "but the ancients held magic far stronger than ours. They created the Staves, after all." She held up hers; in the Canyon's torchlight, it glimmered.
Dmitri whistled. "I still can't believe you made one of those."
"I can't either!" Elena said, grinning. "The Jewelcrafter said it's probably the only Rider Staff currently in existence, because the only other people who tried to make one failed misterably. And everyone else opted for the saddle because it was easier."
"Well, it's kind of hard collecting all the materials, and you have to have just the right cut from the Grove…" Dmitri offered a sheepish smile. "I would've tried, but the parameters were just too strict."
"Loser." Elena stuck out her tongue. "Shall we, then?"
"Let's." This is such a bad idea, Dmitri thought as he watched Elena start up the Canyon. Then, with a sigh, he followed.
The Canyon was a tricky path, with random rock ridges that sprung up at inopportune times. Fortunately, Dmitri and Elena had trained at the Academy for nearly four years. They were top-notch Riders, and they managed through the Canyon with ease and landed on the platform at the end.
The two Riders dismounted their drakes. "You wait here, Nahir," Elena told her drake.
"We'll be back, Avela," Dmitri added, patting her on the nose. Avela let out a soft rumble.
Dmitri and Elena stepped into a cavern that was clearly worn with age. The stone tiles under their feet were worn down by the elements, but the doors to the inside of the mountain were as bright as ever.
Elena looked at Dmitri. "Ready?"
"Ready."
And they pushed open the doors.
Inside the Great Spyre, it was dark. Elena plucked an old torch off the wall and used her pyromantic abilities to light it. Dmitri took three steps forward and nearly fell into the abyss, and only survived when Elena pulled him back.
Dmitri clutched his chest, feeling his heart hammer against his ribs. "You sure pick dangerous places to meet."
"You sure pick stupid things to do." Elena's face looked shadowy in the torchlight. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, let's keep moving." Dmitri offered Elena a smile so she wouldn't worry so much. Elena looked away, and if Dmitri didn't know any better, he'd say she was blushing.
Nah, he decided. Must be the lighting
The two Riders wound their way up through the Spyre. It was dark, and difficult going, and the two were on edge. A pebble falling made them jump. A stick snapping made them freeze. They didn't know if there were any… creatures up here that had made the Spyre their home, and they didn't want to be the first to find out. Fortunately, Dmitri and Elena managed to reach the Crown with little effort.
Together, Dmitri and Elena heaved open the doors that led to the Crown. "Hey… Dmitri, do you know the legends behind this place?" Elena asked.
"Everyone does," Dmitri replied. "The Fire Titan's slept here for millennia after being sealed by the War. That's one of the reasons we're not supposed to be let up here, but everyone knows that's just a story."
"Well, legends usually have a few grains of truth in them," Elena said. "The Titan really could be up here. We've always been told that the mountain's an active volcano, but…" She shrugged. "I didn't see any lava coming up here, did you?"
"…No."
Elena nodded, and the two began to walk up the path in silence. After a few moments, Elena spoke again.
"Do you know what you're going to do after graduation? You know, when we're full-fledged Riders?"
Dmitri blinked. "Well, I was going to join the patrol. Keep Dragonspyre safe, fly every day, clear out the monster-infested areas. Maybe clear the Spyre and make it safe for everyone, y'know? It's an important part of our heritage."
Elena nodded. "That's kind of… dangerous, right?"
"Of course." Dmitri grinned and pointed to himself. "But I'm not so fragile that I'm gonna keel over to a couple of stupid monsters."
Elena laughed. "No, no, of course not."
"How about you, huh?"
"Mm?"
"What're your plans after graduation?" Dmitri asked.
Elena looked at the ground, barely visible in the torchlight. "…I was thinking of stealing a drake and using the skyways to explore the Spiral."
Dmitri nearly tripped over the cobblestone. "What? Are you serious!? You know it's against the law to take a drake from Dragonspyre!"
Elena nodded. "I know, but… well, unless you're a diplomat or in the military, there's just no other way to leave the World except by drake!"
"But… but there's that door thing that was installed a few months ago, that Spiral Gate they called it-"
"The Gate that's only supposed to be used in emergencies?" Elena interrupted. "The Gate in the Basilica? A floating structure a mile out from the mainland?"
"There are portals to it."
"Those are heavily guarded. The Basilica's only used for military or diplomat purposes, you know that. There's no way that I could manage to get in. I couldn't even fly in on Nahir, they'd just shoot me out of the sky."
Dmitri sighed, and looked up. "Hey, we've reached the top."
Elena looked up. The two looked out on a huge platform. Heavy winds threatened to blow them off. On the other side of the platform, an enormous dragon statue, bigger than they could have ever imagined, clung to a sphere that glowed a soft orange. The dragon looked as if it were about to spit fire. They had reached the Crown.
"Alright, we're all the way up here," Dmitri sighed. "My feet hurt, and my nerves are shot. What was so important that you couldn't tell me until we got up here?" He took several steps forward into the Crown, looking around. "If it's dramatic, this is definitely the place to tell me. We're higher than anyone, the most important place in Dragonspyre, probably the highest point in the Spiral. What's so-"
And he tripped.
Elena giggled.
"Shut up," Dmitri grumbled, getting up and touching his face to make sure he wasn't bleeding. It was then that he noticed something sparkling at the base of the sphere. "Hey… what's that?"
"What's what?" Elena asked, jogging up to him.
Dmitri crossed the rest of the platform with Elena in tow, then he squatted down to get a closer look. "That," he said, pointing to a shimmering red crystal set into the base of the statue. "That looks like… one of the Rider Crystals, right?"
"Hmm…" Elena held out her Staff next to the Crystal. "They sure do look similar."
"I need a closer look." Dmitri leaned in and reached for the crystal. Grabbing hold of it, he began to tug.
"Dmitri, wait-" Elena began.
The crystal came free with a soft crrk. Dmitri held it up next Elena's Staff. "No, it's… different," he said after a moment. "The color's wrong, and the power doesn't feel right."
"You're the one that did a semester of crystal study, what kind of crystal is it?"
Dmitri struggled to recall what he learned the previous year. "It's… it's…"
The ground began to rumble, and he suddenly realized he had made a horrible mistake.
"It's… a sealing crystal."
Above them, the dragon statue began to crack and the ground shook more violently. Dmitri and Elena stumbled back as the statue began to break apart.
And then the two Riders came to the horrifying realization that the statue was not a statue.
Strips of stone peeled off the dragon statue like a skin, revealing red and orange scales, razor-sharp claws, and leathery wings underneath. As the dragon shook itself free, Dmitri and Elena could faintly hear Dragonspyre coming to life far below them.
"We have to – we have to get out of here," Dmitri managed.
"Agreed," Elena whispered, her skin white. But neither of them moved; they were rooted to the ground out of sheer terror.
The dragon shook off the last of its stone prison and let out an awful roar. It sounded angry, and it had every right to be. It had been imprisoned for millennia, unable to move, and now it planned to exact some revenge. It was an ancient being, dating all the way back to the First World. One of the Raven's first children.
"The Fire Titan," Dmitri whispered.
"Dmitri, I have to tell you something," Elena hissed as the Titan looked around.
"Can it wait?" Dmitri snarled.
"No, it can't," Elena said, slowly backing up and pulling Dmitri with her. "Dmitri, we screwed up. We really screwed up. So it can't wait anymore, it just can't. Dmitri, I-"
Whatever Elena was going to say was drowned out by another loud roar as the Titan looked down upon the two Riders. It opened its maw wide, and Dmitri could see its throat glowing as it prepared to bellow flames.
Elena tried again, dropping her Staff to the ground and grabbing Dmitri's hands. "Dmitri, I-"
"Yeah," Dmitri interrupted, forcing himself to look away from the inevitable and looked into Elena's eyes instead. "I do too."
The two embraced, and fire lit up the Crown.
When the carnage was over, the Gate creaked open.
"I could see the flames from the City," Merle Ambrose said to Gamma as he closed the Gate behind him. "Something dreadful must have happened."
"Hooooo," Gamma agreed.
Ambrose looked out over Dragonspyre from the tower, and it was already easy to see the irreparable damage. Many buildings had been torn apart. Several districts were still aflame. Most startling of all, however, were the rivers of lava that had replaced the clear rivers that Dragonspyre had once been so proud of.
"Things look grim," Ambrose said. "Let's go see just how grim."
After a long, arduous trek, Ambrose stood at the Crown.
"So," he said, looking at the new seal. "It appears the elders managed to seal the Titan once again before they met their demise."
"But at a terrible cost," Gamma added. "Dragonspyre is in ruins. It appears that all the residents are dead. I wonder how the Titan was unsealed?"
"Hmm…" Ambrose knelt before a few blackened bodies that were intertwined with each other. "These poor souls appear to have bore the brunt of the blast. Dear me, they seem to have been lovers or the sort, why else would they be hugging? And… what's this?"
Ambrose picked up a sooty staff that lay next to the two bodies. Muttering a few words, he passed a hand over the staff and it cleaned itself. Ambrose let out a sharp breath. "My, my, it appears one of our departed managed to create a Rider Staff. Possibly the last in existence, I bet."
Gamma flitted over. "Perhaps these two flew up here on drakes and accidentally unsealed the Titan?"
"That is a possibility, yes. It doesn't really matter anymore. What's done is done." Ambrose inspected the Staff. "Remarkable craftsmanship."
"What do we do with it?" Gamma asked. "It's useless now; the Titan practically incinerated the Hatchery and the drakes out by the Spyre, if the charred saddles were anything to go by."
"Hmm… true, it is indeed useless, but it would be a crime to simply destroy what may be the final Rider Staff."
"But if any drakes survived, it can't exist like this," Gamma pointed out. "Someone with dark intentions may use it to awaken the Titan again."
"You're right. I have an idea." Ambrose muttered a few words, letting the Staff float in the air. With a sharp wave of his own staff, the Rider Staff broke into several pieces. One by one, the pieces disappeared.
"I've sent the pieces all over the Spiral," Ambrose said with a satisfied look. "Nobody will find them all, and even then they'd have to find a way to Dragonspyre." He patted his belt. "And I have the only remaining Key."
"What should we tell the rest of the Spiral about Dragonspyre? We can't tell them it still exists, or they'll likely wake the Titan."
"Not to worry, old friend," Ambrose said, his eyes twinkling. "I have a plan to remedy that. But first, let's go home and have a nice cup of tea, hmm?"
"Let's." Owl and man flew and left the Crown, leaving the Titan to what would hopefully be an eternal sleep.
But fate ran another course.