Ardon was delighted. He had waited for twenty years for this day. Actually, every twenty year old elf in Nadindel was excited. The Riders were coming…..with five dragon eggs. Ardon started walking at a quick pace, and later broke into a run. He ran past the pine trees and apple trees of a forest nearby, reaching his mind out to all the organisms around him, as he had been taught. He felt the mind of a pigeon going to take off from its nest, a tree which was around five hundred years old, a few squirrels looking for food and thousands of ants on the ground. His physique was excellent. His muscles rippled as he flexed them, he had broad shoulders and strong legs. His pointed ears gave him grace, and so did his long silvery hair. He had a pointed nose and a confident face. After a few minutes, he reached the place where the Riders were designated to come – the outskirts of Nadindel.
There were nine other elves beside him already waiting in line. The first elf was his friend Vaknani. Ardon grinned and thought, I should have known that she would have been first.
Ardon called her, "Vaknani! Over here!" She turned around, "Finally", she said, exasperated. "I was here hours ago! What took you so long?"
"Oh, that." said Ardon, abashed. "I got up only twenty minutes ago, and I completely forgot that the Riders were coming. My mother reminded me and I rushed here a few minutes later." scratching his head stupidly.
She was about to answer but was stopped by the cheering of the other eight elves. They turned around and saw three specks in the air; one was gold, one purple and the other was silver.
The specks were approaching fast, getting larger and larger the closer they got. Soon they knew that they were dragons. Minutes later, they landed. Their Riders unsaddled themselves and took the eggs out of their dragons' pouches.
The gold dragon had two eggs – red and black. The purple dragon, the biggest of the three, had two eggs as well - green and blue. The silver dragon, the smallest, had one egg – white.
The Riders, who were wearing helms, took them off. There were two females – one human and one elf. The other Rider, a male, was a human.
The female elf stepped forward and introduced herself and her dragon, "I am Lethona, Rider of Inferna. She is the purple dragoness, and my bonded partner."
The elves clapped.
The female human stepped forward and said, "I am Ravena, Rider of Akafi. He is the silver dragon, and my bonded partner.
The elves clapped again.
The male human stepped forward and said, "I am Berken, Rider of Hylli. She is the gold dragoness and my bonded partner."
The elves clapped a final time, applauding the superb introductions.
Lethona cleared her throat and said, "You know why we are here, my brethren. We are here with five dragon eggs, waiting for the people who are destined to be their Riders. Any of you might join us – the ranks of the Riders. Now, we shall see…."
The Riders placed the eggs on the ground, in front of them. Berken gave the green signal to Vaknani, to go and touch the eggs. She touched the white, - nothing happened, the black nothing happened, the red – it started moving and a little red head popped out of the egg.
Ardon cheered, "Congratulations Vaknani, you are a Rider! Vaknani bent down and replied without looking up. "Not yet!" She bent down and touched the dragon hatchling's head. There was a blinding light and the dragon was bonded to her.
She cried, "Now I am!" The line moved fast as none of the other elves were chosen as Riders. It was finally Ardon's turn. He touched the black – nothing, the green – nothing, the blue – nothing, and finally the white – nothing.
Dismayed, Ardon walked away. And then he heard a female voice, one he recognized as Lethona's, "Stop! An egg moves." Ardon froze. He wheeled around and started jogging back. He went to see which egg was hatching and saw that the black was. Yes! I'm going to be a Rider!
The black egg started rocking and shaking when he heard something else. The white egg, at the other end, was also shaking. The black dragon emerged from its shell. Then, a voice emanated from inside his head. Akafi, the silver dragon said, "This is very strange. This has never happened in the history of Dragon Riders." Soon the white dragon also hatched. The black dragon sniffed the air and sensed the white dragon, who rushed towards the black.
Ardon went to the dragons' meeting place and bent down. He said quietly, "Come here, you two, I'm not going to do anything to you."
Surprisingly, as if they understood, they came towards him and bent their heads and wrapped their tails around each other's. Ardon raised his arms, and touched both of their heads simultaneously, the left hand on the white dragon and the right hand on the black. Ardon was thrown backward after contact. He wondered to himself, I thought elves are immune to aftermath of getting the gedwey ignasia. It's probably because I got two gedwey ignasia at the same time."
Ardon felt two minds merging with his, it felt like one on the left and one on the right. He barely registered that three dragons were approaching, two of which being his and the purple dragon, Inferna. Inferna touched her snout on Ardon's forehead and said, "You are a legend, young elf. Nobody has had two dragons before. You are the only one who has fit into this legacy. From this moment on, you have a title; a title nobody else can have – The Double Rider."