Twenty years after the fall of Galbatorix, we pick up the story in the point of view of Rathon, son of Eragon.
Arya gave birth to her son six months after Galbatorix's fall, naming him Brom after Eragon's father. Four years later, she gave birth to a second son. They named him Rathon after the advice of the nameless werecat in Eragon's premonition. The male azure dragon Zacaid, the third egg in Galbatorix's holdings, hatched for Brom when he turned ten. Leonis, the red dragon son of Saphira and Shruikan, hatched for Rathon when he turned thirteen.
Aesire and Hola had their child a mere two months after Galbatorix's fall, a daughter they named Nayter. She inherited Aesire's logic, but her appearance was born completely of Hola, down to her ears and tail. However, she did not have the ability to morph into a wolf. Nor did she have the power to hide her ears and tail at her whim. She was the only child not to become a Rider.
As Aesire said she would, Katelyn became the first Rider of the new Order on her eleventh birthday. She named her silver female dragon Arani. With her position of the first Rider of the new Order, she was heavy burdened with responsibilities, which she took on whole-heartedly. Within three years, the number of Riders in the Order had gone from two to forty-one, Rathon and Brom included. Because of the rules put upon newer Riders, however, the dragons did not start hatching for their chosen Riders until a year from where LunarMist begins.
Eragon chose Aesire to be a general for him over the Riders, for Eragon knew no one better than Aesire to ensure that the Riders would never again grow arrogant of their powers. Who better to plan for the future than one who has seen it?
Aesire established a new training method for the Riders. This was his plan. When their dragons hatched for them, the new Rider would be given a master who would teach that one Rider alone until the apprentice graduated from the first step of their apprenticeship. Then they would leave Doru Araeba for the main body of Alagaesia without their dragon. The master would choose a city at random for the apprentice to live in. Once that city was decided, the Master and apprentice Rider took up residence in the city as commoners, without magic, wealth, or the authority of their station.
The apprentice would live like a commoner until the master was convinced that they had learned what it was like to live with humility. Once the master was convinced of that, they retuned to Doru Araeba, where the apprentice Rider graduated to a full Rider and was given the right to take on an apprentice of their own. And then this cycle would repeat itself. This way, the Riders would never again grow arrogant and fall once more.
Eragon established a new form of currency in Alagaesia. Instead of coins, easily stolen, anyone who wished to trade or purchase in any city had to be given a symbol that was inscribed on a scroll. Each city had a man, a coin keeper, which acted like a bank for coins that were put onto the value of your symbol. That way, if your scroll was stolen, it could not be used without your agreeing to it. It also acted as a saving ability to less fortunate families and a barrier to thievery from arrogant nobles.
All across Alagaesia, there was peace and prosperity that rivaled and surpassed the time of the Riders before Galbatorix. New cities arose with the urging of the elves' songs. The elves, after a hundred years, came together with their beloved sea once more. Struck with long forgotten love, they built a city, Elanaror, on the coast, in between Kuasta and Teirm. It became a great port. Roran and Katrina returned to the destroyed Carvahall and with Roran's influence, it became the fourth largest city in Alagaesia. Every remnant of Galbatorix was tore to the ground until it was only the rubble of a long past age. Except one.
Somewhere, in some rotten place, grew a hatred for Eragon, for the new Alagaesia and for the Riders. Eragon never learned where this hatred had begun, in order to extinguish it, but before a month had passed, a new Order had arisen. The Order of the Black Chamber, which sought to return Galbatorix, or one who was like him, onto the throne of the world.
Try as he might, Eragon could not find the practitioners of this belief, for they hid themselves in some of the most deviant magic Eragon had ever seen. It not only concealed their thoughts and themselves if they wished, but it hid the very fact that magic had been used anywhere near them.
With this spell, the Order of the Black Chamber grew, spreading to every city, not doing any real harm other than to turn a select few against Eragon. Still Eragon persisted, for every day that passed brought new reports of the Orders' plans. Every day, it became more and more evident that the Order could turn into a rebellion, and Eragon had no wish for a civil war to break out again.
And so we begin LunarMist in Rathon's perspective, five years after Leonis hatched for him.
