Chapter 1

I remember when I first heard that I was to join the Riders. I'd come home from an errand when I saw two magnificent dragons outside my house, with their Riders inside. One of them was a tall, handsome elf with silvery-blonde hair, and the other was a human, somewhat more scruffy, with a goatee.

I've never been particularly smart. Just good at the things I do, though I long considered I just did the things I was good at. But these Riders there thought differently.

"We understand that you're something of a prodigy, young Justin." The elf said. "We believe you have the mark of a Rider. Our dragons can see it."

"Indeed." Said his dragon (a female) through the window. "We can see it on him. He is open to bond."

"Bond?" I asked. "You mean, with a dragon?"

"Yes." The man said. "If you want to."

Well, obviously I accepted. We have all heard the great things about the Riders, and many people owe their lives to the actions of the Order.

"Wonderful." The man said. "You'll want to make your way to Belaria. In three weeks, there will be a ship there to take you to the Academy."

You see, Belaria is the coastal city. The Academy is on a large island of the coast. That's the main headquarters of the Order of Dragon Riders. They have a distinct military advantage there. You can only get there by a ship or by flying, and if you were to attack by ship, they could easily fly in with their dragons and burn the boats. And obviously, very few people outside of the Riders can fly.

I'd never really met a dragon. Yes, I'd seen Riders before, but I'd never really gotten to meet the dragons themselves. That's what I was really looking forward to, though I hadn't really absorbed the fact that one of the creatures would be something of a life partner.

Everything about my life changed then. I remember my first day in Belaria. I'd never been to a really big city before. The whole place was bustling with activity. As a port city, it was a center of trade and commerce, and the streets were packed with people. There were even some Riders there, though the dragons themselves stayed out of the city, understandably.

Except for one. I saw one dragon near a butcher's shop, looking hungrily at an ox that was waiting outside in a pen. The dragon had no apparent Rider in sight. He was a striking creature. He was about one-and-a-half times the size of the poor beast he was grinning hungrily at, and covered in glittering blue scales, with piercing blue eyes. I even noticed that he had a sapphire in his forehead. I wondered how that got there, though my thoughts were cut short when he turned his head and saw me. The ox seemed thankful.

"Oh." The dragon said. "Hello. Never seen a dragon before?" he asked.

"No... I mean, yes, I have seen a dragon." I said. The dragon turned to face me and sat down lazily. There was a sort of grin on his face that made me uncomfortable at first. "I'm going off to the Academy..." my voice trailed off when I saw him make a sort of scoffing noise, blowing a bit of smoke.

"Ahh. Joining the glorious Riders?" he asked, in a tone that was almost condescending. "I think you'll like that."

"I take it you don't have a Rider..." I started, though I was starting to feel very foolish.

"Nope." The dragon said cheerfully, standing over and walking by me. "Don't care to have one. I live on that island near the Academy... Not my thing." he said, admiring his silvery-white claws. "Though the Elders want me to get one. Though they simultaneously dread that happening." he chuckled. A bell rang in the distance. "Oh, that'll be the ship." he said, walking off. He looked behind at me. "Aren't you getting on?"

"Oh! Yes..." I said sheepishly, following him. "So... you aren't flying there?"

"Nah." he said. "I like boats. They're fun little devices. Also it's fun to see the look on the other peoples' faces."

This was completely unexpected. I'd always expected dragons to be much more formal. Then again, this seemed to be a wild dragon... or something vaguely similar to a wild dragon. He couldn't really compare.

The boat was somewhat small, being that it only had a small number of other students on it. They were all surprised when the dragon boarded with them. They didn't quite know what to think about the matter. They were all shy and nervous in his presence, which made for a somewhat quiet trip. A couple of people looked at the dragon with looks of disdain, I remember.

The boat set off, and we were all quiet. We didn't know what to say. I suppose that with the presence of the dragon, and the knowledge of where we were going, we were all feeling very formal. The fact that we were with a very informal dragon made things quite awkward. We saw the island looming in the distance, with the shining Academy there. It was a large castle complex... it was beautiful to behold, a shining crystalline palace, it looked like.

At the end of the short voyage, we were greeted by one of the Elders with his bright red Dragon. I recognized him as the elf that came to recruit me. He was very tall, must've been 6 foot 5. Had silvery-white hair, and his dragon was rather striking as well. A bit bigger than the blue dragon on the boat with us, and more intimidating.

"Good day, new students." he said to us. "I am Caeras, and I will be one of your teachers during your training."

"And I am Kiryst." the dragon said, bowing her head. "You will be free to find your rooms to stay at. And tomorrow, you will meet the dragons to find your partner." she threw an icy glare at the dragon with us, through those vivid green eyes. "And I expect you to be there, Pernas. No hiding this time."

Pernas sauntered up to her, smiling a serpentine smile. "Oh, you know I'd do anything for you, darling." he said in a teasing tone. Kiryst growled at him. Caeras folded his arms.

"Pernas." Caeras said in a patient, though stern tone of voice.

"Oh, why do I have to?" Pernas asked. "I'm never having one of these guys on my back."

"You don't have to, no." Caeras said. "But we'd appreciate if you did."

"Fine, fine..." Pernas grumbled, trudging off.

"You'll have to excuse Pernas here." Caeras said, turning to the other students. "He's a bit unruly. Perhaps one of you will be his Rider-"

"Doubt it." Pernas called back, before taking off into the sky and flying away to another part of the island.

I was surprised with how frugal my room was, and a bit relieved. It was comfortable, but not particularly grand, like the rest of the Academy was. It had all the necessities and was neat and all. I just set all my stuff on the floor (not that I had much baggage) and lay there on the bed.

I thought about what it would be like to bond with a dragon. Would he (or she? I wasn't sure) like me? Would I like it? Was I up to joining this grand Order? I stayed up for awhile, pondering. I didn't really know many dragons. There were the ones that the Riders were on, but they were never able to socialize much, and I was often nervous around them. The only one I ever got to talk to was Pernas, today. And he was completely different from what I'd come to expect. Kiryst more fit what I had been expecting. Solemn, serious, grave in most aspects. But Pernas was different; he has loud, boisterous, and generally cheerful, from what I had seen. Guess that shows what I know, I thought.

Before I knew it, I heard talking.

"So, Pernas, if one of those people were to ride you, who would it be?"

I looked over. Somehow, I was sitting on a mountain, and there was Pernas, surrounded by a few other dragons, apparently female. I really had no idea how this had happened.

"Oh, don't ask me that." Pernas said lazily. "It's always either a human with rocks in his head, or an elf with the personality of a rock. That or it's a half-and-half, but they almost always have family problems, what with a parent being dead or something."

"But if you had to choose?" a small female cooed.

"Well..." Pernas said, thinking. "I think I'd rather go with the human."

"Human?"

"Yes. They're more amusing and generally more likeable and less boring. And if they get pretentious, it's easy to deflate its ego. Elves, not so much. They have infinite egos. And he has to be very stupid."

"But humans are generally very stupid."

"Yes, but this one would know that he's stupid. Thus, a lack of pretension on his part."

My thoughts were, for a very informal dragon, he liked to use big words like 'pretension' on a regular basis.

"And also, the human would have to have some interest in artistic things. I've always liked human art and music. That might be tricky... has to be artistically inclined, but an idiot. Not like it matters. I intend to stay free as a bird, and nothing is ever going to bring me down."

"How did this get in my room?" I asked at length, after racking my brain as to what exactly was going on.

"Huh?" Pernas asked, looking at me at last. The female dragons seemed to just exit. "What are you doing on my mountain? And where'd that bed come from?"

I looked down. It seemed the bed was right there on the cliff. We were silent for a minute.

"Umm..." I said. "Goodnight?" I asked, turning over and going to sleep.