Disclaimer: First, I own none of the characters from the Inheritance Cycle. Second, All original characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
This is my first Fanfic, so please read and enjoy. I have it rated as M due to the use of Language, and possible adult content in later chapters, so please do not read if you do not want to see that stuff. This is fairly AU, but I hope that it is still a good read. Reviews are greatly appreciated.
Eragon needed some time alone after the battle of the Burning Plains. He had just told Arya, Nasuada and Roran the truth about Murtagh. He was Murtagh's brother, Morzan's son. He had expected Nasuada and Roran to be disgusted that they had the son of one of the Forsworn among them. He thought they would show outrage at this discovery. Instead, they had accepted him, and tried to console him. Eragon, however, needed some more time to comprehend what had happened during the battle. He needed to spend some time alone with his thoughts.
What troubles you little one?
At least, as alone as one can be when they are a Dragon Rider.
I am thinking about the battle we just fought, and how powerful Murtagh became in such a short period of time.
It is most unnatural, Saphira stated. Thorn should not have been that large after being hatched for such a short amount of time.
I think that it may not be possible for me to beat Murtagh. He was able to beat me easily, after having already killed Hrothgar. How can I possibly fight against an opponent like that?
We will find a way, Saphira reassured him, perhaps Oromis has something more to teach us. And once the Elves join us on the battlefield, they will be able to provide aid. But that is not that troubles you is it little one?
No it is not,Eragon sighed, How can Nasuada and Roran try to comfort me? How can Arya look at me in the same way? I am the son of Morzan, one of the Forsworn.
They can comfort you because they are your friends. I know you Eragon, and you are the same person today as you were before. Just because Murtagh told you that you are Morzan's son, you are no different of a man. Thousands of children, Elf and Human, passed my egg, and yet I only hatched for you. I hatched for you because I saw that you were a good person, and that you would become a good rider, and that is probably what Roran and Arya still see in you.
Thank you Saphira, Eragon said as they started to land next to the Jiet River, you are the best companion that I could ask for.
I know. You are welcome.
Eragon got off of Saphira and began walking around, surveying the landscape. We should prepare to leave for Helgrind soon. Roran will want to find Katrina as soon as he can.
Saphira began to respond but was interrupted by a new presence against their minds. Eragon lowered his barrier and allowed the familiar person inside.
Eragon.
Arya.
Where are you Eragon?
Eragon sent her a quick mental image of his position by the river. What do you need Arya?
Nasuada requires your presence for a strategy meeting at her pavilion.
Eragon began to turn back to Saphira to get on her, All right, please let Nasuada know that I will be-
*Flash*
Sergeant Timothy Walker leaned back against his seat inside the V-22 Osprey. Somehow, the conversation that they were having about women had devolved into a debate about geopolitics.
"The Taliban are obviously the biggest threat to the United States. They were the first foreign power to attack us on home soil since World War II," Private Louis Perez said.
"All I am saying," Private Nick Schneiter continued, "is that the European Consortium is becoming more and more dangerous. When our own allies are starting to turn against us I think we have a problem."
Pfc. Dale Rae chose to join the conversation at this point, "Not all Europeans are in the Consortium. It is just a small terrorist group trying to hang on to the political power they had last century."
"I don't know," Schneiter said, "just this past week they arrested some members of the French Parliament were arrested for their involvement in anti-United States activities that the Consortium committed."
"Yea, but who is going to be shooting at your ass in a few weeks, the Taliban or the French," Pfc. Carey Rubio stated to a chorus of laughter.
At this point Sgt. Walkers radio activated, "Sgt. Walker, this is Marine Base, come in."
"This is Sgt. Walker, what do you need?"
"You and your squad are ordered to halt your training mission and go to grid 36-A3 and investigate possible terrorist activity."
"Terrorist activity north of Los Angeles? What is going on?"
"There has been a possible EMP strike 50 miles northeast of Los Angeles. All electronics in the greater Los Angeles region have gone dark."
"EMP strike," Schneiter said in a low voice, "Is that more likely to be Taliban, or a European country that actually has EMP technology." Rubio kicked out at Schneiter in mock anger.
"Roger that," Walker continued, "We are 60 miles out, ETA 10 mikes"
"Air Force will be providing air support with F-22's," base stated.
"Understood."
"Oh boy, the Chair Force will be providing air support, we are saved," Pvt. Jeramey Maski joked.
"OK guys, enough messing around. Check your weapons and be ready to hit the ground in under 10 mikes" Sgt. Walker said.
Immediately 9 different pairs of hands were expertly going over their weapons, making sure that they were ready to be used once they got on the ground.
"Why would someone EMP 50 miles away from Los Angles," Cpl. Roy Gerling asked, "what are they trying to accomplish?"
Cpl. Scott Mckoy elaborated, "could it be the Chino-Russo Federation testing a next generation weapon?"
Lance Cpl. Vincent Song came out of his almost meditative state to answer them, causing the whole squad to look at him. "We do not know if it even was an EMP strike, we can not make an accurate deduction until more facts about the situation are known."
On this note, the squad remained quiet and contemplative until they landed.
The first thing that Sgt. Timothy Walker noticed when getting off the back of the V-22 Osprey was the scorching summer heat. It was after 4 o'clock in the middle of June, and the temperature was over 100 degrees. He surveyed the desert plains around the V-22 and quickly found the large crater that they had observed from the air, just 100 feet to the rear of the Osprey.
He quickly took charge of the situation, "Alpha fireteam, on me, lets go check out that impact crater, bravo fireteam, spread out and secure the perimeter."
His squad quickly took to action. Cpl. Mckoy, Lance Cpl. Song, Pfc. Rubio and Pvt. Perez took up positions on either side of him as he ran towards the crater. While they approached the crater, Cpl. Gerling's fireteam split into groups of two, and began to circle around the crater, keeping their distance at around 70 feet away from the crater and checking the ground and the perimeter to secure the area.
When Sgt. Walker got within 30 feet of the crater, he slowed down. Fireteam alpha took up positions at his side, Mckoy and Vincent on his right, and Rubio and Perez on his left. As they approached the crater, Walker noticed a civilian walking around inside the crater.
He called out to the civilian, "Excuse me sir, this is a dangerous area, I am going to have to ask you to exit the crater."
The figure in the crater turned towards him, and by now, when they were 15 feet out, Walker could see a sword in the civilians hands. Walker immediately raised his M16A4, and following his lead, fireteam alpha on either side of him also raised their weapons.
"Drop the sword! Drop your weapon and get down on the ground," Walker shouted.
"Eka malabra ono né haina!"
Eragon slowly began to awaken. He sat up off the ground, and looked at his surroundings. He looked to be in the burning plains still, however something seemed different. Suddenly noticing what was bothering him, he turned in a slow circle, yet he could not see the Jiet River. In fact, he could not even see the Varden camp on the horizon.
What happened Saphira?
No answer arrived for Eragon. Saphira, where are you?
Eragon became alarmed. Was this some sort of new attack that Galbatorix was executing? How could he form a counter attack so quickly when his armies had just a few days ago began a full retreat?
Looking up in the sky, he saw what looked like a dragon flying towards him, as the object got closer however, he noticed that it was not a dragon at all. Reaching out to it with his mind, he noticed that it was not even alive. He instead felt minds of 11 different humans that appeared to be encased by this flying metal object. The dragon copy flew over his head, and landed a ways away from the crater that Eragon was standing in.
Eragon began to move towards the flying contraption in order to ask what had happened or where he was. He noticed 9 humans exit the being, and begin to move about. As Eragon was about to call out to them, he realized that he did not have any weapons. His bow and the arrows were still on Saphira's saddle, and his sword was not at his side. Eragon began to search the ground for his sword, and found it just a few paces behind him. He walked over to the sword and picked it up.
One of the men behind him spoke, "Excuse me sir, this is a dangerous area, I am going to have to ask you to exit the crater."
Eragon began to turn towards the 5 men that had come to the crater in order to ask them if they knew what had happened and where he was. While Eragon was turning, the middle man in the group noticed the sword that Eragon held in his hands and an alarmed expression overtook his face. He along with the 2 men to either side of him raised the strange devices to their shoulders, and pointed the tips of the devices at him.
The man in the middle spoke again, this time in a demanding shout, "Drop the sword! Drop your weapon and get down on the ground!"
Realizing that they thought that he was a threat, Eragon quickly responded in the Ancient Language, "I mean you no harm!"
"Eka malabra ono né haina!"
As soon as Sgt. Walker heard the man speak these words, he felt that he was not a threat. Confused, he lowered his weapon as the man put his sword in his sheath at his side. Sgt. Walker approached the boy, for it was a boy that looked no older than 17 rather than a man, and asked, "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"
"My name is Eragon," the boy replied, "and I do not know what is going on. Who are you, and can you please tell me where we are?"
"I am Sgt. Walker of the United States Marines, and you are in the middle of the desert about 50 miles northeast of Los Angeles. Did you see what happened here?"
"I am afraid that I do not know of this town of Los Angeles, Is it a new town? Can you tell me how far it is from here to Surda?"
At this point it became fairly obvious to Walker that this boy was not going to be much help in figuring out what happened here as it seemed like he was probably on some sort of drugs. "There is no such thing as Surda around here. You should probably get out of that crater. Go with Pvt. Perez here to the Osprey and lets make sure that you have not been injured by what has happened here."
"Wait, have you seen my dragon?"
Now Walker was certain that the boy was on drugs, or had serious brain damage. "There is no such thing as dragons, you should go with Perez and we can get your statement about what happened here later. We need to clear the area and make sure that it is secured."
"There most certainly are dragons, I am a dragon rider. You must have seen her in that flying contraption of yours. She is large, and she has brilliant blue scales. You are sure that you have not seen her?"
By this point, bravo fireteam had finished their perimeter check, and were snickering behind Walker at the intoxicated boy. Perez started to lead the boy away from the crater while listening to his ravings.
Walkers radio became active again, "Marine ground squad, this is Raptor 1. Be advised, there is an unidentified bogey converging on your position at over 200 knots from the northeast."
"Eyes up marines, possible hostile inbound."
Walker, along with the 7 other marines around him, turned away from the boy to the northeast. He saw a rapidly approaching blue figure that almost looked like a giant flying lizard. He estimated that the bogey would be on their position in less than 20 seconds. Walker and his two fire teams raised their weapons and readied to fire.
The boy called out behind him, "Wait, letta!"
The men lowered their devices as Eragon put away his sword. The man in the middle of the group started to ask him questions, however Eragon did not think that the men would be much use. They did not seem to know that Surda even existed, and they kept on talking about this town of Los Angeles. Eragon supposed that the group may have been from a small farming town that was left alone by the Empire. Apparently after a while, the man, Sgt. Walker, realized that he was not making sense to Eragon, and had one of his men start to lead Eragon towards the large metal craft. Approaching the craft, Eragon realized that they may have seen Saphira from the sky. He quickly decided to ask them.
"Wait, have you seen my dragon?"
This group of soldiers had apparently never even heard of dragons however, and when Eragon decided to try and describe her, it seemed to amuse the men behind Sgt. Walker. Resigned, Eragon decided to walk with Pvt. Perez to the Osprey as the men had called it and see if he could make more sense of what these soldiers knew about where he was.
He started to talk with the man that was leading him away, when all of a sudden he felt another presence rush into his mind.
Eragon!
Saphira! Where are you Saphira?
I am coming to you now.
From behind him, Eragon heard Sgt. Walker speak to his marines, "Eyes up marines, possible hostile inbound."
Eragon looked over the marines heads, and saw the most beautiful sight. Saphira was flying towards them at full speed, and Eragon could feel her eagerness to be reunited with her rider over their mental link. Comprehending what Sgt. Walker had just said, and noticing the way that the soldiers were acting, Eragon realized that the marines thought of Saphira as a threat.
Fearful for Saphira's safety, Eragon tried to get the soldiers attention, and called out "Wait," but the soldiers were moving too quickly, and Saphira was approaching with too much speed. In desperation, he decided to use the ancient language, "letta!"
The spell immediately took a toll on Eragon, and he felt a drain on his energy as he stopped the 8 soldiers from raising their weapons. The marines were surprised at their sudden inability to raise their weapons, giving Saphira enough time to majestically land in front of the soldiers.
Eragon ran past the soldiers and lovingly embraced Saphira's neck as she bent her head down to greet him.
Saphira, what happened? All I remember is talking with you next to the Jiet River and then I woke up here.
I do not know what happened Eragon. I remember being at the river, and then I awoke to be falling through the skies. I could not sense you, but I saw that flying craft over there, she gestured to the Osprey, and decided to investigate. I lost sight of it, but then I sensed that you were near and flew towards where I knew you would be.
I am so glad that you are here Saphira. I thought that I lost you!
You will have to try much harder to lose me little one.
"What in the hell is going on here?" Sgt. Walker yelled at them. "Is that a dragon?"
"Yes Sgt. Walker, this is my dragon. Please allow me to introduce you to Saphira."
"But, that is impossible. Dragons do not exist, there is no such thing."
He does not seem to be the most helpful two-legs-round-ears. Saphira told Eragon. Then opening the conversation to the 9 men in front of them, Saphira said, Have you never heard of a dragon before?
Apparently they had not only never heard of dragons before, but they had also never been communicated to through minds because as Saphira spoke to them, a look of shock washed over the group.
"Holy shit, did you guys hear that? I think that it spoke in my mind!" one of the men that Eragon did not know yet exclaimed.
"Calm down Rubio," Sgt. Walker snapped. Regaining his composure, Sgt. Walker addressed both Saphira and Eragon, "Obviously, Eragon, you were telling the truth about your dragon, as you Saphira are evidence. Let us start over our conversation. Where exactly did you guys say you were from?"
"Well I am from Carvahall, but we were just at the Burning Plains, north of Surda. Have you never heard of these lands?"
"No I am afraid that I have not, these names mean nothing to me."
"Where in Alagaësia are we?" Eragon asked.
"We are not in Alagaësia," Sgt. Walker said, "we are in the United States of America, and I am beginning to think that this situation may be above my pay grade. Wait there while I call my superiors for orders."
Whatever Eragon said, it had stopped Sgt. Walker from raising his weapon. Taking a quick look around, he also noticed the 7 marines around him were also having difficulty moving their weapons. While he was trying to understand what was going on, the large winged lizard landed in front of his men. The creature definitely looked like a dragon, with large magnificent wings and brilliantly bright blue scales. The dragon was larger than a house, dwarfing Sgt. Walker and his squad.
While Walker was getting his thoughts in order, Eragon ran past him with speed that surprised him, and embraced the dragon in a hug around its neck. Deciding that he wanted to gain control of the situation, Walker yelled out at Eragon and the dragon, "What in the hell is going on here? Is that a dragon?"
Eragon responded that it was his dragon, and when Walker said that that was impossible Eragon and Saphira looked at each other, and Walker heard a beautiful and foreign voice in his head, Have you never heard of a dragon before?
Walker wondered whether he was the only person who had heard the voice, until he heard Pfc. Rubio behind him say, "Holy shit, did you guys hear that? I think that it spoke in my mind!"
Walker told Rubio to calm down, and decided to try and look at the situation anew. Obviously because Saphira was right there in front of him, what Eragon had said was true. At least some of what Eragon had said was true. He tried to ask Eragon more questions about where he was from, however he still got the same answers, that he was from Alagaësia, and he was currently supposed to be near a country called Surda.
At this point, Walker thought that he should report in and get orders about what to do next, so he started to talk into his radio, "Marine Base, this is Sgt. Walker at the possible EMP site, our squad has secured the position, however there may be a problem here on the ground."
An unknown voice came over the radio, "Sgt. Walker, this is General Marcellus Forde. Please tell me that these Raptor pilots that are talking into my ears are idiots. I am getting reports from them that there is a dragon?"
"Um, yes sir," Walker said sheepishly, "there is currently a dragon with us on the ground, and a civilian is here claiming to be her rider, what should we do sir?"
There were a few seconds of silence on the radio, and then General Forde's voice was heard again, "Understood Sergeant, I am making a no fly zone around your position. Secure the area, and make sure that no one else sees the dragon. I should be there in 20 minutes with Senator Wayne Kenner"
After he was finished talking on the radio, Sgt. Walker took action, "All right. Let's secure the area. Pfc. Rubio and Pvt. Perez, go to that road south of here, about 300 yards to the west, and stop any east bound traffic, Pfc. Rae, you take Pvt. Schneiter and Maski and go do the same from the east side." The 5 men split up and started sprinting towards the road in order to set up their positions. "that should stop people from seeing Saphira directly from the road, but they can still see her from the checkpoints probably. Saphira, can you please get behind the Osprey and get as close to it as possible? We do not want to cause a panic."
If that would make things easier, I can comply. Saphira responded to him in his head, and started to move behind the Osprey.
Walker then turned to the group that was remaining. Eragon, Mckoy, Song, and Gerling were still standing in front of him. "Let's wait behind the Osprey with Saphira. I am sure that you have some questions, just as I have some questions for you and Saphira."
As they walked to the Osprey, Mckoy spoke up. "Fuck, were we just on the line with General Forde? And he said he is coming with Senator Wayne Kenner?"
"This got big fast," Gerling said, "When the Chairman of the Armed Services and Homeland Security Committee and a four star general are coming to you, there is no doubt that you just stepped in something big."
"Not only the Chairman ASHS, but the founder of Instant Crisis Solutions, one of the largest Private Military Companies in the United States," Vincent Song added.
"No shit," Cpl. Mckoy added, "I sure am glad that I am not in charge right Sergeant?"
"On the contrary Mckoy, I will just tell them that you were the one that found them. I was with bravo fireteam securing the perimeter," Walker joked.
The two F-22's passed by every few minutes, defending the no fly zone, and after 15 minutes of waiting, 2 more Osprey appeared on the horizon coming from the east. They landed next to each other, and as soon as the V-22's were on the ground, a bundle of activity erupted from them. First, around 30 soldiers got out of the two aircraft, and ran towards Walker and the group carrying different ammounts of supports and tarps and began setting up a giant pavilion. While this was going on, a group of five people stepped out of one of the aircraft and started walking towards them. There was a General in the middle, and to his right there was the senator in a business suit. To the left of the General, Walker saw, was a woman who did not look to be over 25 with long brunette hair. Behind both the woman and the senator were 2 marines who looked to be guarding the group.
Eragon began anew describing the situation to these new arrivals as the noise from the construction of the tent started to die down. Eragon was surprised that the men could construct a tent with the ability to hide Saphira so quickly, but then he also realized that there was much that he did not know about them when they flew around on metal ships.
Much of the conversation did not make sense to Eragon, and Saphira as well. It seemed like the conversation currently was more designed to inform this general and the senator about what was going on, and not to inform Eragon and Saphira about what was going on. Eventually Eragon and Saphira stopped commenting on the conversation when the woman, who was apparently a Doctor, started talking about alternate universes, and theoretical physics.
While they talked, the 5 men that had originally been with Sgt. Walker returned and stood with Walker. When they were talking about where to house Eragon and Saphira, Eragon found that he had to enter the conversation again to ask a question.
"How can Saphira and I get back?" Eragon asked.
Everyone stopped talking and looked around at each other.
No one was able to answer Eragon.
Arya sat in her tent contemplating the days events.
"What do you mean he is gone," Nasuada asked, "has he left the Varden, is it because he is Murtagh's brother?"
"No," Arya replied, "He is simply gone. I do not know what happened. He was in the middle of talking to me and all of a sudden his presence was no longer there."
"Well what does this mean, has Galbatorix done this? What do you see when you scry him?"
"I do not know if it was Galbatorix. It is probably not him or else we could have expected a counter attack to hit us by now. When I scry him, I can only see him, none of the landmarks and features around him. But I do see him with Saphira."
Nasuada and Roran asked Arya many more questions, however they were not getting any closer to finding out what happened to Eragon, and it was decided that they would begin searching for the rider in the morning.
As Arya sat on her cot, she decided to understand the events that transpired. It was most, concerning when Eragon ceased talking to Arya through the mental connection. The fact that Eragon was no longer in the Varden camp was unexpected for Arya, and it disconcerted her.
"Where are you Eragon," Arya whispered to no one in particular.
A single tear made its way down Arya's face before falling to the ground.
So that was chapter 1. I realize that it was a fairly long chapter, but I felt like I had to go through the effort to introduce the characters well. I do not know if future chapters will switch back and forth between the points of view as much, but I am definitely going to have points of view from Eragon, Arya and Walker. I am in the middle of writing chapter 2 now, and I hope that it will be up by Sunday. Please review, I want to know what you guys thought worked well, if there was anything that bothered you about the story or my writing style, and what I can do to improve the writing for you guys.