The sky lit up briefly as a shooting star streaked across it. "Would you look at that." Roan whispered. He heard Frei gasp beside him and pull herself closer to him. They were laying on the crest of a hill, the soft grass beneath them and the warm, almost stifling air pressed down on them from above.

"My mother told me that if you make a wish when you see one, it will come true." She breathed, looking up at Roan. He smiled, and leaned in to kiss her. The moment their lips touched, Frei rushed upward into the sky. She screamed in terror as Roan leapt to his feet, staring impotently as she flew up, leagues above the ground until he couldn't even see her anymore. He stared into the sky, shouting her name. He heard no reply, and saw nothing more of her.

Roan felt his limbs suddenly grow cold, and he as well soared into the air. He looked around, shouting for whoever it was doing this to stop. Again, there was no reply. The last thing he saw was the top of Farthen Dur.

xxxxx

Eragon breathed deeply, smelling the now-familiar scent of burnt mushrooms as he meditated. He had amazingly found ants in this new land, and had found no end of wonder to their behaviours, as he had once on the Crags of Tel'naeir. There were several differences between these ants and the ones he had known before. These new ants were much more disorganized, and their colonies were much smaller as a result of fighting with other colonies over territory and food. They also had twice as many legs, and much larger bodies. The queens were roughly the size of his little toe.

He's done. Eragon heard Saphira growl in his mind. The Rider they had been training, Signor, decided he knew enough about how to control water, and rather than lecture him about how much he still had to learn, Eragon had left him with a list of a hundred complex shapes to bend the water into, as well as a hundred tasks to be completed with the water, sometimes with it in one of the hundred complex shapes. Saphira had watched him complete those tasks, and Eragon had gone to meditate.

This Rider, like the last few who had been sent, was much younger than Eragon usually received. They weren't as mature, and much more likely to do something foolish when faced with the difficulties of Eragon's training. He was worried that something was wrong with Arya, but she had sent no word with any of the Riders for a long, long time. He is determined, if nothing else. Saphira added as Eragon ascended the stairs to the large building he had constructed to train the Riders in.

Saphira was curled up with her head on her paws, one large eye directed at the prone figure next to her. Signor was panting heavily, sprawled out on the ground with a bowl of water a few feet away from him. His face was pale and soft, but his eyes had a glimmer of satisfaction in them. When he saw Eragon, he sat upright and composed himself. He inclined his head to Eragon and remained silent, waiting for the elder Rider to speak first.

"Clean yourself before we eat." Eragon said, placing a hand on Signor's shoulder before he walked past him toward the small table on the other side of the room.

"Yes, Eragon-elda." Signor said as he rose to his feet, heading for his quarters as Eragon set about preparing their dinner. When Eragon was finished, he sat down to wait for his trainee. He looked around, and couldn't help but feel a tinge of pride in what he and Saphira had accomplished.

The training building was, well, immense. Saphira had grown to and beyond gargantuan sizes in the many long years they had been there. Still, her mountainous figure fit easily in the thousand-foot-wide doors guarding the entrance. The building itself was really just one huge room with various amenities inside. It was a mile long, a mile wide, and two thousand feet tall. It had taken them thirty years to construct, yet even it was nothing compared to the city surrounding it.

Hundreds of trainee Riders over the years had helped them construct it. The training building was the largest of all of them, but the city had enough houses for tens of thousands of families to live within. A river ran through the north-eastern quadrant of the town. You could walk for hours from the training building at the center in any direction and not reach an exterior wall. Those walls, a mile high on every side, protected the city from all the wildlife Eragon had encountered upon finding this new continent. He had not found any sort of civilized life, and had thus determined to begin a self-sufficient colony to ensure whomever might decide to live here with him would always have a safe place to return to.

"Master, our food grows cold." Signor said. Eragon snapped out of his daydream to look at his apprentice.

"My apologies." Eragon said, picking up his spoon and beginning to eat. Signor excitedly followed suit, devouring the stew. He was clearly famished, so Eragon made another bowl when he was finished. Signor ate that one as well before leaning back and burping softly.

"I don't know how you manage to make food taste that good." Signor said.

"Practice." Eragon replied before taking their bowls to the small cookfire and setting them next to it. "Goodnight, Signor-finiarel." He said, turning to exit the building. As Eragon neared the door, he felt a cold shiver run down his spine. He shuddered, and turned to look at his apprentice.

Signor felt the same coldness, and asked "What was that, Master?"

Eragon frowned. "I do not know."

xxxxx

There you go, friends! Thank you all for reading this, the first chapter in my new FanFiction. There will be much more to come. I am trying to keep the chapters shorter than I usually do, in order to keep up with more regular updates. I hope to hear from you soon!

P.S. Feel free to let me know if you find any typos, and I will correct them post-haste.

-ReviewMaster