Chapter 1 -

Darkness and Shadows, as far as he could see.

He was surrounded, his brothers felled. Their outlines blurred and leapt, more coming in from every direction. All he could see was glowing red eyes, everything else lost in the play of dim light across their forms. He could feel nothing, hear nothing, could barely even breathe, but still he lashed out, blasting their forms to nothingness, and more kept coming.

Sudden pain from his side, and the ground rushed up to meet him. He twisted as he fell, and saw another of the Shadows behind him. Its right arm shaped like a blade, bloody from point to guard, a gleaming shard of light embedded in its chest, just off of where its heart would be. He weakly rolled over, and tried to bring his arms up to defend himself, but the bladed shadow simply sneered, before resuming its manic smile, and raised its arm to finish him, blazing red eyes glowing brighter as the blade arm suddenly swung.

As the sword descended, he managed a gasp. "Lord… flee…"

XXXXXXXXXX

It was a beautiful day outside. The flowers were blooming, the birds were singing, and the trainees were getting the snot beaten out of them by their instructor, once again. The instructor looked at his four students, and shook his head before running his hand through his hair in amused exasperation.

Two were on the ground unconscious, and one was curled in a ball holding his groin, whimpering. The last was at least still on his feet, but his shield had gotten knocked off of his arm, and he was just barely holding onto his sword as he shook his head, trying to clear it. He could glare pretty good though, he would give the kid that. "I like to taunt my students about how they are the worst students ever, and couldn't fend off a colony of baby keese in broad daylight. I do believe, however, you four are the first to actually make me say that seriously."

Instructor Jerad gestured for the standing student to get his shield back, willing to at least give him credit. He had been hit from behind by a wild swing from one of the other students, and had been off balance when he stumbled into range of the instructor. "Considering you four are supposed to be graduating in a month and getting both your gauntlets and mounts, I would expect you to be at least passably competent. At this rate, I am going to have to restart all four of you, and none of you will be getting to the training grounds on time."

The instructor smirked at the blonde student as he recovered his shield, and shook off the blow to his head without disturbing the glare he was giving the instructor. "Come on, Link. At least make me try to win."

The young man glared even harder at the instructor, setting himself before slowly edging forward, shield up over his chest, sword resting against the side of his shield. That stance earned him a grin, as the instructor slipped into a lower and wider stance, shield out in front, sword behind him. Link waited a moment, before lunging forward, and stabbing with the speed of a viper. It bounced off his opponent's shield as Jared effortlessly deflected the blade, and then Link had to jump back to avoid a swipe to his knees.

A jump attack brought Link back into range, but his opponent sidestepped the attack, then used one foot to trip Link as he stumbled, not expecting the instructor to dodge. Link managed to turn the stumble into a forward roll, but as he regained his feet and turned back, he found the instructor grinning, his training blade against Link's neck. "Well, you did force me to dodge, so good work. And on turning that stumble into a forward roll."

Instructor Jerad put his blade up, and then turned back to the other three. "Roose, get up, I didn't kick you that hard. Get those two over to the clinic and then get back here to continue your workout. And don't piss around, or I am going to make sure you are cleaning the latrines until you graduate."

Jared watched Roose leverage one of the students up, and waved Link back when he moved to help. "Link, walk with me."

The two unconscious students weren't in any danger, the first had simply slammed his head against the second's after a bad block had forced him backwards. The second had flailed about as he fell, clipping Link on the head, and knocking Link forward into the instructor's weapon. All in all, it was a comedy of errors that was more common among first year trainees than fourth years. And with the other two instructors out doing other duties, Jared needed someone to help him with his next job.

Jared grabbed a stout wooden post with a large bucket on each end from a nearby shed, and tossed it at Link. "Let's head up to the kitchen, then we go up to the aerie to feed the wyverns."

Link gave him a grin, and nodded eagerly, clearly enthused by his extra duty. Jared just laughed at how eager the trainee was. "Just try not to Impress upon one of them, alright? You are supposed to do that once you graduate from basic training and begin advanced training."

Jared grabbed a post and buckets for himself, and led the way to the kitchen. They swapped out their empty pails for the full ones in the kitchen, containing the entrails, gristle, bones, and all the other inedible parts. Since most of the small town ate from the kitchen, that was a lot of animal parts per day that they didn't use. The trip to the aerie was a bit difficult carrying the two heavy buckets each, but four years of hard training, exercises, and cutting comments meant Link didn't have much of a problem with the two heavy weights.

At least until they got to the path to the aerie. Entirely uphill, steep, narrow, and rough, Link was struggling to keep up with the pace Jared set even with four years of training. Jared had made this hike almost every day for more than a decade, so he got to the top of the half mile path without even breathing hard. The instructor paused at the top of the path, and turned to look back down, admiring the view. "This view alone makes the walk worth it."

Link was looking down on the town with awe, seeing it from this height for the first time. Once the young orphan had gotten his breath back, Jared turned to him. "Alright, before we go in, rules. First, these wyverns are unbound, so they're a bit dim, don't antagonize them. That includes touching them. They can and will maul you if they think you are a threat or prey. Second, do NOT feed one directly. You will get to do that later, after the training dungeon.

Those are the rules. We are going to go in, dump the four pails into a trough in the middle of the clearing on the other side of this tunnel, and then we leave. It is just before midday, so most of the wyverns are going to be sunning themselves on the upper stone flats and perches or out hunting. The only ones on the ground should be the two hatchlings and their mother. Avoid them or their mother will rip you to pieces. Understood?"

Link eagerly nodded, and picked up the post, hoisting the bar to rest across his shoulders, and followed the instructor into the tunnel. Small mage-lights lined the tunnel, providing light, but Jared stopped Link before they exited. He stuck his head out to glance around, and then nodded to Link. "Alright, the trough is straight ahead, about twenty feet. The mother and her two hatchlings are on the other side of the clearing, and most of the wilders are out hunting."

Link gave Jared a frown, before tilting his head. "Wilders?"

"Unbonded wyverns. I know I have used the term before. Don't get distracted until you have dumped your pails. Don't want to watch you getting chased by a hungry hatchling and its unhappy mother. Even if it would be amusing."

Jared went through first, and Link quickly followed. A quick glance to one gave him a good look at the mother, though the two hatchlings weren't in immediate view, likely on the other side. Her head snapped around, giving him a good view as she abruptly whirled about, stood up, spreading her wings and leaning forward, hissing menacingly at the two Hylians that had suddenly intruded into the aerie.

Her pebbled hide was a dark green and brown, with several lighter splotches on her hide where something had scarred her. Her head was shaped like a blunted wedge and as big as Link's torso, and her muzzle parted to reveal the large serrated teeth of a carnivore. She had a wingspan of about twenty five feet or so, if Link had to guess, which would make her measure about nine feet, or the size of a large horse, from head to haunches, and give her another four feet of tail. Two thick, powerful legs supported her, ending with three toes that each sported a chipped and nicked claw.

Link thought she was gorgeous, and it took Jared elbowing him to break him out of his admiration of the powerful drake. "Link! Move it and dump the guts, before the other wyverns get back and we have to navigate a bunch of annoyed, fighting wilders."

Link snapped out of his trance, and then nodded. He moved forward, before upending his two buckets into the trough. It was filled a bit more than halfway, and he glanced at the only wyvern in the aerie currently, and then back to the rather meager amount of meat. As he turned and followed, the instructor seemed to understand what he was thinking. "That is more to tide over the wyverns watching over the aerie until the rest of the flight gets back. It also encourages the wilders to not attack us or think of us as food, but consider us a source of easy food. And for the most part, it works. Still get the occasional attack, but more from someone not listening to a wilder hissing a threat. You only make that mistake once, or see it happen, before you learn."

Link shuddered as he nodded, and followed the instructor out. He could easily imagine how much damage those teeth and claws could do if he ended up under them. Once out of the tunnel, Jared pointed down to the compound that had been his home for the last four years. "Get down there, drop the buckets off at the kitchen, do your laps around the village and the other exercises, and after lunch you are free to relax. I would suggest practicing with the training swords for at least an hour. The Shadows won't be as forgiving as us instructors. "

Jared whistled loudly and piercingly, and a wyvern suddenly launched from the small cave near the village, using a thermal to circle up toward them. "I have a couple things to do, so get going, trainee."

The young Hylian grinned and gave him a deliberately sloppy salute, before heading down the path. Free time was an unexpected luxury, and he intended to enjoy it while he could.