Riley stood in line, one of hundreds, and awaited her chance. Dressed in the best clothes that she could muster, albeit not much for an eighteen-year-old beggar, she stood and waited.
The line she stood in ran past the town center and up to the stone stage where announcements were made. Upon the stage sat a large, ovular stone, which sat atop a small velvet cushion. The stone was a stark white, in great contrast to the almost black stone of the stage. Each person in line came up to the stone and held onto it for a few moments, maybe two minutes at the longest, before replacing it on the cushion. A man and woman stood behind the stone, watching over the many people coming by. They were accompanied by a small group of guards.
The stone - which everyone in the crowd knew - was really no stone at all, but the egg of a dragon. This egg would hatch for one person of the dragon's choosing. This person would then be taken away, out of Alagaësia, and would be trained as a Dragon Rider by Eragon Shadeslayer.
Riley was next in line for the stone, next in line for a chance to escape Dras-Leona. She had grown up in this city, and lost her parents when she was only ten years old. It had always been her dream to get out of this city, to see the rest of the world; the rest of Alagaësia at least. She wanted to visit Illrea, and Du Weldenvarden, and the dwarves in the Beor Mountains. She wanted to experience the world, and being a Dragon Rider would allow her to do all that and more.
Not to mention, for the past eight years, Riley had lived on the streets – or more aptly, on the shores of Leona Lake. She had stolen food for the better part of that time. During the rare occasion she was paid for some menial task, she felt as though she was living in the lap of luxury. If the egg were to hatch for her, she would be able to escape that fate, and live in relative luxury; at the very least, she wouldn't go hungry thrice a week.
Riley stepped up to the stone, the person in front of her disappointed. Now that she could properly see the egg, she examined it much closer. It was not a pure white as it had looked from far away. Its surface was laced with white veins; they couldn't have been a shade off from the rest of the egg. From this close, the egg looked much more like polished marble. Taking hold of the egg, it felt cool and frictionless in her hands. She had never held anything so smooth, or even heard of anything similar.
Riley slid the egg down her arms and up against her stomach, cradling it like a mother would her baby. She rocked the egg back and forth, looking down into the mirror-like surface. The man and woman on stage made no protest as Riley went into the second minute of contact with the egg.
Riley put the egg back down onto the cushion at the woman's request, nearly five minutes after picking it up; she had held the egg the longest by far. Riley began to walk away when she heard movement from behind her. The egg was rolling around on top of the cushion, no one even touching it. A sharp tapping sound came from the egg as it pushed forwards and backwards. After nearly 2 minutes of the egg moving back and forth a squealing issued from the egg, and a crack appeared in the side. Then another crack appeared; then another, and another. A piece of shell broke off, quickly followed by a larger piece. It was only another minutes until the small dragon was outside of the egg.
It had a long-snouted, triangular head, with the brows and chin ending in sharp-looking points. Small growths were visible on the creature's brow, like horns. The neck was long and serpentine, leading back to a lean, lithe body. Its tail was a good deal longer than its neck, and made up almost half of the dragon's length. On its feet were sharp claws that, even as small as they were, dug deeply into the stone stage. The wings were long and wide – at least, the wing material itself was translucent more like paper held up to a candle than anything else. A long line of spines ran down the length of the dragon's back. The skin of the dragon looked like tanned leather, and there was a distinct lack of scales. Its color was similar to that of its egg, only without the luster.
The dragon shook itself vigorously, freeing any leftover liquids and pieces of shell that were still clinging to its skin. Only then did it seem to notice the crowd of people around it, scrunching up its neck and curling its tail around its legs. It folded its wings close in to its body as it turned and scanned the crowd. When it came to face Riley, after nearly a half rotation, it stopped dead. The dragon stared squarely and unmistakably at Riley. It relaxed itself then, and let its tail uncurl and neck extend.
The dragon hopped down from the stage, clumsily flapping its wings to reach the ground. It sniffed at the boots and shoes of everyone it passed by, stopping at Riley. It looked up at her, its eyes pure white except for the pupils in the center. Riley dropped into a low squat to be on almost eye level with the dragon. The dragon extended its neck out towards her as she moved a hand towards it.
The tip of the dragon's snout touched the palm of Riley's hand. Just as they made contact, Riley felt like all of the blood in her veins was frozen in that instant, and then thawed by incredible temperatures. She fell back onto the pavement, gritting her teeth as the pain passed. Just as the last of the pain drifted away, darkness closed in on the edge of her vision, and she blacked out.
When Riley came to, she was lying on a bed in a high-roofed room, staring at the ceiling. There was quite the weight on her stomach; looking down, she saw the dragon lying on her belly and its head resting on her chest. Its white eyes were staring straight into her green ones. Riley yawned and stretched herself out, reaching over her head. As she brought her arms back down, she noticed something on her right hand.
On her palm, right where the dragon had made contact was a large scar. The raised ridge of skin had a silvery sheen to it, and the dragon purred like a cat as she ran her fingers down its length.
Riley took a closer look at the dragon now that it was right in front of her. It yawned as she did so, revealing rows of short, yet sharp, white teeth. The claws of the creature were likely the most dangerous part; they were inches long, and were serrated slightly on the underside. Riley was slightly concerned about two things, the dragon's lack of scales, and the dragon's gender. A thorough search revealed no distinguishing marks as to the latter, and no scales were revealed through the search either. Riley resolved to ask someone about it later.
Riley sat up in the bed and swung her legs over the side. The dragon took this as cue to jump down to the ground and began to explore the room. A large set of bookshelves took up one wall, and a window stretched across almost the whole of another one. The window overlooked most of Dras-Leona, a view only found in the manor of Duke Darik. The third wall held the door to the hallway, as well as being the resting place for the head of her bed. A small table and a set of cushioned chairs sat off-center in the room, nearby the bookshelves. A leather shirt, trousers, and boots sat atop the table, freshly cleaned, to replace the tattered clothes she had been wearing.
Glad to see that her movers had been kind enough not to undress her, she changed clothes. The new set was a good fit, and was certainly better than her clothes before. She pulled her shoulder-length red hair into a small bun before opening the door to the next room.
The next room over was a common room. High-backed chairs formed a half-circle around a fireplace, a table in the middle of them. Many more bookshelves stood against the walls, but for the most part, the walls were places to hang the many portraits and paintings of dragons. A man sat in one of the chairs, head buried inside a particularly thick book. As the door opened, the dragon wandered out of the room, sniffing and bumping into everything it moved towards. Riley couldn't help but stifle a laugh.
The man looked up from his book, closed it and stood up, "I'm glad you've finally decided to join us. I'm Keiran."
Riley faintly knocked on the door, mostly as a gesture. "I'm Riley. Glad to meet you," she gave a warm smile.
Keiran looked to be in his early thirties. He was tall, likely over six feet, and had a welcoming face. His sandy-blonde hair dropped to his shoulders, and there was a neatly trimmed beard resting on his jaw. Riley quickly recognized him as the man who had been on the stone stage with the egg.
When Riley questioned him on this he responded, "Yes, I've been carrying that egg all over Alagaësia for…almost three years now."
"So you're a Rider then? Do you have a dragon of your own?"
"No, I'm no Rider. I just find the new ones. I suppose I'm something of a recruiter. A real Rider will be taking over your training in about two months. Until then, I'm to make sure you can read, write, and conduct yourself properly."
"Oh. So you'll be tutoring me then?" Riley looked profoundly disappointed.
"Don't be so sad about it. The weeks will fly by; we'll be off for Illrea faster than you think."
Riley perked up at the mention of her capitol city, "Illrea? Will my training not be done here?"
"No, we'll set off for the capitol in six weeks. Then I get to resume my tour of the land with a new egg."
The dragon began poking its head into the fireplace as Riley continued, "How many Riders have you recruited, exactly?"
"Including you, two. The other was an elf by the name of Háufnir, nearly seventeen years ago, now."
"What color was his dragon?" the other Rider piqued Riley's interest almost as much as her own dragon did.
"Orange, if I recall correctly. Her scales were beautiful during the twilight," Keiran looked almost as if he were about to slip into a daydream, if not for the young girl's next question.
"Speaking of scales, why is it that my dragon has none? It only has this leathery skin," Riley asked, eager that the opportunity to do so had presented itself.
"They should grow in during the coming weeks. It'll be fully scaled before the month is out, I promise. Those horns on its head should grow out soon as well. Is there anything else you were wondering?"
"Yes, actually; what gender is the dragon? I haven't found anything uh…indicating that."
"Well from what I've been told by Eragon, females don't often grow horns, so this one is likely a male. We won't know for sure though, until it learns how to speak."
"Dragons can speak? I thought they were just animals."
"No they're intelligent as you or I, perhaps even more."
"Well. When will we be starting then? I'm excited to begin learning."
"We can begin tomorrow morning. Keep the rest of the day for yourself, acquaint yourself with the situation. We've plenty of time for academics in the coming weeks," with that Keiran reopened his book, walked back to his chair, and began reading once more.
The day had already been growing late as Riley had awoken in the manor and even after her fairly brief conversation, the sky was quickly darkening. She was tired, and not particularly interested in doing anything other than going to sleep, dragon in her arms. Closing her door behind her and wrapping herself inside her thin, early summer blankets, she did just that.
Riley was awakened in the middle of the night, though by what, she did not know. The dragon's head rested just below her collarbone. She felt off somehow, like she could almost sense everything in the room.
A thought passed through Riley's mind. It felt different from anything else in her mind, like it was something foreign. She couldn't place what was wrong with it; it felt familiar somehow, like it was something she had forgotten from long ago. She tried to keep a grasp on it, but it was slipping away. Her mind dove for it, desperate to discover what it was before it left her head.
She slipped from her head. Her mind, her consciousness floated in nothingness, suspended by a tendril of though from her mind. Small lights glowed all around her, and a larger light sat right where the dragon's head was. Riley quickly pulled herself back into her head.
Her forehead quickly grew damp from the cold sweat that broke out as she sat up in bed. She had been out of her own body, free floating in the ether. 'Could I have become a spirit?' She thought to herself.
The dragon stared at her blankly. She silently wished it could speak back to her. It opened it mouth, baring its small rows of teeth; it looked like something of a yawn. Resolving that her experience couldn't have been anything more than quite the vivid nightmare, she returned to her turned over position and drifted back into her dreams.