Prologue

Isle of the Ancients, Archipelago - Unknown Year, Aproximently 5:00 p.m.

In the midst of a cloud of dust, someone was pulling himself out of the rubble. A black-haired young man of 18 struggled to push the rocks that piled on top of him. His body ached, the attack that slammed him into the mountainside did a number on him. "Damn monster!" He wheezed.

"Issac, are you alright!?"

Looking up in the sky, he saw his closest friend, another of similar age with short black hair with a blueish shad to it. the most notable thing about him was the fact that he sat on a winged beast. A large one, covered in purple, and red scales, a white underbelly, and completely enveloped in red lighting that traveled up its body, feeding into the being of its rider, keeping him charged in battle.

Overcoming the pain, the buried one looked around frantically for his own beast. "Shade!? where are you girl!?" At first there was no response, then a low moan shook his core. "Damn it! I'm coming!" he started working faster to pull himself out.

"Issac!?" The rider was about to have his dragon get down there to help when a loud monstrous roar filled the air.

Issac knew there was no time. "Don't worry about me, Gavin! Go help the others!"

"But-"

"Just do it! I'll get out of here!"

There was a moment of hesitation. "Let's go, Strike. Time for round two with that thing."

The Skrill gave off a low roar of acknowledgment before doing as his rider said. The two took off into the fog that surrounded the island they were on, towards the sounds of explosions, and rocks breaking could be heard. Knowing there wasn't much time, Issac raised both his arms in front of him, and focused. In seconds, pure blackness surrounded them, covering them, and taking the form of claw-like appendages bigger than his normal arms. Flexing his fingers, the shadow constructs did the same in response. "Let's do this."

Issac clawed away at the pieces of stone trapping him, turning them into dust until he reached his legs. One of the constructs grazed his leg, but did nothing for it could not harm the controller unless he intended. Free he stood up, his advanced healing undoing the damage done to him. "Shade!? Tell me where you're at!"

The buried dragon in question had a hard time doing anything. Most of her body was unable to move, because of the rocks on top of her. With what strength she had, she let out a dying roar. 'Here!'

That was just what he needed. Issac b-lined it for the source jumping over, or slashing through every rock that stood in his way. To his horror, he found his dragon half buried in stone, blood seeping out from under her. "Shade!" In a split second, he was by her side, her black as night scales cover in dust, and light blue eyes with her black pupils dilated reminding him of dog eyes. "It's okay, I'm here." His voice was near trembling at the sight. Remembering what he learned from his time in school, he focused his powers again, placing both hands on the top of Shade's head.

Shade had been in a great amount of pain. A few broken ribs, a wing, and for some reason she lost feeling in her front right leg. She lost a lot of blood making her feel very weak. If she didn't know Issac then It would have certainly been her end. Like has been done before, a connection was being formed. A connection binding rider to dragon. The feeling was welcoming. Shade could feel Issac's power surge through her, mending bones, fixing wounds, giving her another chance to survive like he had done the day he found her. In no time, she was feeling like her old self.

Issac took her hands off her, taking a breath of relief. "You feeling better?" Next thing he knew, she was licking his face, leaving a coating of night fury saliva. "Augh, come on." He wiped his face, rubbing his hands on his pants. "That's hard to wash out."

Shade made a gurgling sound. 'Too bad. You earned it.' She tried to get up, but the rocks were too heavy for her, and there was something still wrong with her leg.

"Hold on, I'll get you out." Issac took a few steps back, this time making a mesh of shadow tendrils that spread over her body, moving the rocks off like nothing.

Shade watched in amazement at her human. In the past few weeks since they met, he astounded her with his powers. How could it be possible? In the centuries of conflict between humans, and dragons, there has never been a story told of any human like him, or his friends. Then they showed up out of the blue.

When she felt light enough she tried to stand up again, this time with more success as leftover rocks fell off her leaving only dust covering her scales. Then she stumbled on her side with a whine.

"Shade, what's wrong!?" Issac kneeled down to her side, his constructs disappearing in the air.

Shade tried again, planting her feet firmly on the ground, but her front right leg didn't feel like all of it was there. She managed to lift herself up again shifting most of her weight to her left side, revealing the problem.

Issac looked in horror. "Shade, Your leg!" half of it was gone up to the knee. He grabbed it, feeling around. the wound had been closed up, most likely when he healed her, but the rest was nowhere to be found. "Oh, my god!"

Shade look at it as well, her dilated eyes turning into slits in shock of it. She let out a shriek, pulling the stump away as she frantically began hopping around on her remaining three while roaring in different tones. 'What happened to my leg!? Where is the rest of it!?' She lost her balance, the underside of her head hitting the ground. Her breathing was erratic, her teeth out ready to bite.

"Shade, calm down!" Issac slowly walked towards her, holding his hands up to show he was not a threat.

It didn't do much. So consumed in shock she lashed out, pouncing on him, and getting his arm in between her jaws before chomping down.

"Ahh!" Shade bit hard, breaking through Issac's skin, but thanks to his conduit gene there was no threat of losing his arm, at least not to Night Fury bite. It hurt a lot though, almost making him attack out of reflex, but he restrained himself. Instead, he held his other arm around her neck, holding her tight even as she dug her teeth deeper. "It's okay, Shade. I'm here."

Shade was lost in darkness, but the touch of her rider was the torch to start her way back. Even when he wasn't healing her, she still felt the bond they had developed. When he first found her it was when she was dying at the hands of a band of pirates. He saved her, and at first, they thought it might be the last time they saw each other when they went their separate ways. But something brought them back together. Now they were a pair in a team trying to stop a monster.

"It's okay, Shade. It's okay." Issac rubbed her chin, scratching the sweet spot on the side.

His voice echoed in her mind, dispelling some of the confusion. Slowly, but surely she was coming to. Awareness came back, the presence of her rider reminding her she was not alone. Eventually, the tangy taste of Issac's blood on her tongue became obvious to her. Her eyes reverted to normal, her teeth retracted, and he removed his arm.

"That feels better."

Seeing the blood drip from his forearm, Shade was overwhelmed by guilt. All the time they spent together, the times he healed her, and she hurt him. She made a remorseful whine. 'I'm sorry' She nuzzled his chest.

Issac petted her head. "It's alright, girl." he lifted up his wounded arm. "You know this is nothing to me." the shadow conduit stood up, and made his way to the water with Shade in tow, hobbling. Dipping his arm in, he made a sharp gasp from the stinging sensation the saltwater created. It was painful, but it washed the blood off. When he took it out the teeth closed before their eyes. "See all better." That's when he noticed the scars left behind. "More, or less."

Another monstrous roar drowned out every other sound. Issac plug his ears, and Shade tried to do the same by burying one side of her head into the sand, but that left one open ear. When it was over they were reminded of the situation. "Crap, they're still fighting!" They looked towards the source, unable to see past the fog, but they saw blue, and red flashes. Gavin, and Strike no doubt. "We got to go back!" He turned back to Shade. "Can you fly?"

Shade fanned her wings, gesturing for him to get on. 'Of course.' She almost lost her balance again, but caught herself.

Seeing that, Issac clenched his fists in anger. There was only one thing responsible for this. He climbed on her back, wrapping his shadows around her body as to not fall off. "Let's go. We're gonna kill that thing."

Shade must have thought the same thing, because she immediately took off at high speeds.

On the other side...

Whoa, whoa, whoa! wait a minute! You're going a little to far ahead, jeez. It's just supposed to be a prologue. Now for the rest of you, you're probably wondering, "What the hell is going on? How did me, and my friends get here? And how the hell do dragons exist?"

Welp, honesty, Have you ever had a moment in your life where you wonder, "how the hell did I get myself into this shit?" Well, that's what I've been wondering for the past few weeks. If you haven't guessed yet, I'm Issac, the guy that just had his arm bitten after getting smacked out of the sky. I guess the best way to explain the situation would be to go back to the beginning back home. While the writer is going to be explaining the story, I'll be helping with introductions, or just making commentary from time to time.

Now until next time, This is Issac signing off. What? Oh, also Shade wants to say, "Hi."