I'm back with the first real chapter of Similarities.
Percy's POV – Rocky Mountains
"…Earth and Alagaësia are more alike than we had previously thought possible…"
"What does that mean exactly?" Murtagh asked.
"It means, that Earth had Riders, it had Shades, and it probably had dwarves and elves too!" Annabeth exclaimed.
He nodded, letting the information sink in. We all left the little huddle we were in, all going to our different places.
After I had eaten a small meal, I sought out Eragon.
"Eragon, I need to tell you something."
He turned to me. "Yes, Perseus?"
"I've learned something new about myself. My mother."
"I thought you already knew who your mother was," he asked.
"I thought I did. It turns out my mother is Kílf, the dwarven goddess."
His eyes lit up. "That's how you survived the trip to Alagaësia! You're Alagaësian!"
I nodded. "Yep, wait. What? I survived? It caused me no harm."
"I read a little about an old monk who went crazy because he travelled here to Earth and thought he travelled forward in time."
"How does that have anything to do with me surviving?" I asked.
"Just wait. He befriended a man, who became his apprentice and learned magic. When the monk wanted to return to Alagaësia, he and his student opened a portal, but when the student stepped through, he burst into flames and died."
My eyes widened. "Alagaësians can go to Earth, but people from Earth can't go to Alagaësia."
He smiled, which I thought was weird. "Exactly."
"Why are you smiling?"
"Because you Earthlings can't come to our world and mess it up."
His statement angered me slightly, but I pushed it off.
"So, how's the new Rider city doing?"
"We've had a few Urgals become Riders, and one dwarf."
"Do I know the dwarf?"
"Aye, you know him. He's Orik."
I smiled. "A dragon hatched for Orik?"
He nodded. "And Roran."
"Whoa, both Roran and Orik are Dragon Riders?"
"Aye, Roran's pretty upset about it. He's upset that he'll outlive both Katrina and his newborn daughter."
I nodded. I had turned down immortality to stay with my friends, but I got it anyway. Oh well.
I looked up at the now-dark sky. It had gotten dark fast.
I finished my conversation with Eragon and left him to his devices.
I was walking along the borders of my base when I heard something. And smelled something.
It smelled like… Death.
"Whoa, where am I?" a young voice asked.
I spun around, surprised to see Nico standing inside my borders.
"Nico?"
He immediately put his hand on his sword. "Who's there?" he asked, sweeping his vision around him.
"It's me, Percy."
His eyes landed on me and widened. "Dude, Percy. What happened to you?"
I led him back to my campfire and told him everything that happened to me.
"Whoa, you have a friendly dragon?" he asked.
"Sure do, would you like to meet him?"
"Heck yeah! Come on, Percy. Show me!"
"Ok, ok. We'll see if he's free."
Alexō.
Yes, Rider?
I have an old friend here that would like to meet you. Are you free?
Just putting the little ones down to rest. I'll be there soon.
"Percy?"
"What?" I asked.
"You zoned out. I was kinda worried."
"Ah, don't be worried. I was talking to Alexō. He said he'd be here in a few."
"You can talk to it?" he asked, completely surprised.
I AM NOT AN IT! I AM AN ALMIGHTY DRAGON! Alexō screamed with his mind.
Nico collapsed on the ground, clutching his head.
Alexō! He's not used to talking with his mind and he didn't have any barriers!
He should not have insulted me, he puffed. Alexō flapped his large wings and came in for a landing, spraying both Nico and I with a fine covering of dust and dirt.
Nico looked up from the ground, with an expression of extreme admiration.
"A real dragon. Wow, I never thought I get to see one up close," He approached Alexō, even though he was growling the whole way.
He smells like death.
That's because he is death.
"May I touch it- his snout?"
"Ask him," I said.
"Alexō, may I touch your snout?"
Alexō dipped his snout towards Nico's hand in acceptance.
Nico touched the scales on Alexō's snout with caution, like he might get eaten, which is a possibility, but unlikely.
His expression was priceless. "I'm touching a freaking dragon. A dragon that's not trying to kill me." He turned to me with a smile on his face.
"We found some dragon eggs, we could see if one could hatch for you."
Nico seemed surprised that I would offer that. "You would do that?"
"Sure, we have almost seventy eggs. I'm sure you have a chance of one hatching for you."
"Then let's go."
/^\
I laid all the eggs out and had him run his hand over them like I had.
He was on his third run when a black egg started to wobble.
It rolled off the edge and exploded in a million pieces. The newborn egg wobbled slightly on his legs, then walked towards Nico.
"It hatched!" He reached out with his left hand and ran his fingers over the hard scales. There was a bright flash and Nico collapsed on the ground.
His dragon walked over to Nico as if to check on him, but decided to lie down by his head.
Good, one hatched for Nico. I thought I'd be stuck here forever with Annabeth, I thought.
I moved Nico and his new dragon to a cot where they could rest soundly.
I was sitting by the fire when Annabeth came out of her house, asking, "Is that Nico?" She saw the dragon lying next to him. "He's a Rider now?"
"Yep, my bet is that he'll stay to be trained, and then he'll leave, just continuing to research on his own agenda."
Annabeth sat on the log across from me. "Yeah, that sounds like him," he agreed.
"What sounds like me?" Nico asked, sitting up from his cot.
I turned around to face him. "Hey, Nico. How you feeling?"
"Like Thalia shocked the Underworld right out of me. But better, for some reason."
He looked at his fingers, and almost jumped a foot and a half from the marks covering the inside of his fingers.
"What happened to my hand?"
"You remember, Nico. See that dragon over there? He's yours."
"He's mine?"
"Yep, and you can name him whatever you want."
He thought for a second, and then said with finality, "Dragon, I name you Death! For that is the only event our enemies will face!"
"Why don't you name him, Freohr? That's the Alagaësian word for death."
"Freohr, I like it. I guess that's your new name, dragon."
/^\
Nico and his dragon caught on quickly with everything Eragon, Murtagh and I had to teach. He was eager to learn.
His dragon grew quickly. So quickly, that I was frightened that Nico might turn out to be like Galbatorix, but then I took one look at him, and I knew Nico would never be like that.
With the extra person living with us now, us three original Riders decided to sing several houses instead of singing houses every time someone moved in.
Nine months passed. Nico and his dragon proved to be great Riders, despite the doubts that Annabeth had. He had sped past her and completely left her in the dust.
Annabeth was upset that he beat her at another thing, but she has learned the language more quickly than I could have ever expected. She isn't completely out of the race.
Another three months passed without any communication with the outside, until suddenly, as I'm training with Adurna and Riptide, an Iris-message from Thalia appears.
"Seaweed Brain!"
I spun around, lifting my sword into defense position.
"Right here, moron. It's me, Thalia."
I looked at her in the message. "Yes, Thalia?"
"Do you know where Nico and Annabeth are?"
"Yeah, they're here with me. Why?"
"Because I came to camp looking for them and I couldn't find them."
"Well, they're right here, so if you can find us," I looked back at her. Her eyes were closed in concentration and little beads of sweat had appeared on her forehead. "Thalia –"
A bright lightning flash temporarily blinded me as it struck the other end of the message and then struck again somewhere nearby.
I turned around, surprised to see Thalia lying in the grass a little bit away.
"Thalia? How'd you find me?"
"It was a new trick I'd been working on. Still kinda kinky, but I'll fix it." She dusted herself off and stood to her feet.
Nico and his dragon flew towards us and landed, seeing Thalia.
"Is that you, Nico? Why were you riding a dragon?"
"That's my dragon, his name is Freohr. What are you doing here, Thalia?" Nico asked.
"I came here in search of you and Annabeth."
A new voice entered the conversation. "Thalia!"
She turned around, seeing and Naina running towards them. Well, Annabeth was running and Naina was walking behind her.
"You have a dragon too, Annabeth? Let me guess, you have a dragon too, Percy," Thalia said, exasperated.
"Yep, I do." I sent a quick message to Alexō and asked him to come here so Thalia could see him.
When her eyes landed on my dragon, I thought she was going to pass out.
Thalia's POV
I almost passed out when I saw Percy's dragon.
The green dragon was bigger than both Nico's black dragon and Annabeth's white one combined.
It flew gracefully, landing with hardly a vibration or noise.
The dragon had for legs, as is normal but each foot had six toes, all tipped with ebony claws.
His head was long and narrow, but held a look of royalty, with two horns jutting out from the crown of his head. Large, sharp spikes jutted out at three-foot intervals until they reached the tail, which was long and thin with a long sword-like spike on the tip. Ebony spikes ran down the middle of the tail with only inches in between.
His legs were evenly spaced and loaded with muscle.
The width of his wingspan was probably double the length from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail.
He looked at me with his green eyes and I felt as if they were searching my mind. Then I heard a voice in my head.
She's clean, it had said.
"I know she is Alexō, I already searched her," Percy said, looking up at his dragon.
"Wait, you searched me? I didn't feel anything," I protested.
"That's because I'm very gentle with my mind, Alexō is a bit more rough."
I shook my head and walked up to the dragon.
"Thalia, meet my dragon, Alexō. Alexō, meet my cousin Thalia."
So this is Thalia. Nice to meet you, human.
"Um, nice to meet you too? How do you keep talking in my head?"
This is how I communicate. I sense great power within you. You will make a great Rider, human.
"Are you sure, Alexō? I mean, I'm already busy training Nico and Annabeth. You sure you want Thalia to become a Rider?" he asked me.
I am sure, small friend. She will bring prosperity in ways you and the others cannot. She will be a valuable addition.
"Okay, Thalia. Let's go see if you can become a Rider. We have sixty-nine, no seventy, because I forgot to show Nico my brown egg. I'm sure one will hatch for you."
A/N: Phew! A busy chapter: Nico became a Rider; Percy figured out that humans can't go to Alagaësia but people from Alagaësia can come to Earth and we're about to see if Thalia will become a Rider.
UPDATE: Romans will arrive in this story, and some people from Camp Jupiter might be given the chance to become Dragon Riders, but I need you to vote on that poll!
NEW CHAPTER: We will see if an egg hatches for Thalia and we'll see what she names it [suggestions welcome].