Hello all Dragon Riders,
Welcome to the first chapter of A Dragon Trainer's Diary or ADTD for short. This is a passion project of mine that i've been developing for a while now and i decided it was time to post the first chaprt.
Now fair warning, this is the first time i'm posting any of my writing or stories so if it's a bit bad then that's on my end. I'll hopefully get better as this series continues.
Anyway, enough rambling, let's get to the chapter; i hope you all enjoy it :)
Chapter 1 – A Stormy Start
Dear Diary…
I may not know how I got here or where I came from, but I do know one thing, my life will never be the same . . .
Crystie woke up with a jolt, sweat dripping down her forehead and her heart beating franticly. Her skin felt like ice and her limbs felt numb. She slowly sat up and looked around to see where she was to hopefully get some answers.
The young viking was on a beach that was spread out around her, the crystal blue ocean streched out as far as the eye could see and a line of pine trees and rocks dotted the line where the sand met the earth while the sun hung high in the sky.
Crystie slowly stood up and walked to the edge of the water to see her reflection. The young viking was wearing a reddish-brown sleeveless top which was covered by a light brown leather hoodie, her eyes were a chestnut brown and her wavy hair was a similar shade of colour and was partly tied up in a pony tail. Her skin was a warm ivory colour. She was wearing a beige and white draped skirt that went down to her ankles with crimsion coloured trousers and sky-blue boots.
Crystie shook her head trying to figure out what happened. The only thing she could remember was being in a harsh thunderstorm and falling into the ocean. She closed her eyes and kept shaking her head while slowly walking backwards trying to get a clearer answer but ended up tripping over something and falling flat on her back. Crystie looked up at the bright sun hanging up in the sky; it was about midday, she sighed, she was not having a good day.
Breathing a heavy sigh, the young viking sat up and looked out at the endless sea. Where was she and how did she get here?. Her thoughts were broken when her eyes landed on a slightly battered brown bag that sat by her feet, half buried in the sand. A feeling of familiarity coursed through Crystie as she stared at the old bag. She slowly got up, stepped over to the bag and picked it up, still staring at it.
Crystie did not know why she kept staring at the bag, maybe she hoped it would give her some answers, but she knew that was unlikely. A loud roar shook Crystie out her thoughts. It was getting quite cold on the beach and Crystie was starting to feel a shiver crawling up her spine. With another heavy sigh, the young viking flung her bag over her shoulder and started walking up the steady sandy slope and into the unknown forest.
The forest was vast and elegant, with humongous pine trees that filtered in the warm sunlight and the ground was a mixture of fallen leaves, broken twigs and ferns scattered about. Crystie was taking a stroll through the forest, taking in all the sights, sounds and smells of the beautiful forest. She was attempting to climb up a steep hill and even though it provided to be a bit of a challenge, Crystie was not giving up.
She eventually made it to the top although she was a bit out of breath but that didn't bother her, the view was worth it. The young viking could see much of the island from her spot even though it wasn't very high, there was a small mountain in the north-east, a medium sized lake to the north-west and trees spread everywhere else with the ocean encasing the whole thing. It was breath-taking.
Crystie forgot she was at the top of a hill so when she went to take a step, she ended up falling down the hill, luckily landing on a pile of soft leaves and branches. Slowly, she got up and rubbed head. It slightly hurt but it wasn't much of a problem.
The young viking started walking again but stopped when she saw something infront of her. It had a feeling of familiarity like her bag but this time it was different. The creature was a quite taller than Crystie and had a crown of spikes that were snow white, a nasal horn of the same colour, a beak-like upper jaw with an overbite, its posture was that of a bird with large wings and wide clawed feet, it had a spiny tail and its colours were a dark shade of blue mixed with some white on the tail and the underbelly.
Crystie was struck with a mixture of fear and curiosity, she wanted to run away but she also curious to know more about this mysterious creature. Before a decision could be made the creature noticed Crystie which made her stiffen up in fear. It started slowly walking up to her, sniffing her, examining her.
The creature stopped right infront of Crystie and stared into its eyes. There was a no look of anger or spite but a look of intrigue and comfort. Crystie looked into the creature's eyes and the creature looked back. A feeling of relaxation came over Crystie as she realized there was no threat. She reached her hand out and placed it on the creature's snout, its scales felt cool and smooth. That feeling of familiarity came across her once again and she couldn't pinpoint why.
"Why are you so familiar?" Crystie asked as she kept stroking.
Suddenly, a rather loud snap echoed throughout the area which startled both Crystie and the creature. Crystie stopped stroking the creature and franticly looked around trying to find the source of that sudden noise. A large branched landed unexpectedly infront of Crystie which made her jump. Slowly and regrettably she looked up into the canopy of the trees.
There were several creatures like the one she was standing next to perched on branches, glaring at her. One of the creatures started growling which made the rest of them start growling. That same one leapt down from the trees and landed infront of Crystie with a thud. It had a similar colouring to the creature next to her except this one had black spikes instead of white.
She guessed it was the leader by the commanding presence it held. It had a glare of hatred in its eyes which sent a shiver down Crysties spine. Crystie had a sudden realization, she remembered what these creatures were, well, what type of creature they were, Dragons.
The lead dragon gave a deafening roar that made Crystie cover her ears. The other dragons perched in the trees roared in response and started to jump down. Crystie quickly spun around on her foot, trying to not look any of the dragons in the eyes and starts running for her life, which made the flock of dragons start chasing her as well.
The forest turned to a blur as the young viking sped through it, the flock behind her still in pursuit, probably out for blood by the vicious look in their eyes. She leaped over fallen logs, narrow streams and small gaps in the earth trying to escape them.
Crystie suddenly stopped in her tracks when she came across a steep cliff, her feet right on the edge, her arms out for balance. A few stray rocks crumbled off the ledge and fell into the deep chasm below. She leaned back, stepping away from the edge and took a deep breath. Her relief was short lived however as a low growl behind her made Crystie's blood turn cold. With fear and regret she turned around to confront the vicious dragons.
The whole flock was standing a few feet from her, the lead dragon in the front of the crowd. Crystie skimmed the crowd of dragons but she sadly could not see the friendly dragon she had encountered moments before. The lead dragon took a step forward which made Crystie take a step back, her feet slightly off the edge. The dragon began to charge up what looked like an attack. Crystie closed her eyes and braced for impact. Impact, however, never came.
The young viking slowly opened her eyes, wondering why she hadn't been sent flying off the edge. To Crystie's surprise, between her and the wild flock was the friendly dragon from earlier. It had its tail up with its spines raised, growling at the dragon leader who was growling back. The two dragons kept squawking back and forth, getting angrier with each other with each passing second.
Then the leader took a step forward which made the friendly dragon take a step back. The leader kept stepping forward which made the other dragon keep stepping back, getting closer and closer to Crystie. Crystie kept edging backwards, trying to make some distance between her and the dragons. She had forgotten how close to the edge she was, as she took a step to far off the edge, which made her slip and fall backwards and off the cliff. Crystie felt her breath leave her as she fell towards the ground. She closed her eyes and waited for impact.
A loud roar made Crystie's eyes shoot open in alarm. A figure coming towards her at a fast speed. It was the friendly dragon. Crystie was happy to see the dragon but was also terrified as she was still falling. The dragon had caught up to Crystie, wrapped its wings around her and hugged her close to its chest.
They hit the stony ground with a loud thud and Crystie tumbled away from the dragon and landed face down on the ground. The young viking lay on the ground, not wanting to get up. She slowly sat up and checked herself for any injuries. There was a small cut on her right arm near her wrist, it was slightly bleeding but not to serious and other than a few small bruises and a bit of a headache she was doing alright.
She gave a deep sigh of relief and looked up. They had fallen down a deep hole that had rough stone walls that encased the whole area. Crystie could see the sky but it was quite high up and it looked like there was no clear way to get out.
The young viking heard a low growl of pain which made her turn her head. Her eyes landed on the dragon who saved her life. They were laying on their front, wings sprawled out and had their eyes closed. Crystie noticed there was a gash on their shoulder joint that was bleeding profusely. The young viking slowly got up, staggering a bit but managing to hold her balance. She slowly made her way over to the injured dragon and knelt beside it. Crystie put her hand on the dragon's snout and slowly stroked its smooth scales.
"Why did you save me, why are you different from the others?" the young viking wandered as she continued to stroke the dark blue scales.
The dragon began to stir and slowly opened its bright yellow eyes. Its eyes met Crystie's and they stared deeply into each other's eyes. Crystie gave a small smile and kept stroking the dragons snout.
"Don't worry everything's going to be alright" Crystie reassured the injured reptile. The dark blue dragon seemed to squawk in agreement. Crystie stood up and began to think.
"I need something to wash the blood off" Crystie pondered.
She looked around the area to see if there was anything that could be of use. "Something, something…" Crystie muttered to herself as she kept looking. Her sight landed on a small river through the area, "Something like that" she exclaimed.
The young viking walked back over to the injured dragon and knelt beside it.
"Hey" Crystie said in a hushed voice. The dragon looked over at Crystie and seemed to smile. "can you get up; I need to get you to the river" Crystie asked while pointing to the small river. The dragon nodded and slowly stood up but fell back onto the ground; The young viking rushed to the dragon and supported its injured side.
Crystie lead the injured dragon into the small river and began washing water over the bleeding wound, washing away the blood. She also washed the cut on her arm, so the cut was no longer bleeding. The dragon stepped out of the river, shook itself dry and lay down on the stone floor. Crystie walked over to the resting and knelt beside it as she put her bag in her lap.
The bag was dark brown with a strap that went over the shoulder, the bag was battered but still in good shape. Crystie opened the bag and looked at the contents inside.
The first thing she noticed was a pile of clean bandages. She picked up the bandages and started wrapping them around the dragon's wound until it was nicely secured, she then wrapped some bandages around her own cut. Crystie then put the rest of the bandages to one side then went back to the bag.
The next thing she found was some spare clothes which she just left the bag. She moved onto a red dragon toy. The toy was a dark crimsion colour, with six black spines on their head with more black spines going down its spine. It also had two large red wings, spots covering its whole body. It also had six fins going along its tail and two big black buttons for eyes. The toy felt soft in her hands and it had a feeling of familiarity, but once again she couldn't pinpoint why. She put the toy next to her and continued looking through the bag.
An empty book and some pencils were the next thing she found. She found nothing of interest in the book and pencils and put them next to her and kept digging. She spotted some blankets at the bottom at the bag but what caught her interest was the big book left in the bag. Crystie put everything else back in the bag and took out the book to examine it.
The book was a dark brown and it was quite a thick book. It was labelled 'Book of Dragons'. The young viking opened the book to its first page. The first page had a red symbol dragon, the same type of dragon that her toy was. There was writing underneath the symbol, the writing said, 'Book of Dragons written by Bensi Hatlen'. Crystie felt she had heard that name before, she knew that she knew that name but once again she couldn't remember where from.
Frustrated, Crystie closed the book and hit herself in the head with the book. There was instant regret.
"Shouldn't have done that, definitely shouldn't have done that" She muttered under her breath as she rubbed her head. The dragon turned its head to make sure Crystie was alright.
"I'm fine, it's just a little headache" she assured the worried dragon.
The dragon seemed to nod in understanding and Crystie went back to reading the book. She opened the book back up and began looking through the pages.
There were several different kinds of dragons in the book. Big dragons, little dragons, snowy dragons, desert dragons, swamp dragons, jungle dragons and so many more. Crystie kept flipping through the pages until she landed on a certain page.
The page was about a species called the 'Deadly Nadder'. The young viking looked at the sketch of the Deadly Nadder. It looked exactly like the dragon she was sitting next to on. She noticed a smaller sketch underneath the big dragon sketch, it was a sketch of two Deadly Nadder heads, one with an overbite labelled 'female' and one with an underbite labelled 'male'. Crystie realized the Deadly Nadder she was sitting next to must be a female due to its overbite.
She closed the book, put it back in her bag and sighed. She nudged herself over to the dragon, leaning back and putting her hands behind her head while resting on the resting dragon. Crystie turned her head towards the dragon.
"Hey" she said, the dragon turned her head towards Crystie and titled its head in confusion.
"Do you mind if I give you a name, it's just I don't want to keep calling you dragon" Crystie continued. The dragon shook its head.
"Okay then" Crystie said and turned her head up to the sky and began to think.
"Hmm, what about Sky?" Crystie asked, the dragon shook her head in disagreement.
"Okay…that's a no on Sky. How about Ocean?", the dragon gave the young viking a look which suggested that she didn't like that suggestion.
"Yeah I'm not fond of that one either" she said as she looked away from the dragons gaze. After a bit of thinking, Crystie got one.
"How about Storm?" She suggested. The dragon squawked in excitement. Crystie chuckled "Nice to meet you Storm".
The young viking stood up and looked up at the sky; the sun was starting to set.
"We need to get out of here" Crystie thought; she didn't want to be here when night came. The young viking knelt beside Storm.
"Hey" Crystie said in a soft voice. Storm squawked a greeting. Crystie stroked the blue dragon's snout and Storm purred. Crystie chuckled but shook her head; she was getting off track.
"Are you able to stand, we need to get out of here" She asked. Storm nodded and slowly stood up but wobbled a bit. Crystie rushed to help but Storm shook her head and stood up straight.
Crystie smiled and patted Storm on her side and walked around the area. Finding a way out of here was going to be harder than she thought. The young viking walked around the area until she noticed something; the walls had small ledges on them, not too big but large enough for at least Crystie to climb up the wall. These ledges were all over the walls and varied in height; if Crystie guessed the right path, she could find the way out. That left the question of how she got Storm out of here since she couldn't fly or climb the walls properly.
An idea came to mind when she noticed some thick vines growing down from a few of the ledges. The young viking ran over to where some the vines were growing and started pulling on them; her strength however not enough to pull them down.
"Storm, a little help here please" Crystie yelled at the blue dragon.
Storm ran over to her small friend and helped pull the vines down. After pulling all the vines down Crystie began tying them together into a rope of some sort. She then wrapped one end of the rope around her waist and made a tight knot; she then did the same thing to Storm.
"Alright so here's what's going to happen; I'm going to climb the wall using the ledges and once I've gotten to the top I'll wrap the rope around a tree and that's when you start climbing up the wall while I try to pull you up, sound good?" Crystie explained. Storm nodded in agreement.
The young viking took a deep breath and began to climb the wall. The stone felt rough and sharp in Crystie's hands, but she ignored it and kept going. The wind blew harshly and swiftly, trying to knock the young viking off the wall; but Crystie held on with all her strength and kept moving forward; she was almost at the top.
Eventually, Crystie made it to the top, pulling herself onto the soft grass. She lay on her back for a few moments, panting heavily, trying to get some air. Shaking her head, Crystie stood up and looked around. She noticed a tall, sturdy looking tree sitting near the entrance to the hole. The young viking walked over to the tree and began wrapping the vines around the tree, trying to make sure it had a tight hold on the vines. After making sure the vines were sturdy Crystie walked over to the entrance to the hole and looked down.
"ALRIGHT, I'VE TIED THE VINES TO A TREE, TRY CLIMBING UP NOW" Crystie yelled down to her friend in the hole. There seemed to be a roar in reply but Crystie couldn't quite tell. Quickly, Crystie sped over to where the vines where and started to pull on them. Even though she was sure she wasn't doing much to help pull up the vines, she was going to help anyways.
Soon enough, Storm had made it to the top and now her and Crystie were laying on the floor panting heavily. The young viking raised her arms in victory.
"WE DID IT" she yelled before flopping back into the soft grass. The sun was starting to set and dark clouds were starting to gather. Crystie stood up and streched; she then helped Storm get up as well.
"I think its time we find somewhere to spend the night" Crystie suggested; Storm squawked an agreement. A sudden roar echoed around the area which made the two friends turn around. The Deadly Nadder flock was looking down at them, hatred in their eyes. This wasn't going to end well. Crystie spotted the lead nadder glaring down at her, she had a bad feeling about this.
Storm bristled with anger, stepping infront of Crystie and glaring up at the leader. The leader gave a commanding flick of her tail and the flock began speeding towards Crystie and Storm. The young viking felt Storm wrap her tail around her waist and lift her onto the dragon's back. Storm immediately turned around and began sprinting in the other direction; Crystie managed to adjust herself and hang onto the speeding nadder.
The forest was a blur as Storm and Crystie sped through it, attempting to dodge trees that got in the way and spines that were being fired at them. Crystie turned her head to see the Nadder flock close behind them.
The sky had turned dark and thunder could be heard. Suddenly a tree burst into flames infront of them.
"DODGE IT" Crystie yelled which made Storm leap to the side and keep running. Crystie's heart was beating franticly; this is not what she was expecting to do today.
The angry flock behind them were setting fire to trees left and right, trying to block off Crystie and Storms path. A line of trees was set on fire blocking their escape route. Storm attempted to go around the barricade, but she was immediately shot in the leg by some of nadder spines and collapsed onto the ground which caused Crystie to fall off the Nadder and onto the floor. The young viking lifted her head to see the nadder flock had formed a line blocking off any form of escape. The lead nadder stepped to the front of the crowd with her tail raised, spines out, a look of murder in her eyes.
Storm tried to stand but ended up falling to the floor in pain.
"STORM" Crystie yelled.
The leader slammed Storm's head into the ground and was about shoot fire at her when she was suddenly hit on the head by Crystie's bag. The lead nadder turned to Crystie who had an immediate feeling of regret; she shouldn't have done that. Crystie was then suddenly and violently slammed into a tree with the lead nadder holding Crystie by her neck. The young viking let out a gasp of pain. She looked into the lead nadders eyes, they had murder in them; she was dead. Fear and alarm flooded the whole of Crystie's body as she tried to wriggle out of the nadders grip but couldn't and the lead nadder began firing up an attack.
"This is it; this is my end. I'm sorry Storm" Crystie thought as tears streamed down her face, "please forgive me".
The leader was about to fire her attack, but she was suddenly shot in the back which made her drop Crystie out of her grip; Crystie coughed, gasping for air. She painfully turned her head to see Storm standing, spines out and with a look of anger in her eyes; the spines had been taken out of the dragons leg. The leader turned to face Storm and gave her a death glare. Storm seemed unaffected and kept firing spines at the leader which she was deflecting with her wings. The lead Nadder gave a commanding flick of her tail and the rest of the flock began charging at Storm. The blue dragon kept violently flicking spines at the other nadders which made some of them stop in their tracks and some of them to retreat.
The lead nadder seemed angry at some of her flock members retreating so she began charging at Storm. Storm charged a bright looking fire and as soon as she shot the white fire, a lightning bolt lit up the whole area in a blinding white light. Crystie quickly shielded her eyes from the blinding light as it was painful to look at.
When she opened her eyes, she saw the right side of the lead nadders face had been scorched; everyone seemed to be in shock. Rain started trickling down before becoming a heavy down pour. The lead nadder fell on one knee and two nadders from the flock came rushing to her side, supporting the nadder and leading them away from the area, with the rest of the flock following.
Crystie gave a sigh of relief that it was all over, but when she tried to push herself upright, she felt agonizing pain flood her entire body which made her collapse. She yelled out in pain which caught Storm's attention and the dragon immediately rushed over to her injured friend. Storm nuzzled against her friend, trying to make sure she was ok. The young viking tried to get up again but she couldn't and suddenly she started to feel light-headed. She tried to keep herself awake but her eyes rolled into the back of her head and then everything went black.
Everything was dark, no light to be seen, simply nothing. Crystie tried to move around or speak but nothing came out of her mouth and she was frozen in place. She frantically looked around but suddenly stopped when she saw a figure a few feet away from her. The figure had their back to Crystie so she couldn't see their face but they had short scruffy brown hair that went down to their neck, a red cape that looked to be made out of scales and some dark blue boots. Crystie stared in confusion, who was this figure, why were they here and how did she know them. The figure then started to walk away and Crystie tried to go after them or call out to them, but she couldn't. The floor beneath Crystie seemed to give way and she began to fall into a dark abyss.
The young viking suddenly jolted awake and franticly looked around. She was leaning against a tree with a small fire burning infront of her; the rain had stopped. She spotted Storm sitting next to the fire staring up at the sky. Crystie tried to get up from her spot but it hurt too much to get up and she ended up grunting in pain. Storm must have heard Crystie attempt to get up because she immediately turned her attention towards her friend and ran over to her, nuzzling her.
"Okay, okay, you can stop that now, it's hurting my chest" Crystie said.
Storm stopped and took a step back. She seemed to get an idea and ran off into the trees. The young viking wondered where she had gone but before long, she returned with something hanging from her mouth, it was her bag. The blue dragon walked over to Crystie and carefully dropped the brown bag into the young vikings lap.
"Thanks Storm" Crystie said as she scratched the blue nadders chin. Storm waddled next to Crystie and lay down to her and closed her eyes.
The young viking smiled and looked up at the stars; they shined brightly and beautifully in the vast night sky. She sighed, she'd had a long and exhausting day. Crystie looked down at her bag and got an idea. She grabbed the bag and opened it; she pulled out the empty book and one of the pencils. Putting the bag to one side, Crystie opened the book to its first page, grabbed the pencil and began to write.
And that's what happened; I know it was a very insane day, but here I am, still alive, writing this while I stare up at the beautiful night sky. Luckily, I have Storm with me, she's a good dragon and I hope we'll always be friends.
Well, I'm going to finish writing this so I can get some well-deserved rest.
I hope to talk to you again sometime soon
This is Crystie, signing out.
Aaand that was the Chapter.
I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, i had fun writing it
Also, there is a few things i want to mention before i wrap up
1. There are no scheduled updates planned so expect chapter every so often but not to often.
2. Each chapter will vary from length to length
3. Some chapters will be a bit violent at times but ill warn you beforehand of anything too violent in the chapter
4. I want to give a shoutout to all my friends who have been there for me and helped me make it to the point where I am now. Thanks guys :)
Also this story is on Wattpad & Ao3 if you want to go check it out there
I hope you all have a nice day
This is CrystieSong, signing out