Jermaine Deon Carter
April 5, 2022
City of Dragons
One weekend, I received an invitation from the Dragon Council to attend the annual Dragon Summit on the Isle of Draco. The event allowed the world's dragons to meet each other, exchange ideas, and share techniques. The Council themselves presided over the Summit. I was allowed to bring one non-dragon guest. I chose Rose.
We rode the Enchanted Elevators to reach the Isle. The elevator moved so fast, we almost got sick. After we arrived, I helped her out of the elevator. Neither of us had ever seen so many dragons gathered in one place. I felt honored and humbled to count myself among them.
"Remember, Jermaine. It's important for you to make a good first impression," Councilor Andam said as he approached and greeted us.
"I'll sure try," I said.
"Hey, mates," a redheaded boy wearing green said to the people standing around him. He spoke with a noticeable Australian accent.
"What's say we razz the new kid?" the boy asked. The others murmured in agreement.
"Watch the tail now," the boy said as he stuck out his tail and tripped me as I walked near him.
"Whoa!" I said as I fell flat on my face. Rose helped me up.
"Fred Nerk!" Andam said to the boy, glaring at him.
Andam led me to the Council's main meeting room. I stood before them. I grew nervous. My arms and legs became restless. Sweat dripped down my forehead.
"I don't deny that Jermaine is rough around the edges, but he has what counts most. He's brave, he has a good heart, and he has an even greater sense of duty," Andam said to the rest of the Council. I relaxed a bit.
"Still, I think it's time for him to be tested," Councilor Chang said.
"Here? Now?" Andam asked. He was unsure but soon relented.
"Yes. Jermaine, you'll be put to three tests. Each have a different skill and standard of the dragon," Shang said.
"The test of judgment in fire," Councilor Kulde said.
"The test of wisdom in battle," Andam said.
"The test of courage in flight. We'll require you to pass at least two," Chang said. "Any questions?" she asked.
"No. I understand what I have to do," I said.
I went to the practice field. Rose accompanied me. She set up ring targets for me to hit with my fire breath. I dragoned up and hit every single one dead in the center. A few minutes later, Kulde came up to us.
"Jermaine Carter, come with me. The test of judgment in fire is prepared," he said.
He led us to a stadium. Rose went up to the bleachers to cheer me on. In the center of the stadium were a collection of large ice sculptures.
"You must cross to the other side of the course, melting any of my ice sculptures that threaten you. Not every target will be a danger. Use your fire with good judgment. Begin!" he said. The first ice sculpture was an ogre with a club.
"Ogre with a club. Definite bad guy," I said. I melted it. The second sculpture was a troll holding a bouquet of flowers.
"Troll with flowers. Ugly, but not dangerous," I said. I melted that one, as well.
The other antagonistic sculptures were a siren, a vampire, and a werewolf. I melted them all, too. The remaining friendly sculptures were a fairy, a mermaid, a nymph, and a field pixie. The mermaid and nymph reminded me of Silver and Brook, respectively. I passed the test, indicated by a green buzzer. Everybody cheered.
Across the Isle, there was a volcano. Inside the volcano, a large dragon in gray clothes stood on an edge near some lava. His servant, also wearing grey clothes, came in.
"News from my loyal servant?" the dragon asked.
"The boy has passed his first test," the servant said.
"Excellent," the dragon said with a cackle.
I prepared for the second test inside a gym. Rose offered to help. I was confused, but I accepted. She came at me with many kicks and punches in quick succession. This took me by surprise. She said she'd been training in martial arts since her childhood. The gym contained a collection of statues, one of which was the Huntsman himself. Andam approached us again.
"Andam, how come there's a statue of the Huntsman in a dragon gym?" I asked.
"The Huntsman is #4 in the thirteen most dangerous threats to the magical world. We keep their statues to remind us why we must train so hard," he said.
"So, if the Huntsman's #4, who's the baddest of the bad?" I asked. He led us to the statue of a giant dragon.
"The Dark Dragon. No one knows who he is or where he came from, only that he's been consumed by dark magic. Some think the Dark Dragon's gone forever, but others aren't so sure," he said.
"Whoa," I said. He led us back to the stadium.
"The test of wisdom in battle shall begin!" he said. I was assaulted by a bunch of brownies. "Remember, Jermaine. The test is wisdom in battle," he said.
The brownies jumped up on me and ran all over my body, which tickled me. They bit me in different places. They pulled out ropes and hog-tied me to the ground.
I remembered brownies enjoy shiny things. I grabbed some dirt in my hand, threw it in the air, and breathed fire at it. This created a sea of sparkles that distracted the brownies long enough for me to free myself and catch them. I passed the test. Everyone cheered again. The Councilors led us out of the stadium and to one of the Isle's shores.
"Your courage in flight will be tested by the Isle of Draco itself. You'll fly the perimeter of the island through three magical rings, facing every obstacle in your path. Survival isn't your only goal. To pass this test, you must fly faster than your competitor," Chang said.
"Whom do you choose?" Chang asked.
"I choose Nerk," I said.
"Ooh…," the crowd said.
"Heh. With pleasure," Nerk said. He snapped his fingers and transformed into his dragon self.
"Dragons ready?" Chang asked. Nerk and I got down on all fours. "Begin!" she said.
We flew off. We were almost evenly matched in speed. He beat me to the first ring. I beat him to the second ring. Before either of us could make it to the third ring, a large shadowy hand appeared in front of me.
"Easy there, handsy," I said. "Why are you only going after me?" I asked.
I managed to avoid the hand. However, he couldn't. It grabbed him and dragged him down into the volcano. I went to save him without hesitation.
"Look out! It's a trap!" Nerk said, his voice trailing off.
The dragon in gray appeared. He removed his cloak, revealing himself to be the Dark Dragon. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
"Jermaine Carter. I've been expecting you," he said.
"You're…you're that punk number one! The Dark Dragon," I said. "You…you know who I am?" I asked.
"I know all about you and your dragon tests. How pathetic. I see they haven't yet taught you to fear me," he said.
A group of shadowy foot soldiers called Shade Demons emerged and cornered me. I fought them off before rescuing Nerk. I told him to run while I battled the Dark Dragon. The Dark Dragon quickly overpowered me, but Nerk came back to help even the odds. The Dark Dragon grabbed my foot as we tried to escape, losing a claw in the process. Nerk and I resumed the race, which he won.
"Excellent airmanship, Dragon Nerk," Chang said.
"You were great, Jermaine. You performed better than I could've hoped. I'm proud of you," Andam said.
"I'm proud of you too, Jermaine," Rose said as she hugged and kissed me.
"Thanks, guys. Not to be a sore loser, but I probably would've won if we hadn't gotten attacked by the Dark Dragon," I said. Everybody gasped and murmured.
"The Dark Dragon?! Are you saying you believe the Dark Dragon is back?!" Andam asked.
"Yes. We barely got away from him!" I said. The crowd continued murmuring.
"Dragon Nerk, is any of this true?" Kulde asked.
"Yeah. All of it. He had me beat, but then he turned back to save me," Nerk said.
"Wait! Stop this!" Chang said. "Are we going to throw away over 1,000 years of rules and traditions on the word of two boys?!" she asked.
"Chang, you don't have to take our word," I said. You can take this," I said as I dropped the Dark Dragon's claw in her hand. Before Rose and I left, Andam took me off to the side.
"I fear the Dark Dragon knew too much about your tests for his appearance to be a mere coincidence," he said.
"Meaning?" I asked.
"It means we may have a dark agent in our midst," he said. Back at the volcano, the Dark Dragon met with his servant again.
"Our plan appears to have failed," the Dark Dragon said.
"Don't worry. In time, he'll be swayed to join us. All dragons will join us, or be killed," the servant said. The servant removed their cloak and revealed themselves to be none other than Chang.
Several weeks later, the Dark Dragon resurfaced. Chang accompanied him. They brought along an entire army of Shade Demons. Andam's fears were confirmed.
"Chang?!" I asked. "I thought you cared about magical creatures!" I said.
"I do. Magical creatures once ruled the Earth, until humans came along," she said.
"Together, we shall create an army of magical creatures to overthrow the humans so we can take back our rightful place as rulers of the Earth," the Dark Dragon said.
"You have a choice, Jermaine Carter. Join us, or be slain," she said.
"I choose neither. I've got an army of my own, human and magical," I said as my friends and the Council joined my side. "We get along just fine," I said.
It took all of us working together to beat Chang, the Dark Dragon, and the Shade Demons. The Council took on Chang themselves. Even though they outnumbered her, she put up a tough fight before going down. Afterwards, they apprehended her and took her into custody.
Brook and I defeated several Shade Demons with our fire-water combination from before. Silver dispatched more Shade Demons by constricting them with her tail and slamming them around. Rose used her martial arts skills to take care of the rest.
The Dark Dragon wanted to face me one-on-one. I dodged every blow thanks to the Oracle Twins predicting his every move. The Council, Brook, and I combined our elemental powers into one large attack and blasted the Dark Dragon. This caused an explosion. He was gone, but we weren't sure if he was actually dead or not. Nonetheless, we celebrated our victory.
"You did it, young dragon," Andam said to me with a smile.
"Andam, please. I couldn't have taken on the Dark Dragon without all of you by my side," I said.