"No news is good news," I told Luna as we landed at the Academy.

"Yes, I agree."

"We are running out of time, Luna. We've been here for like 4 weeks, that like 5 days back home. We'll have to get back soon."

"Yes. But we still have 12 more days to find a way out of this."

"That's barely any time," I spoke into our link. " What if the egg doesn't hatch by then, it's already been 3 days."

"What about Serena?"

"I'm not sure, if I can trust her. She's been so secretive lately and I never see her anywhere."

"Was it not her punishment?"

"Yeah it is, but it's weird. Some random guy can potion up a portal? Seems wrong And if it doesn't work we're still stuck here and we're on the Queen's bad side."

"Very true."

I saw some royal guards at the entrance, they all turned to me as we approached.

"Why are they here?," I asked Luna as the blocked our path

"Final Rider of Earth Alyson?"

I looked to Luna," Yes?"

"The Queen has summoned you. We are here to escort you back to the castle."

"We just got here?"

"Our apologies. But this is an urgent request."

Holy shit, the egg! The egg! It must've hatched! That means-...

And then the world went dark. I woke up in the castle in my own room.

"Alyson? Are you alright?," Luna asked.

"What happened," I rubbed my head.

"You fainted."

"You're awake!," Etra was by my side. "Go get the Riders!," she called to the guards.

"Oh my god, I've never fainted before," I covered my face.

"It's alright," Etra rubbed my back. "Sometimes the heat is overwhelming."

Overwhleming? The egg!

"Luna what did they tell you?"

"Nothing, they told me to stay here with you."

"They didn't say anything? Norhing at all?"

"No."

I pushed the covers off and slid out of bed," So that means, this is happening... The egg really hatched and I'm the new... the new," I felt light headed and stumbled into the wall. I steadied myself and closed my eyes. "This means we're stuck here."

"Easy now," Etra guided me to the chair.

"Oh god.. Luna, what does this mean," I started to cry.

"Fear not, my acorn. We will get through this," Luna comforted me, but she sounded unsure. I got up and fell onto her side as I cried.

"Alyson? Are you alright?," I heard Collin's voice.

"Just go away," I sobbed.

"Yeah, can't do that," he was suddenly next to me. "We have to go. Now."

"No.. I can't."

I can't go see the egg! I just can't!

"Well, none of us really have a choice," he tried to pick me up and I threw my weight against Luna.

"Just leave us alone!"

"Alyson, I do not think it is Collin's idea for us to leave. The order must come from the Queen."

"I don't care!," I cried harder.

My life is over... I'm never going to leave! My mom will never know what happened, I'll never get to see her again!

"Life is not over... we can still find happiness," Luna hummed.

"Alyson, we have to go. Come on," he pulled me up.

"Please, I can't do. Don't make me do it."

"Alyson, it's alright. We'll keep you safe. You don't have to be scared," Collin put his hands on my shoulders.

I wiped my eyes but they kept leaking," I can't look it at it," I told him.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"What else!," I shouted. "That stupid fucking egg!"

"What?," Collin's brows furrowed. "This isn't about the egg," he took my hand and pulled me to the door.

I yanked my hand away from him," What!? What else could it be?!"

"I'll explain on the way. Luna, get down to main gate. Razor is there."

"Alyson?"

I looked back her and used my arm to dry my eyes," Go. I'll come down."

Luna nodded and squeezed her way out of the window.

"Tell me what this is."

Collin grabbed my hand again and pulled, ignoring me.

"Be safe, Riders!," Etra called out and he pulled me down the hall, we were practically running.

"We need to get out of the castle. The Queen has told us to move to a secret place in Marna."

"Why do we have to leave? What's happening?"

"I can't get into it now," his voice echoed in the stair well. "Ashley and Matt are already on there way there."

"But why!?"

"Because Conandus found out," he pulled me out the lawn where Razor and Luna were standing.

"Who the fuck is that?"

"Can we get to safety first," he pushed me to Luna and jumped on Razor's back. "Follow us!"

"What the fuck is going on!?," I turned to Luna.

"A danger is coming. We must go."

"What danger? Collin hasn't told me anything!"

"Razor has said enough. Come now."

I got on Luna's back and Collin looked over to me before Razor opened his wings and flapped into the sky.

"I guess we're going."

Luna followed his lead and we started to fly away from the castle, the school and the city.

"Where are we going?," I asked Luna.

"A place where we will be safe."

"But are we really in danger?"

"So it has been said."

This is so fucking crazy!

"What's happening?!," I tried to talk to Collin but the wind was drowning me out.

"We will know soon my acorn," Luna tried to soothe me, but it did nothing.

Razor was racing against the sky, like we were flying away for our lives, I could tell Luna was struggling to keep up with him.

"They're going too fast!" I told Luna.

"It must be crucial," she tensed and pushed harder to stay behind them.

"Slow down!," I tried to yell, but Collin was oblivious. "You need to tell Razor," I looked over to the large red dragon.

Luna must've reached out because he steadied his wings and gradually slowed his speed.

Thank god I sighed and gripped Luna. My stomach could not handle all of this, I really hope I don't faint again.

That's how we flew, it felt like hours until we finally landed. Collin left me high and dry and my imagination had been running wild, I didn't want to distract Luna from flying so I had been creating scenarios in my head. As soon as Luna's feet hit the ground I marched up to him.

"You need to tell me what is going on right now," I demanded.

"Alyson, just take a min-..."

I clenched my hands, fighting the urge to smack him across the face. "Collin if you don't tell me right now, I'm going to hit you."

He sighed," Okay, okay. The Queen wanted to move us for our own safety."

"Safety from what?"

"Conandus," Razor projected.

"Surely not," Luna sounded worried.

"Who is that?," I turned to her.

"He is the supposed leader of a foreign country," she told me.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Let me start at the beginning," Collin leaned against Razor. "Conandus is the King of Torjeeg, a large country to the south and across the ocean. Torjeeg and Alagaesia have never been on good terms but it never mattered because Torjeeg thought Alageasia was just a speck on the globe. Why would they care, were just a small farming country with nothing to offer, right? But now that dragons are back and flourishing here, Conandus sees us for profit, he has been trying to get on Nasuada's good side for along time now, but she knows he'll only try to take over and it'll basically be another Gallobrix."

"So that Conandus guy is coming here?"

"No, but his army is. Somehow he found out about the Skulblaka Ebrithil and ever since he's been a little more aggressive on negotiations. You see, Torjeeg is at it's own war, basically they want to conquer the world."

"But I thought they didn't care about Alagaesia."

"He didn't, we were just a helpless country, poor, nothing really going on for ourselves. I bet he figured our civil war with Gallobrix wasn't even worth his time. But now with Dragons here, he sees leverage for his own war. Nasuada said he's been trying to steal eggs for a while, but with no luck, they've been a tight lock down since Tarathi."

"So, why is he trying so hard now?"

"Because of us," Collin looked to me. "Somehow someone, we don't know who, betrayed the crown and told Conandus about the Skulblaka Ebrithil. Having that power, it would help him win any war, he would almost be unstoppable."

"Hang on, wait a minute. I still don't understand what's so almighty and powerful about the Dragon Master. It's just some guy with multiple dragons."

Collin shook his head" But it's not. It's so much more than that. Skulblaka Ebrithil was seen as a God, revered by the people. In the old stories he had powers no Rider had ever seen before."

"You never mentioned it before," I scowled.

"It's not important," Collin switched the topic.

"Not important! I would say that changes a few things. And now this guy is trying to like hunt us down?! To what, kill us?!"

"No, he wants to use the Skulblaka Ebrithil as a weapon. To make his armies unstoppable," Razor clarified.

"You know, Gallobrix sounded bad, like basically the devil, but this guy sounds worse," I huddled close to Luna

"I'm sure he is," Collin sighed. "Apparently, negotiations aren't going well, it was said that a fleet is approaching the southern shore of Surda."

"How are you sure he knows about us?"

"After 300 hundred years of trying to play nice, he's realizing that Nasuada is no idiot and she's not going to just give him what he wants. So he's going to take it... or at least try."

"But how does he know?!"

"We don't know... only a handful of people even know about the Skulblaka Ebrithil."

"What about the other eggs? Have they been found?"

"No, the scouts have had no luck and their search is about to be called off, the Queen wants all soldiers on the front line. Torjeeg's army is massive and advanced. She doesn't want them getting any ground here."

"But the egg we have hasn't hatched yet?," I asked with hope.

"No, no movement yet. The Queen was going to have it moved from the castle, but she doesn't know who the mole it yet, so she doubled down on security," Collin looked up to me. "I'm next, you know... if it doesn't hatch for you."

At least it hasn't hatched yet.

"Well I hope it hatches for you," I told him. "Cause all of this crazy shit, I want nothing to do with it."

Collin smirked," Thanks, I guess. We should get going, I want to reach Bullridge by nightfall."

"Well, don't fly like someone is chasing us. Luna's a lot smaller than Razor you know."

"Acorn, I can fight my own battles."

"Sure thing."

We flew until the sun disappeared, we didn't reach Bullridge, but Collin said if we flew fast tomorrow we could reach Marna. Luna was exhausted, she ate and then fell right to sleep, even with all her training, it was a lot to fly for a full day. I didn't really talk to Collin much, he started a fire and kept himself busy occasionally asking me questions. I was the last to wake up in the morning, Collin offered my some food, but I need I would get sick from flying. Our trip was a little longer because we had to fly around Bullridge, Collin said no one should see us because we're supposed to be hidden and no one can know where we've gone to hid from Conandus. I thought it was a bit extreme, he hadn't even invaded yet and the Queen was hiding us away. We reached Marna, on the outer rim was a kind of cave in the side of a large hill, it was big enough for all of us and our dragons with extra space.

The queen picked a good spot, I gave her some credit.

"Collin!," Ashley ran to him and jumped into his arms.

I rolled my eyes, so dramatic.

"I was so scared you wouldn't make it."

"I made it," Collin hugged her back.

I saw Matt and his dragon in the corner and the large pink dragon was sleeping peacefully.

"Okay, so what's the plan exactly?," I asked them, Ashley scowling for having to pull herself from Collin.

"We have to find out who the Skulblaka Ebrithil is, that's the main challenge."

"We know it's not me," Matthew came over to join us.

"It still could be Alyson," Collin remarked and I shuddered.

"How will we even know, the Queen left the egg at the castle," Ashley crossed her arms.

"She didn't explain much, she just said it would be safe," Matt shrugged.

"How long are we stuck here?," I asked.

"I think Nasuada is just being cautious and I don't think Conandus will really attack Alagaesia," Collin told me.

"Oh really?," Matthew barked a laugh. "Ever heard of the Jongway? Conandus sent in 3,000 men to a village of less than 300 just because he could and he slaughtered them all for the betrayl of one man."

"But this is different."

"Not really," Matt shook his head. "Alagaesia is home to over 10 million life forms, spreading between Elves, humans, dwarves, dragons and others."

"Okay?" Ashley sounded annoyed.

"Torjeeg is a kingdom of over 35 billion life forms."

Holy shit...

"So the small farming country of Alagesia, is not to stand a chance against his army," Matt told us.

"Thats what you were talking about the other night," the realization dawned on me. "You think the Skulblaka Ebrithil will save Alagaesia."

"I know it will," Matthew countered. "Not just Alagaesia, but the world. If Conanadus gets a hold of it's power," Matt shook his head.

"Why didn't you just tell me all of that then," I crossed my arms.

"I didn't think you needed to know, or that you would even care. Besides, it was just spotted yesterday that Toorgeeian ships were on the coast."

"How are we going to know if they attack?," Ashley looked worried.

"The Queen will send word," Matthew nodded.

"How can you be so sure?," Diamond interrupted.

Matt kept a straight face," She told me."

"Why you?," Razor asked.

Matt shrugged," You would have to ask her."

"So we're just supposed to sit here? Wait for the war to start?," I was anxious just by the idea.

"No," Matt shook his head.

"What do we do then?"

"We have to figure out which one of you is the Ebrithil Skulblaka," he looked between us.

"But we need to egg for that."

"I know... it may take time."

"We might not have time, Matt. Not if Conandus attacks Alagaesia," Collin crossed his arm.

"True, his army will most likely tear us to shreds," Matt nodded. "But the Dragon Riders can buy us some time."