Chapter 12: Riders Before The Pact
Littlefoot was the first to arrive at Vylon's cave. Cera, Petrie, Ducky, and Spike arrived a little bit before dawn. When they saw Littlefoot, they showed looks of relief and happiness on their faces.
"Good. You decided to come, Littlefoot." Cera said, with happiness in her voice.
"Yeah. I think it had to do with a dream, but I can't remember." Littlefoot replied.
"Good morning!" Vylon said, appearing from his cave. When the gang first arrived, the gate had opened in a spectacular manner. Now, however, a set of two stone doors swung out, opening the entrance to the cave.
"Judging by the fact that you are here, you have decided to accept my proposal and become Dragon Riders." He said.
"Yes, we have." Littlefoot, Cera, Petrie, and Ducky said in unison. Spike only nodded.
"Very well. I think that I should inform you of a few things first. Firstly, when you touch your dragon hatchling, you will feel a burst of energy shoot through your palms. It will paralyze you, but once that fades away, you will have officially become Dragon Riders. Now, there is a problem with the rules of the Dragon Riders. A Dragon Rider must be one of the two races that have agreed to the Dragon's Pact. You five are of races that have existed long before the pact was even thought of. Therefore, you technically can't become Dragon Riders. Luckily, I am one of the most proficient elves in magic, so this will aid us.
"There is only one way a race that isn't in the pact to become a Rider, and that is to become one of the races in the pact. I can't change the pact, it would require too much magic that I could ever possess or handle. Instead, I have decided to turn you into elves. I will put an enchantment to temporarily transform you into elves. Once this enchantment is up, you can become Riders, since you are technically one of the races in the Dragon's Pact. However, the enchantment is temporary, so it will only be maintained as long as I am able to, which won't be as long as I had wanted it to because I have to maintain five enchantments simultaneously.
"However, once you have become Dragon Riders, I won't have to worry about that anymore. The magic of the pact will stabilize and fortify the enchantment, allowing you to stay as elves for as long as you want to. In other words, you will become elves in every aspect except your minds. I can't give you the mind-set of the elves. All I can give you is our abilities. The rest is up to you. If you are proficient in magic, I will teach you how to transform yourself and your friends back into your original forms.
"Now, you may be wondering why I have told you so much about what is about to happen. This is because I want you to ask questions. I want your curiosity to flourish. I want you to learn. I can't be a successful mentor if you are not willing to ask how and why things happen, what things are, and who people are."
The gang was dumbfounded by Vylon's explanation of what was going to happen, but they seemed to get the general gist of what they were supposed to do. They had to touch the dragon hatchlings before Vylon's spell wore off. With a nod of their heads, Vylon began his incantation. The sound of Vylon's voice began to flow like a melody, rising and falling, the pitch changing in a most beautiful way. The gang didn't feel any different while Vylon was singing his spell, but they felt a tingling over their bodies towards the end of the incantation.
Vylon decided to fetch a mirror so that the gang could see their elven forms. They realized that they were very similar to Vylon in the face. They had varying hair colors. Littlefoot, Cera, and Petrie had a raven-black hair. Ducky and Spike, however, had a dark brown hair. Petrie, Ducky, and Cera had deep blue eyes, while Littlefoot and Spike had deep green eyes. They were slim, just like Vylon.
"I don't mean to rush you, but I would begin holding your eggs. They should hatch soon." Vylon said. "Also, be quick in touching your dragon hatchling."
The group of elves decided that Vylon was right, and they picked up their respective eggs. Suddenly, the eggs began to squeak loudly. Almost out of instinct, they put the eggs down and sat in front of the eggs. As the squeaking became louder, the rocking became more and more violent. Cracks began to appear on the eggs. Pieces began falling off of the eggs, and soon, the five dragons were out of their eggs, examining their new environments. Excited, Petrie was the first to touch his hatchling.
Suddenly, a burst of energy shot from his hand. He collapsed, curled up on the floor. After seeing this, the four conscious elves became reluctant to touch their hatchlings. VYlon, on the other hand, told them to. Reluctantly, one by one, they fell unconscious. After all five of the elves fell unconscious, the hatchlings began to look at their partners. Argana came out of the cave, her shoulder just above Vylon's. She looked at her children with the look a mother gives her children. The hatchlings looked around, and saw the elder dragon, and quickly climbed on top of their mother. They began acting like kittens. Argana was more than happy to entertain her young.
Vylon, on the other hand, carried the unconscious elves one by one into his cave, where he laid them on five separate beds, and waited for them to wake up. There was only one thing running through his mind, and that was the joy of his pupils finally becoming ready to be trained.