DISCLAIMER: The Inheritance Cycle is not owned by me. Christopher Paolini owns that universe which he created.

NOTE THIS IS AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE STORY SO I WILL BE CHANGING THINGS FROM THE BOOKS.

Edge of Oblivion

Chapter IV - Saphira

Eragon still could not believe it. He was a rider now. He looked at the palm of his right hand where his dragon had seemingly burned him upon touching his skin. Brom had called it the Gedwëy Ignasia, which translated into 'shining palm.' It was the mark of a rider and indicated its bond with his or her dragon, and every rider had it. He had noticed it before on his father's hand, but it did not really register that it had been caused by Sephyr himself. He had always thought that his father merely injured himself somehow and merely wanted to keep the scar there. As if as a reminder of something.

Now that he had it and he understood its origins, he looked at it with a whole new wonder.

A squeak from somewhere in the room told him that his dragon was awake. He rolled over on his bed and watched as his dragon uncurled itself from where it had been laying and stretched out, opening its mouth as it yawned and baring a multitude of small sharp, pointy teeth. The dragon squeaked again and walked, or it looked more like it crawled, over to him. Its wings seemed to big for its body, but he knew that a dragon's wings were always large. Compared to its distant relative the lizard, his dragon was ten times bigger than one, if not even more so. It was roughly as long as his forearm

"You must be hungry," he said, and it squeaked again. Eragon felt its consciousness rub against his and feelings of hunger wafted through their mental link. He had discovered that apart from the Gedwëy Ignasia the bond between him and his dragon allowed them to communicate with their thoughts. Although he had known about it before, it was quite different actually experiencing it himself and at first he was cautious at the mental force that had engulfed him at first until he realized it was his dragon.

He got out of bed and, almost as if on cue, someone knocked on his door. He opened it and saw a man with a tray full of food. He bowed slightly, "Hail to you, young Rider! I bring you your breakfast as well as your dragon's. Master Brom requests your presence in the training hall once you are finished."

Eragon accepted the tray of food, thanking the man and then closed the door. He took the plate stacked with strips of meat cut to small portions and placed it on the ground. Taking the tray he then placed it on the desk in his room and sat down to eat. Once he finished it, he looked down and saw that his dragon had consumed the entire dish. It squeaked in delight and moved around the room. From the looks of it, it looked like it was exploring.

He was going to leave when his dragon squeaked twice and then walked over to him as he stood by the door. It squeaked again, looking up at him expectantly. Eragon could feel a growing curiosity emanating from across their link. His dragon wanted to explore what was out there, or at least he thought it did. Even though they could communicate with feelings and sometimes even images, it was tough to fully understand each other as this was a very basic form of communication.

"Oh what the heck," he said and he picked it up. He moved to cradle it again, but then it crawled up to his shoulder and he winced slightly as its claws dug into him, although they did not break the skin. Its tail wrapped around his back towards his other shoulder.

He made his way to the training hall, the dragon squeaking every now and then as its head swiveled around to look at everything they passed by.

-xxx-

The training hall was vast, built next to the Citadel but within the outer walls that protected it. It too was carved into the side of the mountain, with a row of tall, thick stone pillars on either side holding up the lofty ceiling. Sunlight wafted in through small chutes drilled through the mountain rock that went to the surface. No doubt there were enchantments in place to prevent water from seeping in and subsequently flooding the hall. Because there was sunlight, there were potted plants and even a small garden at the end of the hall. Along one wall were rows of weapons racks full of all sorts of weapons, ranging from staves to halberds, swords, spears, bows, and axes. A few shields were also propped up against some of the racks.

Brom was waiting for him there along with two elders, Oromis and Arven, a female elven rider. Oromis wore his usual plain white robes while Arven had on a simple green shirt and brown leggings. Her blonde hair was cut short, going only barely past her ears, and she had deep blue eyes. As with all elves, she was fair, but Eragon unconsciously compared her to Arya and found that the latter elf was still more beautiful.

They were talking quietly as he approached and stopped when he got to them.

"About time you woke up, Eragon," said Brom with a smile. "This is elder Oromis, who you have met before, and this is elder Arven."

Eragon bowed slightly and put two fingers to his lips and twisted his hand to his chest as he had seen his mother do before. "Atra esterní ono thelduin."

Arven and Oromis smiled and responded to the greeting, which Eragon finished by saying, "Un du evarínya ono varda."

"Well met, Eragon," said Arven, her voice smooth and soft but belying power.

Eragon's dragon squeaked from his shoulder, shifting its weight slightly as it peered around.

"You must begin thinking of names for your dragon," Brom spoke, "If you would like, I can give you a small book we have of all dragon names past and present as well as rider names, if you would like to name your dragon after a rider. I do suggest, however, that you wait until your dragon begins to speak to you so that you may converse with it on the matter."

Eragon nodded, feeling rather eager to have his dragon start talking already.

"Well, now to the reason why you are here. You must begin your training immediately. While your dragon is still too small to do much, you can get started. Remember that you must take care of your dragon and make sure it is fed properly," he continued, "Oromis has expressed his intent to train you, and so it is that he will be your master from now on until he releases you from training. Arven has volunteered to help in that endeavor when she can. You should be grateful, for you are being taught by two elders. In fact, Oromis was my master back in my earlier years as a rider."

Oromis inclined his head towards Brom, "And you were a most worthy apprentice, Brom. And you, Eragon, have much to live up to," said Oromis to Eragon, who gulped slightly.

Brom chuckled, "He'll make you proud yet, Oromis." He looked at his son with both affection and pride. He knew he would be a rider too! It only seemed right for it to happen. He was glad he had already trained him somewhat, though he had not shown any affinity with magic before he was sure that now that he was bonded he would be able to do magic easily enough.

No pressure, right? Eragon thought, squirming slightly under their combined gazes.

"Oromis may be called away on official business from time to time, given his importance to the Dragon Riders, and so I will fill in when needed," Arven explained. He understood now why there were to be two of them. Usually a novice rider would be apprenticed to one senior or elder rider. He was lucky indeed to have not one but two elders as masters - although only one was of course his true master.

"Very well, if there is nothing else I would like to get started immediately," said Oromis as he looked at Brom and then Arven.

Brom gave Eragon a hug before he left, whispering in his ear, "Work hard, son. I know you'll make me proud." Arven bade him goodbye and wished him well in his studies before she too left.

Eragon's dragon squeaked again, its eyes glued on Oromis as it cocked its head to the side. Eragon raised his hand to pet it and it squeaked again.

"Very well. Let us begin with some basics. My name is Oromis, and from this day forth you shall call me master, or Oromis-elda, until I have finished training you. My dragon, Glaedr, will also be training you and your dragon once your dragon is big enough. He too, you shall call master, or Glaedr-elda. Do you understand?" asked Oromis, his tone and expression serious.

Eragon nodded, "Yes master."

"The training hall, as the name suggests, is where we will be conducting our training. We train here because it is away from any prying eyes and it is also devoid, or at least it should be, of any distractions," Oromis gestured around with his hand as he spoke.

"When will we be doing magic?" Eragon blurted out, unable to contain his excitement on learning about the subject.

Oromis shook his head, "When I say so. It will not be anytime soon, apprentice. There are other things to learn first before we tackle the subject of magic. Now you would do well to get thoughts of magic out of your head for now, it will only serve to distract you from your other tasks."

Eragon nodded a bit sullenly at that, "Yes, master."

"Let us talk as we walk. Follow me," the old elf said as he turned and began to move, Eragon following closely at his heels. "Now tell me what Brom has taught you about the Riders."

Eragon proceeded to tell him what he knew about them. The war between elves and dragons, then Eragon's namesake raising a dragon and eventually helping to create the bond between dragons and elves. The later inclusion of humans to that bond. He then talked about what he knew about dragons in particular and then what he knew about the bond and how that affected the riders. Then he talked about the purpose of the riders and their responsibility to Alagaësia. He continued on for a little while longer, but for the most part that was all he knew of the riders.

"Good, he has taught you most everything. I will augment your knowledge by speaking of some notable moments in Dragon Rider history. That said, we do not need to spend much time on history, though it would do well to remember the lessons learned by those who have gone before us," said Oromis. "Now how much of the ancient language are you familiar with?"

Again, Eragon told him about his studying the ancient language and of Brom's instructions. Asked to speak in the ancient language, Eragon began to speak slowly and Oromis corrected him here and there.

"Excellent. You are farther along on that than I expected, which is good. You shall continue studying the ancient language and I will provide you some more books on it. Now how are you with weapons?"

"Master, I am a good swordsman, according to my father, and I occasionally hunt with a bow and my archery has brought me much game," he replied with a hint of pride.

Oromis nodded, "We shall see soon enough. Now have you done any physical conditioning?"

Eragon frowned and looked confused, "How do you mean, master?"

They had walked through a few passageways by this point and entered into what Eragon could only assume was Oromis' office. There was a large, ornate wooden desk that dominated one end of the relatively big room. Bookshelves lined one entire wall and stood from floor to ceiling. There were seats in front of the desk, and Eragon sat down in one. His dragon had jumped off his shoulder and onto the armrest of the chair he was sitting on. It squeaked as it looked around the room.

"I mean, has he taught you any exercises to strengthen your muscles or any stretches to increase flexibility?"

Eragon shook his head, "No, master. The only exercise has been dueling with my father with weapons. Unless you can count the times I have gone out hunting, in which case I have gathered firewood, stalked prey, and run after prey as well as running away from any perceived dangers."

Oromis sighed, "I thought as much. Most people do not take care of their bodies enough, though I am surprised Brom did not teach you anything, particularly the Rimgar, which I made him do countless times and undoubtedly he still does. No matter, that is what your training is far after all.

"What is the Rimgar?" asked Eragon. The name sounded silly to him.

Oromis explained that it was also known as the 'Dance of Snake and Crane' and was a series of poses developed by the elves specifically to strengthen the bodies of warriors for battle. There were four distinct levels separated by the flexibility and strength required to do them.

Silence ensued for a moment. Seemingly deep in thought, the elder spoke, "Tea?"

Eragon declined the offer as Oromis began to ask him some more questions. Although Eragon was burning to ask questions himself, he did not give in to those urges as he usually did for fear of getting rebuked by the elf. A thought suddenly dawned on him that maybe Oromis knew Arya - he filed that away in his head as a question he would have to ask later on at a better time.

-xxx-

Eragon was on his way back to his room when he happened upon the other new dragon rider he had undergone the Ceremony with. He too had his dragon with him, cradling it in his hands. Eragon had done the same on the way back. He determined that the weight of his dragon on his shoulder was too uncomfortable for long periods.

They both stopped in the middle of the hallway and each were going in opposite directions. The other rider was taller than him by about an inch or so, and was a little more muscular. His gray eyes were guarded and his expression unreadable, though he seemed to have an air of coldness about him.

"Hello fellow rider," said Eragon, "I am Eragon Bromsson." He extended his hand.

At first the other young man did not take it, but then he finally reached out with his own hand and clasped Eragon's in a firm grip. Looking at Eragon straight in the eyes, he spoke, "I am Murtagh Morzansson." They let go of each other then.

"How is your new dragon?" asked Eragon suddenly, breaking the small silence that had ensued.

Murtagh smiled and looked down at his red dragon, which was eyeing Eragon's blue dragon with curiosity. Neither dragon made a sound or moved, merely watching each other in their riders' respective arms. "My dragon is well... and yours?"

"The same. I only wish they could speak already."

Murtagh's smile grew a little at that statement, "I feel the same way." His smile faded and his face resumed to show no emotion.

There was another awkward silence, this time broken by Murtagh. "Well, I must leave now, my father is expecting me."

Eragon nodded, "It was good to meet you, Murtagh."

"And you, Eragon," replied Murtagh and then he continued to walk past Eragon.

-xxx-

A week went by, with Eragon mostly studying books and being taught by Oromis on the finer historical moments of the riders. He was also taught the first level of the Rimgar, which proved to be far more difficult than he had originally thought it would be. He had a new-found respect for the athleticism of the elves, even though they were augmented by the magic of the dragon bonding. He was getting even better at the ancient language, learning even more words from the many tomes and books that Oromis gave him.

His dragon had grown considerably quickly in the span of a week, doubling it's size so that it was a little higher than his knee in height and already nearly as long as he was tall. It was easier to communicate with it now too as its feelings were easier to understand and it was able to send him better images representing its thoughts. He wondered when it would start talking and hoped that it would be soon, for besides his interactions with Oromis he spoke to no one else. There were riders that came and went, and occasionally one would chat with him for a little while, but for the most part he was alone in his studies.

Even Murtagh he had only seen one more time, and at a distance so he was unable to speak to him. Eragon wondered how his training was going, and he was sure that their training schedules did not coincide with each other's in order for there to be, as Oromis had said, "no distractions" while they were in the beginning phases of their learning.

Due to his lack of opportunities to talk to anyone, he had begun to talk more and more to his dragon. Even though most of the time the dragon could not comment or respond, Eragon poured out everything he was thinking and feeling. He would talk about things he was learning in his studies too, sometimes he would talk about legends and stories he had heard. And then there was Arya. Always his mind turned to her one way or another during the day, and though he tried not to, he could not help himself. She had left an unforgettable impression in his mind. He speculated whether they would meet again and what she was doing.

A few days later, Oromis told him to take his dragon out with him and explore the island a little bit. He also told him to try and get his dragon to hunt; even though there was more than enough food at Doru Araeba since it was the home city of the riders after all, Oromis had told him that dragons should learn how to hunt.

It was a particularly nice day, with a few thin clouds high up in the sky and the sun shining brightly. Eragon walked out of the Citadel, dragon in tow slightly behind him and to his right. It looked around in what Eragon thought was perhaps wonder as they wound their way through the city and towards one of the outer gates. There were six guards stationed there, all of whom Eragon realized were elves. They let him through, however, without so much as asking him what he was up to and Eragon thought that perhaps they had been told beforehand of his departure into the forest surrounding the city. Or perhaps they did not deem it necessary to ask a rider what he was doing. They were, after all, more interested in keeping things out of the city than keeping things in.

After walking past the walls for about ten minutes, Eragon and his dragon moved off the dirt path that led away from the city and plunged into the forest. Thankfully, there was not much undergrowth as the forest consisted more of trees, flowers, and small shrubs and bushes. His dragon seemed apprehensive about entering such an alien place, for it had only seen mostly stone walls and buildings for most of its short life thus far.

Eragon turned to his dragon and impressed upon it thoughts and images of hunting and having to fend for one's own. His dragon looked up at him, large eyes scanning his face as it cocked its head to the side. He tried again, and this time he received what he thought was acknowledgement of his message. Without hesitation his dragon suddenly stiffened, seemingly on the alert, then it bounded forward and around trees. Eragon wondered where it was going and cried out to it, starting to run, but then he remembered what Oromis had told him.

"You must let your dragon hunt, and preferably on its own. There are no dangerous creatures on the island that would harm a dragon, but there are plentiful game here and it would be wise to let your dragon learn not only to hunt but to survive in the wild. However tame the wild of Vroengard might be," the elder had said.

Now what am I supposed to do? Wait? thought Eragon and, finding a rather large boulder he decided to sit on it and indeed wait for his dragon.

He regretted not bringing a book to read, and then decided to try and recall the names of things around him in the ancient language. After about thirty minutes, his dragon returned. Its thoughts spilled over through their connection and it was mostly excitement and joy as well as pride. He saw, as it approached, that it had two rabbits in its mouth all bloodied up.

Eragon smiled, congratulating her with his mind. The dragon put the two rabbits down in front of the boulder and lay down as it began to munch on them. The sight was unsettling to Eragon so he averted his gaze.

Well, at least my dragon knows how to hunt now, he thought and smiled.

-xxx-

The next day, Eragon was practicing the first level of Rimgar in his room when he felt the consciousness of his dragon brush his mind. He wondered what it wanted as he got out of a pose, his skin drenched with sweat and his breathing somewhat ragged. He turned and looked at his dragon, its blue eyes locked onto his as it stood on its legs. It was extremely still.

Eragon.

The young rider's eyes opened wide. He felt surprised at first, and then he was filled with jubilation. A smile crept onto his face.

"You can speak!" he exclaimed excitedly.

Eragon.

He concentrated, letting his consciousness move out from the safe confines of his mind. He felt suddenly vulnerable as he reached out with his consciousness and felt the vastness of the world around his mind.

Yes, that's my name, he thought back to it.

Eragon. Name..? it thought.

Eragon finally understood. He was sure that his dragon was, like anyone speaking a new language, having a little trouble understanding and articulating but he knew that would come with time - given his experience with Sephyr and of course what he had learned already. He also then understood that it wanted a name, and it was indeed about time for him to give his dragon a name. He had been so caught up in studying and improving himself he had neglected to think of any names to call his dragon.

Let's find you a name.

He went over to the bookshelf in his room and began to search for the small book of names that Oromis had given him. A few minutes of going through the titles elicited the book and he plopped onto his bed and opened it. His dragon sidled closer to the bed as he began to read names off of the lists in the book. There were many names, perhaps too many, and he hoped he wouldn't have to go through them all. After about an hour of saying a name then looking towards his dragon, there would be no response although he sensed feelings of rejection through their link.

"This is ridiculous, there are still a few hundred names left." He was beginning to feel tired and his throat was dry. Then it dawned on him that he did not know what gender his dragon was.

Perhaps... he thought, looking hopefully at his dragon. Through their connection he asked, Are you... a male?

The dragon seemed amused by the question.

No, came the reply.

So his dragon was a female! Many of the names he had read were male names, he realized then, and decided to search specifically for any female names he came across. Still, there was no affirmation from his dragon and so he continued on. Perhaps it was another hour later that Eragon turned the final page of the book. His throat hurt from all the talking, but he did not really like the sensation of mentally talking to his dragon, at least he was not used to it yet and did not want to get too overwhelmed by the feeling.

He tried to think of names on his own, and his thoughts kept going to his father's dragon, Sephyr.

He spoke slowly, "My father... his dragon's name is... Sepyhr. I was thinking that... maybe you can be named... Saphira?"

There it was. A spark of happiness in his dragon's eyes and feelings of warmth and acceptance flowed through their bond. The name was especially fitting for her scales were the color of sapphires.

Saphira, his dragon said as if testing the name out for herself. A short moment later and she gave one small nod at that and Eragon broke out into a smile again.

His dragon could finally talk, and she now had a name. He was excited to tell not only his father about it but Sephyr as well. And Oromis, of course, he thought as he realized it would be best to tell his master about it. He reached over and pet Saphira, his hands running over her scales. She growled softly, which Eragon took to be like a cat's purr.

Saphira.

A/N: Appreciate the reviews again. On another note, we will be learning a little more about Murtagh in the next section. Things will start to pick up soon enough! I hope you're ready.

For those of you who don't remember the elven greeting, just in case, here's what it translates to:

first - Atra esterní ono thelduin. = "May good fortune rule over you."

response - Mor'ranr lífa unin hjarta onr. = "Peace live in your heart."

end - Un du evarínya ono varda. = "And the stars watch over you."