Ralem sat on the marshy grass, running his hand through his black hair. Why would this happen? He had risked his neck for what- a rock! Everything was so confusing. It was like his world had been turned upside down. All these strange creatures, and almost laying his life down for a rock. Was he insane? Was it all just a bad dream? He slumped against the tree and winced. Definitely not a dream.

One thing he knew for sure was that those creatures with the strange collars were after this rock. Ralem took a closer look at the rock. It was studded with many diamonds, through the fractured surface it seemed that the rock was swirling. It reflected the newly risen sun in tiny lights that rested in the trees like little fireflies. It was truly beautiful. But was it worth the lives of his men? This thing had been responsible for their deaths! In anger he grabbed the rock to throw it as far as he could, his fury swelling like a great tidal wave.

But it stuck.

He couldn't throw it. Once again the rock seemed to be clinging to him. His anger turned to fear as pain overwhelmed him, penetrating like a hot, stabbing knife to his very bones. He fell to the ground unable to breathe or think, his only reality the anguish that screamed from every part of his body. It seemed as if someone were cracking through his skull with a hammer. His muscles writhed under his skin like snakes, jerking and convulsing on the forest floor, the only thing not moving was his hand, glued to the rock that seemed to suddenly weigh a billion tons. His atoms were rearranging, his whole body being molded into something not quite human.

The seconds seemed like years and he longed for death for the first time in his short life. Just kill me already, he thought, anything to stop this awful pain. Through the haze of terror, images rose from his mind like forgotten ghosts. It was short memories of the smell of warm tarts his mother would bake when he was but knee high, the warm smiles of his boyhood friends, the sense of pride when he disarmed his first opponent, the aching hole in his heart when his mother was no more. All his memories flooded his mind, from forgotten fights with his siblings when he was small, to training to be soldier, to his treetop days with his brother, Aren. Is this what it feels like to die? He thought. Suddenly the rock let go of him and it felt like an elephant had stepped off his back. The memories faded like wisps of the wind, leaving a strange new feel like there was something in him that he didn't have before. He jerked away from the rock, gasping for breath, trying to clear his mind. Sweat dripped into his eyes as he shot a glance at the awful rock in fear.

The rock began to fracture. Little cracks appeared in the glassy shell? It ruptured and a smoke began to spill out of the open hole. Ralem watched in amazement as the smoke began to lazily swirl and billow, becoming larger by the second. It spilled into the grass, condensing into a long cloud-like form. Colors rose to the surface of the hazy shape, glinting in the hesitant sunrise. The shape sharpened, limbs forming ever so slowly until a humanoid form appeared. It shuddered as it took a deep rasping breath. An arm started to curl backwards to supports its body, which was mostly hidden by a swirl of mysterious mist.

Ralem gasped. Another monster! This has to be the most bizarre week in my life. I can't take any more monsters! He slowly got to his feet, forgetting to breathe, drawing closer to the thing. A small part of his brain thought drily, Curiosity killed the cat. But the larger part was too interested to stop his approach. It was only when the mist drifted away that he realized that it was not just a humanoid creature, it was a human. And it wasn't an ordinary human.

The man took a deep breath again and used its shaky arms to pull itself up, twisting its head in Ralem's direction. His heart leapt, but not in the good way.

It was unmistakable. The arched eyebrows, black hair, and strong jaw.

The man was a mirror image of himself!

Ralem jumped back. I don't believe it! The man's unfocused eyes finally drifted to Ralem and tried to concentrate on him, but it appeared to be blind. The eyes were the only thing that weren't exactly the same as Ralem's, they glowed so bright you couldn't see the pupils and gave him an inhuman look. Ralem's eyes were pale green and could be mistaken for brown without the right light. But this was scary green.

Rider a voice said in his head as the spine-chilling green eyes finally focused on his face.

At this turn of events, Ralem suddenly found his feet could actually move, and he turned tail and fled as fast as he could from the man. Like a scared dog, he bolted and tried to run as far as he could from this dastardly forest. He jumped over roots, his feet almost flying over the ground, previous exhaustion and pain forgotten, not knowing or caring where he went as long as it was far away from that man.

Rider? The voice said in his head, sounding hurt and confused.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Ralem screamed as he plunged through the undergrowth. He tripped on a rock and found himself sputtering in a puddle. He jumped back up and kept running. If he wasn't so scared he would have wondered how he could run so far so fast. Maybe it was adrenaline.

He didn't know how long he ran. It all seemed like a blur of trees, murky ground, and ghosts of the men he had left behind. He charged on, trying to forget all that had transpired that day, all the failures that seemed to linger around him, reminding him of the men he had failed to protect. The gnarly trees seemed to grow leering faces as they reached for him with crooked fingers, trying to draw him into their wooden grasp. Thorns scratched at his flesh as he blindly tore through the woods. The forest grew dark and menacing, foes at every corner. Ralem thrashed with his sword like a mad-man, creating deep rents in trees and shrubs alike, jumping at every little noise, his terror fueling his pounding feet.

After a while he started to slow down from exhaustion. Then pure sunlight fell on his shoulder like a forgotten friend, the soft rays warming his body for the first time in a week. Finally he stopped, panting, to take in his surroundings. It was a lush field of rolling hills, grain waving slightly in the wind. To the right in the distance was the beginning of a country, the buildings reaching toward the sky, some of them belching dark smoke. A large wall surrounded it like a proud guardian, tall spikes black against the azure sky. People, as small as ants from Ralem's position, were gathered at the gates, getting admitted in by the watchful eyes of the guards stationed on either side of the vast drawbridge, which connected the city with the countryside over a large moat. Baroke he thought. He started to walk toward it, for to him it was like a beacon of hope. Maybe the ambassador made it after all he thought hopefully, trying to push all other thoughts to the back of his mind.

Suddenly the wind picked up. The fat heads of grain were almost flattened against the earth as the gust gained intensity. Oh no, not another strange thing, he thought shouldering his pack and picking up his pace to his destination.

He never did make it.

He gasped as he was grabbed roughly by his stomach, nearly squishing the air out of him. With a stomach churning whoosh, he found himself looking down at the town, which was getting smaller by the second. The trees looked like little green sticks and the field was now the size of his hand. "NOO!" he screamed, remembering his sword. Lifting it up, he brought down all of his force onto the scaly fingers holding him up. His stroke was met with a CLANG and a spurt of burning hot blood. Whatever was holding him faltered. Almost driven to madness, Ralem drew back for another stroke, cutting deep into the softer leather of the thing's underclaw.

A flash of grey.

Ralem's heart fell with his sword as it tumbled out of the air and quickly became lost in the leafy forest. Then it dawned on him that if he had actually managed to break the thing's grip he would have been the one crashing to his death. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, he thought miserably as he gripped the bloody finger of the creature. Then an idea popped into his head, Is it that dreadful bird come back to eat me? But he remembered that the bird couldn't fly. Not to mention that this thing's claws were bright green.

Ralem twisted around to take a good look at his captor. The huge claws holding him were attached to muscular arms, which led to a huge powerful scaly green chest. He tilted his head up and up until his neck hurt, trying to see its head. The thing was enormous. It had a long, sinewy neck and monstrous bat-like wings that sprung proudly from either side of his body. When it noticed he was looking at it, it lowered its huge head to look him in the eye. It was a ginormous triangular head, larger than Ralem's whole body. The top of its nose to the beginning of its horns had a row of small spikes. More was trailing under its huge beautiful green eye to the next pair of horns. Its mouth opened to reveal huge teeth, each one longer than Ralem's arm. Ralem cringed. The dragon must have notice because it closed its mouth quickly.

I won't hurt you, said the same voice in his head. Ralem yelled. It was the DRAGON who was speaking in his head! "Go away! Stop talking in my head! Just LEAVE ME ALONE."

The dragon looked sad, "Is this better?" it said its voice deep but smooth. "And I can't leave you alone. Let me explain when we land."

Ralem fell silent. Everything about the situation was over his head. So many questions were racing through his mind like a hive of restless bees. His mind wandered and for the first time he noticed that the dragon wasn't beating its giant wings. They were leveled out on either side like massive sails. The dragon was traveling faster than he could have imagined, even though it was not twitching a wing. The only thing moving was the tail, which ended in huge sails that moved from side to side like a rudder so that the dragon could change directions. When his gaze returned to the ground he discovered it was speeding below him in a blur of landscape. And he did not feel so much as a whisper of wind. Everything about the situation was strange and terrifying. They had already flown over the forest. We are heading to my hometown! He prayed that the dragon would keep flying until they had past it.

But the dragon landed in the worst place possible, or so Ralem thought. The beautiful creature tilted its wings and touched down so softly that Ralem didn't feel a jolt. It set him down in a large oak and just sat there on its haunches, staring strangely at him.

He looked around. This was the same oak both him and his brother came to hide when they wanted to play uninterrupted when they were children. This did not seem to be like a coincidence. Ralem tried to gather some confidence, "You said you'd give me answers," he was surprised how strong his voice sounded.

The dragon sighed and a puff of smoke escaped from its mouth, "My name is Jaydon. You, Ralem, are my Rider."

How does he know my name? Ralem thought. "What is a Rider?"

"It's hard to explain," Jaydon "But I chose you to be my human."

"So I'm your slave or something?" Ralem asked angrily, but his voice sounded more like a squeak now. He eyed the area around him and started backing away, getting ready to bolt. Dragons were bad. He'd been trained on this subject all his life. They were for hunting, for killing for knights in shining armor. The only good dragon was a dead dragon. Then why wasn't this dragon trying to kill him?

"No," replied Jaydon, "I'd call it more of a friendship so deep it doesn't deserve the same name. Actually you are now officially about one of the most powerful men on earth. You should feel honored."

Ralem laughed drily, "Me, powerful? I'm just a common foot soldier. At any moment the Queen could order me dead and I'm gone."

Jaydon rustled his wings, trying to think of something to say. "You are not a foot soldier anymore. You are a Rider. In fact you are a Rider of the one and only Ventus Magnus Rex! The most powerful dragon on earth!" At that last statement the dragon spread his wings, their huge span blocking the sky. Indeed he just shone with power, the sun reflecting blindingly off his emerald scales. Everything about him glowed with brilliance, from his graceful, chiseled head to his sinuous tail. He was beautiful, in a scary sort of way. "Now let's go for our first flight! I promise it will be a lot better than the other one!" he smiled, displaying those ferocious teeth.

Ralem straightened, "First let me ask some more questions. Why me?"

"Because the Creator has made it so. We don't always know why He does what He does," he said frankly, a hint of a smirk on his scaly lips.

"But why would you need a human? You look like you could take care of yourself." Ralem crossed his arms skeptically.

Jaydon settled down on the glade, his body taking up an impossible amount of space. He got comfortable as if he were preparing to make a lecture, taking a deep breath before he continued. "Before the Fall of mankind every creature on earth was invincible. They could not die. They could not feel pain. Everything prospered. But then that sorrowful day happened," his spikes drooped a bit and his eyes grew downcast as if remembering some sad memory. "And the animals all lost that power. They die, get sick, and feel pain. Everything has a weakness, either great or small. We dragons have not been left untouched, for we are fallen just like the rest of creation. But the difference is, my kind of dragon is invincible. But invincibility is impossible now. So the Creator made a weakness for us so that we can continue to exist. You, my friend are my weakness."

Ralem was in shock, vaguely aware that his mouth was hanging open. All thoughts of fleeing had fled from his mind. He recovered himself and said "I'M your weakness?" He was there when creation began? He also thought.

"Yes," the dragon said bluntly, "Now our lives are linked, I'm not completely sure how, but I think if you die, I will also. But don't think I didn't give you defenses. And no, I wasn't there when creation began, but somehow, I have this vague memory of Paradise. I think most humans also have a vague understanding of this, or just a longing for it again."

He heard my thoughts! Ralem thought, but was more intrigued about the defenses part. "What kind of defenses do you mean?"

Jaydon raised a scaly eyebrow. "Checked your arm, neck, or shoulder yet?"

Ralem raised his arm. No traces of the scratches were left. His neck revealed the same. He arched his back. There was no pain. His hands shaking, he took a dagger out of his pack, bit his lip, and made a small slit in his arm. The cut healed almost instantly. He cried out and let go of the knife and it clattered to the ground.

"Yes, you just like me can heal. You draw your power from me. It doesn't take much energy and I'm practically full of energy so you needn't worry. I can heal you no matter what you do. I've also given you more defenses but I'm not sure of those now, because I'm not even sure of my own powers. After all, I just hatched a few hours ago."

"A few hours…" he said, confused "You… but… I don't understand." He gestured to the dragon's huge body.

"My kind of dragon is never born a hatchling. It's reminiscent of the beginning. Do you think Adam was a child when he was created? Do you think the firstborn animals were mere chicks? No, the Lord made them fully grown in all their glory. Don't you remember? After all it was you who hatched me."

"I…" Ralem stuttered, "But you… "

When Jaydon saw how confused he was he said, "You probably remember me best in this form." His image shimmered until he looked like a mist. The form became smaller and smaller, then reforming…

To the man Ralem had fled in the first place.

Jaydon recognized his discomfort and sighed. "As your dragon I can also take on your shape. Wild dragons cannot become human unless they have a rider, and the same is with me. But I am never human. Remember that." His form shimmered again, becoming the stunning dragon once more. "I prefer my own form better. You poor humans, wingless and no natural armor," he said, poking Ralem with a claw and wrinkling his scaly nose. "Smelly too," he added, earning a glare from Ralem. Ignoring that he called "Ready for your first flight now?" he leaned forward and nocked his foreleg so that Ralem could climb up.

Ralem tensed What if he's just trying to eat me?

Jaydon rolled his eyes "If I wanted to eat you I would have done that a long time ago instead of wasting time telling you my life story. Get over here."

Deep down Ralem felt that he could trust Jaydon so he climbed down from the tree, grabbed his knife on the ground and walked toward the dragon. It was quite easy to climb on. The smooth scales clung to his hands and he about walking up the dragon's side. He saw there was a spike-less grove at the hollow between the neck and shoulder blades. Sitting down on it was almost comfortable, the scales here were small and even. He smiled. This is where he felt he should be. For the first time he felt whole. Ready if you are he called, not noticing he had said it in his mind. Releasing a tremendous roar of triumph that echoed through the forest, Jaydon spread his immense wings. The bones clicked as the tendon stiffened, tightening them together. His wingspan took up the entire clearing. In a whoosh of wind they were off into the inciting crystalline sky.

Little did the happy pair know, a shadow was racing away from their meeting place with interesting news.