The Andersons 2: The Constellation

Chapter 7: The Training

CHAPTER 7: THE TRAINING

Sam touched the shell. Nothing happened. Sam's hand remained on the shell for some time but nothing happened.

"Do you think that Edaphrogon made a mistake?" John asked.

"Edaphrogon never makes mistakes, not even the slightest" Saurian replied.

Then something strange began to happen. A feeling of warmth washed over Sam and then the egg shell began to glow, bright green. As green as the egg Sam saw in his dream. The one piece of the meteorite that the dinosaurs had missed. Sam removed the eggshell from Ophiacodon's mouth for in a second, the huge beast shut his mouth.

"Now we've found the chosen one. What must we do?" Ophiacodon asked.

"We must train him!" Saurian said.

"Follow me Sam, John, George" Saurian said.

They followed him to the very heart of the Dragon Caves. They entered one of the Caves and Saurian removed scrolls and gave them to Ophiacodon.

"Train these two, I'll train this one!" he said very seriously.

Ophiacodon left with John and George.

"The first training you are going to undergo is the Fire Test so get ready" Saurian instructed and then he hesitated for there was a look of worry in Sam's eyes.

"What's wrong?" Saurian asked.

"I'm not sure I have what it takes to save the world. I'm not sure. What if I'm not the true chosen one?" Sam said worriedly.

Saurian nodded slowly.

"Hmm, I understand. You doubt your abilities. You doubt yourself. You must conquer your doubt if you wish to save the world. T-Rexus is cunning and will try to use this against you" Saurian said solemnly.

"I don't understand why the egg shell chose me. What is it that I have that no one else does?" Sam said still worried.

"It's not about what you have. It's about who you are" Saurian said. "You've already saved the world once, from a witch" Saurian said.

"I had help. I couldn't do it alone. The witch was banished by the creator of the universe and besides it was just one witch. This is an entire race of dinosaurs" Sam said in doubt.

"Believe me, this is the best you can ever do. If you keep running from your destiny, you will eventually fall and your race will be destroyed. Look at me, my brother is dead, my allies captured because I was never ready to accept my destiny. Now we must return to your training" Saurian said.

"The first stage in your training is the Fire Test. You will be put into the cave of fire where you will have to withstand the heat for an hour. This trial will teach you perseverance. Are you ready?" Saurian asked.

"Yes" Sam replied.

He was then taken to the Fire Cave and locked inside. After two minutes...

"OUCH! OWW! OUCH! OWW! SAURIAN! GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Sam shouted.

The Cave was opened and Sam came out coughing, gasping and sweating. He fell to the ground covered in smoke and soot.

"LET'S SEE IF YOU WILL DO BETTER IN STAGE TWO! Stage Two is your lightning target practice" Saurian said.

"This should be easy" Sam said.

Sam began to stretch his arms at the targets.

"No!" Saurian shouted.

"You must hit the targets but not directly but by channeling your lightning energy..." Saurian said as he walked away from Sam and removed a parcel from a hidden chamber in the wall. It was long and wrapped in paper, tied with strings. "...through this" he said as he presented the parcel to Sam.

Sam hurriedly opened it. A Silvery Sword engraved with strange hieroglyphs and writings was wrapped in the paper. Sam touched it and the blade of the sword glowed bright blue. When he let go of the sword, it turned silvery again.

"Wow" Sam said in amazement and excitement.

Saurian lifted the sword. Its blade began to glow bright red.

"Whoa!" Sam exclaimed and shielded his eyes from the fiery light.

"THIS IS THE SWORD OF EDAPHROGON! THE HOPEFUL SON!" Saurian roared as sparks lit up his eyes.

"Have it Sam, are you ready?" Saurian asked him.

"Yes!" Sam replied eager to test the sword out.

"Begin!" Saurian said.

Sam aimed the sword at the target which was very far away from him. The target was a bullseye engraved on the far side of the Cave Wall. Sam felt the power within him rising, the electrical currents passed through his hand, to the handle of the sword, then to the blue blade but when it reached the blue blade another force from within Sam's body began to push the electric energy back towards Sam. The energy went back into the handle and

"UH-OH, THIS IS GONNA HURT" Sam said and he was right for in a second.

"AAAH!" Sam screamed.

The electric rays gave Sam a fierce electrocution. Sam dropped the sword gasping for air.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE SWORD?!" Sam yelled gasping and coughing.

"This sword was carved from Dragon Silver which contains a balance of good energy and bad energy. The Sword therefore acts as both a conductor and an insulator" Saurian explained.

"HOW?!" Sam exclaimed still gasping for air.

"It allows electricity to flow through it very easily however..." Saurian paused looking critically at the sword.

"It does not allow it to escape through its tip" Saurian continued.

"Let's try a different method" Saurian said removing another parcel from the hidden chamber and presented it to Sam.

"Tell me about this sword before I begin the training" Sam said nervously and opened the parcel.

Inside the parcel was a wooden sword.

"This sword is made from human wood. Ephragon and I used to play games with it when we were little" Saurian said with a nostalgic look.

"So all three of you were born on this planet?" Sam asked.

"Yes, we were hatched on this planet. Ephragon and Edaphrogon were born on our homeworld in a different galaxy very far away from earth in a different dimension altogether" Saurian said.

"Try to channel your electric power through this sword without hurting yourself" Saurian said.

"Saurian, wood is not a conductor of electricity. There's no way I can force the electricity through this sword" Sam said.

"You have not even tried to do so" Saurian said looking at Sam, examining him very carefully.

"Okay" Sam said.

He held the sword and felt the power within him rising once again and then...

"OWW!" Sam exclaimed dropping the sword to the ground quickly.

The handle of the sword was on fire.

"Let's try level three" Saurian said hopefully and yet in a very sinister way.

"Okay Sam, I'm going to blow some fire towards you. Your goal is to absorb its energy but since you are not in perfect balance, try fording off the flames" Saurian said.

"Okay?" Sam said beginning to get more than a little nervous.

Saurian inhaled deeply and then out rushed the hot flames from his mouth. Sam stretched his arms and a gust of wind swept out of them. For a few minutes, the fire wasn't able to touch Sam but suddenly, the gust of wind stopped flowing and the fire swept over Sam.

"AAAAAH!!!" Sam screamed.

Saurian quickly stopped blowing his fire. Sam fell to the ground in an unconscious heap.

"Something is wrong with his balance. I'll need to talk to Ophiacodon about it" said Saurian.