A Dragon's Rider (Unedited)

Chapter 6

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I barely notice the beautiful red and gold decorations before falling onto the bed and slipping into sleep.

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----The Next Morning----

The light is blinding as I open my sore eyes. I groan and turn away. 'Someone, turn the sun off!' Then, I hear what woke me up, small footsteps. I jolt awake. Someone is in my room. The events of yesterday come rushing back to me and I relax the tiniest bit. I realize I still have my hunter's tunic on so I grab a dagger from the inside pocket and soundlessly get out of bed. The person is now rooting through my closet. The figure is hunched over and when it turns around I relax completely. It's a woman and it looks like she's putting some uniforms in the closet. I quickly hide my dagger as she smiles.

"Hello! My name's Lucy. I was just about to wake you. You need to get ready for the egg picking! You have about one hour to be down at the banquet hall. Here!" she shoves a small pile of clothes towards me. "This is you uniform. I have drawn you a bath. Do you need anything else?"

"Uh-h-h. No?" Ok. She seems happy.

"Ok! Well, I have to go, nice meeting you!"

"You too." she walked out the door and gently closed it. I set the clothes down before stripping down to take a bath. The water is clear and warm as I wash my hair. The bath takes all of 3 minutes before I decide to get out. I look around and see a red towel. I touch it and it's so soft and fluffy. I dry off my body and go grab my uniform. The uniform consists of a pair of black leggings, a gold tunic, and black combat boots. The material is loose but I know that it is strong. It must be, if it's around dragons all the time. I brush my damp hair and deftly put it into its usual braid. I look at the clock and realize that I have 10 minutes to be down at the banquet hall. Not knowing how much time it'll take me to find it, I leave my room. The hall has a worn red carpet on it and huge pictures between the doors. Each door, I notice, has the occupants names beside them. My door simply says, Zircon. No other name appears on it. I find a staircase that looks familiar and I walk down it, my boots making a clicking noise on the wood. I look around and I'm surprised to see the banquet hall sign right in front of me. I walk in and see everyone else is already here, I guess they really didn't want to be late. A few people are staring at me but most don't spare me a glance. Hunter is up on the stage and he is talking.

"Alright, now that everyone is here, we can begin. When I say the name of the rider you rode with yesterday, follow said rider to the dragon eggs. There, if you get chosen by an egg, you will pick it up and give it to an attendant who will then take it to the infirmary. There, the egg will hatch within 2-4 hours of you touching it. If you are not chosen by an egg, you can either chose to stay here and be a helper who does odd jobs around the school, or you can go home and go back to your old life. Any questions?" One boy raises his hand.

"How will we know if an egg choses us?"

Hunter laughs, "You might feel a strong pull to it or you might become obsessed and only look at that egg. Later, we will decide you dragon's specialty. Fighting, defense, medical, or, in some cases, you might be an elemental." No one else raises their hand and Hunter nods. "Okay, first group is Vlad, Klaus, and Elan. Those people, come with me." I follow Hunter and Vlad out and into a different hallway. This one has a navy blue carpet and pictures of waves. Vlad leads us down a winding staircase, going deeper, and deeper down. It finally stopped and I saw a dimly lit hallway going to the left. Vlad tells us to go down the hall until an egg claimed us or, until the hallway stopped. I began down the path, looking around in wonder. There were so many different eggs! There were blue eggs, green eggs, large eggs, and small eggs. I was nearing the end of the hallway when I felt something. It was like my heart was pulling me somewhere. I looked to the left and saw a small door. The pull got stronger as I opened it. There, on a pedestal, was a gorgeous egg. I was a medium size and was glowing faintly. It was mainly red with bright gold and yellow spots. I picked it up and felt sparks go through me arms. It was light and had a hard shell. I stepped back out the door and saw an attendant standing a few feet away. I tapped her shoulder and she spun. She smiled when she saw my egg and gestured for me to follow her.