The School of Dragon Riders [Dragon Riders #1]

Chapter 5 (edited)

During our trip to the roof, I tried to communicate with Areton, but he just behaved like a little child seeing the world for the first time. In reality, that's what he was. He had just hatched, so I couldn't complain.

Areton had a nest next to Tanya's dragon, Nagda. The nests were just bales of hay with a roof high above. The place was full of dragons, and bigger ones were flying around. It was a beautiful sight. We had to leave our dragons quickly afterwards. I was sad, because I knew that I would not see him until the start of the classes, but I knew it was for the best.

We headed towards the Element room. At least, I think that's the place where you are tested for an Element. I couldn't wait to see what my Element was.

"Now you will enter the room, again, one by one. The room will speak to your mind and tell you what your Element is. After that, you will feel power being transferred to you. When you leave the room, you will be able to wield your Element. You will be able to feel the way to do it. You will need practice, of course. That's why you're allowed to leave after you're tested. You are not allowed to destroy any school property, except the training dummies. They are in the practice field, and they repair themselves. Now, Medea Beroast," the woman said. She said it fast, and I was just standing for a few seconds until the words reached me.

I opened the door and saw a small room, not unlike the one from the day before. It was small and cold.

Nothing happened for a few seconds, but then I heard the room speak into my mind.

Your Element is Darkness, and you are a Shape Shifter.

A dual caster! In addition, I had two advanced Elements! I felt power surging through me, and it was over. I left the room.

"What did you get?" asked the woman.

"I'm a Shapeshifter and my Element is Darkness."

As I expected, everyone gasped. Wielding two Elements was rare, especially if they were advanced.

I said nothing and started to go to the training field. I felt something like a fire inside me. I concentrated on it and wished I were an eagle.

I felt my bones getting smaller and lighter. My vision got a lot better. I let out a screech and started flying through the hallway. I was an eagle!

I sped towards the training grounds. As I was about to leave the school, I felt my power leaving me. My body turned back to normal and I fell to the ground. A lot of training awaited me in order to master my Elements.

"Are you okay?" someone asked. I realized that I was still on the ground. I looked up to see a smiling boy looking at me. He was holding his hand towards me. I recognized a friendly gesture and accepted his hand.

"Hello," I said. He was the first friendly person I met. He had long white hair, which was quite unusual. He probably came from the east, where some people have hair like that.

"I'm Jack," he said, still smiling.

"Medea," I said.

"You are new, aren't you? It's my second year here. I'm a Shapeshifter, too. Training grounds are in the other direction," he said.

"You are a Shape Shifter, too?" I asked. I thought that I wouldn't meet one at the School. "I have Darkness as well as Shape Shifting," I added.

"I have Holy and Shape Shifting. I was about to go training, so we can train together if you want to," he suggested.

I was about to refuse, but I needed a friend, and Jack was offering his friendship.

"I'd like that," I said instead. He smiled. He was always happy, like Tanya. Only that Tanya was mean to me. I shook the thought away. He could be a good ally.

"Follow me, then."

I followed him, thinking about my past. When I was young, I used to be a better person, but after an incident, I stopped connecting to people.

I had a group of friends with Tanya in it, and we were best friends. I was nice and outgoing, and I was never mean to anybody. I remember the joy I felt when I was with four of my friends.

We were very adventurous, and we decided to go deep into the forest, ignoring the warnings about a monster in the forest, which was killing both wild animals and the tamed ones. A group of Dragon Riders was going to arrive after a few days on our trip, but we wanted to see the monster ourselves. We were eight at the time. I brought my knives and Tanya brought her sword. Only the two of us were able to use a weapon. We didn't know what kind of monster to expect, so we just went with it.

I remember the fear I felt when we heard growling. Tanya and I readied our weapons as the sound of growling came closer. After a few moments, a figure stepped out of the bushes. It looked like a human, only it was taller, as tall as a medium-sized tree, blue, and had armour made from ice. That's the first time any of us saw an Ice Giant.

It roared and rushed at us with a sharp icicle in hand. I threw my knife, but it bounced off the armour. Then the Giant sent a load of ice and snow at us. I jumped in front of Tanya to protect her from the cold. That's when I passed out. A few days later, I found out that two other friends of mine died. They froze to death, but Tanya and I survived. I was depressed and I closed my heart completely. I wanted to run away from that. After that, I always turned my back to people instead of being their friend. I didn't want to feel that helpless and sad again. That's the reason I was so shocked and angry to discover that I shared the same blood as the monster that killed my friends.

Jack's voice shook me back to reality. We arrived at the Training Grounds. Was being his friend a wise idea? I decided to give it a try. I wanted to be the real me again, instead of a coward hiding from the world.

"You noticed all the classrooms around the school, didn't you?"

"Yes," I answered.

"Well, you are using those only once a week."

"What? I thought we were in school."

"That's because you will get a mentor. You get a Dragon Rider to teach you everything you need to know, and each week your knowledge is assessed in those classrooms or on the fields. The mentors are harsh, because their job is to teach you. The mentors are low ranks, and higher ranked Riders don't want anything to do with students, because the Purebloods have all the Elements and there is only about 30 of them in the whole world. They don't want to teach someone for 5 years. The mentors are coming tomorrow, and I hope someone good chooses you. You clearly have talent. My mentor is really good and patient. Now, let's get to practice."

I thought about what he said for a few moments. I liked the thing about mentors. That way, students would get enough attention and would be able to develop their skills faster.

I concentrated on the spark inside of me and called on it. I imagined my shadow rising from the ground and standing beside me.

I opened my eyes and saw that what I wanted to happen, happened. However, the moment I began to feel excited, it turned back to normal. I needed far more concentration and practice to be able to keep it there for a longer time, and after that, make it move and fight for me.

Hard years are ahead of me.

However, I hoped to get some friends to make it easier to bear.

I already had Jack, and I would get more.