Rainbow Magic (Dragon Rider #1) {EDITING}

Rainbow Dreams

The minute her eyes snapped open, she knew something was wrong. Instead of the soft bed she'd settled down on, she found herself on the cold hard-packed dirt. She stared up at the sky, her eyes wide at the sounds she could hear around her. "What the hell?" She stood up, covering her face at the wind battering her from above. "Where the hell am I?!"

"With me." A familiar croaky voice sounded from behind her.

Her head swivelled, her gaze locking on the old woman standing behind her. "You?" She scowled. "What are you doing here...? Wherever here is..."

"You're fast asleep... in the bed of that inn you're inside." Evangeline smiled. "You're just viewing the fragment I left inside that little mind of yours."

"This... is a dream?"

She shrugged. "Of sorts."

"But... it looks so... real..." she mumbled. "Why the hell would I be dreaming of... this?"

"Because it's not your dream."

Sora stared at her.

"I told you, didn't I?" she said, a crooked grin pulling at her lips. "You're viewing the fragment I left inside you in our last meeting—a fragment of one of my dreams."

"You... put something inside me?" Sora asked, vaguely horrified. "I knew you were up to something! I shouldn't have trusted you, creep!"

"You needed to see this, and it was the only way how."

"Why?"

"Well—"

Sora lunged at her before she could answer, intent on paying her back seven times over for the events she'd suffered through only days earlier. She didn't trust the woman in the slightest, her instincts warning her something was wrong with the woman. Those same instincts were proven right, her eyes widening as she passed through her like she didn't exist.

"Calm down, would you?" she mumbled. "You can't affect me... this is just a dream..."

"If it was a dream, I'd be hitting you already!" Sora grumbled. "The last time I met you, you sent me to meet Dragon King Rhydian! The infamous one, known for being the strongest dragon rider to ever exist... He chased me around his palace with his... friends!"

Evangeline chuckled. "I thought you'd like the surprise."

"Don't play with me!" She scowled, wincing as an ear-piercing screech rent the air. Roars sounded from above, a bright stream of golden magic lighting up the clouds, revealing the shadows of two dragons fighting high above them. Others flew right by them, Sora flinching at their closeness, as dragons of all colours flew through the skies around them, weaving past the cliff they stood on. "What the hell is this, anyway? Why are you dreaming about... this?"

"Because I'm an Oracle, silly..."

"Oracle?"

"Someone who can see into the future."

"The future?" Sora stared at her.

"Yes... and this, my dear, is yours..." she said, wandering closer to the edge of the cliff, peering down at the city down below them—the Outer City... and it was under attack.

"A war?" she whispered. "Like hell it is!"

"This was destined to happen ever since you were born," Evangeline continued. "Though the timing of it might change, this fate is yours to bear."

"How do I know you're not lying to me?"

"Have I ever?"

"There's a first for everything."

"You're right, but even if you don't believe me... at least you won't be completely in the dark by the time this fight rolls around." She shrugged. "If you want proof, then once you wake up, keep an eye on your beloved instructor... especially when he fights."

"Huh?" Sora blinked. "Why would I do that?"

"For proof," she said, pointing back at the two figures fighting atop the cliffside they stood on. Metal clashed on metal, the sound grating on Sora's ears as she stood there, her eyes widening.

There, in the mountains above the Outer City, was Oz.

Only it wasn't...

The Oz she knew didn't have bright red eyes.

She shook her head. "That's not..."

"It is." Evangeline closed her eyes. "One day you'll find out the truth... about him and his blood... and how it all started..."

"How what all started?" she asked, staring at the elderly woman. She didn't like her, that was for sure, but she knew she could detect some sincerity in her words.

"The hatred... between those of gold... and those of silver..."

A dragon roared, deafening Sora as she stood in front of the cliff, watching as a large red scaled dragon flew up, the rider clinging to the saddle she sat in, her mane of blonde hair whipping behind her.

"No way," she muttered. "It can't be..." Her voice trailed off, her eyes fixing on the black cloak the woman wore—the ancient symbol on its back.

Salamander.

"Raelynn?"

Her eyes widened, shock rolling across her face.

Not just because of the gigantic red dragon and the shockingly familiar rider.

But because of the cloak tucked tightly under the older Raelynn's arm.

The one that had the runes for Monster.

Her cloak.