The Academy of Alactria

Phantom (Edited)

We all looked at each other horrified. Who was this person, with this stomach churning amount of hatred. And why did he hate the school? Electra joined us, resting her head on my shoulder as the black dragon summoned black wisps of smoke into a ball. With a flick of his tail, he launched it at the East Tower. The ball of smoke smashed into the tower, appearing to stick to the wall before expanding, creeping up the tower like vines. The tower was leaning as black fire from the dragon licked the walls, burning away the mortar. One stone fell.

And another

And another

Until the whole tower caved inwards and collapsed, leaving a pile of rubble instead

The dark rider turned his attention to our tower, saw us and flinched. The school used that hesitation to attack. Dragons of all colours, reds, orange, greens and greys all shot down like an arrow. We watched in awe as the dragons shot their elements at this rogue rider, trying not to hit the dragon. Ice, fire, and even boulders were raining down on the dragon, who nimbly dodged each attack. Meanwhile, the rider fought back, shouting commands at his dragon whilst fighting the rest off using his element. He shot piles of black smoke at the main building, the flag tower, everywhere but our tower. He looked at me, his black eyes boring into my pink ones. Time slowed.

"I will come for you,".

Shouting a command, he nudged the dragon and it took off, weaving between the School's dragons and flying off into the distance.

***

"I will come for you". The boy's voice, had been echoing around my head as we went back into our rooms. As first years, we did not have to help them, and instead had chill out time until dinner. After this epic battle by the school and one dragon and rider, the builders came in from the nearby villages and we were sent to dinner (paella). It was amazing how fast the school went back to normal. Well, normal-ish.

I had been restless throughout the night and had ended up reading about different dragon types and doing some left over prep (homework). Now I was just thinking about the boy and his black dragon.

"Hey Amy,". Cherry's words broke me out of my reverie.

"Yes Cherry,". I responded already anticipating her question.

"What did he mean? When he said I will come for you?"

"No idea. I wish I knew. What was his element anyway?

"Shadows." I looked up, surprised. She flushed but carried on. "The books on our bookshelf are all about unusual powers. His name was Liam. According to this book", she picked up a book on her bedside cabinet and sat on my bed. "He was an A star student. He had the most incredible bond with his dragon until his father died. His mother fawned over his older sister and completely ignored him and his sister. They were best friends and then he pulled out a dragon egg. He had to leave his sister to come here and he hated it. When he heard that his father died he turned evil. He turned so evil his bond with his dragon broke. So the dragon's eyes turned to navy and he became Unbonded. Therefore his eyes turned white. A dragon rider with no bond has to control his dragon by other means, like chains." She added as an afterthought: "According to the book, the dragon was called Phantom,".

"You like reading then?"

She flushed. "Stephen teases me that I will never marry anything but a book,".

I grinned. "Well, what about Barney?"

A blush appeared on her cheeks. "What about him?" She asked in a high voice.

I grinned as I got ready to go to breakfast. "Well I like Adam and you like Barney and if they like us back, maybe you will get the last laugh,". She smiled as we went down to breakfast. The boys had gone on ahead and had already gone to our first lesson. We bolted down our food and ran to Camouflage.

We were given some flint and told to light a fire and cook some food in our Anchemi, using the fire ashes to camouflage our skin. I, for obvious reasons, went hunting. Electra spoke up in my head, obviously bored with her agility training.

Hi Amy

Hi Electra

There is a deer 30 metres to your left.

How do you know?

I'll show you

Immediately my senses went into overload. "Oh of course," I muttered. Dragon riders had incredible senses when they mastered their connection with their dragon. All of a sudden I could hear the deer crunching on some leaves, I could smell the musky scent of the deer and I could taste the moisture in the air.

I crept forward, raised my bow and loosed the arrow. The deer, poised to run, stumbled and collapsed. I raced forward to find the deer was still alive. I drew my knife, and, slitting the deer's throat, looked at the ornamental swirls and lettering on the scabbard. All of a sudden; memories came flooding back to me like a waterfall falling off a cliff.

The snow is drifting down outside the window. A young girl is curled up next to a man. The lights are bright and cheerful and the mother and sister are laughing together as they watch the girl try to persuade the man. "Dad" she whined laughing. "Please can I have my birthday present now,". The Dad winked at the mother and withdrew a package from his pocket. The girl's eyes lit up and she gently unfolded the paper to reveal a dagger. The handle was of a dragon curled up with a tail looped around for extra grip. The scabbard had lots of swirls and if you looked carefully you could see her name made out of the swirls. She drew the blade and it slid out quietly. "Thanks, Mum! Thanks, Dad!" She angled the blade so the light reflection made patterns on the wall. The father stiffened at a crunch of gravel, pausing to pick up a sword as he strode outside. The sounds of a scuffle could be heard and the girl slipped outside as she watched the robbers back away. Her father was lying on the ground. She knelt down, placed the dagger on the floor and with a choked sob said "Dad". And so the dagger tasted its first blood. Her father's blood.

A deeper chapter this time. What were your thoughts? - did you like it, was it emotional? Please comment!