Three Broken Kingdoms-Book 1 of the Lost Continent (Completed)

Chapter Four: The Dragon

Above is a map of Miras

Myra's Point-of-View

Myra Isidore stood proudly on the top of the mountain as the sun rose, not feeling the cold that trickled through. The light of today's dawn was brighter than usual, even for summer, the one bearable season in the mountains. The wind rustled through her dark red hair, blowing strands back. She gazed from the second-highest peak in the Hawk Mountains, down on the queendom she was heir to.

The Hawk Mountains was home of the valkyrie warriors. It was here that Miras' mighty army resided, and here that the mountains kept their ancient vigil over the land, protecting it from what lay to the south.

Down on the fields surrounded by the mountain range, the faint forms of valkyries warred, the gleam of steel streaking across the plains. They were up before the dawn to spar each day, ready, as always, for war.

Myra would have been with them if she didn't have her own preparations to make, not for battle but for the Initiation Ceremony that would take place in mere hours. Simply putting on her ceremonial armour took an unjustified amount of time.

It was made of enchanted steel stolen from the elves for this very purpose, painted blue and decorated with dragons. Made up of the boots, the body and the helmet, it barely allowed her the room to breathe, which was why she had taken off the helmet, more of a steel mask designed to look like a dragon's face.

She knew that if anyone was to look at her, they would see a warrior: her dark red hair that looked so much like blood tied back, her piercing blue eyes cold, her face proudly bearing a scar that had almost sliced into her eye.

Silent, she stared out at the ocean so beloved by her people, the ocean where valkyrie children crawled out of the sea.

She heard the footsteps behind her with the ease of the valkyries' sharp senses and turned to see Queen Viktoria. Her mouth quirked into a smile as she beheld her familiar face: her black hair neatly wrapped around her head in braids, her dark olive skin flecked with the scars that she knew too well. Her deep brown eyes were filled with a compassion that had helped Myra through the death of her mother, and a humour that had driven her insane the rest of the time.

"Are you ready?" Viktoria asked. She only nodded.

"Do you think they are?" She asked her queen, after a moment of silence.

"Of course. You have trained them well." Myra was silent, considering.

"You worry too much," Viktoria chastised her. "It's Initiation Day. You're meant to be happy. Lyra certainly knows that you were over the moon on your own one."

Despite herself, Myra smiled at the fond memory. The day was the culmination of nine years of training to join the valkyrie armies, nine years of waking at dawn and not sleeping until long after night had fallen. It was the day that determined their entire lives and she remembered how glorious it had felt, to feel the blades of Viktoria and her predecessor, Celia, on her shoulder. To swear the oath to protect the cities, the other valkyrie queen and her heir-still unchosen at the time. To be named the Dragon, a name she had carried with honour and held almost as dear as the secret and infinitely precious True Name she kept nestled deep within herself.

More glorious than that, though, was to be crowned High General of the Valkyrie armies after saving Viktoria's life in battle.

Myra closed her eyes, the wind whipping in her face, and thought back to that day...

The valkyries were being pushed back, giving up more and more land as they fought. The elves rode pegasi against the wyverns of the valkyries' forces, and the two clashed in a thick of fighting, swords and arrows from one side, lightning and fire from the other.