The Silver Dragon Chronicles Chapter 5

The first thing I recognized in the Realm was noise. Hundreds of people were milling around a huge room- more of an arena, actually. The walls were uniform dark gray stone and stretched to cathedral ceilings, easily thirty feet tall. Long, high-power fluorescent light bulbs marched across the walls, perfectly situated every five or six feet with metal grates holding them in place. About twenty large tables were set up around the arena, and most of the arena’s occupants were clustered around them in droves.

Look, they’re all kids, Taiya said, astounded by the enormity of the room.

She was right. The majority of the people were teenagers, the youngest looking about eleven or twelve and the oldest approximately nineteen. A handful of adults were scattered throughout the crowds, and most of them appeared to be overseeing whatever was going on at the tables.

“Welcome to the Arena,” Alina popped up in front of me out of nowhere. I lurched back in surprise, but all I could think to say was “You people really don’t waste creativity on names, do you?”

She laughed, a pretty, lively sound. “You’ve got a good point. And you’re pretty much right. The people who built the Arena decided to keep the name simple so that no individual would be remembered over the others. I guess you could say they chose to run this whole country equally for eternity.”

Eternity, huh? Taiya mused. I could see where her mind was going and I got ahead.

“So this place has been around for that long?” I did my best to sound like I knew nothing about it- which wasn’t that hard.

“Long as anyone can remember-“

“And then some,” I finished, echoing her words from the Oddity Shop.

“Exactly.”

“So what’s this Arena of yours for?” I pressed on with the questions.

Alina flashed a smile. “Training. Dragons bonded to kids have battles here, and then the best teams get to go on for Grandmaster training.

“The rules are simple. Dragons face off one-on-one and the dragon bond calls the shots. When one of the dragons can’t fight anymore the battle’s over.”

“That still leaves a lot of questions.”

“Why don’t you see for yourself?” Alina led me over to one of the tables, pushing through the crowd to get a good view.

I gasped. The table was set up to look like a mini cliff, with a little river running through at the bottom. The creek was real running water, and the cliff was probably about five feet tall and extended on both sides of the water as if the tiny river had eroded its way in. The sides of the cliff were riddled with rocky ledges and platforms.

“Omigod…” I squeaked out. Two dragons were fighting it out on the cliffs. One was huge for a dragon, about nine inches tall, wingless, muscular, long-necked and covered in armor. The other was slightly smaller with skeletal wings and a long tail.

A girl sitting in a chair on one side of the table yelled, “Circle!”  As I watched, the small dragon launched off the cliff and flew around its opponent like a hawk. “Good, now dive!”

“Stand your ground!” A guy was sitting opposite her, in an identical chair. I guessed he was calling the moves for the big dragon. The flying dragon swooped down in a nosedive.

“Now!”

The big dragon swung its head right at its attacker, sending the figure spinning out of the dive and crashing into the rocks. The small dragon was motionless.

“The victor is Griffen!” an adult shouted to the audience. The crowd went wild, congratulating the boy and some looking sympathetically at the girl, who was cradling the small dragon in her hands. “You were amazing. It was my fault for getting us into this.”

The large dragon- Griffen- hopped onto the boy’s shoulder. The boy seemed impervious to the praise of the crowd, cold and aloof, with no expression on his face. He was creepy to say the least. Tall and tan with longish auburn hair, normally he would’ve been considered good-looking, and no doubt he often was. But his dark amber eyes burned with an intensity that was almost scary. I guessed his age to be around fifteen, but his eyes made him look much older.

“Yeah, that’s Aaron Winslow. My advice? Don’t challenge him till you’ve got a few substantial wins under your belt.” Alina said. Griffen growled menacingly from Aaron’s shoulder. “Make that several substantial wins.”

“Nice job, Aaron,” a girl piped up. She sidled to him and smiled. “That was a bold move you did with Griffen.”

“Thanks.” Aaron actually smiled back, breaking the mask he’d maintained through the fight. “When’s your next match?”

“An hour. This one’s gonna be easy,” she boasted. “Oh, hi, Alina!” The girl noticed Alina and I watching the conversation.

“Hey, Izzy! Do you really think Santis is going to be that simple? He was the runner-up in the last tournament, you know. I’m not sure if Cortana can handle him,” Alina teased. She ran over to the girl, and I followed. Aaron slipped away from the girl.

“Please. He’s putty in our hands.” The girl flipped a few strands of her chin-length platinum blond hair. “Any earth dragon will get toasted.”

“Huh? I’m lost,” I cut in.

Me too, Taiya added.

“Sorry, Lily,” Alina apologized. “This is Isabella Salem and Cortana, one of the Realm’s top dragon teams. She’s surface, like you. Izzy, this is Lily Spencer, our newest dragon bond, and Taiya.”

“Welcome to the Realm. Any questions, come straight to me,” Isabella said.

Alina elbowed her in the arm. “That’s my job, remember? I’m the trainer here!”

“Trainer’s apprentice, emphasis on apprentice.”

“Whatever.” Alina rolled her eyes.

Wait, I’m lost. Are they friends or not?

Taiya, I wish I could answer that.

And what’s a trainer? Or trainer’s apprentice? You’d better get to that.

“Um, guys? What’s a trainer?” I asked apprehensively.

“Basically, a trainer is a dragon bond with a dragon that’s too small to get a fair fight. Trainers and their dragons work with dragon bonds that can battle- devise strategies, make up training routines, stuff like that,” Isabella answered smugly.

“Trainers are basically glorified coaches. We all have our different ways of working. Some trainers prefer to work with groups of dragon teams, others think a one-on-one partnership works better. It’s all about finding what works for you as a teacher. I think I prefer working with one person at a time. And I’m almost done with my student time, so soon I’ll get to go on independent study and work with a dragon bond!” Alina finished.

“Any takers yet? ‘Cause I wouldn’t mind working with you.”

A dazed look came into Alina’s blue eyes. “A new team… if I could do a good job with that I might get to graduate early! Then I can really start working!”

“She’s obsessed with this, isn’t she?” I asked rhetorically to Isabella.

“Yep.”

I agree completely.

My gaze fell to the curled armband that circled Isabella’s upper arm. “Is that your dragon?”

         She took off the armband. “Yeah. Cortana.” The snakelike dragon came to life in her hand. He was long and slender, with fine scales and a row of wide spikes along his spine. His eyes were a vibrant orange that even I, as a new dragon bond, could see, like glowing embers.

“He’s beautiful.”

Isabella grinned. “Check this out.”

At an invisible signal, Cortana spun rapidly in an indiscernible dance, and a tongue of flame roared out of his maw, spiraling and twisting in midair and creating elaborate patterns of orange and yellow.

“That’s so cool!”

Amazing! Taiya shouted. That was incredible! Unbelievably beautiful! No words to describe the magic and… ancient power!

She writhed and slithered around my finger, then suddenly took to the air, flying in circles around Alina, Isabella, and me.

Taiya! You fly!

Well, what did you think these wings were for, genius?

Good point.

She landed gracefully on my shoulder. I knew she was imitating Griffen.

“Air dragon,” said Alina. “Nice. Very nice.”

“What?” Taiya remembered something Isabella had said earlier that I missed. Any earth dragon will get toasted.

“Every dragon is connected to one of the elements. They’re all useful in different ways,” Alina explained. “First, there are the four basic elements of nature- air, fire, water, and earth. Then you can lump  them into two categories. Water and earth are what we call the matter elements. They have a more subtle use in battle than the other two- earth and water dragons can’t actually manipulate the elements themselves, not without years of study in some rare exceptions, but they can draw strength and energy from the elements. For example, you’d have a heck of a time trying to tire out a water dragon in a swamp environment, because there’s so much water around that it can get strength from. And then there’s the energy elements- air and fire. They’re considered more volatile, more insubstantial and more easily manipulated. Fire dragons can actually breathe fire and control it in their surroundings. Air dragons use their power to fly, and they have control over the air in some other ways too- they can make it move faster or slower, in any direction they want.”

“But that’s not all,” Isabella cut in. “In rare cases, it’s possible for a dragon to be able to control both water and earth, which we call a matter dragon, or fire and air, which is an energy dragon. But those are exceedingly rare, especially the energy dragons. Actually, there hasn’t been an energy dragon in the Realm in at least two hundred years, if not more.”

“But there is a matter dragon,” Alina said. “Griffen.”

“Griffen is a matter dragon?”

“Yep. They’re slightly more common than the energy dragons, but not by much.”

Is Griffen the only matter dragon alive? Taiya pondered. I echoed the question for Isabella and Alina.

“There’s one other,” Alina answered. “One of the Grandmaster dragons. He’s kind of new, but close to the top already.”

“Now what exactly is so great about the Grandmasters?”

Alina cocked her head, trying to find the perfect answer. “Grandmasters are the elite of the tournaments. They are the masters. It’s the highest honor a dragon team could receive. And it’s not easy to get in. They only get about a half dozen people every five years or so.”

“Because the requirement to join is that you have to defeat a Grandmaster in a fight. It’s nearly impossible most of the time. Grandmasters go through special training in strategy and in refining their personal battle style- at least that’s what everybody says,” Isabella added.

Alina glared at her. “Do you mind?”

Isabella shrugged. “You know me, I’m a showoff.”

“No kidding,” Alina muttered under her breath.

“Well, I gotta go,” Isabella said cheerfully. “Santis had ordered a custom barbecue that I intend to deliver with authority. See you later!” She strutted away into the crowd and vanished into it.

I stared at the place where she disappeared, then turned to Alina. “Are you guys friends or not?”

Alina pondered the question. “We’re friends, but we’re also sort of rivals. We both want to be dragon experts, but we go about it in our own ways- Izzy with her fights and tournaments, and me with being a trainer. And we’re both sure our way is the best. It makes for some pretty interesting arguments sometimes.”

“Oh,” is all I can think to say.

I’m not so sure, Taiya said thoughtfully. I think there’s something going on with them underneath- maybe they don’t even notice it. Their little competitions are just so intense.

Yeah. Something’s off. I guess we wait and see.

“There’s something else I need to show you,” Alina said, pulling on my wrist. She wormed her way through the crowds again, stopping at a large set of double doors and nearly tripping over several pairs of feet. She braced herself against the doors and pushed, but they refused to yield to the pressure.

I grabbed a gilded doorknob and pulled. The oaken entryway opened  like the hinges were oiled an hour ago.

Alina stared straight ahead and marched through the doors.