“Bro come on! You need to run faster than that!”
“Well, if you hadn’t released those bats in the hall during assembly then I wouldn’t have to run at all!”
“Oh come on, those assholes deserve it and you know it.”
“However true that may be, why did you have to drag me into this?”
“Because you’re my best friend and my problems are your problems.”
“Then I guess you better make sure we don’t get caught!”
Two teens are currently running for their lives. Dodging people in the crowd so they can escape the Steorra Guardsmen currently hot on their tail. The younger of the two decided it would be fun to release a bunch of bats in the assembly hall of their school instead of actually attending it like his friend had suggested. And it went exactly as he hoped it would. Bats flying everywhere, students screaming, and the teachers frantically running around the hall trying to control the chaos. They knew immediately who was behind this prank. Once they spotted him at the doors on the ground rolling from laughter, they sent the guards after him. He grabbed his friend’s arm, who had been standing next to him with his mouth gaping open and sprinted out of the hall. Now they are both currently trying to lose those guards and avoid the inevitable punishment.
“Why can’t you for once just behave! Maybe then I could get through a school year without helping you clean up a prank and receiving a heart attack in the same day.”
“Where’s your sense of humor! You know those teachers treat us like we are obedient little slaves. We spend more time doing manual labor for them than we do in the actual classroom!”
“Yes Soren, I know. But we are only a few weeks from graduating. Then we can both go to the Steorra Guard, train with our Ajaiyi and get that life of adventure we’ve always wanted. But if you keep acting like this, they’ll never even let you set foot onto the training ground for bootcamp!”
Soren looks at his friend with his emerald green eyes, his light brown hair flowing in the wind as he runs. “They’ll let me in Zeph. How can they not when I have Rayzil? Hard right!” The two boys take a harsh turn down an alley, never slowing down. As Soren gives directions, Zeph continues his lecture. “Well, I hope you know they won’t let this kind of attitude slide once we are in. You’ll have to learn to follow orders.” With one more turn, they come face to face with a stone wall. Zeph turns and smacks Soren on the arm as he says, “Oh fantastic directions there man, are you trying to get us caught?” “I know exactly what I’m doing, follow me.” Soren starts to climb a ladder that leads to the roof and Zeph groans as he follows him. Once they make it to the flat roof Soren lays down panting and Zeph sits down and looks at his friend with his golden eyes, his black hair still in its swept back state. “I told you I’d get us away” Soren says smugly. When they think they’ve finally gotten away, they hear a loud screech, and Soren sits up quickly looking for what made that sound. In the distance, flying quickly towards them is a massive eagle. It’s big enough to pick both up, one in each claw. The large bird has feathers of various shades of brown, with a black beak that can easily kill. But those talons were the real weapons. But what really stuck out was the breast collar, with a gold star pressed into the leather. The star representing the rank of an Admiral. Soren jumps to his feet “Oh, shit it’s an Admiral’s Quilstream!” Zeph turns to yell at Soren “You just had to jinx it!”
“They’ve never gone this far to try and get us before!”
“Just shut up and run!”
If they had sent a Admiral after them, they knew they were in a different kind of trouble this time. They ran and jumped from roof to roof in an attempt to outrun the Quilstream. Soren then noticed they were running out of buildings. But he knew where they were and what waited at the bottom. “Hey! At that roof drop down!” Soren shouts at his friend. “What!? Are you crazy!? We’ll break both of our legs!” Zeph retaliates. “Just trust me!” “Because that’s worked out well for us so far!” “Just do it!” When they make it to the end of the roof, they both drop and the Quilstream soars overhead just missing the two. They land on a cloth overhang, and it breaks but slowed their fall dramatically. They sit up and start laughing. That laughter is quickly silenced when they look in front of them and see several Steorra Guards and the Admiral, his Quilstream landing on the building behind him. “Oh, we are so fucked” Soren says with a sigh.
The boys are brought back to the school, where they see the principal and both of their parents at the doors of the assembly hall. Soren’s parents look at him with disappointment, a gaze he has gotten used to. But it was a look he would take any day over the one Zeph was receiving from his dad. Once they reach the front the principle immediately lays into them. “Do you have any idea the kind of mess you have made today, Soren Skymark? No, I seriously doubt you do or that you even care!” He was right about that, Soren didn’t care. The teachers didn’t care about them so why should he. “And you Zephares! Why do you continue to get wrapped in his escapades? If you keep following him, it will do nothing but bring you down! You will be a great soldier of the Steorra Guard one day, maybe even become an Aurorite but if you continue to associate with a delinquent like him then you’ll be seen as nothing but a joke.” Soren was used to being talked about as such. But there’s nothing these people could say about him that would make him feel like it was true. Once he graduated and became a soldier of the Steorra Guard, he’d never have to hear from them again. Bootcamp was in the Capital. His hometown, Prodon, was one of the smaller towns, even though he’d lived here for all 17 years of his life, he couldn’t wait to leave. “You two will receive monitored extra hours next week to make up for the disruption you caused.” The principal then walks off to the main building to do who knows what.
“Wait that’s it? I figured since we had a Admiral’s Ajaiyi after us this might be the day we actually get jail time-OW! Dude what the hell!” Zeph looks at his moron of a best friend after smashing his foot and says, “If you keep yammering like that, they may actually change their mind.” Soren just glares at him, but he listens, not willing to test if he may be right. “You’ve got a smart friend here. It would be wise to listen to him, but they didn’t send me after you. I happened to be in the area on business and Palio wanted to have some fun.” Soren and Zeph turn around, barely having to look up, to see the Admiral still standing there in his navy-blue leather uniform, the gold star on his chest symbolizing his rank. “Well looks like you need to spend more time training Palio, considering he didn’t even catch us-HEY!” Zeph punches his arm again and if looks could kill, Soren would be very much dead. The Admiral lets out a subtle laugh. The two boys looking at him like he’s lost his mind, after all, Soren just insulted him and his Ajaiyi. “If he wanted to catch you, you wouldn’t have made it to the next roof. He was herding you towards me.” Zeph just looks at Soren with a smirk, and Soren returns it with a glare and a soft ‘shut up’. “Anyways, my business is done here. I must return to the Capital. Stay out of trouble, I’ll be waiting for you two at bootcamp. We need more soldiers with guts like you. Besides, I think your parents are wanting to speak with the both of you.” The Admiral turns around and walks away, the boys standing in awe at what he just said. But then reality hits, and they both turn around to look at their parents.
Soren gazes at them and gives them a crooked smile. “Hey mom, hey dad. How’s it hanging?” Bad move. “How’s it hanging? That’s what you have to say after we get a knock on our door saying you interrupted yet another assembly? Soren, when will you quit this nonsense and start following the rules? Did I raise you to do this, is this my fault? At what point in raising you did I say it was ok to act like this? What if they don’t let you go to the Steorra Guard because of your actions, what will you do then?” His mother, Eloise, looking at him with tears in her eyes, worried that he will ruin his future. “Mom, you know how this place treats us, why should they deserve any of my respect?” She sighs, slowly calming down “I know sweetheart, if you ever want to show them how incredible you are, you need to stop this. Or you’ll never get your chance to go to the Capital.” Soren’s father, James, decides to step in “Your mother is right son. With Rayzil at your side you are both destined for incredible things. You and Zeph have twin Dragons. The first to come to our world in 200 years. There is a reason these things are happening. Something is going to happen. I’m just not sure what.” Soren looks over at his best friend, who is receiving his own lecture from his parents. Unlike Soren’s mom, both of Zeph’s parents are Veisha. Neither have incredibly powerful Ajaiyi, but Soren wouldn’t mess with either of them. His own dad being a Veisha and being trained by him, he knows they all have their own strengths. His dad’s Ajaiyi, Kellan, was a large blue-grey wolf with 4 eyes, one over the other, with spikes that are around his ears and head. He’s no Dragon, that’s for sure. But when Rayzil was young, Kellan put her on her ass plenty of times. “I wish more people saw it that way dad, but to some, it doesn’t matter who you’re bonded too.” Soren looks at the ground, his mind starts to wander. Most days he has no care for what people say about him, but that doesn’t mean it was always like that. When he was 13, he got to experience this “school” for the first time. Every day, the teachers never showed any kindness. Work, work, work, that was all they made the students do. Especially those with an Ajaiyi. In a way they were the luckiest ones though. Because they had someone to share these hardships with. There were days that Rayzil was the only reason he didn’t run away or do something worse. But Aleen kids weren’t so lucky. Aleen did not have an Ajaiyi. So, they had to deal with it alone.
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Zephares was different though. He always did what the teachers told him without question. That’s why he was their favorite. Emphasis on was. Because when he met Soren, things changed. He would get tangled up in Soren’s pranks, and on a rare occasion, be the reason for said pranks. But the closer they get to graduation, the old Zephares started to show. His dream of being in the Steorra Guard was so close he could taste it, and nothing would stop him from making it. With parents like his, Soren wasn’t surprised with the way Zeph acted. His dad’s Ajaiyi was similar to Kellan, just smaller, coming up to his dad’s hip and he had no fur. Instead, he had scales and a thicker muzzle with more teeth, a creature called a Thaoren, and his name was Draven. The two are personal guards to the royal family. Which means seeing his dad in town was rare, but he’d been here the past few weeks to help Zeph prepare for bootcamp. Zeph’s mom is also lucky enough to be a Veisha. She has a small bird, an Aopir, and her name is Lyra. Her Aopir has dark blue and green feathers, with 3 longer tail feathers. They work with the postal services. Lyra travels to the Capital often due to their incredibly long bonding distance. It’s unusual, but not unheard of so no one questions it. Zeph was lucky to have two parents as a Veisha. Not that Soren felt anything less about his mother because she was an Aleen, it just gave Zephares a bit of an advantage over him.
Soren sees movement out of the corner of his eye and notices Zeph making his way over. “I have to go get Nercostes and make my way back home. I’ll see you around and please, let’s try to stay out of trouble from now on, Ok?” Zephares looks at him with pleading eyes, Soren can tell he’s reaching the end of his rope when it comes to his antics. Soren smiles and responds “It really depends on how those so-called teachers act these next few weeks but, maybe it is time for me to act better. I can see it now; we’ll be the top of the class when we graduate bootcamp. We’ll be so good they’ll want to make us Aurorites immediately.” Zephares laughs and shakes his head. “We haven’t even graduated from school and you’re already thinking about a graduation that’s 2 years away. Well, I’ll see you around Soren.” Zephares walks away with his parents towards the back end of the property, where there is a large barn-like building. For the large Ajaiyi, they have to wait for their Veisha in the barn for the day. None were fans of this but these schools would be three times the size if they made each room big enough for students and their large Ajaiyi.
Soren looks back at his parents, his mother still rambling about where she went wrong, when a small roar is heard. Before Soren could blink, a white and gold blur tackles him to the ground. After rolling for a few yards, he opens his eyes and sees big golden ones looking back at him. Rayzil has him pinned under one of her large feet, not putting enough pressure on him to hurt, but enough to keep him in place. Soren glares at her and tries to shove her off of him, but of course she doesn’t move. “Soren you know it’s pointless, you lost once I was able to meet your eye level and I’ve been past that size for a while now.” She was right, she was able to stare into his eyes when he was 14. That was three years ago, she was now the size of a large draft horse. Everything about her has changed. Her golden underbelly now much brighter and the golden horns on her head much larger than when she was young. “Yeah yeah, so would you mind getting your large paw off of me? And why are you out of the barn, you know you can’t come out till I come get you. It’s a big rule here.” Soren retaliates. “I have claws Soren; not paws I’m not a dog. And since when have you ever been a rule follower. I’ve been out all day, you know how much I hate being there. It’s so cramped.” They’ve had this conversation before. Most of the time her brother, Nercostes, can keep her inside. But like today, she managed to get out and did who knows what. I guess that’s why they work together so well. Neither of them likes to follow the rules, especially those from people that don’t deserve to be followed. Soren then turns to his parents, “Hey dad, do you mind if Rayzil and I fly around for a little while? Just want to practice some maneuvers.” “Of course, son. Just be home before it’s dark out.” They both knew they weren’t going to practice flying maneuvers; he just needed a moment with Rayzil. Soren grabs onto a spine on her neck, swings himself onto Rayzil’s back and she takes off.
Rayzil climbs until she is above the clouds and glides on the air. Soren looks out at the sky now turning a shade of orange as the sun sets. After a few minutes of silence, Rayzil speaks. “So, what is the real reason you wanted to go for a fly, not that I’m complaining. I’ll always fly with you. But I can feel your distress Soren.” Soren thinks for a moment before he talks “Do you think we are destined for greatness Rayzil? Or will I just keep messing things up.” Rayzil flinches slightly wondering where this came from. “Woah, that’s a big question. Do I believe in destiny? No, I don’t. I don’t want to believe that there’s some divine being that has all of our futures written out for us already. That would make life pointless, like we are just someone’s plaything.” Rayzil’s voice softens as she talks to Soren “But I do believe that together we can accomplish great things. Because I know who you are. You care about others to a point where you’ll take the fall for someone else, even when you have nothing to do with it. How many times did I have to step in when you were trying to protect some kid from a bully? We are a team, whatever happens in our future, we will do it together.” Soren sits there and thinks about everything she just said. It was true, they did nearly everything together. When he first went to the Prismalith, he was scared. Scared about what he was going to see, what he would do once he crossed. But mostly he was scared he wouldn’t bond. All he wanted was a best friend, someone that would be by his side and have adventures with. He saw his mom’s envy towards his dad and Kellan. She would never admit it, but when she was home alone, making dresses, she was lonely. Soren didn’t want that. So, when Soren pressed his hand to the Prismalith and he found himself in a black void, the loneliness hit. But once he heard Rayzil’s voice, answered her question and looked into her eyes for the first time, he knew he would never be alone again. Coming back to reality, Soren snickers, “When did you become so wise Rayzil?” She groans and shakes her head “Ugh, Nercostes must be rubbing off on me. Quick, we need to cause some trouble before I lose all sense of what fun is.” Soren laughs and leans forward to give some heavy pats to her neck.
“Well since we are up here, do you want to practice some of those maneuvers I told my dad we were doing?”
“You sure Soren? If you mess up Zeph isn’t here to save your butt.”
“Why do you assume I’m going to be the one to mess up. Besides you’ve got my back.”
“Because you tend to try to change the maneuver and fail miserably doing so. But you’re right. I’ve got your back.”
Soren shakes his head at her jest, he knows he can be reckless with her because she’d never let anything happen to him. So, they spent the next couple hours doing barrel rolls and nose dives. Only when the sun was nearly gone did they return home.
