There was a chorus of whispers trailing behind me as I passed the odd student on my way to the Dean's office. It was about a quarter past ten, only two hours from the time I'll be choosing my dragon egg, and the entire population of the school had now heard of the rock splitting ordeal. Breakfast had consisted of eyes glued to the back of my head while they gossiped about what they thought happened and what they think will happen today. It was enough unwanted attention to make anyone feel the need to bury themselves in a hole and never come out.
I was saved from the whispers, or so I thought when I had been escorted from the dining hall to the Dean's office to discuss what had happened at my Choosing Ceremony. I have met the Dean a few times before, mostly at the Milano family gatherings, and he had never seemed to take to me. He has always been pleasant, but he never acted towards me the way he acts towards his precious grandchild Thea. It certainly has not bothered me, but I can only imagine his dislike for me now that I have an ability when Thea does not.
"Come in," I heard a faint mumble from the other side of his office doors. All the doors at the academy were heavy, they took a good amount of effort to push them open. Upon walking in the Dean sat behind a large mahogany desk, his eyes still glued to a letter as I entered. "Well take a seat, we don't have much time," he ordered, not the most welcoming person.
"You called me here to talk about my Choosing Ceremony?" I finally asked. A greeting didn't seem to be on the agenda.
He finally looked up at me, removing his reading glasses in the process. "Yes. The council was up early this morning discussing it." he sat back in his chair. I couldn't read his demeanour which left me anxious. I couldn't tell if he was angry or unsure, or if he was about to break the good or bad news to me. "The truth is Addilyn… we don't really know how to make sense of this whole," he paused, "situation… and what it could possibly mean. This is the first time that this has happened, so we can only wait and see. Although, that being said, the council has decided to put you on a type of probation."
"Probation?" I questioned. It wasn't very reassuring that this conversation was providing me with no real answers at all. I mean, I couldn't blame them for not knowing, but it left me more anxious than I was before.
"Meaning that you will be under close watch by your teachers, the council, and myself. To ensure the safety of the rest of the students," he explained.
His last remark made me nervous. The safety of the rest of the students? He couldn't possibly think that I am going to hurt anyone, all we know right now is that I harbour the ability to tame and ride a dragon. Nothing else.
"Will I still be participating in the choosing of my dragon egg?" I asked, hesitantly.
"Of course, it is mandatory. You cannot postpone the hatching of your dragon when your two souls have been placed on this earth to be met on this day," he was stern with his explanation. "Now you are free to go, you need to get ready before you are late," he ordered, which was his version of goodbye. I had so many more questions to be answered, but at this point, I don't think asking them would actually get me any information. Not wanting to be there any longer and possibly getting onto the topic of Thea, I made my way out on his command, power walking back to my room.
"So how'd it go?" Sloan asked immediately after I closed our door.
"Not good," I threw myself onto my bed. "Do you mind if we talk about something else though?" I begged.
"How about the possible dragons you can pick today?" She asked, a smile beaming on her face.
"How do you know about that?"
"My brother's a dragon rider, or well, now he teaches the new students. But he knows all about them, so I know all about them." I sat up on my bed to face her and nodded my head for her to go ahead and tell me. "Okay! So there are eight different breeds of the Great Dragon species that a human dragon rider has been matched with throughout the history of the Calayan Academy," she walked over to her nightstand and grabbed an old book from its drawer.
"Now, of course, no dragon is the same and each breed varies in small ways, but one of these eight will draw you to it… almost like a magnet." she flipped to the middle of the book, landing on the first of the Great Dragons. "So there is the Acadian Green Dragon, it's the largest of the bunch, although they are excellent at camouflage. Then there is the Chinese Yellow Reaper Dragon, your typical fire breathing dragon that varies from deep yellow scales to bright orange. Next is the Crimean Black Dragon which is fairly small yet their strength makes up for what they lack in size." She pointed to a matte black dragon that almost looked snake-like apart from the wings.
"Now my personal favourite is the Icelandic White Dragon, they are also quite large and their scales tend to resemble the glass-like surface of the ice. Their most prominent feature and fatal weapon are their horns, which would act as an excellent shield for any dragon rider." she skimmed over the page, and I had to admit they were quite extraordinary to the eye. "Now the Scandinavian Blue Dragon is known at the Calayan Academy to be the most desirable for the dragon riders as it is the most dossil of the bunch."
"You mean the most dossil a fire breathing dragon can get?" I joked.
"Yeah, exactly." she laughed. "They actually range in colours as their scales tend to moult with the seasons, and their long snouts make for quite a large mouth which proves to be very useful in any close combat." Sloan then flipped quite a few pages to get to the next dragon. "The Welsh Red Dragons are probably one of the more rare dragons to come across, the females only lay eggs once every few years and the gestation period can sometimes last up to 36 months. On top of those odds, only about 20% of the eggs actually hatch. There has only been one known dragon rider to be matched with a Welsh Red Dragon.."
"Who was it?"
"Lyle Shamus."
"Where is he now?" I asked.
"He died. Rumour has it that his dragon was killed, and he died not too long afterwards," she explained.
"Because his dragon died?"
"We don't know for sure, that's what we all believed, but the council wouldn't reveal any information about it." I furrowed my brows at this. Sloan brushed it off and continued. "Okay, so the last two. The Elwah Brown Dragon, not the pretties on the eyes, but very keen with their hearing. Most dragons rely on sight and smell but the Elwah's face acts as a sound amplifier focusing subtle noises into the dragon's ear canals. And finally the Ligurian Grey Dragon. I know I said the Welsh Dragons were one of the rarer breeds, but the Ligurian dragons take the cake. Not only are they rare but the most biologically different of all the Great Dragons." she explained.
To me, this dragon was the most terrifying looking of the bunch. I was beginning to feel nauseous. Sloan picked up on this. "There is nothing to worry about Dilyn. Your dragon is your dragon, it has been connected to your soul long before you were even placed on this earth. It will be your protector, you should consider yourself lucky."
This calmed me down a bit, not thinking of the dragons as dragons, but rather what is supposed to be my guardian angel. I don't know why I felt so nervous. I knew I belonged here, and the Academy has already felt like more of home to me than Visayas ever did. But the fact that I had so many eyes on me, monitoring me because of the unusualness of my Choosing Ceremony was making me anxious. Just then a loud bell went off, signalling that it was time for the choosing of my dragon egg. My heart still leapt into my throat.
"Well this is it," I cleared my throat.
"Have fun with it Dilyn, this is supposed to be a very exciting moment."