Callum was walking through the village up towards the hill where he had fought Firrol. He was deep in thought, considering the rest of his life moving forward. Deep down he always knew it was possible that he wouldn't be chosen but he always felt as though being a rider was what he was born to do, now he felt lost. As he neared the tree line he could hear Wenrys voice calling out to him.
"Callum, wait up!" Wenrys was running towards Callum and he couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous he looked, running like a mad man waving his arms and shouting."
"Where are you headed?" Wenrys asked while trying to catch his breath. "Just up the hill to the livestock field, I could use some quiet." Callum replied. Wenrys looked slightly concerned, as though he thought he had done something wrong. "Oh, well is it ok if I join you?" Callum had a sudden realization that he wasn't the only one who might be hurting right now and a feeling of guilt crept over him. "I would like that, I'm glad you are here." Callum smiled at Wenrys as they finished their walk up the hill.
When they arrived at their destination they sat down on a soft patch of grass and stared out at the livestock for a few minutes before Callum broke the silence. "I am sorry Wenrys, I got caught up in how I was feeling and did not consider how you were doing. We both got disappointed tonight and I wasn't there for you." He was staring down at his boots as he spoke. "Don't worry about it, I am genuinely ok with it, I always knew it would be a long shot for me to become a rider. You however, I never thought it would be possible for you to not be chosen, I knew deep in my heart that you would be, I don't understand what happened."
"Well thanks for having faith in me." Callum said with a smile but before either could say anything else, the animals began to scatter.
The boys stood up in a moment of confusion, trying to process the situation when a massive shadow passed quickly overhead and vanished into the forest at the edge of the field.
"What the hell was that?!" Callum said as panic started to set in. Both boys drew their swords and faced the trees. "Do you think it was a dragon? Maybe Varyn is coming to check on us." Wenrys said halfway trying to convince himself. "I don't think so, remember earlier when the dragons flew by? It sounded like thunder and they were still far away from us, whatever that was, flew straight over our heads and didn't make a sound.
The boys stared at the trees, not knowing what to do, frozen with fear. Slowly they could make out a shape moving through the trees coming towards them, like a silent predator ready to strike. The animals were long gone and Callum was wondering why they were still standing there, right as a pair of glowing red eyes could be seen in the darkness.
"Wenrys run, go get the riders. Go now!" Callum shouted his adrenaline was pumping and he could feel his body steadying itself, ready to fight whatever was coming towards them. "No, I'm not leaving you here to fight that, that thing by yourself. If we're going to die then we will day fighting." At that moment a massive creature stepped out into the open, Callum caught a glimpse of the dark purple scales and he knew instantly what it was, he began running towards it.
"Whew, ok this is happening, you can do this Wenrys." Wenrys thought to himself as he raised his sword above his head and began running after Callum. "Dieeee you drakal bastard, ahhhh!" He screamed, ready for the fight of his life.
As Callum neared the creature he saw a dark figure drop to the ground swiftly and silently and placed something on the ground. As Callum got within arms reach he dropped his sword spread his arms and grabbed the figure as tightly as he could and he could feel the tears welling up in his eyes. Wenrys stopped in his tracks, not having any clue of what was happening. "It must have some sort of mind control." He thought to himself as he considered his next move.
"Hello little brother." Came a sweet musical voice.
"I am so glad you made it, I was having the worst day of my life Lyara. I've missed you more than you know." Callum said through tears as his head was buried in his sisters shoulder. Behind her, her dark purple dragon hummed, a strange sound from deep in its throat. "Oh come on now, did you think I would miss seeing you become a rider?" Lyara said finally stepping back to look at her brother.
"You've grown quite a bit in the last five years, you look completely different from the skinny boy you were when I left, now you look like you could handle yourself in a fight. Speaking of, what's with the arm?"
"Long story." Callum laughed as he picked up his sword and placed to back in its scabbard. He finally got a good look at his sister. She was taller than he remembered but still slightly shorter than him, she was in better shape than the last time he saw her, as expected of a rider. Her brown hair was pulled back in a knot. Her facial features were sharper than he remembered but he didn't think much of it. But her armor was definitely out of place from what he was used to seeing. She wore purple armor slightly lighter than her dragons scales, over the same black leather like under suit that Varyn wore, her armor however was of a different type altogether. She wore sharp streamlined shoulder pauldrons, a chest piece covering her torso. The plates that covered her body were overlapped and moved when she did, Callum believed that the armor would not restrict her movement at all. There were similar plates covering her thighs and shins.
"Unfortunately, you won't get to see me become a rider. I wasn't chosen, Firrol and Raela were." Callum said while staring at the dragon behind his sister. "Oh, that's right," Lyara said in an excited voice, "It's been a while since you met. Allow me to reintroduce you, this is Aurelia." The dragon leaned its massive head down until one large slitted eyeball was staring right at Callum. She blinked once, her scales making a clicking sound like rocks striking each other, and then nudged Callum's forehead with her snout. "Glad to meet you, mighty dragon." Callum said through a wide grin as he bowed to the beautiful being in front of him.
Just then Wenrys had caught up to them, as Callum turned he saw Wenrys staring with his jaw wide open, not moving. "It's ok, it's just Lyara and Aurelia, they came for the hatching." But Wenrys remained unmoved, staring at a spot in between Aurelias massive claws. Callum followed his gaze and what he saw made him freeze as well.
There, lying on the grass was a dark orange dragon egg, it was iridescent, like Raela's egg and shifted many different shades from light orange to a fiery red-orange. It reminded Callum of the sunset he had seen earlier in the night. He found himself drawn to it, unable to take his eyes off of it, and for a moment, he thought he could feel a strange energy in the air.
Lyara looked at her brother, she could feel the same energy, she perked up, and started bouncing on her toes. "Oh yeah! I thought this might be the case." She said in an excited voice. "Well boys, we might be breaking some traditions tonight." Her laughing echoing through the trees, as Aurelia let out a snarky growl.