Gwen pushed herself through the crowd, stepping onto the grounds of the Senior Wing only to freeze in her steps, stunned by the scene ahead of her. Rose and Thorndyke had warned her about the circumstances, but they surely understated the whole scenario.
Dragons of all species; green, red, indigo, white, and even black grouped on the large expanse of the grounds. A few crystal wyverns remained on the coping of the high walls, their large talons digging into the grey bricks.
In the middle of a huge swarm of fire breathers stood a dragon of a peculiar colour. Gwen gasped when she realised that Rose was not bluffing.
The dragon was enormous.
She thought that Rose may be exaggerating the whole situation about the huge dragon that came out of nowhere, but now as she gazed at the monstrous size of the fire breather, she understood what all the hype was about.
The dragon could be considered black in general, however, its scales had a metallic shine to them due to which it looked like it was silver. Nonetheless, she had never heard of such a species before and she could bet on her daggers that her father had never seen it either. The fire-breather was way larger than the size of a normal dragon, and more gorgeous as well.
Suddenly, its striking blue eyes turned to Gwen and it stepped forward. She tried her best to hold her ground, they could smell fear. Ignoring the sudden buzz of energy in her body, she slightly bowed her head in a submissive way, trying to appear harmless.
The legendary creature tilted its head to the left, a predatory move. However, the way the dragon was seated on the ground, with its tail slightly wiggling behind him, the gesture seemed more scrutinizing than threatening. If Gwen didn't know any better, she would say that the creature was curious.
Suddenly, she heard a hustle in the crowd behind her before two figures stopped a few feet away from her.
"Oh Lords," a beautiful middle-aged woman with coin-gold hair gasped as she took in the giant silver fire-breather.
"This can not be possible," the man with salt and pepper hair exclaimed with rounded eyes before another middle-aged man with light brown hair and wrinkles on his still handsome face joined them.
"My son wasn't lying after all," his tone and posture were rather calm as he bowed down to the dragon. "The Legendary Monarch is real."
A beat passed before everyone, humans and dragons alike, bowed their heads to the great creature. Gwen was about to do the same when a voice erupted in her head.
"Don't bow. You'll make us look pitiful."
She jumped at the sudden command and looked around her, trying to spot the owner of the gruff voice.
"You're embarrassing us," a hiss followed before a sudden possibility struck Gwen's thoughts, making her freeze. Slowly, she turned around to find a pair of sparkling blue eyes a mere feet away from her.
Her heart stopped beating for a full second. It could not be possible under any strange circumstances.
"I am entirely aware that my eyes are ravishing to the human species. However, it is the time for you to consider closing your mouth. It is disconcerting before my subjects."
What, pray tell, the fuck?
She was trying to absorb the possibility that she may have heard the voice of a legendary dragon in her head when she felt a sharp tug on her robe, making her lose her footing and fall.
Wincing, she tried to get up but there was a painful pressure on her spine that rendered her motionless.
"When you are told to bow to the Monarch, you bow." Gwen craned her head to look at the man with salt and pepper hair snarling in her face.
A beat passed before the pressure on her spine disappeared and he was pulled away from her body. Wincing, she tried to stand before being helped by a pair of delicate hands.
"Are you okay?" Gwen nodded at Rose's concern. She looked forward to where Thorndyke was snarling at the man.
"What is the meaning of this!" the middle-aged man shouted.
"You were just a second away from being blasted to ashes, Professor Edwigg." His face was painted with barely controlled anger.
"I was just trying to help her—"
"She doesn't need your help, Professor," Thorndyke gritted out and Gwen couldn't understand his need to defend her. "Can't you see? She—" he pointed at her, "—is bonded to that Starshade."
Gwen looked at the dragon who now stood in all its glory and slammed his right talon on the ground, seething at the professor with his narrowed eyes. The man visibly trembled when he gazed back and forth at Gwen and the fire breather, bowing his head while slowly backing away.
"I almost forgot how ignorant your kind can be," he looked back at Gwen who was now frozen in her place. "Stop drooling, or I will be bound to reconsider my decision of choosing you."
She let his words sink in before she gasped, her eyes wide at the sudden realisation, "You bonded with me."
"Your mortal brain works after all."
"But, how can it be possible? How can you—" she gestured towards his height with her hands, "—be possible?"
He took a step towards her, staring deep into her soul as he replied in a thunderous voice, "I am Zyrenkadeauzyr, the successor of Kelebeauzyr and Ruharaneyr. The crowned sovereign and the Legendary Monarch of the Dragons in Great Dale of Vadonar."
The crowd of legends bowed to their Monarch, submissive to his supremacy and strength. The only ones who didn't yield were the Crystal Wyverns and two black dragons at the far end of the ground. It appeared that Zyrenkedazir— or whatever his name was— noticed it as well because he narrowed his eyes at the dragons.
One of them, the larger one, bared his teeth while the other stood upright. She was a female, Gwen realised because she didn't have horns on her frontal head. However, that didn't stop her from narrowing her eyes and looking down at the Monarch of Dragons. To Gwen's surprise, Zyrenkedazir just huffed and turned to look at her again.
"I heard that," he narrowed his eyes, "I neglected the inability of your puny human brain to memorize such crucial details like my name, thence, you may call me Zyre."
"Zyre?"
"Shall I need to repeat myself every time you slobber?"
Gwen shut her mouth almost immediately. Even the dragon seemed to have better manners than her. She could not help but feel worthless. Zyre must have made a mistake.
As if on cue, Zyre growled, "I am not mistaken, Gwendolyn Evegheden. And you shall not think lowly of yourself. As a matter of fact, you are no less than any of these humans who managed to bond with one of us. I chose you as my bond for a reason and I shall not appreciate any self-deprecating thoughts from you."
Gwen looked up at him and noticed how Zyre could effortlessly talk in her head. She couldn't help but wonder if she could do the same as well.
"You can."
"This is insane," she thought.
"And so are you, Chosen One," his reply was almost immediate.
It was too much change of events in a single day. Gwen's tiny brain couldn't work its gears fast enough to process everything that was happening.
She was bonded.
With a dragon.
The Monarch of the Dragons.
She felt like she was about to faint.
"Do not faint just yet. We need to talk."
"You still need to talk?" she thought.
He gave her a face that was as close to a 'side-eye' as a dragon could display, and motioned his head towards his back. Gesturing for Gwen to shut up and hop on so she did just that.
Once she was settled on the naturally-made seat on one of the metallic spikes protruding from his nape, she finally questioned, "Is it always this easy to climb on a dragon's back?"
"Only for our bonded ones."
He spread his enormous wings, the metallic veins shining under the light of the sun as he took his flight up in the air.
Impulsively, Gwen clutched the thorn-shaped spike in front of her in a death grip. However, even as the pressure of the air blinded her, she realised that the force couldn't move her body. It was as if an invisible energy had her permanently seated on Zyre's back.
She still didn't move when Zyre twirled in the air, rendering her upside down before dipping low near the seawater. Slowly, she removed her hands from his spikey scale and stretched her arms above her head. She could feel the air grazing fiercely at every part of her body as she closed her eyes.
Energy hummed inside her body, combined with the thrill of being in the air and so close to the water. For the first time in the past few years, she felt alive.
Judging from the delightful glee she felt from Zyre, it seemed that he was on the same mental boat as well. She tried to live in the moment, drowning out the past years, the past days, the loneliness.
She muted out all the stressed voices in her head and focused on the only thing she had craved to feel for so long; happiness.
She smiled because she was happy.
And she was bonded, at last.