Chapter Text
Four Silver Wings
Being reborn as a large reptile was surprisingly not as bothersome as I had initially presumed upon hatching. Why yes, I was far from the usual comforts of civilization and did not have much in the way of intellectual stimulation at my disposal, but I found that hunting and roasting mountain goats was pretty entertaining occasionally. Or at the very least it was one way to pass the time.
The best thing naturally was flying. To soar high through the cold mountain air, the clouds beneath me and the sun warming my scales... That was a truly magical experience. Total and complete freedom from all earthly responsibilities.
And who could forget the rare conversations with my fellow dragons? Well, they actually are nothing special, but it is kind of nice that I am not the only intelligent member of my species. Everybody I have met on my travels around the huge mountain valley that I now call home is at least as clever as I am, though most are less well spoken. Dragons as a whole don’t seem to be a very philosophical or goal oriented people. They don’t build fortresses, cultivate plants or write books. They only follow the wind and their own desires.
It’s pleasant. Liberating.
But also very, very boring.
I am not made for lazing around endlessly. Every time I hear of the humans that live nearby and whom we are allied with, I get that itch... That desire to see them for myself and learn more about the wider world. I want to know why the gryphons are so desperate to invade our nation, I want to see the human cities and castles and most of all I want to experiment with magic!
It was literally endless potential that we bestowed upon the humans, waiting to be properly exploited and the rest of my kind just ignored it. Madness! There had to be other uses for our riders controlling the weather or transmuting stone into metal than combat applications.
Think of the economy! Scientific advancement could be fuelled by these supernatural abilities, catapulting the entire world into a Golden Age of peace and prosperity! With the power to break reality, the quality of life could surely be raised far above the current status quo... Right?
Now that my lifespan was measured in the hundreds of years I had more than enough time to find out.
Thus on the second anniversary of my rebirth I kindly asked one of the older dragons to take me with them outside the valley. Well, I was more so begging incessantly for them to bring me along to the human bonding ceremony until one of them caved in. Tairneanach must have found my pleading to be amusing, because he was chuckling throughout the whole flight there.
And now here I was, waiting on this dingy mountain for the human cadets to arrive. We are somewhat hidden from view behind a rock outcropping, because technically we aren’t supposed to be here. However Tairneanach does whatever he wants or in this case what I want since I asked so nicely. My big, blue baby eyes evidently work on even a hardened veteran like him.
I want to see the future riders with my own eyes in order to form an opinion on them. I will have to choose a rider that fits my criteria well. While other dragons might look for ambition or fearlessness in their partners, my main interest is the openness of my future colleague; an amenability for change, for breaking the norm and sometimes... the law as well.
I need some who can effectively act as my arms and ears in the human world and carry out my plans. There where I cannot go due to this gigantic, scaly body of mine, my rider will have to venture in hopes of making my political aspirations a reality. From what little I know there are surely structures and organizations in place that could potentially hamper my grand desires. While human legislation has good reason to exist, I doubt they would attribute equal rights and privileges to me despite the origin of my soul.
Ideally that special someone would be of noble birth for the societal influence and physically weak. That way they are going to be more dependent on me to protect them and less likely to rush head-first into danger. It would also be advantageous if they are learned in history, geography, mathematics and other assorted fields to be able to hold a conversation.
Last but not least, they should be polite and attentive to my needs, but that is a given. Tairneanach has made allusions to the fact that impolite riders have a tendency to get turned to ash rather quickly. I cannot say that I approve entirely, yet I am also not one to complain about the fear others will have of me. Respect cannot exist without fear and without the reputation of my kin I would unfortunately not be very frightening.
As a newborn hatchling I am small – though still much bigger than a human – and I am glittering. No really, my scales are actually sparkling. Some have told me that this was just an age thing and that they would dull with time, but the pity in their voices has not given me much certainty for that prediction. I have been born as a silver-gleaming disco ball and if fate is unkind I will remain one for the rest of my existence.
It is rather embarrassing. Who ever heard of a shining silver dragon? No one!
Maybe I could convince my rider to paint my scales black? Purely for tactical reasons of course. It would make tactical ambushes at night much easier if I didn’t reflect the moonlight with thousands of small mirrors.
I absentmindedly paw at the wet ground. How much longer do we have to wait?
Ah, speak of the devil! There they are. The first aspirants are trickling through the gate and they look so tiny. Fragile little things, I could break them with a mere headbutt. Tairneanach’s teeth are longer than many of them are tall! A few of them scream in terror. I can smell another wetting himself at the sight of us. None of them catch my eye at first glance, except maybe that one girl with the weird hair who is nearly keeling over. They are all so squishy; it’s kind of pathetic...
Wow, have two years as a dragon already warped my perception of humanity so much? That is a scary thought.
“Airgid,” rumbles the black dragon who has become my temporary mentor on this excursion. “Now comes the best part.”
I tilt my head in question, but a few seconds later one of the humans breaks off from the group and runs back to the gate only to be incinerated nigh immediately. It’s not much of a spectacle since he doesn’t even get to scream. I click my tongue at the waste of life. He should have known that he would be safest in the middle of the group. None of my brethren would dare to turn an entire new generation of riders to ash, but then again most humans hardly act rationally all the time.
I scan their little faces for their reactions. Shock, horror, disgust and indifference. A few even grin broadly in satisfaction. I make sure to remember their faces. Those are definitely not worthy of my attention. Being a sociopath is fine, but if they can’t even hide their schadenfreude then they will never be more than blunt tools to throw at enemy gryphons. Unrestrained cruelty is not a positive attribute on a recommendation letter.
Their leader is now holding a little speech about how unimportant and fragile they are. It’s not wrong per se, but I nonetheless find it a bit insulting how he portrays us as impulse driven predators. It sounds so... animalistic. Aren’t dragons the same as humans in that we have wants and needs and we work to fulfil them? If they behave reasonably I am sure my fellows would simply ignore them.
And then the introductions are already complete and the humans are herded back to their nest, ehm barracks . I shake my head to clear my head, making uncountable points of reflected sunlight dance across the courtyard. Annoying.
Tairneanach laughs loudly and I instinctively hiss at him.
The flight back is also going to be very annoying.
♱༺❦༻♱
A few months later and it is finally time for the inspection which proceeds the Threshing. A needlessly antagonistic title in my opinion. Sure, a few idiots are going to get maimed or killed perhaps if they break the rules and insult one of the more temperamental dragons (mostly the blue ones), but shouldn’t it be a day of celebration for all of those who make it? At least that would be how I would present it to my students if I were a military instructor. Good PR management is invaluable. You always want to keep morale up and the soldiers proud of their institution and by extension, their homeland. Otherwise what was stopping them from deserting or dropping out?
I think our two species as a whole could stand to benefit from a more open and involved communication. To my brethren talking to an unbonded human appears like wasting words on an ant. To the humans it would probably seem like whispering into the ear of a hungry tiger. Thus both parties only exchange information that they deem absolutely necessary. It’s frustrating and inefficient. Two departments in the same corporations should work together to maximize profit. That was just common sense! Transport and logistics couldn’t ignore the market research team and vice versa.
For the prosperity of all there had to be a better solution.
Or at least that was what I was thinking before these stupid humans started insulting me. As the parade of fresh recruits marches by, some laugh about my colour or my size and one even floats the idea to kill me to his friends.
What. The. Hell.
Are these morons suicidal? They very well know that I can hear them. They even joke about it!
Should I teach them a lesson? My fire is not as hot as an adult’s, but that would only prolong their suffering for a few seconds. No, I don’t want to kill people over something so simple. Nonetheless, their disrespect cannot stand. I must teach them the error of their behaviour before it infects the rest of the batch with fatal unruliness.
I step forward and gracefully hold up my front leg, stopping the loudest idiot with my claw to his chest. My steaming breath hits his face and suddenly he looks far less sure of himself, his arrogant smirk nowhere to be seen.
I look deeply in his eyes and find only disappointment. This is a weak man. And like weak grass is wont to do, it will spring back up if pushed down. He needs a more permanent reminder of his folly.
So I carefully reach out with my claw and poke out his left eye.
He falls to the ground screaming in pain, holding his destroyed eye sockets as it leaks blood and vitreous humour all over his face. Others around him curse and back off.
They see this for the kindness it really is. Losing one eye is not the end of the world. He will live to learn from his mistakes unlike many in his position before him. Still, for optimum effect I turn my attention to his friends. A long gaze will hopefully be all that is necessary to make them remember this event for rest of their careers. Everybody deserves a second chance like that.
Satisfied with my peaceful conflict resolution, I turn around and trot back to my place among the dragons. The green one next to me inclines his serpentine neck and huffs out an approving cloud of steam. He understands what I did. I nod back. The children of Uaineloidsig were always my favourite conversation partners. Of all the dragon families, the green ones are most thoughtful.
Tairneanach merely grins. Without my insistence he wouldn’t be here today and now that I have delivered him some quality entertainment his mood has improved.
Glancing back at the parade it seems the green one has taken an interest in the weak looking girl I already noticed at the first inspection. She is the only one helping the one-eyed fool, bandaging his wound. The girl wisely stops her medical treatment and gives her full attention to the green one. She is whispering something to him as he smells her and I wonder what he has found.
I am too far away to hear their exchange, but I notice her peculiar hair colour. Brown with silver tips? That can’t be natural. However I also don’t notice any chemical stench that would indicate an artificial colouring. Hmmm... For some reason I feel like this would be worth investigating. Could this be an effect of magic at work?
♱༺❦༻♱
After a lengthy chat with the green one, whose name I have learned is Adhbhar, I have come to a dreadful realization:
The girl is a threat.
In my previous life I was never a fan of silly diversions like ‘manga’ or ‘anime’, but she has a classic case of ‘protagonist hair’ if I have ever seen one.
On its own that is nothing damning, but I have learned that she also possesses a special piece of dragon scale armour, despite being a first year as a dragon rider. Alright, that is also explainable by her sister being a rider as well.
But then I learned that she has a particular, unexplainable disease that makes physical work-out very difficult and she started training only nine months ago!? That goes too far. I can basically smell the influence of the foul being that sent me here; Being X!
Special gear, a special illness and special hair?
Yep. She is definitely a main character. No normal human holds so much attention from the fates. And what tends to happen to people near such a figure? They get in trouble. Best to nip this threat in the bud before it can even get started.
On the day of the Threshing I approach the girl and without warning breathe fire on her.
She cries out in agony as the flames consume her, but I don’t let up until she is reduced to a pile of ash on the muddy ground. Only her dragon scale armour has survived the heat mostly intact.
Ah, a burden has been lifted off my shoulders. A powerful threat to this world has just been eliminated. This feels good.
Whistling happily, I go looking for a rider.