Okay STORY TIME I bet you wonder what happened to Maverick and Quinn's family... Well, they lived in the only green area left in North America. Their mother had a natural knack for growing things, which was what kept their village alive The Sinclairs were a large family, but Maverick was the oldest. They were all very close and shared a tight bond. Then when Maverick was thirteen and Quinn was six (in the current story she would have turned nine), the aliens raided the village with their leviathan... searching for sex slaves Maverick had taken Quinn out to go picking blackberries when it happened. When they came back, everything was in chaos with the aliens and leviathan Maverick rushed home to find his father and brothers dead, and his mother and other sisters missing He ordered Quinn to hide in the secret cellar, took his father's sword, and went looking for the rest of his family Long story short, he had to watch his mother die and his sisters hauled off He went back to Quinn to get her out of there. They were free for a few days before they were captured and taken to the death camp This all shows how strong Maverick is, from what you've seen of him, right?
Quinn had been so excited by the sudden turn of events, it had almost been impossible to calm her down. It was a struggle to get her to eat breakfast and then settle enough to ride Luna for the rest of the day. But thankfully, Maverick had a lot of control over his little sister, and without him we never would have been able to take off.
But the entire time, at the back of my mind, was what this meant. I wasn't the only good Rider anymore. And this new dragon was male—a potential mate for Luna in the future to save the dragons. The reproduction side of things wasn't my favorite thing to think about—as a Rider, whenever Luna rose to mate, her feelings transferred to me. And that would happen to Maverick too, in the future, along with any other Dragon Rider out there.
Somehow, I could remember that in the past that it was considered a rite of passage for young Riders to have their first time at the same time as their dragon. But I was pretty sure I never did that. I wasn't into that kind of thing. I would rather fall in love and get married first before I even thought of that.
Osiris is still very young, Luna grumbled. It's going to be a very long time before he reaches maturity, and I will rise before that.
I know! I don't even want that to happen! I was just thinking about how we have a little more hope now.
“Zelda! Aren't you going to tell me now?!” Maverick yelled over the roar of the wind.
Oh yeah, whups. “Yeah, but I'll do it telepathically because it's too hard to talk over the wind!”
“Aw, I wanted to hear it too!” Quinn whined.
Okay. So, you're a Dragon Rider now. There's a lot to teach you, so I'll just tell you the basics now. Some of it doesn't apply to you yet. First, as I already mentioned, your soul is now fused with Osiris's. That means several things. You can communicate telepathically. You can sense each others' emotions. You can sustain the same injuries if hurt by a magically tampered weapon. And... if one of you dies... does the other.
None of that sounded like a very good thing, did it?
The good parts of it is that you will become faster, stronger, and have heightened senses, I continued. Plus, you will gain the same powers as Osiris. It's not magic like some people think it is, because no spells are involved. It's a natural part of the bond. Magic is evil, but I don't think we'll have to deal with it since our enemies are aliens.
Since Maverick had just bonded with Osiris, he could not communicate back to me with his mind. It was a shame though, because I really wanted to know what he thought about all of this. Hopefully Osiris would grow quickly.
Another not so fortunate part of the bond is the fact that our bodies are synched with our dragons'. It doesn't affect you as much since you're a guy, but you'll have to deal with some... unpleasant moments because of Osiris. Male dragons go through monthly cycles, y'see. Eventually they hit a spike of testosterone—which makes them absolutely reek, and it's disgusting—and that's the best time for them to mate. But it makes them really aggressive and hostile and just nasty in general. And that will rub off on you. But you won't have to deal with it for a while 'cause Osiris is just a baby!
I found that incredibly ironic since with humans, it was the females that went though cycles. And thanks to Luna, I barely had to deal with that. Female dragons only rise to mate once a year, and if I didn't become pregnant then, I would have my period. But for the rest of the year, I had natural birth control. Though it really was not needed. Anyways, every female Rider had that. The men were the ones who had to put up with the crap.
I wondered how Maverick felt about that.
That's it, really. Other things can wait. Those are the basics of being a Rider, Mav! We'll begin training at the city, okay?
* ~ * ~ *
Just like I said, we got to the city in a day. But as soon as I saw it, I knew we were going to have a problem.
Luna pulled to a stop, flapping her wings to keep us hovering in place. I couldn't help but gasp at the impressive sight. The gray walls were huge, looming above the ground at one thousand feet, dwarfing Luna. But we couldn't see inside, because on top of the walls was another wall—the city was actually encased in a dome. And looking below, at the leviathan gathered at the walls, I could understand why.
I had Luna circle the dome, and we scouted out several gates. The dome was huge, and I could definitely see a civilization living in there. It had plenty of room for Luna, and maybe even a few other dragons. But, I had to wonder... How in the world did they build this thing without the help of dragons? It seemed to be an impossible feat.
“So, how are we going to get in?!” Maverick shouted to me.
Luna stopped at the sight of a free gate. There wasn't a single leviathan in view. I was still a little wary, but a leviathan wouldn't be too hard to handle if one showed up. I mean, Luna and I had taken out four together already. As long as Maverick and Quinn didn't get in the way, we would be fine.
“There!” I exclaimed, pointing to the gate. “It looks safe!”
“I'm so excited!” Quinn cried with glee. “Big sis, can we live here?!”
I started. She just... called me... her big sister. I... didn't know how to react to that. Did Quinn really consider me part of her family now?
I looked back at her and smiled. “We'll stay as long as we can! And we'll have lots of fun! I promise!”
A bright, joyful smile beamed across her face. “I'm going to eat until I burst!”
That made all of us laugh—even Maverick.
Luna tucked in her wings, diving towards the ground so we could land. She unfurled her wings once we were close enough to the dirt covered ground, and touched down elegantly, only making us lurch slightly. We had landed a while away from the gate, so we had a ways to walk. But that was good, since we were all stiff from the long flight. I got down first, then helped Quinn, and lastly Maverick slid off with Osiris perched on his shoulder. We all stretched our sore muscles.
I looked up at the sky; the sun was setting beautifully. “It's almost night. Let's go, guys!”
Quinn giggled, scampering ahead a little. “I wonder what it's like inside!”
“I imagine it's very beautiful,” said Maverick, and Osiris squawked in agreement. “With lots of food and clean water.”
“I hope they have a playground!” she exclaimed, snagging her brother's hand. “I haven't played on one in years! Since the one in our town was destroyed...”
I adjusted the sheath's strap over my torso, watching then quietly. Luna stayed behind slightly, giving us room since she was so much larger than us. And once again, I couldn't help but wonder what the Sinclairs had gone through...
“Big sis? Aren't you coming?” Quinn had stopped, and was not looking back at me.
I started once again; I would have to get used to her calling me that.
Smiling, I nodded. “Yeah!”
Luna stayed where she was as I headed over to them, picking up my pace so they wouldn't have to wait too long. But then everything happened so fast, it was like it was in slow motion.
I smelled death, and heard a deep, guttural growl. But before I could even react, something exploded out of the dirt. I heard Quinn scream bloody murder. It all happened so fast—or so slow—because I was still taking a step forward towards my friends. Then I felt something clamp down on my left leg.
“ZELDA!!!” Quinn shrieked.
Pain seared through my leg, and I couldn't hold back the scream of agony building in my throat as I was yanked up off the ground. I could feel blood running down my mutilated leg as it throbbed painfully. I could smell the rancid odor of the leviathan, and could feel its hot breath surrounding my body. I could its wrinkly, dark brown skin—the color of the dirt. I could barely think through the pain, but I knew one thing.
I was going to die.
Something jumped on the monster—Luna—but it easily threw her off its back. Somehow, I could still sense that she landed on her back, and skidded back several feet. This leviathan was different from the others—it was stronger.
“Run!” I managed to choke out. “Get to the gate!”
I heard Maverick snap at his sister, trying to yank her back, to get her moving. But she probably was frozen like a deer in headlights, shocked senseless by what she was seeing. If they didn't get to the gate-
The leviathan snarled, and threw me aside. I flew through the air, my blood flinging everywhere. I hit the ground, gasping in pain as my battered body was jostled, tumbling until I was laying flat on my stomach, paralyzed by the anguish pulsing through my leg. But I could feel Luna getting back up.
We... have to... help them... Luna groaned out; she had been hurt too.
I looked up to see the monstrous leviathan—it was gigantic, the largest I had ever seen, being four times the size of Luna—lunging at my fleeing friends with inhuman speed. I slid my hand up in front of me, and then my other, trying to push myself back up, only to collapse back down into the dirt. I reached back for the sword.
“No!” Quinn screamed, suddenly tripping over herself only a few feet from the gate that had somehow been opened, her hand slipping out of her brother's. “Big bro!”
“QUINN!!!” Maverick screamed, leaping forward to get her back, but it was too late.
The leviathan reached her, skidding to a halt on its clawed club feet. It snatched her up in its meaty paws, and her screaming was deafening. It opened its gaping, fanged jaws, saliva dripping down on the girl. I managed to get the sword out of its sheath, shoving the blade into the ground in front of me.
Just... a little... longer...!
Quinn was sobbing. “Big bro...! Big sis...!”
I jerked up my good leg, heaving myself up with the help of the sword. Luna took to the air, slamming back into the leviathan, but it didn't budge an inch. The dragon's fangs glanced off its tough hide, rendering her powerless against it. She tried using her fire against it, but it was just as useless. The leviathan jutted back with its elbow, hitting Luna right in the chest, knocking her off once again like she was just a pesky fly.
With one last scream, Quinn was snapped up by the leviathan, blood spraying everywhere.
“NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!” I screamed, finally managing to fully stand up.
Maverick just stood there in shock, his eyes wide with horror. The leviathan grunted, licking the blood off its fangs, gums, and thin lips. Something was dangling from one of its teeth. The monster lumbered forward, ready to make my last remaining friend its meal now too
“NO!” I cried again, finally realizing tears were streaming down my face. “LUNA!”
She dissolved into the air, materializing above me to carefully pick me up in her claws. Pulling me up off the ground, she flew up above the monster, who only glanced up at us briefly with its beady red eyes. Luna didn't need me to tell her what to do; she already knew. She released me, and I dropped down on the base of the leviathan's neck. I cried out in pain as my injured leg was jostled, but then I steeled myself, raised the sword, and sunk the blade into the monster's neck. I did it just in time—it had been about to clamp down on Maverick. The leviathan didn't make a sound; it just shuddered, green blood oozing out of the hole in its neck before collapsing, dead.
I realized I was panting, and my whole body felt like it was on fire. I leaned up against the sword, sweat and blood dribbling down the sides of my face. I had been crying silently before, but now my body was wracked with sobs. I felt so weak and powerless; I hadn't been able to protect all my friends...
Q-Quinn... She was dead.
Because of me. Because I hadn't been able to protect her. I had failed. I had broken my promise. I could feel Luna's anguish, but I was sure that Maverick had to hate me now.
I heard footsteps rushing out towards us—soldiers from the city maybe? I couldn't make my body budge now, so I couldn't look. With all the adrenaline gone, my body hurt even more than before. I felt like I was dying, too.
The last thing I heard before slipping into unconsciousness was Luna calling my name.
