Diaries of a Rider

After changing the world, Patrick went back to college and resumed the life he once abandoned, but now without fearing for Furia's life. For they now lived in a world of Dragons and Riders.

The more things change, the more stay the same. My name is still Patrick Darst, but it doesn’t mean the same anymore. Around three years ago I was common; a pathetic college student, if I must detail. The starting point of that lapse of time was a near-death accident I had in the sewers, where I found a weird gemstone. It turned out to be a dragon egg, giving my life an unimaginable twist. When the hatchling born and I determined it was a female dragon, I gave her Furia for a name.

 

Furia wasn’t only my pet dragon, she became my best friend. I kept her secret in my father’s lands and visited her every week to share stories, ride her… strengthen my bond with her. That was my routine until I became a target for “The Government”, an organization that hunted down whoever found a dragon egg. A friend of mine, Clyde Barton, revealed to me a horrible truth; a bloody story of intolerance and madness that had been hidden from humanity for thousands of years.

 

Clyde was a member of the Dragon Society; he and his family, along with many other families all over the world, kept the truth alive secretly… waiting for a Dragon Rider to be found. Furia and I now had a story to be part of. We trained in the abilities we both discovered, Furia, Fire Exhalation and me, Vital Energy Usage until together we became an unstoppable force.

 

The Dragon Society’s objective was to eradicate “The Government” and allow people to find their dragon eggs. That mission got us traveling to Hobbs, where I killed the City Manager, for he belonged to “The Government” and he tried to kill me. There, Clyde gave his life for me…we also made powerful allies who were also members of the Dragon Society.

 

Furia and I traveled then to Corpus Christy, where our new allies had a ship. After the preparations, we traveled to the Bermuda Triangle, where the Government stashed all the eggs found all over the world, to hide them from their true owners. Our allies found their eggs and raised their dragons as I trained them with my experience.

 

We fought to death against the forces of “The Government” in a battle for Freedom and Truth. Furia got hurt lethally and I sacrificed myself to save her. But it didn’t end there; Furia and I were kept alive by the very leader of “The Government”, who explained the two factions were having a great misunderstood. With my act of bravery and love for Furia, I showed him his faction was wrong after all this time.

 

The leader then had the Pope to reveal the story to the whole world and to declare peace between “The Government” and the Dragon Society. Furia, I and our survivor allies headed home with pride and victory, ending the lapse of three years I started with.

 

Hobbs’ events weren’t totally shown to the world at first. Furia didn’t exist yet and the name Patrick Darst just meant “terrorist” to the world. I was still under controversy; Hobbs’ events, as they were part of the misunderstood, were defended and justified by “The Government” and the Dragon Society, later after the revelations. The two entities had people with legitimate power who pleaded for us, Furia and I, and prevented the authorities from taking action against us.

 

The only active members of the Dragon Society were the individuals with legitimate power, such as politicians and related. There were no more stories to keep telling, no enemies to take down. Its members around the globe just continued with their lives, enjoying the fruits of their victory, leaving the world in the hands it has always been and proud of how they changed history.

 

For four months I was locked to my father’s land’s confines. Thanks to the support I had, it wasn’t to my home, at least this way I could be with Furia. During that time I had countless press conferences where I detailed my whole story, my participation regarding to what the Pope and the other important personalities were talking about. I also revealed all the details regarding to dragons and the topics involved, such as the mental link, dragon’s good influence on the environment and the properties of Vital Energy. I thought of hiding how Vital Energy could be used as a weapon, but the questions were clear and demanded clear answers. If I wanted to stop being considered a hostile, I had to share everything I knew to prove I didn’t have any hidden purpose.

 

Finally the authorities took the spotlight from me and declared me forgiven, yet they made clear they would still follow my moves closely. In the meantime, the world suffered immense changes in adaptation to the new course it would take. Country side people and non-city like towns were the first finding their dragon eggs, they didn’t had as many distractions as city people.

 

Country sides and every non-city territory all over the world were the zones that flourished because there roamed the most dragons due to the space and livestock animals continually growing in numbers and quality along with the whole environment. It took a little more to the cities, but, with time, dragons became part of the landscape as well.

 

My father’s lands were the first sanctuary in Lubbock where everyone’s dragons could hunt freely. It was a deep hit at first, but after some time his livestock recovered and could now provide food to the dragons around without problem. Due to my father’s success, other farmers in Texas and further on in the whole world copied the tactic.

 

The Vatican now financed commercial flights to the Bermuda Triangle, so everybody whose eggs couldn’t be found in their country, would try looking for them in the Egg Fields.

 

As for the Saddlers, they didn’t like the idea of selling saddles, and wanted the island untouched as it has always been. They had The Vatican share their techniques for the saddles online so everybody could make their own saddle.

 

That was the world… a world of Dragons and Riders.

 

 

Chronicles of The Rising: Sunless Mornings

 

Beginnings of January, a little over four years after I found Furia’s egg… or almost a year after we arrived home from the Bermuda Triangle… or seven months after I was declared not a hostile by the authorities. The sun was out; it was early morning as I was riding Furia at top speed. I was inclined forward to be more aerodynamic, grabbing the front of the saddle with my hands.

 

I looked over my shoulder and saw three other riders and their dragons behind us.

 

They are closing on us!  I said.

 

Not quite!   Furia answered before taking a closed curve to the left, around a large building. Then to take another closed curve to the right, around another building.

 

Right in front of us was now a pair of buildings that were tightly close. Furia closed her wings and drilled through the opening between the buildings and opened them right after getting out.

 

We kept rushing in the air in a straight line above a main street until I looked to my flanks. At my right side was a rider, head to head with me, flying over a parallel street; we connected sights for a moment through the passing buildings. At my left side the situation was the same. Where’s the other one? I thought.

 

Suddenly I felt shadowed and looked up to see the third rider diving toward Furia and me. Furia made a complete twist and moved to the left, evading the impact. The rider dived past us and stabilized right before touching the cars’ roofs down on the street. That dive gave them a boost of speed; they were now ahead of us.

 

In front of us was a long and high building that blocked our path. Furia began to climb the air until reaching the top of the building. She and the other two dragons were aligned, jumping on the edge of the building to give ourselves a little boost up; followed by the other rider that not long before was bellow Furia and me.

 

After stabilizing I saw the college and looked at the other two riders at each of my sides.

 

Time to get done with this!!  I told Furia.

 

Hold on tightly!!

 

Furia then proceeded to speed up as I leaned more and more to be more aerodynamic. The college was getting closer and closer as I barely kept my eyes open due to the growing strength of the wind. Then we and the two other riders by my sides crossed the borders of the college territory like at the same time, then we all began to slow down and landed on a parking lot.

 

-Hell yeah! We won!!   -Said one of the riders as he strapped off from his dragon.

 

-What are you talking about Jake? Sythe and I are clearly the winners!

 

-No way Simon! Nira was like two heads ahead of Sythe; we are the winners!

 

Then the third voice rose up as the owner joined the group.

 

-Who wants my last place? The only clear place in the entire race…

 

-You can keep that s**t!   -Said Jake.

 

-Yeah, for once you arrive last, Sam!! Flaris was finally defeated, you are next Furia!  -Concluded Simon.

 

-Yeah right, like if that would ever happen. Let’s get going before the inscriptions start, or we’ll be stuck here the entire day.

 

I said patting Furia’s shoulder. She then flew away, followed by the other dragons as my friends and I ran into the precinct.

 

 

Diaries of a Rider

 

I went back to college and resumed my studies as soon as the authorities took the spotlight from me at the beginnings of June. I got to know Jake, Simon and Sam in that semester September-December. They found their dragon eggs while I was locked in my father’s lands. In terms of age, I was a little older than them, but in terms of College, we were in the same semester.

 

At first I got a lot of attention from people for being the first Dragon Rider; most of all because I always roamed around with Furia. Very few city people had found their dragon egg and it was even less the ones who roamed with their dragons in the city. In College, I felt misplaced among younger people, without mentioning how different my life had been from theirs. I felt that I couldn’t relate with someone else other than my family, Alan, Oliver, James and their families. Simon, Jake and Sam were the only ones beside me who came to College with their dragons. That was what brought us together.

 

They got to know my older friends too. Every month my friends from the Dragon Society and I, plus our families, organized gatherings that cycled from town to town every occasion; one time was in Lubbock, next in Levelland, next in Corpus Christy, and on. They all found their dragon eggs too.

 

Now… back to the timeline…

 

I was with my College friends, Simon, Jake and Sam, getting out from the inscriptions room at noon.

 

-Finally we are out of there!    -Jake yelled.

 

-How come a simple inscription takes a whole morning?    -replied Sam.

 

-That’s all planned, Sam, they do it that way so more people get late so then they have to pay extra charges.    "Concluded Simon.

 

-(bothered sigh) I can’t reach Nira. Patrick, call Furia so we can get out of here.

 

Jake said, putting his inscription receipt in his pocket. I nodded and contacted Furia. She and the other dragons were waiting for us together, roaming around the college.

 

Furia, we are done. How was your morning?

 

I will never know the city completely! There is so much stuff! We flew over and walked by many places!

 

Later on, dragons and riders reunited on the parking lot they got separated. We made another race to my father’s lands and this time the results were clear: Furia and I arrived first, Sam and Flaris were second, Simon and Sythe were third, and Jake and Nira got last.

 

In my father’s lands the environment was completely different: one could see a couple of dragons flying by, or some others resting around. There were by far fewer dragons than before, when these lands were the only sanctuary for dragons in Lubbock. Later when the other farmers around town allowed dragons to hunt and stay at their lands, the dragons distributed themselves comfortably.

 

We first got into the house and fixed ourselves something to eat, but we didn’t eat right away; we located the cattle with our dragons and then they hunted one animal each. Then we all ate together while talking about the Mental Link. My friends knew my story and still were impressed by how far I could sense Furia.

 

We spent the time talking and roaming around with our dragons. Later at late afternoon each of them returned to their homes and their dragons got here again, this was their staying place. My friends kept their saddles at their homes so when the dragons come here, they are already unsaddled.

 

I unsaddled Furia, left the saddle in the house and we both went to the highest point of the lands at evening. She was lying on the ground and I was on her back, hands behind my head and looking at the sky.

 

How many subjects will you take this semester?     Furia asked.

 

By far not as many as the last one, I now know that trying to recover the time I was off the college with… you know… all that we did… is a bad idea. This time I made sure there’s time for us to have fun.

 

That’s nice to hear.

 

Later my father and his dragon, Sahara, arrived. They landed near us and we greeted them. As dad strapped off from his saddle I said…

 

-Hey dad, how was your day?

 

-Great, son. Today all I received were good news.

 

-Awesome! Tell me…

 

While we walked to the house, he explained how today was the conclusion of a very controversial topic regarding the farms around Lubbock. As dragons improved the overall quality of the terrains, animals and harvests; most of the farms offered quality products to sell. That was about to create a chaos among the buyers and the whole industry in Lubbock. So all the farmers made a pact that each one of them would sell only one product, be it one kind of harvest or seed, one kind of animal. That was a law that they all seemed to be happy with as there would be no competition and that would be applied to the other towns in Texas and later on in all the farms in the United States. What my father liked the most was that he would continue being in charge of the bovine selling business in Lubbock.

 

When we arrived to the house, he unsaddled Sahara and, as we were going to get into the house, Elvis arrived with his strong gray dragon Pyro and landed. When he strapped off from the saddle, I saluted him with a crossed handshake.

 

-Hey there, Patrick!

 

-What’s up, Elvis! Are you out for a spar this time? Or are you going to back off like yesterday?

 

Elvis dragged me closer to him and said…

 

-You just asked for it, little brother! Get ready!

 

As he finished, each of us got to our rooms and wore on our training clothes. Once again outside, with Furia, our father, Pyro, Sahara and a pair of dragons that happened to be nearby and closed in to watch us as spectators; Elvis and I were facing each other, separated by three meters, stretching up our limbs.

 

-I’m getting stronger little brother… yesterday I had a job assignment, but today… today I will defeat you.

 

-You indeed are getting stronger, but you’ll never defeat me.

 

I said pushing my left foot backwards half a meter and taking my hands to the left side of my waist and positioning them as if I was about to draw a katana from its sheath with my right hand while holding the sheath with my left.

 

Elvis charged at me as I generated a Vital Energy edgeless katana and attacked him with a solid horizontal swing. Elvis leaned to his left side and evaded my attack. He up righted himself and kicked at my stomach but I blocked his attack with my left hand. I backed off a couple of steps as Elvis prepared to attack with an up-down blow of a two handed long sword. I held my position and located the katana horizontally over my head, grabbing it with both of my hands and received Elvis’ attack.

 

We kept the posture for a few moments, Elvis forcing down, and I forcing up... none of us giving in a single inch as we felt each other’s strength. We looked at each other’s furious eyes.

 

Then we both backed away and dissipated our weapons. We kept walking slowly in circles; like both of us was following the other one. Looking at each other like enraged dogs ready for another fight. After a lap, we both stopped and stood still for a second.

 

Elvis threw a projectile at me, but I jumped to my right side and rolled on the ground. Right after the roll, I threw a projectile at Elvis, but he blocked it with a shield. I stood up keeping Elvis to my left side, my knees lightly flexed, and my left arm extended towards him with an open palm. I generated the edgeless version of the Chain Blade with my right hand, the arm flexed backwards and the blade next to my head. My sight fixed on Elvis as he generated a single sided battle axe. His stance was facing me, but a little inclined; his right hand grabbing the handle under the blade and his left, the base. It looked as if the blade cut Elvis’s face in half.

 

With a step forward I whipped the Chain Blade at Elvis, but he twisted and stepped to his side, avoiding the attack. Elvis got closer and up-down swung the battle axe at me, but I blocked the attack with a shield on my left hand; his swing continued down by my left side. I dissipated the Chain Blade and punched Elvis’s face with my right hand but he ignored the pain and swung horizontally the battle axe at me. I leaned back and avoided the attack as Elvis did a half twist. When I up righted myself, Elvis did a backward kick and I saw a boot coming at my face. The impact made me retreat a couple of steps, just to see again his long sword thrusting at my stomach. I blocked the powerful lunge with a both hands powered shield. I resisted the attack for a few moments and stepped backwards a few times, and then I pushed his sword up. Now at distance cero and with Elvis defenseless, I punched his stomach with my right hand and then his face with my left. Elvis then hit my face with his forehead and kicked my stomach before I could recover. Elvis took the opportunity and jumped at me, throwing both of us to the ground. Elvis ended up on top of me, his hands holding my neck. I generated a chain and whipped it back, embracing Elvis’ neck. I pulled it hard and prevented him from breathing. Elvis as well pressed harder my neck, provoking the same effects on me.

 

Dad stepped forward, fearing we might have gotten the spar too far…

 

-Boys...

 

We kept looking at each other’s eyes without noticing what was happening around us. Until Elvis rolled to his side, getting off from me and liberating himself from my chain.

 

I got to a sitting position, rubbed my throat and looked at Elvis. He was at my right, knelt on the ground and rubbing his throat as well. He looked up and our sights connected. After a few seconds we both stood up and looked at each other. For a couple of seconds we held our ground before he decided to walk towards me. Elvis offered me a crossed handshake and I answered it. For ten seconds we held each other’s hand.

 

We looked at each other’s eyes as the ten seconds passed away. Once that lapse of time was reached, we ended the handshake and headed inside the house along with dad. While we the three of us had dinner, we commented the fight.

 

The ten seconds rule works for when one fighter wants to finish the battle, but there’s always the other’s hidden purposes. If one fighter offers the handshake, the other has to answer it. During the ten seconds period, the fighters have all the rights to trick the other one in any way they desire, but once the ten seconds were done, it meant the battle was officially concluded.

 

After talking out the earlier battle, commented our moves and tactics; Elvis said…

 

-Almost got ya this time, little brother. Since you are the trainer, tell me, how am I doing?

 

-You have done incredibly well, Elvis. The only left for you to learn regarding to Vital Energy Usage is what I can’t teach you. We will move on to the next level.

 

-Aerial Combat?       -Elvis said with wide open spectating eyes.

 

-Are you up to the challenge, big brother?

 

-Of course I am.

 

We proceeded to skip from topic to topic until the three of us departed to our own activities. I went out and lay on the ground, next to Furia.

 

Do you remember those days?     She said.

 

Which exactly?

 

When Clyde and the others used to kick your a*s…

 

I chuckled before saying… How would I forget them…

 

The pressure, the intrigue, the purpose… It isn’t a lie if I say that I miss those times.

 

Careful for what you wish for, you just might get it.

 

Furia laughed and said… You know I count on it, Pat. Besides, you know those were OUR days.

 

Yeah… won’t say no to that. Though this isn’t that bad, is it? Not having to be afraid for our lives; not having to feel the constant presence of death around us…

 

I guess that’s good too; rest well, Pat.

 

You too, Furia…

 

Those were our diaries: each day started with a race against our friends, followed by long college classes to then end with a training session with Elvis.

 

Furia and I hanged out with the group from time to time and monthly reunited with our friends from the Dragon Society.

 

My grades were kept high for my resolution and I just couldn’t wait for the vacations. Just one obstacle left in the way… the Final Exams.

*Image by arutos, zerochan