~Prologue~

According to the king, dragons were evil, merciless creatures that burned down cities. The only way to protect the kingdom was to fight fire with fire. And so, the Wings of the Unbroken were made.

Every two years, children between ten and fifteen with elemental powers were taken from their families to Vareth Keep, a hidden training prison in the southern mountains. They were trained to fight and never allowed to leave.

The kingdom called them the Wings of the Unbroken.

The children called Vareth Keep the Cage.

The four main elements were Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind. But there were also three rare ones—Astral, which could create objects with stars and move in time; Shadow, which controlled shadows and could shapeshift; and Origin, the rarest, which possessed every element.

But something old and powerful slept beneath the ground. The king knew more about it than he had ever said.

As the dragons grew restless and old magic began to rise, a dragon who should never have existed was about to choose a girl with powers like no other.

~Veyra~

Pain.

It's all pain.

I woke up in my poorly made bed, bruised from yesterday's practice session and the beating I'd received for disobeying. Today, we would get our dragons. We had been taught that dragons were horrible creatures that must be tamed. They said we were special, though I didn't see the difference between us and ordinary kids.

I was excited and terrified. They wouldn't care if a child died. They just wanted survivors to fight. I would never obey their orders.

My stomach rumbled as I entered the Arena. We didn't get breakfast. I went straight to the sword section, where I felt most at peace.

"Veyra!"

"It's time to meet your dragon. Reach the egg and touch it. Be careful. There are traps, and nobody will help you."

"All right."

Talen, my teacher, took me to an unfamiliar door. Inside the room, three metal figures charged at me. I defeated the first, then tricked the other two into crashing together. The last shoved me against the wall, and pain shot through my arm.

I closed my eyes and focused on my sword. Fighting brought me peace. When I opened them, I noticed the figure stumbling. I kicked its injured knee, and it collapsed.

I did it.

I was alive.

The figures disappeared, and a metal door appeared. Beyond it was a corridor full of traps. I ducked swinging beams, dodged fire, and jumped over holes.

This place was trying hard to kill me.

Finally, the traps stopped. The corridor ended at a fork in the path where an arrow pointed one way. Scratches in the dust showed something had been dragged through the passage beside it.

I probably should keep going straight.

I absolutely should.

Instead, I squeezed into the passage. It opened into a chamber.

In the center sat an egg.

Its shell was almost black, with silver markings twisting across it like lightning. A faint blue light shone between them, disappearing and reappearing as if the egg were breathing.

There were no guards. No instructions. Just the egg.

"What if this is another trap?" I whispered.

The egg gave a faint crack.

"Please don't explode."

I touched the shell.

Warmth spread from my fingertips through my arm. Silver light filled the chamber, and something rushed out of me—not like fire or wind, but like something that had been waiting inside me for a long time.

The floor trembled. Cracks spread across the shell, and light shone through them.

Then the egg split open.

A black dragon pushed its way out, silver markings covering its body. Its blue eyes opened slowly. The air around it hummed with the strange energy that had poured out of me.

The dragon looked directly at me.

A voice spoke inside my mind.

You.

I blinked. "What?"

You can hear me.

"You can talk?"

The dragon looked deeply unimpressed.

And you can ask ridiculous questions.

Barely a minute old, and it already had a sense of humor.

The dragon sighed.

This is going to be a long life. I'm Zephren, and I'm your dragon.

-Sophia L

P.S.

I always use these GIFs, except the griddy GIF but I couldn't find it so...

And is it just me? Because I am nervous. 😬

-Sophia L