Dragons Trust Book 1 - The Start

Noah's Power

I sat atop Tuarana. The saddle had been switched out for one specially made to the both of us. The rest of the first year group sat around as well. We weren't training today.

Noah was.

He stood in the center of the field. A blind fold covering those orange eyes. They hadn't always been orange. Actually because of them, I almost hadn't recognized him. Before his bond with Ares, his eyes were grey. What was odd was that both colors suited him.

Clinton walked around him. He told us to move randomly to help confuse Noah. So now we sat waiting.

Clinton moved swiftly. He looked like he shouldn't have been able to be that quick, but he was, and he was also holding back. Noah moved to meet him. Hit for hit was blocked and parried.

Gods be damned if they had to fight Noah. It was obvious this wasn't a challenge for him. Everything about it was so easy. The unrelenting hits never even fazed him. He wasn't even breathing any faster than he normally did!

Tuarana decided to move around. She walked as heavily as she could, trying to mimic Takiren. The first words in almost ten minutes were spoken.

"Who's moving?" Clinton asked.

"Tuarana," Noah said simply. How the hell did he know? He continued to block the hits raining down on him. They were unorganized. No pattern, no warning, nothing. But Noah still blocked them.

He dropped to the ground so suddenly I thought Clinton had took him down. Really that's the just the way Noah moved. Quickly, and at the last second. Always just out of reach until he wasn't. It was a fighting style that could confuse people. Being out of reach meant that your opponent would move closer and closer to hit you. Then, when they didn't expect, you could move forward as well, or stay still and it would throw them off.

The sound of something braking caught all of our attention. The earth underneath them moved. Noah stabilized himself the second he had felt it. Shadows leapt out like snakes. Arching towards the older man. Clinton barely dodged them.

"If Noah had been going for a kill, he wouldn't have dodged that," Tommy said from next to me. Takiren sat next to Tuarana as we watched the mock fight. I believed him.

Someone doesn't become commander of eleven legions for no reason.

The vines wrapped around Noah. Long green tendrils brushing against his skin and clothes. Terrifying, but beautiful, because it was Noah. Clinton grunted as one hit him from behind. It had seemingly come out of nowhere.

Noah started to advance. His magic growing darker and thicker. It was like I could feel his powers from here. This had to be his power, didn't it? What he was doing as it was, was a lot of power.

Magic was exhausting. Using too much in one setting could cause serious harm. And Noah seemed to defy that logic. He kept the vines around his body, as well as attacked with others.

I had read about other riders trying to do that. It never ended well. But here he was. Standing and fighting, not even breathing hard. Sweating was a different story. He could sweat even if it was the middle of winter. Just leave him in the sun long enough, or make him move, and it was a waterfall.

To my surprise, and possibly everyone else's, shadows climbed up his body, and fire spouted from the cracks in the ground. He continued to meet Clinton hit for hit. Blindfolded and hindered he was still powerful.

Where did it come from? How did he have all of this power?

How had he ever started like I had?

The air around us shifted. Clinton was thrown backwards by an invisible force. Noah had used the wind. Vines shot from the ground and wrapped around the other man.

We were awestruck. Noah hadn't moved a muscle in minutes, since Clinton's last hit.

"That's your brother?!" Sunny cried to Tommy. Even I had to agree with him. Noah was powerful, and he kept pouring more and more magic. The fact he didn't have to use gestures was impressive enough. But to not use those and be able to control all of these elements he was using, were we sure he was human?

Fire crackled. It formed from thin air.

WHAT?!

I could see strips of lightning coursing through it. My mouth opened in surprise. Noah jumped back, then up. The fire moving with him. It raced away from him, exploding just in front of Clinton.

Yeah, I was right earlier.

Gods be damned if they had to fight him.

"That's not even half of what he can do," I jumped at Micah's sudden appearance.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT'S NOT EVEN HALF?!" The three of us yelled at once. Micah smiled and shrugged.

"Have you seen mountains the size of these before?" He said gesturing to the ring of peaks. "They're impossible to climb. Dragon Riders can't climb them without the use of an earth rider."

"What do the mountains have to do with anything?" Sunny asked.

No. There was no way. Noah couldn't have... Could he?

"Noah raised them. There was an attack a few years back. The mountains didn't stop them. So he pulled them farther out of the ground. It killed a lot of people. Us and the attackers, whose bodies we never found." He looked proud of his brother.

Noah pulled them up higher. How was that possible? The Underside should be destroyed. Movement of the plates would have swallowed it while.

The ground shook. A wall was pulled from it. The wall blocked more chunks of flying dirt and stone. In seconds it was back in the ground.

Clinton had somehow gotten lose from the vines. He was attacking relentlessly. If Noah were normal he would be seriously injured. Actually, if it were just a fist fight, I think he would be fine. He was constantly getting into fights when we were younger.

Shadows moved again. We had become so focused on the other forms of magic, we forgot about the shadows. They moved. Holding Clinton in a powerful grasp that wasn't going to let go. After a few moments of nothing, they pull back. The fight was over. It hadn't even been thirty minutes.

"This is a reminder. He started out just like the lot of you. His magic refused to work for him. What was happening was that he was scared to hurt the innocent. Everyone always told him his magic was destructive. That he would be the one to kill the people he loved. Once he let go of his fears, he slowly grew stronger." Clinton's eyes locked with mine for a few seconds longer than everyone else. "It took him years to get where he is now. And this isn't even all he can do. Do not use him as a pedestal to reach. He is bonded to the King of Dragons. His power will never be matched by anyone."

He let his fear control his magic? Noah was scared?

Don't let your fear control your life. Fear leads to weakness. Weakness leads to losing control.

That doesn't mean you can't be scared. Be scared, be terrified of the possibilities you have. But don't let it control you.