A Land of Blood and Dragons

🔥Chapter 1🔥

Chapter 1
🔥 Keira 🔥

(Keira's pronounced Keera)

"Keira ! Wake up ! We need to go now if we want to make it before night !"
She started groaning as her father's voice was waking her from sleep. The reason of him being in such a rush was simple : the Draconic Academy of Drarka. He had somehow made me being accepted, probably by using of his relationship with the king. She put her head back in her blankets as he was rushing into her room. He sighed before moving forward his daughter's bed.
"Keira."
She responded by a groan.
"Keira. You really want to arrive at night ?"
"Couldn't they come and take us with their dragons ?" she mumbled back.
"You perfectly know that it is not possible" sighed her father.
Keira sighed in turn, getting up as he was getting out her room. She took the outfit she prepared the day before and put it on. Once it was done, she she descended in the dining room to find her father, already ready to go.
"I saddled the horses. We're going now" he said.
The young girl nodded lightly, before following him outside. It was still night, and the wind was making dance the leafs that fell form their trees. She looked one last time at the big farm and house, partially blinded by her long curly brown hair.

Her father's voice suddenly broke the silence :
"You want to go and see them one last time ?"
As only answer, she moved forward the graves of her sister and her mother, and muttered one last prayer. Keira then went back to her father and climbed on one of the horses.
After many hours of riding through Drarka, they arrived at the Dragon's Claw, the gigantic mountain range that was separating the area of the Academy from the rest of the continent. Keira's father stopped before the guards of the tunnel that was passing through the mountains, and talked with them for a few minutes, probably because they wanted to know why we wanted to pass. After those few minutes, the guards made them the sign of heading through, and they continued their way through the mountains.

The men and his daughter needed a few more hours to see the end of the tunnel. Once they were outdoors, Keira saw two things simultaneously : the building of the Academy, a huge castle with countless towers, and a gigantic mountain in the middle of the biggest lake she had ever seen : the Mount Drako (the hte middle of the Lake Drako). According to what she'd heard, Mount Drako was the place where they kept their dragons. Far away, we could also see the sea, shining brighter than the stars as the rays of sunshine were reflecting on it.

It took them almost one more hour to get to the castle. Here, they were welcomed by a men and a woman, both tall and thin. They also had long and straight white hair, even tough they looked only fifty.
"We are sorry for our delay" said David (Keira's father). "I know I promised a less late arrival..."
"Oh don't worry about that !" smiled the woman. "We do have ,anyway, a lot of work right now. We did not even notice your small delay !"
"Do you plan on staying ?" asked the man.
"No sadly. The duty calls me, and I won't have time to rest."
The men nodded and his colleague spoke again :
"Well ! We will now let you say goodbye to each other and will come back later."
On these words, she turned back and moved toward the direction opposite from which Keira and her father arrived, followed by her colleague, leaving the young girl alone with her father.

She stayed silent, trying to capture his gaze. When, finally, he layed his eyes on her, she took the opportunity so he could feel as guilty as possible.
"Listen Keira...I...you must understand that all I am doing, is for your own good !"
She took a moment to answer, almost outraged by what her father just said.
"For...my own good ?! You make me stay in a place situated miles away from you, the only family I have left, for my own good ?!"
He sighed, before looking at the sun that was shining above their heads.
"Keira, he started, just know that...that some... things are happening. Complicated things. And I don't want you to have to deal with all that."
She frowned, perplexed after what her father just said.
"Hum...what do you mean by "things" ?"
"I cannot tell you anything about that. I'm sorry."
"But..."
"Well" he cutted her. "I have to go now."
He grabbed his daughter's head's back and layed a kiss on her forehead.
"I will miss you" she muttered softly.
"I know" he said with a sad smile. "We will see each other again shortly."
He squeezed her hand one last time, without stopping to smile, before turning back and moving forward his horse. Keira looked at him moving away, holding back her tears, when she heard a throat clearing behind her. She brutally turned back, and saw that the men and the woman were back, accompanied of a girl. She must have been around the same age as Keira, her black and curly hair reached the middle of her back and a huge smile was brightening her face.
"Lady Mason" started the white haired woman, "my colleagues and I sadly being terribly busy, we're letting to your future classmate : Lady Ana Van Eyck, the care of your visit."
Ana stared at Keira with her grey eyes, smiling even more.
"We are going to let you", said the woman as she layed her hand on the young girl's shoulder.
She gave the two girls a smile before heading toward the huge building, closely followed by the men.

Once they were gone, Ana gave Keira a new smile, before asking :
"So, your name is Keira Mason, right ?"
"Yes...and yours is Ana Van Eyck..."
The black haired girl had a little laugh, and, seeing Keira's perplexed expression, said :
"You should see your face !"
She grabbed Keira's arm and started to drag her to the building.
"Come on !" she smiled "You'll see ! It's a pretty place !"
"If you say so..." grimaced back the brown haired girl.
Ana laughed again as they were heading through the gates of the academy.

The first room, the Hall according to what she said, was gigantic : Drarkan flags and other flags with the academy's emblem on it covered several walls. Many stairs were extending on the sides of the Hall, their tops getting lost in the darkness. On the other side of the room, two big green gates were opening on a long hallway of which she could not see the end.
"What is it up there ?" she asked Ana, showing the stairs.
"Oh these are only the dorms"she answered after turning back."I'll show them to you when we'll be done with the inferior wing."
Saying that, she headed toward the dark green gates. However, once she arrived in front, she stopped before declaring in a loud voice :
"Arla neirys !"
All of the lights of the long hallway turned on at the same time, under the amazed eyes of Keira and those, amused, of Ana.
"H-how did you do that ?" muttered Keira.
Ana smiled.
"Amazing, huh ? It's the work of a very talented Blade Maker. He created those lamps so they turn on only when someone gives them the order to."
"Those words you said..."
"Arla neirys ?"
"Yes. What did it meant ?"
"Well..." she started moving again "It is ancient Drarkan. We learn it here. And, basically, it means "alight our souls" : "arla" means "alight" and "neirys", "our souls" : it's the shrinkage of "nei" (our) and "rys" (souls)."
Keira nodded lightly and continued to follow Ana into the hallway.

After long minutes of walking, they arrived before two brown doors. Ana got a key out of a pocket of her dress and inserted it in the lock, turned the key, and pushed the doors. They opened on a large room, largest than the Hall. A decade of long wood tables with benches from the same material on their sides were almost filling the whole room and, as in the Hall, flags of Drarka and the academy emblem were pinned to the walls. A long platform on which another table was placed stretched across the entire width of the room.
"The dining room" started explaining Ana "The ten tables are for the students, and the table on the platform for the teachers and the guests. We eat around 9 p.m on the evening, around 1 p.m for noon, and for the morning, it's between 6 and 8 a.m. I'll show you your bedroom, we'll talk about the rest up there."

Keira followed her until coming back to the Hall before taking the stairs with her. They climbed the stairs for what seemed to forever to her, passing doors without ever stopping. Finally, Ana stopped and got a key out before opening the door. The bedroom was huge and contained two beds situated at the opposite from each others, some small furnitures and a discreet door on the left side, near the window. Keira struggled to imagine that they were in a tower, she thought it would be smaller.
"So" Ana's voice pulled her out of her contemplation "I forgot to tell you but you're sharing the room with me. I hope you don't mind."
"No don't worry it's perfectly fine."
"Good !" smiled the black haired girl "Come."
She guided her toward the small door next to the window and opened it.
"You can take a bath in here whenever you want." she said, showing the large wooden bathtub "And for the water, we have this"
She then showed the little waterfall that's water was ending up in a small hole in the floor, and told Keira she'd explain later. Ana grabbed her arm, and led her to her bed, where the two girls sat.
"Now, I'm gonna explain you what you need to know and, when I'll be done, we'll probably need to go down and have dinner."