The Dragoneer Manual

Chapter 25 - Arthur Wood's books

The next day was off for Rory and the students, since they had successfully completed their missions the day before. After waking up, Rory immediately got dressed and made her way to the library. Life at the Dragoneer Academy was far too exciting to spend time lounging around in her dorm, even on her day off.

She spent more than an hour browsing the bookshelves and admiring the rainbow beams from the prism glass windows, which fell softly onto the spines of the books. When she was ready to leave, she checked out so many books that even the librarian looked at her a bit strangely.

Rory shoved as many as she could fit into her backpack, probably around twenty, and then hugged about ten more to her chest. As the librarian meticulously wrote down each title under Rory's name on the ledger, she seemed to be questioning why they didn't have a limit in place for how many books students could check out. But Rory was oblivious. She felt like she was floating on air as she walked back to her dorm, ecstatic to read as many Arthur Wood books as the hours in the day allowed.

When she arrived back at her room she saw a small box sitting outside her door. Her arms full, Rory pushed aside the box with her foot and awkwardly shuffled inside the door, dropping everything she was carrying onto her bed. Then she returned to bring the box inside. She chuckled to herself remembering how often she'd made this classic move as a New Yorker, with arms full of groceries and a delivery box outside the door.

There was a letter taped to the top, which she opened, her brown furrowed. The note read:

Rory, for you. So you can enjoy Dusky Dragon Coffee at any time -Chase

Rory opened the box and pulled out the machine inside, setting it neatly on the desk.

Like everything else in the castle, the brass coffee maker looked ancient, but it was clearly powered by modern technology, given the button at the base of it. On the left side, the clear glass brewing chamber was held up by a golden handle, and on the opposite side, a polished brass cylinder was positioned above a clear glass chamber. A multitude of complicated looking brass levers, knobs, and valves connected the two parts, with a shiny brass pipe running between them. It looked too complicated to understand, but Rory decided to just try pressing the button, and instantly, the coffee maker came to life.

A small flame formed in the clear glass chamber, heating the brass cylinder. As the flame danced, a hiss escaped from the brass pipe, filling the air with the rich smell of fresh coffee. The boiling water bubbled up from the reservoir and into the glass on the left, where it swirled like liquid gold. Rory watched in awe as the coffee collected in the crystal-clear vessel until the machine finished.

Smiling, she lifted the glass carafe by the handle, and poured it into one of the mugs from her cabinet. The first sip of the Dusky Dragon Coffee felt like a lighting strike, as usual. She silently thanked Chase.

Excited to settle in to her reading, she stacked the books neatly on the desk and sat back in her chair, opening the first book. It was clearly a brand new copy, because the hardcover looked perfect, and the spine cracked when she opened it. The book was titled Historical Dragons and Deities, and it was written by Arthur Wood. The first story in the book was about a legendary dragon named Cosmic Blue. The story read as follows:

If you grew up attending school in Aerland, you certainly know a thing or two about Cosmic Blue. He is a favorite dragon among many young children, and indeed, many adults as well (myself included). The purpose of my retelling of Cosmic Blue's story, however, is to hopefully introduce you to elements that you may not have heard, and which I have uncovered through many of my travels in visiting faraway lands. There is a small village off the coast of Black Sand Beach which I encountered in my visits to the caves of the Gold Dragons. I had introduced the dragons to a rare metal from Earthland, and the small village was kind enough to house me while I was making visits to the cave, and studying the dragons' alchemy. It was in the evening, when I was enjoying their strange tradition of drinking copious amounts of caffeine at midnight in order to stay awake all night and dance in the moonlight, that I first heard their oral tradition of Cosmic Blue. These villagers disagreed with the story that we've all been told, that Cosmic Blue ascended into the galaxy long before the first formal towns were built in Aerland. According to the villagers of Black Sand Beach, Cosmic Blue had instead hibernated, saving his one last reincarnation, so that he could return to aid humanity in a great battle of civilizations which was prophesied.