The Ways of War

Prologue

     I didn't think that my life could change any more than it had when I was accepted into the prestigious Riders' School. And then the war against the Tsoro spread into more populated areas, putting lives at risk and forcing the riders to take more drastic actions.

      With more and more of my friends going off to the front line of the war I was aware that it was only a matter of time before my dragon, Opher, and I were packed up and shipped off to the main battle. What I wasn't ready for was the incident that changed my future from that of a Soldier to that of a missionary.

      I figured it was a usual day when the boy in charge of my training angrily told me to run more miles than my body was actually capable of doing, sure it was the first time in the history of the Riders' School that students were being allowed in without first going through the rigorous screening process that tested intelligence, strength, and speed, and many of the new people accepted into the school would not match with a dragon, but I doubted that anything more exciting would happen than seeing my brothers for the first time in the year since I had left my home.

      And then I saw a dragon and their rider crash to the ground, and as the first person on the sight I had done all I could to try help the injured dragon. It was then that I came into contact with the Tsoro poison, a poison which burns with first contact before all pain stops, making it so that you are unaware that your skin is slowly being boiled from your body as the poison spreads throughout your body. And if you do not want to die, you have to endure the worst pain imaginable, as the anti-poison basically makes it so that you feel all of the pain that was absent as your skin boiled.

      After I was cured from the poison I was informed that I was only person who was capable of taking on the job of missionary with the Tsoro, I was the only hope to potentially putting an end to the war. The only problem? Opher would be unable to go with me.

      When I told my dragon this, he became angry and insisted that he too be subjected to the poison, a process that was much more painful for him than it had been for me, causing his pain to find an outlet through my body.

       The pain forced me to scream to the point of not be able to function until my dragon himself was no longer in pain. After that hellish experience the Headmaster of the Riders' School debriefed me on all of the information regarding my new position before I was released to rest, pack, and eat dinner before I shipped off to the base camp, and ultimately the Tsoro camp.

       Where my life changed in more ways than I had ever imagined...