The Ruler of Light

The Nine of Illusions

     A minute later and thousands of miles away, Eli (who, of course, was. actually Eldra) stepped out, having finished with his "restroom break" and profusely apologizing. "Just get over here before I make you, Elsa," growled Amber at the sight of him drenched with sweat from apologizing.

     "Um, you said Elsa, not Eli," replied Bidshia. "Did I," she snarled back, " well, then,from now on I'll call him Elsa." "Yeah, Amber, you're so great Amber!" said Elaine in a way that made you expect a tail to start growing and wagging at her older sister. Then a false cough came from behind them, and they realized where that they were supposed to be waiting to find out which dragon is theirs.

     Master Gryphon  chuckled and then looked them all in the eye with his dark, obsidian black ones. He said a word under his breath so they could not hear it, and suddenly they felt searing pain on the backs of their hands, like he had dipped them in oil, then set it on fire. Slowly, the searing pain- changed. It did not go away, but for Amber it began to feel fast, cold, and sum how flowing. Likewise, for Emily it felt like leaves were brushing her hand and the fire was alive, for Calibri, it seemed to burn through her and into her mind, and for Elaine, it sent shocks through her and felt as though she was now being consumed by lightning.

     Similar transformations went through all of them, except for Eli, Antonio, and Preston. There was no similarity between what happened to any of them, nor a similarity between them and everyone else. For Antonio, the flame just became hotter, and it felt like it was creating sparks. For Eli, of course, nothing really happened, but no one noticed because of their own pain. But for Preston, a blast rippled through his very soul. Light, indescribably powerful light, rippled through his very essence, pulling his mind from his body-

Then all of a sudden it was over, in the blink of an eye, the pain disappeared. The other kids, unknowingly, were confused by the fact that he was lying on the ground. Some took pity on him, thinking it was because of his own weakness he had fallen. They all murmured and stared at the back of their hands. He looked at his own and gasped.

Where his hand had burned, then threatened to annihilate his physical body, was a mark. His hand now bore a golden triangle, with three curved lines on each side. Others has their own signs: Amber had a metallic blue steep curve in the form of three lines with a white rectangle at the bottom, like a waterfall; Emily had a glittering green oval that ended in a pointed tip, with a brown line below; and Elaine had a dark circle, with a shining yellow gold zigzag starting in the center and ending far below. No 2 symbols were the same, and all had the same metallic glittery glow.

Gryphon examined each symbol, then gave them instructions to go somewhere; whether it was water for Amber, plant for Emily, psychic for Calibri, fire for Antonio, or air for Aaron, he went through them, warned them that they would be made to leave if they went somewhere else on purpose, and sent them off. At the end, when only Preston was left (Eli had left to return to the council, under "going to terrestrial dragons" pretense), Gryphon looked at his mark and his eyes widened.

"Come with me he said, and he led Preston into a small, unpretentious hallway, which led into a crossroads, then so many twists and turns he lost track. Finally, he stopped, in front of a heavy door that read, Lab of Professor R. X. Joshi in multiple languages. He stepped in, led from behind by the Gryphon Master.

He looked in front and saw some complex equipment, fizzing tubes, and, of course, the professor himself. R. X. Joshi was a thin, tall, reedy man in a open lab coat. The combination of his height, thin body, long legs, hawkish nose, and open coat spread like wings made him appear like a stork ill-disguised as a human. "Well, what is this - oh," he said, looking at the symbol. He had a tenor voice that sounded like finely ground sand in a flute. "Well, I think you have just landed yourself with a dragon we don't have- maybe never have had."

     He typed into a computer on a white desk, then asked Preston to hold still. He did, and a red beam scanned the mark. When Dr. Joshi got the results back, he paled. He drew to the edge and began talking to the Gryphon Master in hushed tones. Preston couldn't decipher the words, but he heard snatches, like "never", "the nine", and "tell him"- all of which made no sense to him. What where I the Nine? What had his results been?

     Gradually, he inched his way across the room and stared at the screen. It showed an image of his symbol and many words, which read this: Name: unknown. Dragon: unknown, but similarities to fire, plasma, lightning, rainbow, and ice. Assumptions: 97% chance undiscovered species, 59% chance related to energy and/or light, 50% one of the Nine Illusions. Preston realized the implications. He still was unclear what "Nine Illusions" meant, but, this explained the extreme pain, and why they didn't have the dragon. Suddenly, he jumped back, realizing that the conversation was over, and that they would not be happy he had looked at the results.

     The doctor picked up a yellow, old sheet of paper with writing he could not see, and placed it in his hands, and stared at his eyes squarely. "Take this," he said. "In a week, the Gryphon Master will come for it and you, and he will take you to your dragon." Preston found this hard to believe, as the test results said it was an undiscovered species, but he was dying to learn what the Nine Illusions were, so he accepted and was led down and out to meet his friends new dragons.

     Amber leaned on the silver frill of a magnificent, blue scaled beast with webbed feet and a tail meant for swimming, which was dubbed Aurea. The purple and red dragon of Calibri, named Crimson Zyavel, had an eerily wavelike aura emanating from it, and in the center of its forehead was a single gold scale, as if the mystic dragon had a third eye. Emily's plant dragon, Viva, Aaron's air dragon, Gronckile, and Bidshia's ice dragon, Glacider, we're all impressive beasts, and all were around the same age as their partners, relatively young for dragons. Antonio was fuming over the baby fire dragon, Ignis, he had been paired with, and Eli acted strange in his attempt to pretend a baby earth dragon was his. By far the most impressive present juvenile dragon was Tempestuous, Elaine's incredible storm dragon, but even she was having a hard time controlling the beast. All she could do was keep it from attacking everyone present.

"Hey," inquired Aaron, "where's your dragon?" Preston was thinking of an answer, but an Earth shattering boom echoed throughout the area, and out of nowhere, a jet of darkness appeared- and it was headed straight for the emperor.

Hi. Eli's probably not going to be killed in yet another story, but my options are open. I know this chapter is a little long, but it was worth it. Also, am banning all spam and/or cussing in any way, shape or form on my comments, as many of my acquaintances have been attacked with vicious spamming and cussing. Don't forget to vote, and remember, all non-spam non-cussing comments are welcomed!