Tales of a Dragon Hunter

Graduation, a.k.a "The Beginning of Everything"

Dragon hunting wasn't just a job; it was a way of life. The two years of training you had to go through took up all of your time. Before graduation, you had to stay on a base specifically for trainees; you and your teammates were routinely rotated through all four. You weren't allowed off, excluding the in-field training during the last two months. And even then, you were only 'hunting' stuffed versions of them.

Despite all of that, I loved it. The two years had flown by for me. I was finally graduating, and would get to go out on a real mission soon, along with my two best friends. All three of us were anxious to get out of these walls. We understood why they were there; we were just tired of staying inside of them. All of the magic spells that reinforced our bubble of protection felt suffocating to us.

After another few hours, my entire class of trainees was up on stage. I was in the back, but I wanted to see my parents. I strained my neck, sitting up higher in my seat. I scanned the room, and I saw them near the middle of the section of seats to my right. I waved, but my little sister was the only one that saw me.

The ceremony dragged on and on. My last name starting with a Y made it even worse. One of my friends was pretty far up in line, while the other was in the middle.

"Burrs, Jane," the announcer called out. I repressed a sigh, counting to one hundred and fake cheering for the next few names.

"Cable, Lynn." This time, I cheered for real, yelling to my friend and trying to get her attention. On her way back to her seat, she rolled her eyes and waved back to Milo and me.

I was antsy during the wait for Milo's name to be called. When 'McKay, Milo' was called, I could hear Lynn cheering. She'd always been loud, so it didn't surprise me that I was able to hear her all the way back here. I could see Milo trying to hold back a laugh as he headed back to his seat.

I could tell that I was annoying the people beside me with how restless I was. I couldn't help it, though. I was almost always tapping my fingers or jiggling my leg. I hate to sit still. Finally, they started calling out the Ws. I straightened up in my seat, thankful that no one had a last name that started with X. Then, I heard my name.

"Yeager, Cassandra."

I jumped up from my seat and almost ran up to the stage. I heard my parents and friends cheering for me. Sitting back down, I couldn't stop smiling. The remaining few people were called to the front, and then we were released.

I rushed off of the stage and made a beeline for my parents, like most others did. We hadn't seen them since we were sixteen, and had that slight break for visitation at the end of the year. Lynn and Milo's parents were sitting close to mine, so I got six different hugs, just like they had.

"So, have you all been assigned to the same base?" asked Milo's mom.

I unrolled my diploma, and looked at the stamp on the upper-left-hand corner. "I got assigned to Fort Maria, the Northern base."

Beside me, I heard my friends say the same. We all high fived, then lead our parents to the mess hall, which had been decorated to look like it wasn't a place that served sad, bland food. And for once, the food wasn't tasteless. I was more focused on my family and friends, though.

The night ended too soon. The goodbyes dragged on as long as possible, before they forced us back to our dorms. Lynn and I said good night to Milo as we had to split up. An unusual quiet settled over the room for a bit, then whispered conversations started due to everyone being restless.

"What do you think tomorrow will be like, Lynn?" I asked, staring at the bottom of her mattress.

"How am I supposed to know? This is the first time I've gone through this, too, you know," she said. I could almost hear her rolling her eyes at me.