Battle of the Dragons

Water Flows

Mark was in deep discussion with his dragon, Aqua. They needed more recruits just as much as Paul and Blaze, but they didn’t want to put any more lives at risk.

“Just tell them that they might die in this war, and let them know what will happen if they join. We need the recruits more than we realise. If Paul and Blaze bring new fighters, we will be outnumbered and we will lose. The king won’t like that, and we don’t want to take the blame for the loss of the battle. If I had a choice, I wouldn’t bring in new warriors to die, but I don’t have a choice.” Aqua made her situation quite clear, and Mark thought it through too.

“If we do get new recruits, where will we go? I don’t know of anywhere with strong enough water dragons to survive another head on clash with fire.” He put up another blocker.

Aqua just sighed and explained this place she had once heard of, called Aether Academy.

“It is the perfect place, full of dragons of every element. There will definitely be enough water dragons there to boost our ranks. Go quickly, you must get these recruits before our rest period is up!”

Mark nodded and left the tent, towards the dragons that had come in from the wild.

“I need one of your rank, we are in need of recruits for the great war, and I cannot seek them out without having a dragon to take me there. Although I wish to travel with Aqua, she must stay here and look after all those under our command until I return. Who will take me?”

One young dragon stepped forward. Mark sighed, grateful that he wouldn’t have to force a dragon to do his bidding.

“What is your name, young dragon?” He asked, and the dragon replied, telling Mark his name was Rain.

“Well Rain, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” And with that they took off into the air.

After about an hour of flying in the right direction, they picked up a sense of multiple elements all working together.

“This must be it.” Mark said, and they began to descend.

 Upon touching down, he quickly dismounted Rain, before strolling purposefully to the main building. The layout was simple, main building with smaller, less populated buildings off to the side, and the courtyard, milling with students doing small magic tricks. He fiddled with his beard for a while, before walking up to a student that had the slightest touch of water on them, a rider of a water dragon, no doubt.

“Hello, my name is Mark, and I am here to visit your headmaster, could you please show me the way?” He asked kindly.

The student hurried into the building, and Mark struggled to keep up, but after a lot of running and nearly getting lost they finally reached the door.

“He’s in there, just knock and he will open the door when he is ready.” The student said softly, before walking away.

Mark raised his hand to the door and knocked softly, before standing back. It gradually opened, until he could walk into the room before him. An elderly man was seated at a desk with his back to the door, and as Mark watched, his hand twisted slightly and the door was heard closing behind them.

“I so rarely get visitors, but in the past few days, I’ve had an aether dragon who knew nothing about the Kiisedae, a fire general recruiting for a war, and I sense that you are here for the same thing, but only for the water dragons?”

Mark nodded, and gulped slightly. Something about this man’s power had him in awe. The senior mage turned around and sighed.

“What has this world become? The elements tear each other apart, and now my young students are getting involved. I will do the same for you as I did to fire. I will gather all the youths of the water element for you, and you can ask them if they are willing to fight for you, those that say yes are yours to command.” He said in a sad voice.

Mark nodded his head in approval of the idea, and walked out to leave the headmaster to do his thing. He waited in the courtyard until a messenger took him to the great hall, where all the water riders were gathered.

“Hello, my name is Mark, and I am the rider of a water dragon, just like you young people. Her name is Aqua. Aqua and I are on a mission. Recently, there has been a massive war between fire and water dragons, and their riders. Our fighters grow tired, and in need of a rest, but if they rest, then we lose due to lack of a strong enough side. I came out looking for people to join me, so I could let my warriors relax, and heard about this place. I was wondering if anyone here would like to join my army.” Mark said, with a sweet voice, one people wear when talking to little children.

A single student raised their hand, and Mark pointed to them.

“Yes?” He asked.

“Won’t we die if we fight? I don’t even know how to have a fist fight with another boy, let alone fight from the back of a dragon.”

Murmurs filled the room after this point was made.

“Death is a possibility, yes, but we will train you to fight. We will teach you to harness the true power of water.”

 When he spoke, Mark inserted power into every word, making himself seem more convincing. The student who had asked the question shouted out, saying he would join. Not long after him, all the other students raised their voices to create a din. The whole element of water had joined to fight against the masses of the fire army, it had begun again.