Lightning Chasers

Uhh... Ninjas are a thing here?

Berserker island. Apt name for the place where apparently the crazy people are from. Then again, I ride a Skrill, so who am I to call anyone crazy? Asking around there about the Skrill rider was a mistake. I got into an unnecessary fight and hardly got any useful information. I couldn't even get his name. It was so frustrating to always be one step behind someone. I knew I was starting to become a little obsessive in my search habits, but I felt like I needed to see another Skrill rider, if only to ease my mind that he was real, and not part of my imagination.

It wasn't too long before Whirlwind and I came across smoking wreckage of a ship in the middle of the ocean. I signalled Whirlwind to land on that looked like the deck of the ship.
"Either these guys were trying to pull off the charred and burnt look for their ship, or they were attacked." I comment. Whirlwind seemed unusually uneasy and kept glancing to the north. It seemed he wanted to go to wherever he was looking. But something was odd about the scorch marks. If it was a wild dragon, the marks would be erratic and random. But these marks were neat and very purposeful. The marks lookd a lot like lightning marks.

"Whirlwind, blast please."
He grumbled, but hit an untouched section of the slowly sinking wreck. His burn marks looked almost identical to the ones already here. That meant a Skrill was here, or possibly the Skrill rider. Whirlwind growled anxiously. I sighed. We had spent enough time here. There were clearly no survivors. As Whirlwind and I took off, I saw a familiar symbol under the scorch marks. This was a dragon hunter ship. I had an increasingly bad feeling about all this. Whirlwind wouldn't wait any longer and took off, headed to the north. We didn't travel for too long before we hit an island.

I was exhausted and wanted to land, but Whirlwind refused. It was like he knew something I didn't. Well, it wouldn't be the first time this happened. We kept flying and eventually fly over a village. I heard various shouts and I felt a sense of unease. Whirlwind roars and suddenly dives, making an abrupt landing. I noticed as we flew through the village, we flew over a strange metal grate. It was almost like it was meant to hold something. We would have to investigate later. Right now, Whirlwind and I had drwn the attention of many people. The were dressed in black and kept their faces covered. I was very unnerved, but Whirlwind seemed strangely relaxed. He rarely relaxed, even around me. The crowd of...ninjas I guess, parted and a man with an air of superiority approached us.

"Umm... Hi?" I ventured.
His face remained impassive as he glared at me.
"Silence dragon hunter."
Well that is fantastic. There guys are crazier than Berserkers.

"Uhh yeah, no I'm not a hunter. I am actually looking for another Skrill rider. You know, about my height, silver eyes, sharp wit? Possibly sinks dragon hunter ships?"
It was a long shot, but I had a feeling that I could find him here.
"Apologies rider. We were simply not aware that he was a rider, and that he was the one attacking the hunter ships. Come. I will take you to see Queen Mala."

So the rider was here. But who was this Mala?

"That is unnecessary Throk. I am already here."
The crowd parted for a woman with short hair and black and gold armor. This must be Mala. Interesting.

"Anyone who fights the hunters is an ally. You and you friend are welcome here." She smiled warmly.
Well, it would be good to have someone I could trust.

"Thank you. Where is-"

Mala raised a hand, cutting off my question.

"Don't worry. We will soon send both of you on your way. But first, it looks like you need supplies." She motioned for someone to come and one of the many ninja looking people stepped forward.

He led me into the village and soon I had enough supplies to travel for a few days. I waved goodbye as Whirlwind and I took off. Spying the other Skrill rider in the sky, I set off to try and catch up. I was close enough to almost call out when he looked behind him and starts to speed up. He really doesn't want to be around me.
Well, he will have to try very hard to lose me. Whirlwind was an excellent tracker, even in the air.

Little did I know what chaos the rider would bring me.

So Defenders of the Wing. Yay. This was actually pretty long. If you haven't already, go check out Thorir's point of view for this in The Storm Riders.

Oh by the way, happy b-day Xarchive95!
Go check out his story, The Lunar Chronicles!