Wings of Fate *Discontinued*

Chapter 8

"So Kira," Ruby asked, "What does your dragon look like?"

"Well, she's,-" Kira responded, but she was cut off before she could finish speaking when her dragon came out of nowhere and abruptly landed in front of the bench they were on.

Kira was so startle by her dragon that she almost fell off the bench, just barely catching herself. Once Kira regained her balance, she said, "That's her, so I don't think I need to explain how she looks."

Amber interjected in Kira's mind, shouting, "Ha! I scared you!"

"Yeah, yeah. You got me," responded Kira.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Kira told Amber. "I've just been wondering why we can talk to each other but, apparently, no one else can."

"Wait, they can't talk to their dragons? Are you sure about this?"

"If you want, I can ask them."

"I thought that it was normal for a bond to be made between a dragon and a rider. This all came instinctually to me, so I don't know anything about anyone else, or even about myself for that matter."

"I'll ask Ruby. She might know more than us," Kira told Amber.

Taking her eyes off Amber and turning to Ruby, Kira asked, "Ruby, what do you know about the dragon and rider bond?"

"Well, a dragon and a rider are bonded when the dragon hatches. A dragon can't hatch without the magic of a rider, and a rider can't live past 20 years without the help of a dragon's magic. A dragon without a rider's magic becomes unstable and goes mad, while a rider without a dragon will die as long as they don't have a dragon to keep the mana inside them stable. This process of keeping each other stable is widely referred to a bond, but it isn't a physical manifestation of any kind. The only issue with this is that if the rider doesn't have enough magic to keep the bond at any moment, the bond will become unstable and will react as if they had never bonded, driving the dragon insane and killing the rider."

"Have there ever been cases of, um... a dragon and a rider being able to communicate using words?"

"That's a strange question. Now that I think about it, I've read something about that in a book somewhere. It was a couple centuries old, and it said something about how royal dragons could supposedly communicate with their rider using magic..."

"Royalty? I'm not royalty...," said Amber, "At least, I don't think I'm royalty..."

"It's all just folklore though. It's not possible for anyone to communicate with a dragon using words. We can communicate using feelings, but that's all."

Razz jumped into the conversation, saying, "Is it possible for someone who isn't bonded to a dragon to communicate with one, even if it's through their feelings?"

"I'm afraid not, Razz," Ruby said. "Riders are the only one who can communicate with dragons, and even that's limited."

Joseph and appeared out of nowhere with his dragon, saying, "So, what are you talking about?"

Ruby was startled by this, almost instantly shouting, "Where the heck did you come from, startled ruby! If I hadn't recognized you, you would've been on the ground with a knife to your neck!"

"Geez, I'm sorry," mumbled Joseph, "I was just testing out a new spell..."

"It's fine... I'm just a little on edge today."

"Anyway, this is my dragon, Shade!"

Kira turned her attention from Joseph to the large, black dragon standing next to him. Every part of Shade's body was a sleek dark blue color, except for the sclera of his eye and his pure white tail.

Shade was nearly twice the size of Amber, but she knew the reason for this. This was because dragons had strange growth patterns compared to other species. Most dragons grow quickly for 2 weeks, until they reach the size of a large horse. After that, they would grow for another 2 weeks until they were a little smaller than that of a pickup truck. After that, they would grow at a very slow rate for another 11 months until they were fully grown. The amount that a dragon grew during the course of those months was different for every dragon, but most dragons have almost no visible size change during that period.

Joseph was around 20 years old, so Kira knew that he had his dragon for around 4 years. This meant that Shade was finished growing, and that he was larger than Amber for that reason.

Ruby said, "Hey Kira, can I talk to you alone for a moment?"

"Sure, Ruby," Kira responded.

A few minutes later, once everyone else had left so that they could speak alone, Kira asked Ruby, "So, what do you need?"

"I was wondering about something. You keep spacing out sometimes and I was wondering if you're okay."

Kira sighed, unsure if she should tell Ruby that she could talk to Amber. She weighed her options for a moment, and then made a decision.

"Ruby, I have something to tell you."