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ᴏɴᴇ➵ ᴅʀᴏɢᴀ ᴄᴇʀᴇᴍᴏɴʏ

*Above is the dress that she wears at the Drôga Ceremony*

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The Drôga ceremony, every child dreams of this day from a young age. The day when you would meet your other half. The day you would meet your dragon.

"Look at this one Sage! The Deriuo, it can spit out poison gas that will cause its victim's brains to slowly die!" Jeramy points at a picture of a horrifically beautiful dragon from the book.

"What's its rankings?" I ask as I pull a tray of muffins from the oven.

"Rank eight, damn I really want one," he flips through the next page "What if you get a level ten? Wouldn't that be so cool."

I let out a soft laugh, walking over I ruffle his hair and look down at his book. "That would be really cool, I don't think my chance of that dragon is high Jer. Also, you better watch your mouth, you don't want Mom to hear you say that word."

Jeramy grumbles something incoherent, but a small smile slowly appears.

Shaking my head I make my way back to the muffins, they seem to have cooled down enough.

"I can't wait to be eighteen, then I'm going to get the best dragon out there!" Jeramy exclaims closing the book with a thud.

"Which one would that be?"

"The Aserdario, duh. Legends say that it breathes ice instead of fire, but it's so cold that it has the same effect."

I feel my stomach do a mini flip at the idea of having a dragon that powerful, a rank ten was the best it could get. They were incredibly rare, they only picked the strongest of humans as their other half.

"Maybe you'll get an Aserdario," Jeramy jumps up from his seat, taking his book with him.

"That's very unlikely that a rank ten would answer my calling Jer if I am lucky maybe I'll get a rank seven."

"As long as it's not a rank one," Jer mumbles as he makes his way towards his room.

I watch as he closes the door, the dragon book still gripped tightly in his hand.

I let out a sigh and look down at the small bracelet on my arm, on it was a colorless jewel. Everyone had some sort of channeling jewel, it is your connection between you and your dragon. 

As I stare down at my colorless Jewel I can't help but feel a power deep inside it. I was not sure if it was my imagination but I felt as if it was calling to me, like somewhere out in the world a dragon had already laid claim to me and it simply waits for me to call back.

If only things were that simple

****

Festive lanterns and lights strung from the trees, admitting a magical glow in the dusk sun. Children ran excitedly around the town square catching glow bugs and waving flags around. A table of pastries and other treats were surrounded by the older children, wishing for a sweet delicacy that the town bakery had made for this special day. Dragons fly in the sky and sit in Lispin trees that tower over our village.

I stand next to my father and mother, watching the festivities go on. I was dressed in a pure white gown, the skirt was flowed down and blew in the light breeze coming from the sea.

My father placed his hand on my shoulder and looked proudly down at me, "you are a strong girl Sage. I am sure you will gain a strong dragon to follow you through the rest of your life."

"Our little girl is going to be a rider" my mother wipes her eyes and reaches down for my hand, clutching it tightly.

I let out a shaky laugh, "Mother please, we don't know if I will be given a dragon higher than rank five. If I do I will be heading to the schools to learn how to ride it, but until then we don't know." I gave my Mother a smile of reassurance, which only caused her to break into more tears and hug me.

I try to act like my insides aren't doing backflips, I hide it behind a calm smile and happy eyes. In truth, I was not calm and was filled with nervous twitches and distant thoughts. A small body nudges my leg and I look down to see my mother dragon, it was an Orpa. Barley five feet long, and rank two. I bent down and stroked its small body, my mother loved this dragon despite its size. But I knew deep inside that the sky called to me, and I wanted to answer it.

"The ceremony is starting Sage! Come on, I want to see your dragon." Jer came running up to me tugging me out of moms grip and rushed me to the town square.

In the middle sat a alter with a gem in the middle, it shimmers a distant white the same as the jewel that sat on my wrist. During the ceremony, the color of the stone will light up based on what dragon you get, for example, an Igario which is a water-based dragon. The ceremony jewel would most likely light up a shade of blue and it would be transferred into your own jewel as you recite your call.

The whole village gathers around, children from the age of one to the elder of the village herself. Elder Esmera makes her way up to the stone and glances over the crowd, everyone hushes down anticipating who would be the first.

"Remy Toursook, your dragon awaits you," Elder Esmera's thin voice travels across the square.

A boy I had seen around town stands up and saunters his way up to the stone, he places his hands confidently onto the stone and starts to repeat his call.

"I call forth my other half, the half that has waited in the shadows for me to become of age. I call forth the dragon that shall stand with me to my dying breath, I call froth Drôga."

The crowd went wild as the stone starts turning to a misty black, and a thundering roar comes from above. A magnificent dragon that oozes shadows off it lands on the ground before Remy. 

"A Shafra, rank nine. Known for turning into pure shadows and for its black fire." Jem whispers in awe.

Remy places his hand onto its head, the creature hesitates before leaning into his touch, once again the crowd cheers. I see his family cheering the loudest, his mother and sisters jump and clap. I gulp down my fear and clap along, I could only hope that I would receive this same response.

"Sage Indra, your dragon awaits you." Elder Esmera motions for me to come up, I shuffle slowly up to the alter. My heart beats frantically, and I swear that everyone could hear its loud pounding.

I place my shaky hands onto the stone and take a deep breath, "I call forth my other half, the half I feel roaring inside me every minute of the day. I-" I took a shaky breath," I ask to fly in the sky with my half, to soar above the ground and taste the wind. I call for my Drôga."

I stare down at the stone as it changes colors, it turns to different shades of all colors and never seems to stay on one for long. My breathing starts to rush, this wasn't supposed to happen. Its suppose to turn into one color not switch around, and look up at my family. My father's brows are stuck together as he watches with confusion, my mother's grip tightens around my younger brothers shoulder. And Jer... oh Jer. His face reflects mine, worry shows all over as his hand's fiddle with the hem of his shirt.

I look down to finally see that the stone has settled, it turns into a dark green. One that reminds me, to my dismay, of vomit.

A heavy flap of wings come from above, and the dread in my stomach released for second before I see a breathing sausage mixed with dragon land down in front of me. 

The world crashed around me as I stare at my dragon, it was the ugly color of vomit. Its body was the shape of a sausage and its tiny wings could barely keep up its own body weight.

This could not be my dragon...

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