When Destiny Burns, Ep. 1: A Halo and Inheritance Cycle Crossover

Chapter 4. 6 Operator pt. 1

Did he really want to impose such a fate onto the dragon? The creature that was so deeply bonded to him?

No, he did not. They needed to figure out a way to break the bonds between him and the reptile before they did anything to it. And perhaps...maybe he could find them a different dragon to keep, so that this one could live.

The Spartan decided to call it a day. His shelter on the slope of the mountain was more than sufficient enough for the dragon to sleep in if it curled itself up tightly. Its shoulders now stood as high as his own shoulders. Soon, it would be large enough for a man to ride it.

Not that he would ride the dragon, of course. His weight would probably break the dragon's back –and such an intimate act would mean that he and the reptile had grown closer to each other. He preferred to see the thing as an asset, rather than a person.

As the dragon curled its tail tightly against its body to prepare for the night, the Spartan decided that he wanted to spend a few more hours scouting the terrain like he usually did. He made his way to the other side of the mountain by means of careful climbing and walking and eventually, he was in an optimal position to overlook the next valley.

But there no such valley. The moon stood high in the sky and bathed the land underneath him in a strange, bluish-white light. It looked like he had reached the end of his current mountain-rage, as the plains that lay stretched out before him were surrounded on all sides by other peaks and spikes. Directly in front of him lay a small lake, where a large river ended in. The river ran all the way into the mountains on the other side, where it disappeared into the entrance of a new valley. The largest peaks –the ones that reached into the clouds- stood to his right, while his left was dominated by barren plains that looked like they belonged to the desert.

It seemed that the desert reached into the Beor Mountains in more ways than one.

A glistering light caught his attention and he turned to face the new source of light. Or rather, reflection, as the only light-source in these mountains was the moon. But what he saw was more interesting than any light-source or normal reflection. He could only see what it was by hitting the zooming function in his visor, but once he did, he decided that he had to be going in the right direction.

It was a dragon. Just barely visible due to the moonlight, but the distinctive sparkling that had annoyed him about his own dragon – the glare that shone like a beacon to anything hostile -was very much present in the one he was spotting right now. It looked...blue and grey. The dragon was way bigger than the one he had, that was for sure.

The problem was that he had not seen that dragon before in the Beor Mountains. So, it had either been there the whole time, or it had just flown in. But...shouldn't someone have seen it then?

He turned his gaze over the landscape while the dragon disappeared into the next valley and spotted a small group of figures traveling towards the entrance to the valley. He couldn't yet make out what they were or how many there were, as they were still too far away for him to make their details even with his zoom. The flying reptile had been flying over them...attacking them or escorting them?

He wasn't sure, but the appearance of this dragon was interesting...and if his information was correct, this dragon had to be bonded to the farm-kid. The one that was wanted throughout the empire; the one that the King wanted for some reason.

Was the dragon here to seek out the Varden or to fight it? Had this boy made up his mind yet?

One way or the other, it would be a good choice to follow them. And now that he knew which direction to go –namely not towards the giant peaks- he was one step closer to his goal.