A LAND OF FIRE AND SCALES: Keeper of the Stars (1)

Chapter 1

5000 Years Ago

There were always dragons in the world. Roaming the skies, prowling the forests, and slipping through deserts like pale ghosts.

Unfortunately for them, there were also the Humans.

The supreme leader of the dragons, the Great Mother Azula, had wanted to make peace with them. What was the point of starting a war when the dragons had all that they needed?

The Humans thought otherwise.

'Dragons are demonic creatures,' they said. 'The world would be better off without them.'

Of course, at the heart of these claims lay fear. The fear that the dragons would one day be able to control them, be able to take over their race, and ultimately, exterminate them.

Little did they know that they were the demons in this picture.

The wars started quietly at first. Raids on dragon nurseries at night, and then the first dragon officials began to disappear. 

The dragons were upset, but reserved themselves.

But when a group of human assassins attempted to slaughter Azula, they knew that they had to act.

Azula sent out a flock of her best soldiers to the heart of the problem: the place where the human governors resided.

It was an ugly night when the parliament was set alight. The soldiers were remorseful, but what else could be done? The humans would not listen to reason, and if the dragons hadn't acted, what could have become of them?

After that incident was when the real war began.

Humans poured through towns and slit the throats of as many dragons as they could see, even the innocent hatchlings. Cities were in ruins. Everyone's world was in chaos.

Azula had thought that her dragons were strong enough to defeat the humans. But day by day, the humans' armies grew in number, while more and more dragon eggs were crushed beneath human feet. 

Knowing that there was no hope left for the dragon race, she flew to the farthest corner of the earth and created an underground bunker where she stored hundreds of leftover dragon eggs. She stayed in that bunker along with two of her closest confidants for hundreds of years, raising thousands of hatchlings. That simple bunker eventually grew into a secret city where dragons could thrive again, and Azula knew that her mission was complete.

She passed away along with her two friends, and together they were known as the Three Greats.

The Present

The toilet was on fire, and it was all Fluffy's fault.

'Crap! Mum!' I screamed as the stench of burning plastic began to leach through the air. 'Opal! Somebody! Fluffy's done it again!'

A head peeked around the corner of the bathroom. 

'Jaylin, what's going on?' my sister, Opal, screeched as the toilet lid began to sizzle and spit pustules of plastic.

'Your naughty bond-sibling, that's what,' I snapped, thrusting a finger at the adorably tiny creature in the corner.

She was covered from head to claw in ebony-black scales, with bright yellow eyes and clean pink talons. She looked far too cute to set a toilet on fire, but we knew better.

Because Fluffy was a dragon.

And a very obstreperous one at that.

'Get the extinguisher!'

Opal's blue eyes widened.

'Hurry!' I growled. She was my older sister, but personally, I was much more capable than she was.

She nodded slowly before swivelling around and skittering down the corridor. 

Cripes.

She raced back into the room a few moments later, thrusting the extinguisher into my hand. Without asking her why I was supposed to do this - considering that Fluffy was her dragon, I aimed the device at the flaming loo and sprayed the white foam all over it, not daring to stop until I heard the fire die out with a hiss.

'Well, Opal,' I began, turning towards her, 'why weren't you supervising Fluffy?'

'Because I -' she began, before breaking off. 'Look, I'm sorry, okay?'

My shoulders sagged. 'This is the third time she's set something alight in the house. Last time, I recall it was the sofa. While someone was still sitting on it.' I gave her a withering glare. 'Why can't you train her properly, so she becomes like Mum and Dad's dragons? In fact, why can't she be as well-behaved as any random dragon in Dracona City?'

Her face scrunched up. 'She's just a hatchling, and I only got her eight months ago.'

'Ten,' I interrupted.

'She's still learning the ropes,' Opal argued.

I raised an eyebrow sceptically. 'When I get my hatchling, you can bet that it won't take nearly as long for it to learn the ropes.'

Because I was going to get my dragon. Very soon, in fact.

When the summer holidays ended, I would be going to Dracona Academy - Dracona City's only school where high-school students could be given their very own dragon eggs to raise and live alongside as siblings.

When my time came, I would show Opal how dragon-raising was done. In fact, I would show my entire family the fact that I was going to be the most skilled dragonrider in the land.

I would show them all.

'Take her out of the toilet,' I told her eventually. 'Before she wrecks something else.' I loved Fluffy, but I was definitely not in the mood to have her tear up the toilet paper as well.

Opal nodded slowly and patted her thigh, trying to get Fluffy's attention, but the hatchling remained blissfully unaware of her existence.

'Bribe her with food,' I snapped. 'By the Great Mother, can't you do anything right?' I fished out an old strip of cow hide from my pocket - only the Ancestors knew where that came from - and offered it to the dragon.

Foodfoodfood! she screeched through our telepathic link, and shot towards it like a bird to the sky.

'And that,' I said, dusting off my hands, 'is how you get a hatchling to pay attention.'

Opal offered me a weak smile. 'You do know dragons, that's for sure.'

I smirked. 

'I'm perfectly aware of that.'