Incantato

Today is Bronzewind Dragon Rider Academy graduation day, the day trainees go into the Hatchery and come out Incantato with their life partners, the dragons. It is a highly celebrated day around all parts of the continent in every kingdom, because it is the day more Incantato are put out into the world to protect the people from horrible things. The trainees are rounded up from birth by the few Incantato who can sense magic in others. When a child is born the Incantato will come and if magic is sensed they will take the child away to Bronzewind; though they don’t even have to do this since Incantato are usually born with blood-red eyes, a trait of their heritage. It is considered a huge betrayal if you hide your child or do not let the Incantato take it.

Once taken, the children are trained to withstand the roughest conditions, wield their magic and an assortment of weapons, learn to read, write, speak quite a few different languages, math, concepts of war, combat situations, the history of Incantato and Dragons, etc. Few graduate though and sometimes a rider does not find a dragon. Both conditions lead to them being kicked from the academy and usually sent to one of the capitals to protect the royalty. Out of my class of 30 people, 11 graduated, and most likely at least 1 will not find a dragon. I just hope that 1 person isn’t me.

I stood in my closet-like room of which I know every crevice, crack, and dark patch of the bland stone walls and wood floor. In the little room I have a lumpy bed, pillow, and rough brown blanket of which I had replaced with a thick red cotton one I had gotten from my home in Rosamere, one of the only things my parents had sent with me when I was taken away by the school. The only thing I had to put my items in was my huge white trunk lined in golden paint. A small window let in the only light and that completed my plain room. I tugged the red sleeves of the finest trainee gown I have. It is a red dress besides the black border along the gown and separating the white puffed tops of the red sleeves and the gown with its long train. I scuffed my black slippers on the ground annoyed at the sun for not coming up fast enough. I had awoken long before sunrise out of excitement of the ceremony that started then. I stared out of the window angrily at the sun peeking above the distant green tree-lined horizon.

I went out into the hall and to the right to the bathroom I shared with my neighbors. I grabbed my brush from the little desk and brushed roughly through my long raven hair for the millionth time in the last 30 minutes. I glared at my reflection in the basin of water in the middle of the desk and tried to will myself to stop fidgeting. I glared into my dark red eyes angrily and they brought unbidden thoughts of normalcy. All of the students here might wish to be great and mighty but we all wanted to be normal too. We didn’t want to be stared at like some kind of weird fungus or completely avoiding us and running away whenever we come near. I remember going on a field trip when I was 7 to see the capital of Argent, Ericastle. I had been so excited until we got there and everybody had moved smoothly out of our way trying not to stare or glare and keep their children away. When we had gone to the castle to eat lunch we had our own dining room. The king had only said hi to us and that was it, he didn’t even seem to want to look at us. The Prince had only been 8 at the time and he had actually seemed genuinely interested in us but the King practically hid him from us, almost like he was scared we would kill him with our eyes or something.

The way we were treated made me wonder why exactly people don’t like us and I still don’t have the answer to the question. The teachers hadn’t even noticed anything wrong. I looked up from the basin and shook my head angrily. Today is a happy day, don’t think about those stupid people, I thought to myself. I let my thoughts stray to the Hatchery of which nobody had been allowed to see into. What does the Hatchery look like? What does the Council look like? What will my dragon look like? Will a dragon hatch for me? Will I become a legend Incantato like my Grandfather? Where will I go for my first job? What will my first job be? All of the questions buzzed through my mind with ferocity and as I walked back to my room slowly I realized that this would be a big turning point in my life.