Having a dragon hanging around the camp was the weirdest thing I had ever experienced. Vascar followed me wherever I went and watched everything I did with wide curious eyes. He listened to me during our long rides. I told him about my family, my home, things I have gotten myself into, and I even told him about my father. My birth father. Soon he was able to communicate with me through images and feelings, but he couldn't use words.

I often found myself ranting to him about certain things, mostly my parents. Now that I was gone, I felt slightly bad about leaving without saying goodbye now. Who knows the next time I will be able to see them now? Perhaps when we arrive I should write a letter to them. Vascar understood how I was feeling, being connected to my mind as he was.

I had started to grow accustomed to having our mental link, it was comforting, though I still felt slightly exposed. Vascar was so different from me, so alien, yet I kind of liked it. His view on life was amazing compared to mine. He found joy in the simplest things. It made my day just to sit and watch him.

For most of the ride he rode on my shoulder, his claws digging into my shoulder slightly to keep himself balanced. For a time, he rode on Manco's head, most of his body on his neck and his head laying in between his ears. It was a sight like no other.

The other elves loved him as well. Everything he did caused one of them to exclaim, "isn't he wonderful!" Or laugh their tinkling laugh. Leilani seemed especially fond of Vascar, always scratching his head and laughing at the way he hummed. Though she wasn't transfixed like the others, just caring of him.

When we finally stopped to make camp for what Favnir said will probably be the last time, Vascar trailed behind me often making squeaks like he did inside the egg. I finally ended up giving in and picked him up, placing him on my shoulder. He seemed satisfied as he stared out at everything around him.

Once everything was in place, and I had laid down on the ground and covered up, preparing to fall asleep as soon as I can, I felt something wiggle its way under the covers and right up to my face. Vascar's head pops out of the covers and he lays down right up against me. Wrapping my arm around him I lay my head down again, content as his humming sends me into a deep sleep.

~*~

Excitement courses through my veins when I awake in the morning. Vascar has crawled out from under the covers and is laying right on top of me. I laugh sleepily as he jumps off and pushes his snout into my shoulder, telling me to get up.

Pushing myself up off the ground, I pick up Vascar and hold him in my arms, cradling him close to my chest. All the elves are sitting up already and I can't help but wonder again if they ever sleep.

"Good day young rider, this should be the last time we have to pack up camp, I expect we shall be arriving in Ilirea not long after the sun reaches its highest point", Draumrhjarta says, picking up the stuff around him.

I only nod as I go about packing all of my stuff, eager to depart and see the legendary home of the riders, besides Vroengarg, which I hope to see one day as well.

Vascar makes things difficult. After squealing and squirming to get out of my arms, he starts grabbing different things of mine and running around the camp, making a huge game of chase. After the fifth time of chasing after him and grabbing my leather leggings, I pick him up once more, place him on my shoulder, and place on image of "stay" through our mental link. He looks at me with those wide playful eyes, but otherwise doesn't move. It was fun chasing him around, but we can do that when we reach Ilirea.

After saddling Manco, I grab Vascar off my shoulder and place him in the front section of the saddle before swinging on myself. Instead of climbing back up onto my shoulder, he turns around and crawls into my lap, curling up in a ball and letting a puff of smoke roil out his nose. I smile and hold onto the reigns with one hand, keeping my other hand free to scratch Vascar's head.

I've given up trying to ask the elves any questions during our rides, they never reveal a thing. All they tell me is that my masters will tell me all I need to know. The only one who actually seems to understand is Leilani. She doesn't tell me anything either, but the way she talks is different from the others, more understanding. She usually rides back by me more, and we talk about other things. She tells me stories of great dragon riders and their experiences. Some of the tales seem so extravagant and heroic that I wonder if they really happened, for any one person and dragon to accomplish is legendary!

One was the story of Uric and his dragon Terrato, they took out a whole horde of Urgals who were attacking a human settlement, they took them down singlehandedly! Looking down at Vascar, I wonder if someday we shall be able to do that. He also listened to the story, and when Leilani spoke of Terrato's abilities, he sent mental pictures of him doing stuff like that one day. He seemed so pleased that he puffed up his chest and lets out a very ferocious squeak to Manco. It sends me into a fit of giggles and Leilani smiles a half smile.

A league away, I notice a river running along the horizon. When I point this out to Leilani, she nods her head then says, "that is the southernmost point of the Ramr River. We must circumnavigate the point then go north. Which means we shall be arriving in Ilirea soon."

I could hardly wait, and I could feel excitement radiating from Vascar as well. Soon we would be walking the same halls as the legends, training with their masters. It was a dream come true.

Vascar turns and looks up at me, presenting an image that he feels the same. His ways of communicating were difficult at time, but I got the point. I always came to the point sooner or later, and even though he was only a day old, he was improving on the way he put things. He started to understand more and more actual words and what they mean to the outside world, putting different images together to help me understand.

When we reach the river, we are already far enough south that we would not half to backtrack. As we ride along at a steady gallop, I feel my stomach start to clench with nerves. I've never had much experience with nervousness, so the butterflies in my stomach are quite unexpected. Vascar is also excited. As soon as we reach a distance where we cannot see the end of the river anymore, he can't sit still! He starts jumping from horse to horse, as we are still riding. The elves take great joy in this laughing and smiling the whole time.

After making full circuit he goes back to my shoulder and starts sending me excited images nonstop. I laugh and send him an image of patience. He brushes it aside as his whole body quivers with excitement.

It might have just been my imagination but he already looked like he grew a few inches since he had hatched, being slightly larger that my forearm now. But I could be wrong.

The saddle starts to irritate me more and more, now that I am so close to my destination. I end up standing up in the saddle almost every ten minutes. I am starting to feel like Vascar, unable to sit still.

"You are excited young rider", Draumrhjarta remarks with a smirk as I stand up for the tenth time, making it more of a statement than a question.

"Is it that obvious?", I tease back staring determinedly back at him. He seemed different from the other elves, more raw, more human-like. He showed more emotions and was not so mysterious.

He also looked different. Where as the other elves have green or brown eyes his were a bright blue. His hair was such a dark blue it almost looked black, but when he moved, I could see the color shimmer in the sun. His face seemed less streamlined then the others, less graceful and more manly.

Muttering a word to his horse, he guides it over towards Manco. He starts up a conversation about absolutely nothing, which keeps me laughing the whole time. It isn't until we start up a small hill that he cuts off and mid sentence and stares straight ahead. I stare curiously at him for a few moments then stare ahead as well. What were they all looking at?

As Manco's front hooves reach the peak of the hill, I can't help but let out a loud gasp. Below the small hill, sits the glorious city of Ilirea. It seemed so perfect shining in the sunlight, that I felt like it was something out of the legends. As if a piece of heaven had fallen and created this city below.

As I turn my gaze upward slightly, I notice a rainbow of colors flying over the city. Dragons of all sizes and shades are dipping and diving above the city walls. Sometimes some will clash together for a moment, but it is not long before they separate and fly in different directions once more. Vascar gazes intently at his brethren above and utters a longing squeak before our horse set off towards the city below.

Ilirea lies beneath a great sheet of rock and for one absurd moment I wonder if it would fall but realized they must of taken precautions before, not to mention its sheer size would stop it from falling. Atop the cliff there sits multiple dragons as well. I could not believe the massive size of some of the dragons swooping above us. Was Vascar going to be that big one day. Looking at the tiny dragon beside me, I start to think that is impossible.

As we reach the towering gates of the city, two dragons detach themselves from the ranks of them flying above us. The smaller one on the left is a light purple lavender color. The second one is a massive steel grey dragon.

Landing with a massive *THWUMP* that makes the horses prance, the two dragons, even the smaller one, tower over us. The larger grey one snorts and I see tongues of flame swirling in its nostrils. The purple dragon walks over towards Leilani and pushes its head against her hand. I watch this curiously before I notice that there is a rider descending the grey dragon.

It is a human. He has brown curly locks, slightly pointed ears, though not as prominent as an elf, and warm brown eyes as he spreads his arms wide in welcome.

"Greetings young rider! I am Alaric, rider of Lokor. And greetings to our fellow elves! And of course our other rider Leilani-", he says. I whip my head around to stare at Leilani in shock, she only smiles back sheepishly. Then the man continues, "here you shall be trained into our ranks. Our duty is to guard and protect this land. Work hard and you shall excel through our ranks."

He pauses, then walks forward, heading straight towards me. He stops then bends down so he is eye level is Vascar who is sitting erect on my knee.

"And who might this be?", he says kindly, gazing at Vascar with care.

"His name is Vascar", I tell him softly, I've never really talked to someone with so much power before. It is very intimidating.

After I said Vascar's name, the massive dragon, easily the size of three houses, lowers his head and places it right in front of the horses, staring at me through one steely silver eye. Then a massive conscious presses against mine and says, 'greetings rider. I am Lokor. Welcome to the city of Ilirea and I hope your stay here is enjoyable. Train and study hard and you will do well.'

"You can talk!", I say out loud and through the mental link.

A great plume of smoke billows out his nose as he replies, 'of course I can. What did you think dragons were just dumb animals?'

Quickly thinking, I stutter out, through mental link only this time, 'n-n-no! I-I meant no disrespect! I-I just thought since-since Vascar could not speak, th-that no dragons could! I'm sorry Elder!'

His steely eyes seemed to soften a bit as he said, in a calmer tone, 'Hatchlings are not able to talk. Not until we are almost a month matured do we really learn the ability to speak.'

"Thank you Elder", I say out loud and through my mind. He puffs out a tiny flicker of flame then pulls his head away from mine.

Alaric turns back to me then says, "you will meet in the grand hall tomorrow to find out who your masters shall be. Then you may start your training that day, it all depends on who you get chosen by. But, that is the next day! Today, you shall spend your time exploring Ilirea! Go and see the sights and enjoy yourself!", then, he pauses once more before spreading his arms wide once more and saying, "And welcome to Ilirea!"

As if to put his word in, there comes a loud roar from Lokor. Dragons sure do know how to get a point across. This is going to be fun.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

AN: YOU GUYS BETTER LOVE ME! TWO UPDATES TWO DAYS IN A ROW? YEAH IT'S A BLOODY MIRACLE!!!!!!!!!! SOOOOOOO NEXT CHAPTER I THINK YOU ARE GOING TO REALLY LIKE :) NO SPOILERS BUT YOU MIGHT SEE (or read about) SOME FAMILIAR PEOPLE ;) ;) ;) SHHHH IT'S A SECRET!!!!!! SOOOO PLEASE

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