Cody froze in place, his heart hammering in his chest as he gasped out, "Death?"

                Doubtless nodded solemnly and answered, "Yes, death. It is the most feared of all elements, and for good reason. Those who control the element of death may hone their skills most often for evil; in twisting the minds of others to their will and command; in raising fallen warriors to fight once more; and even in twisting the natures of other elements."

                "Twisting the nature of other elements?" Omen asked, fear and confusion clouding his features suddenly.

                "To put it simply, using magic is like talking, for someone who is sworn to tell the truth," the instructor explained. "You and I and most magicians are sworn to tell the truth and cast spells how we see them. But death magicians are different. Where we all give the exact truth, they stretch the truth as much as they can without shattering it entirely. I could say that dragons are like giant lizards with wings that breathe fire and still be telling the truth, whereas a death wizard could just as easily say that a dragon is a lizard, because they see the connection."

                "Kind of like the poison spell Dongoithu put on Autumn?" Avalsmokes asked.

                Doubtless cocked her head in confusion and Cody explained, "A death magician, as you say, put some sort of spell on his sister that we were told has something to do with life magic as well."

                Doubtless nodded, "Ah yes, I remember now, the spell of poisoning. Only death wizards use it, but you have to see the connection to do what you want. Life is the essence of healing, of growing, and of rebirth. Somehow or another, very, very few magicians were able to turn that power into exactly the opposite, but they had to have seen some sort of connection. No one outside the element of death has ever been able to figure out how someone can make a plant grow by killing it, or kill a plant by growing it."

                Then Inferno nudged Cody's mind and just as he began thinking the same thing as the dragon, he said, "If wheat grows up among thorns it will choke and die, and if trees grow tall enough, they steal the sunlight from the saplings so that they perish. Oppositely, if you kill all the weeds the plant will grow strong."

                "So if Dongoithu focused his healing power on, say, his own troops, it could build a sort of pool of sorts of an opposite reaction," Cody thought amazed.

                "And while most magicians release that opposite power without realizing, death magicians can refocus it on another target, like killing two birds with one stone by getting two tasks done in one spell," Inferno agreed.

                "Do you think we could have stumbled upon the answer, just like that?" Cody asked in amazement.

                Inferno thought for a moment before answering, "Perhaps we did, but I think not, at least not exactly. This was too specific an instance. In any case I am sure we have uncovered something of immense value...if it should turn up in the wrong hands I daresay it would be a great danger to us all. Best to leave well enough alone for now, I should think, lest we should all be put in danger."

                "Agreed," Cody thought after a second.

                "Cody? Are you alright?" Omen asked concernedly.

                Cody looked up suddenly and nodded slowly before answering, "I'll be fine, it's just a lot to grasp, considering the enemy that caused us so much grief has more in common with me than I first thought."

                "If you don't mind me saying," Thoughtful interrupted, "I believe it would be best if we moved on to announcing your new rank. If your mentors approve, I would like to say that you seemed to pass with flying colors, and starting first thing tomorrow you can start training. Before you ask, you can now leave this room without our supervision and come and go as you please, as long as it's not after dark or during your lessons. Is it agreed?"

                The dragons, humans, wolf, and mentors all nodded and muttered their agreement and Doubtful said, "I think it would be best if we began to first work on magic. While dangerous, these apprentices do not have our ability to change forms and they are brand new to both our realm and our world. They'll need magic."

                "Then why not let me train them first?" their weapons master announced. "Learning to use their muscle and their weapons is just as useful."

                "They have a basic knowledge of weapons," Doubtful argued, "and most of the things they'll fight here need to be met with some sort of magic protection. I only need them to have basic instruction, and from there they can practice and all but instruct themselves."

                Thoughtful held up a hand to stop the argument and all went silent. "I agree master Doubtful, and with you as well Fearless. I already have a basic schedule worked out. Tomorrow all of them, besides Ashheart, will be required to attend a lesson in the basics of magic in this hall. The following day the mounts, if you will pardon my use of the term, will join Playful and Mushroom here for battle training while the humans will follow Fearless wherever he wants to take them to teach his own lesson. The day after that they will all join Playful to learn some new tricks and techniques for fighting in the air or helping people fight in the air while you yourself are grounded. On your last day of this level Doubtless will help Cody, Inferno, and Destiny hone their natural skills while Ashheart and Omen join me in my study, with Aval being free to do as he pleases."

                There was some grumbling from the mentors, but for the most part they agreed on the schedule. After a few attempts at doing the gesture of respect, each person and dragon and wolf retired to their quarters and began preparing for the day ahead.

~

                The next morning Cody awoke first once more, though far earlier than the time he was required to. He accurately guessed it to be three hours before dawn, and no matter how hard he tried he could not fall back asleep. A cold sweat ran down his head, neck, and back, and his clammy hands knit together and un-knit themselves nervously several times over.

                The thing that haunted his sleep was a memory; the memory of his first use of magic, which he was supposed to learn not five hours after he woke that day. It was not so much the magic itself that scared him, it was why and how he used his magic. He had thought that Inferno had been murdered, run through with the dagger of Merikh's servant Dongoithu.

                Cody remembered the scene more clearly as he thought more about it: Inferno collapsing to the ground as his scarlet blood pooled over the smooth stone. Most vivid in Cody's memory was the image of Inferno's vivid blue eyes growing dull; the light in their depths fading as the dragon looked upon his rider once more; a direct reflection of the pain in Cody's soul. As the last breath past Inferno's lips, Cody turned on Merikh and released a torrent of flame so massive it bathed the whole room in flame and Cody lost consciousness.

                Inferno had lived, of course, but Cody suddenly couldn't stop thinking about the pain he had felt. If it had really happened, Cody would have been far too late to save Inferno. And yet after an hour or so of dwelling on the memory of his dragon's supposed death, he began to think once more about the magic. It was obvious, after living with the Dreamkeepers, that magic wasn't fueled by blind fury. Cody hadn't even tried to use it, so how did he?

                From under his bed Cody pulled out the pair of gloves that a smith had made for him in Morgran, the biggest city he had seen in Semiones. On the back of each one was a single scale; tiny in comparison to Inferno's new scales. The rider had all but forgotten the gloves since he had set out to save his friends, and yet there they were, and according to Bluescales, the scales were the key to magic use. But now, Cody was convinced that Heyrone knew little of magic, so was it true or did he stumble upon the real answer by accident and mistake it for something else?

                Cody looked over the scales carefully in the dim light and then quietly retreated from the room and looked at them from the clearer light of a torch. Aside from the obvious, Cody found nothing unusual with the scales. In a last effort he slid the gloves onto his hands, but felt no difference.

                With a sigh, Cody turned around and started walking. He walked along the corridor to the massive hall where he would be training, largely without realizing it. The room was as bright as a summer day with the summer sun hanging almost directly above to shine down on the expertly crafted trees on the floor. A work of magic, Cody remembered as he sat against the wall. And all around the room there was no evidence of the track that had been made by magic the previous day.

                Cody started, however, when he saw Doubtful standing not ten yards from him, just watching. When no one said anything, Cody looked down at his left boot uncomfortably and began picking off flakes of mud with his gloved hands.

                "You're troubled," Doubtful pointed out, making Cody smirk.

                "If that's as much as you're going to teach me I think I'll be going; I don't need someone to point out what I already knew an hour ago," Cody said in frustration.

                Doubtful did not respond to Cody's spite as the rider would have respected from a mentor, but instead told Cody smoothly, "The art of magic itself is not something one can teach, which is where Heyrone was wrong. He believed all this time that everything he needed to know could be learned from books, and by looking for the answers in his books, he has forgotten to look within himself. Things like magic come from within.

                "When you first met me you were kind and courteous. But now, as you sit in frustration, you snap at me. Other people have snapped at me at first and then act nice when they see fit later or learn who I am. Magic is like that; it differs from person to person, just as feelings and virtues and values do. I have no doubt that my approach to magic will be different from yours, and so, I cannot teach it to you. Would it make sense to you if I said that you need to think of a blade of grass?"

                "What does a blade of grass have to do with magic?" Cody asked in surprise.

                Doubtful smiled suddenly and answered, "Nothing at all, to you at least. But to me, a blade of grass resembles something worth fighting for. It resembles all the little things in life, and all the simplistic beauty of nature that I may harness for my magic."

                And just like that Cody realized that without meaning to, Doubtful made the tiniest of breezes ruffle his hair, exactly the same as the summer breeze he enjoyed with his friends the very summer before he met Inferno. Cody looked at his hands, expecting some sort of tingling sensation or anything at all to come to his fingers at the thought of the grass. But nothing came.

                "Do you see it, Blackscales? You need to find the power within yourself. It is not as hard as you may think, but find what is important to you, and then think of a way to harness it into your power."

                Instantly Cody remembered Inferno and how happy the dragon made him, and yet nothing came to him. There was no special sensation, no magic, and no special feeling besides what he already felt. He looked back up at Doubtful, and without a word his mentor pulled him upright and gently pulled the gloves off his hands and tossed them carelessly to the side. He brought Cody into the middle of the room and gestured for him to close his eyes.

                "Do not think too hard," Doubtful murmured. "Think about what is important to you. Inferno is important of course, but you need to find something for your own. A feeling of wisdom or greatness that you've felt above all other feelings."

                Cody took a deep breath and thought for what felt like mere moments, but must have been close to an hour. His mind kept wondering to Inferno, but he was soon able to put the dragon to the back of his mind, hard as it was. He thought about his childhood; playing with his three closest friends in the world as they wandered over fields and plains or played in the forest brush. A tear crept into the corner of his eye as he thought about how happy he had been with Autumn and Aval and Omen by his side.

                A sudden surge of anger flowed through his limbs: an anger at Inferno for coming into his life to start the journey that led him and his friends to the point of hatred and anger, and especially the bond that had been brutally severed by Autumn and Micah. His was angry at Argos and Heyrone for bringing Inferno's egg to him, and for leading him around Semiones. He hated Micah as well, for stealing one of his closest friends, and even turning her against him.

                But then Cody remembered the journey itself through Semiones. He didn't truly hate Inferno, nor was he angry with him. He was the one part of his journey that remained constant. But remembering Doubtful's advice, Cody put him at the back of his mind again. Instead he looked at himself and his own changes through the journey. A world was opened up to him that he never could have imagined, and not just the Hidden Mountain Pass, but all of Semiones. He realized that there was nothing for him in his tiny nameless hometown. And yet he did not like the wandering so much either, where he had to view the human cities and buildings.

                What Cody really needed was to roam the open air. On Inferno's back was where he felt his journey would end, however it ended. Whether he was slain, or passed into someplace unknown, the bite of frozen wind on his face, the thrill of being with the one being that had always been there with him even before they had met, and the feeling that he hadn't even thought of before as he flew came to him: the feeling that he did not deserve the happiness. He was destined to live his life on a small farm, and yet something had changed that and he was allowed the miracle of being a dragon rider. And perhaps, one day, a Dragon Warrior, with Inferno at his side through their adventures together, when all else was insubstantial and faded and changed all the time.

                I am a dragon rider, Cody thought to himself as he pondered what that meant in general: not that it meant a man and his loyal pet, but with he and Inferno, it meant a change above all others; what he had become, and who he and Inferno could become, together.

                I am Blackscales.

                Cody felt a shiver run down his spine as the thought enveloped his mind and his being. He suddenly opened his eyes and saw that he was in a dream...or so it appeared. There was white all around him, and in front of him was a dragon; the most magnificent dragon he had seen in his entire life, though he had only seen four. He could tell right away that it was a female. Her beauty was above that of any human or creature he had ever seen, with scales of ever-changing colors and eyes of endless silver. She was about twice Inferno's size and her head was a bit more angular, but otherwise she seemed no different from other dragons.

                The strange dragon brought her head down to eye level with Cody and a sort of understanding passed between them a moment before she spoke with her thoughts, "Welcome, my son, to the realm of beginning. I am Avira, the first dragon. My mate and I were the first creatures to walk in Mrana Akano Furista, and our grandson's grandsons after many millennia created the world of Semiones where man was born."

                "What is this? Why am I here?"

                "All will be answered soon enough, Little One," Avira told him gently. "I am proud of you and your partner of soul. I cannot tell you much, but I must say that my world is in danger and you must save it."

                "What do you mean?" Cody asked.

                Avira smiled at him, showing more of her graceful beauty before she answered, "I have been with you and my dear inferno since before anyone can remember. I have walked with you through valleys of despair and over mountains of joy. I am the one who created the prophecy of Dreamwalker, and I am the one who first told it to you when you walked in the halls of my people."

                Cody gasped. "That was you!? What does it mean? What do I have to do? Why are you here?"

                "Hush little one, banish these questions from your mind. I know all that you ask, and all that you have yet to ask. Peace."

                Avira crept away a few steps and Cody followed until a silver pool came into sight. Avira dipped her nose into the pool and her scales shimmered before resuming their normal flowing pattern. Then the dragon turned to Cody again.

                "Come, Little One. War is approaching, and I must give you the gift of magic if you are to survive it. Blackscales will save the Dreamkeepers, and the dragons. In the dawn of time our races were separated, and it was a long time later that we found the need for unity. Now that we are separated there is nothing left. Do you know why I created the riders?"

                "No, of course not."

                "I created them so that they might keep the peace and unity between our races, but I have found that dragons and riders easily corrupt each other. I am sorry for you, and that you lost your friend. But when I realized that you and Inferno had such intertwining souls, I knew there would be hope. I have tried to keep the peace until you could return, but Merikh has thrown everything out of balance. His actions are threatening to bring the whole world to war. The exact purpose of the riders was truly to keep the world of the dead at bay, and the world of the living in existence. But Merikh has destroyed this balance, and Whitescales is delaying you in stopping him. Merikh's strength is returning, though I cannot find where or how. Cody, know this; his strength nearly equals my own at this point."

                "What can I do?" Cody asked, determined to help.

                Avira smiled before answering, "Do nothing now, my child. I came now only to alert you of my existence, pardon me for worrying you. I needed to give you your magic in person, so that you may be prepared for when I come again."

                Cody was puzzled for a long while until he asked, "So you would like me to sit on my ass and do nothing until you lead me blindly into the darkness to fight Merikh alone?"

                "Oh no my dear son! You will not sit idle and watch the world crumble! Mind you, I came only to warn you of my presence. Many years lie between then and now. Merely use these years wisely. You will stray from the right path as all others do, and there is much you have yet to learn before you can embark on the journey. I am learning much for myself, and all will be shown to you when the time has come. When you are worried or afraid, watch for me, and I will be with you, my son. Do not speak of me to anyone but Inferno, for I have revealed myself to him as well.

"I shall watch over you and guide you where I may. Use this dream as a meeting and forget that I have said the rest, the fault is all mine. Just remember that at your darkest moment, remember that I will be there to watch over you and ensure that you can grow to your height before you reach the trials that are to come. Now go, return to your training. I trust you to keep our meeting secret and continue your life as normal. I will be silent for a long while, but I shall always be with you. I shall not appear to you for a long time to come, my child, so please continue with your life until I return."

"Wait!" Cody shouted. "You are very confusing to me! Please, won't you be more reassuring? Why did you have to come just to confuse me? Won't you give me my magic?"

Avira looked at him apologetically before answering, "Just remember my presence, my son. As for your magic, you have had it all along. Now please, go back to your realm and carry out your training. Resume the life of a Dreamkeeper as normal, and perhaps our problems shall be solved by chance and even your own actions."

Soon the image began to fade, but not before Cody caught sight of the short draconic wink Avira showed him. Then her beautiful, glittering form vanished into the air and was gone from his sight, though he expected to see her again soon.