This morning, the horn of the dragon's hall was blaring early. I moved to the dragon riders' quarters a few days ago, as I felt much more at home there than in that lonely room in the giant tree. Together with the rest of the warriors, I crawled out of my bunk bed and picked up my very heavy backpack, which I had packed yesterday. Today was the official departure day: all the guilds traveled to Moon valley on this very moment. One of my chamber mates pushed open the braided door of the barrack, and sunlight streamed in, dust swirling in the light as we marched out. The way everything was perfectly organised really reminded me of the army, seeing how each rank walked in its own row along the dragon's nests, and each dragon flew down and joined its master. Aros stood on a pile of wooden barrels and kept a close eye on everything, occasionally casting words of encouragement to members of the guild. The biggest load dragons were packed with all kinds of baggage, as they roared impatiently on the open field of grass. The well-ordered lines came to a halt in front of the Dragon Hall, waiting for their leader's command. I was standing somewhere in the middle next to Eimid, and was suddenly startled when I was tapped on the shoulder. I turned around and saw Kindle's smiling face. "Aros wants you to join in the lead! Step up and fly to the side of the ranks for a moment please." 

I nodded, mounted Eimid and flew over a few rows to the heap of barrels. As I took off, I heard a few frustrated growls from impatient dragons. To my slight disappointment, I also saw Rellian sitting on his dragon among the small group that would form the vanguard. Not that I didn't like him, it was just quite awkward ever since he'd raged against me at the fire pit. Rex smiled at me and I saw his colleague do the same with a slight reluctance.Kindle and Aros got on their dragons too, and the leader addressed his guild;  "members of the green guild! The journey to the monthly valley takes half a day. Some of you have already made this trip, and I expect your full cooperation and support for our younger inexperienced members! We are with a lot of people, so everyone should really stick to their group!" 

After these words, he jumped down from the biggest barrel and climbed into the saddle of his dragon Myrdor.

"Skulls up!", shouted Kindle, who sat next to his leader on Iserth. Everyone followed his command, and the field was cheerfully lit up by all the deer skulls painted with brightly colored dyes. 

"Into the saddle! Ready for takeoff! three...two...one, go go go!"

Aros took off at lightning speed as the leader of the group, followed by the commander and the two dragon breeders. I urged Eimid to leave quickly so as not to fall behind my small party. Behind me, I heard the wing clapping of all the dragons in the other groups. I quickly peeked over my shoulder and saw the rest of the guild shrouded in their deer skulls. Everyone also had painted symbols on their arms and legs, different for each rank you were in. 

Aros had the four stripes on his arm for leadership, Kindle had three for comandership, Rex and Rellian two for their rank as Dragon Breeders, and I had one stripe, just like other Dragon Riders. Eastborne had disappeared like a needle in a haystack in the distance, and soon we left the territory of the Green Guild. Although I had discovered the entire territory of the Green Guild, I had never been further than our border. The jungle flashed by and soon gave way to open savannah and open fields, interspersed here and there with stretches of desert, which I found to be quite a strange mix of biotopes.

"This is where the Yellow Guild resides."

I had started flying next to Aros, leaving the rest behind.

"How can they safely maintain a village without any shelter under trees?", I asked, and I saw Aros shrugging his shoulders smiling. 

"I wouldn't know! The last time I visited Goldvein was a very long time ago. The village lies in a canyon where a river used to flow. I prefer the jungle myself. Strange that this is not the case for the whole family."

I looked at him inquiringly.

"My sister is a member of the Yellow Guild. She has just turned fourteen, so I am happy to be able to congratulate her in person."

I nodded; "That must be hard, barely being able to see a close relative like that."

Aros shrugged again and then turned his focus back on our path, looking at the rising sun. Like that, we flew on for what seemed ages. I yawned widely and almost dozed off. However, I was startled awake again when I heard Aros snarling. I looked ahead and saw a huge tower looming in the distance, taller and much more modern than the Dragon's Hall. Around the gigantic tower I saw countless buildings, which next to the central one looked like flies next to a pineapple. Surrounding the giant city were thick walls in a square, with a vantage point at each corner. The whole thing looked very futuristic, even by earthly standards. As the icing on the cake, a giant crown floated at the top of the mighty tower. I was surprised to see a lot of the guild members spitting towards the city to express their disrespect, even though we were up really high. This had to be the capital Kleim, the safest place in all of Ecra, but also the most inaccessible. No one between seven and twenty-five was allowed in there, as Kindle had told me on the day we washed clothes in the river. We flew over the city and quickly left the spectacle behind. We had to be close by, as Moon Valley was in the grounds of this city. 

...

I thought I had seen the most amazing thing this morning, but I had never been so wrong. Moon Valley was a downright miracle. Three giant islands, each with a mountain as big as mount Everest on top, were floating in the middle of an even larger valley. They were each connected by suspension bridges, and above the central, largest island floated a bright white star. Everything was covered by a kind of glittering, transparent rainbows. Waterfalls clattered over the edge of the islands and crashed into a lake in the shadow of the natural phenomenon. We flew straight towards it, diving towards the middle island. The crowds were unbelievable, it looked like a beehive with all this activity. All those present were clearly marked by their guild colors and various animal skulls as masks.

We landed on the open lawn, where Mount Frysuk towered high above. Aros stepped down first and looked contentedly at the sight, and the rest of the guild followed his suit.An unknown figure dressed in blue and a bird's skull approached the leader. Her hair, which reached almost to the ground, hung in a braid over her shoulder, and on her arm I saw the four stripes of leadership, just like Aros'. She reached out with her hand to her painted skull and removed it from her head, shaking her brown frizz out of her deep blue eyes. Aros smiled and gave the leader a kiss on each cheek as he shook her hand in greeting, after also taking his mask off. 

"I expected to see you arrive here late," she said, her voice sounding a little husky. 

"I have a few new members to show around first", Aros laughed, and the young woman, who I estimated to be around twenty, looked at the rest of the guild, and thus automatically at me. Aros gestured for us to take off our masks, and I hesitantly followed his command. She frowned and walked directly towards me, examining me from head to toe. 

"Where'd you find this one?", she said, pointing at me insistently. I tried not to look too offended.

"She doesn't work for Sherdol, don't worry." Aros also looked at me; 

"Eimid chose her, she's a dragon warrior now, whether human or Ecririan. Nena, this is Mali, leader of the blue guild. Mali, this is Nena, one of our new members."

Mali had kept her arms crossed until now, but now she benevolently put out her hand, which I immediately shook. 

"Welcome to Moon Valley, newbie." 

After those words, she walked over to the rest of the guild to say hello. I looked after her and saw her greeting Rellian, Rexus and Kindle in the same way as with Aros. 

"There are the brown and yellow guilds," the latter said to me, and I looked at the horizon. 

The front dragon riders of the guilds were flag bearers, and the flags of their guilds were waving merrily in the wind. 

"Come, we have to unpack and put up our shelter," said Aros, and he turned around.

...

Only when we had finally pitched our tent did I take the time to have a thorough look at the field. The other guilds also had flags with their leader's dragon embroidered or painted on them. In the middle of the field, a huge fire pit had been set up, bordered by mega-sized beads.

I was startled when Kindle came to stand beside me and put his hand on my shoulder. I saw Aros walking towards a blonde-haired girl from the yellow guild who looked exactly like him, but a few years younger and with golden eyes instead of green ones. He hugged her. 

"That's Vega, his sister," Kindle muttered. I nodded in acknowledgement. I watched as Aros gave a beaded necklace to his sister, probably complimenting her on the beautiful golden garland she had braided into her wavy golden hair. She was lovely. The other guilds were already socialising with each other, as you could see from the small groups scattered around the small valley. The whole thing reminded me most of a music festival. It was a funny sight really, I saw all sorts of Ecrians: with blue hair, with yellow eyes, with tattoos... you name it. 

"I'm going to join the commander of the Red Guild, are you coming?", Kindle asked meanwhile, distracting me from the family taffy. 

"No, thanks, I think I'll stay here for a while."

"Okay! You know where to find me if you're looking for me!", he said with a big fat wink, and then jogged off towards a girl with pink hair that faded to white as it reached the tips. She had deep tanned skin and silver eyes. On her forehead she had a small diamond, or maybe it was some kind of piercing, who knows. She seemed happy to see Kindle, she even hugged him. I raised my eyebrows; those two looked like good pals.

"You look tense. Is something wrong?"

I was startled and turned around. Across from me stood a girl with silver-blue hair, and deep green eyes. She was part of the Yellow Guild. Apparently, I looked at her very bewildered, because she giggled loudly.

"Don't look so surprised! My name is Zelda, and you? What's your name?" 

I silently mumbled an answer. I was nervous and the Yellow Guild girl clearly noticed. 

"I see you're new...how can that be, that you belong to the Green Guild? And the fact that you're new is also quite strange... In any case, you don't look like a Seven." 

She laughed again and I relaxed a little. Zelda beckoned me over. "Come, let's sit by the fire pit, it's easier than standing here, right?"

I followed the guild girl to a tree trunk that had been cut down and turned into a bench. We first walked past Aros, who looked at me first in surprise and then smiled sweetly. I waved at him. Zelda looked at me inquisitively as we sat down. 

"Aros, huh? Quite a hunk. Handsome guy," she said, watching him from our seating area. 

I looked at her and playfully gave a shove against her shoulder; "I don't think you're supposed to go looking for love in a rival guild, especially not the leader!" 

Zelda laughed; "What makes you think I'm here otherwise?"

I immediately felt at ease, and was glad that I felt an instant click with Zelda, and it was hard to suppress the feelings of homesickness towards my family and my best friend Shana. Aros was now talking to the leader of the Brown Guild, a large muscular black-haired young man, who was at least two heads taller. 

They were laughing loudly at a joke the unknown leader had told. 

"Soooo...are you really from Earth?"; Zelda brought me back to reality. 

"How do you know?", I said in surprise, and she pointed at my ears. Ah. 

"Does all of Ecra need to know or something?", I whispered sarcastically. "Aros was going to tell it at the gathering! Keep it a secret for a bit longer, please!"

Fortunately, Zelda looked at me compassionately: "Of course! I have no intention of losing my first human friend right away! Come on, let me introduce you to some of my friends!"

After those words, she put on her antelope skull of the yellow guild, and she pulled me along to another group of Ecrians.