Akaysha's eyes slowly drifted open. She blinked in confusion, wondering what had caused her to awaken. The dismal left-over flames of the fire cast a rather ominous glow over the sleeping dragons. The night sky above was dark with clouds, though Akaysha couldn't scent any rain in them. The forest around was full of noise, though it was further away than usual, the night time animals not wanting to get close to the large reptiles.

The dragoness sighed softly and lay her head down on her forepaws, trying to figure out what had caused her sudden alertness. The other dragons had gently touched her mind before, but she had kept them fiercely out, not trusting herself to keep hidden the secrets she kept. Ragin would be disappointed if she showed them anything. The dragons had been a little surprised, but had respected her decision to remain quiet.

She twisted her tail as she tried to fall back to sleep, but found herself unable to. With a rumble of annoyance she went to lightly tap Ragin's mind to see if she could wake him up, when she noticed something rather startling. His mind was open. For the first time, besides that moment when she was a hatchling, his mind was completely open to her.

She lay their silently, thinking through her options, but curiosity got the better of her and she guiltily reached her mind into Ragin's, eager to learn more about her rider.

* * *

The first thing Akaysha was aware of was pain, running through all her limbs and into her chest and lungs. Her breaths were coming in ragged gasps and her unwieldy and weak hands clasped desperately at the hilt of a short sword. Sweat made it hard to grip and her arms shook with the effort. However, despite the hardship she was experiencing she couldn't ignore the feeling of frustrated determination.

It took the dragoness a moment to adjust to reliving another's memories. She was a little startled as she jumped into it, because the strength of emotions swelling through Ragin was nearly overwhelming. His beating heartbeat pulsed through her head over and over like a drum, and small scratches of spiking pain covered her entire body.

For a moment she considered pulling out of the memory, unused to the invigorating responses of this strange body, but she stopped herself. She had been drawn to this memory for some reason. It struck her as a rather prominent turning point of Ragin's life, thus she decided to see it through, even if it was a little startling at first.

A quick more detailed look allowed her to know that this memory was around two years after the previous one she had seen. It seemed the elf, Vanir, had begun training the boy with the sword. And it was hard training, nothing like she had ever seen before. In this specific memory, Ragin was eight years old, but his mind was hard as rock. Any childish thoughts had been swallowed by years of training.

With a cry Akaysha, or Ragin really, rushed forward at his opponent, striking with a rather surprising amount of force for his age, trying his best to hit the far larger swordsman in front of him. This other swordsman acted around the strike with ease, striking upwards with the blade and with the practice of centuries, catching the hilt of Ragin's far shorter blade with his own, then ripping it upwards and out of the boys hands.

Ragin staggered forward, straight into his opponents fist. Akaysha mentally winced as she felt the bones of her rider's nose shatter under the hit, and he was sent onto his backside. For a moment the world seemed to grow hazy and dark. Pain was everything he knew. Salty blood was tasted in his mouth. Tears blocked his vision and Akaysha felt a strange pressure in his chest. But that was all only for a moment. The pressure disappeared and Ragin wiped the tears away from his eyes, ignoring the obviously broken and bloodied nose.

"Get up," said Vanir, the elf standing in front of him, and not even offering a hand.

Gritting his teeth he did as he was told, his hands bunching into fists as he forced his exhausted legs to stand. They had been at this for hours, and Ragin had yet to even lay a blow on the elf. Every time he thought he was close, the elf simply danced out of the way, easily avoiding the child's every attempt. It had been that way since the day they started this training.

"Waise Hiell," the elf flicked his hand in Ragin's direction, instantly healing the wounds that he had caused.

The instant relief caused by it was evident in the boy's mind. But he didn't show it. Vanir chucked the short sword to him, and Ragin caught the hilt easily, before rushing at Vanir again, anger flooding through him. He would get him this time! This time!

Vanir parried the boys stab, moving backwards as Ragin struck, left, right and then left again, trying to find an opening in the seemingly impenetrable wall of the elf's defence. But it was impossible, no matter what Ragin tried. Every trick he knew, every time he tried to think outside the box and come up with something that Vanir may be surprised be. Nothing worked.

Suddenly, with an exceptionally strong stroke, Vanir once again sent the blade out of Ragin's hands and clattering against the ground. The sharp prickle of the elvish blade appeared at the boy's neck, stopping him from taking another step forward.

"You are too rash Ragin," Vanir said, pulling his sword back and sheathing it, "Too uncontrolled. It's like you are just trying bash through my defences without any technique or thought."

"I'm trying!" Ragin gritted through his teeth, "But no matter what I do you stop me. You said you wouldn't read my mind while we sparred."

"I am not reading your mind," Vanir seemed faintly amused at the accusation, "You are just really easy to predict."

"Well I don't know how not to be," Ragin's arms fell to his side and Akaysha felt that strange tightness from before well up in his chest.

"I've told you, you need to stop rushing in the moment you get a chance. Wait, read your opponent. Watch them. Study them. Test them. You are just running in all out without any thought of what I will do in response."

The boy didn't answer, looking at the ground. It was extremely difficult to understand the emotions swirling through Ragin. It was like he was disappointed, annoyed, angry, frustrated and simply exhausted all at the same time. Yet it was deeper as well. Ragin wanted so hard to impress Vanir, he wanted to do well, but every time he tried, he failed. That was why the tightness in his chest felt so strong. He was fighting away the tears that were trying to come.

"I have to go," said Vanir sheathing his sword, "Do those exercises I told you about. I should be back within a couple of days."

"Can I go out?" Ragin asked.

"Of course," Vanir replied, "But remember to make sure no one follows you back to this place."

"I know that."

"Good."

With those last words the elf disappeared into another room. The grating sound of stone against stone indicated his departure. Ragin stood there for a long while, tensing his fingers and gripping the hilt of his short sword over and over again. Suddenly he cursed, throwing the blade against the wall and sitting down on the stone floor. This time, the tears did come, trickling down the edges of his face. He let them. There was no one around to see it anyway.

Akaysha felt pity inside her for the boy that she was sharing the memory with. Part of her wanted to reach out and whisper in his mind 'it would all be alright', but she knew it wouldn't do anything. All this was in the past anyway. She knew he survived whatever this gruelling practice was. She knew he would grow to be stronger.

The boy looked up and seemingly grabbed a random stone from the ground below. It was a smooth oblong shape that fit neatly in his small hands. He studied the stone with an intense gaze, looking at its perfectly carved stones. Taking a deep shuddering breath he flexed his fingers and said two words.

"Stenr Risa," he said with intensity.

Akaysha was a little confused when the stone stayed stock still in his hand. She knew Ragin could use magic, and knew that this simple spell was rather easy to cast. All it did was make the stone rise into the air. But, this smaller version of Ragin seemed to have no idea what he was doing.

Once again that frustration built up within him. That anger. He knew the words to this spell. Vanir had taught him a while back, but when he did that he also said that not everyone had access to magic and he shouldn't be too disappointed if he didn't himself. But there was something inside Ragin that refused to believe that. He could use magic, he knew he could!

"Stenr Risa!" he yelled at the stone, and still nothing happened.

Once again tears welled up in his eyes. It startled Akaysha because, judging from the boys memories currently, he had tried this many times before without success. Why he was so upset that it didn't happen this time was confusing to her. But as she studied the emotions that were flooding through her she felt she understood. That day had been an especially hard day for the young warrior. He was beginning to grow tired of never achieving anything. Not being able to be a match for Vanir, unable to use magic. He couldn't even relate to the other boys his age. It was like everything in his life so far had been useless. He just wanted something to work.

The emotions poured through him and she felt him reaching deep within himself. He was begging it to work. He was begging the stone to move, but still it simply refused to obey. He gritted his teeth and began to say the words again. This time, as he did, a strange surge of power flooded his bones. Akaysha knew what it was, having felt something similar in herself many times, but in Ragin's mind it was like nothing he had ever felt before.

"Stenr risa!"

And the stone moved. It wobbled, floating up into the air just inches above his hand, and staying there. The boy let out a startled cry, releasing the magic and falling back onto his hands as the stone fell onto his lap. He just stared at it for a moment in disbelief, before excitement rushed through him.

"No way," he said with a shaky voice as he picked up the stone in his hand again.

It had moved. He had used magic! His excitement quickly washed away all the negative emotions he had been experiencing that day. Pride also blossomed in his chest as well as such accomplishment that Akaysha hadn't felt before. She felt herself inwardly smile at the boy.

"Stenr Risa," he said again at the stone, but once again it just lay still.

He didn't care. He had made it move once, he could do it again. Shuffling himself into a more comfortable position he looked at the stone. For the rest of the day he continued to work on his magic. Occasionally he managed to make it wobble and move, but most of the time it remained as motionless as it usually was. It didn't shake the pride however, and as he fell to sleep in his rough bed, he found himself smiling.

* * *

Akaysha slowly pulled herself out from Ragin's head, looking at her sleeping rider with what could only be admiration. The determination she had felt from that young boy was unlike anything she had ever felt before. Ruffling her wings slightly she found herself in a much better mood then when she had been earlier that night.

She curled herself a little tighter around her rider, snorting to herself. Closing her eyes she found that sleep came much easier, as well as a strong resolution. If that small boy of eight had managed to call forth magic, then she would not stop until she had learned to control her own. And when she had, the enemies that Ragin was so afraid of would fall before them.

Happy with herself, she allowed herself to slip into her nightly dreams.

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Hey guys! New chapter! I hope you enjoyed. Vote if you did and comment what you thought. I know the chapters are a bit shorter than usual, but I've been wanting to make them a bit shorter overall. But the next chapter will be out soon. See ya!

Pennator^^