The heavy wing beats of a small group of dragons drummed the calm morning sky. They flew in a 'V' formation, the flashing colours of yellow, green, red and silver shining from their scales. The sun was slowly rising in the horizon, casting an illuminating glow over the dragons, and a few winced at the bright light. There was nothing obviously unusual about the group, as far as dragons go. There were about ten of them, most different colours from the others. Two were lightning dragons, evident by their sharp yellow scales and spiked wings. Three were fire; their red scales unmistakable against the blue of the sky. One was an earth dragon, the size and earthly green colour their greatest characteristics. There were also two white, creamy coloured wind dragons and an extremely rare shadow dragon, greatly visible in the light.

The last dragon was the one that grabbed attention however. It was leading the group, its flashing wings sending out light like a beacon in the sky. It's underbelly was normal enough, with pale yellow scales that looked surprisingly soft, but its back was covered in what looked like armour. The shining metal seemed to catch every ray of light and reflect it, almost like a mirror. The metal wound up the dragon's back, coverings its tail, wings and the top half of its neck and head. It was also a fair bit smaller then the other dragons, meaning a younger age, and had the long slim figure that was characteristic of the females of the species.

The dragoness was tired; her wing beats surprisingly laboured, as if she was exhausted. There was no way she could stop however, for below the small group of dragons was the vast blue ocean, spreading forever into the horizon. The water below was flat, and there was barely any wind up in the sky, making it all the harder for the dragons as they battled to stay awake.

Not helping the silver dragon was another figure in the group. A human, riding on her back with a gentle grip on her horns. It was a man. On first look he would seem to be almost enjoying himself, but the smile on his face wasn't as prominent as the malicious smirk in his eyes. It was one of victory. One that said nothing would be able to stop him now. It was entirely different from the dragoness's expression, which told hopelessness and despair, almost as if she had given up.

One other strange detail about the group of dragons was a blinking red light flashing from each of their heads. It originated from what looked like some sort of strange device implanted between each dragon's horns. It was unnatural, but it didn't seem as though the dragons could do anything to get it off.

Slowly the man leaned over the dragoness's neck and whispered in her ear, his voice calm and unsettling, "We are nearly there, Silver. Then you can rest all you want."

The dragoness, Silver, grunted softly in response, not having the energy, or the willpower, to reply. The idea of landing on solid ground was something that made her glad however. Their group had been flying nonstop for almost two days, moving as quickly as possible across the world to an unknown destination. The first portion of their journey had been accompanied by many humans, dragons and their machines. But the further they travelled the smaller the group got until it was only Silver and the other nine dragons, along with the man on her back.

She didn't know his name, and only knew him as 'The Admiral'. A formidable man second in command of the largest and most powerful dragon organisation in the world. The Association Of Dragon Hunters, or A.O.D.H. They had been after Silver for a while now, almost two years, and it was only two days ago that they had succeeded. Now the dragoness was part of their ranks, controlled by the red blinking device in her head.

"There it is," grinned The Admiral, speaking to Silver once again, "You're new home."

She raised her tired head, looking up into the horizon. There was an island, flat against the ocean. It was a strange island that looked like it was nearly flooded in water. The only actual land was the very edges of it, surrounding the body of water in an oblong 'L' shape.

"Welcome to Diego Garcia," continued the human, "The largest and most influential A.O.D.H base in our history. Housing over five thousand dragons of all different species. It is also where we conduct our experiments and create new machines that further our goal. We hold every known species of dragon here, every single one, now that we have you."

"Except for time, and void," she muttered to herself, thinking back to her real home.

"We have void," he replied, causing her to glance at him with a frown, "They hatched two weeks ago, two of them. One male, one female. They are only hatchlings at this point in time however. Not much use to us. But it is true we don't have time."

His words caused her to sigh softly. So Retrix had sired other void dragons after all. She remembered him telling her about it. It seemed so long ago now. Though it hardly mattered now. Thinking about the drake caused other memories to surface. Iraliene, Zepos, Celestia and her hatchlings. All of the dragons that seemed to have the largest impact on her life. But especially her brother, Raize. The last she had seen of him he had been falling from the sky.

With a small snarl she tried to turn back, and the human above her felt the small shift, but she was quickly turned back on course by the device in her head. It was absolute. There was no use resisting the control, no matter how hard she tried.

The island grew closer and closer until eventually the dragoness found herself pulling into a descent, gliding down toward what looked like a airstrip for planes and other such vehicles. Near the airstrip was numerous buildings, warehouses, with many humans rushing around on the outside. They could see the dragons coming and seemed to be preparing for them.

Silver landed lightly on the ground, her wings drooping by her side in exhaustion. The other dragons did the same, landing behind her with soft thuds. The human atop her back got off easily, sliding down her flank. He walked over to the waiting humans, who were standing at attention, eyes forward. The Admiral scanned them for a moment, before turning back to the dragons.

"At ease men," he said.

The humans instantly relaxed, their stiff posture slightly less regal. There were ten of them in all, one for each dragon. They were well fitted in a black uniform with 'A.O.D.H' imprinted on the left breast pocket. A handgun was attached to a belt on their waist along with an assortment of other gadgets.

"You are not to speak English, or any other human language, unless told otherwise. Is that understood?" The Admiral whispered, nearly harshly, to Silver.

She let out a small rumble of annoyance at the command but nodded her head. It wasn't like she could disobey even if she wanted to. If it wasn't for the device in her head every human in front of her would be dead, and she would be flying as fast as she could toward the nearest, safe, piece of land.

At a gesture from The Admiral, the ten humans paced forward toward their assigned dragons. Much to Silver's surprise a few of them were greeted with a purr of appreciation, and some dragons even allowed themselves to enjoy a scratch under the jaw or behind the neck. It seemed as though many of these dragons had been there for a long time, and had even forged bonds with a number of the humans working there.

A middle-aged woman walked toward Silver. It took the dragoness a couple of moments to notice and when she did her eyes narrowed. Was this the human assigned to her? The woman was tough looking, for a human, with hard eyes and straight dirty blond hair with hints of grey. Her face was slightly wrinkled and the stoic frown made it even more so. She stopped barely a metre away from Silver, within striking distance, and leaned back on her left foot looking at the dragon unimpressed.

"This is her?" she asked, her voice harsh and almost angry, and thick with what Silver recognised as an Australian accent.

"The one and only," The Admiral grinned.

"Expected her to be bigger," muttered the woman.

"Don't be fooled. I'm expecting her to give us a bit of trouble. She is the one who killed Jurien after all."

"Jurien was an idiot of a man. It was only a matter of time before he died by a dragon's claw," she said, taking a step forward, "Open your mouth dragon."

Silver growled lowly at the sudden command, but did as she was told, opening her maw. The woman looked inside, inspecting with an intelligent gaze. She ran a finger over Silver's teeth, and the dragoness instantly tried to close her mouth shut on the human's hand, only to be stopped by the device. Seeming satisfied with the inspection she stepped back. Silver clamped her mouth shut.

"Stay still, and do what I till you when I tell you," said the woman as she began to walk around Silver.

It seemed as though she wanted to check every inch of Silver, from her claws and wings to her tail and everything in between. It made the dragoness quite uncomfortable. Every so often she would try to lash out at the human, only to be stopped by the device. It infuriated her, and a number of threatening growls bubbled from her throat. Once she was done the woman stepped back with a thoughtful expression.

"She's slightly underweight, and we need to give her a proper bath, but otherwise she is reasonably healthy. Far healthier then most dragons we get here," she said.

"I'm not underweight," muttered Silver in Drakin, the dragon's language, even if the woman didn't understand what she was saying.

The Admiral seemed to understand however, and he barked a laugh, "That can be arranged. But for now she needs a rest. She's been flying for the past two days straight."

"I can see that. Her wings are not held properly. You shouldn't push them so far, it's not good for them," said the woman.

"Knowing this dragon, she could push herself far harder then I did. It's why we're leaving her to you, Diana. She's a feisty, and would likely try and kill you any chance she got."

"I can already tell that. You can tell a dragon's nature by looking into their eyes," as she said this she stared directly into Silver's golden yellow eyes, and Silver matched the glare with one of her own, "A strong willed one this one is. Don't worry sir. I'll have her broken in before you know it."

"I'm sure you will," said The Admiral, and Silver could tell by his tone of voice that he didn't expect the woman to be able to. It made the dragoness smile slightly.

The woman, Diana, seemed to notice this as well and frowned slightly, "Well lets get her inside. Follow me dragon."

Silver hesitated, then the device seemed to take control for a moment and she began to walk forward after the human, her claws clicking against the bitumen underneath her feet. They walked into one of the hangers, a large area that reminded Silver of the hanger from D.E.D, although slightly smaller with far less vehicles. If anything it looked rather empty.

The reason for this soon became apparent as the dragons were lead into the middle of the hanger. Silver let out a small grunt of surprise and the floor below them began to move downwards. It was a giant lift. The other nine dragons didn't seem at all surprised, and simply shifted their weight to get used to the movement. To Silver it was slightly daunting. She wasn't used to the ground moving below her.

For almost ten minutes they descended. The large square of light above them grew smaller and smaller and they were surrounded by massive walls made from steel and iron. Long conveyer belts controlled the lift as it moved, the grating of gears the only sound in the descent. Along the walls were florescent light bulbs that glowed, giving out minimal light in the descent.

Finally, much to Silver's relief, they stopped. The wall in front of them began to move, sliding away to reveal another, far larger, hanger. This one was different for instead of holding vehicles there were dragons, thousands of them, from all different species. There was something similar about them all, as they had red devices blinking between their horns. Silver gulped slightly when she saw them. She knew that A.O.D.H had a lot of dragons, over half the population in fact, but seeing them for herself made her nervous. And this was less than a tenth of their number.

"Come on. Stop gawking. Lets go," muttered Diana as she began to move forward.

Silver followed, glancing around at the dragons in interest. Many eyes were focused on her, and she shuffled nervously, eager to be out of their sight. It was then the whispers started.

"Is that her? The silver dragon?"

"They got her?"

"How..."

"It seems that even she couldn't escape forever."

"She's younger then I expected."

"Wow... she's beautiful."

Silver lowered her head slightly, uncomfortable with all the attention. She stood out easily amongst the dragons, being the only metal dragon there, and she doubted she would get much peace from anyone around there. They continued to make their way through the crowd of dragons, which easily parted for them, toward another large door on the other side of the hanger.

Suddenly a voice echoed through the others, one that was familiar but different at the same time. It was a voice she hadn't herd in years, but one she had missed and sought for.

"Silver!" Blaze called from his position in the crowd, trying to push through toward his sister.

"Blaze?" she looked up, trying to spot him but found herself unable to.

"Keep moving dragon," said Diana harshly, hitting her leg with an open palm.

Silver growled but continued moving. They reached the door and Diana opened it, sending the dragoness through. She had one last glance through the crowd, but couldn't recognise her brother. There were a lot of fire dragons in the crowd, and it was impossible to pick him out. With a small sigh she walked through.

* * *

Diana left Silver in a small stable, also made of metal. It was more of a cage then a stable, with metal bars for windows as well as a metal floor and metal doors. Everything was made from metal it seemed, but at least it wasn't elronium. With a small sigh Silver set herself down on the cold floor, finding it far more comfortable then any nest they had set out for her.

"Get some sleep dragon. You're going to need it," said Diana, before turning and walking away, leaving Silver alone.

She curled up around herself and found tear trickling from her eye. With a growl she shook it away. She wouldn't cry, not for them. Taking a deep but shuddering breath she forced herself to close her eyes and relax. It didn't take long for her exhaustion to overcome her and sleep to take her.

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Hey guys! First chapter of The Silver Reckoning! I hope you enjoyed. Vote if you did and comment what you thought. The next chapter will be out as soon as I can get it. See Ya!

Pennator^^