- 10 years Later -
Someone loudly knocks on the front door. “Makarious Ileon, your presence is immediately required.”
I bolt up from my bed, shaking off the early morning drowsiness. I get up and quickly throw on some pants and a shirt and then rush to the door. I pass my roommate as he sits on the couch, immersed in some simulation. He waves at me briefly and mouths ‘good luck.’
I make it to the front door and open it. On the other side are two people. A very tall, big guy with white hair and blue eyes – the signature of the upper stratum. He has a fancy blue suit on, it likely costs more money than an average rim colony would make in a decade. Beside him is an older woman with long red hair and red eyes. The woman is wearing silver aetherium armor, the signature of the dragon guard.
“Hiya Tien, you been good? I saw you got promoted the other day, congrats on rank twelve!” I say, greeting my sponsor. It is thanks to her that I was collected that day, instead of killed. Most other dragon guards would've just left me to die or thrown me at some upper house. Paying out of pocket for an orphan like me to attend the Travernium School for Promising Children is absurd.
“I have been good. Thank you for your consideration, Maka. However, I am merely decoration today.” She says, pointing to the man standing in front of her.
“You may address me as Sir Bak, nothing else.” The man commands, staring at a datapad in his hand. A higher would never look a lower in the eyes, to them we are merely filth. I swear his upper stratum badge gleams when I look at it. Like it's taunting me as it sits there on the chest of his fancy suit. “You know why I am here, let's skip the formalities. Place your hand on the terminal.”
Sir Bak turns the datapad around, displaying a terminal for me to access. I quickly interface with it. The now familiar data from the system interfacing directly with my soul.
You have been formally accepted into the 172nd class of the Travernium Dragon Guard Academy. Congratulations, cadet, a long and arduous journey awaits you. The people of the Traver Empire thank you for your choice to serve the cause.
In accordance with protocols, you are now forbidden from contact outside The Academy without explicit permission. Attempts to break this rule will result in your immediate expulsion, treason hearing and almost certainly execution.
Your student ID card has been prepared, please view it and make sure everything is in order.
Makarious Ileon [Lvl 0 Scout / Lvl 0 Mage / No Dragon Bonded]
Rank: 0
Squadron: Asteria
Age: 18 years
Height: 181 centimeters
Hair Color: Blonde
Resources
Health: 75/75
Aether: 0/0
Mana: 0/0
Stamina: 50/50
Stats
Vitality: 15/20
Strength: 5/20
Endurance: 10/20
Perception: 9/20
Dexterity: 12/20
Agility: 17/20
Intelligence: 19/20
Mana Control: 0/0
Mana Capacity: 0/0
Aether Control: 0/0
Aether Capacity: 0/0
General Skills
General skills are unavailable until evaluation is complete.
Path Skills
[Scout] Blink lvl 0/0
[Scout] Stealth Lvl 0/0
[Mage] Magic Fundamentals lvl 0/0
[Mage] Spell Book lvl 0/0
Dragon
No dragon bonded.
I barely stop myself from jumping into the air and hugging Sir Bak. I actually made it in. I don't know what exactly the stats and such mean, but they sure seem cool. Scout and Mage are what it lists as my paths. I can't wait to see what kind of potential I can unlock. It already shows me starting with Blink and Stealth, plus some magic stuff. Too bad it's all at level 0. I want to try it all out right now. But I will have to be patient, I have to follow regulations and whatnot.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
The fun and awesomeness shall come in time. After all, it would be suicidal to enter into the aether alone or take on a tear without a dragon bonded. Not to mention without any training whatsoever.
I take my hand off the terminal, but I feel a weird feeling in my head. Almost like something wasn't extracted right.
Tien somehow anticipates what I am thinking. “That feeling is completely normal. Now that you are a cadet, you will always have a partial system interface for some reason. The priests say it has something to do with the system preparing you for bonding. In my opinion, they don't understand the system any more than others.”
“My purpose here is concluded. Guard, do ensure this boy makes it to the academy in one piece.” Sir Bak says, “You know the consequences should he die in the transition.”
Tien salutes, “Yessir, he won't die on my watch.”
After that, Sir Bak quickly departs. Damn upper, probably hates the fact that he has to speak to any of us. Unfortunately, this is the reality we live in. I do hear that there are some good uppers though. I hope I get to meet one some day, I’ve always wondered what it would be like for those blue eyes to meet my own red ones.
“Well Maka, we better head out. You have six minutes to collect all of your belongings. Don't be late, cadet.” Tien commands, though for a command it's awfully friendly in tone.
I grab my singular box of belongings, in my excitement I already packed what few belongings I do have. Some might call me absurdly optimistic for thinking I would actually get into the Academy. But I think some part of me has always known I would end up as a dragon guard. I've already said farewell to what friends I had, good thing I got in, I would've been laughed to death if I crawled back now.
I walk out of the apartment that has been my home for the past decade. I wave goodbye to my roommate for the last time. If all goes well, we will likely never see each other again. We didn’t interact much, but it's been cool having him as a roommate all these years.
“Ya sure you got everything? You won't be able to come back unless there is some absurd disaster.” Tien says, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder.
“Yep, all good to go. Let's hit the road!”
“I like your enthusiasm! Maybe I won't have to regret sponsoring you after all..”
“Hey! Why would you ever doubt me?”
“Well, the fact that you refer to space and the aether as ‘road’ could be one area of concern.” She says, chuckling a little bit as we enter an elevator.
“It’s a figure of speech! I'm not that much of an idiot. I scored top of my class, remember?”
“Yeah, but only in aether theory and combat tactics. You almost failed every other subject. It's a damn miracle you were accepted to the academy.”
“Its not a miracle, it's all hard work. You don't know how long I studied, quantum mechanics is bullshit. There is no reason why I would ever need that basic math, I'm going to be a Dragon Guard after all!”
Tien pats me on the head, ruffling my hair a bit. “You never know, maybe that quantum whatever will come in handy some day. The future is unpredictable, especially when dealing with aether.”
“Hey! I told you to stop ruffling my hair like that, now you've messed it all up. I spent three whole minutes styling it!”
“Oh stop, no one is gonna care about your hair being a tiny bit messy. People will be too concerned thinking about how they are gonna defeat you in the mocks.”
“The mocks?” I ask.
“Oh shoot, I don't think I was supposed to tell you about those. Uh, pretend I never said anything.”
“Sure thing.” Of course, I am going to remember exactly what she said. Perhaps I should pay attention to my fellow cadets, it seems like it will be important.
“Anyways, it should be legal here, I think.” She says as we exit the dorms and into an alleyway. The faint morning light is struggling to filter through the gaps between the buildings. Stupid hyperurbanism, there is so little space. Even in a richer area like this, everything is basically piled on top of each other. There isn’t even space for ground vehicles, everything has to be carried around by drones high up in the sky.
“Wait, what should be legal?” My brow furrows in concern over what could possibly be ‘illegal’ about what we are about to do.
“Ascending to my dragon of course. How else are we gonna get off the planet and into the aether?” She smiles a bit, “There are regulations about where I can ascend and stuff. Something about safety, yadda yadda. I kind of skipped over most of it, whoops.”
She wraps her arm around my waist before I can say anything else. Suddenly, we are ascending high into the sky, the city growing smaller and smaller.
I feel a bit queasy, but otherwise the journey is fine and we land upon Tien’s dragon without issue. She has grown quite a bit since I last rode her, back when I first met Tien. Now sitting at a comfortable maximum length of forty three meters.
I peek over the edge. Good thing I am not afraid of heights, cause there is nothing but empty air for several hundred kilometers. Apparently it's quite dangerous to the dragons to enter too far into the atmospheres of planets. Their bodies are simply too large to function under higher gravity. Hence why the Dragon Guard are needed to go down to planets and deal with smaller tears. Especially in populated areas where nuking the entire planet isn't really an option, barring extreme circumstances.
“Maka, come over here, you won't wanna be outside when we hit space.” Tien says, motioning to a building of sorts that is resting near the dragon’s neck.
We walk up and she puts her hand on the door, and it opens up. She waves me through and I enter. It's quite cramped, really just the main cockpit for Tien and two seats that are way too small.
I barely manage to squeeze in. I'm not even that big. I'm not tiny either, I have built a non-zero amount of muscle. But I can't imagine a hulking dragon guard fitting in a seat.
“Strap in kiddo, you're in for a fun ride.” Tien says, smiling at me.
As soon as she sits down, I am thrown into my seat, hard. I look out the window in front of Tien and watch as we exit the atmosphere in seconds. Then, without any hesitation we start flying away from the planet at absurd speeds.
“This might be a bit uncomfortable. If at any moment you feel like you are about to pass out, do not resist it. We are about to transition into the aether, it can be a bit rough the first time. But don't worry, I haven't lost a passenger yet.” She says, somehow comforting and terrifying me at the same time.
Suddenly, it feels as though my entire reality is being inverted. Up is down and down is up. My right side becomes my left side.
After what seems like an eternity, everything returns mostly to normal. But I do feel a strange pressure around me, almost as if I am being compressed. This must be aether.
“Woah, you are still awake, kid?” She has quite a shocked expression on her face. “Its quite rare for someone to not pass out their first time. You must be a real weirdo.”
“Uh, thanks I guess?”
“Sure thing. By the way, welcome to the aether, cadet. I hope you are ready for some pain, suffering and maybe a bit more pain for good measure. You are really in for it.”
Mother, father, are you watching from wherever you are? If so, I hope you’ll wish me luck. I have a feeling I might need it, just a little. After all, I am finally here. The aether, on my way to the academy where I will train to become a member of The Dragon Guard. Not only that, I will become the best.
After all, I have some monsters to eradicate.
