Time to go

They were all staring at Firrol, standing there in front of them with a magical flame swirling in between his hands.

"I told you I was going to be the greatest rider of all time, now what do I do with this?" Firrol asked while standing oddly still, as though he was afraid of the vortex in his hands.

"Settle down Firrol, all you have to do is cut of the flow of magic," Lyara said, sounding somewhat entertained.

Firrol stare intensely at the flame until finally, it faded from existence.

Brenna was walking forward with one hand facing upward, as she moved a small tornado began to form in her outstretched palm. "What Firrol has discovered is his magical affinity. Every being that can use magic, has a single particular affinity within its soul. For Firrol it appears that his affinity is fire and, as you can see, mine is wind. However, an affinity does not need to be elemental, it can be any form of magic that exists, such as illusion for example, although abstract affinities are quite rare. Lyara, Varyn, would you please demonstrate."

Varyn was the first to step forward, wearing a large smile he raised his right hand and faced the palm towards the students who were watching eagerly. "My affinity is metal, I can manipulate it in any way I can think of, after years of practice I am even able to create limited amounts of a special alloy from my body." As he finished speaking, a strange silver liquid began to appear in his palm, flowing like water it began to drip off onto the ground. Soon a small pool of liquid metal had formed at Varyn's feet but in an instant, it all shot straight into the air, forming a large spear that Varyn promptly caught. He spun the spear around a few times before throwing it at Callum.

The spear was flying at Callum's face, as it got closer, he raised his left arm in an attempt to shield it but it was for naught, the spear had melted into a liquid again and flowed right around his head before looping back at Varyn, who caught the metal and formed it into a silver gauntlet on his hand. He flexed his fingers a few times before smiling and then drawing the metal back into his palm. "Pretty awesome isn't it?" he said, not trying to hide his pride.

"Yeah yeah, we all know how impressive Varyn the immortal is, now take a step back and watch this."

Lyara was next to demonstrate, in her hand was a pitch-black substance, swirling around like mist with a glowing purple outline. Its shape and size were constantly changing until it formed into a dense-looking circle, she glanced up before slowly placing her other hand into the black substance, shocking the students as the hand disappeared into nothingness.

Naria shrieked loudly and leaped up onto Raela, desperately climbing up to her shoulders. Raela in turn had turned pale and was backing away from where she was standing.

When Callum saw what had startled them, he couldn't help but laugh. There, coming out of Raela's own shadow, was Lyara's hand, fingers twirling playfully. No matter how far Raela ran, her shadow stayed with her and so did Lyara's disembodied hand. Even though the sight was funny, Callum was aware of the terrifying implication of his sister's power.

Drawing her hand back through and allowing the portal to dissipate, Lyara spoke again. "If you couldn't tell, my affinity is shadow, and believe me, it gets a lot more interesting in a battle," she said while winking.

Callum was dumbstruck after witnessing the amazing displays of power, and he found himself longing to find his affinity. 'In time Callum, we will find our power.' Tyviin reassured him, while also sharing his patience.

"Before you learn anything else about magic you will all need to discover your affinities and learn to control them completely. This one ability will increase your effectiveness in battle and allow you to survive in most life-threatening situations." Brenna trailed off and went silent, she closed her eyes and stood still for a moment, and Jorviss seemed agitated behind her. Varyn and Lyara shared nervous glances as Callum, Raela, and Firrol looked on confused.

"Unfortunately this will have to wait until you start your training at Scaleforge," Brenna said, finally snapping out of her daze. "I have to leave. NOW. Lyara, Varyn, you will escort the fledglings back to Scaleforge without me, there is an urgent matter that I must attend to so I must fly back in haste." The two riders nodded to her showing that they understood. "It will take you three weeks on foot, travel west from here for seven days and you will meet up with Ivor and the other fledglings, Ivor will have to leave you and fly north to Scaleforge from there as he is needed as well. I trust the lives of the students and their dragons to the two of you. I have all the faith that you will protect them from any dangers. Now, gather your things and say goodbye, it is time to leave."

With that Brenna took a single leap that carried her body up to the saddle waiting at the base of the massive brown dragon's neck. Jorviss flapped hard twice, rumbling the air and causing dust and debris to swirl on the ground. Callum watched in amazement as the elder rider and dragon disappeared over the horizon.

Varyn sighed as he glanced at Lyara worriedly. "Well, what are you waiting for? Gather what you will need for the trip and say your farewells to your loved ones. Meet back here in a half an hour ready to head out."

Callum found himself worrying about what could have possibly had and Elder look as shaken as Brenna did before she left. He couldn't imagine what could worry such a powerful individual. He tried his best to push his concerns out of his head before heading back to the village.

_________

Callum strapped his sword to his hip and slung his leather satchel carrying his spare clothing, over his shoulder. He walked to the center of the hut where Tyviin was finishing his lunch, consisting of a raccoon and two large rats.

"This is it, I have waited for this day my entire life but I am feeling hesitant to leave."

'It is natural to not want to leave the only home you have ever known. Even though I have only known of this place for a single day, the feelings you have passed on will live with me forever.' Tyviin's words comforted Callum and he took a moment to appreciate the dragon, it was an odd feeling having a companion that was privy to all of his emotions but it certainly had its benefits. So, together, Callum and Tyviin exited the small home one last time and headed off towards Orin's hut.

As he walked, Tyviin flapped along in the air next to him. 'Getting pretty good at that huh?' He projected to the dragon who responded by flying a short loop and Callum could feel immense pride coming from him.

Orin and Wenrys were already outside and waiting for them as they arrived. "We saw Raela and Firrol pass and figured you would be along soon. So this is it huh?" the butcher said in a shaky voice.

"Yeah I guess it is, we have to meet up with the other fledgling riders so we are on a pretty tight timeline."

"Look, Orin, I never thanked you for everything you have done for me. You two are the only family I have ever really known outside of Lyara and you taught me to be the person that I am today and I hope that I will make you proud." Callum said while trying to keep his composure, but then the large man wrapped him in a tight bear hug.

Tears were now falling from Orin's eyes as he said, "It has been one of the greatest honors of my life being able to call you my son. I am already more proud of you than you could ever imagine, anything that you do going forward is just giving me more ways to brag about you. I love you, Callum, please be safe in your adventures."

Orin and Callum wiped their tears away as the embrace ended and Callum looked up to see Wenrys grinning from ear to ear. "I am not saying goodbye, not today, because I know in my heart I will see you again soon. Give em hell brother."

Callum smiled and nodded as he said confidently, "We will, I swear it." Then, Tyviin flew quickly and wrapped his wings around Wenrys in what could only be considered a hug.

"Haha, I might be the first person in history to be hugged by a dragon. Take care of each other, I'll see you soon." Wenrys said while holding back his tears.

_________

About halfway back to the river, Callum met back up with Raela and Firrol. "Ready to go orphan boy? Better hurry up or you will get left behind as usual." Callum rolled his eyes brushing off the nonsense that Firrol was saying as he walked faster ahead leaving Callum and Raela to talk.

"Nervous?" Raela asked Callum as she eyed him carefully.

"Honestly, not really. There was a moment while I was packing that I was a little but that seems to have passed. I have dreamt of being a rider my whole life and now I get to follow that dream. I'm excited Raela, for all of us. What about you?"

"A little, but I feel a lot better having you and Firrol with me."

She noticed the look on Callum's face when she mentioned her brother. "He is a good person, he's just...really competitive, I guess.

"Sure, I suppose it's his competitive nature that urges him to call me 'orphan boy'," Callum replied sarcastically.

"You are the only person that he has ever considered true competition. You can't deny that you two drive each other to be better, you have since we were kids, and now you will have the chance to do it as riders."

Callum had to recognize the truth in Raela's words and for the first time since he had known Firrol, he found himself grateful for their rivalry.

They had all arrived at the river to see Lyara and Varyn sitting atop their dragons with bags of supplies hanging off of the saddles. "Are we ready to go?" Varyn yelled down to the young riders.

The three of them looked at each other for a moment before turning back to Varyn and nodding.

"Alright, we are heading east," Varyn said as the two large dragons began walking.

Raela and Firrol began to follow, with Endross and Naria hopping along behind them.

Callum turned back to the village, taking one last look at his childhood home, before finally turning east and heading towards his unknown future as a dragon rider.