The Dragon Knight Order (2 page)

WHY

Once I was allowed to leave the Ceremony Hall, Professor Lirean informed me that my new home was going to be the Sky Dome. The Sky Dome was located at the center of the Dragon Hold. The Dragon Hold was big enough to house multiple dragons and allow them to fly about. Entrance to the dragon’s residence within the Academy was exclusive to professors, Dragon Knights and dragons. Outsiders were only allowed in with a formal invitation from a Knight or dragon, or if they accompanied them. If a person without permission was seen inside, it was within their rights to forcefully remove them using any means necessary. That was just one of a laundry list of rules, or excuses that allowed me to do whatever I pleased as a Knight. The only two rules that I can remember were; ‘Never disobey professors. Dragon teachers outrank human ones and shall be followed over human orders. It is the obligation of the Dragon Knight, regardless of rank, to ensure that all other branches of students follow the rules’. In other words, Dragons police Knights and Knights police other students. Aside from that, I was obligated to take mandatory classes with battlemages, healers and commanders, as well as my Dragon Knight classes, whatever those might be.

Once I arrived at the Dragon Hold, I found the very same dragon from the Ceremony hall standing by the entrance to the Sky Dome.

“I know you have questions young one and you will have your answers in due time. For the time being, allow me to welcome you to the Sky Dome. Since I know you won’t be able to sleep if I don’t answer at least the basic questions of what a Dragon Knight is, I will try to explain it as best I can. I am afraid I’m a bit out of practice with being a teacher of new Knights. If that’s all right with you, I will begin my explanation.”

“Yes please do.”

“Dragon Dealing or Dragon Riding, is the secret human art of forming a pact with a dragon which, based on the dragon's attribute or ability, with training will give the user full control over that dragon's particular attribute. For example, as a darkness dragon my powers vary from controlling shadows to creating total darkness or condensing it into spheres that consume everything in their path. If you form a deal or pact with me, you will gain these abilities to a lesser degree than me, yet far stronger than any battlemage can ever hope to achieve in all of his life. We dragons call it dragon riding or dealing because you are in essence riding on our power, but in the old days Dragon Knights referred to the pact as ‘deal’ or ‘contract’.

“I understand it somewhat.  So what you’re saying is by performing a deal with a dragon my magical power will increase? Only that? I remember being taught Dragon Knights were strong in all aspects.”

“That is correct. Aside from increasing your magical power, you will be physically stronger, smarter, much more agile, and will live four times the regular life span of a human. You are also immune to most human illnesses. However, you will be able to contract dragon illnesses. It’s an extremely complex form of magic.”

“I don’t feel any different than before,” I said while considering the idea of living to be more than 300 years old. Watching my friends grow old and die, and all the other things I would see. The vastness of the concept scared me so I shoved it into the back of my mind. 

“You won’t feel different for quite some time; in fact most Knights don’t notice the changes until they see their normal friends start to age or when their skin turns pink because they contracted a dragonian rash. In any case it is not an instant ordeal it will take time for the changes to set in.”

Then I said something really stupid. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just let me be a battlemage like the rest of my friends?” I said looking down.

“You have no idea of what you speak of.” He was clearly upset by what I had just said. “As head dragon here at the Academy, I will not accept the first Dragon Knight in twenty five years to be disrespectful enough to suggest he is not ‘cut out’ to join our Order because he wanted to be a battlemage. That is the most pathetic thing I have heard in years. After performing the third contract, a Dragon Knight in training can defeat the average fully trained battlemage. A fully trained Knight with four contracts can defeat a team of battlemages and still have enough energy to take on a legion of regular soldiers. A Dragon Rider which has mastered all contracts can single handedly bring a dragon to its knees. Who ever heard of a Dragon Knight abandoning their training to become a battlemage?”

“I am sorry for saying that. I just don’t understand why you picked me.”

“I am sorry for letting my anger flare like that. Remember, I am a bit out of practice of being a teacher. It will take me some time to regain my former patience, please bear with me.”

“I will… if you can tell me why I was selected to be a Dragon Knight,” I said trying to force him to answer.

“If by selected you mean born, I am sure I can explain the process by which a human is brought into this world.” said the dragon.

“That is not what I mean. I mean, why was I picked to be a Dragon Knight.”

“I already explained that you are born to be a Dragon Knight. It’s not something you are selected to be. We dragons haven’t been able to determine why only a few humans are eligible to become Knights but so far we have come to understand it is usually a matter of genes. Children whose parents are talented in magic have a higher likelihood of becoming Dragon Knights. Dragon Knights that have children are almost guaranteed to become Knights, and not just any Knights, the most powerful Knights ever to exist. As a matter of fact the last Dragon Paladin was the son of two Knights.”

“So it’s because of my parents then?”

“Not always, how do you think the first magicians and Knights came to be? They all came from normal families, but as time went on, these cases became exceedingly rare. In the last two hundred years only seven Knights came from normal families.”

“That still doesn’t explain why I am the only one.”

“You might not be the only one… you might just be the only one to have been discovered. You must understand Alexander, after such a long time the Order started to lose hope that new Knights would be found and withdrew all of the selector dragons from the five academies. I stayed here on a whim and found you only by coincidence. But now that you have shown up I believe the Order will reconsider its decision and actively start to search for new Knights again.”

“You can call me Alex if you want and I sure do hope they find new Knights. I wouldn’t want to be the only Knight in the academy.”

“I am sure you aren’t alone Alex. Now you must get some rest. You have had a long day and an even longer one will ensue tomorrow.”

“But I have more questions.”

“Those can wait until tomorrow.”

The Start

I woke up feeling warm and comfortable. I almost expected the caretakers of the orphanage to walk into the room and tell me it was time to wake up and get ready for morning class. Once I realized no one was coming, I slowly got out of my bed remembering what had transpired yesterday and accepting the fact that this was my life now. Living in the Sky Dome, training with dragons and being acclaimed as a Dragon Knight. Not what I had in mind when I had dreamed of entering the Central Academy.

A presence filled the room, much like at the Ceremony Hall when the dragon had woken up.

“It would seem you have awoken young one,” said the voice of the obsidian dragon.

“How did you know I was awake and how come I can hear you yet I don’t see you? You’re pretty hard to miss,” I said, a little surprised.

“When you are a darkness attribute dragon, you can do a lot of things related to shadows. Projecting my voice or even my form in a shadow is relatively easy. You might achieve it someday if you train correctly. Now enough talk. You should eat, your classes start today.”

I stood up from my bed and looked at my new uniform. It was completely black with the insignia of the Dragon Knights, a dragon spreading its wings with two swords slashed across forming an X on its left side and sleeves.

“Since you are the first Dragon Rider in twenty five years the Chairman and Dragon Council thought it would be prudent to give you battle classes before history and the formation of the Dragon Knights or the Order as we call it. He also suggested I lift the restriction on which dragon types you can make your first deal with. A very dangerous decision given you might not have what it takes to control some of the more powerful attributes such as light, darkness, and time. However, since there is only one of those attributes close by, you can only pick the one that is in front of you.”

I noticed he didn’t bring up yesterday’s issue of me not wanting to be a Knight. Maybe it’s for the best… not to dwell on it, since it appears that there is no way out of this. “So my first contract is with you? I don’t even know what to call you and much less how to make a contract.”

“My name is Shadow. I am what you would call a royal dragon. My lineage can be traced back to the original darkness dragons. Nice to meet you,” he said with a chuckle. “And as for how to make a contract, that will be left for later. All you need to remember is there are three different kinds of contracts: elemental deals which are the basic elements, attributes which are fire, ice, storm and forest, and most importantly the legendary level deals which are usually referred to as light, darkness and time attribute deals.  For now we must get you started on your path to become proficient in the art of magic, which is the very essence of a Knight. That is why you are starting your battlemage and healer training much sooner than is normal for a Knight.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what does a dragon consider normal?” I asked rather amused.

“Ah a sense of humor… good, good. That’s always important when faced with difficult tasks. Well Alex, first of all, to become a Dragon Knight you would normally have to learn the history of how they came to be. Secondly, you would have to learn the effects of deals and what it does to the human body and the sort of power you obtain from a dragon. Next, you learn the historical and theoretical aspects of what it is to be Dragon Knight and start learning the combat disciplines you will be using on a daily basis as a Knight, which range from magic to swordsmanship to archery. You might not think of it as important, but a regular swordsman would shatter the bones in his arm if he ever blocked a direct swing from you. That’s why you need special training and special teachers. The fact that you are a Dragon Knight will affect you to the core of your being. Your body will change and gain a lot more power than it ever has had. All Dragon Knights before you have gone through this. Therefore it is expected of you as well, even if the order you learn it is different than older generations have learned it.”

“Why would I need to learn things I won’t use? Dragons can do practically anything with magic and as a Dragon Knight I can do so with the power I borrow from you,” I said irritated at having to be given special treatment.

“Be that as it may, dragons are a far older, stronger and intelligent species than humans. Just because you can use some of our magic doesn’t put you on par with us. At best, a Dragon Rider could match dragons in strength and only a Dragon Paladin could defeat a dragon on their own. As your history has taught you, there have only been seven examples of a human single handedly killing a dragon. Out of those seven, three died from wounds or casting spells that was too powerful for their bodies to handle. The remaining four barely made it out alive. As for what you can't do, it’s quite simple. As you start learning about magic, you will learn that some spells require more energy than you possess.”

“So if I cast something that consumes more energy than what I have, I could die?” I asked suddenly aware of how dangerous it might be to tamper with magic.

“Exactly, that is why you should be very careful when testing out new spells. For the time being, just do what your teachers tell you. When you’re ready for more energy consuming spells, I will teach them to you personally," said Shadow with an odd expression on his massive face, if it is possible for dragons to have expressions.

“Speaking of which, who are these teachers that will train me?” I asked wondering if any of the three that I met yesterday would be among them.