– Prologue —

Kellaria-Present Day

"Do you think we should actually go through with this?" asked Skytris, more of a question to herself than to Crel. "I mean, we have no where to stay because our Citadel was captured, but inter-dimensional travel? No one has even attempted that before in the history of Kellaria."

"Don't worry, the whites have scouted it out, and I think they can get us there if they had to. And they do," said Crel with a solemn face. Despite the fact that he was 25 years old, he was Wingleader of South Telleka, rider of blue Niven. Sighing, he rested his weight on the solid rock railing overlooking the cavern that was now their makeshift Citadel. "We'll make it," Crel said, feeling that he had to be strong and sure. He wrapped his arms around the slender Skytris and rested his head on hers.

He could feel her body tense. "Crel… Sihera clutched yesterday," she said slowly, nervously. It took a little while for Crel to process this. If Sihera, Skytris's silver dragon, had clutched, then, if they even made it to a different dimension, the eggs would harden and not fully develop because of lack of humans. The only person of age to complete the symbiosis with a dragon was Crel and Skytris' son, Kenral, and even then he was a little young. But they would not risk any others. Kellaria needed all of her people to fight, and inter-dimensional travel was too much of a risk.

"I… I don't know what to do…" Crel said, tightening his grip on Skytris. The humans were mandatory for the dragons' survival. Without the human, the dragons were colorless balls of living, but not conscious, material. Somehow, whoever the person was supplied the genetic information of the dragon coding for color and brain type. No one left on the planet remembered how exactly this worked, because all of the information compiled by their ancestors was destroyed in the GP-kR336 (Great Pashe-ki Raid, 336). Crel shuddered at the thought of the Pashe-ki. "We can't bring more people along with us, they need everybody they can get right now."

"So why are we leaving?" Skytris looked up at him.

"To prove a point. They do need all the people they can get, and when they kicked us all out of our Citadel, just because we had too many down to continue fighting and so retreated, that was unfair treatment. It shouldn't matter that we're from medde-Kellaria. We're not inferior to those of laeo-kellaria, and that is what they need to learn. Without us, they are only half an army."

Skytris was silent. Crel continued. "Our population doesn't even compare to theirs, even including Dryse. How can they expect us to do the same amount of work?"

"I don't know, Crel, I really don't…" Skytris said, half mumbling. "I'm tired. I better get to bed if we're leaving before dawn." She yawned.

"Yeah, me too," Crel replied, and, hand in hand, the two drew back into the small lair that was their temporary home.

Is everybody ready to go? Crel asked his blue dragon, Riven.

Affirmative. All 103 458 of us. The whites are in their positions now, and they're ready as soon as we give the command. Riven replied, and swung his head up to look at Crel. Crel nodded, and spoke inside Riven's mind. Then give the signal.

Crel felt Riven blare a message into each of the hundred-some-odd-thousand dragons' minds. Then, at the very back of the ranks, the last echelon, which was a group of 20 dragons, burst into the air, and as soon as they had, they were gone. It was like a huge ripple, a wave of sorts, passing through the ranks, scooping up all the dragons and turning them into thin air. The wave passed through all the echelons, working its way up to the Junior Flightleaders, and then the Flights were being worked through. Riven told Crel to prepare himself.

Giving a final check to the riding straps, Crel cast a worried glance to the wave, suddenly on top of him.

Here goes nothing, he thought, and was swept away into the air.

Earth-Present Day

Mallory adjusted her backpack, wondering why she had even decided to go along with her friends on this trip. She had packed as lightly as possible, seeing as how she had told her parents she was only going to be gone one night at Rachel's house. She would actually be gone for 4 nights. Rachel had said she'd be at Lauren's. And Lauren had said she'd be at Mallory's.

The idea for their trip had arisen before they had found out about the mysterious predators causing a major decrease in the deer and deer-like population in the area. There had been a few people even to have reported seeing "great colored winged reptiles" more commonly known, to Mallory and Rachel anyway, as dragons. Most people shrugged these ideas off as crazy notions, as the only people who suggested these ideas were the ones who firmly believed in the fantastical. This gave both Rachel and Mallory a new reason for this hike up Mt. Baker they were now taking.

Mallory had been reluctant to go with only two others, so she had also invited a couple more friends: Brandi and Aaron. Although they did not know them as well as they knew each other, they were still comfortable with spending a week out in the bush with the two.

Which brought her to her current position: walking up the mountain on the power-line trail. It was late in the evening, and the sky was already beginning to darken. She was the last in the group, and was fairly behind. Being only 5'2" (and out of shape didn't help matters much), her legs were shorter than the others. Well, Rachel was the same height, but she was much more in shape due to her paper route.

"Hey you guys!" Mallory shouted. "Can we stop for a sec?"

Lauren, who was leading the pack, turned around and grinned. "Need a stop already Mal? Thought you woulda lasted longer than this." She did stop though, and Mallory, when she came to the place where Lauren was, sat down on a nearby stump. Aaron put on a sweater.

"It's a little cold tonight," he said, looking up. "Clear skies."

"You know, if it gets much darker, we won't be able to find a good place to sleep," Brandi piped in.

"You're right, maybe we should…" Lauren mumbled the rest of her sentence, looking to their path ahead. She surveyed their surroundings, and everyone was silent until she spoke again. "We might as well sleep here for the night. Not much use trying to climb that," she pointed at the upcoming steep, rocky hill, "all tonight."

Mallory let out a sigh of thankfulness and threw off her backpack. Her sleeping bad and pillow were rolled neatly underneath her pack and she knelt to un-strap them. She heard crickets chirping in the distance and the annoying whir of the power lines. A few branches snapped behind Mallory, but it was only Rachel unraveling her own sleeping bag.

Mallory hoped she wouldn't have to be on the outside of the group, but they slept in a circle with everybody's feet facing outwards to prevent fear.

Despite the fact that they were all somewhat physically exhausted, the small group engaged in pointless conversation, traveling on into the night. Mallory fell asleep somewhere in the middle of these, for when she woke up the next morning, everybody else was still sleeping. Upon realizing this, she flopped her head back down onto her pillow and lay there dreaming until someone else woke up.

The first to awake was Lauren, who immediately woke Aaron. Since they were both morning people, they didn't hesitate to make total fools out of themselves, shaking the other two girls who were still asleep. Rachel woke up and kicked Aaron in the shin as soon as she stood up. Brandi groaned in protest but nevertheless stood up and stretched.

There wasn't a single moment left to think as the other, more ambitious people packed up their gear and headed off up the rest of the mountain. Mallory was too tired, and it took them all much more time to get up the steep hill than it would under more favorable conditions, which would mean a good 5 hours more of sleep.

The sun was scorching against Mallory's face and shoulders, and the rest of her bare skin was getting a sunburn. She was wearing a hat, but she wasn't wearing sunscreen because she rarely burned. Unfortunately, this was one of those rare times.

She assumed everyone else was feeling relatively the same, perhaps even worse. For this reason she was first up the steep hill, quickly followed by Aaron and Rachel.

Mallory looked out across the valley. This face of the mountain was opposite their hometown, facing the Rocky Mountains. The air was fresh up there; a little thinner, but it was fresh.

Turning around, she noticed something foreign, a fleck of metallic brown move out of sight. Unafraid, she took off her pack and eyed the area suspiciously.

"I'll be right back," she told the rest of the group, and walked quickly over to where she had sent the bronze movement.

Was it behind this tree or the next? She asked herself, sneaking on her toes.

"What are you doing?" Lauren yelled from behind her. Mallory ignored her and continued into the forest. She had to find out what that had been. Another flash of bronze protruded from between the trees and this time Mal ran after it.

The bronze blob moved sluggishly for its size through the forest and Mallory almost caught up with it once or twice. It was long like a tree, having a point at the end, and thickening at the base. Mal guessed it was 5 feet long, and the first thing that came to mind when she saw it was that it looked very much like a lizard's tail.

Maybe there's truth to those rumors about dragons, Mal thought, getting extra energy from this thought and therefore quickening her pace.

She suddenly found herself in a clearing, and she abruptly stopped from surprise. She swept the area with her eyes, but found no traces of anything, however one bright-colored object caught her attention.

What is that white pile in the distance? She ran closer to it, not wanting to get too close though, in case it could harm her health.

Mallory's eyes opened wide and her face contorted in question. It may just be my imagination, but these very much resemble bird's eggs…

"Mal, jeez, what were you… what the hell?" Aaron said, panting. Mallory turned around and was greeted by the faces of her group. They had all followed her.

"I have no idea what they are, but…" Mallory said, and Aaron stepped forward to inspect them. Since he didn't drop dead, Mallory decided that she would also go in for a closer look.

She ran her fingers over one of the "eggs". They weren't as smooth as they'd looked, and they were fairly warm. And they weren't purely white either. Mal moved closer to see the color better.

An expansive and bland cream color filled her vision. She could suddenly see the tiny flecks of fibers in the material the eggs were made of. Inhaling, she smelt hundreds of smells she had never before smelt. Wondering what was going on, she looked to the others in question. They all seemed preoccupied; their faces showed that they, too, were observing things in a new light. Mallory tried speaking.

"Why are our…" she began, but winced. Her voice was ten times louder, so she continued in the quietest whisper possible, but it was fully audible, "senses so heightened?" Three out of four of them shrugged. Brandi spoke instead.

"Try thinking of a math problem… a really complex one… you'll find that you can do it way easier…" Mallory remembered a problem she'd had trouble with last year, and suddenly she found it was much easier than she thought it was…

"What does this have to do with those?" Aaron said in a state of ecstatic, pointing at the eggs. They all were silent and pondered this question. Aaron fell over, unconscious on the ground. Someone, Mallory couldn't tell who, screamed, causing the others to wince in pain, and all four of the girls ran to Aaron's side.

"Is he breathing?" Rachel said cautiously.

"Can't you hear him breathing?" Lauren interjected.

"Shut up!" Rachel retorted. "This is creepy, okay?"

"Yeah well we don't need stupid comments…" Both Rachel and Lauren passed out onto the ground, in the midst of arguing.

Mallory and Brandi looked at each other with wide eyes. Mallory could see Brandi's skin start to sweat.

"W-who's next?" Brandi said, and looked down at the people on the ground. She started to lean in towards them, and Mallory thought she was just inspecting them closer, but she fell face first onto Aaron's chest.

Mallory looked around in a panic, and her view came to rest on the eggs. She plugged her ears and screamed, although that did nothing to help damper the sound. Something had done this to them, and she suspected that it had come from the eggs.

I need to find out what was in them before I pass out too, she thought, a totally obscure thought in her circumstances. She spotted a long stick lying underneath Lauren. She pulled it out from under her, and walked over to the eggs. Mallory stood there for a moment, then raised the stick.

The off-white color of the eggs caught her attention again, and when she looked up all she could see was white. She screamed in frustration, and turned around. She could still feel the outside world, but sight, smell, and sound were blocked off completely by the white void. She lost her balance and fell. The top of her vision faded to gray, then black, and a curtain of dark came down in front of her.

* * *

Rachel awoke with no recollection of what had happened to her just before she had passed out. The last thing she had remembered was looking at a white pile of spherical objects. It was all fuzzy from then on.

As she looked outward into the room she was in, she noticed that the walls were rock, and the room was lit with candlelight. It wasn't a big room, but it held her and the rest of her friends. The blanket she found herself wrapped in was nicely woven, soft, and of a golden color. She was rather warm, however, and stood up, shaking her hair out, and brushing off her clothes. They'd been dirty from when she had fallen on the ground in front of the eggs.

You're just lucky you didn't fall on the eggs, a voice from nowhere told her. She figured it was her own mind, and continued her survey of the room. There was no door, so, not wanting to disturb the others, and also assuming that this was a dream, she walked out of their room.

There were more people in the next room; a far larger one that was comparable to a ballroom. The smell of frying meat wafted in front of Kaya's nose, and she turned to see where the smell was coming from. She was hungry, and as she spotted the table of food, good food, like steak and different pastas, she had to stop herself from going over there and serving herself. She didn’t know if the food was for her or not, and she didn't want to chance anything. Some of the people in the room had odd coloring. Rachel saw a person with bright magenta hair, and another person had ruby red eyes. Yes, this must be a dream, she thought to herself. Most were around her age, if not a little older or younger, and she decided to try talking to one of them.

"So, where is this?" she asked a nearby copper haired boy.

An expression came to his face of incomprehension. He spoke.

"Dir canav'r tanasah!" he said, and Rachel had no idea what he was saying.

It's Kellarian, the voice inside Rachel's head said. It means, "I don't understand".

What do I say? Rachel decided to ask a question to herself.

Say "Kayra" to him. He'll understand that. Rachel complied, and the boy responded. But this time, Rachel knew what he had said. Must be one of those dream things, she figured.

"I am Rachel," she answered his question as to who she was.

No. You are not Rachel. You are now Kaya. And I am Fyra. The voice commandingly told her.

How am I Kaya? My name is Rachel, I've always been Rachel.

I chose a name for you, a Kellarian name.

What the hell is Kellaria? Rachel said, getting exasperated at the voice in her head.

The voice sighed. You'll find out later.

How much later? I want to know what's going on! Rachel retorted, but the voice supplied no answer.

Rachel sighed, and the boy again spoke.

"You can have some food if you want, help yourself." He pointed over to where the food was, and she walked over there.

There was too much to choose from, there was a lot of meat, and a lot of vegetables. The food that from far away had looked like pasta had turned out to be colorful salads, made from both vegetables and fruits. But these were all of the sort that she had never before seen. She looked around at the other people, who were also eating, and saw that most preferred to take a little bit from each dish, and not eat an entire slab of meat, or an entire serving of salad.

Rachel picked up a serving spoon and dished out samples of each dish, as much as she could fit onto one plate. She took a seat at the nearest table, which was luckily not crowded. Rachel didn't usually mind being alone, she was fairly independent, but right now she wished that she could find a familiar face among the crowd.

When she was done she disposed of her plate in the indicated bin, and the voice in her head spoke again.

Now you are to go to the third room on your left. Startled that something her mind created had given her orders, she took a few steps forward. Keep going. I will be there. This, again, startled Rachel.

This voice… whatever it is, is real? How is that possible? It's not, that's what it is. This is a dream, no big deal, just go with the flow, she told herself, and walked in a determined fashion to the third room on her left. She wanted this dream to be over, wanted to wake up where she had been left, outside on a hike with her friends.

Rachel found that the doors were closed, and so she had to carefully push them open. The hinges let out an awful squeal, turning every head in the room in Rachel's direction. Rachel smiled, her cheeks burning with embarrassment, and headed into the room.

It was another stone room, but this one noticeably warmer. Blankets and other warm articles littered the floor, lumped into six different piles.

So, Voice, which one are you? Rachel asked inside her mind, mocking whatever had been speaking to her.

The voice, which Rachel remembered to be named "Fyra", sighed, and ignored Rachel's mockery. You have to figure out which pile I am underneath. This is a ceremonial re-enactment of what happened yesterday. Your friends should be joining you shortly. It is suggested that you wait for them to arrive for the ceremony to be performed properly.

Rachel did not respond, and sat down on the cloth-covered floor, waiting for her friends to arrive.

There was a knock at the door, and the horrible creak of the door hinges. Rachel turned around, and saw five people—her four friends, and another young boy—pass through the door.

Everyone was filled with an odd silence as they gazed at the piles of cloth. The boy spread his arms outwards, and then brought them back down to his sides, moving forward, completely ignoring the rest, who were clueless about how to perform the ritual.

Apparently Aaron had known what to do, since he followed the boy's example, and began walking toward one of the piles.

Go now. It's your turn. Stretch your arms wide in thanks, and find me. The voice commanded, and Rachel complied. This was probably one of the oddest ceremonies she'd ever been involved in, and she now walked forward, trying to decide which pile to turn over. Would it be the one in the direct center? Or the one slightly to the left? Or perhaps it is the one right in front of me! Rachel realized that she had brought herself unknowingly to a stop while she was looking around, and was now directly in front of a pile. This could be it, so I'll try it, Rachel decided, and dug her hand into the cloth. The piles weren't any taller than Rachel's waist, and as she looked around for more instruction, she noticed that everyone had found their own pile of cloth to destroy.

Rachel pulled up a thick blanket, and noticed that it was like the one she had found herself in when she had awoken. She continued pulling, and realized that despite the colorful appearance, the entire pile was made from one blanket. Triangles of brightly hued cloth had been tied onto the edges of the blanket, which was a deep gold. As Rachel pulled the last of the blanket away, she was surprised to see a small ball of gold sitting on the floor.

She gasped, and the first thought that went through her mind was that she was going to be rich. A golden nugget, no wait, a statue, would be worth a lot of money! Rachel kneeled down and inspected the gold further. She placed her hand upon the belly, and felt the texture. The scales had been intricately carved, and the wings… the wings were a work of art. Apparently the golden statue was of a small dragon, cute, with little stubs of ivory for horns. Probably just a hatchling, Rachel thought, and stroked the belly again.

The statue inhaled, and then exhaled. Rachel jumped back in surprise, almost falling onto Mallory.

I told you I'd be here, the voice named Fyra said in her mind, as the dragonet stood up and stretched out its wings.

Rachel looked at the dragonet with a look of awe and confusion. Half of Rachel wanted to believe that it really was the dragonet speaking in her mind, but the other half of her knew it was impossible.

And suddenly, she was seeing things as the little dragonet saw them: much closer to the floor, and giants towering all around her. It was only a glimpse out of the dragonet's eyes, but it was enough to make Rachel believe.

As Rachel's senses returned to her own body, she felt a strange sense: she could still see, hear, and smell things using the dragonet's body. It was like having another pair of eyes in a different room, connected to her own, but still separate. Her brain compensated for the new additions almost instantly, sending her back into her solitary views as she had been before, but still with a tinge of that extra limb of senses. She wondered why, and was about to ask Fyra, but the answer came to her instead.

It's like you grew another body, Fyra explained. I, this golden dragonet you see before you, is you. Your mind and my mind are the same. We are only separate entities because I am a different species, conceived differently, born differently, and the way my mind works is different from yours. I can speak to you through your mind because of this, because we are so similar. You created me with your mind, the instant you came upon the eggs our two minds, yours superior and mine half-formed, connected, and now we share a bond that cannot be broken.

Rachel was satisfied with this answer, and knelt beside the dragonet. The golden dragonet's eyes were hazel, the same color as Rachel's eyes. Rachel inquired about this also.

No one left on Kellaria has any idea why this results of human-dragon bonding. Anything known about it was wiped out when the Pashe-ki attacked.

Pashe-ki? Rachel asked.

You'll find out later, Fyra replied, and let out a loud keen to the other dragonets, who "spoke" back to Fyra. Rachel looked up in astonishment. There were 5 other dragonets in the same room! Rachel stood up to see the rest.

The boy who none of them knew had a small green dragonet curled around his waist, sitting on the floor. Aaron was also sitting, staring blank-faced at his white dragonet. Lauren was in similar status, but she had a look of puzzlement on her face, and a gold dragonet similar to Rachel's own. Mallory had her back up against the wall, with her silver dragonet curled up against her leg, a smug grin on her face. Brandi was happily scratching her bronze dragonet's head and earlobes, with a few tears of joy running down her cheeks.

Just then a man burst into the room. He looked about 29; he had amber colored hair and was much taller than Rachel. He spoke to the young boy, and the young boy and his green dragon left the room.

When the door was shut, the man spoke to them.

"Hello, I am Crel, Wingleader of South Telleka." South Telleka is a dragon fortress called a Citadel on Kellaria. A Wingleader is the leader of the Citadel, Fyra explained. "I understand that you five who just bonded dragons are from Earth." Just about all five of the teens nodded in affirmation. "I don't suspect your dragons have told you of a dragon's duty, have they?"

"Mine hasn't," Rachel said in the odd language she understood.

"Neither has mine," Mallory said, and the rest shook their heads.

Crel took on a stressed look as he continued. "Well, then I guess I'll have to tell you myself." He paused. "Dragons live on Kellaria, a planet that is not Earth, for the purpose of fighting. Not prize fighting, but life-or-death fighting against an evil species that also inhabits Kellaria. Dragons are more powerful fighters than any human could hope to be, and that's why dragon-human bonding is so important. But that's not really what I'm trying to say."

"What's going to happen to us now?" Aaron asked cautiously, almost timidly, a characteristic Aaron rarely portrayed.

"Well… we strongly suggest that you return with us to Kellaria."

This better be a dream… Rachel thought, and looked to her dragonet for support.

This is no dream, Kaya, the gold replied, this is real, and you have to make a pretty big decision.

Stop calling me Kaya! Rachel replied, and spoke aloud to Crel.

"This place Kellaria, how would we get there, and would we be able to come back?"

"Kellaria is an alternate dimension to Earth. They co-exist along the same time frame, but are two different worlds. As you will find out later, your dragons have special abilities, and that of a white dragon," he indicated Aaron's dragonet, "is to teleport. White dragons can mass teleport anything, as long as there is enough of them to do the job. But unless you can teleport, there is no possible way to get to Kellaria from Earth. And vise versa."

"But if we go to Kellaria, can we come back to Earth?" Rachel repeated.

"No." Crel replied, and murmurs started in protest. "The reasoning behind this is that the people of Earth are as unpredictable as we are, and in that, we have no idea what they'd do to us and our world if they found out we existed. If you five teens disappeared for any amount of time, and were to come back with dragons and special powers, who knows what the effect will be on Earth. There could be chaos."

"And there might not be chaos if we went back. Who's to know?" Mallory argued.

"Exactly. Who is to know? We don't want to create something we can't handle. You bonded dragons, a last hope to our clutch of eggs, and now you're just going to have to live up to the responsibility."

"So, we really didn't have a choice in the matter at all, we have to go to Kellaria with our dragons," Brandi said, getting frustrated.

"Dragons don't belong on Earth, we have enough experience to prove it," Crel said. "I was only trying to break it to you slowly. We're leaving in a few days. You will be kept here, inside the caves, for our and your safety. You will be integrated into Kellarian lifestyle as much as possible, but you will probably still stand out as the people from Earth. As you can see," he pointed at his hair and his eyes, which Rachel now found to be a cherry red, "you can't fit in physically."

Thanks for the hope, Rachel thought sarcastically. She didn't know what to think of all this. She would have to leave everything behind, her family, her life, her world… all to be swept away to make room for something she wasn't prepared for.

"Now, for the record, I will need your names, and your dragon's name." Crel took out a pen and some paper, and looked at Rachel, who was the furthest left. "Names?" he prompted.

"Uh… I'm Kaya," she said. I meant to say Rachel! Why did it come out as Kaya?

You're speaking Kellarian. Kaya is your Kellarian name, Fyra informed.

"And my dragon's name is Fyra," Rachel/Kaya went on, although not fully understanding why she couldn't say "Rachel" in Kellarian.

Next to say their names were Brandi and her dragon. "I am Ekyla, and my dragonet is Mellekey."

"My name is Kivessa," Mallory said, "and my dragon is Charmiaz."

"Hi, I'm Rynn, and my dragon's name is Myz," Lauren said.

This reminds me of one of those group sessions like "alcoholics anonymous" or something, Kaya thought, and laughed to herself.

"I'm Atlan and this is Fanth," Aaron said, pointing to his dragon. He didn't seem too pleased about this all. Kaya figured that they were all going to be upset for a while about having to leave Earth, but Aaron/Atlan was going to have it worse. He had been rather attached to someone on Earth, and now he had to leave her.

An advantage to being single, Kaya thought, and wondered what was going to happen next.

Mallory—no, it was Kivessa now, she realized—tightened her grip on Charmiaz. She had had to be belted to a different dragon, another silver, and Charmiaz was strapped in right in front of Kivessa. The silver's usual rider, Skytris, was riding with Crel to make room for Kivessa and Charmiaz. Kivessa was near the front of the Wing of dragons. Well, at least, that's what Kivessa figured they called it. Wing, Wingleader, it made sense.

Most of the other dragons had left before they did, including Atlan, Rynn, and Ekyla. There had been so many of them that they could not all fit into the field. Charmiaz had said something about over 100,000 dragons had occupied the dwelling inside the mountain. Kivessa was astonished, wondering how they had managed to carve rooms out of the solid rock, but had decided to keep her questions for later.

She was so nervous. Kivessa was running away from everything she had come to know as "home". Her parents, her brothers, her other friends, her pets, her house, her school, she was leaving! She could only hope that her absence wouldn't devastate her family too much. She had fleeting thoughts about trying to make a run for it right before they left, but knew she didn't have the courage to go through with something like that. But for some reason, I have the courage to leave Earth behind, Kivessa thought, and shook her head. She had to forget about it if she was to continue life in Kellaria.

Skytris spread her arms wide, the signal that meant the whites would be active soon. There was a white dragon beside Kivessa, and he unfolded his wings. So did Sihera, the dragon Kivessa and Charmiaz were on, and they overlapped wingtips. Everyone was looking at the Wingleaders in anticipation. Kivessa could feel the tension in the air, dragons wanting to spring upwards, and fly home.

Skytris thrust her arms high into the air, and the dragons leapt as one into the air. Kivessa, too afraid to even blink, witnessed the wave of darkness spread across the field, stealing the dragons out of the sky, just as it overcame her too. Inside the blackness, all she could think of was that she hoped this was normal.

Her mind felt clouded, and her body disoriented as the dragons came out of the darkness into a cold, stormy sky.

We are here, Charmiaz said quietly, in awe of her species' home. It was just like Earth, the water was blue, the trees green, the air oxygenated. Kivessa didn't know what she had originally expected, but it sure wasn't this.

In the near distance, Kivessa could see a mountain, with many caves in its sides, and the sparkle of metallic dragon hide could be seen.

Is that South Telleka? Charmiaz asked Sihera.

Yes, this is where you will be living. We have prepared lairs for you all, she replied, voice full of charity.

Where we will be living, Kivessa echoed in her mind. She continued to look at the mountain, approaching closer and closer with every wingbeat.