How perfectly ironic would it be of a day if he fell to his doom right after he was blessed by a whole nest of dragons?

Kaden could feel his body lifting away from the dragon as it continued its ascent. It hadn’t even realized he lost his grip. It would continue to fly further into the sky while he fell to his doom.

Unlike the first time, the height he was falling from would certainly be his doom on the water. There wouldn’t have been anything to break the water’s surface below and he for sure knew it would feel like he was hitting firm ground. His father had lectured him so at the cliffs near Lake Lagnoi.

Feeling weightless was a bit euphoric. For a time, he felt like he was one with the sky, part of the air that moved around him. It was a sensation he never thought he’d ever experience. Floating through the air, without the assistance of a dragon, was like nothing he could have prepared for.

That’s when the terror set in.

Kaden wasn’t just floating, he was falling. The trees blew past him as he gained speed, heading straight back into the lake below. He was about to smack into the water face first. He couldn’t even manage to right himself. His head would make the first contact.

Squinting his eyes, the thoughts of the water, the ice, the air filled his mind. He knew if you were blessed, you had powers, so it was his last ditch effort to save himself.

Putting his entire will, all his might, into the thought of water, he pushed his hands out in front of him, willing the water to do something, anything. Nothing happened. Panic welled in his mind and he tried to focus harder, not letting it freeze his soul in freight.

Taking a deep breath, his last breath, he pushed all of his might toward the water. A stream of hot mist appeared out of what seemed like the air. The force of the mist hit the water below and pushed him back, slowing his descent.

It lasted for only a few moments, but it was long enough to save him from crashing to his death. Preparing to hit the water, Kaden covered his head.

Only he never hit the water.

Dangling in the air, the dragon had grabbed him at the last moment by the ankle. It struggled to get upward motion, pulling him up and away from the water once more.

They barely made it over the lip of dirt before his face scratched against the dirt, the dragon dropping him onto the ground above the cave opening. He quickly crawled further away, worried about how thin the ground was along the lip of the opening.

His eyes were wide as the dragon casually walked behind him, following him as he moved away from the lake. He let the cool air from the morning invade his lungs as he panted, the panic finally taking over.

The whole day was panic inducing for him. Meeting dragons, falling through the sky. It wasn’t like they taught you how to handle these things in school. Although he never went to a proper school. His mother taught him, and all she taught him was how to read magistrate decrees and when the best planting seasons were. It wasn’t like he ever had a formal education that taught him anything about dragons. They were poor, they couldn’t afford that kind of education.

The dragon sat down, crossing its sharp claws over one another as it watched him hug a tree, trying to center himself from his near death.

“Yeah, I know. I shouldn’t be terrified, but could you please stop nearly killing me?”

The dragon rumbled in response. It was always laughing at him. He knew now that he wasn’t wrong, they were laughing at him when they did that. He could feel a sense of amusement coming from his new companion.

Companion.

He hadn’t had a moment to think about it, but the creature hadn’t carried him back as he had done on the way in. The creature let him ride it. He rode a dragon.

“Am… am I a… Dragon Rider?”

The Dragon’s head tilted in confusion.

He shook his head and said, “Why am I asking you? You’re a wild dragon. You probably don’t even know what that is.”

The dragon tilted its head in the other direction before letting out a small amount of mist from its muzzle. The mist curled away, dispersing into the morning air.

He didn’t know too much difference between the dragons, but he knew that these for sure were water dragons. He had never seen any other kinds there in their lands. Their nation was based on them. Everything in his culture was based on the water dragons and the fresh water that their nation provided.

Other nations had water, but nothing like them. They had pristine aquifers thanks to the ancient mountains, and the long gone glaciers that had covered their land. Their farm lands were more lush than other nations. They would harvest the food and water, shipping it across the continent to the other nations, and it was cherished.

Or at least that was the stories his mother taught him. As far as he knew, the other nations may not even care about his nation. He had a feeling it was pure propaganda, but he could never tell his mother that. They may not even like their food and water. All he knew was that they used to fight over land and now they don’t. He knew they agreed to a central government, and that controls all the trade.

His parents were children themselves when it happened, so he wasn’t even sure if they really understood how it was before.

There were a few enforcers of the central government’s law and the one absolute requirement to this was that they had to be a dragon rider. If a nation produced a dragon rider, they were obligated to represent the central government in that nation.

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He rode a dragon. He was technically a dragon rider.

He groaned and said, “I really don’t want to be policing the people for a government I don’t even care about.”

The dragon just stared at him again.

Rolling his eyes, Kaden unlatched one of the straps that he had used to hold his lost bow. Loosening it, he stretched it out as far as he could. He did the same with his bag’s strap. Pulling out a small amount of rope he had from his sopping wet bag, still dripping from the morning’s dive.

He tied them all together and made his way to the dragon. “I have got to have a halter or something on you, otherwise I’m just going to fall again.”

He felt like the dragon was giving him an annoyed look, unhappy about the proposal. It shook as he tried to wrap it around the creature’s neck, making it that much harder to get it in place. He climbed back atop his friend and barely had enough rope to wrap around his waist.

They were officially tied to one another. If he started to fall, the dragon would know it. There wouldn’t be anymore free falling, no more near-death experiences. At least, no more near-death experiences today.

Kaden shook out his arms and pushed out his thoughts that he was ready. The dragon didn’t hesitate and was on its feet again. With three quick strides, it was climbing back into the air, their feet brushing the leaves of the many trees.

Up and up they climbed. He held on as tightly as he could, determined not to lose his grip again. Hopefully, he didn’t get another vision flash across his mind.

He didn’t know how to process them. They were so strange and unique. He had seen himself, but he had also seen others. If he truly was to become a dragon rider, were they prophetic? Did the wild matriarch’s blessing also bless him with visions of the future? These questions mulled around in his mind as they joined the birds high in the skies.

They had made it a short distance from the cave mouth. If he fell off now, it would be the ground he’d splat against. He looked back toward the cave, wondering how the large matriarch even got out. Only, there was no cave entrance behind them. A green canopy of trees was the only thing he saw.

“Is magic hiding the entrance?” The words blew out of his mouth and into the sky for no one to even hear.

The dragon below him gave a rumble in response. Of course, they wouldn’t want anyone to find them. The only reason he saw it when they came in was because they let him see it. They were hiding from something.

If the matriarch was any indication, the nest was a large one, and she was mother to a variety of ages. He wondered if his companion wasn’t the first to be trapped. The question of who would do that to a dragon mulled through his mind.

Kaden had come across two sets of runes that day. One trapped and seriously injured a dragon and the other healed it. There was a duality of intentions. Whoever carved the platform had nothing to do with the ones who set the traps.

They continued flying, the green trees moving quickly below him. He hadn’t realized how far they had gone. He had no idea where he was and couldn’t make out the landscape from the new angle. Where they were going, only the dragon knew.

From his new vantage point, he could see a variety of useful things. He could see where the rivers and streams met, where the ponds and lakes resided. He could spot well-worn animal paths and herds of creatures moving about. Nothing looked up at them. The creatures were used to the dragons.

This raised another concern in his mind. These creatures below him couldn't care less that they were above. The birds weren’t bothered as they flew past them. None of the creatures were worried about the dragons chasing or eating them.

He had been wrong about his initial thoughts. He didn’t think the dragons even ate creatures. What was the point of all the teeth if they didn’t even eat meat?

If they didn’t eat creatures and the creatures didn’t care to bother them, why did the wolves come for them? There was more going on there than he was prepared to even understand. It was only a matter of time before he was going to be forced to learn more about them.

Once word spread about his blessing, he would be shipped off to the temple and be forced to learn all about the water culture. They’d expect him to represent them at court. Kaden was not looking forward to the stiff outfits they were going to wear.

The water nation still had a king. Not every nation still had royalty, but they did. He was not a fan of the king or the king’s men. They always treated the people as if they were lesser. Nearly everyone in his court had been blessed at one time and they made sure everyone knew that.

He always wondered why. Every water magic user that came to their village and even a few times to his farm, they were just the most rude and hateful people. He didn’t understand how they ever got blessed in the first place.

Kaden hadn’t known before, but he knew now that they had to have been proven worthy to a matriarch to get a blessing. He didn’t understand how any of them would have received it if they behaved the way they had. The matriarch he met would have probably just chomped them to pieces.

“Maybe the city dragons are a bit more lenient on their blessings,” he chuckled to himself.

His companion didn’t reply that time. He probably had no idea either. No context on blessed humans. A part of him wished he could just have a full conversation with the dragon. He never ever heard of a dragon who could talk, at least not until he heard the matriarch’s deep rumble of a voice in his mind. He wasn’t even sure if that was actually her or he just imagined it.

“What do I call you?”

The dragon wiggled in response, not speaking as he assumed it wouldn’t.

“How about Jim?”

The dragon shook more violently, nearly tossing him off to dangle by the rope. He laughed.

“Jim is out. How about Krogi?”

It shook again.

“Wait, are you male or female?”

Another shake.

He laughed and said, “I guess you’re right. It doesn’t really matter, does it?”

Mulling it over in his mind, he thought of a few different names he could call it. Kaden hadn’t been the most creative before. He thought of all the words he could for Mist.

“What about Zuma? I think that’s mist…”

The dragon didn’t give him any sign if they liked it or not, but it wasn’t a shake, so it must have been okay with it.

“Alright Zum—”

Before he could officially say the name, the dragon dropped, heading toward the ground below. He hadn’t been paying attention to where they were. A massive field laid out before them and the dragon was heading right toward it.

They passed a windmill that was pulling water up and out of the ground. He recognized the windmill. It was his windmill! They were at the Berkhoff farm!

The dragon's arrival spooked the sheep, causing them to scatter and bleat loudly as it skimmed its belly across the wheat field. There was no making up a story for his family now. If anyone looked to the east, they’d see them coming.

The fields were large, and they hadn’t yet neared the main complex. His family had several silos he could spot. The dragon slowed its approach as they neared the main buildings.

Kaden could see a few figures coming out of one of the buildings; he could only assume it was some of his family. He saw one of his brothers pointing toward them and he heard his scream. That same brother started bolting away in terror.

He couldn’t help but laugh as the dragon slowed and touched its feet to the ground, parading to a stop. His older sister’s mouth was agape, but she hadn’t run away like one of his older brothers had. Another sister exited the building just as he made his entrance.

Dirt was settling as the dragon finished flapping its wings. It folded them and tucked them away in a smooth but elegant motion.

“Mama,” he heard the sister standing at the door yell back inside. “Kaden is on a dragon!”

He smiled as he could hear his mother’s voice, “Lelsi, if you’re making up another tale, so help me I’ll—”

His mother stood at the door, her mouth falling just as agape as her daughter’s.

“You won’t believe what happened to me,” Kaden said with a laugh.