The training kept escalating for an entire month.
The second to tenth day of training had been spent on the road, doing different exercises to increase our magical capabilities, leaving us on the brink of unconsciousness most of the time.
Food and water were scarce unless we could hunt or forage our own in the meagre respite we got, having to arrange shifts and see how we divided the work so no one got unfair rest or had to work after already collapsing in the exercise before.
It was a grueling affair to decide it so it got instantly delegated to me, only becoming bearable due to the small size of my crew and Evas even temper. She never complained or refused to do a job, simply followed through with it without questioning it for a second.
It might have been harrowing but I was just glad.
Ethan stopped trying to help everyone after he threw up when hunting. It had been after a particularly bad trek up a hill where he had carried Dosor, who had been increasing in weight.
Dosor had steadily grown to a size where she was able to gallop alongside us for a while, resting only during our spars or magical exercises. Her size was approaching that of a grown horse, providing us with a somewhat stable and reliable shelter and warmth which we took full advantage off, sleeping under her wings.
It was kind of a tight fit and I had learned that Rachel was one of the people who slept endlessly better when cuddling with someone else. That was apparently a thing.
I didn’t mind as it was more comfortable than sleeping on the grass and I wanted her to get all the rest she could get due to her inexperience with constant physical exercise.
It did lead to a very ridiculous morning where Lasse wanted to wake us up and Dosor tried to defend us, growling at him and snapping her jaws. A tiny blue flame flicked through the gaps in her teeth as Lasse stared back, unimpressed.
The attempt to fight for a longer rest ended quickly with Lasse forcing Dosor to the ground and pinning her with a kitchen knife while ordering us to do extra exercises.
The exercises only got worse from there and the rations just kept decreasing until we were responsible to gather all the supplies in the tiny breaks he would allow, including Dosor’s feed. We had to rotate teams of two to gather enough for everyone, letting Dosor hunt whenever she was safe enough.
Lasse was surprisingly silent when we weren’t sparring or going through magical exercises, simply granting us our orders and giving comments when we made mistakes. He rarely quizzed us on signalling and different tactics, but they definitely weren't the focus of this week.
I had expected that he’d be constantly flinging insults at us or trying to get us to push ourselves even more but Ethan and I had been raised with the expectation to join a Crew and Eva had always been quiet. I didn’t think any of us would quit.
I just wondered what motivated Rachel to push herself this much when she didn’t need to. I’d allow her to stay on my crew anyway but her tenacity was admirable, just all the more reason to have her along.
We had traveled across the plains, venturing into the border area to the Harndom Forest that was rarely visitedby the monsters from inside and along the Ciar river back toward Dragon's Heart.
We didn’t encounter any devoured.
It took an entire week until Dragon's Heart came back into view. Lasse suddenly stopped us as we approached, raising a hand in a fist.
“The training will only become more difficult from now on,” he called out, causing us to sag imperceptibly. “This is the last chance for any of you to back out and concede. There's no shame in admitting defeat.”
We were all breathing heavily, seconds away from passing out if given a spot to rest.
He pointedly looked at Rachel, who had been struggling the most.
She glared at him before crossing her arms over her chest. “No one's going to back down. We’re all very stubborn, as you will find out.”
He snickered, which left all of us all kinds of confused, before continuing “Good, because I lied.”
A self-satisfied smirk crept on his face as he continued. “The past week was the worst part of your training, meant to root out the ones who try to join a team only in search of fame. It wouldn’t have been needed on a group this tiny but I insisted that we do it anyway to show you what the job can look like when you are on a timecrunch and don’t have any supplies, having to juggle sleep and getting supplies.”
“But we just did physical exercises,” Rachel pointed out, scowling.
“Yes,” Lasse agreed, “but it's enough to get the fame chasers to back off. Most people your age are… easy to scare and we try to start with a nice base. Nadia used to be more ruthless in her attempts to get them to quit but I found silence to be just as effective as constant badgering.”
“So what now?” Ethan asked.
“We continue to regular training,” he answered. “It still starts at dawn but you'll get plenty of time to work and relax. We'll move onto techniques and drills for combat with Lin giving you magical and historical lessons. She has probably prepared a whole regime for you by now.”
“Can we ride home on Dosor?” Ethan asked excitedly before adding “if she's fine with that of course.”
Dosor had gotten tall enough for at least two people to ride on her, but I wouldn't want the other two to walk alongside us.
“I don't think we all fit on her back,” I said, patting her snout as she signalled her agreement.
“Oh, we'll fit,” Ethan waved me off, quickly proposing “Rachel can sit on your lap and Eva and I can… squeeze behind you.”
Rachel punched him “Ethan!”
“I am fine with that,” Eva said, ever looking for compromise.
Dosor laid onto her belly and settled her wings closer to her body, enabling us to climb onto her back.
I quickly did so, something I'd gotten rather proficient in during the last week. Her quick growth had me excited and sleeping on top of her back was calming so I did that whenever I had the chance.
Rachel was as red as a tomato, mumbling curses at Ethan as she carefully climbed atop.
“You can sit behind if you want,” I offered, making space for her.
“Nope.”
She settled down in front of me and grabbed my arms, putting them around her waist and making sure I was holding her tightly.
She didn’t fear falling off, did she?
Ethan offered Eva a hand to help her climb on Dosor and quickly followed her. They settled down behind us, out of my sight, and Dosor stood up.
Rachel clutched my arms to steady her.
I didn't know what it was, the only thing I could think of was the bond, but I barely felt the disturbances like her wobbling to her full height under our combined weight.
I leaned past Rachel and patted Dosor's neck. “You alright?”
She craned her neck to look at me and purred. It felt like a yes.
Lasse started walking towards Dragon's Heart, Dosor quickly followed after and tried to rush past him.
Lasse picked up the speed and kept Dosor behind him, matching the speed of a running dragon.
We bounced on Dosor's back as she galloped along the road. I could definitely see why most Riders preferred to fly if running was this chaotic.
Ethan had put his arms around my waist when Dosor started galloping as I was the stablest person on her back.
I felt the tiredness threatening to overwhelm me but the constant movement kept all of us awake and suffering.
It was kind of funny to see Rachel bouncing up and down with her hair flopping in the wind but it did feel like I'd be sore the next day and once she landed on my leg, I kept my arms wrapped tightly around her to prevent it from happening again.
I told Dosor to slow down once Dragons Heart came into view and she obliged, returning to a slow trod that still found Lasse jogging along.
A few people- none that I recognised- cheered as we arrived and we made our way to the yard, not having any supplies that needed to be stored.
“You get three days to relax but you're free to seek out Lin or me for extra lessons. I’ll be here every dawn,” he said, dismissing us with a wave of his hand. “Now, get washed up and some good food into you, Lin should have prepared a feast for you at the Hatchery!”
I helped the others get off of Dosor, asking Lasse “She didn’t cook, did she?”
“Of course not!” He laughed, looking at us with a proud smile. “She probably got the servants to do it.”
One whiff had us all agree that we needed to take showers first before getting food so we quickly split up, everyone moving to their respective room and getting clothes, showering, and then reconvening.
Dosor and I were the first to arrive and she immediately dove into the small mountain of meat the servants had prepared, tearing through the bones and flesh like paper. Her teeth were getting scaredly sharp.
It was always impressive to me how quickly our staff managed to set stuff like this up but I assumed that they'd be prepared after Uldru came by just for the off chance that he returned for a night.
I laid down on a thick blanket atop a hay pile, once Dosor’s nest, and decided to wait for the others. Even though it was a nest for a dragon, it was comfortable enough for me and I wanted to wait for the others before digging in.
I was exhausted but sleeping now would wreck my entire sleep schedule so I settled on watching Dosor with a smile.
----------------------------------------
Ethan woke me from my nap “Caleb, don't you want to eat?”
I cracked my eyes open and saw Dosor wrapped around the nest, Rachel spread out over my stomach with her face flat on the blanket.
How did I not wake up from that?
“Yeah, I am starving,” I told him, nudging Rachel. “Do you want some?”
She made a nondescript sound and flipped the blanket over her head. She must've eaten before or aws more exhausted than I expected.
Ethan handed me a plate of food and laid down next to us, having to keep some distance due to Rachel. “Well, that was a stressful and agonising month.”
“Tell me about it,” I said, resting a hand on Rachels head and eating with the other, “The exercises were hell but at least I didn't vomit in front of my crush.”
“You have a crush?” Rachel mumbled into the blanket, picking out that tidbit.
I shrugged, belatedly realising that she couldn’t see me. “Not really, I haven’t thought much about it and it’s a lot to manage during missions. I don’t want to give them special treatment or have them get treated differently by the rest. I think it would be rude in some ways.”
“Come on, we wouldn’t treat anyone differently because of that,” Ethan reassured me in between bites of food.
“It’s not like anyone is interested anyway,” I dismissed him, grabbing a breadroll, “and with us building up a crew, I’d think twice about it anyway. I don’t want to be manipulated into having someone join because I am in a relationship with them or stuff.”
“What if she’s already part of the crew?” Rachel asked, unburrowing her head from the blanket and looking up at me, a hint of red on her face.
That’d just leave Eva and Rachel at the moment, and Ethan had his eye on Eva.
Even though Eva has shown zero interest in anyone, that’d only lead to conflict. I doubted that that would be enough to get us actually fighting so it would probably end in an afternoon of dumb jokes.
“We probably aren’t going to be too many in our crew anyway, I don’t want to burden Dosor with too much weight if she stays small,” I said, eliciting a content purr from her as she stayed asleep. “But they should still talk to me. The only way anything is going to happen is when you talk about it, Ethan.”
“Hey!” He yelled, not missing my thinly veiled shot at him.
Rachel turned around so we were face to face, her face being as red as a tomato. “I- What’d you do if someone came forward?”
“Why do you keep-”
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
I stopped.
It dawned on me what she was referring to and I slowly lowered my gaze to look her in the face instead of letting it wander around the room. “Are you… into me?”
“No,” she lied. Her brown eyes gleamed in the light of the torches as she stared up at me with a hopeful gleam, trying to discern my real thoughts.
I didn’t know what to answer, or even if I had to answer anything. She couldn’t know that I figured out her lie, right?
It must have been nerve wracking for her to interact with me with that in mind. Now I felt bad for not picking up on any of the signals. That’d be evil to let her continue like this.
This silence was starting to freak me out.
“I mean we can try it if you want to,” I said awkwardly, not knowing what else to say. “It’s not too different to what we are doing right now, isn’t it?”
“It’s different,” she insisted, pushing herself up. “We’d be doing more intimate stuff like kissing.”
“We can do that,” I agreed easily.
It’s not like she wasn’t attractive and she was one of my best friends so I didn’t see any reason not to try it.
What could go wrong?
Ì ran my hand down the side of her face and cupped her cheek as I added “Just- let’s take it slow.”
“Sure, slow, I can do that.” she said, fidgeting with her fingers and the blanket.
She was so adorable!
Was that just because she had shown interest to me or was that how I always felt? I- I didn’t know but I also didn’t have the energy to think a lot about it at the moment.
She readjusted so she laid next to me with an arm over my chest, her head on my shoulder. “Can I do one thing?”
“Sure.”
She grinned and wiggled her arm behind my back, joining her hands and squeezing me as tightly as she could, burying her face in my chest.
It felt great.
A feeling of warmth spread throughout my chest as she kept me in her embrace and I put an arm on her back. She was so comfortable!
She pulled herself up and planted a kiss on my cheek before loosening her grip and settling back onto my shoulder. “There, sorry. I just always wanted to do that. I- Well, I had-”
Ah, fuck it.
I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close, eliciting a squeak from her that completely interrupted her train of thought. “Don’t apologise, that’s a perfectly normal thing to want in a relationship, I think. I liked it.”
“What a charmer,” she teased with a smile, settling her head back down onto my shoulder.
Ethan took that moment to make his presence known again.
“Fucking finally. Took you two long enough,” he joked.
Ethan and I burst out laughing but Rachel just poked my side, not liking it. “Idiots.”
“So that’s it?” I asked, kinda stumped on what to do. “We’re in a relationship now?”
“If you want to,” she said, snuggling up to me “I am fine with whatever, as long as I get to snuggle and… yknow.”
“You two have no sense of romance,” Ethan scoffed. He had already finished his food but was grinning ear to ear. “At least I know you won't be obnoxious while I am around so that’s something.”
I patted Rachels head as I replied “Hey, I am laying here with my girlfriend, where is yours?”
Rachel snorted as Ethan flipped me off. “Eva got called by her dad, something about his work. Not my girlfriend,” he said, adding that last part with a second delay.
We continued our dinner in the rest and chowed through the majority of the feast. It didn’t take long for us to finish and retreat to my room, letting me start the actual work on our equipment.
I had some ideas
----------------------------------------
The three days passed in a flash with me spending the majority of my time tinkering with Rachel brewing in the background or all of us doing some relatively light exercises with Lasse.
The explosions in the background during my tinkering turned out to be oddly reassuring.
Sure, they had me turning my head and constantly checking if she had managed to damage anything important and had me fully wound to smother any flames rising up, but she was someone to bounce my ideas off of and to help me when I got stuck.
She helped me with wards as well, her knowledge of alchemy turning out to be invaluable.
We had spent most nights tinkering until nightfall, Rachel arguing that she should spend the night. It was apparently what people in relationships did and made it blatantly clear how little experience I had.
I'd have to get some references and maybe ask Mom or Ethan.
She prayed every night before bed, spending a few minutes kneeling in front of the window before joining me in bed.
The entire crew gathered at dawn for the training, spending it similarly to our first day until Uldru landed in front of Dragon's Heart.
He stepped over the walls and settled down into the yard. It was a tight fit with the training going on and Dosor resting, but Dragon's Heart had been constructed with dragons in mind even if some of them were outliers when it came to size.
Lasse called out to us “Stop! At attention!”
We quickly formed a line and stood rigid, something he had drilled into us this past week.
Mom jumped down from Uldru, passing a short figure that had started climbing down the scaffolding and impacting the ground with a splatter of dirt, unhurt.
“Sorry for the delay,” Mom said, walking over “I came across an Orc incursion and had to squash it before it reached a village.”
The figure managed to climb down and fiddled with the harness before staggering over. “Yes, the incursion. It was… quite an experience. Good morning everyone.”
“Good morning, Bruel,” Lasse said, walking over. “Great to know you're still around and kicking.”
The man was obviously a dwarf, shorter than Rachel with a thick greying beard and long curly hair. He was wearing thick platemail similar to Mom's and had a huge hammer on his back.
Bruel walked over and shook Lasse's hand. “Well, I can't allow myself to die before you do, you already have an arm and a leg in the grave and it's always an honour to beat up an aspiring Dragonknight.”
Ouch, that was mean.
Lasse didn’t let go of his hand. “Try again.”
“It's always an honour to train and nurture an aspiring Dragonknight, especially the son of the famed Destroyer,” he corrected himself, stepping over to look at us once Lasse let him.
Bruel looked us over and checked our equipment as Lasse filled us in.
“This is an old comrade of mine from the Pale Serpent war who agreed to help with your training. As you’ll be travelling all over Tera, I need to expose you to different fighting styles,” he said, belatedly adding, “and cultures.”
Bruel scoffed. “Shabby equipment with some decent enchantments sprinkled throughout. Who enchanted your gear?”
I stepped forward and saluted in Khazur fashion, thumping a fist against my chest right over my heart.
“I did. I made and enchanted my armour while their armours are in the works. The enchantments are made with room for improvement and growth in mind while taking all of our strengths into account. Any feedback you have on my work is greatly appreciated,” I said. It did rub me the wrong way how he dismissed my hard work but I was in no position to tell him off.
He eyed me for a moment, gauging whether my response was adequate. After a brief pause, he grunted in acknowledgement. “Well, at least you’ve got a spine. Good to know that Nadia raised you well but we’ll see how well that armour holds up in combat.”
With that, Bruel launched into an impromptu inspection of our knowledge of some small unit tactics and combat stances, making us cycle through them all and explaining those we did not know until we managed to do them to his level of satisfaction.
His critical eye didn’t miss a detail, and he barked orders for adjustments “You there, tighten up that grip! And you, stop slouching like a sack of potatoes. No devoured will wait for you to get your act together!”
As we made the necessary corrections under Bruel’s watchful gaze, Mom stage whispered to us “He might be gruff and has a heart of iron, but he knows his stuff. You are looking at the Grand General of Khazur.”
I nodded, which just earned me another correction from him, and focused on absorbing the intense training session that unfolded.
The morning sun climbed higher in the sky, casting a golden glow over Dragon’s Heart. The clang of our practice swords and thuds of armored feet on the training grounds created a rhythmic symphony, a prelude to the challenges we were about to face.
The staff of Dragon’s Heart and Mom’s crew watched us like we were the main entertainment, chatting with each other like they were in the theater.
It took hours for Bruel to finish his inspection and address the entire crew “We’ll start with some basic drills to assess your strengths and weaknesses. Then, we’ll, move on to more advanced maneuvers. Remember, a Dragonknight should be adaptable, quick on their feet, and ready to face any foe. These maneuvers can be applied to many situations but you should not hesitate to modify them to fit your current one if need be.”
The training commenced, each swing of a swerve, every evasive maneuver, and the precision of each strike bringing us one step closer to becoming seasoned Dragonriders. Bruel’s gruff instructions echoed across the yard, punctuated by the occasional roar from Dosor, who seemed to sense the intensity of the training session and tried to provide advice without any of us understanding her.
As the day progressed, I found myself engrossed in the rhythm of combat, the constant drills making my mind wander as we repeatedly started drills anew.
It did have me finding a new meaning to the explosions that had become a background hum during my tinkering- they were the soundtrack of our collective effort, a symphony of growth and preparation, just like our sparring.
Bruel kept us working on our techniques, forcing us to perfect the most versatile drills until Nightfall approached.
We gathered for a debrief. Bruel, though still stern, showed a hint of satisfaction in his voice “Not bad for a bunch of rookies. You’ve got potential, but potential alone won’t save you in the real world. Tomorrow, we’ll push harder.”
Rachel, covered in sweat and dust, gave me a tired but determined smile. “Looks like we’re in for a challenge.”
I grinned back, realizing that these intense days of training and camaraderie were shaping us into more than just a crew. We were becoming a formidable team- no, a family- ready to face whatever awaited us in the vast and unpredictable lands of Tera.
In the week that followed, we underwent a rigorous training regimen under the watchful eye of Bruel. It wasn’t nearly as taxing on the body as the weeks of torment we went through before but each day brought new challenges, from mastering intricate combat formations to honing individuals skills.
Bruel’s gruff mentoring style pushed us to our limits, extracting hidden potentials and fostering a sense of unity amongst us. We got to see another side of each other, revealing strengths and weaknesses of everyone and forming bonds. Evenings were spent in exhausted camaraderie, reinforcing our cohesion with food courtesy of the staff.
As the week concluded, we stood stronger and more confident, now able to fight as one instead of a mismatched group of kids. Bruel, though sparing with praise, acknowledged the progress made.
Our gear had been tested and Bruel helped me make adjustments, explaining a completely different view on enchantments than I had. He enchanted gear as a whole set which would lose strength if one part was damaged but was greatly improved as one unit.
It was an interesting way of making enchantments and explained why Mom always wore her helmet but I didn’t think it was for me. I wanted to make modular enchantments that allowed me to face any situation.
At the last day of the week, Bruel had us all lined up and marched along our line, loudly declaring “You may have started out as a bunch of mismatched rookies born into the Dragonknights or surrounding noble houses but you have shown me one thing this week…”
He paused for dramatic effect and turned to us. “You have the guts to become Dragonriders that might be worth calling for help. Though I doubt that you have what it takes to become the stuff of legends, you have enough skill and decisiveness to be proud to call yourself Dragonknights.”
“Thanks, Sir,” we called out.
“I look forward to seeing you in action. Come by the Rusty Hammer if you are ever in Khazur,” he said, continuing his walk. “Alas, I have duties to fulfill and must leave you in the capable hands of Lasse.”
Lin appeared in a cloud of smoke, wearing the same clothes she did last time. I was sure she washed them, hopefully.
“I’ll continue from here,” she called out with a dramatic flourish. “We’ll focus on magical expertise and getting you some spells you can effectively use. I’ve been told that some of you don’t plan on actively using magic but I am just going to ignore that and teach you as a group.”
“Is that so smart? I don’t plan on using any magic other than divine and Eva can’t cast any,” Rachel chimed in.
Lin waved her off. “It’s mandatory. Magical theory alone can save your live and I am tired of people dismissing it. Alchemy in particular benefits greatly from wizardry practice.”
She dove right into the lessons after allowing us a brief goodbye with Bruel.
They weren’t as boring as the history lessons from before as we were allowed to practice our combat spells instead of sitting in a dusty room that smelled of booze. Tedious casting of the same spells, slowed down to a crawl so we did not make any mistakes.
It was apparently a common technique used by wizards and Dragonknights alike. You cast your spells as slowly as you could, taking extreme caution to cast every component flawlessly and speeding up until you could cast them perfectly at regular speed. It let you practice for longer and showed great results for non Knights.
It turned out that the bond between Dosor and me had already started to take effect, letting me practice longer and harder than the others to the point where I didn’t bother to slow down my casting as much.
Eva was mostly listening to Lins lectures and reading old reports or stories while we practiced our magic. Lin agreed that she wouldn’t been able to cast any spells after doing some tests so she was going to be acting as our scribe for the foreseeable future.
Once the others ran out of mana, I’d continue casting more expensive spells courtesy of Mom until I ran out while they listened to a lecture.
Every day of the week ended earlier than those of the last weeks, Lin apparently having something to do during the evening.
Ethan made a joke that it wasn’t something she had to do, but rather someone but the only explanation I had gotten was a condescending “Caleb,” from Rachel.
Lin had us fill out a test on the second day and revealed that we’d have to take one every other day for the week and once a week afterwards.
We had to spend each evening studying in the Hatchery or library, which was only made bearable by Rachel and Ethans presence. Eva’s presence was nice but she was very quiet when studying and that didn’t help me concentrate at all.
Other than that, the training was remarkably unremarkable. She was a passionate teacher that did her best to help us but her goals were set extremely low. She even complimented Eva who wasn’t able to cast a singular spell on her progress with spellcasting.
It was awkward but I figured that she made some progress we just couldn’t see.
The pattern of changing teachers once a week continued for a few months, which introduced us to all sorts of colourful people from all over Tera, leaving us to pick up different aspects of their training while Lin taught us as much magic as she could fit into the limited time we had with her. Mom sadly had to leave on a mission so I never managed to tell her about Rachel and I.
We grew together as a family, spending the majority of the time working or studying as a group. Rachel spent most nights in my room to sleep better, or so she said.
In the midst of the ever changing training, the necessity for broad enchantments and finely tuned equipment became increasingly apparent. The ever-changing nature of our instructors gave me many people to talk with about the equipment, some having better ideas while others had… less good ideas.
Lin insisted that I make some wands for casting but I never got a chance, prioritising the gear of the others. She introduced us to a few wards and more niche spell basics that we could use for combat spells and even some enchantments.
Additionally, Dosor’s increasing size necessitated constant changes to her harness and localised enchantments using the runestones Rachel had gifted me. Drembar allowed me to use his forge and once again pushed his apprentice onto me, prompting me to accept his help in handling the large project.
She grew even more, reaching twice my height at her shoulders. She was big enough to carry all four of us and we did fall asleep on her back once or twice while studying. Although her size was impressive in comparison to me, she was still small for a dragon.
I just hoped she’d grow more or we wouldn’t be able to go on many missions. Drembar and his apprentice had delivered her scaffolding and adjusted it, leaving enough room to accommodate her growth with buckles and slings.
It didn’t matter now as we had to complete our training first, but Lasse called us into the yard at the end of the months of training.
“I am proud of you all for the improvements I was able to witness,” Lasse said, letting the compliment hang in the air.
“Something's up,” Rachel said, looking around for a surprise or something that would jump us when we lowered our guard. “Lasse is being nice.”
”He's buttering us up,“ added Ethan, drawing a dagger.
Lasse sighed. “It's nothing bad. You'll be sent into the Harndom Forest to retrieve a dummy artefact. You'll have to work as a team, hunt, and track down some artefact, before resolving a particular situation. Fighting is to be expected. The mission is courtesy of the Allfather and I know just as much as what is in your mission briefing.”
“Do we have any time to prepare?” I asked.
Lasse grabbed a large backpack and handed it to me. “No, you depart now. The mission briefing is in the backpack so you can check it over on the way to the Forest. Sadly, a lot of missions will be given to you in written form so you won't be able to ask any questions.”
Rachel scowled. “What if we can't complete the mission?”
“You die.”