Chapter One: Trumpets

Nothing ever happened in the sleepy little town that Joseph Wash lived in, and so he often found himself daydreaming. About dragonriding, mostly. But what sixteen year old boy wouldn’t want to be a dragonrider?

His grandfather was always grumbling that he never paid enough attention to the work at hand. His grandmother chided him often too. Neither in an unkindly manner, though.

He understood how his inattention would be frustrating, but he wanted to take to the skies on the back of a dragon more than anything. Probably more than your average teenaged boy, and that was saying something. It was all too easy to lose himself in daydreams about them.

They were a rare sight, so far out from the capital, or any of the major cities in the Rosefire Kingdom, and that was what made this morning’s interruption to his daydream so unusual.

Joseph’s cosy reverie shattered into pieces. His ears pricked up, his heart beating hard, as he strained to hear it again.

There! A long, loud shriek pierced the morning air over his little town. The strident trumpeting of a dragon.

Joseph took off, dropping the vegetables he had been perusing at a stall. Tonight’s dinner could wait. He rounded the corner separating the little market from the town centre and sprinted into the middle of the square.

He looked all around, craning his neck to try and catch a glimpse. He had a full, clear view as a dot in the sky off the south, towards the capital, grew larger. It seemed not to get much bigger for a long time, occasionally breaking the silent morning air with another call, and then all of a sudden it seemed to grow exponentially larger. Sooner than he expected, it had arrived.

The dragon was sleek and grey, its scales dark and cloudy near their bases, lightening until they were almost translucent at their tips. They sparkled in the morning sun. It was long, as Air dragons tended to be, its neck fine and graceful, its tail lithe and sinuous. Four legs tipped with razor sharp claws were tucked in tight to its white-dappled belly as it flew.

And by the Heavens, it flew.

Air dragons were known to be the fastest in the air. They were the smallest of dragons, generally speaking; their aerodynamic forms built for speed and maneuvrability. Their control over their namesake element certainly helped, too. Joseph watched its wings beat, and marvelled at how little sound it made. He could now make out a small form, hunched low on its back, just above its wings and below the base of its neck. The dragonrider.

Dragon and rider wheeled around in the skies above the town, repeating its trumpeting call. Once, twice, three times, it circled. Townsfolk flocked to the square just as he had, curious about the unusual interruption to the quaint, unchanging routines.

Eventually, the dragon dipped lower, swooping right down towards the square. It reared, its wings flapping, and pulled up to hover above the crowd. There was surprisingly little wind produced by the great beats of its wings. Likely using an air spell to help it hover, Joseph concluded.

Even so, some of the townspeople recoiled in fear. Joseph understood, though he didn’t share the feeling. Up this close, the dragon was a primal, ferocious beast. It could kill any one of them without a second thought.

Not that it would. Dragons, and their riders, were the sworn protectors of humanity. There would be a good reason this one had come to their town. Joseph hoped for one reason in particular. He had been hoping for it for a very long time.

The dragon dipped its slender head low, and the dragonrider stood in his stirrups. The dragon had bright, almost luminous yellow eyes, with slitted pupils like a cat. They prowled over the crowd as it hung in the air above them.

The rider was dressed in the uniform of the Royal Couriers, those riders whose duty it was to carry royal decrees to the far ends of the kingdom. Joseph recognised the uniform at a glance; he knew the crest and colours of every flight in the kingdom. The Couriers: silver, trimmed in Royal white, with their golden doe crests, were usually seen only in passing, and then only briefly, winging their way to some distant fortress or city. This one had no headgear, none of the enchanted goggles that other aspects had to wear. They were chosen from among the fastest dragons, and that usually meant they were Air aspected.

The dragonrider held up one hand, and one beat of the dragon’s wings suddenly released a small gust. The crowd fell into silence.

“I come with a royal decree from our her majesty the Queen!” He paused, gazing out over the crowd. They waited expectantly. This would be cause for much gossip. Royal decrees didn’t happen every day. Joseph’s heart beat even harder. Come on…

“The Mystics have read the stars and foreseen a Fracturing!” The crowd burst into excited murmurs. The last Fracturing had been over fifty years ago. The town would be on fire with speculation!

“Look to the skies! It will arrive any day now! Any who awaken are to make their way to the nearest city immediately. For you, that’s the capital.” The rider paused again, to ensure all had heard and understood. He nodded to himself, satisfied.

“Spread the word! A Fracturing is near! The blessings of our Queen and the Heavens upon you all!”

With that, the pale dragon pumped its wings deeply, the great beats lifting it out of the air above the square and into the skies proper. It wheeled, repeating again its trumpeting call, and was soon a dot on the horizon, on to the next town.

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A Fracturing, I knew it! Joseph thought to himself, and yet he almost couldn’t believe it. He had been waiting his whole life for this.

Twice every century, a rain of meteors would appear in the sky, burning, falling towards Earth. They brought with them a surge of magic, and this would awaken an aspect in some. Only one in a hundred people would awaken, and only those young enough, but there seemed to be some degree of heritability.

It was why Joseph was so sure he would awaken. Both his parents had been dragonriders.

Ever since he was little he had wanted to follow in their footsteps. When they had fallen in battle against the wrack, that want had become a need. Now, with a Fracturing near, that need burned in him.

Awakening was only half the equation, though. Once awakened, you still needed to secure a dragon egg. Those same meteors that plunged through the atmosphere, bringing magic with them, would crash to the earth all around the world, and therein lay the true prize: dragon eggs.

He would awaken his aspect. He would go to the capital, and from there, out into the wilds in search of an egg. He would find one, and make his parents proud.

He had some hurdles to cross first. News would have reached his grandparents already. They would have seen the rider. They would not be happy, knowing, as they did, his fascination with dragons. He needed to make sure nothing would stop his ascent to the skies.

He ran back to the market, and quickly made his purchases for their dinner. Some garlic: they were low on it, some onions: theirs weren’t quite ready yet. A new bag of salt, and some butter, which took most of his coin. He was too distracted to even haggle properly.

His purchases secured in his bag, he ran back through the square and down the street opposite to his grandparent’s house. It was a nice little home, though not as big as the compound his parents had lived in when he was small. Still, he was grateful to his grandparents for taking him in. They had given him a good life.

He stopped in the street outside, brushing some dust from the front of his trousers and shirt. His grandmother was a stickler for appearances, and he needed this talk to go smoothly.

Joseph pushed open the front door, the bell jingling above it as he entered. His grandfather ran an enchanting shop. It was a decent way to make money for an unawakened. Everyone had mana, but not many had the patience or the aptitude for learning enchanting. The most common enchantments, for everyday needs, were cheap enough that most people were happy to leave it to professionals.

No one was in the store at the moment, and he quickly checked the workshop for his grandfather. It was dark and quiet, the lamps turned off. His grandfather must have finished for the day already: not a good sign.

He gently opened the door at the back of the shop, leading into the rest of the house. There he found his grandparents sitting at the dining table, talking quietly with each other. Joseph found himself fixed with two flat stares as he entered. He drew up his determination and moved into the room.

“Hi grandpa, hi grandma,” he said, putting the groceries on the table. “I did our shopping.” He gestured at the bag he’d placed.

“Good lad,” his grandmother said. “I don’t suppose anything interesting happened while you were out?”

They knew then. It was a small hope they wouldn’t, now dashed.

“A dragon came! There’s a Fracturing on the way!”

“I suppose you want to run off to the capital, then? Join the riders?” his grandfather asked. “Stupid.”

“It’s too dangerous, Joe. Out there, fighting the wrack? You’ll get yourself killed!”

Joseph stared at the table. “I need to do this. I want to be like my parents.”

“Joe,” his grandmother continued. “Our little Joe. Losing your parents was the hardest thing that’s ever happened to us. We don’t want to lose you too.” Her voice was earnest, wavering. The emotion in it hurt him. He fixed his stare on the wood in front of him. After a long moment, he spoke.

“Weren’t you proud of them, too? They protected people. I want to do that too. I’m not a little kid anymore. I know the risks. I want to do this.”

His grandfather sighed. “It’s no use, Mary. Got his mother’s stubbornness.” He removed his enchanted spectacles, wiped a weary hand down his wrinkled face. Of course we were proud of them, Joe. But if you’re going to go run off to the capital, we’re going to have assurances from you, boy! No funny business! I won’t have you taking any unnecessary risks!”

His grandmother snorted. “Where do you think his mother got her stubbornness from, hmm? Your grandpa is right though. If you have to do this, be safe and smart, just like we taught you.”

Hope gleamed like a gem within him. “You mean, you’ll let me go? If I awaken, I can really go to the capital?”

“Yes, dear. Truth be told we’ve talked about it. We always knew you’d go.”

“Surprised you haven’t awakened without a damn Fracturing,” his grandfather huffed. It was impossible, of course, but Joseph understood the sentiment. His grandparents always thought him precocious to a fault.

“Come now, let’s have dinner.” Joseph raced to comply, but was hit with a wave of sadness soon after. They might not have many dinners left together.

His good spirits quickly returned. His grandmother was an excellent cook, and he made sure to savour every bite. Even his grandfather’s lecturing on safety and caution couldn’t dampen his excitement.

Joseph lay awake for hours that night. Even reading over his parents’ worn books on dragons and magic couldn’t hold his attention for long.

A Fracturing is coming, he thought. It seemed odd, now that it was so close. Suddenly, he felt anxious. What if I don’t awaken? He had always taken it for granted that he would, given his parents. Even his grandfather had an extremely large mana pool and incredible dexterity with it, for an unawakened. Both his grandparents seemed to take it as a given that he would awaken too. But what if he didn’t?

He was chewing over that thought, deep into the the longest hours of the night, when a light flashed in the sky through his window.

Joseph’s heart froze. Another light flashed. Then another.

His heart started again, straight into a gallop. He shot out of bed to his window.

Lights filled the sky. Great, burning lights, flaring all across the starry vista. His breath caught. It was beautiful.

It’s here. It’s actually here.

His body began to tingle. Then it grew warm, then warmer still. Soon, it felt like he should burst into flame, like he himself was one of those beautiful, fiery fragments.

It was pain, and it was bliss. It was too much.

He screamed, though in agony or ecstasy, he could not say.

All became black.