"A long time ago, before the time of shadows, there were many Dragonriders. They lived across the world and helped uphold peace in the realms. This was the place we would congregate to ensure we did our best to uphold the peace, and keep track of any powers we deemed unhealthy for the world. People of all races became Dragonriders and each served as a representative for their people to the Council of Riders. The Council of Riders was the name given to the entire collective of Dragonriders when they would meet to address issues. Each rider had a voice in the council, and the ability to speak on behalf of their people or their land's needs. To keep the balance there was also a High Council that was formed of one member from each race to help remain neutral in all matters. The High Council remained on this island at all times to help keep their neutrality."

"So the Dragonriders ruled over the others?"

"No, young rider, they did not. They were only protectors. When monsters attacked, or others invaded, the riders were there to help keep the peace and keep the people safe."

"Well, what about wars? What if one race invaded the lands of another race?"

"The Dragonriders would convene in council to decide how that should be handled. Their objective was peace in all matters. In a war, there are always two sides, and the Dragonriders would hear the accounts from both sides to determine who was in the right, usually, before the war broke out. The parties knew they could bring their disputes to the council when they reached this scale. Wars are fought for many reasons, land disputes, insults to honor, murder, and so many others. The Dragonriders would hear both sides, find the truth of the matter, and help find a solution. There was only one time in all of history that I am aware of, where a war continued despite the Dragonrider solution, and it lasted a mere two days, as once they were defied, the council intervened personally in the war. But that is not the point of this conversation."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."

"It is alright, young rider, curiosity is an important part of nature. It keeps us learning. Now, the council was efficient in its processes. Maybe too efficient. We became lax in our ability to see that there was a problem we could not handle. Monsters would arise from time to time, but as soon as word was sent about them, riders would be dispatched to dispose of them. It rarely required more than five riders as we were strong! This was likely the cause of our downfall."

"From the west, they came. They began encroaching on the lands and taking over the wilds first. This drove monsters to the cities looking for an escape. Riders were dispatched to deal with the monsters, but there were far more of them than we had anticipated. The first wave of riders was pushed back, unable to handle the volume of monsters coming and attacking the cities. More were sent to aid them and we were told the monsters were defeated, but none of the riders returned. We sent others to investigate what had happened, and that is when we found them."

"Who?" I asked in awe of the story.

"The Shadow Beasts. Able to form themselves in and out of the shadows, they were crafty and dangerous opponents. They moved swiftly and attacked ruthlessly. They were nearly silent in their attacks as well, giving them the element of surprise."

"How do you fight beings of shadow?"

"Why, in the light, of course, young rider. It became an all-out war between the Dragonriders and the Shadow Beasts. Neither side seemed to be able to gain ground in the battles. The Dragonriders would win the battles fought when they found the Shadow Beasts in the day, and the Shadow Beasts would win the battles when they found us in the dark. Many of my friends perished in the battles."

Al'Doran looked immensely sad at this, his head hanging so low it almost touched the ground.

"They fought valiantly to the last one. Decades of battle, no one gaining ground. We finally found that light shields could keep them at bay. We could not do much to attack them while in the shields, but they did not dare come near them. Light being an anathema to the shadows seemed to be enough that when we would cast light shields over cities or locations we would camp in at night, we could keep them at bay until we could fight with the light of the sun. We used this to tip the scales at night. We began to see fewer losses. We had thought that we could turn the tide with this to make the beasts fight in the day only. Until he appeared."

"At the risk of sounding like a broken record...who?"

"Hreth Nien. Which is Dwarvish for Shadowheart. It was he who developed the power to absorb the light from the shields. We still don't know how he was able to do it, but he had some kind of dark spell that could overtake the light. He began to change the tides of the battle again in the Shadow Beasts' favor. Soon we were on the run. They chased us, hunted us, and fed on our powers."

"Did they destroy everything in their path? The world doesn't seem to be overrun with shadow as I would have expected."

"That is an excellent observation, young rider. They were looking to do just that. Once the riders were on the run, they began to enslave the other races. They did cruel and terrible things to them, forcing them to work for them to build their birthing chambers."

"That sounds awful," Brutus said for the first time. I honestly had no idea he could hear the conversation. That was interesting to note.

"It is indeed, little fairy. For you see, the birthing chambers must be built underground, to keep out the light. They forced the other races to dig and hollow out chambers underground so they had a dark place to give birth. Then they were using the workers as food for their young to feed on. The world could not sustain this savage attack on its people. So the High Council left their place to do battle. The High Council was made up of the oldest, wisest, and most powerful of all the Dragonriders. They began to destroy the Shadow Beasts at every place they found them."

"Why did they wait so long to help join the battle?"

"The High Council was overconfident in the abilities of the other riders. They thought they could advise without the need to intervene. They were wrong. But once again, the tide of the war shifted in the favor of the riders. The fighting became fierce, and Hreth Nien began to grow upset. He had taken so much ground in setting up his new kingdom. He was forming plans to take over more land when the council made its move against him. They began to push him back. Victory was beginning to seem a possibility again. Hreth Nien finally gathered all his forces into one place in the west now called Nan Gurth or, Valley of Death. It was here that the forces of shadow and the Dragonriders fought their last battle over five hundred years ago."

"Was every Dragonrider at this battle?"

"Yes. We had to gather every last one to hope to have the strength to defeat them. The world shook with the clash of the battle that took place there. Thousands of Shadow Beasts died that day at the hands of the Dragonriders. But thousands more came. We fought for days. Until finally Hreth Nien himself entered the battle. He was a devastating force. Seemingly unstoppable. We fought on despite our losses, knowing this would be the battle to determine the fate of the world. My rider was struck by a Shadow Beast after days of fighting while I was engaged with another beast. She fell. I could do nothing but fight for my own life as we were being pushed back. The council decided to make one last desperate attempt to end the war and brought out the Final Spell."

"Is that the name of the spell? The Final Spell?"

"It is indeed. The Final Spell is a spell that combines the nature and essence of all of the council into one and had an unexpected effect. When unleashed, contrary to the destruction of the enemy that the council believed would happen, it instead turned into a containment spell. It forced Hreth Nien down into the earth and locked him away there, cutting off the Shadow Beasts from his influence. Unfortunately, the spell is called the Final Spell for a reason. It takes the life essence of the rider and the dragon to work. All of the council members were gone, their complete essence put into the spell for its completion. I am ashamed to say it was then that I let my grief get the best of me and fled, leaving the others to clean up the mess. It wasn't until later that I found out the others were unable to complete the task. But they had weakened the Shadow Beasts to the point that they fled back to the west unable to break the binding of Hreth Nien."

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"So, you are the last of the dragons?"

"I am the last I know of. No others have been seen for over five hundred years. I have spent my years hunting Shadow Beasts and killing any I can find while working to maintain my secrecy. The world has moved on. They no longer have the Dragonriders to help with their affairs so they make their days as they see fit. Wars have happened and people have had to make their way in a world without us. I cannot intervene and remain neutral. I would be seen as taking sides or playing favorites. So I stay here, I watch, I wait, and I prepare. Then I felt a ripple from a Soul Bonding. It had been so many years I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me. But I had to hope. So I left and rushed to where it came from. That is where I found you and the little one. For the first time in over five hundred years, there is a new Dragonrider. There is hope!"

"Hope for what?"

"Hope that the Dragonriders can be brought back. That peace can be re-established in the realms."

"What if the people don't want the Dragonriders anymore? What if they are happy ruling themselves?"

"Why would they want that? There is war, famine, and unrest. They could have peace again."

"But that only happened when there were riders from every race. Right now there is only one human rider."

"We will find more."

"I don't mean to burst your bubble, but I'm not even from this world. I was reincarnated here."

"We were all reincarnated, that is the circle of life."

"Right, but I still remember my last life. Can you say the same? Most people I knew didn't remember any previous lives."

Al'Doran paused. He looked contemplative for a moment, which was a really interesting look on a reptilian face, then replied, "No, I cannot say that I remember any past lives, nor anyone that does."

"And did you get to choose what race you wanted to be when you reincarnated?"

"I have heard of only one other in all of history who was allowed that privilege. David, of the High Council, was said to have chosen his being at his reincarnation."

"And was David ever a child?"

"...I am not sure, I would think he was...Everyone begins life as a child."

"I didn't. I arrived here extremely recently, and am the same age as when I got here."

Al'Doran really stared at me now. He took in everything about me with this last claim.

"That seems impossible."

"You're telling me. One moment I'm coming home with the groceries, the next moment I'm being sucked away from my life and I'm standing as a disembodied...whatever I was, being asked to pick a race."

"What are groceries?"

"It's the food you bring home from the market to eat."

"And...you actually picked the race you wanted to be?"

"Yes. I chose to be a human, the others didn't seem to fit me."

"Were you a human in your past life?"

"I was. That is part of what drew me to it. The rest had to do with attributes."

"That is very interesting. And the world you came from. Was it like this one?"

"Oh, definitely not. It was very different from here. We didn't have magic or these screens that popped up to let us know things or attributes we put points into."

"That is fascinating. How do you get by without them?"

"The same way you get by with them. We never had them so we learned about how things worked and found other ways of measuring progress and understanding how things work. We simply figured out ways to understand our world without these added features because we didn't know they were an option."

"I have always seen humans as a resourceful race. So that information doesn't surprise me too much. What about The other races of your world? Are they as resourceful as you humans?

"There are no other races. My world has only humans as sapient races."

"Fascinating. Humans as the only species. We will have to talk more about this later. For now, though, I would like to get you settled here so I can begin your training."

"Training?"

"Yes, as a Dragonrider you will likely want to know how to develop yourself and what that will mean for both you and the little one, as well as what to expect in your class and how best to make it line up with your dragon."

"My class needs to line up with my dragon?"

"Of course, if not you would become incompatible with the little one."

"Aeolith."

"Aeolith?"

"That is the dragon's name. I thought it beautiful like her."

"...that it is, young rider."

"Callan."

"And that is your name I would suppose?"

"Yes. Callan Ryder."

"How fitting. Very well, Callan Ryder. We will get you settled here on the island so that we can begin your training. You have much to learn and much to do. But I will guide you through it."

This was an exciting feeling. Who better to teach me about being a Dragonrider than a dragon? I finally felt like I was going to get somewhere in this new world. Finding Brutus had been a huge boon for learning about things in the world. I quite literally would have likely died without his information, especially about the werebear, but his knowledge about Dragonriders was completely missing. Possibly because there were none left, so the world removed the info from its manuals? Perhaps it was just something he didn't get info on because of the weird transition to this world from ours? Whatever the case was, this was my chance to learn about my class from someone who had firsthand experience with it. The only person possibly better suited would be another Dragonrider.

We turned with Al'Doran to the building he had said was the initiate training facility.

"Inside this building, you will find what you need to make yourselves comfortable. You can pick any room you wish as I don't have any use for them and there are no other recruits."

"Recruits?"

"That is what we called new Dragonriders when they were found and brought here to learn. I had a hand in helping teach part of the recruits so I have a little knowledge of what was taught here, but the rest I will have to fill in from my own knowledge. Rest tonight, knowing you are safe here. Tomorrow we will go over some of the basics of being a Dragonrider and what you can expect from the class and training."

"Thank you Al'Doran," I said, and bowed slightly to him.

"Think nothing of it, young rider. You are the only hope for the Dragonriders now. I would be derelict in my responsibilities as a dragon if I did not help you."

I went into the building, Aeolith curled up in my arm, and Brutus flew nearby. We walked down the halls looking into the various rooms. Each room I walked past I couldn't help but think of what it was like when they were full of the Dragonriders of the past after hearing Al'Doran's story today. A kitchen of some kind with places to cook over fires where the chefs would have cooked meals for dragons and riders alike. I imagined them getting huge feasts ready and could almost smell the preparations as they made them over the huge fired stoves and ovens. A cafeteria with tables and chairs for eating at, where sumptuous feasts and celebrations would have been held. Staring into the room I imagined the seats filled with Dragonriders, toasting, laughing, and cheering each other on for deeds done in battle. There was some kind of recreational room that looked a little like a gym with a large open floor area with lines drawn on the ground in concentric squares that I imagined was something they used for training or playing games in. Finally, I came to what looked like bedrooms. The bedrooms were laid out similarly to dorm rooms, which just made the mental image of a kind of brotherhood and sisterhood of riders that much stronger. The ghosts of the past almost appeared in this place to make it feel even more hallowed than it already was.

Since we were going to be the only ones here I looked for the largest room and found it at the end of the hall. Inside was a large bed, a desk, and an alcove off to one side. It had a set of different-sized beds in it ranging from one that looked small enough to be just the right size for Aeolith in her current form, all the way up to something that would fit a really large dog. They were round like dog beds, but the material they were made out of was extremely tough, though it seemed to be filled with down of some kind and was also very soft. It appeared to be so her scales wouldn't tear up the bed, but still be soft and comfortable despite its extremely durable exterior.

I picked out the smallest bed and laid it on the bed next to where I would sleep and placed Aeolith on it. She clawed at it a few times like I'd seen cats do before, then turned around in a circle and curled up on the bed, her tail resting up near her head. She seemed so graceful already. Would she really get to be the same size as Al'Doran? That seemed like it would take forever. He had waited over five hundred years for another Dragonrider and who knows how long he lived before that. The description of a human lifespan was a lot shorter than that according to the reincarnation process. Hopefully being a Dragonrider extended my life so I could live it with Aeolith. This was my new life now, I would be patient, and learn what I could from the older dragon. Tomorrow would be a new day, and for once in this new world, I'm content with not having to fight for my life for a bit. I laid my head down and fell asleep next to Aeolith with Brutus laying on my pillow as well.

Unfortunately, I lay awake for a long period of time. Thoughts were constantly running through my mind that were making me question just about everything that was happening to me. Why was I chosen for this life? What could someone have seen in me to that would cause them to decide that I was fit to be a Dragonrider? Was there some force out there that was controlling all of this as it happened to me? Laying there with no real answers to my question, I eventually fell asleep in the early hours of the morning.