The Offer

The applause continued for a couple of minutes and when it finally died down, Alreya bowed her head with the scale in her hands pressed to her chest and said "Thank you elders. I will not let you down." With that she walked back to where Brand was standing.

"Congratulations." Brand whispered with a small grin on his face. He wasn't exactly sure how important this development was, but it did seem important. Especially to Alreya.

"Thank you." Alreya whispered back, still staring at her newly acquired dragon scale.

The grand elder, Stelro, cleared his throat and then began to speak again. "Now Brand, please step forward." Brand did as he was asked and moved forward a few steps. "First off, I believe I have some answers for you. After consulting with stories passed down through the generations, and researching a few of the oldest books in our library, we have come to a couple of conclusions about how and why you were brought here from Earth."

Stelro then began to tell Brand about what the elders had discovered. "When the Earth was young, humans lived together with the rest of the races. There were numerous countries of various races that were constantly at war. Then something happened. We can't be sure what, but something happened that created a link with the world we are currently living in. That link pulled every creature that had any magic in them at all, including the sapient races, into this world. Now, out of all of the races that had magic flowing within them, humans were the only sapient race that had members among them that had no magic at all. We know this from information gathered from our oldest texts. It was said that for this reason, humans were looked down upon when all the races still lived on Earth. It was seen as a weakness. One of the texts described that if a human mage made a child with another human mage, then the child would always be a mage. If a human mage made a child with a human with no magic, then the child would have an approximately equal chance of being born with magic, or no magic. And if a human with no magic made a child with another human with no magic, then it would be possible for the child to be born with magic, but the chance of that happening would be so remote as to be a practical impossibility."

"And you think I am that statistical impossibility..." Brand interrupted.

"Indeed." Stelro said as he nodded.

"But if all of you came from Earth, why does no one there remember you? Why are there no records of you anywhere?" Brand questioned.

"Hmm..." Stelro was lost in thought for a minute then finally answered. "I suppose whatever created the link could have wiped the memories of the population and destroyed any records of us existing, but that is just a guess. But I do believe there may have been some memories of us left behind. Alreya told us that you had heard of elves before no?"

"Yes, but only in fairy tales and stories." Brand replied.

"I see." Stelro continued. "Maybe there were only some latent memories or confused thoughts left behind that manifested as stories. Whatever the case may be, the simple truth is that you are here now. And I am afraid there is no way to send you back to Earth. Many have tried to go back, but to my knowledge no one has ever succeeded. And if you are really from Earth and have not heard about this world before, then that just lends further credence to the fact that no one from here has ever made it back."

Hearing this Brand felt his faint hope of ever seeing Earth again fading away. He tried to stop himself from crying, but couldn't prevent a single tear from sliding down his face. He may have been having a rough go of it, but the Earth was still his home. Hearing that he was probably never going to see it again was very hard on him. Harder than he thought it was going to be.

Seeing Brand's face, Stelro decided to quickly start talking again. "All of us here are very sorry about your home. I can only imagine our ancestors felt the same when they were dragged here as well. You have our sympathy. Now, before you go, the elders of Masarch would like to make you an offer. Would you care to hear it?"

Hearing this, one of Brand's eyebrows raised. "Yes, please tell me." he said with mixing emotions.

"We would like for you to go with Alreya to the capital of the Ostish Forest and represent Masarch in the dragon summoning ritual in two week's time." Stelro stated plainly.

This time it was Brand's turn to be stunned. "You want me to become a dragon rider?" he shouted. "But why? I'm not even an elf. And I don't have any dragon parts. Are you saying you want to give me a dragon part?"

Seeing Brand looking panicked Stelro motioned for him to calm down. "The only dragon part we had was just given to Alreya. Now when someone has no allegiance to a country, escapees from the Empire for example, they can become a member of any country they so choose as long as both sides agree to it, no matter the race. I would assume those rules apply to you as well. As for why, most countries, including ours, give a small stipend for every candidate we send to participate in the ritual. This encourages the various villages and cities around the country to keep sending candidates even though many times the ritual ends in failure. We receive an even larger sum should the candidate succeed in summoning a dragon and be sent to the Capital Country to train to become a dragon rider."

"But like I said," Brand interrupted again. "I don't have a dragon part. How would I participate?"

"But you do have a dragon part." Stelro told him. "At least it looks like you do. Can you show us the tooth you brought with you from Earth?"

Brand removed his satchel and took out the Giganotosaurus tooth he had become attached to. "Once again, this isn't a dragon tooth." he said as he held the fang aloft for the elders to see. "It's a dinosaur tooth. Actually it isn't even that. It used to be a tooth. It's been in the ground so long that it has basically turned to stone. And even if it was still a tooth, Alreya told me that the ritual wouldn't work on any animal but a dragon."

"I see." Stelro said. "But even still, I would like for you to try the ritual with that tooth. The basis of the ritual is life energy, so even if it is as old as you say, it may still have some of that energy remaining. And I would like to believe you and that tooth were brought here for a reason. If you do this, and the ritual ends in failure, then when you return from the capital of the forest, the guest house you are living in now will become yours. We will welcome you as a member of this village with open arms and extend to you all the benefits that one receives as befitting a member of our community. On the other hand, if you decide you would rather not, then we will give you the information you need on all of the other free countries and guarantee you safe passage beyond our borders."

After giving Brand a few minutes to think of an answer, Stelro leaned forward in his seat with his right hand stroking his chin and said "Now, what will your answer be Brand of Earth?"