The Preparation

Walking outside of the elder tree, Alreya asked Brand about his decision after they had passed through the large front door. "While I am happy that you will be able to join me for a little while longer, why did you decide to join the Ostish Forest? You have only been with us for a short time, and we are a country of elves, not humans."

Brand blushed red and turned his youthful face away from Alreya. "I'm not sure myself." he said. "It seemed like a pretty good offer, and I'm still completely unfamiliar with this world. The elves here seem to be pretty friendly and I could use a foundation of support until I can get my feet under me."

"That is true enough." Alreya said nodding. "It is pretty dangerous to be all by yourself on this continent. Support is essential to survival. I hope we live up to your expectations and you live up to ours."

Alreya bid Brand goodbye after making sure Brand knew the way back to his guest house. She turned and the translucent wings on her back began to flap incredibly fast. Alreya took off when her wings were beating so fast they made a buzzing sound, leaving Brand behind on the ground. He still was a little bit amazed whenever one of the elves just flew off. He wished he could fly.

As it was Brand started to walk back through the village to where his guest house was. He once again felt relieved at the fact that he had managed to bring his slightly worn sneakers with him to this world. While the ground wasn't overgrown, the brown dirt was still covered in weeds, sticks, and stones. He remembered hearing that the elves preferred to walk indoors, but assumed that they would just fly everywhere else. That would explain the poor condition of the ground around the village.

Brand managed to find his way to the guest house and once he got there immediately threw his leather-like satchel on the floor and fell face first into the comfortable bed that awaited him. While his head was buried in the slightly itchy, but still pleasant feather pillow, Brand began to remember the days events.

Did he make the right decision? What would happen to him now? He was now a citizen of an elven country located in the woods that was at war with a giant empire. Remembering this his whole body began to break out in a cold sweat. "I can't go to war! I'm only a kid!" Brand yelled into the pillow. "This is too much. I never even thought about joining the military back on Earth. How am I going to handle being given a spear and then shoved on to a battlefield? Especially with monsters and dragons. What am I going to do?" he thought desperately.

Turning his head to the side Brand saw the Giganotosaurus tooth had partially slid out of his bag and onto the wooden floor. He never considered the possibility that the ritual would actually work with the tooth and a dragon would suddenly appear. Although the way Stelro the grand elder had acted made it seem like there was a chance that a dragon would be summoned from the tooth. Could he actually make a blood bond with a dragon? Then he remembered what Alreya had told him about the ritual not working on any animal or monster except for dead dragons. Stelro and the elders must have been confused because of the way the fossil looked like a dragon tooth. Brand put the thought out of his mind as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, a loud knock coming from the front door of his house woke Brand up. He swung out of bed and went to go open the door expecting Alreya to be standing there, but when he unfastened the bolt and opened the door, he saw that Alreya's grandpa was standing there instead.

"Hello young man." said the elf with short platinum blonde hair, a few wrinkles around his eyes and forehead, and the same blue orbs for eyes that Alreya had. He had a large smile on his face as he said "I do not believe have met yet. My name is Aldroro. I am Alreya's grandfather."

"Oh, hello!" Brand said surprised. "Err, would you like to come in?"

"No, thank you. I would actually like you to come with me." Aldroro told him. "Please grab your satchel and follow me. We have to get you prepared for your journey to the capital."

"Sure." Brand replied slowly. "Where is Alreya?"

"She is busy preparing herself with her mother." Aldroro answered. "Do not worry, you will see her when you both depart this afternoon." he said as his smile turned into a somewhat knowing grin.

Brand ran back to his room and grabbed his bag stuffing the tooth back inside. He hurried back to the front door and then followed Aldroro outside. As they walked along the cluttered forest floor, Brand asked "So where are we going?"

"To the market. We need to get you another set of clothes from the tailor. Then to the blacksmith to choose a temporary weapon. You will not have to worry about food or drink as they will be carried by the caravan."

"Yes, that's great. But I don't... I don't have any money. How am I supposed to pay for that stuff?" Brand said a bit worried.

"You are an important dragon rider candidate!" Aldroro laughed. "All of your provisions will be payed for."

"I see." Brand heaved a sigh of relief.

They soon arrived at the tailor. The building was in a medium sized birch looking tree with a couple of windows on either side of the door. When they entered, Aldroro talked with the owner of the store for a moment before he took Brand to be measured. When he was being measured, Brand asked Aldroro something that had been on his mind since yesterday. "Why do the elders want me to represent them at the ritual? Especially with this tooth that isn't a dragon's tooth. Won't I just end up embarrassing myself and everyone when it doesn't work?"

Aldroro answered him plainly. "Having you participate in the ritual was the grand elder's idea. He had a pretty convincing argument that there was no downside to sending you. Best case scenario, you become a dragon rider and we receive a lot of money from the country. Worst case scenario, you do not become a dragon rider and we receive a little bit of money from the country. The only one who disagreed was Calreme."

"What is his problem anyway?" Brand asked.

"He is just bitter that Alreya was chosen for the dragon scale instead of his nephew." Aldroro replied. The evil looking smile that crept onto Aldroro's face made Brand think that he had some kind of rivalry with Calreme. But that did explain why Calreme looked so sour during the ceremonies yesterday. After he was finished, the tailor told them to come back after an hour and he would be done. As Brand was leaving the shop he noticed a needle weaving in and out of some material by itself.

From there they moved on to the Blacksmith. It was the only building around that wasn't built inside a tree or adjacent to one. In fact, there were no trees anywhere around the blacksmith's shop. The sun shined down unopposed onto the red bricks that the unique looking shop was made from. A single chimney spouted from the roof of the building periodically releasing puffs of black smoke.

Inside the brick building was a shop full to the brim with weapons, shields, saddles, and a few pieces of armor. Aldroro nodded at the blacksmith and then turned to Brand and said "Well, go on. Pick a weapon. Although Alreya told me of your skills with a bow. Best to pick something else."

Brand sighed in his head. He didn't think he was that bad with a bow. Especially considering he'd only used it once. Looking around the shop, he saw a large amount of weapons lining the walls. Walking up to them, Brand started grabbing and swinging around some of the various swords. He wasn't sure how it was supposed to feel since he'd never held a weapon other than a bow before, but the swords he tried just didn't feel right. He next tried a couple of axes, a mace, and some daggers.

Finally Brand picked up a spear that was leaning up against the corner of the shop and immediately took a liking to it. He thrust to and fro a few times. He liked the length of it. It felt safe. Like it would do the job he needed it to do before whatever was trying to kill him was directly in his face. "This one!" he told Aldroro when he was certain that this was the weapon for him.

"A spear?" Aldroro questioned. "Interesting. But a fine choice should you end up becoming a dragon rider."

Brand wondered what he meant when he was led back to the tailor. He tried on his new set of clothes and found them actually quite comfortable. Looking at himself in the mirror, he actually kind of looked like all of the brightly colored elves that were flying around town. His new outfit consisted of a white shirt, a light green vest, some dark green pants, and brown boots that weren't nearly as comfortable as his sneakers, but still seemed pretty sturdy.

Brand pulled off the boots, replacing them with his sneakers, then put the rest of his old clothes into his satchel as Aldroro declared "I think you are ready. Let us make our way over to the caravan next to the stables. It is time you started your journey." With that Brand and Aldroro left the shop and headed towards the caravan that would take Brand to the capital of the Ostish Forest, Ragash. The place where the ritual would be held in a little under two weeks time.