The Summoning

The four columns of elves and one human followed the white haired elf, Perenu, through the streets of Ragash toward the temple of the Guild of Dragons somewhere in the center of the city. As they walked, the elves passing by would all stop and clap and cheer for the hopeful dragon rider candidates as they made their way to attempt the dragon summoning ritual. Brand was near the back of the group following closely behind Alreya. All of these cheers from the bystanders were making him a little uncomfortable. The complete opposite of Ernagcio, who was enjoying the attention immensely. He was flying above the rest of the elves, waving back, and even blowing kisses. It made Brand want to punch him in his fat face.

The group continued down the streets of Ragash until they finally neared their destination. Brand looked around the elves in front of him and gazed in wonder at the temple that was before him. The entire temple was made out of a smooth white stone. The outside looked very polished. It almost looked like marble. There were five columns on each side of the temple holding up a pyramid like roof. Beyond the columns were stone steps leading up to a pair of large, white, double doors. The whole building stuck out like a sore thumb from the mostly elven architecture of Ragash. Brand thought it looked like a mix of ancient Greek and ancient Egyptian architecture from Earth.

The group of elves came to a stop right outside of the temple. A crowd had gathered on either side to witness this new batch of candidates to see which of them would become dragon riders. Perenu flew up in front of the gathered elves and started speaking in a loud voice again. "Welcome to the Ragash temple of the Guild of Dragons. This is the starting point of the rest of your lives. Whether that is as a dragon rider, or something else, depends on the ritual. You will enter the temple and begin the ritual with the column of elves you are standing in now. After one column is finished, I will come back out to escort the next column in to complete the ritual. And so on and so forth. I wish you luck one last time. Let us begin."

With that, Perenu motioned for the first column of elves on the far right to follow him into the temple. The far right column quickly preceded to follow him into the temple. When the last elf had passed the double doors, they closed with a rather loud bang. The remaining three columns of elves seemed to erupt into conversation almost immediately after the doors closed.

"I am so terribly nervous. What will I do if I fail?" a random elf could be overheard saying.

Ernagcio was also talking amongst the candidates. "I bet I will have the largest wyvern summon here. Might even be blue."

"I knew I should have gone to the bathroom back at the hotel." another elf said with a big grimace on his face.

The random chatter eased Brand's mind a little bit. A few minutes went by and he decided to walk up to where Alreya was standing in line and say "So, this is it huh? This is where we either become dragon riders or failures?"

Alreya looked at him and responded "I suppose it is. Although I am certain that I will become a dragon rider. I have a pretty good feeling about you as well."

"Thanks." Brand said rubbing his neck sheepishly. Another few minutes passed before Brand asked her a question that had been bothering him. "So, when we summon our dragon, does it come out full size? Or are we looking at an egg type situation? Will we have to... I don't know... warm the egg or something?"

Alreya laughed and told him "No, while dragons do come out of eggs in the wild, the summoned dragons will not turn into eggs. And they will not come out full size. The dragon that is summoned will be a youngling. It will be about the size that we are currently."

"Wow." Brand said at the unexpected answer. "So how long does it take for a dragon to grow to full size? How long until it gets as big as its gonna get?"

"It takes exactly two years for a summoned dragon to fully mature." Alreya answered Brand. "After that, while the dragon's size would remain the same, it can grow in power and change color according to it's power level."

"Interesting." said Brand thinking aloud. "That would explain the different colored dragons that we saw at the city's roost earlier in the week."

Alreya nodded when the double doors to the temple suddenly swung open again. Perenu stepped out and motioned for the next column of elves to follow him inside. Ernagcio was in this group and waved and bowed to the watching crowd before flying directly in front of his column. Perenu simply shook his head and guided Ernagcio and his column of candidates inside.

"I really hope that guy fails the ritual." Brand said with a frown on his face.

Alreya laughed before saying "Me too."

Time passed again and before long the third column was led inside the temple by Perenu. Realizing that they were next, Brand started to get a tad nervous again. "What happens if we don't pass?" he asked Alreya. "In fact, what happens if we do pass?"

"You have already been told that if you pass you will be sent to the Capital Country for training and if you do not you will be sent back to wherever it is that you came from." Alreya responded.

"Yes, I already know that." Brand said. "I want to know what specifically happens in the temple."

"I do not know." Alreya responded with a shrug. "I have never been inside a Guild of Dragons temple, let alone participated in a ritual before."

Brand nodded nervously when again the big, white, double doors of the temple opened. Perenu stepped out and motioned for the last column of candidates to follow him inside. Brand's column. Brand quickly shuffled back behind Alreya and followed the rest of the elves as they ascended the steps and passed through the doorway. The doors behind them closed and Brand found himself in a hallway illuminated by torches. The group began following Perenu down the hallway that sloped downwards into the ground.

After desending for a minute, they arrived at another set of double doors with two elven guards wearing green cloaked robes standing guard outside. The two guards opened the doors and the group was led into a massive room. Inside were stone columns that formed a circle in the center of the room. In the middle of those columns was a single pedestal sticking up from the ground. Next to the pedestal were four more elves dressed in cloaked green robes.

The group stopped and Perenu started to give instructions. "Spread out, and when your name is called approach the pedestal with your piece of dragon. You will then be told how to perform the ritual, and then perform it. If you succeed, you and your dragon will be led further into the temple. If you do not, you will be healed and then led outside."

Wondering what he meant when he said "healed", Brand heard Perenu call out the first name.

"Falamu!" Perenu shouted. A small dark haired elf stepped within the pillars and walked toward the pedestal with what looked like a claw. A green robed elf approached him, whispered in his ear, and handed him a dagger. The robed elves then all retreated to the pillars as the dark haired elf placed the claw on the pedestal. He then took the dagger and cut his left hand letting the blood leak onto the claw. The dark haired elf began to chant something and as he did a yellow light began to encircle the claw on the pedestal. When the elf finished his chant, the yellow light grew brighter then suddenly exploded. The elf flew back and fell to the ground unconscious. The robed elves quickly rushed to the young elf's side and performed some healing magic on him. The dark haired elf woke up and then was helped to a side door by one of the robed elves. The robed elf quickly returned and Perenu once again shouted a name.

A few more failures happened before they got their first success. A purple haired, yellow eyed elf finished his chant and the wing fragment that was glowing yellow on the pedestal became almost blindingly bright. Brand had to look away for a second and when he looked back. A small, green, wyvern had appeared on the other side of the pedestal. The dragon crawled over to the purple haired elf and they touched foreheads. At that moment a large stone panel rose from the back of the room and the new dragon and rider duo were led through the opening.

After that a few more names were called that either ended in failure or success until it was Alreya's turn. She walked up to the pedestal, placed her scale, was told what to say, cut her hand, and then chanted. Brand held his breath as the scale glowed brilliantly. Once again shielding his eyes, Brand looked up to see Alreya butting heads with a brand new green dragon. Alreya's new wyvern partner had successfully been summoned. Brand sighed in relief as his friend and new dragon rider was lead through the back opening with her dragon.

Brand witnessed a few more explosions and a few more successes until finally he was the last one in the room besides the robed elves and Perenu. "Brand." Perenu said and Brand finally walked up to the pedestal. He removed the Giganotosaurus tooth from his bag and placed it on the pedestal. A couple of the robed elves looked at each other before shrugging. One of the elves approached Brand and handed him the dagger and said "Cut your hand, and chant Afixte To Drako Kai Ginete Diko Mou."

Before the elf retreated to the pillars, Brand asked him to repeat the phrase one more time. The elf rolled his eyes before repeating the words again. He then retreated to the pillars. Brand exhaled then quickly slid the knife over his left hand. He winced and let his blood run down from his hand and onto the tooth. "Afixte To Drako Kai Ginete Diko Mou!" he said loudly. The tooth began to glow yellow. The light began to get brighter and brighter. Brand was starting to believe that he actually might summon a dragon when an explosion sent him flying backwards. He landed hard on his back and rolled over onto his side. He had failed. Just like he knew he would. But somehow he still felt incredibly disappointed.

Brand put one of his hands on the ground and looked at Perenu who was standing behind him. Brand raised an eyebrow as Perenu wasn't looking at him, but was gaping at the place he had just been. Brand sat up and was shocked at what he saw. The four robed elders had been thrown from the pillars which looked like they had been damaged by the explosion. They were all staring in disbelief at where the pedestal used to be. The pedestal had been completely destroyed, and in it's place was a green, five foot tall reptile that stood on two powerful looking legs with big claws. It had a tail, two tiny arms with three fingers, and a huge head filled with rows of serrated, conical teeth.

"What... what is that thing." stammered Perenu fearfully. "I have never seen a dragon that looked like that."

"Hahaha yes!" laughed Brand with a gigantic smile on his face. "That! That is a freaking dinosaur!"