The Dinosaur

Brand could hardly believe his eyes. Standing just a few feet away from him was a real life dinosaur. The ancient reptile was already about 10 feet long. Compared to the seven to eight foot long wyvern younglings Brand had seen earlier, this thing was absolutely huge. Brand wondered just how big the monster in front of him would eventually get. The real life giganotosaurus was swiveling it's head around taking in it's surroundings. Soon it's eyes came to rest on Brand sitting just a little bit out of reach. Locking eyes with Brand, the giganotosaurus began walking towards him. Perenu nervously flew back a ways as the dinosaur approached.

Brand's smile vanished as the giant dinosaur baby stopped directly in front of him. This thing wasn't a dragon! What if it just acted on instinct and ate him? Perenu and the other elves were acting weird. The pedestal had even been broken. Things were hardly going according to plan. Just as he began to freak out, the giganotosaurus tilted his head to the side, and looked at Brand curiously. Then he gave a loud roar, bent down and licked Brand's face. Brand's doubts instantly vanished. With a determined look on his face, he got to his feet, dusted himself off, then leaned his head against a head filled to the brim with large teeth.

When him and the giganotosaurus touched heads, Brand felt his whole body get hot. His muscles, bones, and skin all felt like they were burning, but at the same time it didn't hurt. After a few moments of the strange sensation, Brand felt normal again. He pulled his head back and felt a connection form with the dinosaur in front of him. He knew that this giant lizard had just become his partner for life.

Feeling great, Brand turned around to look at Perenu and the other robed elves who were watching them in defensive postures looking extremely nervous. "What now?" Brand asked the elves while standing next to his new companion.

Perenu took the initiative and asked Brand about the giganotosaurus again. "What did you say that thing is? Is that a dragon? What type is it? I have never heard of a dragon that looked like that."

"This, is a giganotosaurus." Brand told them. "It's a dinosaur."

"A... dino... saur you said?" Perenu said puzzled. When Brand nodded his head, Perenu continued. "I have never heard of a dinosaur dragon. Where did you find the piece of dragon that summoned it?" he asked.

"I brought it with me from Earth." Brand told him. Brand had thought about hiding the fact that he was from Earth, but after talking with Stelro, the grand elder of Masarch, he had realized there would be no point. Nobody could get to Earth from here, even if they wanted to. The most danger Brand would be in if somebody found out, was having to tell stories of his previous life.

Perenu nodded before saying "We were told that you were from the ancient world. I did not realize Earth also had dragons. Especially such a strange and powerful looking one." Perenu and the other elves continued studying the giganotosaurus for a few minutes before Perenu finally said "Alright, since you were the last candidate, please follow us." Perenu and the other elves walked over to the back of the room where the big stone panel once again raised revealing a tunnel on the other side.

"Come on." Brand told the giganotosaurus. "Let's go." The dinosaur nodded knowingly and began walking next to Brand as they followed the elves down the tunnel. The elves gave them a wide berth as they headed down the long dark tunnel. Unlike all the passageways before which had been made out of a marble like stone, this tunnel seemed to made out of dirt like it was carved right out of the ground. It was illuminated by torches placed at various intervals. They walked for a while until the tunnel started sloping upwards. After walking a little longer, they arrived at another set of double doors. These doors were made out of wood and looked very old. Standing in front of the doors, two elven guards dressed in green leather armor looked taken aback at the dinosaur standing next to Brand. After looking at Perenu who gave them a nod, the two guards quickly opened the doors.

Brand and his giganotosaurus followed Perenu and the four robed elves into the sunlight. They walked into the middle of what looked like an enormous pit built in the middle of the forest outside the city walls. In the middle of the pit were all the new elven dragon riders and their green wyvern younglings. Brand quickly counted about fifteen new dragon rider pairs including Alreya and her wyvern and, unfortunately, Ernagcio and his. On the outside of the pit, looking down on the new dragon riders, were a large amount of fully grown wyverns and their riders. There were a few green and blue wyverns lining the walls of the pit, and even two purple ones. Next to the dragons were elves dressed in green, blue, or purple armor matching their mounts. But the most eye catching duo was a white wyvern and the white armored elf standing beside it. They exuded authority and Brand could instantly tell that they were the most powerful beings here.

When Brand and the giganotosaurus entered the pit there was an audible gasp that rang throughout the pit. Brand saw multiple jaws drop and even heard one of the new dragon riders, which sounded suspiciously like Ernagcio, scream. He could also see Alreya a distance away staring at him with wide eyes. The dragon riders on top of the pit all began to talk amongst themselves and their wyverns began to stamp their front claws on the ledge while roaring in a sort of challenge. The entire thing was quite intimidating, but instead of being cowed, Brand's giganotosaurus stepped forward and roared back accepting their challenge. Brand suddenly felt quite proud at his partner's fearlessness. Even though he was a lot smaller than the dragons that currently surrounded him, the giganotosaurus didn't even seem the tiniest bit afraid. That made Brand swell up with courage as well.

All of a sudden, the white wyvern at the head of the pit let out a mighty roar silencing all of the other dragons, the elves, and even Brand's giganotosaurus. After the entire pit had become quiet, the elf in white armor stepped towards the ledge and shouted "Perenu! What is the meaning of this? What is that thing next to the human? Is it a dragon?" From her voice, Brand could guess that the armored white elf was female. She had a helmet on so he couldn't see the color of her hair, but he could see her eyes, which were bright red.

Perenu stepped forward and answered back " Yoranu, this is a dinosaur type dragon! It was summoned from a tooth the human, Brand, brought here from Earth!"

"A new species of dragon..." Yoranu muttered to herself. "This news could prove to be incredibly important... you!" she pointed at a green dragon rider that was standing next to her. "Ride as fast as you can to the Capital Country and report this. Do not stop for anything." The armored rider saluted before unfolding his wings and flying onto the saddle attached to his green wyvern mount. He whispered something in the dragon's ear and the wyvern took off past the trees and out of sight.

Looking back at Brand and his dinosaur, Yoranu addressed Brand directly. "Please excuse the commotion, this is the first time someone at this ceremony has summoned a dragon other than a wyvern in quite a long time. And in fact, I do not think the Ostish Forest has ever had a human summoner before either. If it is alright with you, I think it would be best to continue the ritual."

Seeing that Yoranu seemed to be looking at him for approval, Brand hurriedly nodded and said "Yes, yes I think so too."

"Good." Yoranu responded. She then began to address all of the new dragon riders and their dragons that were down in the pit. "Now that we are all here, I would like to offer my personal congratulations to all of you for joining the ranks of the dragon riders and the Guild of Dragons. This is not only a great privilege that has been bestowed upon you, but also a great responsibility. Being a dragon rider means devoting yourself to the service and protection of the free countries. It means fighting monsters and beasts, and battling the empire to preserve the lives of others. Do not forget that. Now, you will all be escorted to the Capital Country to begin your training, but before you do, you will announce to all of your peers, the name of your lifelong dragon partner. Starting in the order that you exited the temple."

Yoranu motioned for the purple haired elf that had been the first one to summon a dragon to begin. He immediately shouted "Shoon!" and the young wyvern beside him began to roar to the sky. The next elf yelled out their dragon's name and their wyvern began to roar as well. Brand began to think of a good name for his partner but nothing was coming to mind. Brand then heard Alreya call out "Atil!" and even more roaring sounded.

Now starting to panic a little bit, Brand started running over names in his head. "Kevin? Karl? Kenny? Why am I only thinking of names that begin with K?" Soon, it was Brand's turn. He had run out of time. After a few seconds of silence, he looked at his giganotosaurus and shouted "Giga?!" It sounded like more of a question than a statement, and his dinosaur just looked at him with curious eyes. The silence felt incredibly embarrassing so Brand once again shouted "Giga!" like he meant it this time. To his relief his partner turned his head upwards and began to roar. Giga continued to roar as the wyvern younglings all began to roar again. Even the adult wyverns began roaring in what became a thunderous chorus that rang throughout the forest and the hearts of everyone present.