The River

When Brand regained his senses, Perenu had already returned. He walked over to where Brand, Alreya, and Ernagcio were standing with their dragon companions. Giga was glaring warily at the two wyverns, Atil and Nesto, who were, in turn, staring at Giga with wary expressions. A giant shadow soon passed by the group and Alreya questioned Perenu "Was that your dragon?"

"It was." Perenu answered cheerily. "You will be able to meet him later. His name is Tars, and he is a purple class wyvern."

Noticing the use of pronouns, Brand suddenly thought of a question. "How do you know what gender your dragon is?" he asked looking down and petting Giga who had shoved its large head under Brand's right arm.

"Every dragon that is summoned is the same gender as its rider." Ernagcio answered him looking proudly at his own dragon. "Nesto here was destined to be male, as was I. My family has always had a history of strong, male dragon riders..." he began to drone.

Alreya rolled her eyes and said "Every dragon is indeed the same gender as their rider, but their isn't a power difference between genders. Females can grow just as strong as the males." She looked back at Ernagcio. "Sometimes stronger."

Before Brand could respond, Perenu spoke up. "Alright, we should probably get moving. It is a long way to the Capital Country, and the other groups have already left us behind." Brand looked around and found that the other new dragon rider groups had disappeared along with their chaperones.

"Don't we need supplies and stuff? Like food and water?" Brand asked quizzically.

"Tars is carrying all the emergency rations." Perenu said. "The forest is full of food we can eat and the river we will be following is made of fresh water that the dragons can drink. For ourselves, we can create water from magic. We will not need to worry about provisions for a while."

Perenu started walking deeper into the forest followed closely by Ernagcio and Nesto. Alreya and Brand trailed behind with their dragons following on either side of them. Giga taking long strides with his powerful legs and Atil crawling along on her wings and back legs.

After silently following behind for a while, Brand asked some more questions that he had thought of to Alreya. "So, is a purple class dragon rider a big deal? What about that white dragon rider? Are the colors different ranks?"

"The colors mark the class of the dragon." Alreya told him as they walked. "Once a dragon is fully grown, it can change color based on how powerful it gets. The rider is then rewarded with a new set of armor that matches the color of their dragon and is made from a finer metal. In the free countries, dragons start off green. Then, when they grow in power by a sufficient amount, they turn blue. After blue is purple, and after purple is white."

Thinking of something, Brand said "You said that dragons start off green only in the free countries. Is it different in the Empire?"

"Yes, in the Empire the dragons start off yellow, then turn orange, then red. After red they become black. Their colors correspond with the free countries dragons, but there does not seem to be a significant power difference." Alreya answered.

"Why are the colors different?"

"They perform a different summoning ceremony than we do. That is what is assumed at least."

Brand scratched his chin. "So white and black dragon riders are the most powerful, and are about equal in power." he muttered.

"Well, yes and no." Alreya indicated. Seeing Brand looking confused, she continued. "White and Black are usually as powerful as a dragon can get unless they become a gold or silver dragon. Gold for the free countries and silver for the Empire. There can only be one silver or gold dragon for each species. In order for there to be another gold or silver dragon, one of the current gold or silver dragons need to die. Currently, there is a balance as the free countries have seven gold dragon riders and the Empire has seven silver dragons. That is why I think they have assigned a purple dragon rider to be our chaperone and why we are taking the route that leads furthest from the Empire."

Realization dawned on Brand and he looked at Giga. "They think Giga could become one of those gold dragons because he is a new species!"

Alreya nodded. "That is correct. At least that is the conclusion that I have come to. A new gold dragon could drastically tip the balance of power in favor of the free countries. I have a feeling that you will be very closely watched and protected in the future, just for that reason."

They fell back into silence as Brand wrestled with his thoughts. Would Giga be able to become a gold dragon? Was he even a dragon at all? Brand's knowledge of the giganotosaurus back on Earth was pretty extensive, so he knew that they usually took 15 to 20 years to fully mature. Would Giga be fully grown in two years like all the other dragons or was he just a regular dinosaur? Would he be able to actually fight against fully grown dragons in the future and survive? Brand looked at the giganotosaurus dutifully walking beside him and figured that they would just have to find out together. If Giga was smart enough to follow his orders and actually show him loyalty, then Brand figured that the dinosaur probably had a few more surprises in store for him.

After walking for awhile the group came to the edge of the Pactoris River. Then turned parallel to the river and started following it south. As they walked Brand noticed that he didn't feel the least bit tired, even though they had been walking for hours. Brand wondered if this newfound endurance was a result of the ritual. In fact, it wasn't just his endurance that had been enhanced. Brand felt stronger and faster than he had ever thought possible.

Bending down, Brand picked up a rock and squeezed as hard as he could trying to test out his strength. To his incredible surprise, the rock cracked and then broke in his hands. Not believing what he had just seen, Brand's wide eyes were all of a sudden drawn to the river when he heard a few loud splashes. He gazed passed Alreya and Atil who were walking next to him and witnessed a scene that reminded him that he was in a magic world. The fish in the river were manipulating the water to snake themselves through the air and catch the bugs that were flying around. Once they caught one of the flying insects, the water around the fish would lose its form and they would land with a splash back into the river. The river almost looked as if it had sprouted numerous tentacles that were constantly appearing and disappearing. It was a pretty spectacular thing to witness. Brand wondered just how many spectacular things a person could see in one day.

A few more hours passed by when Perenu called for them to stop and make camp. The group found an open space in the forest and made up a campfire. A giant purple wyvern who Brand assumed was Tars, swooped down from the trees and landed next to the group carrying a klon yak in its mouth. Perenu cut a large piece from the yak to cook over the campfire for the elves and Brand. Tars looked like it had already eaten and curled up on the ground like a big cat. Giga immediately went to feed on the rest of the yak carcass and snapped at Atil and Nesto when they tried to approach. Brand had to tell Giga to let the wyverns feed for him to move over and let the dragons eat as well.

After they had all finished eating, Brand asked where they would be sleeping.

"Dragon riders always sleep with their dragon while in the wild." Perenu answered him. "Might as well get used to it." As he said that, Perenu went over to where Tars was lying down and laid down himself with his head resting against Tars' giant stomach. Alreya and Ernagcio followed his example and lay down against their own wyverns.

Brand looked at Giga and said "I guess it's time to hit the hay?" As if on cue Giga fell onto the ground and rolled onto his side with one of his legs stretched out. Brand got down on the ground with him, which wasn't as uncomfortable as he had thought it would be, and laid his head against Giga's belly. Giga's leg twitched and then he closed his eyes. Brand looked towards the night sky that was poking through the trees and thought about his new world, new power, new friends, and especially thought about Giga. There had been a little part of him that had constantly been afraid since he had arrived in this world, but with Alreya, Atil, and Giga by his side, that fear slowly started to fade away.