TRAINING

"Let's go." Shade said once Ixora was gone. He led us out of the Library and into another tunnel which said GROUNDS.

It was a room, the size of a suite. On the wall hung weapons of all sorts; swords, knives, daggers, shields and some chain thingys. Shade walked off to get something.

"This is where I had my spar sessions." Caden said.

"Was your butt kicked?" Natalie asked jokingly.

"No not really. It was a fair fight."

"A fair fight you say?" I asked.

"Yes."

Shade came up with a long black briefcase. He placed it on the floor.

"Shade is your elder brother right?" I whispered to Caden.

"He's just a year older so... I'm not sure that counts."

"Oh it does count." Shade said looking at her.

I looked at him wondering how he had heard us.

"You were whispering loudly." He said. "Well, look at this."

He opened the box and a fine looking sword was inside it had a Navy-blue head with an Emerald stone embedded in the middle with a long silver steel. It was actually beautiful. I picked it up. It was exactly my size, it wasn't too small and wasn't too heavy.

"Who made this?" I asked.

"It's custom made. There's is a spell sage's use to conjure up swords for guardians. Caden, go get Natalie's own sword."

Caden left and came back with a similar sword. It had a black head with a blue stone embedded in it.

"Cool." Natalie said as she collected it from CC.

"You like it?" Shade said.

"Yeah sure."

"Let's begin then." Shade said.

"How was practice?" Ixora asked as I entered the small room.

"Wasn't as easy as we thought." I replied. "Natalie went with Shade and CC to the garden."

"Take this." She handed me a small book with a dark cover. That's a spell book, it's yours' now.

"Thank you." I said with a smirk. In a way this new part of my life wasn't really bad.

"Open it." She said. "Pick a spell let's start."

I opened the book and flipped through the pages. The spells I saw were actually interesting. But most of them were in a different language.

"Which other language is this?" I asked.

"It's latin. Most spells are to be carried in latin."

"So I have to learn latin too?"

"Yes."

I frowned. This wasn't funny.

"I could just use my Google Translator."

"You have to say out the spell." Ixora pointed out.

"I thought I have to mutter."

"Either way, pick one English spell. Let's start from there."

"How about this one." I said turning the book in her direction.

Narrators Pov- 45 years ago

"I was wrong thinking my mother's prophecy was about you as you are the first human guardian." Zelda said to Adam.

"There is no problem. Maybe It's going to be for the next." He replied.

"We still have to find a way forward."

"And we will. But we need to plan ourselves."

"Alright."

"Goodbye. " He said and Zelda gave a smirk and her image faded out of the mirror.

Presently- Emma's Pov

Natalie and I appeared in my bedroom and she picked up her school bag.

"Today has been the best ever." She said.

"This sword stuff really keeps you excited huh?"

"I've always wanted to learn how to handle a sword."

"Not really the same for me." I replied

"Well ...." She flung her bag over her shoulder. "I have to get going."

"Ok let's go." I said opening the door and we left going down the stairs.

As soon as we reached downstairs, the front door opened and my mom walked in with my siblings.

"Hey Mom."

"Emma, Natalie." She acknowledged.

"Hello, Mrs. Arnold." Natalie said.

"Hey Natalie." Chloe said.

"Hi." Jose said.

"Hi Chloe and Jose." She replied. "I was just leaving."

"Oh. When does your summer break begin?" Mom asked.

"Next three weeks." I replied. "Why are you asking?"

"I wanted to know if it's the same time with Chloe and Jose. "But theirs is starting next two weeks."

"That's no problem then." Natalie said.

"Yes, mom. We can stay home alone. I'm 14." Chloe said.

"I know you can but you might still need someone to watch over."

Where was this conversation heading to?

"We don't need anyone mom." Jose said and moved to sit on the couch.

"We only follow you from school to your office because of the free food and all the money we make. No other reason." Chloe added.

"Yeah mom. They don't need a baby sitter. They're old enough." I spoke.

"See." Chloe said.

'I wasn't speaking for you I just don't want to look after you.' I wanted to say.

"Alright, alright." Mom agreed.

"But this doesn't mean we won't follow you whenever we want." Jose said from where he sat.

"Yeah. That too." Chloe agreed.

"I'm just tired. However you want it." She said.

"I have to go now. Bye everyone."

"Bye Nat." Chloe and Jose said as she left the door.

Mom went up the stairs.

"Natalie has been leaving by this time a lot lately." Chloe said out of the blue.

"What?" I asked.

"I mean normally, it's not everyday she comes over and now since last week Tuesday, she's been leaving by this time."

How did she notice that?

"It's her choice to choose when she wants to come and the time she wants to go home." I said. "Now leave me alone."

I walked straight up to my room.

The Next Day

Natalie, Caden and I sat in a table at the Cafeteria eating and listening as CC told us about her clan.

"So your clan trains dragons?" Natalie asked clearly awed.

"From egg to adult." CC replied.

"But who are they for? Who uses them?" I asked.

"Just like we have Dragon trainers, we have Dragon riders."

"Dragon-riders?" Natalie said.

"Yeah." CC replied. "Dragon riders are another set of creatures in the spirit realm. When someone of the Dragon rider clan is of the age that's 18, They assemble and let the flames show them their dragons. It happens once every year."

"Tell us about it." I said.

"Well, the flames know who the dragons are destined to be with. Kind of like a bonding session. Once the rider puts his or her hand inside the flame pot, it gives the person a small egg like structure of the dragon or should I say produce."

"You mean, how the dragon was when it was in its shell? The colour of the egg shell?" Natalie asked.

"Affirmative." Caden replied. "The dragon guardians' identify which dragon it is and take the rider to that dragon and immediately the rider places it hand on it, its name comes to mind and they begin to communicate with their minds. That's why mind communication is very essential for Dragon riders."

"So they communicate with minds because dragons don't talk?" I asked.

"Yes. Riders can send emotions, happiness, sadness and so much more and the dragons can send theirs back. The dragon listens to their rider and takes care of them. It's a mutual relationship."

"That's sweet." Natalie said.

"Do dragon guardians have dragons too?" I asked.

"Yes. but it's from age 16 and above."

"Which means you have? Even your brother?" Caden nodded.

"What's its name?" Natalie asked.

"Mine is Nadia, Shade's is Cobalt."

"Nice name honestly. I said.

"Thank you."

The bell for classes rang and we stood up to leave with our trays.