The crystal sky was cloudless. The air was crisp and filled with the scents of season’s change. Nothing hindered her. The ground was far below. The troubles of humanoid and creature alike were, quite literally, far away.

Up here, there was no war. Up here, there were no squabbles about food or garments. There was no need for coin.

Alagaësia was filled with these kinds of troubles. Corrupt kings and monsters called Urgal were rampant. All struggled to survive.

Up here, however, among the clouds – there was only freedom.

That is what Dara liked about it. The freedom of flight was something she dreamed about when she was a child. Never did she think she would achieve such a dream, nor did she believe she would be one of the few to have the ultimate honor of being one of them – the Dragon Riders.

Once thought to have been driven extinct, Dara came across a single Dragon egg deep in the waters of the lake in her home. She was deep diving, nearly at the end of her breath, when she came across the strange looking stone. Believing it would be worth something, she carved it from the clay like sediment and hoisted it to the surface.

Little did she know that later that afternoon when enjoying the soothing sun warming her skin and drying her body that this thing she believed to be a rock would hatch into one of the first Dragons in decades.

Dara knew she needed to keep this a secret the moment the reptilian head peeked out from the edge of the shell. The stretch of the wings alone told her this Dragon would be immense, undoubtedly as large as one of the Greats from legends and stories she’d heard about from her parents.

The connection between them was instantaneous, both because of the bond between rider and Dragon and because of their similar demeanors. Both elected to be alone, and both had a love for the sky and sea. Land was not half as interesting as what lurked beneath the cresting waves of lakes and the open waters or the clouds of water above.

Learning to ride and be one with her dragon was a journey all on its own. Not only did Dara have to work with the Dragon to come up with an appropriate, which was an atrocious ordeal because the Dragon was quite particular in what she wanted to be called, finally settling on Saphiree, but also how to coordinate their movements at the drop of a hat.

They learned to be with one another and, several years later, they were a unified force.

As they soared far above the land below, arms and wings outstretched, they let the clouds wash over them. The cool moisture brushed their skin and hide like delicate, untouchable feathers. They would be an undetectable speck at this height, completely and utterly free.

Dara let her head lull backward as she closed her eyes and absorbed the light of the sun. So close to touching the heavens and yet perfectly mortal she thought. Dara could have lost herself in the moment if the same introspective voice didn’t come creeping into the back of her mind.

“Shall we dive?” asked Saphi as she tilted her wings to bank to the right over a patch of lake far enough away from their hometown of Nethri to remain undetected. Dara opened her fair lavender eyes and peered down at the sun dappled ground at the place Saphi gestured to with her claw.

The place looked deep enough, but at this height Dara would most definitely injure herself.

“A little lower,” said Dara though the link in her mind that her and her Dragon shared.

“You’re no fun,” said Saphi disappointedly.

“Trying to hurt me?” Dara asked in a teasing, amused tone.

“I just wish you were more durable, that’s all,” replied Saphi. Dara could tell by her tone she was teasing, but Dara couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt. She knew Saphi could take so much more physical punishment than Dara could. She hated to hold Saphi back and decided on a compromise.

“Dive hard and then pull up just before you hit the water. I’ll jump off on the ascend,” directed Dara. A rush of pleasure ran through Saphi’s mind.

“Noes toes it is,” grinned the Dragon as she pulled her wings in tight to her body. With alarming speed in a perfect streamlined position, they dove at the ground. Tears stung at Dara’s eyes. It was her heritage that gave her the blessing of maintaining her sight on the ground below. A normal human surely would have passed out with speeds like these. She had her father to thank for this inherited trait.

Faster and faster, they plummeted toward the glinting surface of the waves. Dara felt Saphi’s powerful lungs heave beneath her legs. Closing her eyes, Dara could feel both of their hearts racing as pure adrenaline coursed through their veins. It was like they were exposed nerves to each other, perfectly capable in physical and mental strength and yet completely vulnerable.

Dara watched the ground getting closer and closer with every second. Any moment they would turn. It would take every ounce of strength Dara had to hang on as Saphi turned her nose back to the sky, but the way her insides fluttered at their freefall was worth every moment of impending pain her arms would endure. 

“Now?” asked Saphi through their mental link.

“No, not yet,” directed Dara.

“We’re close,” reminded Saphi.

“Not close enough. Just a little more,” encouraged Dara.

“We’re too close! I have to pull us up!” said Saphi. She felt a wave of worry wash over her that came from the Dragon she was mounted on.

“On my mark,” instructed Dara. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four.

“Dara!”

Two. One.

“Mark! Now! Pull up!” shouted Dara. Saphi roared as she threw her head back, wings flaring, as she attempted to make the needed arc before they hit the ground. Dara felt every muscle of her Dragon tensing and flexing, challenging both of their levels of strength, as her claws barely scraped the surface of the water before soaring back up into the sky. Dara let a scream rise in her throat as her arms and legs threatened to let her slip.

Coasting, Saphi let herself fall back to the surface just as Dara pushed herself off of the saddle she constructed years ago. Both of them spiraled together and, in one fluid motion, dove beneath the waves of the murky lake water below.

Dara, with little air in her lungs, only made it to the first tier in the lakebed before needing to return to the surface for air. Saphi, on the other hand, glanced back at her rider before plummeting further down below in search of large fish for lunch. Dara pushed off of the ground and kicked to the surface, barely breaking the surface before gasping for air.

Once again, she was in bliss as she laid back in the water and floated effortlessly on the surface. She could hear the deep scratching and swirling of water and rock below her as Saphi was undoubtedly ending some poor creature that couldn’t get away fast enough.

How the two of them managed to stay undetected all these years, Dara didn’t know. What she did know was that she promised to make an appearance in town today and see Arun, the haggard woman of Nethri who made necklaces and charms from the shells and spines from things Dara dredged up from the lakebed.

Suddenly, Dara was under water. A rush of bubbles from below made Dara lose her concentration and her head slipped beneath the waves. She instantly fought to the surface and coughed up the water that threaten to invade her lungs just as she heard Saphi chuckle and break the surface, propping her rider onto her back.

Dara caught her balance on her Dragon’s scales and gave the sea foam green eyes a glare.

“Not funny,” scolded Dara. “I actually swallowed some water.”

“And you’ll take in more than that if I plunge to the true depths of this lake. Had you waited another second, you would’ve taken a face full of water and maybe even some broken bones for good measure. Don’t do that again,” scolded Saphi right back. She dipped her head below the surface and wetted her head, making her blue-green scales shimmer and come to life, each scale looking like a pool of water all on its own.

Dara sighed and smiled. “I guess I got carried away. Sorry,” she apologized.

“Accepted. Now, if I’m not mistaken, you have to get back to do human-elf things in the town and I have to annihilate that pesky school of fish that thinks it’s too fast for me,” stated Saphi.

“One dive and then the afternoon is yours,” stated Dara as she wrestled her thick chestnut hair into a tangled, messy braid. She gripped onto the spines of Saphi’s back as the Dragon dove beneath the waves once more, plunging deep and arriving at the bottom mere seconds after slipping beneath the surface.

Below the surface was a murky mess, but Dara’s keen eyes picked up the shapes of the world beneath the waves. She let go and watched Saphi dive further down and scoop up a mouthful of muck and head to the surface without her. Dara stayed and ran her fingers through the water until she found a couple of promising looking clams before launching herself off of the bottom and heading back to the surface.

Dara breeched the surface to the gagging and hacking sounds of Saphi, who was scraping her tongue against her claws. It was coated in mud and a few fragments of shell.

“I hate this. I do. I really hate helping you sometimes. I wouldn’t mind if it didn’t taste terrible!” She continued to scrape her tongue until she gave up and marched back into the water. “I’m going to fill my mouth with something desirable, like that pesky fish who thinks it can best me!”

“Remember to come up from air from time to time,” Dara reminded.

“Yeah yeah halfa. Enjoy,” stated her Dragon as she slipped beneath the waves. Dara pursed her lips at hearing Saphi calling her out for her part elvan, part human blood, but she knew Saphi didn’t mean it maliciously. Still, this is something they would need to discuss later.

Dara sifted through the muck and found a few dozen shells that seemed promising as well as a handful of fish bones before she placed them into her side satchel and walked toward the town of Nethrí.

It was a long walk, but it was necessary to keep Saphi a secret. Dragons, after all, were thought to be extinct and would undoubtedly be hunted down and killed in an instant if the wicked king were to find her.

So, rather than ride Saphi, Dara made the several mile trek over pebbles and stones, forest trails and fallen logs until she spotted the first chimney stack from the Karet’s family home. The dirt road, unchanged after years, was firm beneath Dara’s feet as she walked past the stone homes of Nethrí.

The stone homes, pale except for the slight growing moss along the wedges of the walls. The windows in the homes, misted around the edges from moisture, were obviously worn and weathered. The center of the town was a series of large wells and watering holes for livestock and washing. These were also constructed of stone and were weathered from years of use.

As if on cue, Dara could hear the jangling and scuffling of bones and the clanking of shells. It was Arun. She was propped up against the base of one of the common access watering holes tossing her fish bones and shells onto a woven mat in front of her. Her scraggly white and greying black hair clung to her head and in the bun she had tied it up into. Her tattered clothes were covered in thumb sized holes, but her smile was thoughtful, and kind as were her eyes.

The haggard woman spotted the young half-elf instantly, and her smile spread through Dara like the warmth of the sun.

“Well,” she said, the melodic lilt of her voice was like that of a great-grandmother. “If it isn’t my favorite.”

“You say that about everyone who comes to see you,” said Dara in a friendly tone.

“Doesn’t make it untrue,” replied Arun. “You’ve brought me something?” Arun cocked her head over to the side and pointed to the satchel at Dara’s side. Without delay, Dara removed the side pouch and poured them next to the mat Arun was working on moments before. The older woman shuffled through the bones and shells gleefully and pried some of the shells open to see the iridescent interiors.

“Oh! How beautiful!” she cooed. “Quite deep where these are found, are they not?”

“I can’t see that far when I’m down there. I was probably very deep,” said Dara, hoping the older woman wouldn’t pry further. Thankfully, she didn’t. She merely hummed her response and shuffled the shell fragments away and produced a few coins, holding them out to Dara, but she waved them away.

“I don’t need coin today, Arun. Maybe next time,” said Dara. Arun looked mildly offended, but in a playful and exaggerated way to let Dara know she wasn’t entirely opposed to keeping her coin.

“Oh, but beautiful fragments deserve payment and reward, don’t they? What if we exchange trade? These shells for a reading?” asked Arun. Dara knew the haggardly woman claimed she could read and discern futures. In a world of magic and Dragons, Dara didn’t doubt that such abilities were possible. Still, she didn’t know if Arun possessed such abilities.

It would be rude to refuse, so the young woman nodded. Arun gathered up the shell fragments, smiling and nodding over and over, as she cleared off her mat and, in one sweeping motion, scattered the bones and shells onto the mat.

She turned a few over and recast a few, but it wasn’t until Arun squinted that Dara did a double take.

“My child, darkness approaches,” breathed Arun. Dara looked down and squinted at the shells and bones herself. She didn’t see anything. It looked like a mess, like a family of otters had come through and broken the shells of their prey before abandoning them by the edge of the lake. She looked back up to Arun to ask her to clarify what she meant when a cold chill ran through Dara’s spine.

Arun’s eyes had glazed over white, completely opaque, and the look on her face was that of mortal danger. Her back was hunched over rigid, like someone had punched her in the gut. She was shaking all over, trembling in fear as she looked past Dara to the sea beyond.

“Arun? Arun!” Dara reached forward forcefully and grabbed the elderly woman’s shoulders and shook her, but it didn’t stop the spouting of strung together babbling nonsense from the woman Dara cared for as a grandmother. Her voice was two toned, deeper and not at all matching the frail woman she usually saw before her.

“Message on the wind. Gnashing teeth. Darkness. As the sun sets, fury shall ravage the town. Their screams will be heard from the tops of the hills and the lands to come. Ghosts and shadows will inhabit these homes. A spark from the sea is all that can save us. Eyes of lavender and sea foam green. A sacrifice must be made to save them now.”