I
Tagori, a tall brown haired boy of seventeen, was awaiting his eighteenth birthday. It was only six weeks away. He Thought he could get some target practice in before it got too late in the day. He had set up a few wooden targets in the trees. He chose three to shoot at as fast as he could: one in front of him, one to the right of him, and one behind him. He notched an arrow, and shot in front of him quickly. He spun around and shot another at the one behind him. He turned to the one that was on his right (now left) and released his arrow. The arrow flew… into a deer. Tagori moved in to check it out. The deer was dead. Both shots hit the targets dead center. He returned to the village with his kill.
Tagori went to a small part of the town of Norico. Norico was a small village on a small island in the center of the Grand River. Everybody knows everybody. The houses were small, only a few rooms.
Tagori went in to his house. He was the only person home. His father, Treth, and his brother, Roz, lived with him.
Treth, the tall black haired butcher, was very kind. If somebody came into the shop needing something, he would try to help. Roz, Tagori's older brother, was very secretive. He never told anybody where he worked. Tagori had tried to follow him once, but soon lost track of Roz due to his great speed.
“Alone again,” he said after he saw the room empty.
“How you are alone, Tag?” Roz said as he walked in the door.
Roz was a man of nineteen, with blond hair. He had a fair complexion, was muscular, and was tall for a person of his age.
“Hi, why are you home so early?” Tagori wondered.
“Cerrum said I could go home early,” Roz answered.
Cerrum was Roz’s boss. Nobody knew who, or what, Cerrum was.
“I got a huge deer during target practice. I was going to take it to dad later, but since you’re home would you take it to him?” Tagori asked.
“Sure, I have nothing to do. What are you going to do?” Roz asked.
“I need to make more arrows, I lost another three and two broke,” Tagori said.
As Roz went to the slaughterhouse, Tagori went to the archery store, where he worked. He made some arrows. Tagori then went to see his father. Roz was still there. He was helping their father cut the meat up. Tagori couldn’t help too much; he didn’t like blood too much. He just sat in a corner with a book and listened to Treth and Roz’s conversation. Tagori joined the conversation when he could but he usually kept quiet and, sometimes, Treth and Roz forgot that he was there.
“So you two are leaving town soon?” Treth asked.
“Ya. I thought I’d take Tagori around and maybe find him an occupation,” Roz said.
“Where do you plan on going?”
“Areno, maybe Arenret, we might even go as far as Kyata,” Roz said.
“You come back some time and let me know how things are going,”
“You know we will, dad.”
They closed up shop for the day and went upstairs to cook something to eat. Tagori had stayed to clean up as Treth and Roz went to cut more meat. After about an hour they went home.
Tagori went strait to his room, put his arrows away and fell back onto his bed, almost knocking himself out as his head hit something. It looked like a marble rock someone had polished to perfection. Tagori examined it. He couldn’t find anything weird about it. He lifted it, and although it looked like it was made of marble it was oddly light. Tagori went to get some tools. He returned with a hammer and a chisel. Tagori tapped the thing with the chisel. Nothing happened. He tried to chip off a part of the thing but it just wouldn’t crack. He was shocked; he didn’t know of any rocks that couldn't be broken.
He tried to think of what it could be and who gave it to him. Tagori didn’t know anybody that would just give him things like this. He stopped thinking and threw it in his closet.
The night before his birthday, Tagori heard knocking from inside his closet. He opened the door and the rock rolled out. Tagori bent down to pick it up but it rolled away. He ran after it. It made its way to the center of town. Then it stopped. It shook from side to side. It cracked in sync with the shaking. Finally the rock fell away, revealing a small creature. He approached it cautiously. The creature appeared to be some sort of lizard. Then it flourished its wings.
Wings? This creature could only be a dragon, a creature thought to be long extinct. Tagori picked up the dragon and hurried away, back to his house.
The dragon was no bigger than his hands. The dragon had white scales. Tagori told nobody about this, so when he took it out it climbed out through the window in his room. He fed it scraps of meat that he saved from his meals. It squeaked when it was hungry so it was easy to tell when to feed it. Tagori began to get attached to it. He started to think he knew how it felt. The dragon’s scales soon came to have a slight yellow tint to them.
It was also growing at a very fast pace. The dragon, after a month, was now bigger than an average dog. Tagori had to keep it in the shed behind their house. Its scales were beginning to turn a light green. Spines were starting to grow along its back
“I guess I should give you a name,” Tagori said to it.
The dragon squeaked and nodded.
“Do you like, ummm, uhhh, what do people name dragons? Uhhh, how about Emrila,” Tagori said.
The dragon nodded its head.
“So, you like that name, do you?” Tagori asked it. “That name sounds girly?”
Emrila put its forehead to Tagori’s. He felt strange, like electricity was running through his body. His arms started to tingle, so he looked at them and saw that there was a black line down the center of each of them. Then he heard a voice…
“I am a girl,” It said with a slight chuckle.
“Who said that?” Tagori asked rather scared.
The black lines on his arms disappeared
“Me, Emrila” She said.
“You can talk!?” Tagori said stunned.
“Only in your mind can I speak,” she said, “and that isn’t all I can do.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“It will all be made clear in time, To-go-ra,” she said, “and all you have to do is think of what you want to say and I will hear it.”
“My name is Tagori,” he told her, “not Togora. What else do you know about?”
“Well, in this town there is a fortune teller. Show her ‘The Mark’ and she will tell you things that you will need to know for later on,” she told him, “but don’t tell her about me.”
“What mark?” Tagori asked.
“The mark on your arm,” she added.
Tagori went to the fortune teller, but while outside her hovel he realized that he didn’t know how to make the marks reappear. He was starring at his arms as he was thinking of them the lines appeared. Tagori realized that all that he had to do was think about them and they will appear. He walked in the door to the house.
The room very was dark. He walked up to the table where the fortune teller was.
“Why have you come here?” the fortune teller said in a raspy voice.
“Uhhhh, somebody told me to come and see you,” he said.
She said, “Well sit down and I will tell you your—”
She was cut off as Tagori showed her the lines on his arms.
“My… could this be… yes it is, the Geth-zhan mark.”
“What is the Geth-zhan mark?” he asked her as he pulled his arm away from her.
She told him, “It is a mark given only to the special few who have gained a dragon friend. I haven’t seen very many. There was one, years ago… I think it was in this village I saw her. How did you get…” She stopped, “do you have a dragon?”
Emrila, she’s asking about you, what should I do? Tagori asked Emrila.
Tell her. Emrila said.
He said, “But what if somebody fi—“
“I will be okay” She interrupted.
“Yes, I do have a dragon” he said.
“How did you get one? Never mind, there’s no time for that. I now know why you are here.” The fortune teller said,” You need to know about your destiny, no?”
“Yes” answered Tagori, “I do need my fortune told.”
“Right than I will tell it unlike I told it before,” The teller said.
She went into the back room. Soon, she returned with a bag. In the bag were bones. Each bone was covered with a symbol. Tagori couldn’t quite make it out though.
“Erech kentora,” The fortune teller said over the bones. “Now you need to throw them,” she handed the bones to Tagori.
He rolled them and the fortune teller examined them. For a long time there was silence. Then the fortune teller looked at Tagori.
“Well, you have the same signs as the usual riders. You will have a long life, an intricate mind and your soul is intertwined with another. But this means that you will make a great discovery.” She pointed to a bone next to another making the shape of a “T”. “Well this-this means…” She continued, “Wait here.”
The fortune teller went into the back. Tagori could hear things falling and breaking. She emerged soon with a piece of paper.
“This is a map to a shrine hidden outside the village,” She said.
Tagori examined the map.
“Emrila we have to go to the southeast end of town. Go there and I will meet you in an hour,” Tagori said.
Tagori went to get a lamp, his bow, and extra oil. Then he went to the southeast end of town. Emrila was now much larger. She was about as tall as Tagori with her neck stretched to full length.
“Emrila, we have to go this way. The map says there is something we have to do,” Tagori told Emrila.
After they journeyed a bit Tagori stopped. He looked at the map then to a piece of exposed rock in the hillside. The rock face was covered with vines. Brushing the vines away revealed the rock to be nearly perfectly circular.
“What do we do now?” Emrila asked.
“Now we push,” Tagori answered her.
“We what?” Emrila asked.
Tagori put his shoulder up to the cold stone. He took a deep breath and used all of his strength to push the rock. Emrila put her body against it and helped. The rock began to move. It moved inward about two inches then fell. It rolled to the side, revealing steps leading down into a cave. Tagori looked at Emrila nodded and they went down into the cavern.
When Tagori noticed that they were in a large room where torches were lit. There was a pedestal in the center of the room. On the pedestal there was a sword and an inscription that read, “The Tamer’s blade”. Tagori reached his hand out and a bubble appeared around the sword. Tagori pulled his arm away. He reached out again and his hand hit the bubble again. The bubble started to burn his hand. Tagori let out a yelp then the bubble shattered.
Tagori wrapped his fingers around the sword’s hilt. The marks on his arms started to glow. Then a surge of energy shot up his arm. The next thing he knew he was holding the sword over his head in triumph. The sword had chosen him. It had a blue blade that was wider at the bottom then became gradually narrower. It also had a green gem near the base of the blade. The marks disappeared.
There was a loud bang outside. Tagori went outside. Smoke was everywhere. When the smoke cleared Tagori could see creatures that looked somewhat like humans but seemed to have animalistic instincts. They were crouched down using all their limbs to move around.
“Tagori, we must fight these creatures. They are called savages, I know that much.” Emrila said in Tagori’s mind.
“I’ve heard of these things, be careful with them,” Tagori told her
A savage screeched and jumped strait towards Tagori. Tagori side stepped and swung his new sword. He closed his eyes and he heard a squeal. When he opened his eyes he saw the savage writhing in pain with the sword in him. Tagori took the sword out of it and watched all of the blood drip off of it. Another savage attacked him. This one hit its mark and cut Tagori’s arm with his nails. Tagori slashed with his sword but the savage jumped out of the way and cut Tagori’s side.
“Tagori we can’t beat all of these creatures. We will need help,” Emrila Said At that moment a person whose face was wrapped in a cloth, and wore a dark cape came and slashed one of the savages. Savages wouldn’t stop coming.
“Emrila we have to help him” Tagori said.
“No Stay back” The man said.
“You can’t fight them all by yourself” Tagori yelled.
“YES I CAN. NOW RUN” The man yelled back.
Tagori ran behind a tree. Then he heard the man yell “Sosari Rioki.” There was a bright flash and a growl from behind the tree. Tagori looked around it and there was only the man in black and a charred crater. The man was breathing heavily. He was struggling to stay standing upright. He couldn’t and he collapsed. Tagori ran over to him.
“Are you all right?” Tagori asked him.
“You are… a… dr… dragon tamer… right?” The man said weakly
“What? I have a dragon if that’s what you mean.” Tagori answered
“Clear y…your mind… and say… Teriton.”
Tagori cleared his mind he put his hands on the man and said “Teriton”. The lines on Tagori’s arms started to glow. Tagori began to feel a little dizzy.
“You can stop now,” the man said after a while, “I will be fine now.”
“What did I just do?” Tagori asked.
The man said that Tagori used majyn. Majyn, he explained, is a type of magic only able to be used by a dragon tamer. It is more powerful then magic or magis.
“What is your name,” Tagori asked the man.
“My name is …” the man paused to think “My name is… Tarin.”
“Where did you come from? How did you know to come here?” Tagori asked
“Those things are of no importance to you right now,” Tarin said
“How did you kill all of those savages?” Tagori asked.
“First of all, their proper name is Kenthrish, or beast man. Second of all your mind isn’t strong enough to use it,” Tarin said.
“What do you mean my mind isn’t strong enough to use it?” Tagori asked him.
“All levels of magic are linked to mental strength, meaning the stronger your mind is the more spells you can use. Right now you probably can’t use another spell of any level.
Tagori asked “What do you mean by ‘any level'?”
“There are three classes A, B, and C. Class A is the weakest, class B is the middle, and class C is the strongest. You can probably only use one class A spell a day right now,” Tarin explained.
Tagori asked “How can I use more?”
“You have to get your mind stronger. To get your mind stronger you have to learn. You also have to have a stronger will, I guess that explains why you didn’t pass out after that spell,” Tarin said.
Tagori asked, “What, why would I pass out?”
“That spell was a higher level in class A.”
“How does my will get stronger.”
“By knowing what you want and what you fight for. You also have to use spells often to get used to the strain. Even though you didn’t know it, you wanted to protect your dragon and yourself. You could have cast the most powerful spell and not even feel fatigued. When the battle was over your knowing what to fight for was lost.”
“How do I keep that power?”
“You don’t. Well I have been here too long,” Tarin said as he jumped away.
Continued in part 2
