Chapter 3 (Guardians)

This is **Chapter 3** of Guardians.

 Character Appearances (to be updated)

## 3.0- That Elder Guy - The Second Trial

The next day all the kids who had bonded with dragons, came out and stood in a straight line in front of Freygair.

"Welcome contestants!" Yells Freygair as he walks into the middle of the bonding grounds. No one responds, they all stand there motionless.

"Tough crowd."He says chuckling a little. Freygair clears his throat

"I see that all of you have successfully bonded with a dragon.  Good, but are you all ready for the second trial?"Freygair questions. Before anyone could respond, he lets out a small but sharp whistle.  As he did so Freygair's Fireworm princess flew down from a rock cliff that was glowing with coral.  The Fireworm princess lands in front of Freygair, he gets on and they fly up to an enormous height.  From there he starts to yell again.

"TODAY'S TRAIL IS ON TRUST, YOU MUST TRUST YOUR DRAGON......." He starts to say, he never finishes his sentence because he stands up and jumps OFF his dragon and starts to plummet towards the place he was standing before.  His dragon immidetly dove after him and caught him right before he hit the floor.  Freygair calmly finishes his sentence as if nothing had happened.

"To catch you as you are falling, and your dragon must trust you to not kick them or to treat them harshly." He said, as he straightened his cuffs around his arms and smoothed out his shirt.

"Dragons are everything here.  They are part of us." Freygair respectfully says as he pats his dragon on the head.

"Anybody and I mean ANYBODY who treats their dragon harshly will be eliminated.  Now let the TRIALS BEGAN" Freygair walks to a bench with his dragon and watches all the kids as they take the second trial

## (insert a name?)

### First Published

November 25th 2018

I stood as straight as I could.  I am determined to be a Guardian.  Sniper and Stormslicer where alert and ready.  I could see all of the other contestants lined up to with their dragons next to them.  Freygair explained the rules and also took a huge leap from a giant leap of his dragon.  As he plummeted his dragon caught him.  I guess that's what he meant on trust.  Freygair sat down with his Fireworm Princess watching us as we take the trial.  I put my hand on Stormslicer

"Ready boy?" I ask him in a low whisper.  He squwacks a reply, as I hop on.  Sniper lands on my shoulder.  Slicer flys up, and up, and up, and up.  Until everybody was a small speck on the ground. I look down dizzily

"That is sure long way down. But I trust you Stormslicer and Sniper."  I stand up and I take a huge leap of faith.  I jump off and start to plummet.  I felt the wind in my face brushing my hair back.  I saw a huge branch ahead of me. I knew I was going to hit it.

"*this is going to hurt,"* I thought as braced for impact, suddenly I heard a crack and as I opened my eyes I saw Sniper, he had shot a fireball to burn the branch so it didn't hit me.

"*Good boy Snip,"* I thought.  I felt strong talons on my legs as Slicer grabbed me and set me down lightly on the ground. I embraced my dragons in a great big bear hug.

"Thank you boys," I said burying my face in their scales.  Freygair claped and told me to stand back in line.  Other kids tried to go, but most failed.  They were sent home.

## The Leap Of Faith

### First Published

November 26th 2018

Inferno was a loyal dragon.

He was so fast too! Geez! We were literally riding *all* night long yesterday! Oh, and the funny thing, was that my orphanage never found out. He he.

Inferno was a dragon I could definitely trust, which meant I can trust him in the next trial.

So now—-

Hold on.

Let me back this up.

Inferno is my Typhoomerang’s name. I thought it suited him.

And now, today was all about trust, and now I was excited as! Don’t tell anyone, I stole a saddle, I mean, I had to. I at least left a note saying why, obviously not putting my name on it.

Freygair was now on his stunning Fireworm Princess. And wait—he jumped off? What? We have to do THAT! Some initiates shivered, while others bounced up and down, especially Aud. (I found out the other contestants names this morning.) Kate, the girl with the beautiful singing voice with her Deadly Nadder and Terrible Terror immediately did what she had to do. And it ended well. I clapped along with the others.

I’m not staying put like I did yesterday.

Oh no, a negative thought came.

Kate had her dragons for a while now, so she definitely trusted her dragons and her dragons trusted her, however, I only met Inferno YESTERDAY...am I sure he’ll do what I want?

*Well, there’s one way to find out...*

I hopped onto Inferno, tickled under his scaly chin and whispered, “I trust you, Inferno. And you have to trust me. We can do this. We can trust each other.”

Inferno nodded quickly, surprisingly. Wow, Inferno was sure one smart dragon. He prepared for take off, and I heard Garmal’s grub voice say something threatening, I luckily didn’t pay attention to it. Next thing I knew we were up in the sky, and I scratched Inferno’s ear.

“Good boy, now here is the real challenge,” I informed him. I hopped onto my feet, without even realising I did it so quick without stumbling, and took the leap of faith. Well, actually, a long jump. Without realising it (YET AGAIN) I was doing a front flip. I was also well known for parkour, another thing I had practised for a while. I mean, I have to impress whoever decides to be a Guardian, so I may as well do it now. I’ve actually NEVER shown off a skill in my life, for I was one who didn’t like showing off, but I couldn’t help myself.

I closed my eyes and let out a small shout of joy. Thor I love the feel of freedom! I looked behind me and saw Inferno soaring down to me. And I was on his back a few seconds after that. The audience roared and clapped, like they did with Freygair and Kate. When we got onto the solid ground, I immediately hugged Inferno.

Trust really is important.

## (insert a name?)

### First Published

November 26th 2018

The next trial was announced, the trust fall. I looked at Shadow Cloud and said to her, "*Well this is going to be easy, isn't it?*". Which she replied with a look of confidence. Two initiates have already passed this trial, that's why I'm going to be next. I volunteered, ready for the trial. Shadow Cloud flew into the sky with me on her back. We were so high up that I couldn't distinguish between what was an initiate and what was a Dragon. It was time, I jumped off Shadow Cloud.

I was falling extremely fast, but to be honest I'm used to it because me and Stormy usually fly at high speeds. I was fast approaching the ground, waiting for Shadow Cloud to catch me any second now. I thought she wanted to make it seem dramatic, so I wasn't worried. Closer and closer I got to the ground, and no sign of Shadow Cloud. Now I was understandably panicking. I was trying to look around to look out for Shadow Cloud, but still no luck. This was too intense so I decided to scream, "*AHHHHH*" and closed my eyes. I was so close to hitting the ground, until a felt a Dragon grab my back and landed me to safety. Weird, the Dragon claws didn't feel like Shadow Cloud's. And that's when I decided to open my eyes.

As curious as I was, I opened my eyes as quick as I could. I didn't see Shadow Cloud, instead I saw a Deadly Nadder, there was a Rider too. The Rider hopped off her Deadly Nadder and it was revealed to be the initiate that I made help Barny choose a Dragon. "*You okay?*" she asked. "*Ye... yeah. Have you seen my Dragon?*" I worridely asked. "*The Stormcutter? She's over there with that guy.*" she said before pointing in the direction of Barny. This time, I was mad. I had business to deal with. "*Could you do me a big favour?*" I asked the initiate that saved me. "*Depends on what the favor is.*" she replied with.

I was heading towards Barny now, with a Terrible Terror on my shoulder. Yep, that was the favour. I needed to use her Terrible Terror for something. I would be lying if I told you it was as easy as me asking her and her letting me take the Terror. She said something about not getting along with people well and oh yeah, I had to make like 10 promises that her Terrible Terror won't get hurt. As I got close to Barny, I made the Terrible Terror sit on my back, on my sword, so Barny couldn't see the little Terror. Shadow Cloud noticed me and screamed out for help, because Barny was holding onto her tightly. "*Hey Barny, how about you get your own Dragon and leave my one alone?*" I said to him in a serious tone. "*You've changed Barny. You've changed for the worse. And how did you take my Dragon down from the sky, you don't have a Dragon to fly on.*" I said to Barny. Just when I said that, a voice which came out of nowhere said, "*But I do.*". In walked another initiate who had a Monstrous Nightmare. I've never seen this initiate before. "*So this is the friend you want to backstab, Barny? He doesn't look the fighting type to me.*" the initiate said in a relaxed voice. "*He may not look like the fighting type, but he's smart. Extremely smart, do not underestimate him.*" Barny told the initiate. I had no words, I was shocked at what was happening. The initiate walked up to me and looked me in the eyes. I looked him into the eyes too, to show that I wasn't scared of him. Just then, Shadow Cloud broke free from Barny and stood next to me on my right-side. Shadow Cloud was also looking the initiate's Monstrous Nightmare into the eyes, and the Monstrous Nightmare was looking her into the eyes. "*Game on.*" I said to him before backing away with Shadow Cloud, but I didn't turn my back so I was still looking at him. When I turned my back on him, the Terrible Terror shot a fireblast just infront of Barny's foot. "*Deja vu, Barny?*" I said in a joking voice. Barny looked mad, it was the same Terrible Terror that fired at him too. Just when I was heading off, the Monstrous Nightmare fired at me. The shot was countered by Shadow Cloud who fired at the Monstrous Nightmare's shot, which caused the two shots to collide with each other. "*My Dragon can rotate her head 360 degrees. Don't you know anything about Dragons?*" I said to the initiate with the Monstrous Nightmare, before laughing at him. I'll have to deal with him another time.

I walked back to the Terrible Terror's trainer and the Terror jumped onto her shoulder. "*Thank you. And by the way, I'm Aidan. Aidan Larson. You seem like a friendly initiate.*" I said to her before walking off with Shadow Cloud. These trials are harder than I thought they'd be. I explained to Freygair that Shadow Cloud was being prevented to catch me by another initiate, but I refused to give a name. Freygair gave me another try at the trial, which I passed in. I expected to come here and make friends, but apparently it's not that easy here. I'm expecting more challenges to come my way.

## Memories

### First Published

November 26th 2018

When Freygair jumped off his fireworm princess I knew this was going to be easy. A memory popped up in my head as Freygair was caught by his dragon.

It was 4 years ago, when I was 12. Me and my light fury, my bonded dragon, were flying, high in the clouds. I kept falling off sun, my light fury, and he kept having to catch me. Soon the falling and him catching me became a game, and we would fly every morning, doing the same thing again, and agian. But then, my mother found him, when he and I were coming back from flying in the morning, and... I have not seen him since. I remember my mother telling me that she did not kill him, but I never did listen to mother. She would always lie, but when she told me, I wanted to belive she wasn't lying for once...

I shook off the bad memory, and realized that Kate, and a few others already went. But the only one who succeded was Kate. Then I saw Isla fall down and at the last second, get caught by her dragon. Then I saw the Larson, Aidan Larson to be excact, fly up in the sky with his stormcutter, and him jump off. I sighed and turned to Color. " okay, you ready, boy?" I said under my breath, and patted his head. He was purple, right now, staring at the sky where Larson just dropped. Color didnt respond to me so I looked where he was, and saw Larson get snatched up by Kate, and her deadly nadder, and her terrible terror on her shoulder. They fly over to another initiate, who was dragonless, Barny, who also had Larson's dragon. Then Garmal shows up. " what is going on over there?" I ask myself outloud. Another initiate went, and was saved by his gronkle. But the iniatiate reacted and was disqualified. My turn. " come on, color. I trust you." I got on his back and we took off. When we got to the hight the other initiats were at, I slid off his back, with ease. I fell rocketing towards the ground. The wind was blowing past my ears, and it was forcing my eyes shut." come on, color where are you." I said to myself, as a few seconds went by. Then suddenly I felt talons around my stomach, and waist, and I stopped falling. Color swooped down and gently put me on the ground. "another passes!" shouted Freygair.  I scrached Color under his chin and then said, " good boy, Color. now, let's go see what Barny and Garmal were doing to that initiate."

## (insert a name?)

### First Published

November 26th 2018

Of course. The first Trial is trust. AKA jumping off of a dragon that is actually capable of carrying my bodyweight and landing back on it without breaking said dragon's neck. I sighed and looked down to Flame, who I was surprised to find looking up at me with concern glittering in his eyes.

At that point I only really had two options: ask Freyfair what the heck I was supposed to do for this Trial, or somehow get an entire flock of Terrible Terrors to carry me. And although I knew a group of them would be perfectly capable of that, there was absolutely no way I was going with that choice.

I walked up to Freygair nervously. He didn't even notice me as he watched to other candidates successfully jump off their dragons and- holy heck did that girl just do a *backflip*?!

Clearing my throat to get Freygair's attention, I finally spoke. "Uh, excuse me...?"

He turned me, and seemed to realize my predicament straight away.

"Right, you're the one with the Terror, huh?" he laughed. "Um...right, so you're gonna have a bit of a different challenge than the others."

Freygair handed me a blindfold and gestured towards an array of trees, rocks and other stuff that resembled an obstacle course. I looked between the blindfold, Flame and somewhat crudely arranged obstacle course and immediately understood.

*Oh Thor..."*

**(A few minutes later)**

"Alright Flame, remember: two is left, one is right. And a loud one is slow down. Got that?"

Flame looked up at me and squawked in affirmation. I slowly breathed in and out, tied the blindfold around my head and began to walk forward.

I'm not gonna lie, I felt like an idiot. I was walking around aimlessly with a blindfold over my head and nothing but my Terrible Terror that I barely knew to guide me.

I heard a squawk from beside me, and obligingly moved to the right in order to dodge whatever rock or tree trunk I was about to walk into. Another two and I moved to the left.

A few minutes and a sound that resembled a, "FOR THOR'S SAKE KAT SLOW DOWN YOU'RE ABOUT TO RUN INTO A VERY SHARP-LOOKING TREE," I was finally able to take of the blindfold and turn around to see that I had sucessfully cleared the course. I crouched down and gave Flame a well-deserved scratch behind the horns.

"Good boy," I muttered to the dragon. He responded with a lick to my hand.

Now that that was done, I decided to go and watch the other Initiates. Or more specifically, Jack. Unfortunately for me, he seemed to be doing pretty well, leaping off of Shockwave successfully and, whilst a bit haphazardly, landed back in the saddle of his Skrill. He even did a few somersaults just for show. Typical.

Aside from that, I spotted a bit of drama going on at the bottom of the cliffsides that Initiates were meant to ride off of. Three riders were gathered around, neither of them looking particularly friendly. I recognized them all-  Garmal, Barny and that Larson kid, Aidan.

Words were exchanged, and there was a point where the dragons even started sitting fire at each other. Some more stuff was going on but I couldn't seem to see what was happening.

I tried to ignore it. I really did. But who do you expect me to be, a mature teenager?

"Flame! C'mon, I wanna get closer!"

## (insert a name?)

### First Published

November 26th 2018

I saw Larson and his dragon fly up, then Larson jumps down.  His arch was perfect.   Suddenly I see a Monstors Nigtmare snatch Shadow Cloud from out of the sky

"*What!"*My brain instantly thought.  I saw Larson get closer and closer to the ground

"He has no idea that his dragon isn't there!" I started to panic. I hoped on Stormslicer as fast he could.

"COME ON BOY WE HAVE TO SAVE HIM." I yelled as  Stormslicer shot off like a rocket to Larson who was still plummeting.  I could see the shock on his face,  just as he was about to hit the ground Slicer grabs his legs and sets him gently on the ground.

"Are you ok?" I asked him.  I was scared and I was trying to catch my breath.

"Yeah, Yeah, Have you seen my dragon?"

"You know the Stormcutter?" He sounded worried.

"I think I saw a Nightmare snatch her from the air as she was trying to catch you,"  I told him.  His face turned bright red, and I saw his fist clench.

"Can I ask you a favor?" He asks trying to hold the anger back.

"Depends on the favor" I respond.

"I need to use your terror"

"Sniper? why do you need him?" I asked scratching Sniper under the chin

"Oh just something, but I promise you nothing will come to harm with Him."

"Are you sure?"

"I promise Larson's word" I hand him over.  He walks away towards the person who stole Shadow Cloud.  I was wrenching my hands, I had told him why I can't talk to people and he took my dragon.  I was extremely nervous.  But my dragons showed no sign of aggression or high alert near him so I am guessing they trust him.  So I trust my dragons that he is good.  Larson was talking to Barny and the other kid, then he turned around and Sniper shot another fireball at his foot.

"Yes, way to go, Sniper," I said pumping my fist into the air.  Then I started to laugh a little

"*That bully doesn't know what's coming."* Larson finished his conversation with the bully and got his dragon back.

"Here." He said handing Sniper to me.  I take him back and put him on my shoulder.

" Thank you, Oh and by the way, My name is Aidan.  Aidan Larson.  You seem friendly."

"Oh thanks, I forgot your name, all I could remember was Larson, Sorry"

"That's ok," He says, then he walks away with his dragon

"You know what Stormslicer, I may be making friends after all," I said after hopping on my dragon and flying to my hut, to work on my new idea.

## A Frightful Fall

### First Published

November 26th 2018

“Today’s trial is all about trust!”

My tensed muscles relaxes at the sound of those words.

“We got this girl! We already have excellent trust between us!” I whispered to Nebbie. I was feeling pretty confident...until he had to continue talking.

To put it shortly, he told us we had to fly up very high, almost as high as raven’s point, jump OFF OUR DRAGON, and just let them catch us. I wasn’t worried about Nebbie not catching me, I was worried about all the other stuff that would happen first...I should have stayed in bed today...

A lot of other teens looked like a hybrid of nervous and excited.  I was a hybrid of nervous, and I’m about to faint I’m so scared. Aud was on her toes again clearly ready to put her entire life in the claws of a dragon who nearly ate her the day before, but that’s Aud for you.

The girl I remember from yesterday went first and I watched in awe as she gracefully jumped, almost hit a branch, and came to the bottom. It was a perfect round.

Two others went before my sister Aud could wait no longer. She gave me a small glance, started laughing, and then hopped on her dragon and flew up.

After one minute I barely could see but a spot of her bright orange Nightmare buddy. Then I heard one of the most boisterous and loudest screams you will ever hear pierce your ears in your entire life. Recognizing it as a pipe of my sisters, I clenched my fists as I watched her just plumet down down down...WHERE IN THOR'S NAME WAS SPARK?! Then I saw him just casually gliding after her like nothing in the world was happening. About 30 feet away from her grave, the dragon decided to do something with his life and catch her.

“Oh gods!” I sighed. My sister could be such an idiot sometimes. However I was so glad she was safe. After catching her breath she looked up at me and gave me the “your going next look” and started heading toward me. I backed away from her, but I hit a wall. OH THOR! I was trapped. She grabbed my hand and pulled me to the middle of the arena.

“Aud! Stop! Don’t make me! I’m not ready!”

I forgot how much stronger my sister was then me, which was my weakness. She literally picked me up,

Set me on my dragon, and told the dragon to go up. My dragon obeyed seeing that the look in my sisters eyes was so serious, that it was a matter of life or death.

We flew higher and higher, the blood in my head went lower and lower, and the breakfast in my stomach went higher and higher.  I was feeling dizzy and I’m sure I was shaking like a Quaken. As soon as we reached the point which to drop from, my body froze. I couldn’t do this. Nebbie purred as if to say,

“You got this.”

I just gripped on to her tighter, until she decided to “help me out.”

Suddenly I felt myself hurled into the air and plumet right toward the ground.

“NEBBBBIEEEEEEEEE” I screamed.

The world spun around me, wind smacked my face and hair was cutting into my skin. Pressure made my ears feel like they were gonna explode, and I could feel my breakfast making its way to the exit.

Suddenly strong claws gripped me and I felt my feet hit the ground. I felt completely sick. I looked around and saw a barrel, so I ran over and emptied the contents of my stomach into the barrel.

“Ewwwww” I heard the crowd gasp.

My sister ran over to me laughing and asked “are you okay!?”

I gave her the most frustrated look I could muster at the moment, and breathlessly answered,

“I’m gonna kill you!”

She just laughed and said,

“sure..let’s go line up and get you some water. Okay?”

“Fine” I muttered. And holding her steady hand, I went to the other side of the arena, and fell against my dragon, ready to take a ten minute nap to try and fix whatever just happened to my body.

## Freedom Falling

### First Published

November 26th 2018

“Today is all about trust.”

I was totally chill with whatever he decided to give us. I would do anything. Drink flightmare algae? Stare down the mouth of a Quaken? Hand to hand combat with a cavern crasher? Easy. Bring it on.

When he told us we had to jump from a high point and let our dragons catch us, I was actually slightly disappointed at the amount of danger it lacked.  Either way though, it would beat yesterday’s quick and boring trial. Before I could volunteer first, someone else went, and then finally after trying to get in three times, I was picked to go next.

I was so excited. I looked over at my sister who looked very paled and I just burst out laughing at the sight of her poor freaked out face. Then I just flew straight up into the sky. Higher and higher, my breath getting shorter and shorter and my spirit feeling freeer and freeer. Then, when we reached the destination, I jumped and plummeted toward the ground. I felt like the most free person in the world. I let out my favorite cry that I made up, to try and mimic the great and legendary Berserker cry. It felt very therapeutic. I thought that I should do it more often when I was stressed.

When the world’s surface cams into view again, I was worried about where spark was, and just as I thought I was gonna have to start panicking, his strong claws swooped down and grabbed me.

I landed safely and was able to take a deep breath. Then I looked over at my sister who obviously appeared concerned. Then I smiled and advanced toward her sending her slowly backwards in caution of my next move. I grabbed her hand, ignored her insignificant protests, and piled her onto her dragon. The with one word, her dragon, clearly able to see who was boss, flew straight up into the air.

When she was coming down, I was laughing so hard at the sight of her sprawling arms and high pitched scream. I kinda felt bad when she went and puked in a barrel after the ride.

I ran up to her asking, “are you okay!?”

She just tried (and failed) to look frustrated in her pitiful state and replied,

“I’m gonna kill you”

I just laughed knowing how serious her sarcasm could get, and helped her get over to the other side of the arena where she passed out in a nap. Then, I just went to the other group of finished people again and did what I liked best. Talk. And talk. And...I’m forgetting something...oh! Talk!