Chapter 1: The Test
Xov woke up to the roaring in his mind from his partner, Falanir.
He would not stop telling Xov that he had overslept, Xov just wanted to sleep.
Suddenly, a blue scaly dragon head popped through the open window of the tree, and the magnificent beast turned on eye on Xovious.
“If you do not wake up, I will actually roar in your ear,” said Falanir calmly in Xov’s head.
Xov, fearful of the powerful roar, immediately got up and out of bed, stretching his sore muscles from his long day of practicing the day before.
“That’s what I thought,” Falanir echoed, conveying amusement in his tone.
Tiredly, Xov asked, “Could I have not slept in a little at least, I’m so tired from-”, then, it struck him as to why Falanir woke up him so roughly, today was the day! He and his dragon, Falanir, were going to be tested to see if they were able enough to be sent to the Dragon Rider school that the Rider Eragon had created.
Once hit with the realization, Xov quickly prepared himself, and made sure he looked good, getting a clean, good-looking tunic on, grabbing his Rider’s sword, Islingr, and heading downstairs.
As he walked out into the sunlight of the beautiful day in Ellesméra, he saw his majestic partner flap down slowly and land at the base of the tree in front of him.
“Are you ready, my Rider? Today is an important day for us.”, asked Falanir.
Xov replied, “Heck yeah! I’m excited, we put lots of time into preparing for this day!”.
Xov quickly hopped onto Falanir’s back, and strapped himself into his saddle.
Falanir unfolded his big, powerful, still-growing sapphire wings, and slowly flapped them, rising above the ground now, with slowly accelerating strokes, until he was above the treeline, and then he started heading towards the Crags of Tel'naeír, where riders went to learn and grow stronger and wiser.
As the steady drumming of Falanir’s wings went on, Xov started thinking back to his younger life, and how suddenly everything happened.
He wondered, how as one of the youngest elves in all of his race, he was chosen by Falanir in his egg state to become his rider. Xov still remembered the day like it was yesterday.
He was considered a mere child of his race, but to humans, he was considered a grown man, with 23 years of his life complete. That day was the day that one of the sapphire blue eggs found by Eragon during his quest to destroy Galbatorix, which had been handed to the elves to rotate within their cities and find the true partner of the egg, had chosen him.
He remembered how he touched the egg, how it shook, and how excited the elves around him got, while others got upset that they weren’t chosen. How he was taken immediately to the Crags of Tel'naeír to stay with the egg until it hatched, and be watched over for a short while, to make sure they were safe, and the dragon was healthy. After an hour at the Crags, a blue head had popped out, slowly coming out of the egg and observing its surroundings, then looking at Xovious. Coming near him, touching his hand, and inscribing the Gedwëy Ignasia, the sign a dragon places onto its Rider once hatched, onto his hand.
Xov just knew he was glad that it had happened, because of the connection he shared with Falanir. The mental connection, of being able to talk through their minds, and able to share every moment with each other. It made them best friends.
Falanir, after being silent and just recounting how he was hatched with his Rider, said, “We are here, Xov”,
Xov, now brought back to the present moment, watched as Arya, the elf queen, walked towards him with her dragon, Fírnen, the majestic emerald dragon.
Arya and Fírnen had been their teachers throughout this entire process, as Arya was one of the most intelligent on the topics of Riders in all of Alagaesia.
Arya spoke first, asking, “Are you two ready to begin?”.
Both Rider and dragon replied, “Yes ebrithil”. (OOC: Ebrithil means teacher in the ancient language)
From there, they began their rigorous training exercises, with Arya and Fírnen overseeing both apprentices, making sure they didn’t miss a single thing.
After the training exercises, they moved onto magic, which took some more time, as Xov was not as adept with creative magic as he was with combat magic.
By the time they had completed the magic test, it had already become noon, with the sun high up in the sky.
Arya told them, “Alright, let us sit and enjoy lunch, for it may be one of our last, as you two are doing extraordinary together, a perfect team.”
At this, Xov grinned with pride, along with noticing Falanir fill up with pride as well, and both of them were happy as they enjoyed their lunch.
As they ate, the two dragons conversed, as Arya and Xov conversed, all talking about different things that Riders and dragons deal with daily, it was like a test of its own.
Once everyone had completed their lunch, Arya and Xov walked outside, to begin the swordsmanship portion of the test. Xov was confident that he would pass this test with flying colors, as combat was his best skill.
He was not wrong, after a long duel with Arya, who was one of the best fighters on Alagaesia, they both were tired out, and Xov, with more stamina, had finally defeated his teacher. As he won, he immediately got congratulated by Falanir, and he felt his partner emanating pride.
From there, he took a break with Arya as the dragons did the same, with Falanir passing just as well as Xov did.
Arya remarked, “I am impressed, you both have a thing for combat, I see.”
Both Rider and dragon agreed, and moved onto the final part of the test.
It was where Rider and dragon must fight together, against another Rider and dragon.
The fight lasted quite a bit, with loud clangs and roars from the dragons, and had ended with Xov and Falanir winning.
Arya, stunned, said, “This is truly amazing, you two have created such a powerful bond, and work extremely well together. I am very proud to have been your teacher.”
Fírnen said, “Indeed, you two have come very far. I too, am proud to have been your teacher.”
Both Xovious and Falanir replied, “Thank you Arya, and Fírnen, we are proud to have been your students.”
Arya then dismissed them saying that their ceremony would begin the next week, and they would depart off to learn the deepest secrets of Riders and dragons with Eragon.
Arya said, “You two can have the rest of the week off, do as you wish.”
Xov was hoping to hear that, because he wanted to take a trip to the Beor Mountains, the mountain range in Alagaesia. The mountains were tremendously large, and Xov felt so free there, and he felt as if he deserved the trip, after the hard work he and Falanir put into their training. He also felt like the mountains were calling to him at the time, especially after the combat portion of the test, so he decided to go.
Falanir agreed with Xov, and they prepared to depart immediately, as it was a 3 day flight to reach the mountains.
It would be long, but would be worth it, Xov had a feeling that he was destined to go to the mountains, he felt as if something ancient… something powerful was calling to him...
