The Realm of Lavaria

Vrison.

"There weren't always dragons in the valley." Minos the Swift, the fastest dragon in all the realms, and Tezzedot the Nocturnal, the only dragon who can travel as a shadow, both eagerly watched their master as he stared through the newly made portal to the Realm of Lavaria. His red scales dimly lit by the stirring of morning trickling through the portal door. Running his jet-black talons down his greying neck frill, he continued with his story. "There was a time when dragons were looked down on. The elves and the sorcerers kept us as pets. They chained us up in caves, clipped our wings and kept us on the brink of starvation. That is until we rose and claimed back each realm. Now look at them. Dragons, elves, and wizards living together in perfect harmony, training together, eating together. It makes me sick. Dragons are the superior species! We should be ruling the kingdoms! Not living amongst these creatures who treat us in such a vile manner!" Master began shaking his head, still looking out of the portal door. Watching as the village of Korr start to arise from their slumber.

Minos looked at Tezzedot and hesitantly spoke to Master. "But wasn't the Great War thousands of years ago? Now the times have changed sir." Master snapped his head up. "You are correct Minos, but that doesn't mean they have changed for the better, nor that we have to settle with it." He exclaimed. "They are living in tranquil Lavaria with their crystal-clear lakes, the greenest grass in all of the realms and their food supply will never run dry. Whilst we are stuck here in the desolate Vrison that hasn't seen the light of day in almost fifteen years, where the food is scarce, and we must rely on spells for full bellies!" Shaking his head again, he slowly walked to a black throne that was in the middle of the room. Pointing towards a huge dining table to the left of the room, he started chanting. This was a spell that Minos and Tezzedot knew all too well and ran over to the table. Mist started swirling around the air in the entirety of the room, the candles flickered to life and the empty table was laden with all kinds of different foods.

On Master's command, they began to dig in. "Yes, fill your stomachs with as much as you can, then get some rest. For tomorrow we will begin the start of our mission to take back all that is ours. As you know, I am banished from Lavaria. However, you two are not. You two are the keys to making all the kingdoms great again. Minos the Swift, Tezzedot the Nocturnal and I, we have waited long enough. I can feel a great change coming and Lavaria won't see it coming!"

Minos and Tezzedot have a great feast and then make their way up to their rooms. Minos lays awake for a little while, thinking about what the future will hold, as master’s laugh carries through the halls of the castle. Something stirs inside of him, maybe its nerves for what’s about to come or is it something else? Eventually he falls to sleep and his dreams dance and swirl around in his head...

Lavaria

Waking up to the warrior training call, Imuss and Limoa race to get ready to head to the warriors’ grounds. Today is Naming Day, a tradition amongst dragons, elves, and wizards, in which each warrior gets their full names and the power they have earned assigned. Their whole room is buzzing with excitement and anticipation for the day’s events as it is of great importance and what the last three years of training have all been leading towards.

"Hey, how about a final race to the training grounds? That way we can settle this bet once and for all and name who is the better dragon of us both? After all, we have ended on a tie!" Limoa teased Imuss, both now fully dressed and heading outside their groups room in their training armour. "Fine," replied Imuss, with an eyeroll he added, "You're so competitive! But if you want to end this as a loser, and on Naming Day too, count me in!" With a smirk on his face, Imuss stood at the side of his best friend, nudged her with his shoulder and took his mark, ready for the race. Hearing about their race, a few of their fellow warrior trainees gathered around to watch them.

Gauran, an Elf, stood a few feet away and asked the two to ready themselves. "After this race we can finally stop hearing about this tedious bet and friendly rivalry that you two have been enthralled in these past three years! You're both fantastic dragons and the top of your classes, being tied in each one, not to mention that you're thicker than thieves too. Can that not be enough for you both?" He asked as he raised his hands into the air above his head.

"Absolutely not!" Both Imuss and Limoa answered in unison, eagerly watching Gauran and waiting for the 'Go'. "I thought as much. Right then, on your marks, get set, GO!" He shouted and dropped to the floor, signalling the start of the race. As soon as Gauran touched the floor, they both flung themselves into the air and in a blur of khaki green and charcoal grey scales, they were off!

Flying the route they took every morning, they were weaving in and out of the village huts, other dragons and trees, both as intent as the other on winning. What would normally take them twenty minutes to travel to the warrior grounds, only took them nine minutes. Both pushing themselves to the limit. They arrived at the giant, iron gates at the same time. After catching their breathe, they erupted into laughter and playfully nudging each other went on to shake hands and congratulate each other.

"I think we just broke our record Limoa, even if we did draw, AGAIN!" said Imuss. Limoa nodded in agreement and proceeded to open the gates. Looking over her shoulder at Imuss, she noticed something off into the distance near the forest. Was that a glimmer? "Can you see that? It almost looked like a portal door!" She asked Imuss. Turning himself around, Imuss scoured the countryside, the forest line, and the village. "Nope, are you sure you're not just seeing things from being out of breath?" Imuss teased and playfully nudged Limoa. She nudged him back and laughed it off. They continued through the gates, Imuss chatting away about what his name could be and general excitement about of the upcoming ceremony. Limoa suddenly felt a wave on unease fall over her, causing her too shiver. She immediately looked behind her for the glimmer she saw a few minutes earlier. It was nowhere to be seen. Turning back around, she started to think. Did she see a glimmer at all? If she did, then what was it? Her internal babbling was interrupted by Imuss waving his claws in front of her face. Limoa answered him and continued walking the halls to the training grounds. Deep down, Limoa was still thinking about the glimmer. What could it have been?