The Riders of Dust and Ash

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. They used to be stories, myths told down through generations. Dragons felt like a collective thought, completely unreal, but fun to imagine. And that was the way things were, until the Eruption. The way my grandfather tells it, every single volcano exploded in ash and fire. Through the smoke, dragons came crawling out of the pits like ants. Thousands of dragons took to the skies that fateful day and began destroying everything in their wake.

While dragons took to the skies, we fled underground. The caverns beneath became home to so many. The clear blue sky was now a distant dream among many and many others dreamed of what it looked like. What was once a recent memory for my grandfather turned into history told in schools. The dragons ruled topside, and we were stuck under it all.

“I won’t live to see it reclaimed, but you will. I’m sure of it.” My grandfather would always say to me with a sorrowful smile. He sounded so certain that we would reclaim the valley above.

In a way, he was right.

It was time to come back to take what was rightfully ours. Clad in fire repellent armor and wielding laser swords, we crawled onto the surface. Ready for the oncoming fight.

What we found was so much worse.

There were people living with the dragons. They had submitted to them, decided to become pets of the massive beasts. They gave up everything; our language, our food, our culture. No longer were they people of the valley. Now they were Riders, the massive beast’s footsoldiers. The riders took to the dragons' backs and defended them against us.

We are the people of the Valley. We will reclaim what is ours. I stand with my brothers and sisters against the ferocious creatures that took everything from us.

We’ve carved our base of operations into the valley wall. When the war started, I chose to join the last defense. Now we stand, waiting at the edge of the wall. Adorned in the charred black armor and shields on our arms, I stand at the forefront. Our swords at our sides, connected to the small generator on our back. With the flick of a switch, these swords turn bright hot with electricity. I watch as our intelligence officer comes running towards us as fast as his legs will take him.

“Commander Layla!” He cries out. I keep my stone cold gaze on him and nod ever so slightly.

“The dragons are enroute. About ten specks away.” He gasps out.

“Get inside.” I motion to him, then turn to our archers on the wall. “Stand at full draw! Aim for riders!”

Our archers draw their bows and lock in, waiting for the enemy. Dust begins to rise, swirling about. A distant humming of wings beating against the wind pierces our ears.

“Get ready!” I call out over the increasingly louder humming.

I pull the visor of my helmet down, tinting the surrounding area slightly darker. Clicking echoes throughout the valley as our swords ignite and hum in unison. The dragons can be seen at the end of the valley, like a swarm of bees, trailing dust and ash with them. Bursts of fire explode forth from the swarm. A warning.

“Hold…” I have my arm raised, waiting for the moment to signal our archers.

The swarm gets closer, the air vibrates around us. Rocks tumble from the valley’s edge. The wind begins to blow against us. I can feel the unit getting antsy as the swarm gets closer. The men are fidgeting with their feet, some of them tighten their grip on their swords. There’s an ache in the pit of my stomach. Something isn’t quite right.

“Fire!” I yell out at the top of my lungs, swinging my arm down.

The arrows whistle through the air. In the second that the arrows are released, I pray they find a mark. We watch as a couple of riders fall from the backs of the dragons, their bodies flinging backwards with the momentum of the wind.

“Shields up!”

I pull my shield to the forefront, raising it above my head. The others follow in quick succession. A shadow falls over the unit. A dragon bigger than all the others, hovers in front of our unit, wings beating against us. It is so dark, it seems to pull the light around it. Piercing bright eyes stand against the darkness, staring straight into my soul. Its black scaly cheeks puff up as it sucks in all the air around us.

Fire shoots forward, blasting into us. Those that didn’t brace for the impact go flying. I dig my feet into the blackening dirt as scalding fire eats away at everything but our armor.

I can’t help but think about how impossible it feels to be standing in the midst of a fire unharmed. The roaring fire licks at every inch of our bodies, begging for an entrance. I can feel it looking for cracks, hoping to scorch the flammable skin underneath. The fire is near blinding, the only thing saving my eyesight being the tinted eye shields.

We stand in the midst of a brutal fire, waiting for what feels like an eternity. But I’m a patient person. There’s no way to see anything over the fire, covering our eyesight with light and ash. I listen to the wind around us, waiting for the moment the dragon stops breathing.

And I hear that moment.

“Charge!” My voice rings out over the flapping of wings and I begin to run forward as fast as I can.

I’m charging half blindly. I run head first into a raised claw and latch onto a dragon attempting to take off. My feet dangling, my grip weak, and a rider sitting on the back of the dragon. There’s no time to worry. I wrap my arms and legs around the scaly forearm and shimmy upwards until I have a better grasp. As soon as I’m on the dragon's shoulder, I head for the rider.

We make eye contact and I rush them. The gusting wind makes it harder than I would prefer, but I can’t let it stop me now. The rider swings at me, but I dodge and quickly sweep their legs out from under them. Their body goes flying backwards. The dragon twists and turns, flying back around at an incredible speed. It’s hoping to save the rider and knock me off at the same time.

I shove my sword deep into the dragon to keep me from falling off. It roars out in an ear shattering scream. Flailing about, it struggles to keep flying until falling silent and plummeting out of the air. I can barely hold onto my sword, I’m grasping for dear life.

As I'm falling through the air, I see it.

The black dragon, darker than the night sky, rushing towards me and the plummeting dragon. Mouth wide and piercing eyes, I’m certain my death is imminent. As luck would have it, it grabs hold of the dragon's belly and we’re pulled upwards.

I can see the rider that sits upon the magnificent black dragon. She sits on it like a moon sits upon the night sky. A woman with hair as bright as the sun and eyes glistening with a wealth of knowledge I couldn’t even begin to comprehend.

And she’s charging right at me.

I try to pull my sword out of the dragon, but it's a half hearted attempt. She’s already standing in front of me. Grabbing me by the shoulders, she lifts me like I weigh nothing and stares deep into my eyes. Her lips move and there's only one word that comes out of her mouth. It slithers into my ear like a serpent and latches onto my heart, hanging there forever more.

“Traitor.”