The Smoke Trials

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. At least that is what I have been told, but they’ve been there as long as I can remember. I am a member of the Drais clan. The Drais is not the largest or the wealthiest of the clans, but we are brave, strong and formidable warriors.    

It has been five grueling days of travel from our home to the Valley for The Smoke Trials.  As we grow closer, the trees, the grass, the aura of the land gradually changes from green and brimming with life to a dark and decaying wasteland.  The change is slow and subtle, but eventually complete, like the setting sun fading to a moonless night.  

As the entrance to the Valley draws near, I notice a scorched wagon. The remains of the travelers’ belongings still aflame. In front of the wagon lay the bones of what looks to be horses. The smell of burning wood and flesh burns my nostrils.  Something sitting by the remains of one of the blackened wheels only brings dread into my heart. A small doll covered in ash, smoldering.  I try not to think what happened to its owner.

“A family,” I think to myself.

“Raign.”  Zurich’s deep voice comes from behind me. 

“You’ve been oddly silent for hours.” He says as he matches his pace with mine.  

“Well, I guess you could say I’m a little nervous. Considering I’m about to walk into THE dragons lair.”  I keep my gaze forward.  

“Raign you must…” Zurich begins. 

“What if I’m one that doesn’t make it out?” I interject. Looking at the smoking wagon. 

He draws in a long breath in through his nose. “Like I’ve told you before. I believe you are destined for greatness. What I was going to say before you so rudely interrupted me is this: you must remember yesterday you were but a young child. Today you will emerge from THE dragons lair, one of us.”  Stopping, he puts a hand on my shoulder. 

I don’t look at him.

“No matter what, you will always be my daughter. In my eyes, you have alway been one of us. Never forget that.” He says.

“You will make it out.”

I crack a smile.  

Zurich pulls me in, hugging me and begins walking again. 

“You’re going to be just fine.”

After what seems like miles, we finally come upon the entrance to the Valley. Hundreds of people from other clans have already arrived, each claiming its designated spot at the Valley’s entrance. I follow Zurich as we pass clan by clan. Looks of daggers and trash talking come from just about every one we pass.  Zurich looks straight ahead and acts like he doesn’t hear them, but I know he does.  

My eyes catch the gaze of another boy from the Ruths clan. He is at least six-foot-four, muscles bulging, with red symbols painted across his back, shoulders, and chest. He looks at me with a smirk, shaking his head. Ignoring him, I follow Zurich’s lead and look straight ahead towards our clan’s designated staging area between two other clans—the Korak and the Drumens. 

From here there is a clear view of the Valley. It’s massive with high jagged peaks on each side. It’s as if the gods themselves pulled apart the land.  All the clans are gathered, each in their own designated area, in a semicircle at the entrance of the Valley.  Standing before them is the All Seer, the High King Triez and the King's Royal Guard Lazen. 

As the sun begins to set, the color of the sky turns a dark orange, the clouds a bright yellow. It is like the sky has been set a flame.  The contrast to the burnt and desolate land only adds to my dread. 

Lazen steps forward, hand resting on the pommel of his sword. “Welcome all of you to the place where warriors are made, forged by the fire!” 

Cheering and yelling explodes from the clans. Lazen quickly raises his free hand, and the cheering immediately ends.   

“The time has come. Send forward the three from each clan chosen by the All Seer,” Lazen bellows.

Three people from each clan walk to the royal guard. Zurich leans over closer to me. “Remember your training. You will make it out.” He reassures me. 

I give him a quick nod and walk to the front of the Drais clan along with Ezra, a tall thin boy that I’ve never heard speak more than five words in a sentence, and Millie, a short feisty girl that is always ready for a fight. The three of us together are not as big as the one boy from Ruths. 

We each look at one another, then look forward and take the first step towards what may be our end. With each step, my heart begins to race faster and faster. When we finally reach Lazen, the royal protector, he walks along in front of the chosen ones, nodding, taking small steps back and forth looking into the eyes each who stand before him. 

“When you are given the signal, you will all enter the Valley.  Each of you must find a living adult dragon, remove one of its scales, and bring it back to me before sunrise.  All of you will be tested in a way you never thought imaginable. Some of you will make it out of the Valley, and some will not. But to those of you that do, you will become warriors, leaders, bringers of change,” he finishes. 

Lazen stops pacing. All talking has dropped to a complete silence. My heart is still racing. 

“Breath, calm yourself.” Zurich’s words echo in my mind, reminding me of my training.

High King Triez raises his hand to the sky and holds it there for what seems like centuries.   

I close my eyes, remembering back to my time training with Zurich.  He would teach me how to get back up, even in the face of defeat when my failure is screaming at me to stay down. 

“Pick it up.” He says. 

“I can’t.” I say through heavy breaths. Sweat burning my eyes. 

“Yes you can!” Zurich yells. “I’m not going to make you pick it up. It’s your choice, and yours alone.”

On my knees, I clench the grass and dirt into a fist.

“Right now you need to prove you can do this—not to me but to yourself.”

I clench my teeth, my knuckles now white. “You expect me to fight, to fit in, like I’m one of the Drais. I am not one of you!”

Leaning down using his sword as support, he looks at me. 

“Never speak those words. Let them never cross your mind again. When I found you. You were all alone. No other living thing for miles. You think you can’t fight? You have been fighting your entire life.” 

Zurich raises his hand pointing to other children training and laughing with one another. 

“Show them.” He says. 

“Make them understand that you may not have been born one of us.” 

My head lowers at Zurich words. 

“However,” he says studying me, “it’s not what you’re born into that determines who you are. It is what you do with what you have been given.  Raign, you can not change the past. But you have the power to make the choices that determine your future.  Like I said, it is your choice and yours alone.  Now, are you going to live on your knees forever? Or will you pick up that sword and fight!” He stands back up and turns around sheathing his sword.

Looking over at my fallen sword, I say to myself “I won’t give up, I am not weak, and I will never live on my knees.” Grabbing the sword, I lift my head.

“Wait!” I shout. “I’m not done yet.”

“Oh, I knew you weren’t.” Zurich says proudly.

I stand to my feet raising my sword taking another swing. 

I open my eyes, brining me back to the present, back to the Valley and to what I am about to undertake.

“I will not live on my knees.” I say with a whisper. 

With my breathing now slowed and my fists loosened, I focus on what’s in front of me. I take a deep breath in and look to my left, taking notice of a small boy with a terrified look on his face. Breathing out, looking to my right, I see nothing but boys and girls with looks of unwavering confidence. Taking my focus away from them, I put all my attention forward to the Valley.

No one speaks. A drop of sweat falls from my cheek. Triez drops his hand, and I run fast.  As fast I can.  At first I am leading the horde of the chosen. With the Valley getting closer and closer, Ezra glides past me with long strides.  I have no idea if Millie is behind me or the first casualty trampled by the stampede.

Fights break out between the runners of opposing clans as everyone jockeys for position. Cheering and yelling erupts from the onlookers.  

Reaching the Valley, I stop. A gust of heat and fizzling embers blast from within the Valley, hitting my skin. A picture of the smoldering doll flashes in my mind.  The others run past me, without fear, into the dimly lit canyon. Everything in me is screaming at me to turn away, to be afraid, to run from the danger. Shaking my head, I say with gritted teeth “There’s no going back.”  

I run forward into the place where dragons rest.