Chapter 9: "It's too much pressure..."

Alainia and Jason walked out of the egg room and headed down the hall with her first dragon. Alainia didn't really feel like talking. She was scared...scared that she was going to be a leader, something she knew she wouldn't be able to do.

"I guess I should show you to your room," said Jason. They were quiet for quite a long time, Alainia craddling the dragon egg in her arms. "Are you okay?" Jason asked uncertainly.

"Huh?" Alainia looked up at him. "Oh...yeah. I'm fine." Alainia wondered if she should tell him what's on her mind. Finally, she plucked up the courage to ask him. "Jason? What's so amazing about my egg that makes you think we're destined to do great things?" Jason stopped dead in the hall way.

"Well," Jason began after a while. "Dragons are usually one color and named after elements. Such as earth, fire, water, air, light, shadow, ect....then there are the two colored dragons. Two colored dragons are made up of two elements. There are only three of those kind of dragons each century. Gondora's dragon is one of them. His dragon is made up of the elements darkness and flame...that's why she's called Green Fire. By what the color is of your egg, the red stands for fire and the white..." He took the egg from Alainia and examined it carefully. "...I have no idea what element that is, so I think your dragon might be a new element combined with the fire element." Alainia and Jason didn't talk again all the way up to her room. Her room was in a tall tower coverd with ivy.

When she entered through the big wooden door, she gasped. It was warm in her room, just like in the Eggoroium, as she had learned to call it. The walls were made out of a white stone that looked as though it were marble, but much stronger. There were blue drapings on the windows and there was a balcony. Alainia walked out onto the balcony and saw a beautiful view. All around there were wisps of cloud, but every once in a while, they would see the sky. Down below was grass, trees, and, a little bit to the left, a lake. Wow, Alainia thought.

"In about two minutes everybody's gonna come outside riding on their dragons," said Jason, joining her on the balcony. "Unless the dragons are too small, then the Guardians in training will come out with the dragon resting on their sholder or walking beside them." Alainia absent mindedly craddled the egg and tried to keep it warm. While they had been walking up to her room, Jason told her that she needed to keep the egg with her at all times and that it had to be kept warm constantly. Alainia was thinking about the events that had happened the previous night, it was all like a dream...including this entire place.

"Jason?" Alainia said staring out at the field, which was now being filled by teens and their dragons. "Did you know my parents at all?" She looked up at him and noticed that he was at a loss for words.

"I...I did know them," said Jason slowly. "But I was eleven so I don't remember a whole lot...but I do remember that they were good friends with my parents. Why don't you ask one of them?"

"Your parents are here?" she was startled. "I thought that only kids came here."

"No," Jason laughed. "My parents are apart of the council. They make sure everything's in order." He walked out of the balcony and back into Alainia's room. After about a minute or so, she followed. But when she got into the room, Jason wasn't. He must have left for the festival, Alainia thought. She walked over to where there was another door and opened it. She piered inside and saw a bed room that was mostly red. There was a bed in the middle of the far wall and a fire place on the other. In the far left corner was a desk that looked as though it was really old. Next to the desk was an empty book case.There was another balcony, but smaller than the other one and it was pointing in a different direction. Alainia walked over to it and looked out. There was a plant on the balcony that was at the moment having buds. It was a blossom tree, Alainia's favorite kind of flower. There was also a chair that was there for her to watch the sunset. Alainia looked out and saw that she had a clear view of the sky. Not one wisp of cloud was in the sky. It was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen.

"Nice isn't it? Of course, I can't really see it," came a small voice. Alainia turned around to see who was speaking, but no one was there. She clutched the egg a bit tighter. "Hello? I'm in your arms. Don't squeeze my egg so tight please." Slowly, she turned her head downward to the egg. "Yes, I can talk while I'm still in my egg. I guess lover boy forgot to tell you about that?"

"Lover boy?" Alainia was confused.

"Jason...er...whatever his name is," said the egg. "Don't worry, it's not the shell that's talking, it's the dragon inside the shell. So, what's up?"

"What's up?" Can this day get any weirder? Alainia thought.

"Hey!" said the dragon. "I asked you the question first...nah! I'm just kidding with ya."

"Um...okay," Alainia didn't really know what to say to a dragon that was still inside it's egg. "Er...when are you going to hatch...wait, what's your name?"

"You're supposed to give me a name that suits the elments I represent," explained the dragon. "And as for when I'm gonna hatch, I'd say about three days. So, what are you going to name me?"

"Well," Alainia thought for a while. "Are you a boy or a girl?"

"I'm a girl," said the dragon. "Do I sound like a boy?"

"No, not really," Alainia stood there thinking with the egg in her arms, trying to figure out what element white could be. "Um...I know that one of the elements you represent is fire, but what element could be white?"

"Snow," said the dragon. "The white represents snow, since I was the first dragon ever to be laid in the snow region."

"Er...snow and fire," Alainia walked over to the bed and sat down on the bright red covers. "...snow and fire...snow...fire....hey! I got it!"

"Really?" exclaimed the dragon. "That was quick! So, what is it?"

"Snow Fire," said Alainia happily. "Does that name suit you?"

"It's perfect," said Snow Fire. Alainia and Snow Fire talked practically all night that night. Laughing and talking about what they were going to do tomorrow. Even though Snow Fire had never seen Alainia and Alainia had never seen Snow Fire, it felt like the two of them had known each other forever.

"...and then I looked over to where Jason was looking and saw Zoe and her gang crying their eyes out," Alainia was saying. Snow Fire was laughing a gurgley laugh. "I don't quite get why they were crying though." After a fit of laughing, Alainia started to feel a bit tired. "Okay, we should probably get to bed. Jason's probably going to come over and start my training as soon as the sun comes up."

"All right," Snow Fire sighed. "I guess you're right. We don't want to keep lover boy waiting tomorrow." And the two of them once again started to laugh once more. After they could breath again, they finally went to bed. Alainia put Snow Fire's egg next to the crimson pillow and pulled up the covers. She didn't even care that she was still in her sweatshirt and jeans.

There was a banging on the door. Alainia groaned and rolled over, covering her head with the covers. She had had the weirdest dream that night. She dreamed that she had flown away onto a cloud that was hiding a castle that was full of Guardians and Dragons. She had also gotten her own dragon egg that she named Snow Fire and talked with the egg all night. Again, there was the banging on the door again.

"Go away, Codie," called Alainia. "I'm trying to sleep!"

"It's not Codie," came a voice from inside her dream. "It's Jason. Today we're supposed to start your training. Now get up!" What? thought Alainia. She quickly sat up and gasped. Everything in the room she was in was crimson red. So it wasn't a dream? How could that be? She looked to the side and saw the same exact red and white egg nestled in the blankets just as she had left it the night before.

"Snow Fire?" Alainia said shakily. "Are you awake?"

"How could I not be?" said the little dragon grumpily. "I would be asleep if lover boy wasn't banging on the door." Alainia laughed. Picking up Snow Fire, she walked over to the door and opened to see Jason's face. His red hair was a mess and he had bags under his eyes. He looked as though he didn't have enough sleep that night.

"Are you ready for training?" Jason asked. Alainia nodded her head.

"Is it normal for a Guardian to hear their dragons voices while they're still in their egg?" she blurted out. "Snow Fire and I have been talking all night."

"You've already named the dragon?" Jason was shocked. "Without asking me first?"

"Well...yeah," said Snow Fire to Jason. "I want a name that my Guardian can call me. And plus, it was the simplest name that she could think of. Since I represent the elements fire and snow."

"Ugh," Jason shook his head. "Yeah, well, don't do anything else until you ask me, understand?" he said turning to Alainia. She nodded. "Follow me and we'll go to the library and get you your school books." Alainia followed Jason out of the room and into the corridor.

"I wonder what his problem is," whispered Alainia to Snow Fire. "He left yesterday without even saying good night."

"Maybe he had some buisness with the Council," suggested Snow Fire. "He sounds like he's tired."

"He looks tired," Alainia said. "I wonder what he did last night to make him so tired."

"Why don't you ask him?" asked Snow Fire. Alainia hesitated. Should she risk her friendship with him just to find out what he was doing the night before? No, she thought. I don't want to risk my friendship with anybody.

"I'm not going to just yet," said Alainia after a minute or so. "I'll wait until he's in a better mood." so she continued to follow Jason to the library. The library had a big oaken door a lot like the one to the eggorium. Jason went over and pushed it open. Inside was a humongous room that had books everywhere she looked. She looked to her right and saw a table of some kids studying and taking notes. To her left was a check out desk where there was a lady and a small blue dragon on her shoulder reading a book. Alainia looked at Jason, but found that he wasn't there.

"Jason?" whipered Alainia. "Jason? Where are you?" She walked towards the books and looked left and right. Jason wasn't anywhere. She turned left and went into a hallway surounded by books. "Jason?!" Alainia called out in a whisper.

"I'm over here, Alainia," said a voice. Then she saw his face at the end of the hallway. "Come on, I want you to meet my dragon. He usually spends his time reading books getting himself ready to fly. He hatched just last week and he won't be able to fly for another month." They rounded a corner and came to a place where there was a silver dragon sitting on the floor holding a book in its claws. "Sliver Moon, this is my student, Alainia." The dragon looked up from the book. He nodded his head.

"Why doesn't he talk?" asked Alainia uncertainly.

"Oh," Jason shuffled his feet. "He's mute. Silver Moon can only comunicate telepathically."

"Tele-what now?" Alainia looked at Jason with a confused look. She could here Snow Fire laughing inside her egg. Jason smiled.

"Telepathically," he said. "It means he can communicate with his mind. I don't know why he was born as a mute, but at least I can still talk to him." And Jason turned around and started to pull different books off the shelf. He handed the books to Alainia. The pile got bigger and bigger at her feet, all the while reading the titles. There were titles such as "Runes and What They Mean." And others like "Dragons: Habitat, Eating Habits, and Much More," and "How to Raise Your Own Dragon."

"Jason," Alainia said while they were at the front desk checking out the books. "I'm not so sure I can do this. I mean, I'm a girl that doesn't do great things because I'm careful. I'm not like Codie. He can do all sorts of stunts. Why wasn't he the one that got the two colored egg?"

"It's destiny," said Jason. "It was destiny that brougt you together with this egg. You will be one of the greatest Guardians in history. There will be stories told about you everywhere in the worlds! You are the next heir!"

"I'm what?!" Jason closed his mouth imediatly. He looked embaressed. "What do you mean 'You are the next heir'?!"

"I wasn't supposed to tell you that," said Jason shakily. "Just forget I told you anything of the sort."

"Jason," said Alainia sternly, looking up into his eyes. Snow Fire was laying quite still in the egg, something that she hadn't done so far. "What are you not supposed to tell me?" Jason stood there looking into Alainia's eyes. She could tell that he wanted to tell her, but he knew he shouldn't. After about five minutes, he took a deep breath and began to talk.

"Your mother," Jason said slowly. "Was the leader of the Guardians. When she died, the Council was created to take charge. No one but the your mother's heir would be allowed to rule. One of the dragons in the council has forsight and was able to see who was the next heir. The person he saw was...you." Alainia's eyes widened.

"It's too much pressure for her," Snow Fire said. Alainia couldn't speak. Her? A ruler? There had to be something wrong!

8:08 PM - Nov. 18, 2007 - post comment

Hey Becca!

Wow! The story just keeps getting better!
Did I tell you that the below pic of you is very pretty? Cause it is!
Well better go.
Can't wait to here the next chapter!! :)
God Bless,
~*Mandie*~

Gratitude - 12:52 AM - Nov. 19, 2007

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