Talon's of Life and Death

5

*Trigger Warning: Explicit Language used*

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The fear of impending doom barely lasted for more than two seconds. Even when I had a quarter of a second to turn my head and accept the blow, Nikos was there, throwing me out of the way. When I landed on the ground, Nikos was on top of me, shielding my body with his own.

I couldn't even fear for Flora or where she stood until time passed and I was still breathing.

The blow never came.

When Nikos lets up and daylight hits my view, I immediately spot Flora sizing up the Dragon and Rider who now stand where we once did.

"Nice one Kess! Already trying to kill Nikos Alexia. You might beat Sky to it!" Someone yells in the distance, a laugh dangling at the end of their sentence.

"Shut it Maddox!"

Nikos grabs my hands gently and pulls me up, my tiny body protesting as he lifts me. I had never been tackled before. Especially not by an attractive Dragon Rider.

"I am so sorry!" I turn in a daze to the Rider who nearly squashed me.

How pathetic that would have been, dying on my first day, getting crushed.

The Dragon stood beside their Rider looked somewhat young. And was a beautiful shade of brown, a nude brown, pale and iridescent. Their light scales sparkled under the sun. Like Zola, the Dragon's body was feminine but less muscular in comparison. Her wings however were a beautiful oval shape and stretched upon the width of her entire body. This Dragon was meant to fly.

"If you couldn't tell, Kessa and Tulsa are new." Flora bumps my shoulder, adrenaline still evident in her bouncy stance. 

I look to Kessa, the blonde Rider sat upon her Dragon, Tulsa. Her hair was golden, and her face sharp and sketched; unlike my round face. She was tall and her eyes were wide with a pinched nose. Her beauty was tangent, and her eyes reflected her Dragon's scales. She even wore the same leathers as Flora, but hers were different, she had leather sleeves, Flora did not. Her Dragon's face also matched her own, sharp as steel, with no horns just ears and her spine clear of any spikes or abnormal bumps.

"Am I in trouble?" She mutters, looking between Flora and Nikos.

"Yes!" An older man yells from behind them. I glance at him warily. He wore the same leathers as Nikos, but his were tinted a dark green. He was large, his legs wider than tree trunks. And his upper body shape was square. Compared to Nikos and the rest of us, he was ginormous. His Dragon was an exact match to Roan, but where Roan's scales glinted yellow, this Dragon's scales glinted a much darker shade of green. And his chin jutted with spikes, it looked like a type of beard.

"Adrian." Nikos stalks towards him as Adrian descends from his saddle.

"Kessa! Get over here!" Adrian barks, his voice much worse than his bite. Yet, I could not be sure. Kessa groans, leaping from her Dragon swiftly, exactly as Nikos had done with Roan.

"You're in trouble!" Flora sings to her with a smirk as she beckons me to follow her to where Adrian and Nikos were stood.

"I'm still sorry," Kessa sighs to her, then looks to me. 

Before she could say anything, the other two Dragon's from the group, approach us. The first Dragon I lay my eyes on, I could hardly believe what I was seeing. The Dragon was twice the size of Roan and Adrian's. It's four legs were built with about ten of me. His scales were a snowy grey, white in some places but mostly grey in the sharp corners of his skin. His jaws could easily swallow me whole, his entire head was about the size of the tiny shack I spent my life in. The Dragon's Rider was a speck on his back, but still noticeable. Probably because he too, was large himself, around the same size as Adrian, but clearly younger. All three of the Riders must be my age.