The Sun, The Moon, The Dragons.

Chapter 1: Skycrest

From further down the garden Blaze was watching, assessing the escalating situation. He hated watching people be picked on, much like how his family despised it. Blaze scrambled up and went marching over never taking his golden lion's eyes off the scene that was unfolding, the ignorant teacher lounged in the sun completely oblivious to the bullying.

As the 5-year-old Blaze got within hearing distance of the group of young girls he heard Ria growl, "Get off me!" As Blaze watched he saw the small ostensibly scared girl's eyes flash from maroon to silver and back again. The bullies ran screaming and whimpering from Ria who was still seated on the floor covered in wet paint but looked calm as though nothing had just happened. Blaze rushed over and pulled Ria up from the puddle of paint.

"That was horrible!" Blaze looked with contempt at the bullies. He quickly turned back to Ria realising he hadn't introduced himself "I'm Blaze by the way. Also, that eye trick was super cool!" The young boy smiled at the young girl genuinely.

"Ria." She stuck out her paint-covered hand and Blaze shook it not caring about the paint getting on him. "Those girls are mean... also thanks, my eyes? what?" She shrugged looking at her paint-covered clothes.

"Let's go inside." Blaze tugged her arm for Ria to follow, completely ignoring her confusion upon the eye comment. Together they charged inside the classroom and sat down in the back corner against the wall away from the view of bystanders. "Here." Blaze finds a clean handkerchief in his pocket and hands it to Ria, she smiles gratefully and wipes the paint off her face. Her eyes begin brimming with uncontrollable tears, her shirt, pants, and bag were wrecked.

Blaze gently pats her head awkwardly attempting to soothe her shaking body. From that point on the two have been inseparable, pulling pranks on others and hanging out at each other's houses. Many townspeople disagree with a lowly and ranked being friends but their parents don't mind which they both believe is more important.

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Now back to the present.

Ria threw a pie at Blaze and it doused his face in lemon cream. "Mmmm... at least you chose my favourite." Blaze throws a casual wink at Ria before wiping off the cream from his face. Ria handed a few coins to the old shopkeeper before skipping off to find her next victim. Blaze watched in complete fascination as Ria's eyes changed colour from maroon to silver, she never seemed to realise it happened. Didn't even believe Blaze until he showed her in a mirror one time when they were 8.

She stopped in her tracks and looked up at the sky. Blaze looked up too, noticing the look of awe scrawled across Alaria's face, dancing through the snow-filled clouds high above were dragons of all colours and sizes. Dragons are creatures of mystery and allure, they are respected, and becoming a rider is one of the greatest honours. It is almost everyone's wish to be either a rider or Isalor, the rider is the tamer of the beast while the Isalor is the person who fights on the ground and side-by-side with the dragon and rider. There is a rare possibility that if two people are closely bonded and both are riders they can be one another Isalor's too but that's only happened a few times.

Together the two of them watched the dragons arc through the sky weaving in and out of the clouds, some blasting flames, ice, electricity, wind, or water. The group of dragons fly away from the small town of Skycrest and out of view in perfect sync, Blaze watches mesmerized. Ria having seen Blaze watching the dragons fly off sneaks up behind him.

"BOO!" Ria hisses into Blaze's ear, letting off a whoosh of warm air into the frigid morning sky. Blaze reacts to the sudden sensation and spins around bear-hugging a laughing Ria. They stay like that for a few moments, everyone just walking around them ignoring the two of them completely.

"Come on let's go back to my house and we can cook something new!" Ria smiles at Blaze knowing his love for concocting new and improved dishes.

One of the favoured dishes at Ria's family restaurant was created by the two of them a few years earlier, a modern take on lasagna. Together they raced over to the restaurant as Ria's family owned the rooms upstairs. Although small the area was cozy and homey, the kitchen was spacious as Ria's whole family enjoyed creating and perfecting new recipes.

Arriving back to Alaria's after a short walk the two teens raced upstairs to the kitchen. Long hours of cooking later the pair had each created a new 3-course meal. They swapped and perched at the dining table, critiquing one another's dishes based on appearance and taste. That afternoon the duo decided Ria's had tasted better, the plating however went to Blaze. He had an eye for designing plates of food compared to Ria's monstrosities.

"Alaria! Alaria!" Ria's mum's voice boomed from downstairs. Her mum never used her full name unless stressed or angry. Ria and her mother Daphne had a very rocky relationship, some days Daphne treated Ria as though she was pure good while others she was treated as waste.

"This can't be good," Ria scowled at Blaze but got up, "I'm not sure how long I'll be so I'll meet you at the fountain in a few hours." She smiled and sprinted downstairs to see what her mum requested.

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For a few long hours, Ria helped in the kitchen cooking and waiting tables. The customers all loved her as her service was quick and collected but polite and understandable. Eventually escaping the restaurant Ria went in search of Blaze, it was long past the time they were meant to meet but Blaze would've eventually gone to their spot. An afternoon the pair had gone adventuring and found a cave in the forest near Ria's house, they had decorated it together with newspapers and wood scraps that they had made into furniture. It was their little escape.

Ria jogged at a fast pace through the forest following the well-worn path until reaching the tree stump that informed her that it was where she was to leave the trail, a short 2-minute hike later she had reached the cave entrance covered in vines. The trees surrounding the outside meant it was well hidden from the path but easy enough for them to leave and find their way back. Ria pushed her way through the drooping vines and into the cave, torches were lit along the wall sconces which ultimately proved Blaze was there.

"Blaze!" Ria called into the well-lit cave, there was a movement from her left and she dodged to the side. Her quick reflexes allowed her to evade Blaze from tackling her to the ground with practised ease.

"Lame!" Ria calls out from her perch against the wall where she leans watching Blaze regroup with a calculating eye. Blaze just grunts and goes to sit down in the armchair the two had made together a while back.

Ria strolls over and slides onto the other armchair they made to match the first, they chatted for a short while until the sun sank to produce beautiful glowing stars. The moon shone brightly in the dark sky illuminating their path back home, the pair hopped up and raced home. Tonight Blaze was to be eating with a few other rich families and had to go home leaving Ria to go to her house and face the possible anger of her mother.

Late that night after everyone had gone to bed Alaria sat on the window sill of her small room and watched the stars when she was little if she had trouble falling asleep she would sit and look at the constellations. The one that glowed the brightest was always the dragon juggling a sun and moon, it was Ria's favourite constellation for dragons was her passion. The uniqueness of each represented so many things to her and she loved the sun and moon. She found her personality more like the moon, pure white and hard as a rock, her eyes changed colour similar to the moon's eclipse.

That night she fell into a deep sleep gazing out her closed window at the never-ending orbs of light, creating patterns in the stars and the soft patter of freshly falling snow.

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So... Did you like it? That's chapter one down and a bunch to go, I enjoyed writing this so hopefully it's alright. Please leave love and critique in the comments but please no hate.
- Brax xx