Dragons of the Elements: Ascension (Dragon of Legend Approved Fan-Fiction)

Chapter Ten

Chapter 10: Flight

"Look at you, all grown up," taunted Donovan in his thoughts, knowing Vitality will hear him.

"And look at you, all puny and stuff," came the reply. "Now, can you get all these people away before I roast them for lunch? Hurry!"

Donovan dove into the crowd, which couldn't have been more than one hundred people, and fought his way through to his dragon. He managed to break through the crowd and emerged into the small, empty circle that surrounded Vitality. As Donovan reached the circle, Vitality let out a snort and stretched his wings. He craned his neck and grabbed the back of Donovan's new armor with his jaws.

"What are you doing? Vitality!" screamed Donovan, trying to be audible above the noise of the crowd.

"Thoughts, remember?" Donovan heard echoing in his mind.

"Okay, okay, I get it. Thoughts. Now what are you doing?" Donovan thought, extremely hard, in an attempt to sound angry.

"Just watch," Vitality said as he threw Donovan onto his back.

As Donovan landed, the crowd silenced. They stared at the two, the endurance and size of the rider perfect matches for the strength and energy of the dragon. Sitting atop his dragon, Donovan felt a new wave of strength come over him. He held out his right hand, and let Infernus form in a bath of deep-red light.

The students burst into confusion. They punched and kicked and crawled through the crowd, each trying to escape, each trying to survive. In a matter of seconds, Donovan went from most revered student at the academy, to the most feared.

"Vitality! What...? What happened?" seeped out of Donovan's throat.

"Your sword scared then away. Pity. How I was so enjoying their company," said Vitality in a sarcastic manner, imitating the speech patterns of the wealthy.

With a roll of his eyes, Donovan allowed Infernus to disappear, and shifted his weight in order to slide off of the perfect armor pieced onto Vitality. And with a beat of his wings, Vitality prevented him from moving. Vitality craned his neck, looking back at Donovan with a dangerously wild look in his eyes.

"Guess where we're going?" Donovan heard in his head.

"Back to the academy so I can move to basic weapons training?" said Donovan bluntly.

"Nope. Wrong. Up." said the voice in his head.

"Up?" he thought quickly, wondering what Vitality had meant.

Vitality took a step forward and beat his wings, and within a few more steps he had taken flight. He slowly rose above the first few stories, traveling at a speed of only a quarter of what a trained Dragon could fly. Still, the excitement was overwhelming. Donovan let out shouts of joy and cheer, enjoying the freedom of flight.

Vitality dove and rose, swooped left and right, and climbed higher and higher in the sky. Soon, Vitality was high enough to brush his wings on the academy roof. Donovan kept a huge smile on his face, until Vitality let out a tired, strained groan.

Vitality clenched his jaw, trying to move to over the academy roof to land. His muscled strained one last time before he plummeted to the ground, Donovan screaming on his back.

"Vitality? VITALITY!!" he yelled.

Vitality crashed on the ground, and Donovan flew off of his back and landed, quite a distance away, in a pile of straw.

Students came rushing over, and a healer was called to check on Donovan.

"What happened?" "Are you alright?" "Dude. Epic crash. How did it happen?"

Donovan felt the questions were being asked at the speed of light. He couldn't keep up. Donovan closed his eyes, and let the darkness of fainting overcome him.