The Silver Dragon (Unpublished, unedited version)

Chapter 24: A Matter of Species

"Todays topic is about what is known as a dragon's equilibrium. While many of you have heard of this not many dragons know what it truly is," A wind dragoness stalked down the front of a large room with steps heading upwards to a large door that lead into the rest of the school, "At the moment there are only two known dragons, alive that is, who have reached this milestone. Both of them reside at Sky Mountain; so if you wish to ask them questions after this lesson, please feel free to do so. Now, onto the lesson."

Silver was listening this time, hearing something new, though she would still rather be outside, flying. Back at Dragon Valley she had gone flying every day. It was a great way to keep fit and was an enjoyable pass time. Now, she only ever flew when she sparred, and that was for less then a couple of seconds at a time.

"The equilibrium is a point when a dragon becomes 'one' with their element. Usually it only comes about during a time of great strife, when a dragon is pushed to its limit and beyond. This is why it is so rare. During this time a dragon has utmost control of their element. For example, when a fire dragon reaches their equilibrium they become pure fire, which they can manipulate however they want, changing their shape and other such things.

However, a dragon in equilibrium state is also very dangerous. As I said before, it is only when they are pushed past their limit through emotional and physical strife that they are able to reach this point. This makes them extremely unpredictable and dangerous. Usually they cannot tell friend from foe and wreak havoc until they settle down, turning back to their original state.

Once a dragon has reached their equilibrium the first time, they can do so again relatively easily, though it takes quite an enormous amount of energy. Also, the second time they do so they are usually in control of their bodies, though still a little more prone to rages and other such things. So should any of you reach this point, make sure to be extremely careful when using such power. Yes Tyla?"

"What are the different types of Equilibrium?" asked a rather academic acid dragoness.

"I was just about to get to that," said the teacher, "Let's start with fire shall we."

Silver sighed and lay her head down on her paws as the teacher began to drone on again. An equilibrium did sound pretty cool, but she would worry about that later. After this lesson she was planning on trying to find one of the higher up dragons in an attempt to make some changes to where she was staying. Often times at night she was kept up by the other females talking about different problems in Sky Mountain, and the males. That annoyed her especially.

An hour later the class finally ended and there was a small headache forming in the base of her skull. The only part she would have been interested in was what the metal dragon's equilibrium was, but they didn't know. She wasn't surprised though. Besides her, her father was the only other metallic dragon and as far as she knew he hadn't reached that point.

She was the first one to rush out the door as they all began to make their way back to The Centre. She needed to get out of there, and with the quickly fading light she had only about an hour or so until they were allowed to eat, and straight after that they were sent to their nests, like hatchlings. She wished she could hunt herself, but it was 'illegal' to kill anything in the valley. Instead food was brought to them, most of the time cooked, and they ate their fill. While cooked food definitely had more taste, Silver found she liked the raw variety better. It was what she had grown up with.

"Silver!" the voice rose above the crowd.

She turned to see an older dragon struggling through the young dragons toward her. He was a telekinetic dragon, around twenty years old with a regal looking build and a hard scar on his shoulder. Not exactly a strong dragon, but someone who had been through a lot.