The Academy of Alactria

Purple (Edited)

Authors Note - the picture above is the Timetable

Authors Note - the picture above is the Timetable

I woke up to the sun filtering through the curtains. Electra was already awake and was trying to climb the curtains, never getting more than a metre off the ground before she fell off with a thump. I watched her do this for a few times, before, swinging my legs out of bed, I started doing my stretches. They were simple, just waking up my muscles. I did lunges, quads, shoo the chickens and high knees. Electra cocked her head as she watched me, following me as I opened the wardrobe to scan the clothes inside. There was nothing that caught my eye, and I turned around to see something being slid beneath my door. I bent down and took it, sitting down on the bed. I slit open the envelope, catching the piece of paper as it fell out:

Dear Miss Amy Lily Lanstock, Rider of Electra

We hope you are settling into the Academy well. Enclosed is your timetable and, while we know very little about your power of plasma, we will do our very best to help you reach your maximum potential. Whilst you have your lessons, your dragon will also have lessons, from fighting to hunting. She will be told these at a later date, once she is fully grown.

Your school uniform will be your armour. We like to prepare pupils for when they leave school and are expected to wear their armour constantly as they uphold the laws of Alactria.

Please do not fully unpack your belongings, as you will be moving soon. In your next few lessons, you will be asked to choose an Anchemi. This is a group of five riders and their dragons. You will stay with this group until the day you die (as Dragon Riders have extended life spans, if you survive the war you will live a very long time). Out of you and the rest of your Anchemi, you will be asked to elect a team leader. This person will represent their Anchemi at all team meetings. They will receive a special sword as well as their individual armour. You and your Anchemi will also move into a dormitory, with shared dragon stables, a kitchen and a lounge area.

Yours sincerely

Richard Silverfield

Headmaster of The Academy of Alactria

I peered into the envelope and pulled out a sheaf of paper. On the one side was the flag of the school whilst on the other was my timetable:

Dragon Riders Timetable Year One

  8:00 - 11:00        13:00 - 16:00
Monday                     Dragon Training    War Formations
Tuesday                     Camouflage  Dragon History
Wednesday                            Creatures of War  Elemental study
Thursday                  Survival          Geography
Friday           Element practise  Dragon care
Saturday                   Tactics  Free Time
Sunday                      Free Time  Free Time

A thump sounded and I looked up to see Electra had managed to shut herself in the wardrobe. Laughing, I rescued her before quickly dressing in my armour. The token hung from my neck as I exited my room and knocked on Adam's door.

"Hi!", he said opening the door and letting it click shut behind him. I apologised for ditching him yesterday and we walked down to breakfast.

As I loaded my plate up with eggs, sausages and bacon, we discussed the lessons.

"I mean, I think that survival will be quite fun" I joked, "I mean, who doesn't want to eat creepy crawlies and light a fire without our already built torches around our necks."

Furnace snorted as he led us to a table, Electra following behind him, casually nipping his tail so he would pay attention to her.

"Electra", I warned, "be nice". She snorted as she climbed up onto the bench.

Adam chuckled as he sat down opposite me. "I can guarantee that Dragon History and War Formations will be the most boring and dull lessons of all time"

"I don't know", I responded, "It was pretty much a Taboo subject in our village. Hell, I don't even know where Quunamg is. I guess its a good thing that we have Geography on our timetables".

Just then an announcement came through the loudspeaker. I winced at how crackly it was:

"there are now 24 new dragon riders including the ones that arrived late last night from the village of Wenstock. As a result, we now have two girls in the academy, Amy Lily Lanstock and Cherry Louise Ruver. I trust you will make them all feel welcome. They will be joining the first years. Have a nice day"

Immediately excited muttering broke out and Adam looked at me and raised his eyebrows.

"Our class is going to be a lot bigger!".

Just then the bell rang and we put our trays away and walked to the Training Grounds (Field 3B).

Once there, we walked towards the professor. He turned and smiled at class. He was a short man with wavy blonde hair and yellow eyes.

"Hello class, I am your Dragon Training instructor. But the truth is I cannot teach you anything until your dragons have grown so my dragon is going to grow your dragons. I want you all to put one hand on your dragons and DO NOT LET GO OF YOUR DRAGON!".

This last comment was directed to the boy with an ice dragon standing next to us and he sighed before clenching his fists. His dragon looked at him helplessly and spoke to us.

"Hi, my name is Arctic and this is my soon to be rider Barney. You must be Amy and your dragon Electra".

I smiled. "It's nice to meet you. This is my friend Adam and his dragon Furnace."

Our attention was drawn back to the front as an electric dragon stood in front of us. He was huge, at least the size of the Pauline Rock! He opened his mouth and lightning shot from his mouth, crackling as it hit the dragons, climbing up to create a dome of yellow before collapsing and disappearing. I felt a jolt and I looked at Electra to see a dragon at least the size of a tractor.

"Wow" I breathed, running my hands over her scales. I stopped and stared at my hands. My nails were alternately pink and purple with sparkles. On each wrist was a thin gold and silver chain with the plasma symbol.

"Ahem. Ahem. You will have noticed some obvious differences such as the size of your dragon but you have also changed. You now have nails in the colours of your element, and your eyes will be one colour of your element:

Fire wielders will have orange eyes"

I quickly looked at Adam and saw that this was indeed the case.

"Ice wielders will have blue eyes"

I glanced at Barney and saw that this too was true.

"Earth wielders have green eyes,
Wind wielders have grey eyes,
Lightning wielders have yellow eyes and
Plasma wielders apparently have purple eyes. The whole class looked at me as I looked around and saw the unusually coloured eyes staring at me.

Thankfully the bell rang and I turned on my heel and, shooting an apologetic look at Adam, hurried inside, not wanting a repeat of yesterday's rumours.