Legacy in Ruins: Dragon Rider Book 1

Chapter 12 Part 2

Author's Note:

Okay, so I was re-reading over my chapter and I realized that I forgot the last half of it, lol. So this is just a continuation of the last chapter. And Wattpad was messing with me and kept saying I posted the first half of the chapter but then it actually didn't.

Sorry.

The door shut behind him and everyone sighed, slouching. We all casted each other glances before the two scurried off after Holland. I knew that they had no idea where the training ground were and neither did I. Hopefully they made it on time so they didn't face the wrath of Holland, who definitely seemed to fit the stories Easton told about him.

No being alone in the room, I limped over to my bed and sat down. My hands laid in my lap before moving to my back and gingerly rubbing my back before wiping my head to the front door.

At first, I thought it was Holland or Lydia or Cora. But when Easton walked in with a stack of books, I sighed, "Yeah, sure just waltzed right in. Don't bother knocking." Last night I had tried my best to be pleasant and keep up with my manners training, but Easton just got under my skin like Clarika would. Eventually, I gave up with trying to be nice, but I hated letting others get caught in our crossfire. So, I only argued with Easton when we were alone, which thankfully wasn't that often, so far.

"You know if you would have just stuck with the group you would be at training right now." He antagonized, giving me a glare. "But now your stuck falling behind in training."

Be the bigger person. Be the bigger person. I kept telling myself but I decided that i'd be nice tomorrow. "At least I can excel in my studies and be weeks ahead of everyone else -- like you for example." I sneered with a smirk.

He rolled his eyes, dropping the book on my table like a sack of potatoes. He propped an elbow on one of the books and turned to me, a look of victory written across his face. "I've spent my entire life learning about dragons. I've grown up with them, ridden them before I could even walk. You." He breathed out a chuckle. "You don't know the first thing about us. You've never even seen a dragon until you got hit with one."

My jaw clenched, fingers curling into the bed while I strangled the urge to punch him in his perfect teeth. Just seeing him made me want to ruin his perfect face. To think I thought he was hot when we had first met.

My lips twisted to the side, not having a good comeback for his comment. "Whatever. I'll learn, even if it takes me all night."

He huffed, smirking as he pushed off the books and went to the door. "It'll definitely take you all night, especially at your reading pace." He put his hand on the doorknob, opening the door. "You'll never be one of us." Before I could fire back he left, shutting the door behind him.

The click of the door shutting was the most satisfying sound imaginable. I stared at the door, sneering under my breath. "Scale-sucker." I cursed, using one of the most offensive and offending words possible for a rider. Scale-sucker was given to the dragon riders by the mages because the riders spent their days on the back of mud-soaked beasts. They set fires to every and anything without a single care in the world of who it would effect. It was one of the highest insults a rider could receive and brought high offense to them.

For us, mages, our greatest insult was being called a Morceio, an abomination that was created by dark mages. They had no thoughts or want, except to destroy everything they touched. They wreaked havoc on our planet until being defeated by the dragon riders.

Warily watching the door, expecting it to burst open and see Easton stomping towards me with heated cheeks. But that never happened to my relief.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed myself off the bed and trudged forward to the desk, sitting in the uncomfortable wooden chair. I winced as my back pressed into the splintery chair. My eyes scaled up the stack of thick books, each one looking three times as old as me. The pages were yellowed and smelled of aged paper. I loved the smell, always have. It's something that kept me sane when I spent long hours studying back at home.

I pushed the mound of textbooks to the side, careful to not hurt my ribs. Once I had enough space to read, I pulled the first book off the stack and laid it in front of me. My good hand traced across the leather back cover.

A dragon was etched into the cover, the bumps of its body satisfying me. Circling my finger around the rim of the circle that surrounded the dragon, I read the etched writing below it.

Book of Dragons. It said, the words clearly carved into the thick leather. The title itself aroused my curiosity. My fingers gripped the edge of the book and flipped it open. I turned the pages, studying each page of the book until an image of a red dragon appeared.

With triangular scales, the red dragon had a long snake-like body. This particular dragon species was called Avith, and had long wings that were used to weaving in and out of the forest lines during flight. It was painted next to a human that looked tiny compared to the dragon. It must have been at least six sizes bigger than the human figure.

Reading the cursive black texts below, I read about the dragons strengths, weaknesses, abilities, and characteristics. It reminded me of the textbooks that my parents had drilled into my brain about the different types of mages.

Again, I turned another page. I found myself intrigued and eager to learn about the dragons, despite what Easton said earlier. But his words still lingered in my mind. You'll never be one of us.

What if he was right? I knew in the back of my mind that he was just being a complete jerk and was wanting to get under my skin. It was working.

If I was a pureblood mage. Purebloods have never deviated from their heritage. Never. What if the stone was wrong and I was actually meant to be a mage. No, that was impossible, the stone has never been wrong before. Why would it be wrong now? The doubt still lingered and with what Easton told Lydia and Cora last night, dragons chose their riders, not the other way around.

What if a dragon didn't want me?

Turning to the next page to distract myself, I read about another dragon, this one was orange. This one looked familiar, like the Khelar! I leaned forwards reading the script below. Yuret, a species of dragon that lives of-of socializing which was unnatural when it came to other dragons. They tend to be nice and make friends easily like their riders.

I flipped the page and read through all the species of dragon. From what I could pick up on, every dragon was single colored. But unlike some of the other animals on our planet, each species of dragon varied in color. That was going to make it hard to determine what species of dragon it was. I would have to determine something that stuck out about each species to help me memorize them. That how I learned better, creating connections with things.

Hours later I glanced up at the mound of books only to find that I had read through every single one of them. I had just read about every single dragon the school has ever encountered, every forgotten or extinct species. My brain literally pounded and my heart had moved to the back of my eyes.