Elaine Mairi had always known she would enter the Riders Quadrant. She was marked with a rebellion relic, leaving her with a future that could not be altered.
She had decided it would be better to make use of that inevitable future than give the peo...
Ουπς! Αυτή η εικόνα δεν ακολουθεί τους κανόνες περιεχομένου. Για να συνεχίσεις με την δημοσίευση, παρακαλώ αφαίρεσε την ή ανέβασε διαφορετική εικόνα.
"A dragon without their rider is a tragedy. A rider without their dragon is dead." ________________
I had always known that I would enter the Riders Quadrant. Always knew, and yet now that the time had come, the fact scared me.
Looking at the rebellion relic on my arm, I cursed it. Cursed my fate and cursed the people who gave me it.
My life was the way it was because of the people who had executed my parents—they had decided that the children of the traitors should also suffer.
My parents were deemed traitors, that is why I bore the rebellion relic. That was why I may die in a matter of hours.
I had trained for years of course, preparing for the very moment when I stepped onto the Parapet or when I would step onto the mat, dagger in my hand and be told to fight another. I knew how to do everything that would be asked of me if I walked off the Parapet, and yet I still found herself doubting everything.
What if I slipped? What if I was killed by another first year? What if I went unbonded?
There were so many uncertainties. So many what-ifs. I found myself hating that I didn't know what to expect.
I was always training for what could come in the future—but now, my future was hours away. I did not know what to expect after that, only one thing was certain.
Xaden Riorson would be there.
He would be older, look different, much more powerful—but he would still be my Xaden.
The Xaden that had always helped me when I was sad, wiped away my tears when I wept. The Xaden I had shared all my secrets with, the Xaden who could always light up my face.
Xaden was at Basgaith War College, the place I would soon reach—that is if I didn't die in the process.
"Elaine? Are you ready?" The voice of Liam Mairi echoed into her room.
No, I was not ready. I wasn't sure I would ever be.
"In what way?" I yelled down, staring at my reflection in the mirror.
Physically I was ready. I wore clothing appropriate for the Parapet. A simple beige tunic—a layer under that for the cold—and tight black pants, with boots that I had made sure had soles that would not slip off the Parapet the minute my feet hit the rock. My blonde hair—still long as I had refused to cut it—was wound into a braided crown on my head.
Mentally, I was breaking down.
The only thought keeping me grounded was seeing Xaden. Seeing his raven black hair and tanned skin, and to see him smile slightly at me like he used to.
