The factory horn blasted through the streets.Once.Twice.Then a third time. The final call. The doors began to close slowly.“No… please not yet!”Eryx Varyn shoved through the crowd of workers filling into the iron gates, his boots slipping over loose stones as shoulders crashed into him from every direction.“Move boy!”Someone elbowed him hard enough to make him fall but he immediately steadied himself. Another cursed as he stumbled into their path, sweat dripping down his face.Eryx had his eyes fixed on the narrowing gap between the closing gates, not noticing the looks of contempt on the workers’ faces as he walked passed them.Please… let me make it.This was the last factory in the Lower District still accepting applications this seasons. If they rejected him… he would have nowhere to go.His brothers had made that painfully clear to him before he left that morning.“Come back empty handed and don’t bother coming home at all.”That memory seemed to shove more strength into h

The insult stabbed deep into him as the room fell into deep silence.Eryx slowly reached for the envelope and read through it, his name, age and all information about him had already been filled out, all that was left was his signature.“You already completed it,” he said, dismay clearly rooted in his voice.“Of course I did,” Caleb smiled flatly. “I wasn’t going to trust you with something as important as this. You could fuck it up as always.”That earned a chuckle out of Leo.Eryx inhaled sharply, glancing from one brother to another. Conscription day was a rite every family feared because most times it will always lead to the death of their sons or daughters.It happened once every few years, with application letters carried from house to house by district officials. Whenever it arrived, some mothers cried themselves to sleep, fathers drank themselves into silence while their sons left home to impending doom.Some returned bonded to dragons.Most never returned at all.Which was w

“Well, it wasn’t that hard was it?” Caleb said, folding back the signed paper and putting it in his pocket and left with Leo.Victor went to his room while Clara returned to her work. Only Neri stayed with Eryx, she stared at him with pity.“You shouldn’t have signed it, Eryx,” she muttered.Eryx smiled weakly, rubbing her cheeks. His younger sister cared so much about him than the others. “Neri, thank you for standing up for me, but I had to do this. After all, now I can proudly say I have contributed to the growth of this family with the compensation money.”Neri frowned at Eryx’s humorless joke. “This isn’t funny and this isn’t fair.”Her voice dropped as well as her eyes and then in that moment, she took off one of her bracelets and wore it on his hand.“For Goodluck,” she managed to smile, looking up at him as tears streamed down her face. “Promise me you will come back. Promise me you will stay alive.”Eryx swallowed hard. There was no way he could promise such, he was a weakli

‘Flames—Dead bodies scattered around—The feel of the blood-soaked soil under my feet as I walked along the field.The smell of death all round me—In the middle of it all stood a black, majestic-looking dragon staring deep into my soul, reading my deepest thoughts and secrets.If felt oddly familiar.“Mine—!”A deep, dark voice echoed through the blood-red sky as the ground shook.Then suddenly, the atmosphere began to darken, and the heat of flames turned into a biting cold that made my skin crawl.’…Eryx bolted upright, his breath caught up in his throat as beads of sweat streamed down his face. The majestic dragon in his dream was gone, and the unmistakable smell of blood was replaced by the stench of mold and stagnant water.He looked around, his brows furrowing. He wasn’t in the courtyard of the Academy; he was on a thin, rotting straw mat in a room made of stone and a metal bar caging him in.What’s going on?Where was he?“Finally awake,” a voice sounded from the outside.Er

The impact sent Eryx sliding across the training grounds before crashing into a stone pillar at the edge of the arena. Pain instantly surged in his body, his body squeezing in discomfort as he struggled to take in breaths.Across the arena, laughter erupted instantly. “Sill of me to have thought that he would last longer than one hit.”“I have seen children put up better fights than him and his ridiculous excuse of a dragon, Ha-ha!”Cael rolled his shoulders lazily, feeling a deep sense of pride and accomplishment. “I was expecting at least a little… entertainment.”His Stoneback Dragon stomped forward with slow, crushing steps. It’s heavy steps shooked the earth beneath it. Every breath it released came out a rings of hot steam.The instructor nodded approvingly.“Excellent balance,” he commented. “Your dragon’s physical foundation is solid.”Cael smirked at the comment and gave a respectful nod. Everyone thought the battle was over and the instructor was just about to announce him