Koro stepped through the portal. He shielded his face from the sudden wave of heat; the human realm was a great deal warmer than his home. ‘Damn…’ He already didn’t like the area. He shifted his wings to block out the sun; it was well into midday, so the temperature was almost too much for him to deal with.

Looking around he noticed that the portal had lead him to an old rundown mountain pass. The pathway was so worn that it was barely visible to his weakening eyes. Koro turned from side to side, trying to decide which direction to head in. The path ran north and south; to the north it seemed as though the path disappeared into the mountain further, to the south the path cleared out.

“I might find someone to talk to about shelter that way.” The dragon said to himself as he started south. Every now and then he had watched as several different animals darted out of his way. He had been tempted several times to track down a deer out of hunger, but thought better of it knowing he would lose track of the old road.

Hours later Koro stumbled across another path, leading away from the main trail. He was weary of this darker path and it was growing dark. However, this path seemed to lead to a form of shelter, where’s the main path seemed to continue on. Koro forced himself to turn onto the new road. His eyes quickly re-adjusting to the area, as it was a great deal more like his home land than he’d have expected. The sides of the path were littered with stone ruins, bits of what used to be a stone railing since the closer he got to the old building the narrower the path became.

Koro finally came to the entrance, the iron door hang loosely on the hinges. The pillars outside the ruins were carved with runes that the Valkir recognized as ancient, even to his kind. He wanted to pause long enough to examine the runes further but a sudden crack of thunder forced him to continue on inside. Now inside the ruins he came to quickly realize that this had once been a Valkir temple, the once great halls reduced to nothing but rubble.

The stone structure had once stood as a symbol of belonging to the so called outcasts, those who lived within the Valkir realm. Koro felt at home here, but not because it was a Valkir structure. His blood had been altered, tainted, much like the very temple he stood within.

“This is his goal?” Koro asked, knowing no one would answer. He continued deeper into the temple. A downward stair well caught his attention, though as he moved closer to it he stepped on a pressure plate. He jumped back, startled, as a section of the wall lifted away revealing a dark tunnel. Or at least it looked like a simple tunnel at first glance. A pair of blood red eyes met Koro’s dark blue eyes, sending a wave of fear through him.

“Ah, the first of the guests is here. Jerik was kind enough to let us know ahead of time,” the deep growl of an elder dragon echoed through the temple’s empty halls. Koro stumbled again. “Don’t be afraid, boy. You are part of this now.” Koro growled at the other,


“Part of what? I want nothing to do with Jerik or his damned plans!”  Koro didn’t realize it, but his anger only fueled the growing darkness in and around him. The eyes in front of him moved closer, revealing a black scaled Valkir.

“Regardless of what you want, boy, you are part of this and you will do as you are told. Jerik is the one calling the shots, not you or I.” Koro growled again, his anger rising. He would have turned to leave if it weren’t for the fact a second shadow Valkir had moved to block the exit. The one in front of him reverted to a more humanoid form. Its skin and wings were black, eyes red, even its clothing was tainted black. “My name is Ettiren. Jerik left me in charge of preparing you.” The shadow added in a more calming tone, hoping to gain the boys trust.

“Preparing me for what?” Koro hissed back.

“You’ll see soon enough.” Ettiren replied.


***


Kira finally woke from her hellish nightmare. She sat up sweating and still greatly weary. The young half dragon stood weakly and stumbled out of the small cave. She paused in uncertainty when two large full blood dragons turned to face her. One was an ancient silver while the other was a young gold, likely only a little older than Kira. Fenn stepped forward, now in his dragon form as well.

“Moring, I was beginning to wonder if you would ever wake up.” He greeted in a joking manner. Kira only gave him a confused look. “Forgive me, I forgot to introduce you,” He tilted his head to the other two dragons, “This is Soul, and his apprentice, Drakorin. They agreed to help train you.”

“What… type of training?” Kira asked warily. The gold dragon snickered, drawing a glare from the girl.

“What type of training? Haha, what kind do you think?” Drakorin was young and fairly cocky even for a dragon. If not for his potential Soul likely wouldn’t have bothered with him. “I hope she’s gets bigger if she’s going to even attempt to learn anything though.” He added tauntingly as he dipped his nose so he was eye level with the young half blood.

“Drakorin, enough of that,” the silver’s voice was deep, but calming, “we all learn at our own pace, you know that.” The gold quickly fell into silence and pulled away. Soul turned to Kira, “Well, child, let us see your true form.”

Kira glanced at Fenn, almost looking for help; he nodded to give her some reassurance that everything was ok. She didn’t quite understand how to take on her dragon from, that knowledge had been lost at some point along with the majority of her memory. She closed her eyes and after a few moments the air around her gained a faint blue glow. Seconds later the light grew then faded, a small ice blue dragon stood in place of the young girl, its eyes filled with amazement, joy, and confusion.