Chapter 4- Solar and Non-Solar Dragons

  As Jett, Bill, and Ashley were halfway to the on-campus pub to celebrate, Jett stepped to the side.

  “Give me a second, I need to make a call. I will meet you at the pub.”

  Bill gave him a thumbs-up. “I get it. I can’t wait to tell my family either. See you in a minute.”

  Jett pulled out his map and flipped it over to find the number on the back. He typed in the number, and on the second ring, a woman picked up.

  “Honored Rider Knight, my name is Cindy. How can I be of assistance?”

  He was momentarily taken aback. He was never a sir, honored, or much of anything. He always thought of himself as a space raccoon, taking treasure from other people's trash.

  “Um, yeah. I think I accidentally took the hopeful test. I thought it was an orientation or something.”

  “One moment.” The click of keys echoed across the phone.

  “Well, Honored Rider, I can say this is the fastest we’ve ever had a hopeful pass the test and bond a dragon. Don’t worry, I will clear it up so it won’t affect your schedule.”

  Jett kicked the stone bricks on the ground, letting out some of his nervous energy. “Can you make sure you take me off the list? I don’t want anyone to get kicked out because of me.”

  “I see. I can do that. One moment… all done. Is there anything I can help you with?”

  “Nope, that’s all. Thanks, Cindy!”

  Jett ran back to the hall to let Amanda know she didn’t have to take the shuttle back. He wasn’t sure how he was going to explain how he knew, but he was saved from having to navigate that awkward conversation; Amanda was gone. He did a three-sixty scan to look for any clues, then shrugged. He still felt bad, but Cindy said she would fix it.

  He jogged over to the pub and then joined Ashley and Bill at the table. A serving bot came over with three drinks. Bill put a hand on his shoulder, “Just in time. Come on let’s toast to becoming dragon riders.”

  They toasted and drained their drinks, the alcohol burning as it went down. Even the reserved Ashley was grinning, though from her blush, he wondered how much of that was the alcohol she had before he arrived at the pub.

  “I can’t believe it, it feels like a dream.” Ashley sighed.

  Bill nodded. “I know. All the studying and training, though this is only the beginning. It's only going to get tougher from here.”

  A silence washed over the group as they basked in the success. Even Jett felt accomplished knowing he could have been a hopeful. Somehow, that made him feel more worthy and cemented the reality that he was a dragon rider. As the alcohol set in, he started thinking about how he was going to reveal Layla.

  Before he could think the words to say, Ashley asked, “I’m curious. I know almost everyone who took the entrance exam. We all attended the same study classes and training camps, but I never remember seeing you. Not even once.”

  Bill laughed, “I know, right. He’s a real black dragon, coming out of nowhere for the win. Too bad for Amanda…”

  A hand slammed down on the table, and Jett turned to see Amanda standing there with a smirk on her face. “Started celebrating without me?”

  Bill’s face fell. “Amanda, you’re here.”

  She brushed her long hair over her shoulder, “Where else would a future dragon rider be?”

  Bill and Ashley shared a look. Jett stood up, “Congrats, Amanda!”

  “It’s only natural. The only reason I lost my spot was that someone cheated. The school found out. They called me to let me know that they had been removed and I’m being accepted into the college.”

  Bill and Ashley jumped up. Ashley ran over to hug Amanda while Bill raised a glass. “We need another toast now that Amanda is here.”

  Ashley shook her, jumping while tightly hugging Amanda. Amanda smirked, “Better go easy on the alcohol. I only scored so low on the entrance exam because it’s the easiest part. At the end of the semester, I’m going to be at the top of the rankings.”

  Jett stayed for another three toasts before his friends drunkenly stumbled out of the pub to go back to their dorms. The dragon bond affected him in many ways, one of which was making him more resistant to alcohol. Even after all the toasts, he barely felt it. He was about to head out when a finger tapped on his shoulder.

  He turned to find a woman in a uniform handing him a pay pad. He looked at the total, and his eyes went wide. Three hundred credits! He could afford it, but most of the meals he bought when he decided to dine out were twenty credits. He could feel the phantom pains of his bank account swallowing such an extravagant dinner.

  “Uh…”

  “Your friends left without paying the check.”

  “Which one?” Jett asked as he tried to give her a reassuring grin. His friends were quite drunk. He wasn’t surprised, in their drunken reverie, that they had forgotten to pay.

  “All of them.”

  Jett chuckled and paid. He took a brief detour to wish Layla a good night before retiring for the night. The next morning, he slept in and split his time looking over the course material and downloading the class material for Angie to start organizing study materials.

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  It turned out that the hopefuls arrived a full week before classes started. They were going to spend the week in an intense training session. Once classes started, they would break into classes, the hopefuls joining in on the lectures in the morning and the afternoon, and the hopefuls and dragon riders would split into a few different physical education classes.

  Jett had a class on ethics and law related to dragons, a biology class on draconic anatomy and physiology, a class on rider technique, and a class on history. Most of the course material was available, so he downloaded it and headed over to Layla’s cave. She was resting after devouring a third of the blocks from the day before.

  He sat against the wall to watch Layla and read the first few chapters of his texts. Layla huffed before curling up next to him and falling asleep. He gently pet her glistening black scales as he read.

  The law was boring. The text was dry, listing pages of laws, then articulating in dense language, the pros and cons of each law and when they were passed. The dragon book was interesting, listing different ways to classify dragons. The technique class started with a chapter on the gear dragon riders used. He spent most of his time reading and searching online about the types of mounts and suits dragon riders used.

  Around midday, Layla stretched and headed into the main area where many other dragons played or lounged in the sun. Jett decided to head back to his apartment to get some lunch. As he headed back, he saw the hopefuls jogging around campus. He had a whole week to read and lounge around with Layla, but he started to feel a bit jealous.

  They were training and growing stronger while he was sitting around on his butt all day. Once he got back to his room, he grabbed a frozen meal and heated it up while he thought about his friends training outside. He dialed the service line.

  “Hi, this is Cindy. How may I help you, Honored Rider Knight?”

  “Hey, Cindy, I was wondering. Can I join the hopeful’s training course?”

  The line stayed silent for a full three seconds. Jett added, “I saw them out training and thought it might be good to do some training before classes start.”

  “I have to say this is a first. I’ve never had a dragon rider ask to be put in with the hopefuls. You do seem quite determined. Unfortunately, I think it might cause a distraction if the class learned a dragon rider was with them.”

  “Then… don’t? Everyone saw me in the entrance exam, and anyone who cared knew I passed. I promise not to say anything. I just want to get some exercise.”

  “I’ll ask the instructor and email you. Is there anything else I can help with?”

  “No, thanks again, Cindy!”

  He heard a feminine chuckle right before the line closed. After lunch, he started browsing ships for sale. Right as he looked at the tenth page of used ships, an email pinged. He opened it up, and it was from Cindy.

  ‘The instructor said, as long as you keep the fact that you are a dragon rider on the down low, it's fine. You can join tomorrow morning. With the rest of the day, he headed back over to the dragon area. He saw Layla playing with a dragon with glowing gold scales. They rolled, and Layla ended up on her back, sprawled on the ground.

  The golden dragon put a claw on her chest, inhaled, and started to roar, but was interrupted when a black tail smacked it in the face. The golden dragon shook off the blow and stepped back. Layla raised her head, tilting her head at the perplexed golden dragon, then lay down, tongue out as though she were vanquished. The golden dragon eyed Layla before putting a claw on her chest, inhaling, and getting thwacked in the face again.

  “She’s been doing that all afternoon. I don’t get it.” A man in a burly uniform to Jett’s right said.

  When the golden dragon walked away, she got up and saw Jett.

  ‘Momma’s back!’ Layla bounded over and slammed into his legs, almost knocking him down.

  “Layla, why do you keep smacking the other dragons in the face?”

  ‘Hunt bad. Only Roar. Teaching them.’

  Jett snorted.

  “What did she say?” The keeper asked.

  “She said the other dragons are bad hunters. All they do is roar, so she smacks them in the face to try to train them.”

  The burly man’s eyebrows scrunched, and then he burst out laughing. “Oh, she’s right. All the fledglings like to posture and stand on each other.”

  Jett felt something bumping into his leg and looked down to see Layla headbutting him, ‘Pay attention!’

  Jett reached down and pet her until she retreated to her cave for the night.

  The next morning, he woke up and headed outside, finding Amanda, Ashley, and Bill stretching in the crowd of hopefuls under the heat of the morning sun.

  Bill’s face lit up when he saw Jett, “There you are! We thought something happened to you when we didn’t see you yesterday. We were all worried about you.”

  “Just Bill was,” Amanda added.

  “Glad you are ok!” Ashley mumbled.

  “Thanks, guys, I’m ready to work out.”

  The rest of the week was running, doing pushups, lifting weights, and… more running. Even with his enhanced physique, Jett didn’t do a lot of running in space, so he got quite the workout. At the beginning of the week, he struggled to keep pace, but he recovered faster and stronger than anyone else. It was no surprise. Jett was eating ten thousand calories a day as body rapidly built muscle. By the end of the week, he could comfortably do all the exercises of the workout group without struggling.

  He spent almost all his free time with Layla, and before he knew it, it was time for classes.

  Classes for riders were a bit different from those for the hopefuls. Attendance for the law class was optional if he tested out for the semester, but if he failed, he needed to attend. There was no way he was going to make it through the dry material, so he didn’t even try to test out. The first class of the day was basically all hopefuls.

  Jett sat with his friends as Professor Wiggins went over the laws in a boring, nasally tone. Jett spaced out more than once and was glad Angie was there to record the lectures.

  The next three classes couldn’t be tested out of, so they were broken up. Jett had class with Amanda for the anatomy and physiology class, but the two after that, he would be alone.

  “Hurry up, we are going to lose the good seats!” Amanda said as she pulled Jett along. Jett thought she meant the back of the class so they could blend in, but nope, she had them sitting in the front row, front and center. A man with shoulder-length gray hair and a black professor's robe walked out. Jett read on the syllabus that his name was Professor Bond.

  “Good morning, class! I am here to teach you about dragons. Before we dive into how they work, it’s important to understand a few key differences.”

  “Does anyone know the differences between sky and space dragons?” Hands shot up around the room, mostly the hopefuls, but the professor ignored everyone. “Well, that is an easy one. Sky dragons can fly in the sky, while space dragons can fly through space. How about a more difficult one?. What is the difference between solar and non-solar dragons?”

  Amanda’s hand shot up along with twenty other people. The professor pointed, scanning over the room as he considered who to choose. Amanda practically vibrated as the professor’s hand passed over her. Professor Bond called on a boy somewhere behind Jett.

  “Solar dragons absorb solar energy to eat. Non-solar dragons like neutron dragons need to physically consume for energy.”

  “An adequate start. Who can name the solar dragons?”

  The professor picked a girl this time.

  “The red star titan dragon, the white star dragon, and the red star dragon. The non-solar are the neutron, brown star dragon, and moon dragon.”

  “Correct, but next time please answer only the question asked.”

  Jett didn’t think as he blurted, “What about void dragons?”

  The professor paused, staring at Jett. Amanda scooted away from him as far as she could. “We are here to study the dragons that can be bonded. Please stick to the material of the class.”

  The Professor looked down at his pad. “-and Honored Rider Knight, if you ever come across a void dragon, I suggest you run. Even the mightiest of the dragon riders have a healthy fear of void dragons.”

  Jett leaned back in his chair, considering the professor’s words. Then he noticed Amanda staring at him, pale-faced and wide-eyed.

  She whispered, “Honored Rider?”