Fire Dragons flew from every corner of the castle like a swarm of bats that had been awoken from a deep sleep. Deep pits of flame around the edges of the Castle had begun burning more brightly as the sounds of slave laborers screams could be heard in the distance. The slave workers were being whipped into harder work, stoking the flames of the massive underground forges for the Queen's armies. She was going to need a lot more battle armor. Black smoke slowly rose from the pits as more logs were added to the heat of the fire.

     The Death rider General Balldrock came trudging out of the Queen's war room. He briskly walked past guards as they snapped to attention in his presence. He methodically made his way through the Castle and out into the courtyard of his waiting death riders. The men already sat upon their winged monsters, anxiously shifting as they awaited his orders. He stepped in front of the rough looking men and eyed each one carefully, each man averting their eyes last second to avoid his powerful gaze.

"Alright you vermon. Queen Vadoris wants you to round up some new recruits. It seems we will be hunting down some kiddie and his pet Dragon. Break into teams of two, then travel to each of the conscript towns. Make sure you collect the protection payments, then let them know we will be taking more recruits. A foot caravan will be following behind you to handle the new men and the ransom gold. Now get out there and grow our glorious army!"

     With his last words the riders yelled in unison.

"May fire cleanse the Earth, and long live the Fire Queen!"

     The evil men and their Dragons lifted off from the ground, dust and ash filling the air as their dragons beat their heavy wings, the odd dragon here and there shooting small flames, and roaring with excitement.

     After the dust had settled Balldrock watched as the men flew away, a menacing smile growing across his face. He took pleasure in knowing the pain and suffering his Death Riders were going to cause out in the Conscript settlements.

***

     The Queen fumed within her throne room. She had stood up and began pacing back and forth, throwing in random tantrums of flame and yelling.

"These people think they have hope, do they? It looks like I will have to remind them how powerful I truly am!"

     She stopped her pacing and began walking to the doors of her throne room, her face contorted into a hard menacing scowl. Anger radiated from her as she walked, the temperature rising in the room. She made it to the doors and threw them open before screaming into the hallway of nervous people.

"Someone send scouts to every city! I want to know where this brat is. Report his position to me and then try to KILL HIM!"

     She slammed the doors shut again behind her as the people left in the hallway scrambled to relay the information.

     Back inside the throne room her dragon Volaris stood from his resting place in the corner and began moving around the room like a vile four legged snake. His dark eyes were hidden in the low red light of the room, the smell of smoke from the forge fires finally making its way up to the throne room.

"We need to go about this with some sort of meaningful plan my Queen. Although he is just a young man, we do not want to underestimate him. We may want to consider mobilizing forces towards his location. Deal with him harshly and powerfully before he has a chance to become an issue."

     She had made her way back to the throne and plopped down while listening to Volaris speak. Her face freely showing her emotions as she considered his words before she finally began to speak.

"You may be right my love. You are once again the only reasonably voice in this place. Let us stamp out this nuisance with full force before he becomes an actual problem. Maybe this time we destroy The College as well for trying to hide him from us."

     The dark dragon stared at her silently for a moment while he considered what she had said. Thin dark smoke trails rising from his nostrils as he breathed in and out.

"You may be right about The College. We will see...we will have to see."

     As his deep voice trailed off she thought back to the day they had fled from The College in a whirlwind of emotions and pain.

#

     The young Vadoris and her Dragon Volaris flew out of The College's courtyard, tears of pain and anger streaming down her face. They flew for hours and took only a few breaks, the frustration of their failure growing as they got further from civilization.

"They want too much Volaris! I don't know why we can't use other elements! They push and they push and they push. Well no more! We will show them. The next time they see us, we will be the most powerful Alphas they have ever seen!"

     Volaris silently nodded and she spoke. His mind sharing in the pain of the situation. The inner turmoil between right and wrong quieting itself as they moved themselves further to one side of the scale. She cried silently for a while before succumbing to exhaustion and falling asleep on his back. In the distance he saw the smoke rising from a large mountain of flame. The cold wind biting into him as he flew hard from the city, a small shiver ran through his long scaly body.

     He focused on the mountain and longed for the warmth of the flame. He searched within her mind and saw that she was still asleep so he made the decision. He turned his heading to the mountain and beat his wings hard, the promise of warmth driving his cold body.

     As he flew closer he searched within his heart for answers. He knew that she was frustrated at their lack of progress with further elements. Should he tell her that as her frustration and anger grew, the less successful she would be in learning new elements? Would she calm down after a few days of rest?

     He decided that he would wait to tell her the information. He didn't want to work her up even further, she was so sensitive and easily hurt.

     He hoped he had not already let her go too far.