The man teaching me to fight is Jack's hand to hand combat master, Mr. Holbrook. He was a member of the original group of Retribution members. Jack made a trip to the town and searched him out. His amazement and wonder was great to see when he was first introduced to Draioct and I, he was a reserved man but his enthusiasm in meeting us was clear.

     When Jack came back from the surface with Holbrook they came back with grave news. The Queens Fire Dragons had been seen in a few towns over, meaning they would be here too and probably soon. The mage from The College had been correct, word got to the Queen and she was now looking for me. Her riders had been dispatched all across the Kingdom searching for me and Draioct.

     Jack did come with at least some good news. Dragons had begun spawning in all the shrine locations again. Man and Dragon were beginning to come together, forming bonds and living symbiotically.

     Here and there new Dragons showed up at the Armory, with and without riders. Mostly when Draioct would leave the cave to hunt, normal Dragons were able to sense him, but only if they were not in a pack. It turns out Dragons have a biological pull to pack up, making them stronger, whether that's with a human or a heard of Dragons. Once they join a pack they are unable to sense Alphas or True Alphas.

     After a small meeting we decided it was best that Draioct stayed in the cave, hidden from their senses until we were ready to defend ourselves properly. I myself had not left the cave in a long time and was getting stir crazy. The Earth Dragons added sleeping areas in anticipation of more members joining Retribution, so I slept and lived inside the cave, just training and sleeping. I decided tonight that I would leave the cave and get some fresh air. I had spent almost two months away from civilization while training and honestly just wanted to be alone for a little. I needed to get out into clean air and try to pretend my life was normal.

     It was morning of the next day and I began to suit up to head into the Kingdom, all along Draioct protesting me having him stay in the cave while I was gone. I put on my Dragons Leather, its bright white color a stark contrast to the dimly lit area I was standing in. I wore my regular boots and covered the Dragons Leather in a regular brown cloth poncho, the color of the white armor showing just below my neck. The poncho would at least cover most of the white armor making me less noticeable. I clicked my spear into the bracket on my back, making it hang diagonally across me. I finished by pulling the hood over my head completing my "normal" attire. I made my way up and out of the Armory then onto the trail towards town, Draioct making sure to squeeze in one last audible complaint before I left.

     It was great to smell the fresh air once again and be in my home town. I walked and listened to the wildlife, the birds singing and the wind blowing through the trees, the warm air of spring making the temperature perfect. I peacefully walked to town and enjoyed the entire trip, almost carefree like the old days.

     My time in town was equally as pleasant. I visited shops and ate some of the local food, buying some rabbit leg from the same man as before. Normally I would have seen maybe one dragon in the entire city, where now there were handfuls scattered everywhere.

     Thankfully none for them were members of the Queens army. I physically shuddered at the thought of her. Rumors had gotten to us that she had begun training to battle me by killing off her own army. What a cruel woman.

     I watched the performers in the streets and quickly realized why they were not at The College. Some of them had very small abilities in the elements and simply found ways to make them look much greater in power, or confuse the audience. Either way it was enjoyable to be in the city, taking in the smells and sounds of humans just living. The sweet smell of the deserts scattered among different carts and buildings, people idly talking amongst themselves. Normal people living a normal life.

     I took special care to stay far away from the Mages Tower in the center and kept my hood up so that no one would possibly recognize me. The last thing I needed was trouble. Right in the middle of us recruiting a small resistance and building weapons.

     When I look back at that day I do realize that I look much different now than I had when I met the mages. I had now grown a very short beard, the thick facial hair changing the look of my face. Before I was incredibly lean and tall where now, thanks to the physical training, I was beginning to bulk up. I had good muscle definition.

     Every so often Draioct would push into my mind and check on what I was up to always ensuring things were going well, assessing the situation and checking my location. I finally decided it was time to head back to the Armory and made my way back down the path to the Blacksmiths hut. Draioct was in constant worry and I had a lot of things I needed to get done that were weighing on me. They were actually starting to take the fun out of the day a little bit.

     As I was making my way down the path the sun was beginning to set and the wildlife was calming down and preparing for night time. I lazily kicked rocks while lost in my thoughts, wondering if I was going to be ready when the time came. How does someone know when they are ready to go into battle? I honestly didn't even want to fight, it was just my duty to fight.

     I turned round a bend in the road and came upon a large scarred man, and an even larger Red Dragon. My heart began beating hard as adrenaline filled my veins. The two of them were currently in the process of interrogating another person that had been traveling down the road. I knew they were with the Queen. It was too late to turn around, I would have to get by them.

     I continued down the path trying my best to remain calm and collected, trying to act natural, hoping they wouldn't even notice me. As I got closer I was able to make out their features. I pushed Draioct's mind to my eyes showing him what I was coming up to.

"Play it safe Adam. I will be there in just a moment. Leaving now."

     I knew that it would take Draioct about five minutes to get here so I at least needed to hold them off till then, if it came to it. The Dragon was a dark red and bore the scars of what looked to be many battles.

     The Fire Dragon had spikes covering what seemed to be most of his body and moved around in a manner that seemed dubious and vile, like a snake, shifting and moving around to get the best angle possible on the prey they were interrogating.

     His rider was equally as vile looking and wore tattered black clothing showing his muscles, scars, and tattoos. He decided they were done with the interrogation after seeing me, and he pushed the man onto the ground turning to make his way towards me, their intended next victim. It seemed that they were torturing the man for fun, got bored, and now they are coming after me.

     I stopped walking and let them make their way to me, trying to buy as much time as I could. The man sensed something was up and hollered out to me.

"Ay! Boy! Get over year! What choose doing here by urself?"

     They got within ten feet of me and both him and the Dragon stopped and locked their eyes on my white Dragons Leather, clearly not hidden as well as I had thought. His Dragon squinted and spoke in a snake like manner to the rider.

"Hey. Isn't that the armor worn by those Retribution guysss?"

     They both grinned a maniacal smile, showing rotting teeth and slime in both of their mouths. The stench of rot crept the few feet between us in an instant.

     The Rider charged me without warning, yelling and drawing his sword. I stepped back and pulled the spear from my back flawlessly as I had been practicing and met his sword chop with the tip of the spear. I was immediately surprised at how poorly trained this man must be, his movement obvious and slow. His next move was to stumble slightly from my block and spin wildly with his sword attempting to hit me on my off arm as he passed. I calmly brought the spear to my side vertically and blocked his swing, this time however I followed through with a hard right hook, catching him hard in the chin.

     I heard a loud crack of what must've been his jaw bone, his eyes squinted and he stumbled falling onto the ground in a roll. His Dragon took this opportunity to shoot a large flame at me from the side while I was focusing on his downed rider. I felt the energy and heat of it coming and brought up a large wall of Earth to use as a shield, silently thanking Othello for the practice.

     I answered by pushing it hard at the Dragon, smashing him on his head and stunning him slightly. The rider had now recovered and was rushing at me full speed with his sword thrusting. I smoothly stepped out of his clumsy attack and as he followed through I charged a large bolt of lightning, unleashing a beam right into his sword, charring him and ending the rider's battle, smoke rising from his body. I instantly felt bad. The rider had tried to kill me, but killing him in return felt no better.

     His Dragon roared in anger and flapped his wings beginning to lift off the ground in an attempt to get a better position on me. He broke my thoughts and I reacted by changing my stance in preparation of his attack. He started forming a giant flame, presumably using most of his energy in an attempt to finish me. I locked eyes with him, getting ready to throw another wall of earth in front of me.

     I heard a whistling from above and looked up just in time to see Draioct flying straight down from high above the Fire Dragon. He tilted his head down and rammed into the Dragon at astounding speed, curving upward after he connected. His size more than double that of the Fire Dragon. There was a boom from the force of the impact, sending the fire dragon down to the Earth and slamming him into a small crater, Draioct's bigger size giving him the weight advantage, and his horns doing the rest. Draioct leveled out and landed beside me, the Fire Dragon lying dead in the crater and his Rider lying on the road.

     I letout a breath of relief along with Draioct, my body shaking slightly as theadrenaline wore off and my body recovered. We had just beaten the first ofpresumably many of the Queens forces in what was a matter of two minutes. Theymay not be well trained but, what they lack in skill, they make up for innumbers. We were going to need to get busy recruiting.