Darkness once ruled the land of Roahla. The vast kingdom had once thoroughly enjoyed the light of the joy could bring, but for several centuries, the fickle moon and the twinkling stars have been the only celestial sources of light.

Although the inhabitants had adapted to eternal nocturnal life, magic was the only reason anyone remained alive, whether it was their own magic or the magic of others. Magic provided warmth, security, and often, community.

Many had attempted to lift the darkness, but the evil spell that was used to banish the sun could not be reversed with a spell, as the sun would not return without the return of what was stolen from it: four beads of sunlight. The spell had not only banished the sun, but it had also captured and scattered the last rays of light from the last sunset to the corners of the land. Without the lost rays, the sun would never return.

Using fear, trickery, and greed, a hidden force has kept the typical inhabitant of the sunless land from attempting to journey to find the last rays of light. Even those who do try quickly succumb to failure.

But with every oppressive force, there is an opposite force who wants to return the joy of sunlight to the land. Sometimes the switch between sides takes cycles, or even centuries to gain some momentum, but once a proper velocity is achieved, change is on the horizon.

Our story begins at the base of the mountain.

~~~

A tall man paused at the entrance of a cave and looked up to the torches that flanked the sides of the entrance, which had been smoothed using stone and dragon fire tempered mortar. The cave entrance rested at the base of a small mountain, and lead downward into more darkness.

Although a warmer breeze drifted out from inside the cave, outside it was so cold every exhalation was a plume of white mist and there was so much snow on everything, even the first several paces of the cave, was covered with permanent snow. At least the melting snow inside the cave offered a source of water where it pooled near the end of the crevasse.

The man's ivory hooded long coat protected him from the harsh cold of the sunless land. A graying red beard protected his chin and part of his neck from the cold, and the hood from his cloak protected the rest of his head from the cold. His brown eyes looked to the torches on the wall, which served as the only light other than the full moon in the sky.

Each of the torches held a bottle of ryume, the flammable liquid produced by dragons. When a wick was placed into the bottle, the vicious substance could be burned as a source of light in a land where the fickle phases of the moon were the only major source of light.

Once he grabbed a torch from the wall, he stepped into the cave and slowly walked down into the warmer underground space, careful to ensure he did not slip on the damp floor. He did not desire to hurt himself.

Growls, chirps, and other noises echoed from deeper underground and accompanied the echoes of his footsteps as he walked down the seemingly endless corridor. The moonlight from outside got dimmer and dimmer until the only light came from his torch.

Once he eventually rounded the final corner, the source of the noises was revealed to him. Three young dragons, called draga, were playing together in their own rough and tumble way. As the three played, their larger parents intently watched and guarded them incase of danger.

The largest young dragon was a beautiful bronze male. Although he had a simple coloring, it reminded the observer of a perfectly sculpted living statue with eyes made from emeralds. His feathers had come in nicely, both covering his wings and the crest on his head. His thick fur had a healthy sheen, and his powerful limbs would serve him well after he chose a rider during the Choosing tomorrow night.

The second largest, a dark blue female, was beautiful in that her extremities transitioned to a midnight purple. Guild Master Orthos could see the intelligence in her pale blue eyes. Unlike males, females did not have a feather crest on their heads. Instead, the ridge of longer fur that lined every dragon's spine extended to the top of the head, whereas on the males it ended at the base of the crest. This female's mane was a redder purple than the rest of her fur, while her muzzle was speckled with tiny dots of gold that seemed to twinkle like stars as she breathed and moved. She was built with a sleeker body type than the male, but there was still power in her muscles.

The smallest was a green female. She was a color comparable to no plant that grew in the land without the sun. She was a jade color that was darker than the green fluorescent mushrooms that grew in the caves and had even darker emerald markings on her paws and heels, and her a stripe, including her spine fur, from her nose to her tail tip was also the same darker color. Her pale blue eyes were brilliantly bright and vibrant with life and reflected the stubborn vitality that had kept her alive. Her wings were a bit larger proportionally when compared to the other draga in the cave, but they never seemed to encumber her. Despite her smaller size and thinner build, she was faster than the others, and her muscles could be built up as she aged.

Guild Master Orthos knew there was something special about this green. Though he could also feel her uniqueness in his bones, there was also the fact that she and her twin were born three moons early, making her the oldest dragon of her clutch. Most draga did not survive if they were born more than a few nights early, yet she had. To make matters worse, her brother had been stillborn and had probably dragged his sister into a premature birth as their mother's body attempted to expel the dead child.

Both parents had been devastated, especially the mother, the dark green Emerald. She had tried to lick the dead one back to life before focusing on her live birth. Her mate, the dirt brown Gaian, had to dispose of the dead male. With both parents' focused intensive care, the green female had survived and had eventually turned into a healthy and energetic draga. Technically, she had become old enough to have her Choosing three moons ago, but Guild Master Orthos hoped her magic was delayed in development from how sickly and weak she was when she was born. No one was sure when the prime period for bond formation ended.

The man blinked and jumped slightly as a large furred creature bumped into his free hand and took his attention away from the playing draga. He looked down and his brown eyes met the pale red eyes of an adult male dragon the same brilliant ivory color of his cloak had nudged his hand. The human's stern face softened at the sight of his own dragon. "Hello Valiant." He stroked Valiant's neck as the dragon raised his head closer to the human's eye level.

'I miss flying with you Orthos.' The dragon made a series of low frequency purrs as he spoke telepathically into Guild Master Orthos's mind. 'Flying isn't the same without you, and I really only leave this cave to get food for myself, our mate, or the children.'

Telepathic speech, known as a mindlink, was part of the magic in this species of dragon. They could create a bond to convey thoughts, emotions, and memories with a single human which they chose, and only that human could hear them.

After the draga chose his/her rider, their minds and souls would be bonded forever. There were tales of dragons once being able to mindlink and communicate with all who were able to listen and other stories of a human able to hear all dragons, but those legends were older than the tales of the sun. The only dragons Guild Master Orthos could hear speak were Valiant and his wife Gwen's dragon, Curriage.

"I miss flying with you as well. After the Choosing tomorrow, we'll fly, even if it's just around the mountain a few times." Guild Master Orthos promised. He once again looked to the playing draga. Except for the green, they were a moon and one night short of being three cycles old, and tomorrow night, under the full moon, they were to emerge from their nursery cave for the final time, then choose their rider and soulmate.

Though he was the only male dragon present, Valiant was not the only adult in the cave, as three other adult females were watching over the draga as they played. The queens, which was adult females who had had at least one litter were called, watched over their young.

The black queen with grey speckles was Valiant's beautiful mate, Curriage. She was the navy's mother, and her young took after her much more often than they took after Valiant. Besides Valiant, she was the oldest dragon living under the mountain, and Guild Master Orthos worried that this would be her last litter. When she was younger, she had litters of up to three draga, but this cycle, there was only one.

The bronze's queen, Saturn, was a golden color with dazzling green eyes that sparkled like emeralds, a feature she had passed onto her son.

Her mate, Conan, who was out hunting for food along with the other male missing from the room, was a darker bronze color than their draga, but he also had stripes along his back that were absent in their son.

Gaian, Emerald's mate, was simply a brown version of his daughter, as they shared the same pattern on their bodies.

Guild Master Orthos wished he could know the dragas' names, but the first human to know a draga's name was supposed to be their rider. Even Valiant knew this and was careful to hide his thoughts of the names of the young dragonets in the nursery room from his own rider.

"Guild Master?" The echoing voice of another human reached Guild Master Orthos's ears, which caused him to glance back towards long trek back to the entrance. He sighed as he stroked Valiant's feather-crested head one last time, then turned and left the cave.

A woman was standing there in the same riding gear Guild Master Orthos was in padded leather pants and gloves, as well as a shirt and warm cloak made from a material called ejon, which was made from the shed fur of dragons, though her coat was amber instead of ivory. Despite its thin appearance, ejon was an excellent insulator and was better than wool at keeping humans warm.

Another difference between their cloaks were the markings on their shoulders: Guild Master Orthos's coat had five black parallel stripes with a four-pointed star with rounded points on the top, the mark of a Guild Master, while the woman's coat only had three stripes, the mark of the Innate Rank, sewn onto it with green thread.

Her hand rested on the shoulders of a muscular, yet graceful female dragon with fur the color of amber. Guild Master Orthos knew who they were. The human was Diane, and her amber dragon was Kirin, who, despite being old enough to be considered an adult dragon, the dragoness had yet to choose a mate. Guild Master Orthos hoped that would change soon, as they only had a small number of dragons, and more often then not, complications arose during the two-cycle long pregnancy that caused the draga to be lost before he/she could even be born.

"Guild Master Orthos, The hunters have returned early, but have plenty of food for the dragonets," Diane informed.

"They're still draga until after their Choosing." He reminded her. "Do you know why they returned early?"

"The dragons scented a storm," Diane replied. "The fresh snow will preserve the catch as long as it is guarded against predators and other dragons."

Guild Master Orthos nodded in understanding. "I presume the chefs are already notified?" He looked to Diane, who nodded.

Kirin lowered her head to Guild Master Orthos's eye level and shifted in her riding harness. The mateless dragoness made a rough cooing sound much like one Valiant made when he had a question. Guild Master Orthos did not need to have a mind link with the amber dragon to know she had a question, and he had a feeling he knew exactly what she wanted to know.

Diane quickly translated. "Kirin wants to know how many are going to be in the Choosing this cycle. She knows it's supposed to be a secret to keep fighting among the Potentials to a minimum, but she's still curious."

"If I tell you, both of you are going to be on cleaning duty to prepare the caves for the expecting queens that will move in here after the Choosing." Guild Master Orthos retained his calm leader-like composure.

The dragon and her rider silently communicated between themselves as they contemplated the options before they replied. Kirin sat down and urged Guild Master Orthos on with a breathy "huff."

"We agree to your terms," Diane replied in a composure that attempted to mimic Guild Master Orthos's body language.

"There are three draga for this cycle's choosing." Guild Master Orthos stated. "Two females and a male."

A large grin spread across Diane's face as Kirin purred in happiness. "Three is an excellent cycle. I've been bonded with Kirin for ten years, and this is only the second time we've had that many, and some cycles we did not have any draga for the Choosing." Diane's face displayed her happiness.

Guild Master Orthos was already aware of those facts, but he wasn't going to make a snarky comment and simply nodded. "Now if you excuse me, I have other matters to attend to. Don't forget about our agreement." He walked past the two females and headed into a different cave entrance on the side of the mountain. He had a lot to prepare for tomorrow.