The Sixth Dragon Rider

Part 6

Aura trudged through the hall still exhausted from her combat training that morning. After the training she had gone to lunch and, because Nirvana had not been with her the boys had tried to trip her again. This time she had avoided actually being tripped, but she wasn't sure if she would ever fit in with all the boys.

She wandered down one hall after another until she found a sign with "Classrooms"on it that pointed down into the west wing. Aura followed all the signs until she arrived in a hall with numbered doors. At the end a door with the number nine was standing ajar and she assumed that was the classroom that she was supposed to go to.

The classroom was massive inside with ropes hanging from the ceiling, which was massive and vaulted and even a swimming pool. In front of a large that table the stood in front of several smaller desks was a man much younger than her combat teacher shuffling papers. Not sure what to do since she was the first one there Aura cleared her throat softly and tried to get the man's attention.

"Oh," he said turning around, "You're early, good for you. Just take a seat at the desks please and we will get started as soon as the others arrive. My name is Heran by the way and I will be your teacher."

Aura quietly took a seat at a desk as the man, Heran, continued to sort through his papers. Nirvana who had shrunk herself to fit into Aura's pocket came out and enlarged so she could fit around Aura's shoulders, in her favorite position. The next person to come into the room was Garret the boy from her village. She wondered if being prompt was a trait they picked up on their village because they were the first by far. Eventually though, everyone else trickled in and took their seats. When everyone had arrived Heran cleared his throat to get everyone's attention and began speaking.

"Hello class, as some of you may already know my name is Heran and I will be your basic skills teacher. Now for those of you who don't know, basic skills is about discovering and practicing your unique skills. These skills are something unique to you that your dragon allows you to do, something most people can't do. Now these skills are generally in the elements of air, fire, living earth or plants, and nonliving earth or things such as rocks. Usually the color of your dragon predicts the element you will have a skill set in, an example being the boy with the yellow dragon, who will most likely be fire or nonliving earth. There really isn't a definite way to know before that skill shows itself though, meaning that these predictions ares not guarantees, so don't get yourselves set on anything. Any questions before we get started?"

Several people shouted out their questions and only one raised his hand. Heran pointed at the boy who had raised his hand instead of shouting and gestured for him to speak.

"I was wondering if you know when we will get our skills, is it automatic or does it take time?"

"Before I answer that I just want to tell everyone that shouting out is not accepted and I will ignore anyone who shouts out unless, one, they raise their hand, or two, it is an absolute emergency. Anyway back to that excellent question, no, we do not know when you will come into your powers. It might be today, or it might be 3 weeks from today. Any more questions?"

One boy at the front with a smug look on his face raised his hand and Heran nodded for him to speak.

"Well I have been reading up on dragon riders for years and I thought there were a bunch more skill categories. Non-elemental ones," the boy said in a snobbish voice.

"Well, that's true, there were once more, magical let's say, categories. But they disappeared with most of the books from Cassandra's time, or the ancient ages. Now if there are no more questions, lets begin," Heran said looking around, when no one raised their hand he continued, "Great I would like everyone to go stand by the pool and we will try to see if we can find your powers. Also I would like to remind you we do not know when you will come into your powers, but sometimes a shock of sorts, or an urgency, can reveal those powers."

Everyone followed Heran over to the pool and stood in a line. He looked them over for a moments time and nodded to himself. Nirvana was still perched on Aura's shoulder serenely, with her tail curled around her feet. Suddenly a group of men emerged from behind various places in the room and began to attack.

Heran, who had been closest to the attackers was down immediately leaving the students on their own. One or two of the students put their fists up to fight, although most just looked scared as they edged closer to their dragons. Aura wasn't sure whether to run or fight but Nirvana was still just sitting on her shoulder calmly, not worried in the least, so Aura decided just to stay put.

Chaos was unraveling before her as boys ran left and right trying to run away or fight back. One of the bigger boys was in an all out fist fight with one of the attackers, and they were clawing and punching like there was no tomorrow.  Two of the other, smaller boys had run off and were being pursued by the men. At least they weren't just running in circles like chickens with their heads cut off screaming though, like one very frightened boy was.

Aura still hadn't been noticed in the shadowy corner by the pool where she was standing, but she wasn't going to watch any longer. Nirvana was still calm as ever though as Aura rushed to where Heran lay and tried to get him up to help them. At some point he had been knocked out and was now unresponsive to everything. The boys had started to get a grip on themselves though and she had to dodge a fireball thrown by one boy and regain her balance after an earthquake she was sure was  caused you another. Over near the pool though Aura noticed a boy being backed to the edge of the water by an attacker.

Aura rushed over to help, dodging random projectiles, as well as the attackers and her classmates who were still running around. Just as she was about to the edge of the pool though she tripped on a prickly vine someone had grown and went sprawling to the ground. The boy she had been trying to help had terror etched on his face as she struggled to free her skirt from the vine. Just as the man was about to punch the boy by the pool though, the boy threw his hand forward to block the punch and water erupted from the pool in a massive tidal wave and crashed down on the attacker and towards Aura. She tried one last time to free herself so she could run, but her skirt was still stuck and just as the water was about to crash down upon her Aura thrust her hands up and hoped for the best.

She waited for the impact but it never came, instead she looked up and saw all the water above her, uobing and unable to touch her. The attack had stopped too, and the men were leaving. Heran all of a sudden stood up too, although he was supposed to be knocked out.

"Everyone calm down and stop firing. That was not a real attack, it was a staged one with the senior students to see if you might use your powers. A lot of you did find your powers and for that I am impressed, don't feel bad if you didn't though. Anyway it looks like maybe Ivan and Garret are fire, Zaren is nonliving earth, Allec is living earth, and Tellern as well as Aura appear to be water. You may all leave now."

Aura looked up and realized the water had been removed from above her and was being ushered back into the pool by one of the senior student who staged the attack. Other older students were cleaning up the classroom as well and soon it looked good as new. As she picked up her stuff though and prepared to leave Aura wondered about the test. Heran had said she was water but when she stopped the water, she also stopped everything around her, including the man who had been coming to attack her.

A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and thank you sooooo much to everyone who votes and comments. Anyway I wanted to say two things. First to be clear when I say "Cassandra's time" I am referring to a long time ago when everything was united and a woman named Cassandra was queen. Second, I might take a little longer to update because although I have a plot I need filler chapters and am bad at thinking those up so if you have any comment them.

Bye for now, Kat