Dragon heart

24

(Chapter 24)
The test has begun

'Normal' - Human tongue
'Dragonese' - Dragon's tongue

~*~

Author POV

Jimin was nervous to say the least when the test truly began. 

"You must fly the dragon to the location on the maps you have been given. Only the first 30 of you will go through to the next stage" the announcer declared to the crowd.

Jimin pulled the map out of the pouch he had been given when he signed up, at least he now knew what it was for. The map was not a map at all when he unravelled it, the was a list of instructions. They were getting rid of all those who could not read, they needed riders that could complete paper work. 

"What are you all still doing here, go" the announcer sounded irritated, Jimin vaguely saw him raise his arms in a 'well get going movement'. 

"Taehyung" Jimin turned to his dragon.

Taehyung inclined his head and began to take the form of his fully grown purple scaled dragon. He was a sight to behold, Jimin saw Auden gawk at the size of Taehyung, but he paid no mind to him. He made quick work, scaling up Taehyung's side and onto his back.

"Go" Jimin's voice was full of authority. 

Taehyung slinked into the air with a fluidity he had mastered as he grew. Jimin waited till they were only a few metres away from brushing against the clouds above them before he issued the next instruction.

"Go left" Taehyung immediately obeyed, careening to the left. As they did so Jimin was treated to the view of the field they began in, of many contestants trying to reason with their dragons to shift, allow them onto their back or to fly. 

Auden was amongst them, his dragon Xayze seemed to have shifted. But Auden appeared to be too afraid to climb onto the dragon's back, Jimin could see his trembling form from the sky. 

Jimin scanned his surrounds before looking down at the instructions once more. Several more riders were able to convince their dragons to take to the sky. So Jimin was no longer alone in the darkening sky, an affect of the autumnal season. 

Jimin was able to direct Taehyung through the list of instructions with ease. With Taehyung's now large wingspan he could cover ground quickly and at a constant steady pace. Jimin could hear the dragons roaring behind him, they were following, clearly their riders knew where they were going or were just following behind Jimin who looked confident in his knowledge of where they were supposed to be heading.

To others the roars of the dragons were nonsensical, to Jimin they were complaints and conversation. Jimin couldn't help but snicker to himself as he overheard conversations being held by the dragons. 

"This is pointless"

"Why was I woken up for this?"

"Can we be done now?"

"How bizarre do these humans get"

"Anyone have any idea where we are going?"

Jimin was able to capture snippets of the conversations over the wind that was rushing past them as they glided through the dark sky. Jimin directed Taehyung to dive, the location they were supposed to land at was around this area, he was almost completely sure of that, of course there was a possibility he could be wrong (he hoped it wasn't the latter).

But then a human cry was heard, it was a scream that had the dragons cringing at the sound. Jimin instinctively turned to look at the direction the noise had come from, as was human nature was to be curious of the unknown. 

A contestant had fallen from his dragon, and with a slight amounting horror in his chest, Jimin realised it was Auden. The shy malnourished boy was like a piece of paper in the wind, he was falling at a rapid pace. 

Xayze his dragon, that had become a beautiful orange colour upon transformation. He was hovering mid air, seemingly conflicted as to whether he wanted to save the human whom had fallen from his back, but the cold look in the large reptile's eyes showed he had no intention of saving the human. 

Jimin commanded Taehyung without much hesitation. Taehyung was able to turn and dive fast, Jimin's heart was racing in his chest the further he saw Auden fall. Fear that they wouldn't catch him in time was racing through the forefront of his mind. 

But Taehyung gave a roar of confirmation, Jimin sighed in relief when he looked down and saw Taehyung had managed to grab Auden in his talons. He was safe. But with consequence, the other had seen the area Jimin intended to dive to as the finishing point and had landed before him.

Jimin commanded Taehyung to fly back to the spot and land. Taehyung did so, being careful when he landed that he wouldn't crush Auden who was still clutched in a gentle embrace within his claws. Xayze had followed them when he realised Jimin had saved his human rider. 

Jimin saw that there was less than 30 contestants at the landing area, so he knew he had passed the test even if he hadn't been the first to land as he had hoped he would. At least it wouldn't paint a target on his back, he rather liked the idea of being in the middle, overlooked by the other contestants but still able to achieve what he wanted.

Auden was shaky when Jimin dismounted from Taehyung's back, the dragon shifting back down to his more humanoid form. 

"Are you okay?" Jimin crouched down by his side. Auden was shaking so hard Jimin feared he was injured, but a quick scanned showed that he was not. Apparently it was just shock. 

"Is he okay?" Xayze had shifted down to his humanoid form. Jimin was surprised at how young the dragon looked, he was over 18 Jimin knew that, he had the size and markings of an adult dragon when he was at full shift.  He was fidgeting with his hands, quite the opposite to before the test had begun when he had acted aloof and cold. 

"He should be fine, he is just in shock" Jimin answered honestly. He had shrugged his jacket off and put it across Auden's shoulders, hoping to warm the freezing boy.

"He just fell, I've never really been able to fly before today. I was not sure I could catch him without hurting" Xayze's voice shook. 

Jimin knew he was telling the truth, the wobble to his voice and the fact his gut told him so was enough evidence. Plus he knew many people who kept dragons as 'pets' used the magic collars to prevent them from going full shift or flying. Today was probably the first day Xayze had been able to fly as a fully shifted dragon. 

"Jimin Park" his voice was bellowed across the field, a angry looking man dressed in the full dragon rider gear issued to the army was heading his way and Jimin wasn't quite sure what he had done to incur his wrath.

But he supposed he was about to find out. 

~*~

So the test has begun.

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Bye,
Winter