2 The Dragonling

When Renner awoke he found himself lying in bed staring at the ceiling. For a second his mind wandered and he praised the exquisite craftsmanship that must have gone into the marble ceiling. Then he remembered what happened just before he passed out, but how did he wind up back here, and what was that thing? It resembled a dragon from the legends! Though, it was really too small!

It was only about one and a half meters long and thirty centimeters tall, covered head to toe in small grey scales, and on it's head was a small horn about fifteen centimeters long, if that. If he wasn't utterly terrified by dragons and their rumored snack being humans, he would have thought it was rather cute, especially with it's big yellow eyes. He involuntary shuddered at the thought of being eaten by such a small dragon.

"You really can't be lounging in bed all day you know?" A small squeak besides his head said. Renner slowly turned his head and was greeted by a big pair of yellow eyes. He screamed and jumped out of bed, scuttling to the nearest corner like a crab.

"DO NOT COME NEAR ME!!!" Renner screamed in fright as his eyes darted around the room looking for something to defend himself.

"Are you afraid I'm going to eat you or something like those ridiculous tales that people tell about dragons now days?" The small dragon with the big yellow eyes asked while pretending to be menacing. "Please, if I wanted to eat you, you'd have been dead the moment you walked in, but that stupid Arch Magus had other plans for me, I couldn't eat you if I wanted to."

The small dragon huffed and little bit of smoke puffed out of it's nose. "It's rather embarrassing you know? I'd rather be out there pillaging and whatnot, but instead I am in here bound by a stupid thousand-year old pact."

"So...you are not...going to eat me?" Renner asked, still looking around the room, albeit a little slower than before.

"No, I have to assist you, according to the great and oh so wonderful Arch Magus Kynleth," the dragon rolled its eyes at the mere mention of the magus, "I'm supposed to assist you in the wonderful undertaking that is learning to memorize this library full of information. Also in learning magic as well, you might probably need that later."

"Magic is heresy! We can't be using it, the empire will find us, and then we will be tortured to death!" Renner was resolute in his stance on magic.

"Are you fool? What empire? Did you not read the letter that the Arch Magus left you? We exist in a closed off area outside of time and space! The Gods could not touch you, let alone this "empire" you keep harping on about." The dragon replied mockingly.

"So then...if we are not in the empire, then where are we?" Renner asked curiously.

"Well, that... I do not know myself," the dragon admitted sheepishly.

"You're a dragon though, aren't you supposed to be capable of great magics?" Renner huffed, exposing his ignorance again.

"That too, I...well, I am not a full-fledged dragon. I am but a Dragonling." The small creature admitted, turning away embarrassingly. "The magic I can do is small, it's only enough to help and assist you, maybe one day I will have the chance to be a full-fledged dragon..."

"How does one become a full-fledged dragon?"

"You need the blessings of the Mother Queen and to complete the Three Trials of the Dragon."

"What are those?"

"Well the Mother Queen is Tiamat, mother of all the dragons! Don't worry, she's not evil, I know you humans have legends about how evil she is, and while it's true she has three heads that spit fire, acid, and poison, she truly harbors no ill-will towards the human race...I think. As for the Three Trials of the Dragon, it's sort of like the Rite of Passage that you humans have for your youngsters. There's the Trial of Wisdom, the Trial of Courage, and the Trial of Humility."

"Trial of Humility...?"

"Well it's sort of like this..." The Dragonling and Renner went back and forth for several hours about the culture and nuances of the Dragons, while also discussing Renner's former brothers of the order. After much laughter and tears, Renner no longer felt afraid of the small creature, instead he began to feel a little glad that he did not have to suffer inside the giant vault alone.

Sometime later...

Renner was perusing the library, looking for books that might catch his interest. He figured that as long as he had to sit here in this vault and understand everything, he might as well start with something entertaining. He eventually found a scroll marked as a chronicle of the war between the Kingdom of the Elves and the Kingdom of Man. He was about to take it out of the rack when he heard a voice behind him.

'I wouldn't start with that if I were you." He turned around and he wasn't surprised to see the Dragonling hovering there in the air. He and the small guy had gotten to know each other over the course of several days. The small Dragonling's name was Smoke, for the color of his scales. Dragons were a very practical species after all. Through the trials, depending on how he does, he might even get a new name.

"Why not, Smoke?" Renner was a little taken aback, Smoke had never really assisted him with his reading before.

"Well for starters, that particular scroll was written with magic ink, you would need to dispel the spell inside the scroll in order to read it's true contents, and second, you need to have a complete and thorough understanding of the history of that time period." Smoke explained.

"Well where would I find the history behind that time period, and you haven't taught me any magic yet!" Renner huffed, it was a little unfair. Smoke ignored his childish outburst and lazily pointed a claw at the book that Renner had thrown to the ground when he first came to the vault.

"A Brief Overview of the History of the World and the Races of Lore..." Renner muttered under his breath. "You mean you want me to read this thing? It was written by an elf...."

"What, you're going to insist that Elves aren't real, after meeting ME?" Smoke laughed at Renner's ignorance. "Put away your silly notions and open yourself to the truth. Knowledge begins with an open mind and a clear heart."

"An open mind and a clear heart..." Renner muttered, then his eyes brightened, "I've got it! Okay we'll start with this then, after all I've got to start somewhere. Child of Prophecy or not, getting out of here starts with one book!"

"That's the spirit!" Smoke encouraged.

Arch Magus Renner got to work fulfilling his task, his determination to find a way out of the vault renewed by the sense that somewhere in all of the knowledge, would lie a way out. Unknowingly time would pass faster than he thought, and the time of the Child of the Prophecy drew ever closer.