3 The Quest

After a few minutes, the griffin reached the window entrance to the office tower.

"Here we are." the griffin squawked, "They're waiting for you inside."

Rhogar flew in the entrance and landed, letting Adrion dismount. Walking towards the Headmaster's desk he noticed both the Headmaster himself as well as a man he assumed to be the visitor looking for him. The Headmaster looked as he always did, an old man with a silver beard and hair wearing his usual dark green robes. A gold necklace with a crescent moon pendant hung around his neck, showing his rank as Headmaster of Moonbeam.

The visitor, on the other hand, looked far different. He was a young man with golden hair and striking blue eyes. His outfit was most unusual: armor that was composed of the brightest silver metal Adrion had ever seen. A large, white griffin stood behind him, probably the man's mount. Neither the Headmaster, nor the visitor had noticed his approach and were talking among themselves.

"Are you sure that he is the one?" The Headmaster asked, "There are plenty of other wizards with far more experience and are more powerful and capable."

"I'm very sure," the visitor replied, "The King wants him to go on this journey. I've learned to respect his judgement, no matter how odd it may seem."

Adrion took this opportunity to speak up: "What journey?'

The Headmaster and visitor turned to Adrion.

"Ah, Highstar! You got here faster than I expected." said the Headmaster.

Adrion turned to the visitor: "Are you the one who was looking for me?"

The visitor straightened up: "I am. My name is Gale, I'm a messenger sent by the White King himself."

Adrion froze: "THE White King…wants me?!" he barely managed to ask. This turned out to be no simple matter; the White King was the ruler of the entire world of Pandreia. To receive a quest from Him was a huge calling that lead to great honor.

Gale nodded: "He's chosen you for a special quest that will help us in the war."

"You mean the war against…"

"Don't say his name!" Gale and the Headmaster shouted in unison. Then Gale continued, "But yes, that war against that particular enemy."

Of course, the "enemy" they referred to was known only as the Necromancer: the sworn enemy of the White King and ruler of the twisted Shadow Lands and all the horrible creatures that came from it.

"Sooooo, what do I need to do?"

Gale pulled out a scroll from a pouch on the white griffin's saddle and gave it to Adrion: "This will guide you to where you need to go, but I will give you some background: recently one of our leigons of Imperial Knights have been trying to rout out a group of Skull Beasts in the Shadow Canyons. Unfortunately, we are unable to see them coming as they approach silently and blend in with the shadows of the cliffs. The one thing that can expose them is an artifact called the Light of Lunare. Perhaps you've heard of it?"

Adrion recalled learning about it in his relics class: it was a lantern that channeled light from the sun or moon and amplified it to insane levels. Supposedly it could light up the entire darkness of the Shadow Canyons or even the cursed Outlands. There was just one small problem:

"Didn't it get spilt apart into two different pieces?" he asked.

Gale nodded: "It was. That is where you come in. The commander cannot afford to send any of his knights out to find the pieces, but the King seems to think you are the right person for the job. Your quest is to recover the two halves and bring them to our men in the Shadow Canyon. Once there, you will join the two halves together, which, one held up to the light of the sun or moon, will generate enough light to expose and weaken the Skull Beasts enough for the Imperial Knights to cut through them easily. Which reminds me; you'll also need this." Gale then pulled out a sword in its sheath from the saddle as well and handed it to Adrion. Once Arion grabbed it. The sword began to shrink a bit.

"It's adjusting itself to fit your size." Gale explained. Sure enough, once the sword had stopped shrinking, Adrion was able to carry it much more easily. Adrion unsheathed the sword; the blade shone with a brilliance Adrion had never seen before. Then again, all the blades he had seen were not as new as this one either. On the blade was etched certain runes of power that Adrion recognized gave the sword magical properties.

"The sword and the scroll are all you will need to fulfill your quest. All that is needed now is if you choose to go or not."

Adrion though long and hard; this was a huge honor as well as a huge burden. It was years since he was actually outside of the Academy and even though he studied many f the creatures of the world, he still wasn't fully sure he was ready to handle them. Still, this was a calling from the White King himself, the ruler of the entirety of Pandreia. Finally, Adrion came to his decision. He turned to face Gale and the Headmaster.

"It's probably the most dangerous thing I'm ever gonna do, but I'll do it." he said.

Gale nodded and smiled. The Headmaster, however, looked concerned.

"You're sure you're up for this?" he asked.

"Headmaster with all due respect," Adrion replied, "Gale said the sword and scroll were all I needed to complete the mission. I also have a bunch of spells I can use, as well as one of the toughest dragons around to back me up." Rhogar snorted with pride in the back.

"When do you need me to leave?" Adrion asked.

"You leave first thing tomorrow morning. That should give you plenty of time to pack and prepare."

"Sounds good. Don't worry, I won't let you down."

Gale chuckled: "It's not me you're doing this mission for. It's for the White King himself."

"Right. Of course."

Gale mounted on his griffin: "Well, I shouldn't leave you standing here any longer. Good luck, Adrion!" Then he whipped the reins on his griffin, and it soared through the window and out into the sky. The headmaster turned back to Adrion.

"I am glad you decided to take this mission," he said, "But are you sure that you are up for it?"

"I got assigned a quest by the White King himself, so he must think I am ready." Adrion replied, "I gotta trust him."

"In that case, I give you the rest of the day to prepare."

Adrion thanked the Headmaster and then flew back to his dorm on Rhogar's back. Once they landed in the room, Rhogar began: "Okay, we got a big journey ahead of us, so we've got quite some packing to do. First we have no idea how long we'll be gone so changes of clothes…"

"Rhogar!" Adrion shouted, stopping the dragon mid-sentence, "Calm down. I'm still trying to deal with the extremity of the situation I just got myself into. This is a BIG deal."

Adrion sat down on his bed and held his head in his hands. Then Rhogar walked over and gelty nuzzled his friend: "I'm sorry I got excited," the dragon said, "I understand this is a lot to deal with, but you did seem pretty confident back there."

"Yeah," Adrion replied, "but I'm still nervous."

"And it's totally alright to be nervous," Rhogar advised, "But you must realize that we have everything you need. We have the scroll to guide us, so we won't get lost, and we have the sword, your magic, and my power should someone try to attack the two of us."

"Unlikely," Adrion chuckled, "You'd have to have a death wish to face a dragon."

"My point exactly! We'll be fine. We'll just go and get the pieces, put them together at the Shadow Canyons, and strike down anyone stupid enough to get in our way. Easy enough?"

Adrion stood up and patted Rhogar on the snout: "What did I do to deserve a dragon like you for an ally?"

Rhogar chuckled: "One can only guess. You ready now?"

Adrion nodded: "Let's get packing."

…

The next morning, Adrion and Rhogar were at the gates of the Academy, waiting for the Headmaster to give the order to open the gates and allow them through. Rhogar looked and noticed Adrion's quick breathing.

"Nervous?" he asked.

"Oh yeah I am," Adrion replied, "You?"

"Not in the slightest. It's like I told you yesterday, we'll be fine. You got the sword and the scroll?"

"Right here." Adrion said revealing the sword strapped to his belt and the scroll in his bag.

"Excellent." Rhogar said, "Then what have we to fear?"

Just then a horn sounded, followed by a massive rumbling as the gates slowly swung open. Adrion mounted on Rhogar's back. Looking out into the vast expanse of Pandreia that he was about to delve into, Adrion took a deep breath.

"Alright, Rhogar," Adrion said, "Let's do this."

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Rhogar replied, unfolding his wings, and after a few flaps to get off the ground, the two soared off into the air and the beginning of their quest.