Chapter 1

[For anyone who has read Eragon, the first few chapters will have slight changes to the story before it starts to slowly shift]

"Run, you fool!" Brom cried to Eragon, cleaving at his enemy. The Urgal in front of Eragon roared and swung his sword mightily. Eragon jerked back with a startled yelp as the weapon

whistled past his cheek. He spun around and fled toward the center of Yazuac, heart pounding wildly.

The Urgal pursued him, heavy boots thudding. Eragon sent Saphira a desperate cry for help, then forced himself to go even faster. The Urgal rapidly gained ground despite Eragon's efforts;

large fangs separated in a soundless bellow. With the Urgal almost upon him, Eragon strung an arrow, spun to a stop, took aim, and released. The Urgal snapped up his arm and caught the quivering bolt on his shield. The monster collided with Eragon before he

could shoot again, and they fell to the ground in a confused tangle.

Eragon sprang to his feet and rushed back to Brom, who was trading fierce blows with his opponent from Snowfire's back.' Where are the rest of the Urgals? Wondered Eragon frantically. Are these two the only ones in Yazuac? There was a loud smack, and Snowfire reared

whinnying. Brom doubled over in his saddle, blood streaming down his arm. The Urgal beside him howled in triumph and raised his ax for the death blow.

A deafening scream tore out of Eragon as he charged the Urgal headfirst. The Urgal paused in astonishment, then faced him contemptuously, swinging his ax. Eragon ducked under the two-handed blow and clawed the Urgal's side, leaving bloody furrows. The

Urgal's face twisted with rage. He slashed again but missed as Eragon dived to the side and scrambled down an alley. Eragon concentrated on leading the Urgals away from Brom. He

slipped into a narrow passageway between two houses, saw it was a

dead-end, and slid to a stop. He tried to back out, but the Urgals had already blocked the entrance. They advanced, cursing him in their gravelly voices.

Eragon swung his head from side to side, searching for a way out, but there was none. As he faced the Urgals, images flashed in his mind: dead villagers piled around the spear and an innocent baby who would never grow to adulthood. At the thought of their fate, a burning, fiery power gathered from every part of his body. It was more than a desire for

justice. It was his entire being rebelling against the fact of death-that he would cease to exist. The power grew stronger and stronger until he felt ready to burst from the contained force.

He stood tall and straight, all fear gone. He raised his bow smoothly. The Urgals laughed and lifted their shields. Eragon sighted down the shaft, as he had done hundreds of times, and

aligned the arrowhead with his target. The energy inside him burned at an unbearable level. He had to release it, or it would consume him. A word suddenly leapt unbidden to his lips. He shot, yelling, "Brisingr!"

The arrow hissed through the air, glowing with a crackling blue light. It struck the lead Urgal on the forehead, and the air resounded with an explosion. A blue shock wave blasted out of the monster's head, killing the other Urgal instantly. It reached Eragon before he had time to react, and it passed through him without harm, dissipating against the houses. Eragon stood panting, then looked at his icy palm. The gedwéy ignasia was glowing like white-hot metal, yet even as he watched, it faded back to normal. He clenched his fist, then a wave of exhaustion washed over him. He felt strange and feeble as if he had not eaten for days. His knees buckled, and he sagged against a wall.

-x-x-x-x-x-

If fate would have it, Eragon was supposed to wake up feeling severely weakened but fine overall. Only his strand of fate twisted for a single moment. Instead of sagging to the ground, he collapsed against the wall hitting his head open.

As his soul was about to leave his world, a soul many times stronger than it tethered it back to its body and merged with it. As the two souls finished merging, the body fat on Eragon's body disappeared, while all of the wounds he sustained slightly showed signs of closing. Including the one on his head, leaving him somewhat healed but with the appearance of someone who hadn't eaten in weeks.

Eragon's eyelids slowly lifted, showing his intense brown eyes. He looked over his body for a moment examining his condition.

'So I only had enough body fat to superficially heal the wounds. Well, most of the energy went towards my cracked head. Thankfully theirs some free nutrients lying close by.'

With as much strength he could muster, Eragon used the wall as support to bring himself to his feet and walk towards the corpses of the urgals he'd just killed before placing his hand against the shaggy fur of larger urgal.

'Devour'

Black lumps of miasma formed on his hand, revealing rows of serrated teeth that sunk into the body. The corpse immediately began shriveling up till it was nothing left of it.

Eragon was fully healed after the body was consumed completely but still looked malnourished. And by the time he had devoured the second body, he appeared perfectly fine.

In fact, his body looked slightly more defined due to him speeding up his metabolism to sacrifice body fat in exchange for making his body heal faster.

After healing up, he made his way out the alleyway and spread his senses out, quickly picking up the location of Cadoc and Snowfire.

He was able to get to Cadoc first as he was closest to where the alley was, while Snowfire was closer towards the center of Yazuac with Brom still seated in the saddle.

Brom's was had a long blood-soaked cut on his right arm. While the wound was neither too deep nor too wide, he'd loss a decent amount of blood, making it vital that it be bound up soon, or he might lose too much.

After using his mind to make sure Snowfire was completely calm, he slid Brom out of the saddle cradling his body as he gently laid him on his back.

He was about to search Snowfire's saddle for something to patch up Brom's arm but was interrupted as a scream of rage filled his head, throwing off his concentration.

Saphira dove out of the sky, landing in front of him, keeping her wings halfway, while she sat hunched like a cat about to pounce.

Letting out a hiss as she eyed the surroundings, searching for any immediate danger. After finishing her observation, she stopped and began eying Eragon.

[Are you hurt?] She asked.

"No, I'm fine, but Brom isn't. We discovered a pile of corpses in the village center, with a urgal spear at the top. As soon as we saw that we had taken off, we got ambushed by two urgals. And before you ask where they're dead. But I think I used magic to kill them."

Saphira was silent for a moment before she inquired what he meant. He began relaying the images of him firing his bow after with the arrow releasing the crackling blue light, blowing up both of the muscle-bound brutes.

She was silent for a moment before she finally spoke,{You are growing stronger little one}

He sighed ruefully while shaking his head," Yes, but I just opened a whole new book of mysteries. Who exactly is Brom? How does he know how to use magic? How does magic exactly work? Was it the word that activated the spell or something else? And finally, why is he helping us?"

{You can only question Brom when he wakes up. But be careful; someone with such a mysterious background can't be simple.}

Eragon simply nodded while pressing a few spots around Brom's wound. It showed immediate effect as the bleeding stalled somewhat, buying him time as he dug around in the Snowfire's saddlebag, finding rags, finally binding up Brom's arm. Finally, he got Saphira to come over and began strapping Brom in her saddle.

"Can you please find a good clearing to set up camp? I'll follow with the horses below. We have to get away from this village as soon as possible. It's no telling if there's some more around here."

She lightly dipped her head agreeing with him. Her body tensed before she took off in the air.

Eragon rode Snowfire while he guided Cadoc with his mind, following in the direction she left, leaving the abandoned Yazuac village behind him.

-x-x-x-x-x-

While waiting on the Saphira to find a good spot Eragon began organizing his mind.

He wasn't the body's original owner, but no one had discovered that yet, not even the dragon that was connected to his mind.

That was mostly because as soon as his soul had settled and he began scanning the previous Eragon's memories, he discovered the strange bond. Which immediately prompted him to organize his mind.

He sent it up like an office. First, there was a reception, and then there was a workplace. The reception was where any being that touched his would come, Saphira included. The workplace was where he had his own thoughts and memories archived. But, of course, he'd already archived the original Eragon's memories along with this own.

He had already gleaned some helpful information. Such as the way to harness magic in this world. So far, it seemed to be through specific words, like "Brisingr," which he had heard two times. The first time Brom said and lit a fire, the second time he had said the word and cast it on the arrow, causing it to become explosive. He assumed the word was a spell for either fire or lightning. But Eragon leaned more towards the phrase having to do something with fire. Due to the fact when he woke it, he didn't smell ozone in the air, but only the smell of burnt flesh. But this was only off two instances of seeing it, so he really did need Brom's knowledge on this matter.

He was in urgent need of strength right now. So far, swordsmanship, magic, and physical strength were the few paths presented to him. For swordsmanship, he was already a grandmaster of it. He'd need to readjust his body to feel comfortable enough to use his complete mastery, that along with his strength. For magic, he thought, after he was somewhat accommodating with the magic system of this world, he would be able to quickly master it.

The original race was had perfect control over energy. No matter what it was, Eragon felt he'd be able to grasp it quickly. And for strength planned on physical exercise, along with using his soul. His soul was very powerful and had a draconic attribute to it. He was already nourishing his body with his soul power, mutating it. By the time he was done, he'd be a dragon in human skin. He could already feel his body changing due to the massive amount of soul power he poured through his body. That would his devour spirit would cause his strength to spike drastically.

Sighing, he thought to himself,' The situation wouldn't even really be all that bad, to be honest, it's just the little fact that I'm now the first rider to appear in what? A few hundred years? The Varden, elves, and an entire empire will slowly know Saphira and me. Motherfuckers going to be breathing down the crack of my ass, and I got to be strong enough not to get fucked off in some of their plans.'

After thinking for a bit longer, he began thinking of his next immediate move before sighing again. "Goddammit, dad, what the hell did you put me into."