This is a warning to all you people out there.

If an elf-Thor asks you to show him your powers- run. Run fast and far away kids. Don't take his candy. And don't agree to him.

This man was trying to kill me.

"Ah!" I jumped back as another wave of fire sent me reeling farther back in the shadows. "That BURNS!" I yelled, trying to get his attention. You're not supposed to kill your asset!

"Kind of what fire does, lad," Darius called, his terrible fire eyes glinting a bright white. "S-11 has a light dragon. Mardu'll smoke ya out like a bunny in the brush. You're a shadow dragon Rider, correct?"

I panted, reforming behind a big white suburban. We were outside just in front of the twinkie factory. This place was creepy. There was a few abandoned cars dotted on the parking lot, their windows broken and tires flat. The rust dug into my scalp as I leaned my head back onto the Chrome rims, trying to breathe. I could hear the crunch of his boots as he approached the truck. "Yes." I managed finally when I didn't sound like a dying duck. Caedmon popped up beside me, nuzzling my elbow helpfully.

"Light and shadow are like yin and yang," Darius said, launching into what I knew so well as 'speech mode'. "You can't have one without the other. Shadow only exists because there's light. Make sense?"

"Yes." I said again, turning to look at the shadow of his outline as it got shorter, fatter. He was crouching now, peering at me.

"I know it may seem like light is your enemy- but it's not. And if you learn to harness your powers, it can be turned to become your ally." He said, grinning like a shark.

I frowned. How would he know? He's the Rider of a fire dragon- the most powerful fire Rider I have ever seen. He doesn't know what it feels like to be burned every time the light hits my skin. I finally spoke. "How would you know?"

"Why- because I knew a shadow dragon Rider."

That shocked me. I looked at Caedmon who was gnawing on the rubber tire. "Don't bite that," I grumbled, pulling him away. "Who?"

"Oh you wouldn't know her. She died a few hundred years ago," Darius slowly rose to her feet. "Now come on- think fast." He said and a geyser of flame opened up just a foot from my butt.

Few hundred years? How old was this guy? I was thinking in the corner of my mind, but I was really more concerned with getting the heck away from the flame. Caedmon squeaked and we both dove into the shadows as if it were a swimming pool. Problem was, we were stuck on the island of the suburban's shadow. "We're stuck! Stop!" I yelled, cowering behind a tire with Caed.

"Remember, everything cast a shadow. You've got to be quick on your feet. Finding escape. Feeling out your territory. You're a hamster in a maze. Find your way out."

I wasn't liking how he was describing me. First a bunny, now I'm a rabbit. And he was the cat. Would he really hurt me? The fire started crawling onto the underside of the truck, fingering the mass of metal and pipes. The shadows flickered and danced. I stayed where I was, yelling out when it burned me. "Ah! I can't do this!" I reformed in a panic and screamed like a girl as I felt his enormous hand clamp around my wrist. He yanked me out from under there. "Shut up." He said so sternly that I stopped screaming and just stared at him, jaw slack.

"I can already see you'll need a lot of work," he said grimly as he helped me stand. "You don't know when to control and when to let yourself be fluid."

I nodded slow, wanting to argue that if I let myself go I would be sucked along with the shadow world's current, but Darius wasn't one to argue with. Caedmon crawled out of hiding, venturing between my legs to look up at the large man. I was surprised he wasn't hissing or trying to bite him.

"We'll deal with that later. Now I want to see how far you can go. What's the farthest distance you have traveled?"

"From base to Anchorage."

He looked amazed. I smirked, somehow feeling happy that I've impressed him. I wasn't completely useless. Then again, I only traveled that far in my sleep. I wasn't about to tell him though. "Six miles away." Darius said, nodding slow. "Impressive. Were you exhausted afterwards?"

I paused, my brows pinching as I thought. Well I don't think I had been exhausted by it. I know I had popped up by a hobo, scared out of my wits so the adrenaline probably banished much of the tiredness if I had any. "I don't... think so."

"If you don't remember a distinct drain, then I doubt that the travel made you exhausted," he cleared his throat. "Good. We're about ten miles from the base, I'm sure that you'll have no trouble accomplishing that if you've already been past Mardu's defenses." He leaned against the concrete foundation of a parking lot light. "There's only one problem."

"What?" I asked, raising a brow.

"Two actually," he murmured, running a taloned finger over his full lips. "One is that your shadow abilities need sharpening." He said, looking at Caedmon who was chewing on my shoelaces. "The second is I'm not sure where S-11 is from here."

"How could you not know?"

"Mardu has.. well he's exceptional for a light dragon- especially for his age," Darius said thoughtfully. "I don't know any eight year old dragon that can achieve the illusions he can. He has masked the whole facility from us, both our heat radars and our vision. It's virtually invisible. Riley's been the only one who's been able to go in and out, and he rarely leaves your side." Darius folded his arms. "But even he can't tell us where it's at. The magic.. it's disorienting."

So that's why Mardu's been all strict with staying in the boundaries. I thought. I almost laughed when I heard how old he was. Eight years old? He was basically a little kid! And he looked just like Landin. That was just.... Really funny for some reason. "What do you want me to do?" I asked, getting right to the point.

"I'll explain more of the mission to you when you're ready," Darius said, looking down at me. "In a few days, I'll want you to start looking and locating the base. I'll want updates- to make sure that they aren't changing locations or setting up new barriers and weaponry. Make sense?"

"Yes sir," I answered immediately.

He smirked. "A true military cadet," he said proudly, which was pretty confusing since he hated S-11 so much. "I think this is enough for your first day, rookie. Let's introduce ya to the folks," he chuckled and his large hand settled between my shoulder blades as he guided me back towards their makeshift base.

Above the apocalyptic HOSTESS sign, aged with rust with the large H haphazardly on its side, one of the trees began to move. I squinted at it, trying to figure out if my eyes were tricking me or not. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Darius grinning at me like a kid waiting for me to open their present on my birthday. I started to get the suspicion that this was no ordinary tree. Groot maybe?

Caedmon hissed and started crawling up my leg trying to get to my shoulder. It was cute when he was kitten sized. Now, it was just painful. I hissed right back and shook my leg to get him off as I stared. Wait, the tree wasn't the only thing moving. The final 'S' in Hostess was also AWOL. Actually, it was three feet lower, but in the same position so it couldn't have fallen. "What?" I mumbled.

Above a white sedan, an angular, greyish head began to form. Red tinged the spikes jutting from the chin and the large fins protruding from the base of its skull. As I watched, the rest of the creature started to take shape, pebble-like scales fading to a grey one after another in a ripple-like fashion until a bulky creature about as long as four schoolbuses stood in front of me. "That's awesome." I whispered, my eyes traveling down its massive spiny back to the blood red webbing of its wings.

"'Ello!" I realized there was someone on his back when I heard Jesse's cheery voice. He waved to me from his mount and I realized there was a very official looking saddle he was plopped on. It reminded me of an elephant saddle, except comfier. The leather was a glossy black in the sunlight, matching his crazy Mohawk.

"I want one of those," I whispered.

"You've already met Jesse." Darius said. "His dragon's name is Tahn Ra. He's a sort of dragon chameleon. They are a great team- especially for sneak attacks as you may imagine."

After chuckling about the look on my face, the big dragon ambled away. I noticed he walked awkwardly, almost like a T Rex would, with most his weight on his muscular hind legs. His smaller front legs curved up tight to his rib cage as he swaggered off the parking lot.

I turned to ask Darius about how long they'd been there watching us, but Darius was already pushing me towards the door. Caedmon's talons clicked against the pavement as he trotted at my heels, looking around at everything with wonder.

"Where's that kid? I bet he's in his room watching his motion pictures on the Eye-notebook. Or whatever that's called." Darius said thoughtfully as he opened the door for me.

Eye-notebook? Did this guy live under a rock? I pinched my nose so I wouldn't bust out laughing and shuffled past him. Caedmon, however, busted out in hissing giggles, scampering after me.

"What's so funny, little one?" Darius chuckled as he walked after me. Then he raised his voice to a yell. "Zach!"

I heard a scramble, something being shoved at the wall, then the rattle of a doorknob. Zach tumbled out of the bedroom. "Yes sir?" His dragon's slender head snaked around the doorway to gaze at us with intelligent aqua eyes.

"I'm just introducin' Justin here to the crew. Justin, this is Zachary Orndorff." I thought his last name was hilarious, but I wasn't going to tease him about it. "And his dragon, Terral. He's a Finnish ice dragon."

The dragon dipped his head, as well as Zach.

"Aside from Reyna and Alasie, the polar griffin and Rider, and my bonnie girl, that's everyone." Darius said.

I raised a brow. This was the tiniest crew ever. How could we hope to...

He seemed to read my mind. "We're more than capable of taking down most of S-11's forces single handedly. Isn't that right, Zach."

Zach nodded. "But only because we have a level ten dragon on our side."

"A level ten dragon? What?" I echoed. I didn't know dragons had levels. When Caedmon got old enough, would he level up? I randomly imagined him evolving into a Charizard or something and blinked hard.

"Dragons are ranked by power. My dragon- Blaize is an elemental." Darius bragged, but I guess he had the right to do so. "Unfortunately, S-11 knows that. So their best defense so far has been to keep hidden from me and to avoid confrontation."

"Wait- so that guy-" he was a dragon?

"Yes, he's my dragon." Darius chuckled. "Took a slash to the face from a Draekinsbaen sword. There's no healin' for that." He sighed. "I don't think you'll ever see him in dragon form. He's at that age where if he goes to sleep as a dragon, he's not likely to wake for a few centuries." He said, starting to walk down the hall. Zach waved to me and gave me a 'good luck' sign before disappearing into his room. "He's that big."

"How big is that?" I asked.

"Well, big enough to devour the population of Alaska big," Darius said as he walked to the large storage room. Heavy machinery had all been pushed aside, bashed into a mangled mess of metal in the corner of the room. The rest was taken up by racks to hold large saddles, weaponry from lances to heavy artillery guns mounted on the wall. He smiled at my shocked face. "Luckily for me, he can shift into human form. Or else I'd have a mighty fine food bill to pay, hm?"

Caedmon started exploring the storage room, looking around in the boxes and sniffing.

I saw a figure look up and immediately recognized it as Blaize. He seemed to be working on melding something, but as I watched, he set the twisted piece of metal down, still glowing orange. I didn't see anything around that could have provided the heat, except for his hands. This guy was the real deal. His flaming eyes flickered a bright blue as they settled on me. I tried to ignore his ugly scars as I attempted to smile, but it looked more like I had pooped my pants and tried to act natural. Which didn't happen, okay?

I looked up-granted I had to crane my neck a little- and stared. Spines jutted out from his skull, starting at his hairline and trailing in parallel lines to the back of his head, where the spines formed into the familiar scythe-shaped horns. His blond hair fell into his eyes as he looked down to stare at me with absolutely no emotion on his face. 

Okay, I'd had enough bonding time. I was ready to go now. I looked to Darius, and saw that he was picking up Caedmon, who looked as small as kitten again in his arms. "Let's see how big a saddle we need for you," he murmured, grabbing the measuring tape.

Saddle? What the heck? "He's not big enough-"

"I know he's not big enough to carry you," Darius chuckled at my stupidity. "He just needs to get used to having one on. It'll make it easier for him to transition to flying with one on," he explained, using his fingers to mark how long it was around his belly, then from the base of his neck to the middle of his spine. I was pretty proud of how patient Caedmon was. He laid still for Darius, his straggly legs dangling. He yawned, showing off an array of tiny white teeth and his blue tongue. "He's very calm," Darius noticed.

"Yeah," I said like a proud father, but I just wanted to pull him away from Darius' grasp. Finally Darius plopped him in my arms. "We'll have a saddle made for him in no time. I'll have Zach show you the ropes. He's about your age. You're.. eighteen right?"

That felt a lot better than being called thirteen. "Sixteen," I said, almost meekly.

"Well, then he's a bit older than you. Just go up the hall from here. Third bedroom on the left. He's probably doing nothing useful anyway." Darius said. Then he turned away from me, sitting down and tinkering with his variety of tools and gadgets that was all sprawled out over the workbench.

"Oh.. okay." I never felt so awkward in my life. I didn't have a strict schedule here.. yet anyway. And Zach had to be the only guy here even a little close to my age. I felt a bit disorienting having the freedom to decide what to do. If I wanted to, I could just wander around and I doubt anyone would care. Caedmon snuggled into my chest, starting to make himself comfortable as I fast walked out of there, feeling Blaize's gaze burn holes in my back.

As soon as I was out of view, I set Caedmon down, who pouted and flicked his tail in annoyance. "Soon you're going to be carrying me," I joked, walking down towards Zach's room. I felt pretty awkward about this. Sure he was cool, but I didn't want to interrupt him and force him to show me around. I plucked up my courage before knocking on the door. It was a light tap, a sissy tap really and I was about to do it again before I heard his voice.

"Come in," Zach said in a bland tone.

I immediately regretted my decision. But I slowly opened the door and ventured inside. "Hi," I said with a cheesy smile. Caedmon started sniffing the dirty laundry basket by the door.

His dragon snaked his head over to look at me, blinking slowly. Zach, however, didn't look up from his laptop. "Hey Justin." He said, pausing what he was watching before slowly closing the device almost reverently. "How are you liking the place so far?"

"I'm not sure what to think so far." I said honestly, walking a little further in since he didn't seem against it. "What are you watching?"

"Oh.. Black Butler. Sort of binge watching it because we're not up to anything at the moment," he chuckled and stared at the wall just over my head. His dull blue eyes sort of creeped me out for some reason.

"What do you guys usually do?" I asked, standing awkwardly at the edge of his bed. I noticed the bedsheets were a quilt, stitched flawlessly to create an almost stained-glass effect. Depicted on it was a wolf facing towards the ceiling, orange eyes sharing the intensity of a real wolf. Predatory.

He seemed to notice I was looking at the quilt, even though he was now staring at the opposite wall. A smile spread across his features. "Oh, my ma-maw made this for me," he patted the quilt. "Ever since I was little kid I've loved wolves."

"Wolves are pretty cool." I agreed, shoving my hands in my pockets. Caedmon wasn't as awkward as me and he just hopped onto the bed and approached Zach again. His nostrils flared before he flopped on his side lazily on the bed, lifting his chin. He made a small chirping noise, demanding attention.

"You're such a ham," I said, rolling my eyes as Zach scratched his chin.

"He's really sweet," Zach countered as he showered him with affection. His own dragon shuffled his paws a bit impatiently. "Oh Terral, do you have to be such a jealous ninny," he said, reaching up to wrap an arm around the dragon's muzzle. He flicked his tongue in and out quickly.

I chuckled, thinking it was great how the two seemed so close. "How old is Terral?" I asked.

"He's four years old. Can't imagine life without him now. I've become so dependent on him I would be a bumbling mess without him," Zach said, kissing the dragon's muzzle. Terral purred and closed his eyes, obviously enjoying the affection.

I smiled and sat tentatively on the very edge of his bed. I noticed everything was extremely tidy in here. His magna comics were on the shelf, arranged by color and series. Directly above the book case was a large wolf poster- that was the kind of image that you usually saw on shirts worn by pot-bellied guys with pony tails. Other than that, the room was pretty empty, yet at the same time spotless. "What brought you here?" I asked softly.

"Well I was a sort of failed experiment," he said with a sigh. "I was born blind. My ma-maw heard that by bonding with a dragon, I could potentially get my eyesight back. They weren't wrong, but it hadn't worked in the way they expected. I didn't gain my eyesight- and Terral hadn't hatched very well. He was a runt- they didn't think he would make it. Luckily before he could be exterminated, Blaize and Darius broke us all out. Fortunately for them, that is," he said with a smirk. "Darius has been dead since the seventies. Modern day tech almost busted him out several times." He laughed a little.

"Wait- what? He died?" I asked, trying to process all this information. "Like for real?"

"Oh- didn't you know?" he asked, stroking Caedmon's spine. "He's basically the Rider to a god of dragons- a Hellbeast. He can come back from the dead."

"Woah." I whispered. "That's crazy." I blinked slowly. "And I'm guessing S-11's the one who put him down?"

"Well, S-11 is for young Riders so not exactly. He belonged to a higher ranking sort of special forces. They figured out just how powerful he was and decided to put him down. They had him hidden in the tanks in the same place I was at," Zach explained.

"The tanks..." Suddenly I remembered the tanks under my S-11 base. "Wait-they keep Riders down there?"

"Riders that are too powerful for them to handle, yes. I thought Riley would have shown you that," Zach raised a brow.

How much had that stupid bird been telling these people?

"Yeah, he did," I said quietly. Everything was starting to make sense now. "Wow."

"I know this is a lot to take in," Zach said sympathetically. Terral nuzzled me, his nostrils flaring. His soft breath smelled like peppermint as it ruffled my thick black hair.

"My friends- back at the base- what's going to happen to them?" I asked, feeling like my chest was beginning to constrict. I could hardly breathe. Merman, Avery, Song, Dustin, even Brandon. They didn't know this- did they?

"If they are lucky, they'll live out their century with valor and glory," he said dryly. "Then at the end, they'll be finished, like cattle to slaughter. But if our plans work, they won't have to worry long. We'll break them out. It isn't freedom they've got there." He said, and even though his eyes were still blank, they looked almost determined. "It's a cage."