Dragoon Valley

There weren’t always dragons in the valley. Those words echo in every kid’s mind who is preparing for the Scaling. I can hear my father's voice in the background as he recalls his scaling ceremony over 20 years ago. Pride swells inside his every word. As I imagine the journey ahead, the vibrations from my father’s deep voice rattles the kitchen table. My mother is busy roasting carrots over the wood in the old stove. She’s preparing my favorite meal; actually my last meal as a boy. It’s time to earn my scales.

The key to any successful scaling ceremony is making it out alive. I’ve seen lots of men come home, missing a few appendages. It’s actually looked upon as an honor to lose a finger or toe. While others don’t come back at all. We honor them at the Wall of the Fallen, I hope no one is ever tasked with writing my name upon it.

It seems my mind has lost focus on the task ahead, and what I am to face. This will be by far the most dangerous I have encountered. I keep telling myself It can’t be as bad as everyone makes it out to be, it’s simple, all I have to do is get a scale from a dragon. I know the Divine Forest like the back of my bow, I have traveled these winding paths hundreds of times and have always avoided dragons. But now I have to find one! I have to find THE one, my Singular Solus, the dragon that will be my lifetime companion and rip a scale from its flesh, a crazy way to start a bond.

I know what you’re thinking but the Singular Solus isn’t a pet. The term pet is never used in the same sentence with dragon, unless you’re listening to an elder telling stories of the time before the first Solus. According to Dragoon legend, the first Singular Solus took place right outside of the Divine Forest in a bountiful piece of land called Dragoon Valley. The place I now call home. My family has lived in Dragoon Valley for hundreds of years, well before dragons were known to man. The first bond was between a simple fisherman and a waterborne dragon, the fisherman unknowingly fed the dragon for years. He would throw back so much percentage of his daily catch back to the sea, for good karma, in hopes the sea would continue to provide. The legend states, one night, a foreign ship rested on the shores, near the fisherman’s home. The men on the ship were all mercenaries looking to make their fortunes, hunting dragons and selling whatever parts they got their hands on. What these mercenaries didn’t know was this fisherman had been feeding a very comfy and happy waterborne dragon. This legendary dragon is named Adam’s Ale and of course the fisherman was Adam. Adam’s Ale could hear the mercenaries plotting to kill Adam and use his home to set up camp for a few months of hunting. Adams’s Ale thought maybe I should let them put the old fool out of his misery. The man had been feeding him for years as the story goes, but in the end Adam’s Ale came to the rescue and saved Adam from the mercenary threat. During the battle a single scale was ripped from Adam’s Ale neck when Adam grabbed him and jumped on his back. Adam rode the very first dragon in our history and thus the Singular Solus was created. The scale forever embedded in Adam’s hand, the mark of the beastly bond between man and beast- creating the first Dragoon. I come from a long line of Dragoons, my lineage even traces to the first Adam and the reptile companion that saved his life. I hear a name murmuring upon the breeze throughout the valley, ancestors calling out to prepare their loved ones for the journey ahead. As I step out of my house, the sun warms my face, my eyes close as I listen closely, I can feel a flutter inside my gut, as the wind whispers, Adam. Two things I am certain of about this journey I’m about to embark on, I am a dragoon and I am Adam.

Stepping out of my home, spear in hand, and my satchel on my shoulder, nervously anticipating the task at hand. As I approached the entrance to the Divine Forest, an Elder greeted me and blessed my journey. There were many winding paths in the Divine Forest, and I knew which to take to avoid dragons. As I approached a fork in the road, I walked slowly to the path less traveled. The deeper I got inside the forest the stranger the sounds came from the tree tops, which formed a perfect canopyover my head, with only small beams of sunlight successfully touching the ground. There were several scents in the air. I didn't recognize one being very close and reoccurring. Could it be I’ve finally picked up the scent of a dragon, or maybe something picked up my scent. I found a good spot to set up camp, right next to a small cave. The cave entrance was shallow, which was perfect for me to sleep. Next, I set traps within a small radius around my campsite. The first day was all getting settled, who knows how long this would take, dad said it took him the whole 3 days of the ceremony and he successfully tracked and met his dragon for the first time. Every generation in my family has honored the ceremony, dragoon blood runs through my veins. Despite the adrenaline racing through my body I managed to finish making a fire and laid down just in time to see the sunset. It would be an early night, the best time to track dragons is early morning just before dawn. As the sun slowly descended, so did my eyes as I drifted off to sleep. My second day started with a peculiar thud, I jumped up and found all my belongings in my satchel, spread out all over the ground. Maybe a raccoon or a nosy squirrel went through my satchel and emptied it out looking for food. The prints on the forest floor told a different story, this was no small woodland creature rummaging through my things. In fact there was nothing small about this creature at all, it was definitely a dragon footprints I was looking at pressed into the ground. I could still smell him, he was just here, I can’t believe it, I just missed him! I wonder if he was still watching me from a safe distance, and why didn’t it attack me? Even with all the knowledge recorded about dragons from past and present dragoon’s there was still lots we didn’t know and much more to learn about dragons. My first encounter, and it was like the beast found me, was it tracking me? My heart was beating so fast it appeared to make my whole chest vibrate with excitement, soon I would meet my destiny. I picked up my things that were scattered around my camp. I did a quick run to check my traps, maybe one caught the perpetrator who made a mess of my campsite. To my misfortune all the traps were empty, not a trace of any dragons, and the day was just beginning. I still can’t believe last night while I was sleeping, a dragon was snooping through my things, it was definitely a good sign for my Scaling. I managed to catch a rabbit for breakfast and gathered water from the nearby stream. After eating I grabbed my spear and set out to find a dragon. Listening to the wind, using all my senses to track the intelligent beasts, it carried the smells and sounds of the forest. There were several moments during the day I could see a huge shadow blocking the sun as it soared high over my head, that was the closest I got to a dragon all day. I still had one day to complete my scaling, and I knew I was close, I could feel it, soon I would be a full fledged dragoon. The walk back to camp was brisk and relaxing, maybe I was going about this the wrong way. I retired early again, tomorrow was a new day, the final day of the Scaling. I dreamed that night, I was riding on this mysterious dragon's back, the warm air felt so real against my face. Why was my face warm, wait was this a dream; I opened my eyes and froze with fear! I was face to face with the biggest dragon I had ever seen. He was breathing in my face with his teeth touching the tip of my nose. I have to face my fears, I slowly grabbed my spear, the dragon started growling with a low rumble that made the ground shake. My hands were shaking and I swung the spear, hooking him behind his thick scaly neck. The dragon immediately jumped back and flung me on to his back. Grabbing my spear with both hands I held on tight as I could, this was it, my chance to bond with the gigantic beast that was beneath me. All of a sudden he jumped up and I was in the air, I could see the whole valley and forest. My sweaty hands started to slide down the spear, I can’t possibly hold on much longer, praying the dragon doesn’t take me into the clouds and I free fall to the ground. As the altitude increased, I knew what I had to do, but I didn’t want to let go. This was my moment, I didn’t want to disappoint my family, I had to complete my Scaling. My hands slipped completely and I was falling to the ground. I had not bonded with the dragon and it was clearly trying to kill me. Everything went black, several hours later, I opened my eyes and I was on the ground. The first thought was to see if a scale was embedded in my hand. I inspected both hands, nothing at all, they looked the same as before. I had not made the connection, does this mean I failed? How do I tell my family, I couldn’t complete my Scaling? My time had run out, and I left the forest with my head down limping from the fall. The walk home was tough, I had broken a family tradition that’s been for hundreds of years, I failed to become a dragoon.