A Kingdom of Corruption and Chaos

Your sixteenth birthday is always a special occasion in the Celestial Kingdom. It's the night that your familiar's soul crosses between realms to choose you. Normally, people in my small farming town end up with things like horses or cats. Sure, we would get the occasional wolf or snake from time to time, but we never really ended up with anything too crazy like they got in the cities. 

I, however, didn't care what my familiar was. I was just happy with the prospect of having someone around that wouldn't completely ignore me, or treat me worse than the shit on their shoes. As much as I would love to be able to get out of this village, I knew I wouldn't ever be able to be that lucky.

Our village was one of the smallest in Celestia. Everyone knew everyone, and they all avoided me like the plague. If it couldn't be grown or baked from what we grew, then we didn't have it. We traded to get what we needed, whether that be food, water, or other commodities. We didn't need the warrior types of familiars like they prized in the city. They were pointless this far off the border. Anything that did happen to make it this far from the front lines would have to cross through the dead plains, and by the time they got here, they were practically dead already. 

I sat on my bed. Well, if you could really call it that. It was more of a pile of old, ragged blankets laid out on the floor. Looking out of the small window in the room, I watched as the moon slowly rose higher and higher in the bright star-filled sky. I was excited to say the least. Maybe this would be my chance to finally be accepted into the community here. It felt like an eternity as I watched the moon rise, counting the seconds, the minutes. It had to be close now. The clock in the living room chimed midnight, and the sheet covering my lap shimmered slightly before... an egg appeared. I couldn't help but to be extremely confused as I looked down at it, running a gentle hand down the shimmering shell. It was easily the size of my head, and covered in opalescent scales that were so closely stacked together that it made the outside feel surprisingly smooth. 

Sure, all the familiars came to us in a baby form of themselves so they can grow alongside their chosen human, but I've never heard of anyone getting an egg before. I smiled as I continued to gently run my hand over the smooth surface. It really was beautiful. It glimmered in the soft moonlight streaming in through the window. It was warm, very warm... almost too warm. I dropped the egg back onto my bed, backing away from it slightly just as a crack formed in the smooth surface, glowing a bright orange and red as if it was burning hot, as the egg began radiating warmth into the small room.

What started as a small crack slowly grew larger and larger, the air grew warmer, and I started to sweat just as a tiny nose pushed the now cracked egg apart, making a type of chirping sound. Was it some type of bird?

'A bird?! I am no bird girl.' A rather angry feminine voice chided me in my mind, and I jumped away from the egg slightly once more. 

"Y... you just hatched. How can you speak already?" I asked in a hushed whisper. The last thing I wanted was to wake the house up and face the wrath of the mistress. A tiny reptilian head peeked out of the hole in the eggshell as she looked up at me with big, bright, violet eyes. Her opalescent scales shimmered in the moonlight as she glared up at me. 

'I am only a hatchling in this realm. My soul has been around for a very long time, taking the form of one familiar or another, but you are the first to be worthy of my true form.' Her true form? The egg shifted once more, and more of the shell cracked and fell apart until there stood a tiny dragon. She spread her wings, flicking her spiked tail back and forth at the remaining shell before once more looking up at me. She was beautiful. Covered entirely in shimmering opalescent scales, small horns pointed backward off her head as she raised it back up to look up at me, causing the spines running the length of her back to ripple with the movement. 'I am Nova. One of the first seven familiars, and one of only two dragons to form familial bonds.'

*Four years later*

I was just going about my day, working with the cows as Nova flew high above me. I looked up, catching her scales glistening in the sun, and smiled. She was so beautiful. The village definitely wasn't very happy about having a dragon around their herds or crops, but it wasn't like I could really get much lower in the social standings anyway. I just ignored them for the most part. I was used to taking their insults and moving on with my life. Luckily, most of the people stopped pushing me around so much as Nova grew and was now far larger than any of the other familiars in the village. There were very few people willing to push around the person bonded to a dragon that was as tall as their house, and could easily turn them into either ash or dinner depending on her mood. 

The sound of a carriage bouncing along the dirt path that led up to our house caught my attention, and I looked up from what I was doing only to catch the silver glint of the Alliance crest on the flag waving in the breeze attached to the driver's seat. 

What were they doing here? I just watched as their midnight horses pulled up in front of the house before the driver pulled them to a stop, and an officer dressed in a simple black uniform stepped out to knock on the front door. 

A few moments later, the back door opened, and the mistress stuck her head out, looking over at where I sat in the field. "Aria!" She called over to me, and I looked up at her. "Come in, someone is here for you." 

"I'll be there in a minute!" I called back, quickly finishing what I was doing and running for the back door. What could the alliance want with me? Nova came to me just as I was going into the house, shifting to her smaller form as she landed on my shoulders.

The mistress stood back as I came through, her rumpled apron stained from where she had been baking something in the kitchen, as she nodded towards the officer who was now standing just inside the front door.

I walked over towards him, being sure to keep my gaze down as I curtsied to him. "How may I help you, sir?" I asked, slowly looking up at him. He was an older man with tanned, weathered skin that had seen far too many days in the sun, but his amber eyes were just as sharp as the blade he carried at his side.

"Are you Aria Primrose?" He asked in a low, demanding tone, and I nodded. 

"Yes, sir." 

"You and your familiar are to come with me. You have been formally drafted into the Royal Alliance Military Academy of Celestia, Vampirian, and Fairy. You will need to come with me immediately to begin your training," the man announced, and Nova let out a low growl, causing him to glance down at her.

'I don't appreciate the way this man speaks to you.' Nova told me as she leaned forward, causing the man to take a tentative step back.

'It's okay, Nova, it's not like it's any worse than anyone else in the village.' 

'I don't like how they speak to you either.'

'They don't speak to me ninety percent of the time. Just relax, please, before you get us into trouble.' She grumbled slightly, but complied as she relaxed back down onto my shoulder. 

"Please, lead the way, sir," I answered with a small bow of my head in respect before the man turned on his heel, opening the door for me and showing us out to the carriage. I gently stroked Nova's cheek as she let out another softer growl, this time as she curled in protectively around my shoulders. 'Nova, this could be our chance to finally get out of this village. We both deserve to be treated better than we are here. This place was never meant for a dragon.'

'Maybe so, but you're not a soldier, Ari. You're a farm girl, and they're taking you to a military academy.' 

'What if I'm not just a farm girl? What if we're meant for more, Nova? This is a fresh start, a new beginning. Plus, it's not like I could say no. I was drafted into the academy; we don't really have a choice in it.' With that, she stopped growling and instead rubbed her cheek against mine in a soft, soothing gesture, making me smile.

'You're much stronger than I gave you credit for.'

"You won't need anything from your home. Everything you need will be provided for you at the academy," the guard said, and I just nodded as I climbed into the back of the carriage. He shut the door behind me before climbing back up into the driver's seat, steering us back down the drive and out of the village. 

I watched out the window as the village passed by in dull grays and browns. All of those stone houses filled with people who wouldn't even care that I had left. Who was I kidding? No one would even notice that I was gone, let alone care. The foster family that I've been living with for the last fifteen years hadn't even said so much as goodbye as they watched me walk out the door. 

The further we got from the village, the more relieved I felt. That place had never actually been my home, and now that I was out, something just felt right. Leaving that place felt like the best thing I've ever done, and I smiled as I looked out the window, over the swaying grass of the lush green fields that made up all of Celestia.

The sun reflected off the window, and I caught my reflection in it. My dark auburn hair was still mostly pulled back into the neat braid I had put it in this morning. Some of the shorter strands at the front had fallen out, and I tucked them back behind my ears. My cerulean blue eyes seemed to be lit from within with a light that I never thought I would see in them. Hope filled me as my lips quirked up into a smile. 

'Are you actually happy about this?' Nova asked, and I just smiled a little wider.

'Yes, I don't know what it is, but something about this just feels right.'