Chapter 2:

We ended up riding in the carriage for the majority of the day before a tall, looming stone castle came into view. It was tucked up into the mountains that bordered the edge of Celestia and Vampirian. The further we climbed up the sloping mountain path, the more I could see just how formidable the castle actually was. It seemed to blend right into the rock face it sat on, as if it had been carved right out of the mountain itself. Tall defensive turrets stood at strategic points all along the tall wall surrounding the outer edge, and as we passed through the gates that two armed guards pushed open for us, I looked out the window, looking up at the sprawling structure. It was massive, easily the largest building I've ever seen. Although the mass of people standing out front of it in the small courtyard had me far more nervous.

The carriage stopped, and the officer came over, opening the door for me to climb out. Slowly, I gathered myself, climbing out as I looked over the crowd. They all looked mostly my age, all spread out as they milled around the small courtyard in small groups, all watching the entrance of the building. Everyone went silent as the doors to the building opened and a small group of people filed out into the courtyard. They made their way through the crowd and over to a small raised portion of the courtyard that acted as a makeshift stage. Slowly, the crowd moved, gathering around where they stood to hear what they were going to say, and I stayed towards the back.

I ended up standing at the very back of the crowd, next to a girl who looked between Nova and me with pure disdain as a large gray hound stood beside her, and a guy who looked at Nova in complete awe. He didn't have a familiar with him, so he had to have been one of the other races that we were in alliance with. I glanced up at him, quickly noting his sharp, angular features and bright yellow eyes. He had to have been a type of Fae.

Nova shifted uncomfortably on my shoulders, slowly glancing between the two very differing opinions of us. 'I don't particularly like this placement.' She told me as her tail curled a little tighter around me and her wings flared slightly, ready to defend us if she needed to.

The sound of rushing wind and strong wingbeats caught all of our attention, and everyone looked up as a massive form blocked out the sun before landing on the wall behind the makeshift stage. Huge taloned feet clung to the crumbling stone under its feet. I followed the line of black scales that seemed to absorb the light around it up, and up... and up. It was a huge black dragon, easily triple the size of Nova. Bright gold eyes evaluated every single person in the crowd as it lowered its head, shifting its weight and causing the stone from the wall to crumble to the ground behind whom I could only assume was its bonded human, considering he was the only person on that platform that didn't shy away from the massive creature or so much as blink at the huge chunks of stone landing on the ground behind him.

'That one is far larger than you,' I said to Nova, but as I glanced over at her, she looked far more enthralled by the huge dragon rather than any type of fearful. Two more creatures landed on the walls, but neither of them was even close to as large or terrifying as the dragon. One was a rather large phoenix, and the other was a red drake.

'All three of them are from the first seven, but I hadn't realized that he had come back yet. The black dragon's name is Bane, and he's been my mate in every single lifetime. Normally, I can feel it when he decides on a human and can choose one for myself so we can be together, but this time was different.' That made me pause as the huge black dragon in question leaned over, stretching his neck out over almost half the crowd in front of me, causing most of them to cower where they stood. He looked directly at me, seeming to stare straight through me, before his eyes landed on Nova and seemed to soften slightly as she let out something that I could only describe as a cooing sound.

Bane rumbled low in his chest, vibrating the very ground we stood on before puffing out a breath of heated air at me and pulling back to hover over who I could only assume was his bonded. The man looked me up and down with what looked to be a very disapproving glare, but even that wasn't enough to deter me from gawking at the man. Even glaring daggers at me, he was the most god damn beautiful man I've ever laid eyes on.

'He is rather pretty for a human, especially a soldier.' Nova giggled as she read through my thoughts, but I couldn't tear my gaze away from him. I was trapped as those bright emerald eyes locked onto mine. I couldn't have torn my gaze away even if I had wanted to, but to be honest, I didn't want to either. He was tall, easily a few inches taller than any of the other men standing up there with him. His midnight hair was kept shorter than most of the others, just long enough that a piece from the top brushed over his forehead as the breeze picked up through the courtyard. He was leaner than most of the warriors I'd seen, but with his build, it just made him look all the more lethal. The well-tailored short-sleeved black uniform he wore showed off all the strong lines of his toned arms, but his most striking feature was easily those eyes. Pure, bright, emerald green that was just as bright and lush as the fields surrounding all of Celestia, but with the sharp edge of a honed blade. It felt more like he had just sliced me open to the very core with a single look, completely dissecting me as he took his time looking me over before very obviously finding me lacking.

'Don't take it too personally, Ari. Bane has always enjoyed the more ruthless fighters, but this one must be special, considering Bane also gave him his true form.'

'Because that makes the fact that he's looking at me like I'm the shit on his boots acceptable.' I shot back at her as I squared my shoulders and stood a little taller before he totally dismissed me, looking over the crowd with that same disapproving glare. Okay, maybe it wasn't just me then?

'I'm going to assume that Bane's reaction just inconvenienced the human.' Nova told me with a slight huff, and while she had a point, I still couldn't help but to feel like I had just inconvenienced Bane's human. Nova just giggled at me as I bit my lip, attempting to hide my smile as one of the other men on the stage cleared his throat.

He was a tall blonde man, and I didn't miss the glare he shot at Bane's human as he took center stage. The phoenix moved to perch right beside him, preening its bright red and orange feathers as it looked over the crowd as if to make sure everyone's eyes were on them now. "Welcome, everyone, to the Alliance Military Training Academy. I am General Harrison, the head officer and officiant of this academy. As of the last few days, all one hundred of you have been drafted to join. Now, don't get me wrong, just because you have been drafted doesn't mean that you'll actually make it through this academy. Considering most of you don't come from a fighting background, you will be given one week to learn as much as you can before you are tested. Those who pass will stay and be trained as a specialized force of soldiers, and the rest of you will be shipped off to the camps to go into training to be general soldiers. Today, you will be tested to see where you rank in this year's class, and by the end of the week, at least half of you will be sent elsewhere."

'This could be a serious problem, Ari. We can't be sent back. If Bane is here, then I have to be here as well. Now that I know he's here, it's not like I can't bond with him. He's my mate, my love in every sense of the word, and we're both in our true forms, meaning that we'll actually fully be able to be together this time. That hasn't happened since the first time we bonded.' She sounded far more terrified than I'd heard in a long time, and, by the way that Bane still hadn't taken his eyes off her. I knew it was probably taking everything in them not just run off and do it now.

"Today's test is a simple show of magical capability. If you are a Celestial that has not manifested an ability yet, you will be ranked towards the bottom of the group based on what your familiar is. This ranking will simply allow us to know where to place you in your classes and groups, along with whom to pit you against at the end of the week. Through this first week, how you perform in your classes and if you choose to take part in challenging people for a rank will determine how you move up or down on that ranking until we finally get a good feel for your abilities by the end of it." The man stepped back, and my mind instantly started wandering to how we might be tested at the end of the week.

'That's good, at least we won't be really tested until I know a little more of what I'm doing here. I told Nova, but she just sighed. So how does the whole bond thing work anyway? Cause I don't particularly want his human knowing all my dirty secrets if you two decide to start gossiping.' Her soft laughter rang through my mind, making me smile.

'Obviously, I would respect your privacy to a certain extent.' That just made me shake my head at her, but I still couldn't help but smile. 'Essentially, you had better get used to his human, because you're probably going to be spending a lot of time with him. Once we're mated, so by tonight, with how he's looking at me, I will be able to speak to Bane as well as form a connection to his human, if he accepts. It would work the same way with you and Bane. So, while it doesn't directly link you to his human, it does still tie all four of us together, especially when you add in the fact that we won't be able to go more than a day without touching, and we won't be able to be more than a day's flight from each other.' Well, that definitely puts a limitation on things. 'If we are apart for more than that, it becomes incredibly painful, and both of us, and therefore you, will be greatly diminished in power.'

The crowd started moving towards the door, and I slowly turned to follow. 'Do you need to go say hi or something before we go in?' I asked her as her head swiveled to stay locked onto Bane's stare.

'You need me right now. I'll find him tonight while you sleep.' I just nodded as I walked, following the crowd into the huge entrance of the castle, where two people sat. One recorded everyone walking through and their abilities, while the other assessed our abilities.