The 21st Day of the Third Month
Year 11668 of the Dragon Pact
Year 3389 Post-Division
"Truth without wisdom is a blade without a hilt; it is as dangerous to the bearers as it is to their foes."
—An Elurian proverb
Post-Division Era
"Look at this place, Alar," Codric said as we exited the transport. "I knew it would be big, but this is enormous."
I glanced at the Elucian port of entry as I paid the driver. "I have to admit that it's more impressive than I expected." I hefted my heavy backpack over my shoulders and stood next to my cousin to admire the awe-inspiring feat of engineering.
Carved into the base of the Elucian Mountains, the industrial-scale depot was hewn directly from the rock, the main terminal stretching as far as the eye could see.
"Nothing in Eluria can compare to this," Codric whispered as we passed through the weapon scanners.
I cast him an amused glance. "I wouldn't go that far."
Elucia was a tiny country with scant resources, the most precious among them being the dragon alliance. The exclusive pact gave Elucia the sole mastery over Aurorys's sky, something that the Elurian Federation envied and the Sitorian Union loathed.
The Sitorians had been attempting to wipe dragons and Elucians out of existence for thousands of years, their attacks often spearheaded by their most fanatical sect, the Shedun, but not always. The entirety of the Sitorian forces had taken part in the two major Extinction Wars, the second one almost succeeding in wiping out dragonkind.
Still, despite constant attempts to annihilate them and eradicate their dragons, Elucia survived in these nearly barren, barely habitable mountains, some would argue even thrived, thanks to their tenacity and ingenuity, and of course the dragon pact.
In most other respects, though, it was a backwater, poor country, especially when compared to our resource-rich, technologically advanced, and culturally forward Elurian Federation.
Nevertheless, standing in front of this gargantuan complex, I had to agree with Codric. Elucia's ingenious transportation method and its scale equaled or even outdid many of Eluria's most celebrated technological achievements.
Cables as thick as my thigh stretched out from the terminal into the mountain mists, carrying cars up to the main hub in the capital city, which was located far above the cloud cover.
Another network of cables handled cargo.
This transportation artery was the lifeline of an entire nation, shuttling people and goods to and from Elucia and serving the inhabitants of these inaccessible mountains.
The engineering required to maintain such a system was staggering, and the sheer size was intimidating, but other than flying on the back of a dragon, that was the only way to get into Elucia.
"This way." Codric tugged at my sleeve and pointed to a sign indicating security screening. "Remember to act like an excited pilgrim, but don't overdo it." He leaned closer and lowered his voice to a near whisper. "The secret to a successful deception is staying as close to the truth as possible, and that includes your demeanor. You are supposed to be a pampered merchant's son, excited about a chance of becoming a dragon rider."
I cast him a warm smile. "There is no need for acting. I am thrilled to be a pilgrim, and so are you. If Elurion so wishes, we will be granted the ultimate prize."
Codric and I had dreamt about riding dragons since we were little boys, but until recently it had been an impossible dream. Then we'd discovered that our great-great-grandmother had been Elucian, and that tiny bit of Elucian blood opened the possibility of joining the pilgrimage and learning whether we had what it took to become riders.
Our Elucian blood wasn't enough to qualify us, though, and given who we were, we would never have been admitted.But that hadn't been much of a deterrent given the resources available to me. I'd procured excellent forged paperwork, which had so far passed the scrutiny of the rigorous Elucian background checks, and, hopefully, our luck would hold through these last checkpoints as well.
I was nervous, and not just because I was worried about these final security checks uncovering something all the others had missed.
The fake identity was not the only deception I was perpetrating, and I had other hidden agendas that Codric wasn't aware of. Keeping them to myself was necessary not because I didn't trust my cousin but because some of my plans were above his security clearance.
They were also so ambitious that they bordered on ludicrous.
Well, if I cared to be perfectly honest with myself, I trusted Codric only to a certain degree. I loved him like a brother, but sometimes I couldn't help the niggling suspicion that he was just too damn charming to be genuine and too good of an actor to be sincere.
Then again, I was well aware that my father's paranoia might be rubbing off on me. His advice to trust no one had taken permanent residence in my head.
Codric cast me an amused look. “Try to loosen up and pull that stick out of your backside. You are a nobody here.”
