Hello all! I decided to try something different for a story this time, but something I've been wanting to do for a while. This is the first part of a more adventure-based story, but broken up into multiple parts. Here's the first "chapter" and I'll hopefully have a second chapter up soon. I want to see how people like it before I make more. So enjoy!

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The skies over the city of St. Heimself’s training fields had the perfect combination of clouds and clear blues today. It was the kind of setting that the trainees who were out on the field preferred. The clouds provided just enough blockage of the sun’s direct light that they could gaze up at the spectacle above them. These were the perfect days to watch dragons duel in the air.

The first dragon was brilliant golden scaled creature. It was stocky and muscled, strength clearly being its biggest advantage. Yet despite its heavy-looking build, the beast darted through the skies after its opponent at hawk-like speed. When it would barrel-roll or twist in the air to try and attack its opponent or dodge an attack, the onlookers could see the rider on its back. Whoever it may have been was trying to assist the golden dragon by firing off a spell or two. Bright streaks of blue flew through the air, brilliant to watch but none hitting their target.

The opponent of the golden drake’s was a pearlescent white dragon. Unlike the gold, the white dragon was far sleeker and longer. It had just as much speed as the gold dragon; perhaps even faster. And its body was able to twist in ways that allowed it to continually avoid the jaws, claws, and spells of its opponents. Whenever it would get close to one of the gold dragon’s blind spots, it would swipe a claw out hard, causing a growl of annoyance and pain from the gold dragon.

To even the untrained eye, it would be obvious that the white dragon was toying with the gold one and its rider. The aerial combative dance continued for only fifteen minutes before the gold backed off and came swooping down for a landing in front of the other trainees, panting in exhaustion as the rider dismounted.

The white dragon landed across from everyone else, not looking tired in the slightest. “Had enough?” he asked.

The gold dragon looked to its rider, a young, brown-haired male. The man gave a nod before bowing to the white dragon. “Yes, sir Azarosna. I’m very sorry for doubting you,” he said before glancing over to the gold dragon, who merely snorted and looked off to the side. “And I’m sure Jeruth apologizes too. He’s just too proud to say it,” he added, nudging the dragon’s right forearm.

“I did say you two were in over your heads. Just because you haven’t heard of me being out in the field for years doesn’t mean I’ve let my fighting capabilities fall apart. I earned my rank among the Dragon Knights and intend to keep it,” Azarosna said as he looked down at the two. Jeruth and his rider had challenged the white dragon, claiming that a dragon with his rider could outmatch any dragon without one, even a captain commander of the Dragon Knights. Azarosna--or Azar as many of his friends knew him--was more than happy to prove them wrong.

“Sergeant, feel free to continue with the flight exercises for the day. I think I’ll be heading back to the keep now,” Azar said to a rather grizzled-looking man standing at the far end of all the trainees. And with that, Azar spread his wings and took to the air again, flying back from the training fields towards the city of St. Heimself.

St. Heimself was the largest and most prosperous city in all of Kosmatmos. The sprawling suburbs that Azar flew over changed into crowded shops and businesses, streets filled with mixed races of people. Part of St. Heimself’s prosperity came from its location right along the Green River. Boats and larger ships were docked all along St. Heimself’s eastern side where the river ran by. The trade in and out of the city contributed to its continuous growth.

But there was more to the city’s fortune than just the river. Something Azar personally had a hand in. Farther down from docks were several large metal buildings, looking like some sort of massive factory. From their chimneys came not smoke, but steam. Within those buildings were massive steam generators, a device of Azar’s own design. For the white dragon was an inventor in his world, and the best there was. It was his discovered interest in machinery that led him to start tinkering with all sorts of mechanical objects. After years of making inventions for the fun of it, most ending up as failures but still learning experiences, Azar created the steam engine. With its discovery came massive leaps in technology; not only in St. Heimself, but around almost all of Kosmatmos.

Everywhere Azar looked in the city he could see his influence. From the steam-powered cars that occasionally rode down the cobbled streets to the lights that the citizens would turn on at night. Creating varying sizes of steam generators to provide power to the city was one of his greatest achievements. And he always found that he liked that he could easily adjust his designs to incorporate magic when it was more functional to do so. And it kept him in the good graces of the mage guilds. The last thing he wanted was for the mages to think he was trying to replace magic with his inventions.

At the very center of the city was the keep of the Dragon Knights. And that was exactly where the white dragon was heading. He had been on his way there when word of a few Dragon Knight trainees’ challenge had reached him. And who was he to pass up a shot at retaining his title?

The Dragon Knights were, at their most basic definition, a self-run military organization. For many, that was all they needed or wanted to know. But beyond that simple explanation, the Dragon Knights were an order founded long ago after the fall of the great Draconic Empire. An alliance was made between dragons and the other races, to form an order that would protect the world from the greatest of threats. These days, the knights patrolled all of Kosmatmos, keeping an eye on other various kingdoms and groups to make sure peace was kept. Most were perfectly fine with the order existing, as they simply watched and only acted when necessary. Though all knew that any one kingdom would be no match if the full force of the Dragon Knights were turned against them. No other organization had the potent force of so many dragons combined with the skills of the riders.

The keep itself was higher than any other building in St. Heimself. It had been built soon after the forming of the Knights on a large hill before the city had been built around it. Now it looked like part fortress and part mansion. Azar glided for the northeast spire, landing on an outcropping of stone that was mean to be a sort of landing pad.

Inside was Azar’s personal room in the keep. A perk of being one of the five captain commanders of the Dragon Knights, leaders of their order. It wasn’t often he came here though, as the white drake tended to spend weeks on end in his workshop farther in the city, tinkering away at whatever new inventions came to mind. Today however, he felt the need to take a break from his work and relax.

He padded over to a large bookshelf along the wall, a claw scanning over the rows of books and scrolls. Perhaps some light reading on his bed would help get his mind off his work. Though it probably didn’t help that many of the books were related to machine building and the like. Unfortunately, he didn’t even have time to make a selection before there was a knock on his door.

“Come in,” Azar said, sighing as he moved away from the books to greet whoever had come to see him. The door opened and in walked a very lean-looking man. His features were more elven than human, with the signature pointed ears. But his face was not as pointed as the elves’, nor was he as tall. Which would make one believe he was only half elf. “Captain Commander Gabriel,” Azar greeted with a bow of his head.

“Captain Commander Azar. It’s good to see you back at the keep instead of your workshop. It’s so much easier to reach you when you’re not half the city away,” he said.

Azar wasn’t too fond of Gabriel. While there was nothing inherently wrong with him, the dragon found that he took himself entirely too seriously. He acted like he had seen war and true dangers, but Azar knew that wasn’t true in the slightest. Gabriel had his fair share of missions under his belt, but had only reached the rank of Captain Commander because a vacancy had opened up, and there were no others qualified enough at the time to take the spot. He was a capable leader, hence his current position, but far too aggressive in his approach to almost anything. Azar simply wished he would loosen up a little and not treat everything like a military campaign. It was bound to get him into more problems than he knew.

“I wasn’t aware I was missed. You and the other three commanders seem to be doing just fine in my absence,” Azar said as he sat down on his haunches.

“We don’t really have a choice now do we? You don’t exactly make it your top priority to continue leading the Dragon Knights with us,” Gabriel said rather coldy. Azar could tell there was a bit of venom in those words. Once again, it was Gabriel taking his work too seriously. Had anything of true importance come up, Azar would have been contacted immediately and been at the keep to help deal with the problem however necessary.

“May I remind you that I’m still unofficially retired? I need the time away from here to focus on my work, or else we’d still be living with lanterns and torches for lighting. And you have to admit that the steam pipes that were installed years ago have made the winters much more comfortable with all that warm steam running through our buildings,” he said. Azar had to admit, he found it a bit enjoyable to get under Gabriel’s skin a bit. It was only to try and help him loosen up. Maybe even crack a smile. Though this time all it seemed to be doing was cracking a vein on his forehead.

“I would think someone such as yourself would put a higher value on the order that you’ve done so much within and for,” Gabriel said, though it was obvious he was trying hard not to burst out at Azar for not spending enough time with the Knights.

“For your information, I was just out inspecting some of the recent trainees. And showing them how a captain commander fights when challenged,” Azar said with a smug smile. But his smile quickly faded and he looked more sternly at the half-elf. “Why are you here Gabriel?”

Gabriel seemed to calm a little. Getting to business always put him in a slightly better mood. “I’m here because we’ve had word of something that may need our attention. Yours specifically,” he said. Azar listened but turned back towards the large window that lead out onto the landing, looking out onto the city.

“Go on.”

“There is word of an… anomaly out by the village of Solstein. This anomaly happens to be a girl with something unique about her. Something never before seen.”

“Get to the point Gabriel. I don’t need the cryptic nonsense.” Azar said with a snort from his nostrils.

“This girl, Avamia, has an arm that is completely made of metal,” Gabriel finally said. Though the response he got from the dragon was not at all what he expected. Azar began to laugh.

“Is that all? A metal arm? Gabriel, I thought you were far better experienced in the world than that,” he said before continuing his laugh.

Once again, Gabriel began to get frustrated. “What do you find so funny about that?!”

“Many people have metal arms. Metal legs too in some cases. Gabriel, I invented mechanical prosthetics long ago. It was among my first wave of inventions. Someone loses an arm or a leg, and now using my designs, doctors can construct new ones for them. They don’t work quite as well as natural limbs, I’ll admit, but far better than having a stub or a peg-leg.”

“You don’t get it! Of course I know what a prosthetic is! What I mean is that her arm isn’t a prosthetic! It looks like a completely normal limb, but as though it were dipped in lead. I functions normally and even looks normal aside from clearly being metal,” he half-elf explained to Azar.

Azar’s laughter suddenly stopped and he turned back towards Gabriel. “Are you sure it’s not some form of magic? Transformative magic is rare, but such things are possible within that field.”

“Our sources say that she was born that way. Though she is nearly an adult now. It must have taken a lot of work to keep that hidden for so long, even from us,” Gabriel said, sighing in relief when he finally had the dragon’s full attention.

“If it’s not magic, and it really is natural, then this is something that needs my attention immediately,” Azar said, tapping a claw to his chin as he thought of any possible explanation for such an abnormality in a person.

“I thought that might be the case. It’s good to see we’re on the same page then, for once. Who better to deal with a strange metal limb than the famed inventor Azar himself?”

“It’s very possible I may need to bring her back to St. Heimself, to study this abnormality if she can’t explain it to me or I can’t figure it out when I find her,” the dragon said, now pacing side to side in his room. “This could be quite the discovery, depending on what it really is.”

“I’ll have a team ready to go with you to escort her back to St. Heimself,” Gabriel said.

“No, I’ll do this myself. I don’t want her thinking that she’s being brought into custody. If I go alone, it won’t feel as intimidating to her,” Azar said. Though the other reason he wanted to go alone was for the fact that he could travel faster on his own, and that he would be able to handle the situation with a little more tact than any team he thought Gabriel would put together.

“Fine. Just do what you can to get her back here. Before anyone else takes interest in her and tries to get the girl before you do,” Gabriel said before turning to leave. But he stopped at the door and turned back to Azar, who was now laying down at the window and looking back outside. “Azar, do you think that this girl being part metal could have anything to do with-“

“No. I don’t.”

For once, Gabriel looked genuinely shocked. Azar’s head was turned to look back at the half-elf, a look of utter anger in his eyes after he had interrupted Gabriel. But the look soon faded and he looked calm again. “I will let you and the others know when I’m ready to leave tomorrow. At the very least you and the other commanders can wish me good luck,” he said, a smile again returning to his face before he turned to watch the sun start setting.