George Atmell

Sometimes, I felt like an idiot to disregard what others advised. Zardes was a good mentor and had given me good tips to tackle life as a rider. Well...somehow, I clearly underestimated my situation with Arcturus.

As the graduation was only a couple of days away, I trained to ride Arcturus wherever I could while working as an intern with Zardes. There were several problems. First, Arcturus did not like wearing a saddle, for a very good reason. The saddle designed for wyverns made him (in his opinion) looked silly. Second, he even told the saddler to design something that he could wore by himself, like a backpack, which was fitted with a chair for me. Kind of like a piggyback, if you know what I mean. To be honest with you, I preferred to ride Arcturus without any saddle, and he also preferred it that way. However, the Order's rules mandated that all mounts needed a saddle for the safety of an untrained rider or a passenger. Fortunately, the saddler understood what Arcturus needed and gave him what he wanted: a backpack with a chair for me, his rider partner.

Third, Arcturus was a police officer on his planet. The Vyrnian was not a feral being, so he knew how to wield weapons and even use guns. He commented that the guns on Earth were primitive because they still used bullets. He was also more comfortable carrying a sword around. We needed to convince him that he did not need a sword, and he reluctantly obliged. Fourth, also regarding the fact that he was not a feral, he felt naked. He knew that this nakedness was due to the fact that he was disguised as a disgraced criminal, but now that he knew he was not disguised anymore, he demanded clothes to cover his body. Again, with a little persuasion, he chose to be 'in a natural state' but warned me that he had limited patience and did not appreciate being treated as an 'intelligent animal', something we both agreed upon.

Fortunately, those were the only things that he did not agree on. As for the rest, he was fine. As for me, however, Arcturus was the most uncommon partner I had ever known. It may sound strange when I said this, but he was training me in swordsmanship. I...was stunned when he gave me pointers to my techniques, and even derided the fact that my technique, the one I trained hard for, was greatly flawed.

"Your swordplay is too flashy and leaves yourself open to dangerous attacks," I remember he said. "You're training to kill when necessary, not to engage in theatrics."

I told him many times that dragon riders, or by extension, the Sword and the Shield of the Order, had their own distinct styles. My argument came from the fact that I was not the flashiest combatant around. I had a friend named Midzin who used a rune sword and was apparently doing twisty dances with his sword, which clearly left a lot of openings. However, when Arcturus saw Midzin, he instead said, "He's flashy, true, but he has something to complement his twists and turns. I think it's what you called 'magic'."

That's when I realized what I missed, one which Arcturus had pointed out. Midzin complemented his lack of defense with his rune magic, a kind of short-burst spell that did not need lengthy incantation and used runestones he threw to targets that kept a kind of spell in it, much like a grenade. It was the reason why Midzin called himself a rune warrior.

I decided that to complement my own rather flashy swordsmanship, as per Arcturus's suggestion, to perfect my gun-sword and made it more efficient so I could use it in conjunction with my sword style. Arcturus commended me on the fact that I followed his suggestion. Well, I could not argue that I knew more about swords since he was also using a weapon back in his home planet (even if he later admitted that the melee weapon he was a master of was a traditional Vyrnian glaive).

After a rather tiring training day in the academy's training grounds, we sat side by side, eating our lunch. That's when I noticed that his wing-arms were not like a typical wyvern. Instead of the usual bone structure of one-four (one claw digit and four elongated wing digit), it was instead a three-three (three claw digits and three elongated wing digits). This made him look very unnatural for a wyvern, especially when he could grab things with his front limbs while also keeping the usual wyvern visage of a four-limbed flying reptile. It also made him look like he was wearing a leather cloak, especially when he crossed his arms. I wondered how he handled weapons like guns or swords given his unusual anatomical structure. When I asked, he simply told me that it was no different from my hands.

I also found out that his first name was Arcturus instead of Domel, much like how the Eastern people structured their names with the family name first before their given name. Domel was his family name. So, if he used a Western naming convention, his name would be Arcturus Domel. He did not really care given that his family name did not worth anything other than the fact that his father was a general within the Vyrnian army, which by this point was ancient history.

We kept training as the days went by. He encouraged me to use my auxiliary guns more, something that I was still apprehensive with due to the modification to my unconventional weapon took a while to perfect. The only problem with my gun-sword was efficiency. The magic crystal within the gun did not hold enough mana reserve for more than three devastating shots. Each of the shots were too powerful to be of much use other than causing as much damage as possible.

My frustration with this situation was noticed by Arcturus, especially when we practiced a flying combat in the desert. When we landed after I abruptly changed my strategy, I voiced my frustration towards the Vyrnian.

"I just can't seem to find a way to make my weapon work," I said. "Yes, I admit, this weapon is too unconventional to be both a gun and a sword, but I want to perfect this combination, not because it was stylish!"

Arcturus listened to my complaints until the end, where he said, "Well, you could just wield a gun and a sword on each hand, you know."

I looked back and thought that it made sense. Still, I was rather adamant to have a gun-sword, even arguing that it would change my fighting style. Yes, I admitted the fact that a gun-sword only looked cool and not very practical, but I was glad that I did not choose to follow Arcturus's advice, because my gun-sword back then was different from what I have now.

Still, Arcturus understood my stubbornness, and said, "Let me have a look on your weapon."

I gave him my sword, during which he showed to me that, even with only three fingers, he could wield the sword and swing it effortlessly, while I noticed that his wings were folded while he was doing this. He tried to pull the trigger but realized that his digit was too big to fit the trigger. He gave my sword back and said, "Pretty balanced for a hybrid. Usually, a hybrid weapon like this tended to be unwieldy, but I think I understand why you don't want to change it."

"A little trick to help my needs," I said. "I can use the sword part with no problem, but the gun part is still inefficient. The smiths making me this custom weapon had given up on trying to perfect it, saying that they prefer to make a rune sword than a gun-sword."

"I think you need a little help from something else. Hop on."

I climbed to his back as he took flight. We flew back to the downed ship, where we entered and directly went to the basement through the light bridge. He then pulled out a weapon that looked similar to what I had, but it was shaped like a rifle instead of a gun-sword. He the aimed at a nearby charred metal, presumably used as a targeting practice.

What happened next made an impression to me, as the rifle let out a condensed form of energy from its tip, similar to how my gun-sword worked. However, this form of energy was small and sharp, which was a far cry of what my gun-sword let out. He then adjusted something on the rifle and the energy that came out became a wide broad shot that encompassed a big area. He adjusted something again and now it became a steady stream of energy. He then stopped and turned towards me.

"Got an inspiration?" he said, apparently reading my mind.

"Adjustments." My eyes lit up as I realized what it was. "Oh shit, you're right! My gun-sword could only shoot an uncontrolled amount of condensed mana. If I can somehow adjust the flow of the energy, I could control the weapon's output and keep it efficient. You're a lifesaver, Arcturus!"

"Good thing I know your weapon is similar in concept with energy weapons," said Arcturus. He then put the rifle down. "Your 'magic' thing might be different, but energy weapons acts like your gun-sword. It is true that somewhere in the past, these weapons were imperfect and act like your weapon now. This was the result of a long development of technology in our community."

"And that's more than 3000 years ago? Wow."

"It's a big universe."

I did not immediately go to the smith for the little adjustment, however. I had a feeling that the smith was rather annoyed by me constantly going to him trying to egg him on, only for him to give up. So, I decided to wait a bit, at least until my graduation day. So, until then, I trained to fly with Arcturus so I could register as a wyvern rider instead. Good thing Arcturus caught on quicker than I thought, despite his earlier apprehension of our saddle and the way we treated our wyverns.

Also, his level of intelligence was something that showed that he was an alien. Wyverns are not as intelligent as a dragon, despite of being able to talk. This was the part that Arcturus blatantly refused to do, as it clearly indicated that he was considered a mount instead of a partner. Good thing no one cared about it, though it felt a little weird for some who never thought a wyvern could even talk about the world's state.

Then, days went by, and before long, I became a full-fledged rider. I was given all the full benefits of a rider and a choice for a work. As I was doing my internship with Zardes and Malkar, I chose to work with their group as a starter. I could always find a new contract when this job was done if there was a better offer, which was something the hellhounds were okay with. We quickly settled in our new job.

On the night we packed for the extended stay, Arcturus and I talked about his own thoughts about my planet. He was being honest about it, and I was okay with it, because it was the truth. Our planet, compared to his own, was far too primitive. He had told me many things about traveling to different worlds and technologies that were so advanced they were like magic for me. Well, I always knew he came from an advanced world, considering that the ship that brought him here, despite of being decommissioned, was still too advanced, especially if compared to a Ternorian steam-powered airship.

He also had an apprehension sleeping outside, but he had no choice. I wanted him to at least sleep with the dragons in the shelter, though he refused, citing his status as an alien. I understood and decided to accompany him that night, outside. I borrowed Zardes's elemental barrier for the night, knowing that the sand could get quite uncomfortable, unlike the grassy plains of the Western Region. It also acted as a tent for both me and Arcturus, with the Vyrnian feeling a bit more comfortable knowing that there was a roof on top of his head. He then proceeded to explain that there was a similar technology for inhospitable planets, as I listened intently.

We both stared at the night sky as we started to sleep. I remembered asking him if he wanted to go home one day. He simply replied, "This is my home now, whether I like it or not."

He then proceeded to say that he'd love to return to space if there was a chance. But he could wait, because he had a feeling that it would come sooner than he expected. I wished him good luck on his endeavor, though personally I did not want him to go so soon after I became a rider.

We slept soundly that night. As for me, my adventure as a rider was just beginning.

Only it took a completely different turn from what I expected.