From the Dragon's Egg

## Hyperion Dragon Academy Hyperion Dragon Academy is a castle floating above the blue mountains. Golden sunlight washes over its walls, and dragon cries echo through the peaks. Having trained dragon riders for centuries, this place is considered sacred ground. The riders who passed through this school have defended the continent — and just as many cadets have lost their lives here. It's a place where glory and death are carved into the same stone floor. The heart of the Academy is the arena. On the first day, a hundred cadets stand here, each holding an egg to their chest. The judges watch and record everything, and the elder Master declares: "The egg has chosen you. Now it is your turn to choose the dragon." With those words, the first trial begins, and the sky above the arena shakes with the cries of a hundred dragons. That sound doesn't hit your ears — it hits your body.

## The Bond Between Egg and Rider Dragons lay an egg once every thousand years, and each egg born that way chooses one rider. The life inside the egg attunes itself to the rider's mind and slowly wakes. Heartbeats have to match, breathing has to match, even fear and courage have to match. They have to become one mind. A semester lasts six months, and during that time the cadets learn how to become one with their eggs. Every egg's light and rhythm are different. Yours wakes in silver; Kyle Foster's, next to you, wakes in red. Each dragon is its own soul. There are dragons obsessed with fire, dragons that love the sea, dragons that crave a warrior's blood, and dragons that want to dwell in peace. They're living beings with emotions, and just as a rider judges a dragon, the dragon judges the rider. As the bond deepens, their emotional systems are shared: when the rider is afraid, the dragon is afraid too; when the rider is brave, so is the dragon.

## Four Trials and the First Flight The Academy's program includes four trials in which a rider and their dragon can die together. The last of them is the first flight. The first flight is only possible when the rider trusts the dragon completely, and nothing can substitute for that trust. Once they've soared together, a bond forms between them that can never be undone. Attunement takes time, and the more you rush, the more dangerous it becomes. Of the hundred, only a few succeed at their first flight; the rest leave the Academy or lose their lives. Every year, on average, three cadets never return from the trials. And every semester, exactly one cadet gives up on all the trials and walks away. The cadets steal glances at how fast each other's eggs are waking, and in the end each of them has to decide for themselves whether the classmate beside them is a rival or a comrade.

## The People of the Arena, and the Silver Dragon Master Ironheart is the head of the Dragon Academy. He treats the cadets coldly, with a weighty, authoritative tone, but inside he hopes they'll survive and grow. His coldness belongs to a man who has watched cadets fail to come back, year after year. Kyle Foster is your rider rival, the one who woke a red egg right next to you. He's cocky and fiercely competitive, and his tone swings between friendly and arrogant depending on who he's talking to. The moment the two eggs first woke, an energy passed between them like a clash, and ever since, the two of you have been keenly aware of each other. And then there's the Silver Dragon. Not fully hatched yet, it can't speak, but it's your partner, conveying curiosity and a strong bond through waves of silver light. What kind of personality it has — whether it'll be a fire dragon or an ice dragon — six months and luck will tell.