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Lightning ruptured the sky like a crack in reality. Cyclonic winds tore through sheets of rain spinning together in knots of air. Dark mountainous clouds loomed over the land below. Hail fell like shards of stone, smashing anything in their path. The trees below were stripped of branches and leaves. Streams of water turned into rushing floods. The creatures below ran for their lives. Some managed to find caves for shelter. Others were taken by the water or hail before they had the chance. It was as though the land itself was at the mercy of the sky.

Only one creature dared fight it. A lone dragon, being tossed and buffeted by the winds and rain. Every flap of his wings sent him twisting and turning in a direction he did not intend. Every careful twist of the tail in order to provide balance only twisted his sideways and upside down. It was like he was trying to fly through the ocean, with waves upon waves of wind trying to tear him apart. Every action he made only ended in the opposite and every effort he made to right himself ended in another dizzying twirl of disorientation.

The balls of hail felt like tiny shocks of splinters that shattered against his matted blue and green scales. His large wings seemed to only act as a greater purchase for the storm's wind to pull him apart. Each roaring cry descended further into hoarse whimpers. His limbs felt as though they were on fire. Each flap required the effort to move twice his weight. Each time he thought he made progress he was only thrown back to the centre.

With one last hoarse cry, the dragon gave in, unable to continue any longer. His wings buckled, and he was ripped through the sky in dizzying spins. He felt weightless. But the pain and exhaustion were too much to be bare. As he was thrown around again and again he felt himself fall into a pit of darkness where everything was no longer painful.

* * *

Much later the dragon woke with a gasp, life-giving energy flooding him in droves. A rumble of relief escaped him as he lay down his head where he had fallen, enjoying the sensation for a moment before allowing himself to look up. To his side stood a life dragon, with luminescent green scales shining as though polished to perfection. Around the life dragon stood several other dragons, though these more resembled the injured dragon. They were all a mixture of sizes and ages, with the same mixed green and blue colouring of their scales and spikes running down their backs to the end of their long tails. Storm dragons.

"He's awake!" a dragoness cried out in relief, "Ru'ak's awake!"

A murmur of relief ran through the group. Ru'ak let out a sigh, laying his head back down as he felt embarrassment flow through him. He had failed. Where many before him had succeeded he had failed.

"Ru'ak, are you alright?" the biggest dragon of the group had stepped forward as the green healing energy of the life dragon stopped.

For a moment the younger storm drake didn't answer, "I am now... I guess."

"What happened?"

"I... I... don't know. I just lost control... I panicked."

The older drake sighed, "Come on young one, get up. Be thankful that Vergo here was able to save you. Many others weren't so lucky."

Ru'ak forced himself to his feet. Despite the healing energy of a life dragon, his limbs felt incredibly shaky and unresponsive. But more injured than that was his pride. As he looked at his fellow storm dragons he felt the embarrassment all the more keenly. Many of them had already passed the test. They were able to stay afloat within the storm. They had been able to control their bodies and movements. They weren't ripped apart by the very thing that defined their nature. He could see the surprise and pity on their faces.

"Alright everyone, stop staring. He is fine now," their teacher growled.

As the group separated to talk amongst themselves three other storm dragons approached him. They were all around his size and age. His best friends. As they approached him he found his head lowering under their worried eyes.

"You gave us quite the scare Ru'ak," said a dragoness named Skyla.

"Yeah... sorry about that," Ru'ak chuckled weakly.

"Are you sure you okay? You seem a bit shaken up," said a drake, Strom.

"I am a bit," Ru'ak admitted hesitantly, "But I'll be fine."

He wasn't sure whether he believed that. The test known as 'Flying the Storm' was an essential part of a storm dragon's life. It signified the point where one was ready to move on from their hatchlinghood and into adulthood. It meant that one was now able to embrace their powers in a way that no other dragon felt as though they could. In order to understand the storm, one needed to be able to experience its power. To respect that power. But after what he had been through, Ru'ak didn't know if he wanted to ever try again.

"Cheer up," Zayle said with a grin, "You'll get it next time."

"Yeah... hopefully," Ru'ak replied, more to appease them than any actual thought of attempting it again.

"Alright, everyone! We are finishing up today. I will see you all tomorrow for a continuation of today's lesson. For those that haven't yet attempted to Fly the Storm, you will also be given an opportunity tomorrow afternoon. Until then, you are dismissed," the teacher called out.

"Do you need some help getting home?" Skyla asked Ru'ak.

He shook his head, "I'll be alright. Thanks, Skyla."

He appreciated her concern. He knew that she cared quite heavily for him. But he also knew that if he allowed her to take him home she wouldn't stop talking about his experience in the storm. He didn't even want to think of it.

"You sure?" she pushed.

"I'm sure," he said, slightly sharper than he meant to.

Before the others could have any chance to respond to him he pushed himself into the air with a flap of his wings, quickly accelerating away from the rest of his class. The landscape below had been torn up quite heavily by the storm. Several trees had toppled over, and the rivers were still overflowing. But the animals were coming back out now. The sun was shining overhead, and water glistened on what was left of the greenery. The land would recover... that is if another storm didn't run through it.

Several of the other adolescent dragons followed him, but none made the effort to talk, for which he was grateful. Ahead of them was a small pile of mountains that made up a portion of what was known as storm city. The city was separated into three sections set many kilometers apart, allowing space for the training ground in the middle. There was a strict 'no summoning storms' rule within these sections, though those responsible for controlling the weather did have the choice whether to make it a rainy day or a sunny day. Most dragons preferred sunny days.

As Ru'ak flew his mind went back to the storm. At how difficult it had been to control himself as he was tossed and turned by the wind. He had never imagined it would be that difficult. Of course, he had flown through storms before. He had created his own storms to fly through before, all in preparation for that very trial, but never could he have imagined something so violent and terrifying. It was like he had no say in how he flew at all. Every scenario he tried to come up with that would allow him to defeat something so primal and raw seemed to end in failure, even in his mind.

The problem continued to frustrate him as he entered the mountain range. Hundreds of storm dragons were going about their daily business, exchanging their gold, ferrying humans around for different jobs, talking, and laughing. In the cliff faces of the mountains were calved circular doorways with landing platforms on the outside. Several of these doorways were covered by a fabric sheet, made to be usable by dragons. Along the ground of the valley were many human huts with stone rooves and walls and moving between them Ru'ak could see the many different humans walking and talking to one another as they went about their own lives as well.

Ru'ak's home was near the middle of the city, as his father was quite a well respected and valued member of their society. Ru'ak felt an uneasy twist in his stomach as he realised that he would have to reveal his failure to his family. His sisters would likely make fun of him. Both of them had passed their trial with ease, or at least that's what they had said. His mother would be sympathetic and try to comfort him. But his father... he could already see the disappointment on his face.

With his head lowered and his speed slow, Ru'ak came in for a landing on the stone outcrop on the outside of his home. The doorway was open, meaning someone was already home. With a mental sigh, preparing himself, Ru'ak walked through the doorway.

His cave was rather large compared to many others. It was large and spacious, enough to do a bit of flying if he willed it. It was lit up by several flaming torches lining the walls, tended to by their many human servants. The immediate area was rather bare, with only a pit to the right side which was stained red with the blood of the many meals in which the dragons as the family ate. There were three other archways that led into separate areas that acted as the dragon's nest rooms. One was where his parents slept, then there was the room for himself and the last for his two sisters. He had hoped to be able to sneak into his room and sleep of his exhaustion as an excuse not to talk to his family. But there was already a dragon waiting for him.

"Dad... you're back already," Ru'ak said when he noticed his father.

Ru'ak's father was a large dragon for his age, towering over his son by several feet. There were a couple of scars on his snout, and his green and blue scales were hard and scratched. He was a commanding figure, tough and hard to read. He had a softer nature and loved his mate and hatchlings, but he could also be strict and near frightening when something happened that he was against.

"Of course. I wanted to see how you did in your trial," said his father.

Ru'ak felt his stomach flip. He knew he couldn't lie. They would find out eventually and then he would be in big trouble for hiding it from them. But he also didn't want to disappoint his father. He had wanted so much to impress him with the news... but it wasn't to be so.

"I... ah... failed," Ru'ak lowered his head, not willing to see his father's reaction.

A long silence followed his words, which only made Ru'ak's unease all the greater.

"Ru'ak... look at me," his father said.

Ru'ak hesitated a moment, before looking at the other dragon. What he saw surprised him. There was no disappointment in his father's eyes, no anger, or regret. There was only recognition and a slight smile on his father's mouth.

"Out of all the challenges you have faced thus far, my son, I always knew this would be one of your greatest," said the elder dragon, "So I am not surprised you failed initially."

"Wait... what?" Ru'ak frowned. His father expected him to fail?

"You are a stubborn dragon, Ru'ak, and you are quite good at something if you put your mind to it. You are independent, and strong-willed, which will get you a lot in life. But to Fly through the Storm requires something different, something which you have not yet learned how to do."

"Oh... what is that?"

Ru'ak's father laughed, "Follow me, and I will tell you."

The older dragon paced toward the exit, and after a moment's hesitation, Ru'ak followed. His father leaped into the air with a flap of his wings, and Ru'ak followed. Together the two flew nearly directly upward, to the highest point of the mountain range, passing many others as they went by. On top of the highest mountain lay a plateau of flat stone, warn smooth by millennia of use. There were a couple of other dragons on top, but they were ignored.

Ru'ak and his father landed. The view from the plateau was always rather inspiring, not that Ru'ak needed to be on top of a mountain to have such a spectacular view. But there was something about the placement of the mountain that allowed him to see the entirety of the storm dragon's city to the other two mountain ranges off in the distance. He could even see other lands, with the mind dragon's mountain range off into the far distance, and the border into the kingdom of the sky where the grassy landscape turned into rough savanna. If he squinted he could also make out the shape of the Living Mountains, which were always a formidable sight. He had been up to the plateau multiple times. It was a young dragon's favourite place to go to hang out with friends, while also being a nice place to relax.

"Why are we up here?" asked Ru'ak.

"Because this is where you first learned how to truly fly," his father replied, "Do you remember that?"

Ru'ak nodded his head. It had been a terrifying moment. Leaping from the highest point of the mountain with his wings closed and letting himself fall... and fall... and fall. The rule of the game had been that you weren't allowed to open your wings until you had fallen for at least ten seconds. However, if you left it much later than that you would end up crashing into the ground below. It was another test that storm dragons were forced to learn.

"Do you remember the advice I gave you?" the elder drake continued.

"Yes. You said, 'as long as you trust your wings, you will be fine'," Ru'ak repeated the knowledge.

"Was I correct?"

"Yes. Is that what you're telling me now with the storm? To trust my wings?"

Ru'ak's father laughed, "No. I bring this up to remind you that if you follow my advice you will be fine."

"Okay..."

"You may not know this about me, but I also failed my first attempt at to Fly the Storm."

"What?" Ru'ak exclaimed, "You?"

"Yes, me. The reason for it is simple. I tried to fight it. You see Ru'ak, no matter how strong of a flyer you are, or how hard you push yourself, you will never succeed in a battle against the storm. Nature is far stronger than you or I."

"I'm sorry... I don't think I understand. I thought as storm dragons we are the masters over the storm."

Again his father laughed, "This is a common misconception among many of our kind. Yes, we can summon the storm's power. We can call it into being. We can direct it. But we can't control it. It is its own entity, and it is nearly unstoppable."

"Then how are you supposed to defeat it?" Ru'ak asked, frustrated.

"There is a simple answer. You don't."

"You... don't?"

"No, Ru'ak. You don't defeat something so strong. You bow to it."

"Bow to it?"

"Yes. We have been gifted with the ability to bring forth a force so powerful that it can't be controlled. When you call forth the storm you are not the controller of that force. You are merely the conduit. A carrier of something so divine that everything in nature falls under it. We cannot hope to control something like that, not when you summon all its power."

"I mean... can't a dragon of equilibrium control it?"

"They become the storm. There is a difference."

"I guess."

"But that is not what we are talking about. We are talking about Flying the Storm."

"Yes... you said you need to bow to it?"

"Exactly. I'm going to guess what happened when you failed your trial. As the storm began you found yourself being pushed and pulled by the winds, so you began to exert yourself in order to keep control of your flight. But the winds were too strong and began to pull you in ways you never expected. So, you fought back against it, harder and harder. But as the storm grew more and more violent the more you had to fight, and the more exhausted you got, until your body simply gave in. Does that about explain it?"

"Yes," Ru'ak was slightly surprised at how accurate his father was at guessing what had happened.

"Next time you Fly the Storm... don't fight it. Fly with it."

"How do you fly with it?"

"Let the wind take you where it will. You've studied the structures of storms, and how the updrafts and downdrafts of the wind work. You know what will happen given any moment. You can predict the way the wind will pull you and react accordingly."

"I mean... yes. But to just let the wind pull me where it will..."

"It's frightening," the elder dragon continued, "Because it goes against our very nature. We don't like to be told what we can and can't do. We don't like to be at the whims of something so much stronger than us, something we don't entirely understand. But that's just it. That is the point of this trial. It is to learn that you are simply a dragon, caught up amongst a storm, and if you want to soar you have to trust in a strength that is mightier than your own. It is the very essence of what we are. Does that make sense to you?"

"I... I think so," Ru'ak responded.

"Good. Then tomorrow, you will retake this test, and this time Ru'ak, you will succeed."

* * *

The next day Ru'ak left in the morning with a new determination. His classes went by quickly, and as they returned to the valley of the previous day, Vergo once again accompanying them, he found himself growing nervous with anticipation.

"So, would anyone like to attempt to Fly the Storm today?" asked their teacher with an appraising eye.

Ru'ak didn't wait, "I would like to retry."

There was a gasp of shock from within the students, several surprised that he was willing to take it on against so early.

"Are you sure Ru'ak?" asked the teacher, "You were not ready yesterday? What makes today so different?"

"I... I think I understand it now," the young storm dragon said.

The teacher smiled, "If you believe that to be so, then so be it."

"Ru'ak, don't," Skyla spoke up in worry, "You don't have to prove anything."

"I'm not trying to prove anything," Ru'ak said to her, "But... this is something I need to do."

She hesitated, and he gave her a reassuring smile, before lifting into the air with a flap of his wings. He flew to centre of the valley, hovering over the destruction caused by the storm of the previous day, the sun shining down upon him. The others had moved to the far side of the valley to watch, where they would be out of the storm.

The wind around Ru'ak began to shift and change, twirling around him and against him, buffeting his scales and wings. Clouds began to grow in the sky above him, starting as white but quickly condensing into black. Rain began to fall as the wind picked up, and Ru'ak began to find it harder and harder to keep his place in the centre of the storm. Lightning boomed around him, making his hearing glands ring as the storm began to enter into its full strength.

Almost instinctually Ru'ak began to flap his wings harder in order to fight back against the pulling and pushing of the wind. This time he recognized the natural instinct, and took a deep breath, forcing himself to relax. Almost immediately an updraft slammed into his underside, sending him high into the sky. Almost immediately he began to panic, beating his wings in an attempt to get out of the updraft, but it was too strong.

A snarl escaped him as he forced his wings to remain still. The same words ran through his head again and again. 'Trust the storm'. So, he allowed it to control him, sending him further and further into the sky, until he broke through the clouds at the very top of the storm. His eyes widened in surprise as he was suddenly met with sunlight, the warmth touching his wet scales in soothing rays. He let out a laugh of disbelief as the violence of the storm seemed to dissipate in the sky. But the wind had disappeared now, and instead of rising higher, he began to fall. Back into the dark clouds, and back into the lightning.

As soon as he entered the storm he was whipped around again, this time by a downdraft that sent him plummeting toward the earth. Once again his panic began to rise as he accelerated faster and faster toward the ground. But he didn't try to stop his fall. Instead, he angled his body so that he was moving at a diagonal, closing his wings around his body. His eyes widened in surprise as he looked around him... and it seemed as though the rain had stopped in mid-air, each droplet frozen in time while the rest of the world seemed to get closer and closer.

Another laugh escaped him and with a roar he opened his wings again, knowing that any moment now he would once again be caught in the updraft. As predicted the wind caught his movement as he leveled out not twenty dragon lengths above the ground and once again shot into the sky in a twirl of movement. A cry of glee escaped him as he closed his eyes. He didn't even have to flap his wings. He could just let the sky take him where it will.

The rain and hail beat against his scales and snout, but it was scarcely an annoyance. Lightning boomed and flashed around him, each strike a dazzling array of light that shone off each and every droplet of water. Part of him was worried about getting struck, but for some reason no storm dragon ever was. The wind twisted and turned him, sending him high into the sky, then dropping him like a rock to the ground. It sent him in tornadoes and in twisting dizzying loops, but the more it moved him, the more it shook him, the more it tested him, the closer Ru'ak felt with the storm.

He could feel its power in his wings. He could feel its power in the rain and lightning. An unbridled force of nature and he had the privilege to fly through it. Never had he felt so free, then when he relinquished his control, and let the storm take hold. He could have flown for hours, but the test did not last that long. As the storm began to dissipate around him, and the wind and the rain calmed down, he found himself once again hovering in the centre of the valley, a smile on his face. 

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Hey everyone! Thanks for reading this Chronicle. I hope you enjoyed it. Vote if you did and comment on what you thought! What did you think about the way the storm dragons live? Did anything particular surprise you? And what did you think of Ru'ak? The next chronicle will be out around this time next week, but you have to vote on which one you want next XD

A Life Dragon's Purpose: Agela, Life Dragoness - 6Yrs BTA

The Dance of Steel: Kyral, Metal Drake - 37Yrs BTA

Unexplored: Vyll, Rift Dragoness - 13Yrs BTA

Dark Lightning: Joy'el, Lightning Dragoness - 48Yrs BTA

Until next week, See Ya!

Pennator^^