“Wake up everyone! Report to the ceremony hall immediately.”

The voice that reverberated into every home and room across the island was crisp and stern. It was a voice of someone that you did not want to mess with. Then again, given what day it was it was no surprise that everyone was woken up in such a rude manner.

Glancing at the calendar hanging sitting on the desk to the right of his bed, Caleb groaned. He had almost forgotten what today was. Almost. The circled date on the calendar pointed to it being the day of the Summer Solstice. The day of the Awakening Ceremony.

Groaning, the young man rose from bed, showered, and dressed as quickly as he could. Being late would only bring down the ire of the Elite Dragons, and he did not want that. No one did, honestly. Not that he could help it. It seemed that many of them hated him for what he was, only because of how he arrived in their sanctuary.

Caleb was an Outsider. Having washed ashore at the young age of five, along with a piece of flotsam that bore the name of a ship ‘Queen Anne’s Mercy.’ Having no idea who his parents were, Caleb was dealt with in the typical fashion of outsiders. He was given to the Dragon Guard to look after. Within their compound, he would find paternal and maternal figures to guide him, food, shelter, clothing, and an education. He would also learn to fight and protect the Island from invaders should the need arise.

Now at nineteen, Caleb was one of the brightest young men the guard had ever seen. Rising within their ranks and currently under the tutelage of the Guard Commander, who happened to also be the personal bodyguard for King Maximus. There was talk about letting Caleb join them on their daily duties and work to perhaps one day replace Christan as the private guard to the king. That day was not today, however, as everything could change in an instant.

Leaving the small room that he stayed in at the barracks, Caleb followed the rest of the island populace to the ceremony hall. It wasn’t really a hall. More like an open field with stones arranged to resemble Stonehenge but filled with a power that no one could understand. It was the spot where the first High King, Sebastian was murdered, and it was the spot where every new dragon would awaken. There was something about this site mixed with the touch of the right human that could trigger an awakening within the dragon.

King Maximus was standing on the dais at the front, his gaze was cold and stony as if everyone else was beneath him. In a way, this is precisely how he felt. After all, he was the oldest of the dragons and thought to be the most powerful. It was he that enacted the ceremony and set the age limits.

“Welcome citizens of Sunset Island. Today is our Awakening Ceremony. The time of the summer solstice and a day of great power. Here you will hope to awaken your dragon and take your place within our society. If you are between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one, no matter what status you bore, please take your spot on the appointed pillar and wait. The humans will be brought out, one by one and will touch each of you. If you find the right human, your dragon will trigger its shift immediately and your scale colors shall appear. Pray you to get a desirable color. Once your color has been revealed, you will leave the platform and find the attendant that matches your color. They will provide you with details of your new life. Hope that you awaken.”

Caleb bit his lip in nervous anxiety as he moved to take his designated pilar. He was nineteen. He had been coming to the ceremony for three years and knew he had two left. If he did not find the human he was matched with before the age of twenty-one, then he would not be given a chance again. Those that did not awaken by the time they were twenty-one were seen as defective. For an outsider, it would mean death. For a halfbreed or dragonling, it would mean that they were ostracized from society and banished from the island. Death was the mercy, he knew, but he did not wish to die.

When the final person was in position, King Maximus sent a signal, and the humans were lined up to be paraded out.  Caleb was near the end of the line as he was one of the oldest. There were only four others that were older than him, and it took all he had to not be nervous. Having the advantage of being where he was in the lineup allowed him to see the fates of those that were actually awakened.

Caleb hoped that he was a dragon and not a silly human they just thought might have dragon blood. The tests showed that he possessed some of the same qualities as a dragonling, but no one knew who his parents were. Each human so far had not even stirred the faintest spark within him, but by the looks of it, there were at least five more to go before this year was over. Sending a silent prayer to whatever higher deity might be listening, Caleb asked that one of them bless him with the ability to awaken a dragon.

Finally, the last human was making her rounds, and the number of chosen she had to filter through was significantly less. This was a prosperous year, already thirty new dragons to assimilate within in the rank and file. Caleb was now the last person, the four older than him already finding the human that triggered their awakening. A petite brunette approached him, slowly, and clearly unsure of what was going on. She looked like a lamb being led to slaughter, only it was forbidden to harm the humans. Gently he saw her reach out her hand, a subtle tremor taking hold. Plastering a smile on his face, one Caleb hoped was reassuring, he took her hand within his.

For all the things he had heard the reaction was instantaneous. Caleb felt as if he was coming home as if the piece that was missing in his life had been found. He could feel the dragon awaken from its long slumber, only this felt different. The young man had heard the stories others had told of the tentative way the dragon would react at first, of how they had to work to build up their power but for Caleb, it felt as if he was awash with energy. Blinking a moment, he realized why.

Things were about to change. The only question is, was it going to be for the better?