All right. Guess I’ll see how that works out. If I bomb, I’m blaming this on you.
Alex could hear Myrddin talking past the red curtain. “And now I introduce to you the first human dragonrider,” Myrddin called.
That was Alex’s cue. She took a deep breath and walked out.
The lights were very bright, and at first, Alex couldn’t make out anyone in front of her. Slowly, everything started to come into focus. She could see Team Boundless sitting near the podium and the rest of the dragonriders filling the room.
Alex tried not to think about what she was going to say as she hobbled across the stage. She was still pretty beat up. The audience patiently waited for her to get to the podium, and she cleared her throat before taking a deep breath.
When Alex spoke, her voice was shaky, almost cracking. “So, we won the battle, I think,” she joked. The crowd chuckled politely as Alex summoned her courage and went on. “You know, I saw what the Dark One was in the meteor. Part of that was terrifying, but the rest? The rest was pathetic. I saw what he’s planning on doing. He thinks he can improve us. He thinks we are weak, and we’ll be stronger through him. What do you guys think?”
A chorus of voices shouted their disagreement, slammed their hands on the tables, and clinked their glasses. “Exactly,” Alex shouted back to the crowd. “This war is far from over, but I’m damned if I spend it running from the Dark One.”
Alex raised her cybernetic arm and clenched her fist. “We will fight. We will bleed. We will sacrifice.” She let her words hang over the crowd for a moment before speaking again. “We’re taking this fight to the Dark One. I am a dragonrider. The first human rider, sure, but I promise you this: I will not be the last. Dragonriders, the Dark One is coming back, but we are ready,” she said as she looked at the cadets, at Toppinir, at Roy, at Brath, Gill, Jollies, and Jim, and with unbridled pride cried out, “And we will win!”
The shouting and war cries of the dragonriders could be heard long into the night. They were accompanied by the roaring of their dragons.
The sound would have frightened anyone.
Even the Dark One.
The End
Alex and Jim are on a date in Middang3ard. Sadly, Middang3ard isn’t very romance-friendly … and when a comet pursued by the Dark One’s forces crash lands onto the surface, Jim and Alex have to cut the date short to investigate in Love and Aliens.
Author Notes Ramy Vance
February 13, 2020
Since we’re so close the April Fools (at the time of publication), I had to share what I did last year. Check it out!
Hey everyone! Check out my new series:
Tired of the same old urban fantasy plot lines? Looking for something brand new and mind-bending?
Check out Ramy Vance’s new series: The Toddler…
The Toddler is coming. Pray he hasn’t missed his nap.
Prone to tantrums, resistant to sleep and perpetually hungry, this pint-size hero has just soiled himself.
It seems that a powerful magic has befallen the city, putting all the adults to sleep. And now there’s no one around him to change his dirty diaper.
Now The Toddler must risk all to save the adults from their endless slumber.
But time is running out, for if he doesn’t find a cure soon, he’s going to have one hell of a diaper rash.
If you like the Dresden Files, Mercy Thompson or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, then you’ll be helplessly addicted to The Toddler series.
COMING SOON!
Praise for The Toddler:
★★★★★ “Finally a breath of … well … seriously stinky air.”
★★★★★ “Buffy meets Dora the Explorer.”
★★★★★ “Move over Paw Patrol … Adventure Bay finally has a real hero.”
There are three more covers, but because of space issues, I couldn’t put them here. I have them on my Facebook feed and/or join my Facebook Group: House of the GoneGod Damned … all the covers, plus this year’s April Fools are in there!
Author Notes Michael Anderle
March 22, 2020
THANK YOU for reading our story! We have a few of these planned, but we don’t know if we should continue writing and publishing without your input. Options include leaving a review, reaching out on Facebook to let us know, and smoke signals.
Frankly, smoke signals might get misconstrued as low hanging clouds so you might want to nix that idea.
I live on the strip in Las Vegas and it is presently one week since I got back from London and five days since most of the hotel-casino’s on the strip shut down due to the efforts to contain Covid-19.
I live next to the Aria, beside the Cosmopolitan, and across the street (and a block or two down) from the MGM Grand and New York New York casinos.
The Aria and New York New York are important because the restaurants I frequent are inside them. You know, inside where I can’t even get take-out anymore.
Presently, it is 1:30PM in the afternoon and traffic on Las Vegas Blvd (always a mess on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons) is not a mess.
In fact, the whole strip is about 95% shut down. There are a few restaurants open including Giordano’s (we are helping them stay open and paying a few workers), McDonald’s, a hot dog place in front of Bally’s (I can’t remember the name but purchase a Mexican Coke every time I am over there) and also Wahlburgers. Plus, any CVS or Walgreens (which seem to occur every few blocks near my place.)
I have a theory why we have any traffic at all.
Theory: People from outside the strip (think Henderson or RedRock area) are taking a drive to see the strip closed. The expectations of no cars traveling up and down is doomed to disappointment because of sightseers coming in to see the absence of cars—therefore, there are
