Chapter 8- The Mysterious Sponsor

  A week passed, in a blur. Amanda, Bill, and Ashley had to spend most of their time in training, but Jett met up with them two more times to catch up over dinner and let them fawn over Layla. As the semester was getting underway, their schedules quickly filled up, unlike Jett’s, though he kept himself busy with his projects.

  Jett had grown a foot, and his calorie intake had eased some. He also noticed a few other changes. He got a sixth sense for where things were around him, and all his other senses got a lot sharper, too. When he looked up in the night sky, he could make out satellites or sometimes space stations. His time at the academy was going smoothly, but the email he received about a sponsor started nagging at him.

  Jett still hadn’t heard anything from the sponsor that the college emailed him about. He decided to ask someone who was more familiar with what it means to be a dragon rider.

  Monday morning, he grabbed the biggest cup of coffee he could and headed to Professor Wiggin’s class. He sat in the front row and started sipping to get some caffeine. Every morning, he grew more jealous of the students who tested out. The lecture was so dry that he wouldn’t remember a thing. He wanted to skip the lectures, except that the professor gave random quizzes to make sure his students attended his classes.

  Amanda and Bill filed in, with their own cop of coffee, not saying a word as they took their seats. Then Ashley practically skipped in a few minutes later, “Morning!”

  Jett took in a deep breath. It wasn’t Ashley’s fault that she was a morning person. Everyone had their flaws, and it wasn’t like she chose to be unreasonably chipper. He would still be her friend… after he finished waking up.

  Ignoring their morning fugue, she starts chatting away, “So I was thinking, maybe we should start a study group. We can quiz each other and… oh, look, the professor is here. Just think it over.”

  The class was a haze, but Angie was recording and would summarize notes for him later. The material was actually interesting, but the rote memorization the professor was going for in his lectures was mind-numbing.

  After his law class, he and Amanda made their way to dragon anatomy.

  “So has your secret benefactor reached out to you yet?”

  “No, I thought he would send out at least an email.” Jett froze and turned to Amanda, who had a giant grin on her face. In his morning fugue, he thought she asked about his sponsor email, though he never shared that with his friends. Mostly because he didn’t understand what it meant.

  “Oh? What company are they part of?”

  “I, uh, misspoke.”

  “No, no, no. You have to spill. Who is it?” She asked as she gripped his arm, so he wouldn’t escape.

  “Ok, look, I’ll tell you, but keep it quiet.”

  Amanda squeezed tighter, eagerly awaiting his mysterious benefactor.

  “Last week, I got an email from the school about a dragon rider sponsoring me. I confirmed it’s real, but my sponsor hasn’t reached out yet.”

  Amanda deflated, “Ugh, you are such a bad liar.”

  “Why do you say that?” but Amanda ignored him as she power walked to class. She refused to answer, no matter how many times he bugged or prodded her.

  He grabbed his seat beside Amanda, and class started.

  “Today, we will start a new section on energy cores. Let’s start with a question: are cores specific to only dragons?”

  A fleet of hands launched into the air, “Yes, Mr. Harcomb.”

  “No, there are many other creatures that have cores.”

  “Indeed, dragons are not the only ones, but the list is quite short. Do humans have a core?”

  Hands flew into the air once again, “Yes, Miss Arbitrage.”

  “No humans don’t have cores.”

  This time, the professor grinned, “It was actually a trick question. Humans are born without a core, but a few can develop one. I would ask how, but I think everyone has a good idea: Dragon Riders!

  “Dragon riders develop a much simpler core than dragons, and so are a great place for us to begin our study.”

  Jett racked his mind, thinking over his reading, and a few things bothered him. He raised his hand, and Professor Bond stopped to turn to him. “Yes, Honored Rider Knight?”

  “Dragons use cores to power their breath, but the textbook says most riders don’t develop the ability to use their core for a breath attack. So why develop a core at all?”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “A great question! We will cover it in more depth later, but does anyone else know what dragons use their core for?”

  There was a moment of quiet as no one raised their hand. Then Amanda tentatively put hers up. The professor nodded to her to speak, “Their aura?”

  “Yes! Their aura. All dragons emit an aura. Dragon riders, too, emit an aura. There are a few neat tricks you can do with an aura, but with technology, we can channel the aura, though you will cover that in other classes.”

  The lecture proceeded to discuss some of the anatomical features of the core. Jett listened with half an ear as he wondered about his own aura. Layla was a void dragon, so would he start creating a void around himself? The textbook mentioned it could be controlled.

  Once the class was over, he bolted to his next class with Professor Onions, So he could talk to Kyle.

  When he filed into his history class, he found Kyle sitting in his normal spot, chatting with Lucy. She leaned over, grinning at him as he talked about his home. When Lucy spotted Jett approaching Kyle, she stood up, and her smile became more reserved.

  “Aw, your sister sounds so cute. I wish I had a little sister like her. It looks like class is about to start, maybe I will see you later?” Lucy gave Kyle a wink before sashaying off.

  Jett slid into his seat. “Lucy has it bad for you, Kyle.”

  “Huh? What? Nah, she’s gorgeous, but she’s just being a good friend. She’s not interested in someone like me.”

  “I’m telling you, she wants you to ask her out.” Jett and Kyle had this talk every day, but before they rehashed the old conversation, Jett asked, “I want to talk to you about something else before class starts. Have you ever heard of sponsorship?”

  “Oh yeah, some of the established dragon riders will come to the college to sponsor students.”

  “Right, but what does that mean? Is it like an offer of money or something?”

  Kyle snorted, “Money? No, they offer to help train the dragon rider. It’s a big deal; only five or so get chosen a year. Once you get out of college, it means you can go wherever you want. It’s a golden ticket.”

  “So, have you heard of anyone getting sponsored this year?”

  “Nah, dragon riders looking to sponsor someone will look at the senior class. If someone is really well connected, maybe a junior, but I doubt it will happen this year.”

  “They just train you? Isn’t that what the school is supposed to be doing?”

  “This is all kid stuff. I mean, it's important, but most of the classes can be learned through a textbook. A sponsor takes you under their wing and not only gives you special training, but depending on their status, they’ll open doors for you.”

  Jett opened his mouth to ask another question, but the teacher started his lecture.

  In the final class of the day, Professor Waldin’s class. He started to form a “hate/love” relationship with the class. The class was by far his favorite, covering the gear and ways he could equip himself to be a better dragon rider. What he was starting to hate was the people in the class.

  The two guys he talked to on the first day were Honored Rider Lago and Eggo. Lago was the laid back of the two, though he never missed a chance to make a snide remark.

  “Lago, look at this. I think this hopeful had surgery to make himself look like a dragon rider.”

  Eggo, his bald friends, who was the hot head of the pair, locked onto Jett, “This, if you look the part, someone will make you a dragon rider?”

  He marched up to Jett and shoved Jett’s stuff off his desk and onto the floor. Jett didn’t say anything but stood up, staring him down.

  Eggo grinned as he rolled his shoulders, “Want to go, little man?”

  “Eggo, leave him be. He probably can’t do more than stand after his surgery.”

  Eggo grinned, “That, true? One little push…”

  Eggo tried to shove Jett, but Jett braced himself, and Eggo was the one to get knocked off balance. His face went red, and he looked like he was about to try to punch Jett.

  “Eggo, class is about to start. We can help educate the hopeful later.”

  Eggo sneered, “I’ll see you later, poser.”

  Jett shook his head and sat back down. In the first week, he had tried a few times to start a conversation with them, but each time they grew more antagonistic. He started to wish he never talked to them in the first place, just glided under the radar and out of notice.

  After class, he worked off some of his frustration at the gym before going to meet Layla. He opened the door at the hatchery, and a wall of sleek black slammed into him, knocking him on his back.

  “Momma, you’re finally here!”

  “Yeah, Layla. I’m here.” Layla had grown so much that she was now taller than he was, even after his growth spurt. Gingerly pressed her snout to his midsection and bit his clothes, carrying him inside.

  ‘I’m so glad you are here. All the other dragons are so boring. All they want to do all day is lie. Lie and stand on each other. Like, what’s so great about standing on a dragon? I tried it a few times. It’s really not all that great.

  ‘Oh yeah. I flew today! I jumped off and glided all the way down. All the other dragons were so jealous.

  ‘Did you bring any more metal snacks? The keepers are so stingy. They know they are yummy and want to keep them all for themselves.’

  Jett reached up to pet Layla, “I missed you, too, Layla.”

  Layla dropped Jett into the depression on the floor where she slept and curled up around him so only his head poked out.

  “Layla, are you going to let me go?”

  ‘No! Only stay, no leave.’ Jet chuckled; it was a phrase she liked to repeat a lot and was sticking around.

  “I can’t get you more cubes if you don’t let me go.”

  Layla huffed, laying her head down, then sighing. Jett leaned back his head as he accepted his fate.

  An hour later, the door opened, and Ashley walked in with three metal cubes, “Layla… where are you? I’ve got some tasty cubes for you.”

  ‘You can’t trick me. Momma is worth way more than three cubes. At least five!’

  “Ashley, what are you doing here?”

  Ashley’s face drained of color, and she turned to see Jett. “Jett… what are you doing here?”

  “Being kidnapped by my dragon. What are you doing here?” Jett didn’t mind; he gave them access. He did it so that when they visited, they didn’t need him every time they went to the bathroom, but it was a social faux pas to meet with a dragonling without their rider.

  “I wanted to bring her some snacks. You mention how she’s always so hungry, so…”

  “She says you need to bring at least two more.”

  ‘Five more!’

  “She can’t carry five. They are forty pounds apiece.”

  Ashley drops the blocks and sprints out of the room, “I’ll get more.”

  Ten minutes later, Jett was freed from captivity as Layla munched away.

  “Sorry, Jett, she was just so cute, and when you said she was hungry, I thought it wouldn’t hurt if I swung by.”

  “I don’t mind you bringing her snacks, but you should really only do so with me here. Layla is very sweet and kind, but she is also a baby dragon. Those headbutts she likes to do to me would dent a hover car. She wouldn’t mean to hurt you, but she might by accident.”

  Ashley’s head hung, “Okay…”

  Jett stuck around for another hour, letting Ashley pet and feed Layla a few more blocks. After Ashley headed back to her dorm room to study.

  “You have a new message.” Angie pinged.

  “Oh? What did Ashley say?”

  “This is from your sponsor; it says to meet him in the combat training hall.”

  “When?”

  “Right now.”