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You turn left and run the length of the corridor. You sprint out of the Opal gate and what you see next makes your knees buckle. The NITT campus, with all its familiar buildings and pathways is nonexistent. There are no roads. Instead, only mud trails stretch on as far as you can see. Where there should have been different departments, there are mounds of crude structures that look as though they’ll fall to the ground any minute. You figure you must be dreaming and pinch yourself. Surprisingly, nothing happens.
CLANG!
The distinct sound of metal on metal draws your attention. Hesitantly, you run in the direction the sound came from. You see a vaguely familiar looking face (for some reason) dressed in ancient battle attire with an iron shield covering her torso and a sword held aloft, running towards a mob of people who also look like characters straight out of a movie set in medieval times. Confused, you fasten your pace to see what the mad rush is all about. You dash around a corner and then, you see it.
The magnificent beast with its long talons, massive wingspan and eyes as fiery as the red hot flames spewing out of its mouth leaves you completely dumbfounded. Your eyes refuse to believe what they see.
“Dragon”, you whisper to yourself, in absolute astonishment.
The woman you noticed earlier tries hacking at the dragon’s hide with her sword, and all she succeeds in doing, from your vantage point, is to anger the beast; quite horribly at that. The dragon lashes its tail at her, sending her flying right at you, knocking you to the ground. You are out of breath, but manage to push her off and get on your feet.
“WHAT IS THIS PLACE?”
You scream at the warrior in frustration. “You aren’t from around here, are you?”, she asks. Before you can answer, the dragon takes flight and lands dangerously close to the both of you. The warrior takes out a vial containing a suspicious looking purple liquid from her pocket and bathes her sword in the substance. With a glimmer in her eye, she screams,
“FOR NITTACIA!”
She dashes forward, dodges a whip of its tail and pierces the beast’s flesh between its massive scales. The beast looks visibly stunned and then suddenly, to your utter astonishment, it totters and falls with a resounding thud. You hear everyone around you cheer collectively. They then gather around the beast and proceed to tie its limbs with huge iron links.
Twenty minutes later, the dragon is secured in a cage and taken away. Hoping to understand what is happening, you look for someone to ask your million questions to, and find the vaguely familiar face from before. “How did you do that?”, you ask her with a tone of genuine adoration and amazement. “The vial contained purple clover extracts — a very powerful sedative”, she says with a smile on her face.
You ask her more about Nittacia and she tells you that she is part of an elite group of warriors called the ‘Dragon Knights’ who are tasked with protecting the people from berserk dragons. She adds that once the dragons are tame enough, riders are allotted to each dragon and that these riders get to fly all over the world and explore.
You don’t know why but a feeling of excitement slowly starts to surge inside you. A wild wish to become a rider overtakes you and you start to consider the infinite possibilities this new reality could offer. You notice that the way she talks is similar to how your best friend used to at NITT. Shrugging the feeling off, you ask about the quarters of everyone and the way society works in Nittacia. She replies by saying that everyone is now headed to Opallia, the guild for all in Nittacia and asks you to follow her. On the way to the guild, you notice structures which mesh together the strange and the familiar in bizarre ways. You realise that the shack like things you saw earlier were departments and that Opallia is… Opal? As soon as this strikes you, you fasten your pace and race ahead in the route which you’ve taken at least a 1000 times since your admission into college and finally reach your destination.
You see that the simple concrete walls have now been replaced with massive stone. Guarding it is a grumpy looking knight who seems displeased with the warriors lugging the body of the dragon along. He allows everyone into Opal except you, seeing a strange face for the first time. Coming to your rescue, your newfound friend says you are with her and escorts you in. Inside the compound a massive white stone castle greets you with its walls extending for a mile on each side. You decide the first thing to do is to find a proper place to stay. Your friend suggests that you stay with her till you properly set up and get comfortable and also tells you that she’s excited to hear the story of how you ended up here as well. You give her a smile and assure her that it’ll probably be the most ridiculous story she’s ever heard.
As you stand there taking in the beautiful view, you try to make peace with the possibility of not ever seeing your college, your amazing parents or friends ever again. You realise you’re almost on the verge of a breakdown but you fight back your tears and tell yourself that this is a second chance for you at life. A chance to be adventurous.
You are ready to take it.
