One final year
The Trial of Six Gates
It is the final year before graduation from Star Academy. Before they leave, every young dragon must face the Dragon Games: six gates, each one a test and each one a lesson. Aster, Λούσι, Χάρπερ, Αβίσα and Σάρλοτ will face them together.
The Song
The Dragon Games
5:10
The Academy
Hall of Infinite Lamps
Every evening the lampwrights make their rounds through the Hall of Infinite Lamps, and new flames wake in the halls of stone. Each lamp holds a story yet to be told.
This year five of those lamps belong to five friends in their final year, with one last chance to earn their wings before graduation.
Five friends
Rivals Forged as Friends
Above the falls, Aster tests her wings against the morning sky, gold glinting through her rainbow scales. Λούσι races rose-pink fast. Χάρπερ maps the skies. Αβίσα saves every tale in ink, and Σάρλοτ plans the prize.
They started as rivals. By the final year, they are the best of friends.
The Council of Elders
Let the Games Begin
The lamps are lit and the horns sound out. At the great round table, the Council of Elders unveils the Dragon Games: six trials, and every dragon in the final year must face each one before the final bell.
Six games to go, one year to fly,
Five minds awake, one open sky.
Run the falls and read the flame;
Know the rules, then change the game.
Gate I
Race the Falls
Friendship
The Academy’s fountains and falls become an obstacle course, where the currents twist and spray the course with foam. Λούσι finds the daring line, and her friends follow it safely home. A friend who knows the way shows the others.
Gate II
The Firefly Labyrinth
Guidance
A maze through the mountains to the far kingdom. The trees hide the way and the path is treacherous, but it is the only road that keeps the kingdom together. False trails multiply, and Χάρπερ reads the gaps between the lanterns in the sky. In the end the friends discover that the fireflies were guiding them all along.
Gate III
The Great Splash
Individuality
At the Mountain Lake Underwater Pass, a great splash surges and the platforms tilt beneath a sky of blue. Aster dives beneath the waves and finds a passage through, a way she could see because she trusted her own eyes.
Gate IV
The Hall of Truth
Growth
The fourth gate asks for a story, and the judges prize the truth. The Hall of Truth and Acknowledgement is walled with glass, each panel holding the story of an Academy dragon in her own art. One wall honors graduation. The other honors the dragons who became the eldest of their line and joined the Council of Elders. High above, the vaulted ceiling remembers the young dragons whose stories ended too soon.
Αβίσα tells the whole truth, mistakes and all, and turns each one into a lesson learned.
Gate V
Maps and Riddles
Respect
The fifth gate lays maps and riddles down. Σάρλοτ spots the flaw, Χάρπερ checks the sums, and Λούσι finds a shortcut through the waterfall. Each friend trusts what the others do best, and together they solve what none could solve alone.
The Star Library
Before the last gate, the friends study in the Star Library. Beside the praise for the great dragons of the past, they find notes in the margins: the brightest minds changed their plans when the facts outgrew their ways.
Outside, the lamps burn through the dusk. The sixth game waits unseen, with no map, no score and no single star to tell them what it means.
Gate VI
The Cloud Waterfall
Exploration · The Friend Gate
The final stretch is the Cloud Waterfall, and sometimes it is a tempest. It is different for every dragon. A sudden squall divides their flight and tears the signal flags. The fastest cannot lead alone, and the strongest wings grow tired.
So they fly as one. Χάρπερ calls the wind shifts, Σάρλοτ sets the pace, and Λούσι doubles back for friends who have lost their way. Aster holds the rising line and Αβίσα calls the turn. Five minds fix the failing plan, and five pairs of wings correct their aim.
The final test is not who wins, but how they play the game.
Six games behind, one year to fly,
Five minds awake, one open sky.
Run the falls; let old rules bend;
Win the game by bringing friends.
The Hall of Acknowledgement
Scoreboards of Glass
In the Hall of Acknowledgement the scoreboard walls are made of glass, and the Academy keeps its books on every dragon’s class. When the last gate closes, the board fills with gold: five names, six gates, and a pass beside every one.
Graduation
Five Names Inscribed
Graduation morning
The Final Bells
On graduation morning the hundred falls catch copper light and the final bells ring across the Academy. The Elders gather on the high terrace to watch. One by one the graduates take to the sky, and five colors cross the morning above the schoolyard: pearl and gold, rose, lavender, maroon and ice blue.
The wall of graduation
Their Stories in Glass
In the Hall of Truth, five new panels are set into the wall of graduation, each one made in its owner’s own art. Aster’s holds every color of the rainbow. Λούσι’s races, Χάρπερ’s is a map, Σάρλοτ’s is a plan with every move in place, and Αβίσα’s tells the story of all five.
The graduates’ flight
Wings Wide Open
Then comes the graduates’ flight. The five friends fly in formation over the Academy, past the banners and the waterfalls, with the whole kingdom watching. They leave with more than polished wings. They have learned to fly outright, and to bring their friends along.
The day after
A Moment of Reflection
The day after graduation, the Academy is quiet. The lampwrights trim the wicks and the halls grow still and bright. The five friends walk the empty halls one more time, past the glass walls and the lamps that now hold their stories.
From then on the Academy is a place to come back to for a moment of reflection.
The gates swing wide
The Next Great Flight
The gates swing wide and five friends fly out into the kingdom. Their tales stay behind in the Hall of Infinite Lamps, glowing for the young dragons who come next. Wherever they go from here, the next great flight is theirs to guide.
From the Games
Behold the Dragon Games!