This was a special mission. Not just another test if they were worthy to join one of the teams for good. Mother sent them to Brazil. The Amazon rainforest, actually. Off the maps. Hidden in the jungle, far away from any kind of known civilisation, awaited a city. Finding it had been the first task they had to achieve. Most people who tried died on the way. By natural disasters, hunger, because they just got completely lost or attacked by animals. The further they came, the more supernatural the predators...
Mother wandted to know everything about that city. The people living there. And, most important, their source of energy. She had warned them. It was supposed to be so powerful, so destructive, that it couldn‘t fall into wrong hands. And the warriors living there were such a threat.

To Levi’s surprise they were supposed to be quite human. Even though a bit stronger and faster than the average human being. Connected to nature. They practiced their own kind of magic. Not the way witches did, but using their ominous source of power.
The best of the best were called riders. The half dragon had joked about giant jungle elephants. But no, they flew. On wyvern. It felt a bit strange. Because those creatures were somehow… close relatives to dragons? And Levi wasn’t used to dragons. Well, he had once had a quick chat with a guy hanging on mother's coattails. Finn or something like that. He just started to train with the recruits, but had never been to the orphanage. Levi couldn't believe he should be a real dragon. Because the Hayes imagined them like… well, the biblical leviathan. Ancient brutes full of anger. In love with war. The earth dragon was in love with his piano.
It somehow made Levi doubt if he was wrong, even in a draconic sense of being.

Raynara was at his side. Why them? Because they were supposed to blend in easily. The chimera usually didn‘t use electricity. They both relied on their reflexes. On their trained bodies. The people here didn’t let real witches enter. And wolves or vampires were far from human.
Usually outsiders weren‘t allowed at all. Riders were an exception. If you managed to survive the training, if a wayvern chose you, bonded with you, you became one of them. A protector of their realm.
It was their entry ticket. So after fighting through the jungle for more than a week, they were greeted by bows and spears. Arrows pointing in their direction.
Levi imagined the tribe more like… well, the typical loincloth wearing natives. But this here was totally different. Like the incas mixed up with some fantasy middle ages and made modern technology look like magical devices.
The half dragon raised his hands, but the smirk on his face didn’t look like pleading for mercy at all. Finally things started to become interesting.
„We’re here to offer ourselves as cadets.“ A big, muscled woman in colourful clothes approached, looking them up and down. „Fresh meat for our wings and claws then.“ Didn’t sound like many made it through the training. Levi‘s smile grew even wider.
She pointed to barracks outside the ridicolously high and smooth city wall. If the gates were shut, there was no way to get in, except flying. Way to slipperly to climb. And warded.

The jungle felt alive. Not just in the way any rainforest did, teeming with movement beneath its dense canopy, but something more—something unnatural. Eyes watching from shadows she couldn’t see, whispers in the wind that didn’t belong to birds or insects. Even the ground felt restless beneath her boots, shifting like a great beast inhaling under layers of damp earth and twisted roots. The air was thick, humid, pressing against her skin, leaving every breath heavy in her chest. The scent of wet soil, moss, and blooming orchids clashed with the distant tang of something metallic, something old. Raynara had seen many places. Had walked through ruins that had forgotten their own names, had scaled mountains where the wind howled like mourning ghosts. But this—this city buried deep in the Amazon—was different. And she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. She glanced at Levi beside her. The half-dragon looked entirely unbothered, like he had expected nothing less than this surreal blend of ancient and impossible. The people staring them down with weapons raised weren’t the kind of warriors Ray had imagined either. No ragged, desperate survivalists. They looked strong, disciplined, battle-worn. Like they had fought for their place in this jungle and would fight just as hard to keep it. Their weapons weren’t crude either. Spears and bows, yes, but there was something refined in their make, a craftsmanship that hinted at secrets far beyond the modern world’s reach.

And those walls—massive, smooth, enchanted in ways Ray could feel in the pit of her stomach. No outsider would enter without permission. And no one who failed would ever leave. She let Levi do the talking. Not because she was afraid, but because his confidence had a way of making people listen. That smirk, sharp like a blade yet deceptively playful, was a weapon all its own. The woman who stepped forward looked like she could snap bones with her bare hands. Probably had, plenty of times. Her dark eyes took them in, measured them. Not with curiosity—no, she was calculating. Deciding whether they were worth the air they breathed. Ray didn’t need to look at Levi to know he was grinning wider now. He lived for this. For impossible challenges, for the promise of something beyond ordinary violence. For the chance to push himself further. She couldn’t blame him.

Her own fingers flexed slightly at her sides, her body already adjusting, already preparing. Because this wasn’t just about survival anymore. This wasn’t just another mission, another test. This was a game. And Raynara intended to win.

The barracks weren’t much. Simple structures, their walls woven from some kind of reinforced wood, strengthened with hides and metal plating where necessary. Practical. No unnecessary decoration, no wasted space. This was a place meant to harden its inhabitants, not comfort them. Ray took in the layout as they were led inside, scanning for exits, blind spots, anything that might be useful later. Not out of paranoia—just instinct. Even now, surrounded by potential allies, she didn’t trust this place. The jungle had tested them, but this city… this was something else. The woman who had greeted them—if you could call it a greeting—didn’t say much as she directed them to an open area behind the barracks. A training ground. Others were already there, some sparring, some focusing on the arriving wyvern—gargantuan creatures, their scales catching the golden light seeping through clouds above. Their wings rustled like distant thunder. Ray felt something then. Not fear. Not awe. Just understanding. Predators recognize each other. The wyverns were different from dragons. Leaner, rougher around the edges, their movements sharper, more erratic. No calculated grace, just raw instinct and speed. They didn’t have the same air of ancient wisdom and elegance Ray had sensed in real dragons—like the earth dragon Fionn, or the few others she had encountered in passing. Wyverns were creatures of war. They didn’t care for philosophy or purpose. Just survival. Levi was watching them too, but his focus was different. He wasn’t admiring them—he seemed to be evaluating them. „Think you can handle that?“ she asked, voice low enough that only he could hear. Before he could answer the woman from before stepped forward and gathered the potential cadets to announce the first trial.