[ WP ] When everyone turns 18 , they receive a pet which is figurative of their personality . You 're the first person to receive a dragon ...

I was terrified as I stood before the Great Oak Door... completely alone. Standing before that door without anyone beside you was unusual. In a city the size of Fellstar you normally get at least two or three people coming of age every day. That means that very few people here are alone as they walk into the Rite and receive their Aspect. 
 
 I... was n't quite that lucky. By some quirk of fate I'd wound up as the only person in Fellstar born exactly eighteen years before, to the day. Not that it mattered, the Rite was a routine thing that everyone goes through on their Eighteenth Year, to the day. You went to the Temple, and got to walk out into the Great Room so that everyone who bothered to attend the Rite on that day could see your Aspect form before you. I'm told it's a fairly common attraction for people with the time to spend... but that group does n't include myself. 
 
 I had never even seen the Rite before... I had heard it described a lot though. People always told me that it was as if something new is woven into the patterns of Fate, formed from the threads of your own being. I wanted to see that... but I was also afraid. 
 
 This probably sounds a bit odd... but I was afraid that my Aspect would n't be a Warrior's aspect. 
 
 I was a Guard by trade at the time. I'm still not sure how I managed to find myself in that position. My father was a tailor, and my mother was one as well. Somehow I'd escaped a needle and thread, and found myself with a blade instead... and I enjoyed it. I was a soldier, by law. A soldier in the standing army that protected the realm in times of peace... and in times of war I would find myself called to true battle. 
 
 My life was n't just something I had to live with, although I was dissatisfied with it. It was exactly what I wanted it to be. I wanted my life to be the way it was... but I knew that my Aspect could change that. If I did n't recieve a Warrior's aspect, a Wolf or Falcon or something like that, I might be removed from the Guard... and Aspects tend to run along family lines. 
 
 I was terrified that my Aspect would be something like my father's Spider, or my mother's fox. Those are clever creatures, and Aspects that mimic them are the aspects of Craftsmen. I was afraid that I would walk out onto the platform, in front of a sizable crowd... and wind up with eight eyes staring up at me. 
 
 I wanted, more than anything else, to walk out through those doors with the same confidence I felt in the training yard. I wanted to stride out like I did when it was time to do my job, rather than just stand around waiting for something to happen, and have the Rite carried out upon me to show what my Aspect was... and see that I really was a warrior. 
 
 I suppose we both know what happened in that regard, do n't we? 
 
 At any rate, I eventually decided that I could n't wait any longer. There's no real time-pressure when it comes to walking through those doors. The Order prefers we take our time, as it saves them time in mopping up the vomit of those who try to push through their nervousness. I pushed open the Great Oak Doors, and strode out onto the platform... and was immediately aware of all the eyes upon me. 
 
 Several people I knew from the Guard were out there. The Master-at-Arms was in attendance... as were several people I'd been trained alongside. I suppose they'd managed to arrange a day off-duty to attend this. I could see the faces of some people I knew from my on-duty hours as well. I saw a traveling merchant I'd spoken to more than once on patrol. I'd mentioned that today was my day about a week beforehand... he must have made note of that. There were others too... others I did n't recognize. They were people who were just there to spend some time that they did n't have anything better to do with. 
 
 I do n't know if I managed to keep my posture dignified... although I do know my armor was spotless, if a bit crude compared to what I wear nowadays. I walked along the long walk from the Great Oak Doors of the Order's Temple to the Octagonal Platform. I placed one foot upon it, bending my knee almost to a right angle to get it there, and then pushed the rest of my body up after it. 
 
 I... ca n't recall the words that were spoken. Their meaning is blurred as well, probably by my nervous worries, but their general shape is common knowledge. The Order's Officiator gave the usual speech about a young man having finally come of age. He congratulated me for having survived this far into my life, and wished me the same luck in surviving the rest of my life until the gods decided that my time was over. Then he spoke of my accomplishments, there were n't as many as I would have liked. 
 
 Then he said that it was time for me to officially become a man, and receive the Aspect that would show who I really was, and raised his hand towards the air above the Octagonal Platform and began to chant in that strange tongue the Order uses for all their official things. The words were unfamiliar to me... but the tone of the Officiator's voice put me on edge. My hand drifted to the pommel of my blade... but I did n't draw it. 
 
 I simply stood, back straight and shoulders back as if I was standing guard over something, and watched as the Magic was woven around me... and of me. 
 
 At first it was just a fog drifting up from the Octagonal Platform, but it soon became a cloud of multicolored mist which slowly began to float upwards. The mist became an aurora of bright reds and golds, as well as other colors I had never even dreamed about. The aurora flexed in midair, its size and shape changing rapidly and unpredictably and its colors growing brighter and brighter. Finally, it became a bright and a almost blinding white that forced me to shield and avert my eyes. 
 
 I kept my eyes closed for what felt like an eternity. I was waiting for some reaction from the gathered crowd... but all was silent. My heart dropped after about five seconds of silence, and my mind began to race to the most fearful reactions. I thought that everyone was silent in shock of my having gotten an Aspect that was... well poor. An Laborer's or Guile Aspect might have come from me... and I did n't know how I would cope with an Ant or a House-Cat. 
 
 Eventually, I dropped my hand and opened my eyes... and then truly understood why everyone was silent. I had never seen a creature like the one that stood before me, or heard of anyone getting it as their Aspect. 
 
 It was in miniature... but the shape was undeniable. Its body was coated in crimson scales that seemed to be trimmed with gold at their edges. Four strong limbs came from its body, which were all shaped like those of a jungle-cat. A long tail swept backwards, and two leathery wings sprouted from its back. Its neck was long, like that of a snake. But its head was unique, and took aspects from hounds, cats, and the great-lizards. 
 
 I knew what it was of course, although, as I have already said, I had never seen anything like it. Nobody had seen anything like it for over a thousand years... not since the Great Hunt finally drove the last of them into the Abyss. It was a Dragon... my aspect was a Dragon. 
 
 Upon realizing that... my fear drained away and was replaced with confusion centered around one question: What form of Aspect is a Dragon, is it a Warrior's aspect... or something else entirely?
