[1] The Dragon

Azian’s POV.

WHEN I WAS six, I entered the human world and since then, I’ve been having nightmares. You might ask why I am in the human world instead of back home, in the supernatural world where I belong.

The answer would be because I’m different, evidently, but unlike most creatures who take refuge in the human world, I’m not hunted by any human hunters, they don’t even know my kind exists.

No...instead, I’m hunted by hell hounds and dark witches for a prophecy that lies on my head.  

They never stop.

Each night they hunt me in my dreams. I’m used to it now, they don’t scare me anymore. Not the sound of children screaming as they explode in bloody pieces right in front of my eyes or the dead eyes of souls that have been destroyed by the orange flicker of flames. Why would they scare me? After all, they’re only dead because of me, because of the dragon that lies dormant inside of me and Omega, the dangerous power that grows within me with each passing day. 

Yes, we were the cause of their deaths.

My nightmares were only rein actions of my past mistakes, before I could control my power. I didn’t mean to bury a whole school alive when I was twelve, I couldn’t control what Omega could do then and neither could he.

He was trying to protect us, his own defense mechanism. I couldn’t fault him for that. I knew it wasn’t my fault either, even though that didn’t lessen the guilt. It was something I learnt to live with. It wasn’t the last time I would kill, and with a destiny like mine, many more would fall. The only thing that irks me about the whole ordeal is how I wake up drained out every ounce of energy feeling as weak as a human.

I was in bed, wide awake like I had been the last 6 hours of the night, but my eyes were shut closed.  

I was trying to regain some form of energy not even blinking when Alessia knocked on my door at exactly 6am. I knew it was her because her scent had already tackled me long before her knuckles had hit the door, 

 “AZIAN!” she yelled furiously banging on the door, “AZIAN WAKE UP!” she screeched. I groaned, rolling over in bed, Alessia had a voice as loud as a siren.

 “Azian don’t you dare go back to bed! It’s time for school! If I’m late again I’m going to kick your ass!” she screeched. I scoffed at that, knowing fully well her 15 year old self could do nothing against me. I would like to see her try. I also didn’t understand why she insisted on always arriving to that human school on time. Human schools taught subjects that came easy to our kind. We actually had to dumb it down to not raise any suspicions. Alessia loved to shine however, there was a reason she was taking advanced classes with us, despite our age gaps. 

With that in mind I threw the dark sheets over my head, trying to get in as much rest as I could.

“Azian!”

“Go away!” I growled lowly, unable to hide my irritation. Mornings were the worst for me.

Everything went quiet and for a minute and I reveled in the fact that for the first time ever, Alessia had given up and I had won.

Wait- Alessia? Give up?

 “WHAT THE HELL!” I roared throwing the dripping wet cover off me, bolting upright in bed. I gasped at the intruding cold, swinging my feet to the side of the bed. My clothes were drenched, my hair soaking wet and my sheets were a puddled mess. I slowly looked up, scowling at the sight of a bucket floating aimlessly above my head. I gritted my teeth, “Alessia when I get out of bed, I’m going to-”

The bucket dumped its remaining water on my head, sending a shiver down my spine at the contact of the ice cold water. I swiped at it angrily but it dodged my attempt, cruising in midair to the door. It turned invisible and disappeared through it, Alessia giggling from behind the door her footsteps growing fainter as she run away.

Damn witches.

I stood up, grabbing a towel and wiping myself down. Sighing, I rolled my shoulders back trying to relieve the knotted feeling. i looked down at the light golden glow of my veins, running up my arm. It seems my dragon was doing what he could to warm us up again. With a towel in hand I walked out the door, noticing there was no Alessia in sight.

It was smart of her to disappear while she could. 

On my way to the bathroom I spotted Edwin, rubbing his midnight colored wet hair with his towel as he walked toward his room, evidently from taking a shower of his own. Edwin was like me.

A dragon.

But unlike me, his dragon had shifted at the right time.

Six- the normal age for the first shift. His dragon Orion, was different from other dragons, he was one of the rare species. Unable to breathe fire as most do was one of his biggest weaknesses, however, as one of the rare species of Dragons, a Liche Dragon, he could raise up a whole army of the dead. something not even i could do. This special power of his was why he and I bonded.

I needed a guardian and he was a perfect fit. 

Edwin threw the towel over his shoulder, his dark hair falling down to his shoulders, dark brown eyes dancing with amusement, “Alessia used the bucket on you didn’t she?”

I growled in response pushing past him begrudgingly. Slamming the bathroom door shut behind me.

I heard his rich laughter from behind me and I rolled my eyes. Edwin wasn’t my brother, but he was the closest thing I’d ever have to one, even if he was my guardian. Alessia on the other hand was a problem on her own.

Being hunted by hell hounds, vampires and dark witches, it was Abigail, the mother protector of the witch kind who saved me and Edwin. Well, there was the slight fact that she was actually sent to kill me, but that’s a story for another day.

To shorten things up, Abigail was like a mother I was deprived of having. Stolen from my people in an attempt to keep me safe, her and her then pregnant best friend Anna, risked their lives to take me and Edwin to this realm, where we had a decent chance of survival. I was six at the time, Edwin was a bare year older and Alessia was a fetus in her mother, Anna's belly.

Fast forward thirteen years to present times we had created a family of our own, even though none of us were typically related, apart from Alessia and Anna of course.

End of history lesson. 

Walking into the shower, I turned it on adjusting the water to a temperature I preferred.

Cold.

Staring down at the water as it drained out I tried to get myself back together, leaning both hands on the shower wall, allowing the water to cool my head. Another routine, another boring day in this realm. Drained as usual and practically forcing myself to recuperate. My power just needed a few seconds. 

A few minutes later I walked out of the shower, wrapping a towel down my bottom half taking my toothbrush. Doing a quick rinse I pulled out a face cloth running it across my face, before staring up at my reflection in the overhanging mirror.

Icy blue eyes stared back at me, my golden locks dripping like tumbling weeds over my face. It was an appearance I hated, not because I was ugly in any way, actually quite the opposite. In this realm humans adored the beautiful and good looking but that was the last thing I needed.

I was tired all the time and the consistent stares kept me awake all hours of the day. There was a definite price that came with being a godlike, it was how I was designed. It was part of what I was.

My blue eyes suddenly turned an electric green,

              “Another morning huh?” my reflection asked me, yawning as it stretched. I took my eyes off the mirror sighing, “ Good morning Omega,” I greeted my power that had taken the liberty to use my reflection.

I hoped he would lay dormant at the back of my mind for a few more hours but like always, the chatter box was up by shower time.  I glanced up again at my reflection, pausing for a minute when I noticed the golden irises that stared back at me instead of Omega’s electric green. It was the first time he had done that,                         

               “Alpha,” I acknowledged the presence of my dragon, “good morning.” 

             “Grr,” he growled back fading off into my usual electric blue eyes before I could get anything in. That was weird.

Alpha doesn’t speak at all and that could be the reason why we hadn’t shifted yet. He only spoke one word, a long time ago when we first entered this realm. The memory flashed back in my mind.

~~~

I stared down at my chubby fingers, tightening my hold on Abigail’s hand. I was scared. I had never been this far away from father. Abigail may have been only a stranger to me but I knew I was safe with her. Besides, he smelled like home, like mother. Abigail said we were in a different realm, whatever that was. I didn’t even know what sort of carriage we were in.

Something called a subway.  

I glanced over at Edwin, Father said I could always count on him especially since I hadn’t shifted yet.

As long as he was here, I would be safe. I watched as he stared back at me with wide eyes, looking pale holding onto Anna’s hand and the side of the metal like long carriage. Humans were staring at me and I heard one ask Abigail if she ever considered taking me to a modelling agency.. whatever that was. 

I didn’t want to go anywhere unless it was home.

I missed mother, Elzar and father. I swallowed hard trying to drown the stares of the humans, but I felt boxed in and then, something fell in front of my face. It dangled above me, bouncing up and down. It was round, but seemed to be attached to a string. I followed the string up noticing chubby brown fingers wrapped around it.

It was a child like me, her head rested on the adult’s shoulder she was lifted by.

Her dark curly hair fell down the back and her breathing was low and shallow giving out the fact that she was asleep. I didn’t know how her fingers were still tightly wrapped around the string. My gaze refused to leave her face, watching her curiously.

                     “Beautiful” a deep voice said. I quickly spun my head round to see who it was, heart thudding in my chest but I couldn’t see it.

               “She is beautiful,” another voice said, this one more playful than the first. This time I shifted, eyes wide as I tried to catch who ever said that.

“Azian, baby are you alright?” Abigail whispered lowly, looking down at with concerned eyes. I looked up at her for a moment then slowly nodded. After a moment, I kept searching eager to ease my beating heart.

                      “You won’t find us,” the playful voice said.I breathed in lowly, whispering in a hushed breath, “why?”

            “Because we live inside you.”

My eyes widened glancing over at Edwin who was looking seasick if anything, his small body holding on to anything he could as the thing moved beneath us,

             “you’re my dragon!” I gasped. 

Finally, it had taken him a while.

                       “No, that was Alpha, the first voice you heard. Pretty grumpy for a newborn if you ask me,” the voice huffed, “I’m Omega, your power.”

My eyebrows furrowed at this, fiddling with two fingers “I have two dragons?”

                 “No, I’m your power. You’re a golden dragon Azian, I’m gifted to you by the sun goddess, Erania. I’m supposed to help control your power, but since we’re babies I don’t have much control of it,”

       “I’m not a baby,” I scoffed, “I’m six”

        “Have it your way, toddler,”

I frowned looking back up at the girl, a sudden peace filling me up as I watched her. I didn’t feel so tired anymore. Through all the stares and chaos, her peaceful look made me feel at peace.

                “She really is beautiful,” Omega purred. I nodded watching the gift before us, not noticing when the thing we were in stopped.

               “Let’s go baby, it’s time to go," Abigail cooed, tugging at my hand, she pulled me along out of the thing but my eyes never left the angel before us. She suddenly stirred, yawning a little.

She slowly looked down at me, her large round eyes stared at me holding my gaze, a beautiful golden brown. She smiled shyly, just as the doors closed and the thing began to move away.

~~~

That was the first and only time Alpha had ever talked to me.  Now, all he does is growl when he is happy, growl when he is angry, growl when he’s hungry- you get the hang of it. Omega on the other hand couldn’t keep his mouth shut always wanting to get the last word in. 

Another thing he and Alpha absolutely loved was going against me. Well technically speaking all three of us almost never agreed to any one thing. I say sushi, Omega says pizza and Alpha always wants a burger. 

It’s frustrating but nothing good has ever come out of situations we’ve all agreed on. 

The actual fact is, the only time we do agree is when danger is right in our face. Let’s just say the last time that happened a lot of people died and is one of the reasons why we keep moving from town to town. We’ve been in Torent for the longest time compared to the others, 2 years. Abigail believes it’s the safest town there is and nothings gone wrong since we got here, with only a few minor hiccups.

Basically speaking, it is better for us and the rest of the world that we remain non-agreeable to most stuffor isk an Ultra situation.

Having had made it back to the safety of my room I slipped on my usual attire. By usual I meant black shirt, black jeans black boots. All black. I disliked color.

Making my way down stairs while slipping on my black coat, the smell of bacon filled my nostrils, Alpha stirring inside me. Hey, you can’t blame a dragon for eating. Entering the kitchen the first person I saw was Alessia. Her dark curly hair was pulled up in a bun and her light brown skin contrasted nicely to the flowery dress she was wearing.

I hated flowers. they werenot kind on my dragon sinuses.

Her dark brown eyes were focused on the toast she was about to devour hardly noticing me. Edwin on the other hand was seated beside her, eyes fixed on her plate, probably wondering how on earth he could steal a piece of bacon from her plate seeing as his had already been wiped clean. His dragon, Orion would not let him rest until he did, that was for sure.

See dragons had a thing for meat. Our appetites were the largest in this house and in the supernatural in general, 

I walked into the kitchen clearing my throat and all eyes were snapped on me. All eyes excluding Edwin’s that is, still focused on the bacon. He had probably sensed my presence before I even made it to the kitchen though. Dragons had the strongest senses in the supernatural realm even if they thought we were extinct.

Abigail, who was taking out some fresh milk from the fridge walked toward me with her usual sunny smile. Her light blue eyes always looked cheerful even though I knew she was always worrying, I could sense it in her aura. Worrying about us, about me more especially.  Her dark brown hair was always let down, never to be seen in a ponytail, unless during training.

“ Morning baby, “ she hummed slapping a large piece of roasted meat on Edwin’s plate accompanied by a glass of milk, before walking over to me, kissing my cheek with a pan in her hands, “take a seat and eat something.”

I nodded, my dark mood slightly lifting. Abigail had a special place in my heart, a place Omega just adored. Though she wasn’t my mother, I knew the sort of sacrifice she made taking us to this realm.

She put her life on the line every day in order to protect us, even went against the wishes of her people, the witch kind, both her and Anna.

I took a seat beside Alessia who wouldn’t look at me for some reason, ‘thank you,” I muttered lowly as she placed a full meal before me. She smiled in reply as I took the sight of the food in, ranging from meat to eggs to bacon and cheese. What can I say? Dragons eat a lot.

            “Pig,” Alessia commented eyeing my plate.

             “Witch,” I casually retorted, reaching for the salt.

She scoffed sticking her tongue out at me.

I raised an eyebrow releasing a tired breath, “childish,” I added.

She gasped folding her arms,

                  “I’m fifteen Azian, that’s a teen for your information,” she glared before a triumphant grin over took her features, “I can have a boyfriend.”

Edwin chuckled at this, digging into his meal.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She scowled, turning to him.

He looked at her, replying in an obvious tone,

               “You’re never going to have a boyfriend.” 

It was my turn to chuckle at the blatant truth, Abigail joining in as she sipped her coffee... Her gaze switched between us, a frown developing,

      "I will have boyfriend!” she practically shouted.

             “I definitely didn’t hear any 15 year old daughter of mine saying that,” Anna hummed walking into the kitchen, fresh from a shower. 

            “Mom!” Alessia whined.

She grinned as she passed us by, “good morning boys," she cooed, as Abigail handed her a mug of steaming coffee. I hummed in reply, Edwin following suit, “Morning.”

Seated beside Abigail, Anna could be mistaken for her twin. They both had brunette hair and similar facial structures differing only with the eyes, hers taking a dark brown shade,

“still doing the dark and mysterious thing huh?” Anna began, after taking a long sip from her mug.

I watched her not understanding or rather not bothering to give attention to what she was saying even though I knew it was a jab at my choice of colored fashion. It was a topic that had been passed at least three times in the last month.

                     “He says he feels more comfortable in black,” Edwin commented between mouth-fulls. For the first time ever, I was surprised he had actually supported me this time around on my fashion choices- “I think it’s stupid,” he added with a chuckle reaching out across my plate to grab a bun. i pushed his begging hand away ausing him to hiss.

They all laughed along at this comment but I merely took a deep breath out, trying to ease Alpha’s growing irritation.

             “I mean come on Azian,” Anna continued after a break of laughter, “wear something else today…I don’t know…maybe a red?” she suggested flicking her wrist, immediately, my black jacket turned to red.

I stared down at the red sleeve, looking back up at her quite unamused, 

                   “Uh thats a no,” Alessia commented beside me shaking her head.

                   “Definite no,” Abigail added with a slight chuckle of her own, “maybe paired with a nice bright yellow?" She added flicking her wrist, the shirt inside turned yellow and my eyes widened, not expecting her to join in.

              “Green!”  Alessia blurted out changing my shirt to bright neon green.

Edwin choked on his milk, shaking his head rapidly after calming down, “that definitely clashes,” he remarked stuffing his mouth once again. You would think he would slow down a bit.

                  “A light shade of blue maybe?” Abigail asked, obviously thinking out loud, flicking her wrist just as Anna changed it to blue and Alessia to purple.

              “Enough!” I yelled standing up. My clothes looked like rainbow had threw up.  Everyone stared back at me in shock before Alessia broke the silence with a snicker that she slapped her hand over her mouth to hide. That didn’t help at all, because in the next second, everyone was laughing.

Against all my better instincts, my lips tugged upwards slightly as they laughed their hearts out.

                   “I’m sorry honey, let me,” Abigail offered, placing an empty mug on the kitchen counter. With a slight swipe of her hand, my outfit was taken back to its original color.

                    “Come to think of it,” Anna began, “any other color does not look good on you,” she finally settled, sending the others into another round of laughter. With a slight huff, I stood up, grabbing the car keys and my back pack, “if you or you take more than two minutes, you’re both walking to school,” I announced to Edwin and Alessia. 

Their laughing died down when they realized they had barely eaten, well Alessia had barely eaten, and Edwin on the other hand, hadn’t finished stuffing his face in. Moving over to Abigail and Anna, I kissed Anna then Abigail goodbye,

           “have a great day!” Anna called after me as I walked out of the house, hearing her sternly telling Alessia to hurry up with my dragon ears.

 I walked out of the door toward the black tinted Range Rover, parked in our wide driveway.

                “I don’t know,” Omega Hummed, “I think I liked the purple one,” he commented as I unlocked the car. I threw on my dark shades getting in, “shut up.”

 Pulling out of the driveway, I came to an abrupt halt when Alessia and Edwin came bolting towards me, opening the doors and diving in, “I can’t believe you were actually going to leave us!” Alessia huffed, slamming the door shut behind her.

I turned to look at her raising an eyebrow,

                “you couldn’t believe that?”

She paused, gulping softly with her eyes wide as I turned back to face the road, probably remembering the bucket trick she pulled on me, “never mind.”

               “I thought so.”

The ride to school was anything but quiet with Omega talking his head off in my mind, Alpha’s growls, Edwin’s constant nagging all whilst Alessia was singing along to every song on the radio in the back seat. Needless to say, I was more than happy to arrive at school. Even though by all accounts, despite my huge breakfast, I still managed to feel drained out. 

As soon as our car pulled up into the parking spot that we always parked in, I could feel all eyes on us. Through the tainted windows I was shielded from their direct stares but all heads were looking our way. Breathing out I put my sunglasses down, massaging my tempo for a moment.

It had been this way ever since we got to Torent and started schooling at Rodney high and it’s been happening all my life. I breathed itfor a second as Edwin got out.

             “Good luck pretty boy,” Alessia chuckled ruffling my golden locks before opening the car door and slipping out. 

I nodded passing a hand through it, slipping on my shades.

Here goes nothing.

I got out of the car, draping my backpack over my shoulder acknowledging the various colors of eyes attached to every single action I did. It was just another day, I could deal with the attention as usual.

Humans were attracted to creatures of the supernatural realm by default, it was how we were created, however I was different. I was marveled at by both human and supernatural alike. It was because of what I was, one shaped by the goddess of the sun, Erania herself. At least that was what I was told all my life. That is why I’m hunted, because of how she made me, because of the power I carry and because of the prophecy on my head.

                 “Another day huh?” Edwin asked stepping into a rhythm beside me. I nodded pulling up my strap, keeping my eyes focused ahead. The quicker I got to class the fewer people they would be to stare at me.  See all they could do was stare, no one dared approach us, not the human cheer leaders or the jocks.

                   “Hey Azian!” someone yelled, I slightly turned to my right to glance at the blond girl who had called out to me. In two years, she had been the first to attempt it. Impressed, I gave her a slight nod but remained unfazed picking up the sounds of her giggles as she gasped among her friends.

With my dragon ears I could hear almost everything oblivious to the humans, the whispers of girls and boys alike as their eyes followed our figures as we walked by, my sharp sight picking up every flirtatious look thrown our way while closed behind the protective shields of my dark sun glasses. 

Passing by a group of lycans and werewolf boys, members of the football team, a few whispers arose between them as their eyes followed us. Still in confusion I realized. 

Rodney high was different from the other schools I had been to. Here there were more members of the supernatural community disguised as humans than I had ever seen, from low level witches, winged men,  to werewolves, a few vampires and Lycans both teachers and students alike.

The human student body and teacher population remained unaware, coinciding with supernatural laws in this realm. Humans were not allowed to know of our existence.

However, no one knew what kind of creatures Edwin and I were, hence the confused looks they had been giving us for the past two years. They knew we were definitely not human, but that’s about it. After all, it was a well-known fact in the supernatural realm that Dragons were thought to be extinct since the great battle 5 thousand years ago, when my people were slaughtered mercilessly. To them, if they remember at all through the generations that have come and gone over five thousand years, we may even be myths, at best undescribed pieces of history. It is not true however, we did survive, in the dark regions of Ignere the dark forest, yes, the dragon kind lays in waiting. Waiting for who?

Me.

I am the first pure golden dragon in 5 thousand years and… I am the last one ever.

From dragon royalty, my bloodlines ruled the supernatural world as gods until our blood mixed,our power stolen and we fell in the war, but as children of the goddess Erania, she vowed to form one last golden, who would save her people and bring the realm to its knees, to retake the world we rightfully ruled. So I was created and then… I was given.

Suddenly, I felt a cold shiver rush through me, Alpha stirring up on high alert.

“Grr,” he growled and I froze in place, just before my locker, I closed my eyes trying to focus. He growled again and this time I felt he was telling me to look around.

I turned searching for anything and nothing at all, eyes travelling down the length of the hallway where eyes lowered before they were able to reach eye contact, my golden ears picking up, nostrils flaring, trying to sense something or someone. All I could see was the usual flow of students, murmuring and whispering as they stared on as always.

                “Hey,” Edwin said nudging me, “Are you okay?”

My eyes lowered, studying him for a second before nodding. 

It was probably nothing.

Just another uneventful day.