The Young Guardians Series: The Spark Of Life

(A young Volteer story)

The Spark Of Life – Chapter One: The Academy

"What dorm are you in?"

"Where's my luggage?"

"Can I have some help here?"

"I think I'm in a dorm with my twin."

"Is this the right hallway?"

"I wonder what's for supper!"

"Have you seen my dorm key?"

"Where's the registration booth?"

Volteer and his mother slowly made their way through the packed crowd, the hall noisy with dragons and dragonesses who were going to attend the academy. "We should have just moved some where with a library," said Volteer's mother Delta.

"But Mom!" Volteer replied, "This is a chance to attain a wonderful knowledge of perceptions, basics, memes, mentalities…," Delta just sighed as her son rambled on and on. She had never been able to connect with him very well; as she thought this to herself she let out another sigh, a tear rolling from her eye. What was she saying? She had never been able to connect with him; Delta and her mate Prince had always been ones for hiking and mountain climbing, they were adventurous. Volteer was different, they had thought he'd outgrow it, but ever since that one birthday of his, he had gone onto a different path of interests than his parents. On his seventh birthday, Prince had given Volteer a "Climber's Guide" set consisting of a thesaurus, a dictionary, and an encyclopedia that had only words that had to do with things in the wild; Prince had done this in the hopes that by his eighth birthday Volteer would know enough that he and Delta could take Volteer with them on their hiking trips. But Volteer had seemed to only be interested in things such as the animals and the landscapes and inventions, what little that was in the book about the subjects he would read. It eventually became clear to Prince and Delta that Volteer held interests that were different then their own. When Volteer was close to becoming thirteen years old, Prince died in a climbing accident; He had been climbing up a rather dangerous mountain (rock spikes were at the bottom of the face) in an attempt to retrieve something that would get Volteer interested in hiking, he had grabbed onto a rotten piece of rock and had fallen, although he missed the spikes he had still fallen from a height high enough to kill him. The fact that her mate had died trying to get Volteer interested in what his parents were interested in, broke Delta's spirit; It had signaled, in Delta's mind, that it was hopeless to try and change Volteer's interests, that they were of two different interests. So now Delta was putting her son into the "Dragon Skies Academy" in Solace, this way he could get the knowledge he wanted and she could hike as much as she wanted to, the academy went for years and so she would probably never see her son again, if she decided to. Volteer was now seventeen years old and he would be staying and learning at DSA for five years. "…and a better understanding of the world around me! It's intriguing, enthralling, amazing-," Delta heard, as she left the realm of thought and once more listened to her son before she cut him off.

"Yes Volteer, why don't you go from here okay? If you're so interested in these experiences than it's best for you to be unrestrained I guess," she said.

"Thanks Mom," said Volteer, as he moved towards his mother, putting his cheek to hers and rubbing as a sign of kindness and compassion, "Thanks for always understanding me." At those words a great grief overcame Delta, Volteer was quizzical when he felt his mother's tears against his face, "Mom?"

"You'd better get going Honey," she said, her voice steady, but quiet enough that Volteer could tell she was moments away from breaking down, "The line looks like it's getting longer."

"Bye Mom," he called after her leaving figure. Delta stopped, those two words striking her down again and again, she was leaving him, her only son, her only child, because of reasons that were probably more out of selfishness than out of kindness, she just couldn't tell anymore. She began moving again, not even replying to her son's farewell, tears sliding down her face. She felt someone watching her; she looked up to see a blue mother dragoness and her son look away.

"I just don't know what to do anymore Prince," she whispered to herself, "I just don't know. I can't do anything without hurting someone. I just don't know."