Draconian Priestess

I.

A Time to Think

If one day, you and I were to meet, what kind of story would you tell? I know it wouldn't be like mine. Where I come from, parents are slaughtered and newborns are stolen at whim. Where I come from, children are being trained and experimentally altered by force. Where I come from, there is no such thing as growing, but becoming without a choice. I don't know you, and I don't know what path of life you have walked to get here, but what I do know is this: My name is Hitomi Kanzaki, and this is my story.

Eyes, shot open. Arm, stretched behind. Finger, rested on button. Alarm Off. I turned and looked over my shoulder to see two hands positioned in a perfect 90 degree angle. It was three in the morning, the same time I woke up yesterday. And the day before. And every day before that. I laid on my back staring at the ceiling trying to figure out why exactly I even bothered to set my alarm clock knowing that I'd just turn it off before it went off. I dismissed the thought with a sigh and got out of bed. This was not a time to think.

Quickly raking my hair with my fingers, I splashed some water on my face before pulling a few layers of baby tees over my head. Sliding my pants on, I realized I lost weight again. My fingers were rail thin, not that that was what it took to fit them in between my pants and my waist. The gap where the rest of me used to be was much too obvious for me to ignore. Tightening the drawstrings, I pulled on my shoes and went out the door leaving the idea of breakfast behind me. What good was it to use something to fill up the emptiness inside of me? Perhaps the smaller I become, the less of a void I'd feel. Maybe then, it wouldn't be so hard to breathe.

I shook the useless thoughts from my head and cleared my conscience. This was not a time to think. It was time for me to train. After stretching, I sped walked to warm up my body before breaking out into a jog. The jog turned into a run, and the run into a sprint. Fifteen miles later, I dove off a bridge into a vast body of water where I swam for another fifteen miles until I reached the shore of a mountainous region where I climbed another fifteen miles above land. The midpoint of my journey laid atop that mountain where I sat with my legs dangling over a cliff and admired the sunrise in glorious silence. Why must it always be fifteen, I'd ask myself every day. The end of my journey was not the place I was at now, but back at home. Three categories of activities of thirty miles each. I still had yet to understand my obsession with the number three and its multiples, but either way, the sun was rising, and I must return.

Six hours had passed since I first walked through the door earlier this morning. When I returned, everything was the same. Dark, quiet, and abandoned. After I showered, I pulled my long golden hair into a messy bun, leaving enough strands down to hide my face. Slipping my thick-framed, non-prescription glasses on my face, I put on some baggy clothes and dirty shoes before grabbing my backpack. My training was long from over, but now, it was time to learn. I never liked going to class, but I had to. Being a student allowed me to work on campus. And such access allowed me to slip into the pharmacy department unnoticed. I needed the knowledge and resources required to find a cure. And I would. No matter what it took or how long it took, I would find it. I must.

When I walked into the classroom, it was still empty. As usual, I was early. Settling into my desk in the back corner of the room, I sped read through the entire textbook within minutes again. Once I finished, I folded my arms on my desk and rested my head on them. I sighed. I had begun to feel a bit of pain in the frontal lobe of my brain when I heard a storm of chatter approaching the classroom. Even in the distance, I knew who was coming.

When the door burst open, I couldn't help but steal a peek at the sight before me. They were the group of cute guys and pretty girls with perfectly groomed hair, perfectly tailored outfits, and perfectly matched personalities that put the rest of the school to shame. But more so were the golden couple on campus, Van and his long-time girlfriend, Merle. Like the rest of their perfect group, the couple was perfect for each other. Van was the handsome star-athlete, while Merle was the beautiful star singer. And their arrogance was almost as sickening as their PDA.

"Hey guys, check out the nerd!" I heard Allen whisper to the group. Ignoring the mocking laughter and snickering, I heard Van say, "Whatever."

Allen was Van's brother, older by barely a year. He was incredibly quick to judge and point out the worst in everyone he met, especially me. I was, after all, an easy target. But even after spending the last couple of years being at the receiving end of his insults, I hated his brother more than him, and I absolutely didn't know why.

Van was always indifferent, but in a way that indirectly insulted me. His controlled arrogance wasn't just what bothered me, but something about his aura had me gritting my teeth. Why did I hate him so much?

But finding that reason suddenly didn't matter when our professor, Dryden, came strolling in with that cheesy smile on his face and reading glasses resting on the tip of his nose. "Good morning class! Let's get started, shall we?"

With a couple grunted disagreements, we began anyway.

"I hope you all read the assigned chapters last night," Dryden said. "Cause you're gonna need it for the field trip, and if you don't know what's going on, you'll be screwed. So for those of you slackers that thought you'd leech off of someone else this week, you better use that bus trip wisely and read your damn books! Get it? Got it? Good! Now I believe we have a couple kids who aren't gonna be sharing this incredibly educational experience with us, so will those who will not be attending remind me who you are again?"

A few students raised their hands.

"Merle, you're not going?" Dryden asked in surprise. "Since when?"

"Since this morning," Merle replied. "The company finally got it in their senses that I'd be the best performer for the opening weekend's rotation. That's just ridiculous! Who else would be better for the job? I mean-

"Right," Dryden cut her off sarcastically. "Anyone else not going cause the world just discovered how brilliant you are? No? Fabulous. Now bring your crap and let's get this show on the road!"

I sighed again. It was too early in the day to lose my patience to Dryden. Though a very knowledgeable scientist, he was much too blunt and sarcastic for my taste. I just prayed that I would last the long journey from Asturia to Fanelia.