American Dragon: African Heart

By: Orionstorm04

Disclaimer: Don't own it, so don't sue

Hey people! I'm like soooo excited, not only have I been getting great reviews from all of you, but the people who were doing commissions for me have finished the art work, now I can share some of them with you guys. First I would like to apologize for the delay, like so many other people; the presidential election has completely encompassed my life. I have been watching lately how things are going for my candidate, Barack Obama, and by all the polls, he is winning, HOORAY for change! Correction… HE WON!!!! Anywho… this chapter will be a little faster than the others. I've noticed that I have been writing almost in a real time style and I guess I'm dragging some things out, so in an attempt to not belabor the point, I will skip ahead a bit and not do everything on a day by day basis, sorry to all those who liked that mode. Now in this chapter, as I've alluded to in the one previous, I'll introduce Orianna into the magical community of NYC, so hold on everyone and prepare yourselves for the action… at least I hope so. One last thing, this chapter maybe kinda short… I know, I know…before anybody gets upset with me I want to apologize. I wanted to get this done while it was still on my mind, and to relieve a little of the stress that some have been feeling regarding the two main characters interaction. Also, I have some great news, I will be posting a pic of Jake and Orianna that I had commission, and I hoped you all like it, so without further ado, the next chapter. Also, another piece of info, I've said in several author's notes that I had art work done, well a few of the pics have been completed and I want to share them with you, you please visit my author's page and check 'em out, they'll be under the American Dragon title.

Worlds Within Worlds

Things over the next couple of days went by almost sluggishly. Not only did Jake, Trixie and Orianna have to deal with an almost painful detention with Rotwood, but each and every one of them had been grounded for the following weekend. Jake was somewhat used to the constant groundings he would get from his parents, so for him it was no big deal, but Trixie hadn't been grounded in her entire life. She was beyond pissed that her grandmother would even do such a thing. She was trying to defend her cousin, and her grams would ground her for that? What was the world coming to, when a girl couldn't lay the smack down on some hoe who was trying to dis her own flesh and blood?

Signing Trixie threw her head onto her pillow and screamed, she was suppose to be out on a date with Spud tonight, and now she was stuck at home. Hearing someone giggle from the other side of the room, she lifted her head, and glared daggers at her cousin. The one consolation prize was that she wasn't alone. As before with Jake, Orianna demanded the same punishment as the others, and opted to be punished right alongside her cousin. Anita wasn't planning on giving her any type of punishment since she was the newest residence of the house, and she figured the girl was simply trying to adjust, but Orianna left no room to do otherwise. Trixie began to shake her head and chuckle softly; she would never understand this girl as long as she lived.

"You didn't have to punish yourself Anna. "

"I know, but what else could I be doing tonight? It's not like I have anything better planned." Orianna said as he continued to read her book.

They had been over this since Friday, and Trixie simply couldn't let it go. Trixie went back to staring at the ceiling aimlessly, and Orianna continued to read her novel. She was on the final book of a series called Harry Potter. There was something infinatly entertaining about non-magically inclined people's perspective about the phenomenon's that went on in the world, which would always leave her flustered.

It wasn't that humans were completely off base when they speculated about things such as witches, demons, or any other aspect of the world that she was taught by her aunt, but how foolish they were to dismiss all of it as fiction. If Akeeda taught her nothing else, it was always to have respect for something you weren't entirely sure on, because underestimating anything could lead to disaster.

When Anita finally called the two down for dinner, Trixie sighed heavily with the fact that her night had officially ended. There would be nothing else to do, and really no time at all to try and convince her grandmother if she could still go out and catch a movie with Spud. Making their way down stairs, and into the kitchen, Orianna and Trixie marveled at the spread that Anita had laid out.

She had cooked all of Trixie's favorites, from fried chicken, to cornbread and all the other dishes Anita herself grew up on in the south. Orianna had never eating any of these foods before, but the smell alone made her mouth water. With everyone to the table and ready to dig in to the meal placed before them, Anita was quick to stop Trixie from taking any food.

"Excuse me young lady? I know you weren't about to take any of that before someone said grace?" the stern look in her grandmother's eyes gave Trixie pause. She had gotten her hand smacked far too many times in the past to take her grandmother's look lightly.

"Sorry grams…" Trixie said, almost childishly. Anita smiled at her granddaughter, then to her niece.

"Would you like to say grace dear? I know it may not be your custom, and you don't have to if you don't wish to but…"

"No… no, I can do it." Orianna bowed her head along with everyone else, and said a silent prayer that she didn't make herself sound like a complete fool. "I would like to give thanks for this meal that we are about to partake in. And I would also like to give thanks for the wonderful family that I have been blessed with. Though I have not been raised as a Christian, I will still give thanks to the Christian God for delivering my family to me….. Amen." She wasn't sure entirely if that was how a Christian prayer should go, but she spoke all of it from the heart, and by the look of pride on Anita's face, she could tell that her efforts weren't in vain.

"That was sooo good grams." Trixie said, as she finished the last of her meal.

"It was delicious." Orianna affirmed.

"Thank you girls, I must say, I think I outdid myself." Anita said, giving herself a slight pat on the back. She had decided that since she would have both girls home for the night, that they all could sit down and have dinner as a family. "Now, what would you girls like to do? We can watch a movie, or simply talk; your pick."

"I thought we were punished, yet you gon' let us watch a movie? What's up with that Grams?" Trixie asked, somewhat skeptically. True she had never been grounded before, but she was sure that when a parent grounded a child that they weren't allowed to watch TV.

"Well, I figured you both have been punished enough, but if you want to stay on punishment…" Anita said teasingly.

"Does that mean I can still go see that movie with Spud?" Trixie asked hopefully.

"Absolutely not, it is well past 8'oclock and you have school tomorrow. You have two choices, you can stay down stairs with me or you can get ready for bed."

"I guess I'll stay here then." Trixie mumbled under her breath dejectedly.

"Don't mumble under your breath at me young lady, or you can add another weekend of punishment." Anita chastised her with none too much sarcasm in her voice.

So this was what it was like to have a family, to constantly argue and rebel against, but at the same time, to have the constant love and support of your family? Akeeda meant the world to Orianna, and she wouldn't change the life she shared with her pseudo mother for anything in the world, but to be here with a different part of heritage that she had no idea existed, was an all new experience. She marveled at the interaction of Anita and Trixie, as they constantly went back and forth. It was a relationship that had been honed over years of constantly having the other there for support. Loosing Akeeda left a gaping hole in her life, but maybe, just maybe, this new life of her's could be what she was looking for to repair her broken heart.

Over the next hour or so, Anita showed Anna her family photo albums. There were tons of books, ranging from the time Anita was a baby, up until the time she meet her late husband Thomas. Orianna stared at the man that was her great uncle, with instant respect. He was a dignified man, tall and self assured. He had an almost hard edge to his eye that gave testament to the life of a young black man in those days. But regardless of all his physical attributes, Anita assured her that he was the sweets man ever.

Flipping through the album herself, Orianna came across a photo of a young Trisha Carter, being held lovingly by her mother, who was just an older version of Trixie. The resemblance was uncanny, how they both had the same smile, right down to the curly, slightly unruly hair. Trixie was quick to turn the page, while her cousin laughed and gushed at how cute she was. All the while Anita sat and watched the two, as they continued to go through album after album. Watching them brought a smile to the older woman's face, they reminded her so much of her and her cousin Marissa, Orin's mother. That thought alone spurred something deep within Anita.

The tragic loss of her dear cousin still weighed heavily on her heart. The death of her and her husband Orion on that cold winters night still wakes her up at night. A few days following their accident, Anita took custody of their son Orin, and raised him alongside her daughter Melanie. Thinking back to the days when she would see young Orin run out the front door so he wouldn't be late to school, still brought a smile to her face.

Her late nephew would have been so proud of the daughter that he never got to know. They were somewhat like, Orin and Orianna, though a lot of the girl's physical characteristic most likely came from her mother. But there were still some similarities; their smile for instance was almost identical, the way that a dimple would form on the left side of their cheek when they gave a real smile.

Anita let herself be swayed into her most melancholy mood of the day, letting herself reminisce and compare the girl before her, to the man that once was there. Soon melancholy gave way to somberness, and the image of her dear nephew laughing and smiling faded away, until she was only able to see his lifeless body in a coffin. He had died so young and unexpectedly, that it caught every member of the family off guard.

She could still remember telling Melanie about the death of her cousin, and the stress from losing him pushed her into early labor. Shaking the images from her mind, Anita was once again in the living room of her home, and Trixie and Orianna was still deeply enthralled in the photo album. Wiping the lone tear that had silently made its way down her cheek, Anita looked at the two with a soft smile.

"Orianna…" she said, with a slight rasp to her quivering voice. Even though the words were whispered, the girl was able to pick up on them.

"Yes Aunt Anita?" Orianna said, while laughing slightly at Trixie as they looked at a picture of her and Spud at their junior high prom. When her eyes made contact with her aunt's, the laughter died down and the smile immediately fell from her face.

"I have something I would like to show you." With that Anita made her way to the book shelf on the far wall in the leaving room. She had not taken down this particular book in years, for the pain of looking at it still brought tears to her eyes. After dusting the fine coat of dust off the book, Anita made her way to the couch and sat between Orianna and Trixie. What she was about to show the young woman was more than likely going to be very emotional and she wanted to make sure that she was close, just in case she needed someone to lean on. Anita handed the leather bond album to Orianna hesitantly.

"What's this?" she asked, with a confused look on her face. The book looked older than she was, but not in an un-kept way. Embroidered in gold on the front, bottom, right side was the name Orin. The gasp that she wanted to release was caught in her throat. When it came to her parentage, Orianna didn't know much about her mother, but she was able to get little pieces of information about her father from Akeeda.

"This was Orin's… your father's album. He would always take pictures of whatever location he was excavating at the time. There are even some baby pictures of him in there." She said with a slight sniffle.

Orianna delicately opened the tome into her father's past. This would be the first time that she would ever see her father, and she was slightly hesitant to open it. The very first page was an old sepia colored photo of a baby, with his hand in his mouth and a huge smile on his face. She was immediately able to recognize the smile; she had seen it on her face for as long as she could remember. Her father… this was her father, the man that she never was able to meet while he was alive, and only someone she dreamed of ever seeing. He was tall, just like Anita's husband, but that is where the similarities ended.

His face was kinder and more carefree than his uncle, he seemed to possess a gleam in his brown eyes, that made it seemed that he was full of life. He was a handsome man, but didn't seem like he was at all shallow. Page after page was filled with his image, excavation site after site, he was always somewhere new. China, India, Spain, South America… the locations seemed endless, but in every one of them, he looked as if he was truly in his element. She paused on one picture in particular. He was hunched over in a pit, and in the background was Mt. Kilimanjaro. His face was so intent on what he was looking at; he didn't even notice the camera only a few inches from his face.

She had wanted for so long to see what her parents looked like, and this gave her some insight into who she was. The raw emotions that she felt from seeing her father for the first time were overwhelming. She didn't even notice her eyes begin to blur from the tears that begin to fall. She sat motionless, while her tears coated the image of her father, and all at once the emotions completely consumed her. Her shoulder shudder with barely contained hurt from losing him before she even knew who he was.

Anita wrapped her arms around her niece, and smoothed her hair, while whispering in her ear that it would be okay. Trixie watched as Orianna cried in her grandmother's arms. She had only seen photos of her uncle a few times, and every time they were shown to her a person always cried. She remembered when her mother, Melanie, first showed her the pictures; it took an hour for her mother to stop crying.

The night was spent of Anita reliving tales of Orin as a young man to his daughter. There were more tears shed, but there was also laughter. Orianna couldn't keep from laughing when Anita told her of the time when Orin was fourteen and thought he wet his bed, when Melanie poured water on him. With each passing minute, Orianna could feel herself growing closer to the man she never knew. Hours seemed to pass like minutes, and soon it was almost 11'oclock.

"Alright girls… time for bed." Anita said, almost reluctant to end the moment that had passed between them.

"You right grams, I'm tired. I'll see ya'll tomorrow." Trixie said, rubbing her eyes and heading up the stairs.

Orianna held back for a few seconds. She didn't want the stories to end, but knew that it was far past the time for her to go to bed. She remained on the couch for a few brief moments, until Trixie ascended the stairs and was out of sight.

"Aunt Anita…"

"Yes dear?" Anita looked at the young girl. The look in her eyes gave away anything that she wanted to ask, before she even opened her mouth. "You know what… how about you keep that album in your room? That way you can look at it as often as you want."

"Really?" the excitement poured from Orianna's mouth. She wanted to ask her aunt for the book, but didn't know what kind of sentimentality the object held for the older woman, and didn't want to sound too forward. But hearing that it was okay to have it left her elated. Rushing over to Anita, Orianna captured the woman in a fierce embrace before giving her a kiss on the cheek, and bounding up the stairs in glee.

For hours on end, Orianna spent looking into her father's past, watching him in his young adult life, and his exploits around the globe. The last she looked at her clock, it was approaching 1:00am, and looking at it now, the hour hand was creeping it's way past two. Deciding that it was time for bed, she placed the album at her vanity and prepared herself for bed.

Dressing herself in a midnight blue camisole, Orianna bound her hair in a low ponytail, and pulled the veil canopy on her bed aside and slipped underneath the sheets. She could instantly feel her muscles relaxing, but her mind continued to swirl with the images of her smiling father. Closing her eyes, she tried to quell the overwhelming feelings so that she could get some rest before school tomorrow.

No more than a few minutes had past when Orianna begin to fall into a light sleep, until a whisper of a cry glided in through her open window. Her first instincts were to see what the noise was, but her body protested from fatigue and the need to sleep, besides, she was no longer in her home in Africa where there was barely any noise, this was New York, the city that never sleeps, of course there were bound to be noises that would set her senses flaring. Turing over onto her side facing away from her window, she buried her head beneath her pillow, and tried to go back to sleep.

Then the sound happened again, and this time she was sure that it had nothing to do with city noises. It was almost a cross between a moan and a sigh, but steeped in pain. Opening her eyes slightly and focusing as hard as she could, Orianna waited for the sound to happen again. She didn't have to wait long, as she was once again able to pick up on the distressful cry.

Pulling herself from her bed, she made her way to her window to see if she could get a look at whomever or whatever was making the sound, and if she was able to help. Looking below, all she could see was the fogged streets beneath her aunt's brownstone. The neighborhood was on the Upper East Side, so crime really wasn't that apparent her, and the streets were free of the less fortunate people who were homeless, so Orianna couldn't figure out where the noise could be coming from.

Shaking her head, Orianna began to figure that maybe it was just her imagination and that there was nothing out there. While walking back to her bed, the sound came again. Turning around sharply, she tried to pinpoint the direction of the cry. She needed a better look than what she had, so she leaned her upper body out of her window, and looked in both directions.

Nothing to the left, nor nothing to the right… this was getting ridiculous. Was she losing her mind? Had she been so out of practice for the last few weeks that she couldn't even decipher random noises from that of her training? Well first thing tomorrow she would try and find a secluded spot somewhere in this city and begin her training again.

Then something caught her attention, beyond the buildings and skyline, was central park. She remembered, not a week ago, she and Jake went walking through the park, but she never got to see the whole thing, since it was getting late. Then there it was again… the noise that had woke her up in the first place, but this time she was staring in the exact direction of the cry.

Tilting her head slightly, she closed her eyes and began to focus, allowing her mind to clear and let her sense completely take over so she could hear better, it was faint, but there was defiantly something out there, and it sounded hurt. What was she to do? All her life she felt an affinity to help those who couldn't help themselves, but this was not her home, she didn't know what kind of secrets this concrete jungle held, or if she would be able to handle them on her own.

But her nature wouldn't allow her to sit idly by, while someone was in that much pain and needed help. She had come to a decision… she would see what was happening and if she was in any position to help, then she would… no questions asked. She wasn't just going to run fool hardy into the night without some kind of plan though, first she had to make sure that if Trixie or her aunt were to come into her room for any reason that they wouldn't get suspicious that she wasn't there.

She thought back to a spell that Akeeda had taught her, it was to create a doppelganger to through off your enemies and to give you time to escape if need be. She hadn't quiet mastered the spell to the point that she could have complete control of her alternate self, but she would at the very least try. She focused her powers and called them forth, her eyes began to mist over with the sheer power needed to perform such a spell, she closed her eyes as the strain began to come and tiny droplets of sweat began to form on her brow.

Soon there was a soft pop and shallow light and when Orianna opened her eyes, she was staring at an exact copy of herself. She was amazed that she was able to perform the spell correctly this time, the first time she tried she managed to create a crater the size of a small room where she stood and managed to blow Akeeda a good twenty feet away.

Inspecting the clone to see that everything was in place, Orianna nodded her head at the perfection of her spell. Everything was in place, right down to the camisole that they both had on. The one drawback of the clone was that she couldn't infuse it with an actual personality, so in essence she was nothing more than puppet that did the bidding of the conjurer. In part, she could mentally link herself with the clone, that way she would be able to command it when she wasn't physically in its presence, but that was pretty much the extent of the spell.

With a mental command, Orianna instructed the clone to lay in bed a pretend to be asleep. Wordlessly the clone obeyed and walked over to the bed and settled herself in and feigned sleep. Now with that taken care of, Orianna prepared to leave and investigate the cry. Obstacle number two was a little more pressing, while home in Africa; Akeeda constantly stressed the point of maintaining her identity.

It was important to not let on that she wasn't just like any normal girl while in public, and that was in Africa, she knew that keeping that same mind frame here in America was even more important. Her physical features alone were enough to indentify her, her hair stuck out like a sore thumb, and if she was to run into anyone who would hold a grudge, they would be able to recognize her without a doubt.

She needed a disguise, a way to hide her identity, yet still allow her to be able to move freely. She remembered watching a movie the other night with Trixie that involved superheroes of some sort, which then gave her an idea of what she could use for herself. Again she focused, and the delicate material of her camisole began to sway in a breeze that didn't exist. Her clothing rippled, then began to melt away, until it resembled a mist of the same deep midnight blue. It was amazing; the feeling of power course through her, and it was like being reborn. When she opened her eyes, her camisole was gone, and a new outfit was in its place.

She was a little surprised by the design. Her imagination really must have gotten away with her, because the costume was a little more reviling than she would have originally expected. The top was a corset made of silver, which hugged her upper body lovingly. And the bottom was even more indiscreet, all it consisted of was a skirt with the front exposed and a pair of black underwear like shorts.

The boots… that's was one of the accessories that she really couldn't complain about. They went up a little past her knee and matched the silver of her corset top. All in all, she figured that Trixie would have killed for something like this, and would have told her that she needed to loosen up a bit and explore her wild side.

So she was set… she had everything she needed, well almost everything. Her disguise wasn't quiet complete with her hair and face still exposed. Walking over to her vanity, she reached inside and pulled out one of her many hair wraps. She had no use for them now that everyone had seen what was underneath, so in homage to her past she decided to once again don the object that was once used to hide her shame. Instead of wrapping it solely around her head, she also used the wrap to cover the lover half of her face, concealing everything below her nose from the world.

Tonight, a new chapter of her life would begin; she would be stepping from the role of sorceress in training, to a powerful sorceress in her own right. She hoped that she would be able to make Akeeda proud of her and to continue what was her birthright. She made her way to the open window and once again leaned over the edge. She wasn't very well going to walk all the way to the park, especially not at this hour.

Besides, it seemed like ages since last she took to the skies and flew amongst the clouds. She whispered on the breath of the winds a simple spell used to turn the light fog into a New England whiteout. Making sure that there was no one on the streets that would perhaps catch a glimpse of her, she place one hand on the window sill and her foot on the ledge, and with one last look back into her room, she leaped into the open air.

She focused, then a magnificent pair of pure white wings appeared on her back, and before she could reach the ground, with one powerful flap of her wings, she was airborne and heading in the direction of the park. She flew high about the city so as not to draw any attention to herself. She could just imagine waking up to the news saying something about a flying girl, which would really be great.

Flying through the air really made her feel at peace, she hadn't really gotten a chance to fly since the day that Akeeda told her she was dying, and now to get back in an element she felt most at ease with really took away some of the tension she didn't even know she had. It was liberating flying through and above the clouds, dipping and rolling; it allows allowed her a chance to get more practice in on how to maneuver.

Her flight, didn't take long, and before she really had a chance to full enjoy herself, she was above the park. She hovered overhead for a few seconds trying to see if the same noise would come again, but this time… and at this distance the noise was more pronounce and accompanied by a slew of other sounds. Orianna began to make her decent into the depths of the park, far off from the path.

When she got a few feet from the ground, she recalled her wings, and in a flurry of feathers, the once immense and elegant appendages disappeared. Landing, and still crouched in a defensive position, she waited to see if some unseen foe would rush out and attack her. When no attack came, she relaxed and began her search of the injured person.

With each step she took, the noise got louder. She was getting close, and she was almost able to feel it. Truthfully, she was able to feel a lot of things, for some reason this place felt different from the rest of the city. There was this palpable essence in the air that surrounded and penetrated her, it reminded her of the time Akeeda took her to the ancient grounds of the M'Krown.

It was a hollowed place, where Akeeda said not many got to set foot on, it was hidden deep within a wooded area, much like this park. The moment she set foot there, she felt this energy that felt almost alive, and she was extremely humble to have been able to visit. This was defiantly a place completely out of sorts here in New York.

Orianna let her ears guide her to her destination, while her eyes took in everything around her. This place was beyond secluded, it didn't look like the city officials really took that much care with the interior of the park, and left it to its natural beauty. After about ten or fifteen minutes, her walking to her into a clearing where few trees stood and the silvery light from the moon left scattershot rays of light in some areas and still allowed the shadows to play across others.

It was all so beautiful; this place almost commanded an atmosphere of tranquility. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound once more, but this time she didn't have to focus on where it was coming from. A few feet in front of her, she was able to spot the poor creature that was in so much pain.

It looked to be a horse, but upon closer inspection, Orianna was able to spot the horn rising out of its forehead. She had never seen a unicorn in her life, and really didn't expect to see one in her home in Africa. The closest this they had back home were the Shadowfax, the horse which ran with the wind, but they became fewer as time went by.

The creature was amazing, even when it was in pain, and Orianna was sure it was in pain. There was a cut on its side, and its blood was seeping through. She walked hesitantly over to the creature, careful not to startle it, once she was close, she looked it directly in the eyes, and seen so much within them. Who could do something like this to such a pure animal? Within its eyes, the unicorn began to convey its agitation, it didn't know who or what Orianna was and it was in no mood to want her anywhere near it.

Orianna pause in her steps, normally animals liked her. She had never come across an animal that didn't think of her as a friend. Once while she was training on the plains she came across a lioness on the hunt, at first she was scared out of her mind, thinking the thing would use her as its next meal. She was frozen in place with fear, and had no clue as to what to do.

But instead of the lion pouncing on her, it began to purr like a newborn kitten and calmly walked up to her and rubbed against her legs, shoving her slightly. Her legs had giving underneath her from the sudden lost of the adrenaline that she had not a few moment before, and when her knees hit the ground the lioness placed her head gently in her laps, closed its eyes and continued to purr softly.

She needed to show this unicorn that she wasn't a threat and that she just wanted to help. She looked down at what she was wearing and what her appearance must look like to the already wounded and frighten creature. She removed the part of the wrap that was covering her face, and the top of her head, reveling a few wisp of her snow colored hair.

The unicorn began to relax in front of her and she took that as a sign that it was okay to get closer. When she reached it and was able to look at its wound more closely, she noticed that the cut wasn't that bad. It was bleeding rather freely, but with proper care, the unicorn would make a speedy recovery.

She couldn't very well leave it here wounded like it was though. She really didn't know that many healing spells other than the binding spell, but she didn't think it worked with animals. There was one though that she knew. It was used only as a minor healing and probably would heal the wound completely, but it would at least be enough for the unicorn to move around without much pain.

Orianna placed her hands over the cut on the unicorn, and tried to remember the incantation need. Once she remembered the words the recited them and a small globe of light appeared beneath her hand and over the wound, and with a flash, the wound healed and the unicorn shot up onto its feet. It began thrashing its head about, it seem really agitated and scared. Whatever happened to it before Orianna had gotten there seemed to really scare the poor creature.

"It's alright; I'm not going to hurt you. Just calm down a minute and we can figure this out."

She tried using her soft tone, so as not to scare the unicorn even further. And almost immediately, it obey, she was somewhat thrown off by the creature going into such a docile state simply by her request; but thought it best not to question such a gift. There still was a slight hint of fear in the unicorns eyes, but it still remained focused on her. Orianna caressed the unicorns snout, trying to convey through touch that she wasn't going to hurt it. Her efforts seemed to be paying off, and almost every hint of fear was removed from its eyes.

"Now what's got you so startled?" she asked softly.

She really wasn't expecting an answer; she just assumed that talking to it would keep the animal calm. But then the unicorn did something that amazed her even more than its appearance in the first place, it seemed as though it understood her question and was trying to give her an answer. The unicorn began swing its head to the left on her and neighing, trying desperately to show her the reason for its agitation. Her brow creased as she tried to make heads of tails of what was going, until the unicorn began to physically push her in the direction he wanted her to go.

"Alright… alright, I'm going, what the big deal anyway?"

The unicorn continued to push her, past the shrubs of the surrounding woods and deeper in the forest. The deeper they went, the more Orianna noticed that there were a lot more going on in this park than she originally thought. Shouts and screams began to ring clearly in her ear with each step she took, and soon she was rushing forward without the aid of the unicorn. Something here was defiantly not right, and she was determined to get to the bottom of it all.

The walk through the shrubbery was a little disconcerting; it made Orianna wonder not for the first time, what was she doing? She had absolutely no idea what kind of situation she was getting herself into, but she couldn't stop now, not when potential innocents were being hurt. She finally made it to the source of the cries, and the image that greeted her left her at a loss for words.

A multitude of mythical and mystical creatures were all in a frenzy, all yelling and screaming, trying desperately to save themselves and their families. She watched from the shadows as a female gnome ran with her baby in her arms, trying to flee from a cloaked figure. It was just that the unseen figure was cloaked, but the way the cloak itself moved, it was almost like a bellow of smoke clinging to the shadowed figure. There wasn't just one, but about a two dozen of this shadow henchman, and all of them were trying or succeeding in capturing their targets. This had to stop…


A few miles away, on the other side of town, Jake Long was sleeping peacefully in his room. Tonight had been a really long night, hell, not just this night, but all the others for the past week. His mom and dad had made sure that he had plenty to do for the weekend, as punishment for him getting detention. He tried with everything he had to explain to them why he had detention in the first place, but they figured he had used every excuse in the book thus far, so they didn't give him an opportunity to give another one. He had spent a big chunk of the day at his grandfather's shop, stocking shelves and cleaning out the back room, which was filled with more junk the actual products to sale.

So it was pretty safe to say that he was dead tired when he finally made it home later that evening. He ate his meal and took a shower and went straight to bed, not bothering to get covered completely. He had been sleeping for a good thirty minutes to an hour, when his bedroom door was opened and the lights from the hallway flooded his room. Groaning angrily he turned his back to the door and buried his head beneath his pillow.

"Go away!" came his muffled shout from the pillow. He was too tired to yell at whoever came barging in his room, and if it was Haley, then there would be hell to pay come morning.

"Sorry kid, but you got work to do." That wasn't the voice of his annoying little sister, but it still wasn't enough to get him out of bed.

"Whatever it is Fu, I'll handle it later. I just really need to get some sleep."

Fu-dog made his way to the edge of Jake's bed, and shook his head. The kid had a lot to learn if he wanted to be the American dragon. Without another word, Fu yanked the blanket off of Jake, and left the teen exposed.

"What the Hell?!" Jake yelled suddenly awake.

"Aww kid… put some clothes on." Fu said while covering his eyes. Jake was in bed with nothing but his birthday suit on, and had Fu know the kid liked to sleep in the buff, he would have been more than happy to wake him from the door.

"It was hot, and I was too tired to even bother. What do you want anyway Fu?" Jake was blushing harder than he had ever done is his life. He pulled the blanket back over himself and glared daggers at the Shar Pei.

"You have business to take care of. There's been reports that some real creepy people are attacking the gnomes and other creatures in central park. You better get there and check it out." Fu said, still not facing Jake, because he didn't know if it was safe to look yet.

"It's past one in the morning! Can't this wait until sometime after the sun comes up? I do have school tomorrow you know."

"No can do kid, this sounds serious, and your grandfather wants you to check it out before something really bad happens."

"Fine… fine, I'll do it. Geez, a dude can't even get no sleep anymore with all ya'll hounding me. Give me a second to get dressed." Jake grumbled as he got out of bed.

It took him little over twenty minutes to make it down stair, mostly due to the fact that he laid back down for another five minutes after Fu left. When he did finally get down stairs, his mom and dad was already waiting. Ever since his dad found out that his son, daughter and father in law were actually dragons, he made it a point that anytime Jake had any official dragon duties to take care of, he and Susan were to be told.

Jonathan did what he always did when his son would leave to go on some kind of mission, he would huge his son tightly and tell him how much he loved him and how proud he was. Susan was a little bit more used to Jake flying off to defend the magical community of NYC, so she didn't fawn all over him like his father did. She simply kissed her son on the cheek and told him to be careful out there.

After saying goodbye and goodnight to his family, Jake dragoned up and took to the skies. This really wasn't what he had planned for the night, and he really wanted to get some sleep, but that option seemed to be thrown out the very same window, that he himself just flew out of. The night air did a little to wake him up, so he really wasn't that tired when he finally made it to his destination.

He had visited the gnome village a couple of times over the last few years, and the only problem that they ever seemed to have was a bothersome 88 and 89. He figured that was what the problem would be tonight, and he figured that he would really give it to those guys for making him get out of bed this late at night.

But when he walked into the clearing leading into the gnomes territory, his mirthful smile of what he was going to do to 88 and 89 vanished at the sight before him. The village was in ruins, houses were burned to the ground, and a few bodies of the fallen had littered the area. There was screaming that could be head, while women with their small children tried desperately to escape the wrath of the cloaked figures rounding up the ones that weren't dead.

This was insane… he had never seen such carnage on any of his other missions to the area. He watched as a young pair of gnomes ran towards him, fleeing the creature behind them. Flames flared from his nostrils in anger, and he immediately stepped between them and their attacker.

The two children rushed behind him and cowered, praying that the American dragon could save them from the fate that so many of their friends had suffered. The creature continued to advance, paying Jake little attention as he came closer to obtaining its prize. When the creature was in striking distance, Jake reached his claw out and grabbed what he thought was the creature's neck and held on with all his strength. He was pissed beyond words, and he was determined to show the son of a bitch just how mad he was.

"You picked the wrong city asshole." He growled a split second before he unleashed a fiery blast in point blank range, into the cloaked figure's face. There was an ungodly wail that the figure released, as it clawed at its face, trying desperately to extinguish the flames. Soon the robes that it was wearing caught fire, and in a burst of smoke, the creature was gone.

"Run into the woods and hide until this is all over, and don't leave for anything!" Jake ordered the kids, and they wordlessly obeyed.

Jake turned his sights onto the chaos in front of him. He began to count off one by one, the enemies that he would have to take on. There were no more than twelve or so of the creature, nothing more than he could handle, but there was one that seemed separate from the others. Unlink the rest, this one seemed to be female in origin, and more of its body was exposed, and from the looks of it, if this things weren't killing or capturing everything in sight, she would actually be kind of attractive. Never the less, this had to stop, and he would do everything possible to see that it did.


Orianna was getting a little winded trying to stave off some of the attacking figures. She had preformed spell after spell, and the strain was beginning to show. She had managed to take a few out with the EVITA ENIS, a spell that Akeeda taught her, but told her only to use when she felt she had no other choice, and right now, her options were limited. It was powerful, the spell, and it did its job perfectly, but the energy required to perform it was taxing. But still her enemy advanced. They had long since discovered that she was more than a threat… she was perhaps their undoing, so they took swift measures to be done with her. Two more began to come closer, and she readied herself for the attack.

It seemed as though they creatures floated on air, rather than walked, and it was hard to determine their movements based on the stances. She kept her eyes on both of them, not wanting to be caught off guard. The one on the left was the first to strike, and the speed at which it moved left Orianna with little time to react.

The shadow creature swung at Orianna with its clawed hand, causing her to duck swiftly. No sooner did she regain her footing from the first attack, the other creature rushed her. They moved like a pact of wild animals, while one was attacking and throwing their pry off guarded, the other was positioning itself for the next strike.

Her moves were getting sloppy, giving testament to the fact that she hadn't trained in the last couple of weeks. After this night, she would defiantly have to take some time and try and find a new spot to train, if she lived through this. She continued to dodge the onslaught of attacks by her foes, and with each passing second she was able to get a feel for the style. Her early assessment of them acting like a pair of animals wasn't really that far off base. When one withdrew, the other attack, now she had an idea to bring a end to this little game of cat and mouse.

She waited until the one closest to her made its advancement, she dodged it of course, but this time she improvised a bit. While rolling out of the way of the swing, she placed her hands to the earth and concentrated hard on the task at hand. Then without warning, the ground beneath the creatures shifted and formed the shape of a hand, grasping both of them firmly in its grip and lifting them several feet in the air.

This was a form of terrakinesis that Akeeda said was an extremely difficult art to master and Orianna had learned it within a year. But now that she had them, what would she do? It seemed that no amount of reasoning would affect these things, so she really had no choice but to make sure that this atrocity didn't happen again.

This would be the first time that she would perform this spell. She read about it will setting beside Akeeda hours before her death. It required its summoned to be at a level that could sustain the loss of a huge amount of power, and if the caster wasn't strong enough, the spell could drain them of the life force.

Normally she never preformed a spell without Akeeda teaching her everything she knew about it first, but Akeeda was no longer here, and she needed to learn to just in her own power and judgment, after all, that was one of the major lessons Akeeda tried to instill in her. Now wasn't the time to second guess what she had to do, it would take more than a few well placed spells that seemed to no longer work in this particular moment, she had to do something different, something that the creatures wouldn't expect.

Rising from the ground, Orianna brought her right hand to rest in front of her mouth. She extended only her pointer and index finger, and whispered the incantation needed. The tips of her fingers began to glow, and when she opened her eyes they were once again white. She pointed her right arm towards her left, and with a swift motion, she passed it in front of her body until it was fully extended to her right.

In the path that her arm made, a single straight white light was in its place. The light extended a good six feet in either direction and hovered there in place. She had done it, she had used her judgment to materialize the one weapon that she would need to end this. She reached out of the light that hovered almost wantonly in front of her, and when her hand made contact with it, the light began to peel away, and it its place was a pristine staff, with silver and gold patterns engraved over its length.

Something about the staff seemed so familiar to her, like she had done this all before, but now was not the time for nostalgia, she had unfinished business to attend to. She brought her mist colored eyes to bear on the aggressors of the innocent beings that lived her, and the anger that she displayed was almost foreign to her. She wasted no time, she rushed forward with a inhuman speed, and once close enough, she leaped into the air.

There was no way that she could jump high enough to be able land her hits, so she once again called on her power of terrakinesis, creating pillar after pillar, leaping from on to the other. Once she was close enough, she released the creatures from the stone grip. Taken aback by their sudden release, the creatures floated unaware that their end had come. Appearing above the dazed creatures, Orianna brought her staff down with one swift move, slicing them in half. She watched as each part of the creatures disintegrated before hitting the ground.


Jake on the other hand was making quick work of the five or so opponents. His flames seemed to be the natural thing used to kill them off. Once he finished with the last of his opponents, he surveyed the area and noticed that all the gnomes who weren't killed had escaped. When he turned around to check the other parts of the ruined village, he spotted the female was still standing. He wouldn't let any of them get away with what they had done. He took to the air and barreled full speed, while the female's back was turned to him.

Taking down the last of the shadow figures, Orianna released an exhausted sigh, summoning the staff was more draining than she had thought, but at least she was still alive. Before she was able to make a full turn, she was tackled from behind and sent flying into a tree. When she regained her sight, she was left stunned.

A dragon… a real life dragon was speeding towards her, with a look of death in his eyes. She could see that he was furious, and was intent of taking out his fury on her. Akeeda had told her the story of dragons and how the protected the magical world they were assigned. She figured that this area must have been his grounds, and she had just been mistaken for a trespasser.

Jake prepared the deliver the final blow to the cloaked figure, when at the last second, it dodge from the tree that his flames just engulfed. She moved pretty fast, and didn't respond to his attacks as the other ones did. It was almost like this one thought independently, and not just follows the same pattern of attack, he may have to get a little bit more creative with this one. He flew high into the air, readying himself to take another swing at the female, but when he came back down the figure was nowhere to be seen.

Orianna had to think of something before this dragon fried her to a crisp. If she could just figure out a way to slip out without him noticing her, then everything would be okay, but how? Soon an idea came to her; she would cause a distraction to lure the dragon away from her.

She spotted the dragon circle overhead, and then she decided to make her move. She began to run towards a small lake located in the middle of the park, when the dragon spotted her and began to make its decent. Everything was going to her plan, the dragon followed her blindly and when it opened its mouth to unleash another wave of fire, she was ready.

Jake opened his mouth wide, preparing to burn the thing to a crisp, and when he was about to send the hottest blast that he could muster, the cloaked figure gestured with her hands and caused a massive wave to water to head directly for him. He barley had any time to dodge but he managed to do so. While passing by the female, he managed to rack his claws across her midsection, breaking the skin. He wasn't sure, but he thought he heard an almost human hiss of pain, and the fact that the creature was bleeding was a little suspicious, none of the others bleed.

Orianna nearly hollered in pain when the dragon made contact with her. She had thought that she had planned it better to where he would have gotten hurt, and neither would she, but the best laid plans seems to always have holes in them. But she did manage to create a perfect opportunity to escape. She used the rogue wave to keep the dragon occupied while she jumped into the air, calling forth her wings and disappearing into the night.

Jake was performing every maneuverability trick in the book to keep this wave at bay. Now he was sure that there was something different about this one, none of the others displayed this level of power. He was trying to come up with a way to get around this mountain of water and take out the thing who was controlling it, when all of the sudden the waved collapsed into nothing, and when he looked around for the figure, it was gone. This was one hella crazy night, which he was praying would never happen again. He would have to talk with Fu and gramps tomorrow about what happened, but right now all he wanted to do was sleep.

Orianna landed a little less agile that she would have wished, but the small scrape on her stomach was really starting to hurt. She had tried to be of some real assistance tonight and what did she get in return? Shadow monster hell bent on killing everything in sight, and one crazed dragon trying to kill her! There was nothing else that could go wrong on this night. Looking at her clock, she stood corrected. It was fifteen minutes past four, and she only had a few hours to get some sleep before school started. She would be extremely tired in the morning, but that would be something that she would have to deal with then.

To be continued…

A/N: Another chapter completed. It feels good to get some real work done, and I know you have been patiently waiting for the next update, well here it is. Sorry about any mistakes, I couldn't get in contact with my beta, or my back up beta, or my back up back up beta... hell I'm doing kind of bad in the beta department. I know I said in the a/n above that this chapter would be kind of short, but again, when I started typing, everything just started to flow. I told you guys that this chapter would be a little bit more action packed, so how did I do? I must admit that I'm writing this kind of late into the night, so that's one of the reasons that the action was a little more thought out, but next time it will be better, I promise. Please remember to leave reviews, they make me smile. :) and once again, until next time!!!