Chapter 19

Fire burned the vast plain into a pit of ashes. Fire that couldn't be extinguished by water. Fire that came from the depths of Earth and scorched Adren all black.

Adren might've been able to cope with just that. But the smell of burned skin and flesh was surrounding him and making him very uncomfortable. His new heightened sense of smell and touch reacted to every step of his enemies. Dragons.

Dragons? The winged lizards who hoarded gold and kidnapped princesses? Adren had read about them in stories before. But the ones that flew at him were definitely a different kind. Their eyes were intelligent, their smiles cold, and their features all had something that seemed remotely... human. The group of about 10 surrounded Adren in a circle.

One of them though, the emerald one that landed the closest facing him, had eyes of frantic worry.

'Stop this, Baadva. This is my last chance to offer you an escape route. Take it, or you will die."

Adren suddenly noticed that this dragon was talking to him on the same eye-level. That was impossible. These beings had to be over 40 metres tall. He was what, not even close to 2 metres? Then Adren felt a humongous flame erupt from his own mouth. He was angry, so angry that the flame forced the other dragon back several wings. But he never realized why he was angry. A foreign, deeper voice came from his body and said,

"I don't need your pity, Fradre! This is what I have decided! Come at me if you will! Either I will kill you all, or I will die trying."

The other dragons that landed on the plain snarled and flapped their wings in anticipation. Had the previous emerald dragon not spoken, a fight might've erupted right then and there.

"Kill us?" he said, "Do you have any idea what you're even saying, Baadva? It is the most gravest sin possible to kill one of your own kind." After a short pause, he continued, "Why do you try so hard for them? I mean, for the humans."

The foreign voice in Adren replied, "Because they have something that we do not. We lost it long ago when we exchanged it for power. " With a softer tone, he continued, "Leave, Fradre. I can fight everyone except for you. I don't want to have to kill you too."

"I can't, Baadva. I'm the leader of this mission... Either I bring you back with me, or I have to be the one who kills you."

Another dragon, with icy blue scales, turned its head and said, "We can't negotiate with him anymore, Fradre. A traitor will always be a traitor. Showing him anymore compassion is useless."

Adren felt his body tense. His own wings carried mighty currents that allowed him to suspend in the air. The other dragon also took to the skies. After looking around deliriously, Adren had to accept the truth. He was a dragon as well. His own crimson scales danced in the light of the fire, still raging in the plains.

"Stop, Revique!"

Too late. A blast of frozen ice hit Adren directly in the face.

Adren shot up. He had a cold sweat that gripped him in paralysis and fear. After panting for awhile, he eventually got his heart rate down by taking deep breaths.

'Be calm. Under no circumstances may one panic during a fight. If you do, you have already lost.' Adren remembered the words of his combat instructor from school.

"Urgh". Adren felt a sudden pain in his chest. School. That's right. The place where he killed someone. Adren suddenly felt faint. He kept second-guessing his own memory, not sure if the bloody event really happened. But all he had to do was look at his own fingernails, still caked with blood that he couldn't wash off, and he realized that everything was the truth.

What day was it? Adren looked at the electronic calendar on his wall. Monday. MONDAY? Already? How long had he slept? All he remembered on Friday was coming back and heading straight for his room and locking the door. His mother was worried, but he couldn't remember how he managed to calm her down. Cursing in his mind, he knew he should be at school already. But it was okay to skip one day, right? His hands gripped the bedsheets as he forced himself out of bed. Frantically, he raced to his bedroom mirror to check if it was still there. It was.

A blatantly large symbol rested on his forehead that resembled a dragon's head. In the dragon's mouth was a red orb. To say the truth, it looked like a normal tattoo. Except it sometimes burned like hell, giving Adren periodic fevers and hallucinations. Maybe not such a normal tattoo. It first appeared on Friday night, when Adren was racing home after that bloody event. His head was hot and delirious, his eyes wet with tears. As he passed some windows of the nearby shops, he saw the odd insignia that appeared on his forehead, glowing. It wasn't rare to see glowing tattoos in this time and age, but how it got onto his own forehead, Adren had no idea. At least now, looking at it in the mirror, it no longer glowed that eerie red light.

He didn't have bangs to cover it up. His hair wasn't long enough for that anyway. Adren resorted to wrapping his forehead in bandages to hide the large symbol. He couldn't let his mother worry any longer.

After making himself look like a person with a severe head injury, Adren sat back down on his bed. What should he do? Turn himself in? But he couldn't do that. If he went to jail, who's going to take care of mother? Besides, no one would believe him anyways. The way he killed that student wasn't possible for humans. It was only possible for beasts. His head boomed again, suddenly. What was that dream he had? About dragons? Traitors? And Baadva. The other dragons in his dream were calling him that. Who is he, if he's not Adren? Adren suddenly felt like breaking down and crying. Who cares if it was unmanly. Everything that happened these few days were too much for him to handle, so out of his control. So many questions, and so much more guilt for keeping this all a secret. His mind was going back and forth in circles with no way out.

"Adren?" came a soft, raspy voice from behind the door.

His mind immediately stopped thinking.

"Yes, mother?" he brightly replied, "I was just getting ready to go down and cook breakfast."

"Oh no, Adren, don't worry about that. I can c-cook it if you want. Can I come in?"

Her voice is getting softer and softer. It won't be long before she won't be able to talk at all. Adren's heart fell and his fist was tight.

"Of course!" he opened the door and smiled cheerfully, inviting his mother inside the room.

His mother's eyes became wide when she saw the bandages. Gasping, she said, "What happened, Adren? Was it because of a fight?" Her hand reached up to touch his forehead. Adren grabbed her mother's wrist firmly before she could.

"No, don't worry. I'm fine. You shouldn't strain your voice anymore like this. If you want to say something, you should write it down."

By the look in his mother's eyes, Adren realized he might have used too much force. Suddenly letting go, he added, "I'm sorry. I'll go down and cook some breakfast now."

Halfway down the stairs, his mother asked, "What happened on Friday night, Adren?"

Adren stopped, and in an impulse wanted to tell everything to his mother. Tell her about the symbol, his hallucinations, his bloodied hands, but was just as quickly brought back to reality. His mother can't know about this. She was the his only family, and in her weak state, burdening her mind with something this heavy would be gravely selfish. It was always like this, wasn't it? Ever since he was small, he'd hide all of his problems outside the house and come back lively and cheerful for his mother to see. He should be used to shouldering this sort of weight. He just wanted to keep the peaceful times inside this house a little longer, even if it wasn't really the truth.

"Nothing much. I just fell down the stairs when a classmate of mine bumped into me. It was an accident." said Adren as he turned around and smiled effortlessly to his mother, "I'm fine, really. Now what do you say to blueberry pancakes with maple syrup?"

Taking one last look at her face before going downstairs, Adren knew his answer didn't satisfy his mother. It's okay. As long as she could be happy, Adren didn't care how much he had to lie.

Sin opened up the door to the new barbecue shop down the street. He had heard the owner of this shop personally cooked the best meat in town. When he strode in, the little bell that rang hurt his ears and he winced. The waitress, who was neat and tidy in her uniform approached him and asked, "Welcome, ma'am. Is it just for one today?"

Before Sin's mouth could open, his cellphone beeped. Must be the information Old Man Antonias was going to send him. Glaring at the waitress, he decided to ignore her previous mistake and replied, "Yes, it's just me." The poor waitress didn't know what she had done to deserve such a hard glare. The customer looked very stylish with long, leather boots and a black top. Whatever it was, she still had to lead the customer to her table. "Follow me, ma'am."

Sin grinded his teeth, trying to control his anger. Why do people keep mistaking his gender? Elian used to say he dressed too feminine, but he really couldn't see how. Thus, when people realize he's a guy and try to make excuses saying he was pretty enough to be girl, Sin usually made those people die the cruelest deaths. But he couldn't go around killing innocent citizens on such a daily basis right? It happened way too often for that, or else Sin would be labelled as a world-class serial killer instead of the best in Yuelan Acadamy's Elite Combat Section. Forget it, this waitress just isn't getting any tip today.

As he sat down on the chair, Sin leaned back on the backrest and lazily flipped through the menu. Although it was only early afternoon, the store was already crowded with people. Sin disliked being in public places with tons of noise and chatter. Especially the table beside his, which had a muscular guy with orange hair shouting out random comments at such a high volume, it was crazy. The silver haired teen sitting beside the orange chatterbox didn't really seem to mind the noise though, and quietly ate his food in silence.

Groaning, Sin told himself to relax. It's been too long since Antonias had given him a mission that doesn't involve assassin work. The noise was putting him on edge. Maybe that stupid, orange haired baboon can ease his boredom. But just thinking about the lecture the old man would give him afterwards really put him off. Oh well, he got out his cellphone to see which two poor people caught the eye of the damn principal and asked himself to pick up.

Daren Avery:

-Quiet, skinny, silver haired teen around 1.6 metres

-D Class student

-Often seen around Ezart

Ezart Yi

-Spiky, orange haired teen with dragon tattoo on left cheek

-Loud, rambunctious, likes to get into fights

-D Class student

-Muscular and bad tempered

-Often seen with Daren

Sin raised his eyebrow. These people... sort of looked famili-

。。。

No. it can't be. Shit.

He put his phone down and slowly turned his head around to peek at his neighbours.

Shit. It was them.

All he wanted was to have a nice lunch in the daylight, not some stupid take out in the middle of the night Antonias provided him after he was done a mission. It's been forever since he was able to broadly roam around with the sun still over the mountain.

Shit.

Screw the old principal. He's not the one doing the dirty work. Sin decided to forget this matter until he's eaten his barbecued meat. He can tail them when lunch is over. For now, he will enjoy the natural daylight and the tenderness of meat.

Hello guys!
Please don't kill me for not updating sooner. *hides in corner*

I had exams to study for. In the summer too, yes. I have like, one of week of vacation and then more studying. YAY studying.

I think I would've put this off for later had not some people kept nudging me by giving me reviews. Note that everytime I look at them, I have a sudden pang of guilt for not writing more. So the best way to remind me of these things is to give me more pangs of guilt.

That being said, I sincerely love all of those who reviewed and have shown your love for this story. Thank you 3

More will come, soon. I hope. Maybe. If time allows.

I just realized its been a year, (or almost a year?) I've been writing this. Wow.

Bye guys.