Dragon's Heart
Chapter 1: ?
Sienna sat in her last class of the day, watching the clock. There was less than two minutes left, and she couldn't wait to get out of there so she could talk to her friends. She tapped her pencil on her desk impatiently.
One of her friends sat right in front of her, Naomi. Naomi had been Sienna's friend since the fourth grade. She had always been there to talk to, and had taught Sienna nearly all she knew about Japanese culture. After all, her parents had immigrated from Japan. In fact, Naomi herself was born in Japan, but her family had moved to America when Naomi's father had been offered a job in California. They had brought her grandmother (who still can't speak much English after nearly thirteen years) and Naomi's big brother, who was now in college, as well as Naomi. Naomi had been three when she had moved here to California, and now spoke Japanese more like a second language, though she knew far more about the culture than Sienna did. She even had a perfect American accent! But this was California, so this wasn't the most uncommon situation.
Finally, the bell rang; they could get out of the class! Sienna hastily grabbed her stuff and dumped it into her bag before grabbing her bag and rushing toward the door. The teacher quickly issued a reminder to do the nigh's homework and some other crap Sienna wasn't paying attention to. All she wanted to do was get out of there.
"Hey, hold up!" Naomi gasped, hurrying to catch up with Sienna as she reached the door. She was a petite girl, reaching only Sienna's shoulder, with long black hair and pale skin, paler even than Sienna's. Her short legs had trouble catching up with Sienna's long runner's legs. "I thought you wanted to talk." Naomi looked gave her a slightly irritated expression.
"Sorry," Sienna said sadly. "I'm just a little distracted."
"A little?" Naomi sounded flabbergasted. "A little is just distant and missing a sentence or two! A lot is leaving your best friend behind in the post-school mob!"
"Sorry," Sienna said guiltily.
Naomi sighed. "It's not your fault … " she looked ahead, down the hallway. "We should find 'Chelle, she'll be able to cheer you up."
Michelle was another of Sienna's friends. She had moved to their school district the year before. She was from Southern California, just fifty miles away max, but the move had still been a big change for her. She had come from a city to a suburban neighborhood. She was a lot of fun. However, she was completely insane. She had a habit of being incredibly impulsive, coming up with nearly impossible ideas, and seemed to be dating a new guy every three weeks(which may be exaggerating a bit, but not much). She had happened to clique with Naomi, who was typically very calm and down to earth, so it had been a surprise when Naomi brought her into their little group, but the three had gotten along very well and become best friends. Sienna remembered when Naomi had spoken to her about the fact later.
"I was kinda surprised that you and Michelle got along so well," Naomi had admitted.
"Why's that?" Sienna had asked with a hint of both surprise and suspicion, giving Naomi a sly look.
"Well, you know," Naomi had sounded a little apprehensive. "You don't really get along with some people these days … "
Sienna had bowed her head and smiled bitterly. "You're right … but Michelle's not mean. We should get along just fine."
" … OK," Naomi had agreed hesitantly.
"Sienna, are you listening to me?" Naomi asked.
Sienna snapped out of her reverie. "Sorry. What was that?" Sienna asked sheepishly.
"Dang, this is a bad day for you, isn't it?" Naomi didn't wait for an answer. "I asked you if you're going to do anything rash or not? You know, like beating that jerk's face in or filling that slut's locker with something embarrassing?" Naomi looked at her expectantly.
Sienna looked ahead of them. "I'm not going to do anything."
"You're not?" Naomi asked incredulously.
"No," Sienna confirmed. "I'd rather not focus on this anymore." Naomi just nodded.
"Hey, there you are!" a voice sounded behind them.
The two turned to see Michelle running up to them. She was only a little taller than Sienna, definitely taller than Naomi. Her mocha-colored skin starkly contrasted their pale complexions. She had dark, curly hair and brown eyes. She was also built like a basketball player, which was a good thing, since that's exactly what she was, but the season had just ended so Michelle was pretty much bored with life at the moment.
"What is up!" she sounded excited, as usual. "Are we done moping yet, SiSi?" Sienna gave her a doubtful half-grin. "I'll take that as a 'no' … "
"She's been kinda out of it all day," Naomi said.
"Hey! Don't talk about me like I'm not here! That's just rude." Sienna grinned mischievously.
"Ha ha! Sorry." Michelle apologized. "So what are you going to do?"
"It has been established that I 'm doing nothing," Sienna responded, sounding tired.
"You're not serious!" Michelle exclaimed.
"She is," Naomi's tone sounded a little sad.
" Awwwww," Michelle sounded disappointed. "Don't you want to get revenge? It'll be fun, and those jerks deserve some payback!"
"No, I'd rather not," Sienna said.
"She doesn't want to dwell on it," Naomi told 'Chelle doubtfully.
"Hey, what did I just say?" Sienna said mocking an irritated tone. She blinked as they walked into the early spring sun. The sun almost always seemed glaringly bright, especially after a day of being cooped up inside.
"So if you don't want to talk about pranking vengeance, then what do you want to talk about?" Michelle asked expectantly.
" … You know how I just found out last night, right?" Sienna hesitated.
"Yeah," Naomi answered.
"You'll never guess what happened," Sienna said. Both of her friends looked at her expectantly. Sienna sighed. "C'mon."
They found a quiet place to talk.
"OK, just spill it already!" Michelle was getting impatient.
"Alright, already! Can't I just hate this for two more seconds!" Sienna took a deep breath. "I found out David cheated on me, with Tiffany no less. I broke up with him as soon as I found out."
"THAT B*TCH!" Michelle burst.
"How'd you find out?" Naomi asked, disbelieving.
"I saw her number on his phone, and overheard her talking to him about it. Don't worry, I barged in and verbally assaulted them both." Sienna said, seeing both of their expressions..
David was her ex as of the night before. He played football, hockey, and lacrosse. He loved contact sports. He also loved to get what he wanted all the time. And apparently he had wanted a date with Tiffany without breaking up with Sienna. Tiffany was a highly popular cheerleader known for having a weakness for football players. She was also the daughter of very rich parents and used to having things her way. Sienna had overheard her gloating to David about the date. Sienna had broken up with him coldly. She had told them she hoped they would be very happy together, that they deserved each other, and had left it at that. Sienna hadn't seen David since. But she had seen Tiffany, who had glared at Sienna, challenging her, that is until Sienna had shut her down by walking by without so much as a flinch. Sienna thought Tiffany was a self-centered, spoiled brat. And Tiffany had made it clear on several occasions that she thought of Sienna as a savage "ice queen". Sienna explained the event to both of her friends.
"What the heck!" Michelle exclaimed.
Sienna looked at her phone for the time. "I've gotta get home. See ya!" Sienna started to walk to her her car.
"Bye," Michelle and Naomi said together sadly. They exchanged worried looks, but Sienna didn't notice. She was focused on getting home so she could forget about what had happened.
Sienna walked toward the student parking lot, which was only a fourth full by the time she reached it, and moved toward her car. She froze when she saw her little green Toyota Camry, and the figure leaning on it. He was powerfully built, easily over six feet tall with brown hair and sun-tanned skin. David. He stood as he saw her.
"Sienna …" He hesitated.
"What do you want?" Sienna demanded. Her voice sounded harsh, just as she intended.
"Please, just hear me out," He pleaded.
"No," Sienna said after a moment's pause.
"Why not?"
"Because I don't need an explanation. You cheated on me and that's that. I meant what I said, it's over. It's time for the both of us to move on with our lives." Sienna moved past him and opened her car door, but his hand stopped her from opening the door fully.
"Dammit, Sienna! I don't get it! Why won't you listen to me?"
Sienna blinked and paused, trying to find a suitable answer. She knew why she wouldn't listen, she didn't want to get sucked into another relationship with him. She knew from experience that cheaters only lied. "Because I've heard all I need to."
Can't you just hear me out?" he pleaded.
She paused. "I'm not changing my mind."
He reluctantly let go of her car and stepped back. He knew he couldn't change her mind. She got into her car and buckled in. She caught a glimpse of herself as she adjusted the rearview mirror, all orangey-red hair, green eyes, and super pale skin that burned after ten minutes under a hot sun. Here in California she really stuck out in a crowd. She also saw her ex. Sienna abruptly started her car and drove off.
Sienna sat in her room late that night, reading. She kept almost drifting to sleep, barely able to keep her eyes open. She finally closed her book and looked at her alarm clock. It was later than she'd realized. She turned her light off and settled into bed. She drifted off to sleep quickly.
As she drifted into sleep she found herself in an unusually vivid dream. She could no longer feel her body lying in her bed. But she could feel a breeze and grass beneath her feet. She looked down and found she was in her pajamas. She wiggled her toes, testing the grass and earth to see how real they felt. They seemed real. A sun glared brightly overhead. She had no idea where she was, only that it was a clearing in an odd-looking forest. She couldn't place exactly what was odd about it, only that it was odd.
She suddenly heard a figure crashing through the forest in front of her. It sounded huge, but Sienna wasn't afraid, partly because she was acutely aware this was a dream (or something of the like), and partly because she had a feeling that the thing coming toward her was only coming to help her with something. Soon enough she saw an enormous, dark figure begin to enter the clearing. It was clear the figure wasn't human, it was easily twice Sienna's height of five feet, six inches, and the shape was all wrong, appearing to have a long neck ans bulky body. First its head entered, a reptilian head with yellow horns as long as Sienna's arm protruding from it's forehead, two strangely finlike ears, and two slitted yellow eyes like those of a cat. It was covered in shimmering blue-green scales, and what appeared to be a strange imperfection on the creature's face, possibly a scar, where the scales had stopped forming the way they were supposed to ran down its muzzle from nose to eyes. Next came its long, slender, curving neck. Blue spines, separated from each other by mere inches, ran down the neck where the beast's spine must be. Next its powerfully built, yet slender body stalked out of the trees, knocking a couple so they leaned away from it in the process. Now that it's body was out of the forest Sienna could see that the creature was nearly three times her height. Sienna could see another scar that spread across one of the beast's shoulders. It stood on four legs, each ending in a foot with four toes, one pointing in the opposite direction the others did, like the toes of a bird, and each ending in a curved, black talon. Its body was long and slender, like the rest of it, and Sienna could see what looked like leathery folds of skin on the creature's back. Finally came the tail, which was long and dragged on the ground behind the beast. It was narrow, like that of a crocodile, and the spikes that ran down the beast's spine ended near the the tail's tip, where a blue arrowhead-shape formed. Its inhuman eyes gazed at her with uncanny intelligence, then it flexed its muscles, as if stretching, and spread the folds on its back, revealing bat-like wings.
Sienna could barely believe her eyes. The dragon that stood before her was like nothing she had ever seen. If it could be described as a combination of animals she knew she would have to say it was a combination of crocodile, bat, lizard, fish, bird, and cat. The ancient legends and texts seemed to miss the beauty and majesty of the dragon that stood before her. Then it did the last thing Sienna expected.
"Hello, Sienna," it said. It's mouth moved as it spoke. It's voice was harsh and raspy, sounding like the dragon snarled the words rather than said them. "I am Elder Aggr'ath." It's voice struck Sienna as masculine.
"You're a dragon," Sienna responded, staring at Elder Aggr'ath.
"Yes," the elder replied. "You must be wondering why I'm here."
Sienna gave him a look that said Yeah, pretty much.
"I've come to ask something of you. Obviously, you're aware of the recent rise in natural disasters and rates of pollution happening across the planet in recent years, are you not?"
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with me?" she sounded unconvinced.
"These occurrences have been being manipulated by several creatures that are from a species that left this planet three billion years ago. They must be stopped." Aggr'ath continued, looking at her thoughtfully. "We know for a fact that they plan to destroy all life on this planet. Because of our extinction, we dragons can't do much to stop them at this point. But there is something you humans can do …" the dragon's voice trailed off.
"What would that be?" Sienna was wondering what this was all about.
"It is possible for a human to fuse its DNA with that of certain animals and gain both new powers and a defense against alien influences and pollution. This was actually discovered by humans, not dragons. Humans with this DNA fusion can protect the planet from destruction by alien hands. They cannot be allowed to finish their purpose here, or all things on this world will perish."
Sienna stared at Elder Aggr'ath, shocked. She had guessed where he was going with this.
"Only humans with a certain gene type can take another creature's DNA without a huge risk of becoming stuck in the form of that other creature forever. Even fewer who have DNA that can cope with a dragon's. You, Sienna, are one of them."
"You're asking me to fuse my DNA with some animal," this was more of a statement than a question. "But I get the hint that there's more to it."
"If you agree to what I'm asking you will become a protector of this planet. You will have to fight the aliens, and risk your life. It will be a difficult road. It will change you. But … you may not make it …" he admitted.
"And if I refuse?"
"We may have to resort to another individual, one who has less experience and less of a fighting chance than you do. People will die. And I will have to erase your memory of this encounter.
"You are already a warrior of your time, Sienna. You already have much prior knowledge of fighting and survival. You have a much better chance than any of our other options. You should enjoy this chance to choose, because there are others who will be like you who don't get this opportunity."
"So I won't be alone …" Sienna said, not expecting an answer. She thought for a long time, weighing her options. All the while Aggr'ath said nothing. "Is it possible that my family could be some of those people to die?" Sienna finally asked, not looking at him.
"Yes," Aggr'ath replied regretfully. "But it is possible that the aliens may target your family for your interference."
"But if I do what you ask of me I'll be able to protect them …" she said.
Aggr'ath nodded.
"As if I didn't have enough drama in my life!" Sienna paused for a second. "OK, I'll do it."
"Let me see your right shoulder," Aggr'ath said.
Sienna complied, pulling up her sleeve over her shoulder. Aggr'ath bent his head down so it was level with her shoulder and blew on it. There was a flash of blinding light. Then, only darkness.