(Hi people. I'm not sure if you noticed, but this story has a awesome new cover. It was made by my friend The Ninja of Writing [Thanks Jordan :D] Anyway, this is a long update. Hope you enjoy.)
[Ty's POV]
I hate family gatherings. They never end up going well for me. Sure, you might say, 'what three year old doesn't want to run around with his sisters, brothers, and cousins?' Well, I don't. Sure, a family picnic would be fun. That is if everyone in my family didn't hate me. Why they hate me, I'm still trying to figure that out. I've never exactly done anything to them. But they still hate me either way.
Anyway, I was just sitting under a tree waiting for the picnic to be over, when my eleven year old brother Caleb shouted over to me, "Hey Ty, you look a little lonely over there. Why don't you come over here and we'll play a game?" He looked like he meant it, but behind his innocent blue eyed stare he was merciless. I shook my head no.
"Aw... C'mon Ty," my cousin Dean said. "We never see ya anymore." I just looked down at my fingers. It's best not to reply in this situation.
Then about two minutes later I was picked up by my shirt. My brother and two cousins laughed. "Let me go!" I screamed and shook. They just laughed more.
They carried me to a tree and took out a jump rope. Caleb smiled evilly. "I think we should play a game. What do you think Max?"
Max, my other cousin, took the jump rope and held it up. "I know just what to play."
Caleb and Dean turned me upside down. I kept yelling and kicking, but they wouldn't let me go. Max tied the jump rope to my ankles and tied the other end to a tall branch on the tree.
Caleb picked up a huge branch and called over to the other kids at the picnic, "Hey! Who wants to whack a pinata?" I'm pretty sure every single one of my cousins and siblings ran over to get a chance to hit me. Caleb went first, and hit me right in the stomach. Then the twins each took a whack. Then my cousins Sasha, Eli, Max, Dean, and so on. It went on for about fifteen minutes. They made sure that there wasn't a spot not left in pain. I knew I was badly bruised and bleeding. I think I had a black eye and lost a few teeth. Finally, Natalie, my six year old sister, took the stick and prepared to hit me.
But right before she got the chance, the jump rope broke and I fell on top of her. Natalie started bawling as I just laid on her, trying not to cry myself.
"What is going on here?!" My mom shouted as us as she stormed over. I couldn't say anything without breaking out in tears at this point, so I stayed quiet and just stared at her. Plus, even if I did say anything, she wouldn't believe me. She hated me more than anyone.
Everyone stared at Natalie and my mom for a bit. No one said a word. Then Caleb spoke up. "It's Ty's fault. We included him in a game and he tackled Natalie."
My mom turned to me. "TYLER!" She picked me up and smacked my face, probably ignoring the fact that I was already hurt. She dragged me back towards the picnic area as everyone else behind me started snickering. When I looked back, I even saw Natalie standing there laughing and perfectly fine.
My mom sat me down on my family's blanket and started lecture me. "It's not right to hurt people, especially your sister. As a punishment, you will sit here for the rest of the picnic and you won't have lunch. Got it?"
"Yes." I mumbled. My mom walked away and left me sitting there. I stared at the ground and started picking at the grass.
I sat there in silence for maybe two hours, then I heard the sound of my family laughing. I looked up and watched my family having fun, not giving a crap about me. "Fine," I thought, "If they don't care about me, why should I put up with them? They won't mind if I'm gone anyways." I stood up and, despite the pain, ran away from the picnic site.
I wasn't paying attention to where I was running, and I didn't care. I wouldn't care if I ended up in China somehow. But my legs and stomach started hurt badly again, so I stopped. That's when I realized where I was; nowhere. I ended up in the middle of a thick dark forest with no life whatsoever. I was alone and lost. I almost started to cry. "Why did I have to run away?" I quietly asked myself. I sat down on the ground and stared at the endless amounts of trees around me.
I heard leaves rustle behind me. "Hello?" I asked. But when I turned around, there was no one there. "Maybe I should keep walking," I told myself. I stood up and almost screamed. The pain seemed worse than before. I collapsed back on the ground. A grumble came from the same place. I looked, and all I saw was… purple snowflakes? What? "I'm probably just seeing things." I said to myself. I leaned against a tree and closed my eyes. "Dad said things like this aren't real."
Then something touched my shoulder. I didn't have time to turn around before it grabbed my neck and stopped me from breathing. Everything went black after that.
Purple eyes. That's what I woke up to. Huge scary glowing purple eyes. "Hello Ty." The eyes can talk! I backed up until I hit a wall. The eyes laughed. "Relax. I don't intend to hurt you. In fact, I'm here to help you." The eyes moved closer, until they weren't just eyes, but a huge black dragon. I backed up until I hit a wall. The dragon chuckled, or at least I think it chuckled. "Now now Ty," he said soothingly. "I said that I wouldn't hurt you and I mean it." I didn't respond. "Let's talk about your family Ty." The dragon said. "What do you think of them?" I still didn't talk.
The dragon and I sat in silence for a while. Finally I cracked. "I hate them," I said, "And they hate me. They hurt me and don't care. I wish I could show them what it was like to be hurt for no reason."
"I can help you with that Ty," The dragon said. "I can help you get revenge for all they did to you. You can make them pay."
The words echoed in my head. Help, revenge for all they did, make them pay. It sounded good. But how can I take revenge on my own family?
The dragon rolled something on the ground to me. "Ya know, you were never meant to be treated like this Ty," He said. "You were meant to be so much more."
I bent down and looked at the object. It was hard to see in the dim light, but it was round like a ball and was a bluish-green color.
"Take it Ty," the dragon urged. "It is rightfully yours."
Take it. Voices started to chant. Take it. Take it. Take it.
I picked up the ball, and what was painful before seemed like nothing. I screamed and crumpled to the ground. My entire body instantly burned with pain. Tears streamed down my face. I wanted to scream make it stop, but I couldn't seem to make the words come out of my mouth.
Through all this, I could almost feel the dragon smirking down at me. "Yes Deadlox," he said. "Become what you were meant to be all along." I blacked out from the pain soon after he said that.
I wish I could say that I woke up next to my family and then they started to hit and yell at me for running away and being an idiot. That would have scared me less. But I didn't. I woke up because of a branch falling on my head. Talk about rude awakenings. I groaned and opened my eyes. I was in the forest next to a pond, and that was about all I could see.
I was relieved that I was alive, but what happened? It could just be a dream. No… it was too real to be a dream. I had to find out. I winced standing up, but managed to make my way over to the pond slowly. If it was a dream, I should look fine, but if it was real, I would probably be beat up from the pain.
I looked into the water, and almost fell in from the shock. The first thing I noticed was that there were two huge purple and black wings on my back and a black tail curling around my legs. Then I started to notice details. My eyes were purple, just like the dragon. My nails had become claws and my teeth were more like fangs. Black scales trailed up my arms. "What am I?" I asked myself quietly. I touched the water just for a second, then my hand started to smoke. I pulled it back and grimaced in pain. "Okay," I said. "Since when is water fire?"
Enderlox... something hissed behind me. I didn't bother to look for whatever said it. I was too busy thinking.
"Enderlox," I thought, "Is that what I am now?" I looked at my hands. I noticed on my wrists there were two purple wristbands with the ball that I'd seen at the cave on them. I flipped one, and on the other side was a normal human eye. I flipped the other one and saw the same picture. A warmth seemed to go through my body. When I looked down at my hands again, they looked normal aside from the wristbands. I glanced back into the lake and saw that I looked like myself again, but really beat up.
Maybe I was supposed to feel relieved or confused or even scared by what I saw, but I couldn't feel anything. I seemed like a cold emotionless rock. I just got up and started walking. I didn't know where I was walking to, why I was going or what was going on. I just kept walking without thinking. And walking. And walking. And walking.
I finally snapped out of my trance when I walked into a brick wall. "Ow…" I mumbled, rubbing my forehead. I swear I wasn't even standing there for more then five seconds before I heard a scream, "TY!" Natalie came behind me and almost suffocated me to death with a hug.
I glanced at the brick wall I walked in to. It was Natalie's school. Oh. I guess this made a little more sense.
"Where have you been?!" She screamed. "Mommy and daddy are worried sick!" I didn't even get a chance to explain before she started dragging me home.
Natalie busted open the front door to our home while I was trying to catch my breath. "MOMMY, DADDY, I FOUND HIM!"
My mom came down the stairs first. "Natalie, what do you… AH!" She looked shocked for a second, and I thought she might just give me a hug for being home. I should know better by now. She just slapped me across the cheek. "WHERE DID YOU DISAPPEAR TO TYLER!? YOUR FATHER AND I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!" She dragged me into the kitchen. She continued to hit and yell at me, calling me an idiot and other names. I started to cry. "DON'T YOU START CRYING TYLER," my mom yelled. "YOU JUST DISAPPEAR FROM ALL OF US FOR A MONTH AND YOU START CRYING?! I SHOULD BE THE ONE CRYING FOR HAVING SUCH A SAD EXCUSE FOR A SON!
Another voice came from the stairs. "Carolin," it was my dad. Now, you're probably wondering, 'where was he this whole time?' Well, my dad travels a lot, so he wasn't at the picnic. He's not really around much ever. But the plus side to him being gone all the time is that he doesn't hate me. In fact he's really the only one who treats me like I'm his son instead of a punching bag.
So my dad walked down the stairs and came into the kitchen. "What is all this screami… Ty?" I waved shyly. He looked back at my mom. "Carolin, do you mind if I talk to him?' My mom walked out of the kitchen, making sure to pretend I wasn't there.
My dad grabbed a glass of water and handed it to me. I took it, but didn't dare drink it. I didn't want my insides to burn. My sat down at the kitchen table and motioned for me to sit next to him. I kept my head low and sat on the chair on his left. "Ty," he asked, "Why did you run away?"
I still avoided his eyes. "Everyone was beating me up. Then I fell on Natalie and mom said I wasn't allowed to eat. No one likes me, so why should I be here? They'd be better off without me."
My dad gave me a sad look, "Ty, I'll have you know that everyone was worried about you, especially me and Natalie. You can't just disappear for a month like that."
"I wasn't gone for a month," I told him.
My dad looked at his phone. "Well, today is May 14th, and I believe that the picnic was April 6th, wasn't it?" He handed me his phone and sure enough, the calendar said May 14th. A month? How was I gone a month?
My dad stood up. "Ty, do you promise me that you won't run away again?" I nodded. He smiled. "Good, because I have a little surprise for you." He went into the living room and came out with a black and green package. "I'll be gone on a business trip when your 4th birthday comes around, so happy early birthday Ty!"
I ripped off the wrapping paper in a matter of seconds, then opened the box. It was a black and neon green headset, just like the kind my brothers had. I gave my dad a bear hug. "They're awesome! Thanks dad!"
He smiled. "I'm glad you like it Ty. Now, you should go to bed. I'm guessing you're pretty tired after all that happened." I nodded, despite the fact that I apparently slept more over the past month than I ever had in my entire life. I hugged my dad and headed up to my room. My room was the smallest and only had a bed and a dresser in it. Nothing really to call my own. I sat down on my bed and stared at the headset, thinking about what I saw. The dragon, the round object, me with dragon wings and a tail, what was it all? What happened to me?
A quiet knock interrupted my thoughts. "Ty?" Natalie opened the door. I didn't look at her. "I know you're mad at me, but I'm sorry that I was so mean to you. I thought if I didn't everyone would make fun of me." I didn't say anything. "I just want you to know that I'll be here for you. Count on it." The door closed quietly. Did she really mean that? Can I really trust her? I shook my head. Too many questions. I pulled down the sheet on my bed and climbed in. Tomorrow. I'd deal with everything tomorrow.
(Yeah… I'm sorry I had to include Enderlox. Please don't kill me. I swear, this isn't like a normal Enderlox story. He won't be relevant until later.)
