The dark streets were silent, a dog howled in the distance as dark clouds parted to reveal the waxing moon. Crickets softly chirp in the night as we pan over to a peculiar building. The base of the building was quite ordinary, seeming to be a two story apartment building with normal bricks being part of the foundation. A sign reading "Fenton Works" is attached on it's side with lights that would highlight the "F" in an eye-catching fashion. However, the normalcy of the building is quickly shattered when you simply glance at its rooftop. It had an added technological architecture that was designed similarly as a UFO-like shape with added sensors and satellites added on top.
Suddenly two people appear on the top of the roof, with one being much taller than the other.
Upon closer inspection, it's revealed that the tallest was an Asian-American woman with long black hair wearing a red jacket with dragons stitched with gold on each side of it. Whereas the other was a teenage boy with black hair wearing a white shirt with a red dot in the center of it.
The older woman wrapped one of her arms around the black haired teen, holding him close to her comfortably as they looked out to the town they live in.
"This is a big change, Dee. I know it feels weird for you right now with your…condition…" The woman spoke with slight hesitancy to the teen, placing her chin on his head in reassurance as she used her other hand to enclose the boy into a full-body hug. "But, we can do this. Baby steps." she continued as the boy briefly paused before returning the hug. His shoulders slightly shook, whether it was due to the cool air or how he was feeling, is unclear.
The woman pulled back slightly to look down at the boy, seeing his eyes watering with a near-silent sniffle, before cupping his face to wipe away the tears with her thumbs gently. "While I don't know much about this kinda thing, I'll be there with you every step of the way." she smiled "Just like Sam and Tucker will when I'm not around."
They then hugged each other tightly once more. Simply staying on the rooftop for a few moments in silent assurance…
*VWOOM*
"GAH!"
Only to be interrupted with the boy abruptly turning intangible and causing him to quickly sink through the floor with a startled gasp.
Fortunately, his descent was stopped to his knees by the woman's hands that gripped tightly around his upper arms–the woman's hands were now covered in red scales with sharp ebony claws that were able to somehow grip onto the invisible boy with no issue. She clicked her tongue in slight annoyance at the situation briefly before easily lifting the boy into her arms in a bridal carry. Her upper torso also revealed red scales in response to the boy's presence, allowing him to be properly held by her.
The teen in question blushed lightly in embarrassment of the situation, much to the woman's amusement. "Yeah, we should work on that." she said with a grin. Her scales fading following the boy's intangibility stopping.
"Thankfully, I don't think your shoes sunk deep enough to–" *BEEP BEEP BEEEP*
*BANG*
*CRASH*
"THE GHOST SENSORS WENT OFF!"
"COME ON OUT SPECTRE! I'LL RIP YOU APART MOLECULE BY MOLECULE!"
"...aww man…" the woman whined, looking at the now broken down door leading back into the house. Two adults wearing full body suits aimed glowing green weapons at the two ravenette's as they went to fire their guns.
As overused as this sounds; things weren't always this way.
The scene paused as the narrator's voice rang out, time itself seeming to stop as if it was a simple recording.
Hey, my name's Lily–you know, the weird scaly-woman that was holding onto that kid who could phase through stuff?
We pan back to the woman in question with the teen, the two's faces frozen with the boy's being one of fear whereas the woman's looked more resigned.
And, in all honesty, I didn't expect to reach my roaring 20s as the eldest sister to a half ghost boy–in fact…
Suddenly, the scene moved again, only this time; in reverse. The adults in suits looked as if they were pulled back into the rooftop's doorway as the woman–Lily seemed to be dropping the teen boy back onto the floor as he turned invisible and phased partially through the floor.
Time continued to reverse even further to their hug and even moments prior to it; where they both walk backwards towards the rooftop door. The teen going through the door first, before Lily followed with her hand holding the door handle and closing it.
I never had a brother.
The door closed.
When I was about…13? 14? Somewhere around that age; I was told of my family's secret.
The scene changed entirely, showing three silhouette drawings on top of a blank canvas. The silhouettes depicted were of a–assumedly preteen–girl wearing a red jacket with khaki shorts. Her hair was shoulder length with green tips. The second was of a much taller woman wearing a light pink shirt with a green necklace with blue jeans, whilst the third was of a far smaller figure of a man wearing a blue robe with a unique-looking beard/mustache. The adults in the drawing seemed to be telling the girl something, as she tilted her head at them inquisitively.
We were Dragons.
The silhouettes changed, this time the smaller man was replaced with a large blue Chinese Dragon–who circled the other two protectively as the woman gently held out the girl's hand out to reveal that the hand had turned into a red scaled claw; much to the preteen's surprise.
And, as Dragons, it was our responsibility to protect the Magical Creatures of our designated territories; with mine being America, or more specifically New York, as I was still in training.
The image changed, the previous silhouettes being replaced by a city skyline with a red Dragon that seemed to be primarily Chinese but interestingly held a few Western Dragon features such as having wings.
For a while, despite the big change, things fell into a relative pattern; do homework, stop evil, hang out with my family, stop evil, laugh with friends…yeah, I think you get the idea.
A flash of various scenes of silhouettes appeared in rapid succession. One scene depicting the girl from before facing seemingly her own reflection, only the "reflections" eyes were filled with a challenging flame. Another scene showed an enormous dark dragon reaching down towards the girl threateningly, a third scene showed three women with snakes for hair surrounding the girl and the final scene revealed a monocle wearing man yelling in outrage at the girl in a cage as watchers gave the man a glare.
But, one of my big enemies finally got the best of me…and those I cared about.
A scene showed various people/dragons being chained down tightly by a group of masked individuals with dragon markings on their bodies standing on a rooftop.
The Huntsclan.
A large silhouette of a muscled man is then shown standing in front of the chained victims, his face a victorious grin that was directed to one particular red dragon that was pulled in front of him.
The Huntsmaster, the leader of the clan, was a ruthless man; who only cared about destroying Magical Creatures no matter the cost.
The man was then shown holding up a glowing skull above his head, causing it to be connected to the others that surrounded him.
So much so, he found what's known as the Aztec Skulls, 13 Crystal skulls that were created by unknown means to grant the wish of whoever uses their power. It was said that whoever uses them would spell doom for any Magical Being.
The man's silhouette glowed slightly as his mouth was wide open in a shout, with his spectators–excluding other members of the Huntsclan–only staring in horror at what he was doing.
Thankfully, he was stopped.
The silhouette man was on the floor in the next scene, with a silhouette of a different girl standing behind him with a smoking weapon as one of her hands held the skull he was holding up.
From there, whether it's due to my new life or something else, everything after that is a blank.
The canvas suddenly ripped in half ferociously by an unknown force, splitting the previous scene in two.
Next thing I knew; I was reborn. Which was pretty…staggering…it felt like I just blinked. One moment, I was there on the rooftop, and then I was swaddled in a blanket.
A new canvas was placed on top of the torn one, showing three new silhouettes. One of an Asian woman lying in a bed, holding a black haired baby in a clothed bundle, with the third being a giant man similar to the previous one; only he didn't have much muscle, rather he was more large in stature. Neither adult noticed the startled wide-eyed stare of the infant who could only look at them in confusion.
And, to make things even more confusing, I still remain a Dragon for some reason despite my apparent reincarnation.
Another scene appeared, depicting the infant–now toddler–sitting on a playmat with red dragon claws as hands. She stared at her appendages in shock at their presence as the woman and man from the previous scene yell at each other behind her with the woman gesturing to the little girl.
Fortunately, despite things being pretty much the same in the world, I was able to get away with my "abnormality" because it turns out that people that end up with bizarre abilities are a normal-ish thing…Unfortunately, these people called "Metas" or "Metahumans" usually have these powers through experiencing intense physical/mental/emotional trauma that activates these powers.
The next scene showed the woman stomping out the door with the baby girl in hand, carrying a luggage, as the man only crossed his arms furiously at the woman.
And, since I didn't exactly want to be some kind of experiment or something, I pretended to not know why I am the way I am. Which might partially be why my parents had split; as neither of them knew which one of them caused me to "go through the trauma" for my powers. Oops…
A scene popped up, showing seven silhouettes, one being the girl that was now a seven year old child, another being a four year old girl with orange hair and the final one being a two year old boy with black hair. Behind them were four adults, two on either side of the children, with the woman from before being in an embrace with a more lanky man on the right. Whereas the man from before stood on the left, towering over a different woman with an arm wrapped around her shoulders.
But, ironically, things turned out a lot better for the two of them when they divorced. They found someone that was actually compatible with them, and I got two siblings added in the mix. So it turned out to be a blessing for all of us in a way.
Suddenly the scene abruptly switched to four silhouettes near a green, glowing doorway of some kind. Two of the four were looking at the other two in concern as one was carefully holding the fourth close to their chest protectively.
Who'd have thought my "Father" would concoct a device that travels to a realm full of ghosts? And, worse yet, my brother would be literally caught in the middle of it; causing him to have his newfound abilities? I sure didn't. Then again…
The canvas and its silhouettes were all suddenly removed, being replaced by static that fills the scene.
I'm not surprised.
A/N:
Before you ask, NO I DONT HAVE A PROBLEM! I just get inspiration, OK?!...and my attention span is bad…and I got issues….IM SORRY OK?!
As for the art, I did have it commissioned this time around by an artist named TheLadyFuyu on Twitter! :D she did an awesome job! ^^
