Episode 4

Over the next few months, I practiced my powers, and as I did, I realized that I truly was born to make music. Claud’s tutelage was important. She was an incredibly skilled music-type and she gave me a crash course of my powers. Even in human form, I could draw nearly half of my powers when I was playing music or singing. Still, dragon form was better for drawing power because that’s what that form was even created for. Still, it was large and bulky, and never really fit in smaller spaces. Honestly, I looked like an extremely pale Icewing from Wings Of Fire. My aura was a pale blue and I was otherwise white, that’s honestly what I thought of myself when I looked at myself in the mirror.

As I was an actual dragon, I also had typical dragon powers as well. Fire-breathing, immense strength, flight. Of course, I would need to get used to my abilities and train my body to use them. For instance, when I was flying away from the hunters, one of my wings broke because the bones and muscles in my wings were weak from years of disuse. My flame ducts were small, and my throat and mouth easily charred from the same issue. My scales were still incredible at protecting my innards though.

As I went through these months, I felt myself changing more and more. I was no longer “the bass girl in that one garage band,” now, I was “That fire-breathing dragon spirit that gets power from music,” which was probably worse. It was time now to go back to the human world. I was fairly ready, or so I believed. Mom had already gone back home on earth. Now, It was my turn. After all, earth was the place where the war was, and a dragon could be useful, you know? I stood at the gates back to the mortal world. All manner of beasts, big and small, gathered around me. Wolves, raccoons, horses, lions, etcetera, etcetera. The crimson lioness stood next to me, facing the gate. She was now in human form and had decided that she would swear her loyalty to me. Meaning, she would be my personal guard while I was in the mortal world. She had long hair the color of her fur as a lion, and her eyes were a rich gold. She looked pretty menacing, even in human form. Scars remained from her torture, and she had a burning aura, obviously It wasn’t visible, but it was there. You could sense it. Her name was Crimson Ash, just Ash for short.

We both tied a knot in a rope. That would be the seal to our powers. Our auras vanished. All we needed to do to free ourselves would be to untie or cut, or somehow destroy the knot. This seal was easy to unseal in emergencies, but that compromised its ability to completely and entirely hide us from prying eyes. Still, it was better than announcing to the entire world “hey, we’re over here, come get us.”

Ash and I walked through the doors and found ourselves in my hometown’s park. I walked back home with Ash in tow. It was night. We were tense, watching the trees for any sign of movement, like my father had done not so long ago. I noticed something I never really had before. The air reeked with rubber and gasoline and smoke. This must be what it was like to go from clean air to the polluted air of the mortal world. I never realized it, probably because I was just used to it.

When I got to my house, I closed the door after Ash, and then I called “Mom!” There was no answer.

I marched upstairs to my mother’s bedroom. The door was open with furniture tossed and bullet holes in the walls. There were also scorch marks in places. My mouth went dry. I searched for any sign of what happened. Any sign of my mom. I found an envelope taped to the wall of her connected bathroom. I opened it. As I read, fear crept down my spine.

Hello, little purebred, If you are reading this, it means that we have your mother. Come to

the clearing in the park where you were first captured at midnight if you want to save her.

Feel free to bring friends, we always like meeting new friends.

“Ash, what do you think I should do?” I asked, handing her the note.

After reading it, she replied. “Well, master, I know you won’t just let miss Cartwell die, so I think we are going to have to dance to their song for now. If we don’t go, it is likely that she’ll be killed. This ink is fresh. The seal as well. Most definitely written today. It is currently eleven,” she consulted a clock, “so we don’t have much time. I would love to advise you against rash action, but it seems that It will not matter, so please, just be careful.”

“Thanks for your encouragement,” I rolled my eyes, “and I think you should come with me. With so many enemies so close to home, we should stick together. Not even taking our eyes off of each other for bathroom breaks. We can;t afford to lose each other at this point.”

The fact that there was such a coincidence that the very day I came back was the day that my mother was attacked was too much. They knew I was coming. Was it possible that Charlie and Claud, who went home ahead of me, had told them? Those two were neutral, sworn to neither side… No, I couldn’t entertain such thoughts. I needed to push ahead. Ash and I changed into new clothes, and grabbed very sharp scissors, to cut our knots, if need be.

We then headed out, with less than half an hour to reach the clearing. The moment of truth would soon be upon us.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***