Riverside City Chronicles | Book 1 | Riverside City [Capes & Cowls]

by VanDerHeyden, Paul C.

  “Nope, but whatever you’re cooking smells wonderful, so I’ll have some of that,” Kat chirps with a bit of drool leaking down the corner of her mouth.

  “I’m not really hungry...Mom,” Theo says quietly.

  “Ah,” Iris whimpers. “Kitty, you’re in charge of the littles, I need to talk to Teddy in the other room,” she hastily doffs her apron, leaving it across the back of her seat, all the while herding Theo toward her private study down the hall.

  “I’ll do anything for some of whatever that is in the oven.” Kat’s stomach growls as the oven timer goes off.

  Chapter 8: Mom

  Iris pushes Theo into her study and closes the door behind her, a secure sounding lock clicks behind her, along with a not so subtle sucking sound. “Soundproofing for secure conversations dearest,” Iris says when Theo looks confused at the noise.

  “Mom…” Theo begins before Iris cuts him off.

  “It makes me so happy to hear you call me that Teddy, I love you so much. You were the first child I adopted, did you know that? I founded this place using the money that was left for you. You might consider this your inheritance.” Iris’ manic speech is a far cry from her usual calm demeanor, tears are rolling down her face.

  She’s scared, this must have been weighing on her for years.

  “Mom, settle down. I love you, okay? I don’t need any money, I have all I need here. You gave me the family my blood relatives wouldn’t. Now stop crying, or I’ll start!” Theo’s voice warbles softly as he embraces Iris.

  “Teddy Bear!” Iris cries softly, holding Theo as if he might float away.

  Theo begins to glow softly as he calms down. Iris’ shoulders relax a bit, as does her neck. Gentle popping noises can be heard as Iris’ back and shoulders pop back into proper alignment.

  “Well, that’s new,” Theo laughs.

  “I feel much better now, it might have something to do with that glow of yours. It even fixed my compressed disk I think. You might want to figure out how that happens, just to be sure you can control it before you accidentally do that in public,” Iris says, concern evident in her voice.

  “Yeah, I’ll make sure I get a handle on it ASAP.” Theo laughs.

  Kat’s panicked voice comes into both Theo and Iris’ heads at one time. ‘Minor problem, I may have set the kitchen on fire. HELP!’

  “My beautiful boy, I love you so much! Now, let’s go save my kitchen!” Iris laughs as she releases the lock on the door. The sucking sound happens again, but this time it sounded more like a “Whoosh”.

  Iris charges toward the kitchen, a bit of rainbow leaking out behind her. Theo charges behind his mom, grinning widely. “Jinlong is on the case!”

  When Theo and Iris make it into the kitchen, they arrive at a scene from an interior decorator’s worst nightmare. The oven is on fire and it’s spreading toward the rest of the kitchen.

  “Mom! Kat’s trying to burn the house down again!” Magy, the purple fur covered ten year old, cries, “This is the third time. I hate putting up tile, I’m not fixing it this time!”

  A gout of water strikes the flaming oven. “Firehose to the rescue!” Tyler, a blonde six year old, has one hand in the sink with all three faucets running toward the center basin, and the other hand is pointed palm out toward the flames, a port on his hand is channeling the massive stream of water needed to suppress the flames.

  “Good job, Tyler!” Iris beams at him before turning her gaze to Kat. “Remind me not to put you in charge of dinner for the kids anymore. Okay?”

  Before Kat can reply to Iris’ question, a tall seven year old brunette named Jessica blurts out, “Got it, Mom! Kat is now forbidden from handling dinner for the children of RAINBOW. Let it be known!” A white light erupts from her and everyone in the room knows that Jessica just used her power.

  Iris sighs. “We talked about unsupervised use of your powers, Jessica. Now I have to call in a Law Mage to remove that restriction. Don’t worry about it now, everyone except Tyler, grab a towel and help dry this place up. Tyler, you stopped the fire, you can have the first piece of dessert tonight. I made Cocoa Rice Krispy Treats from scratch.”

  “Sorry, Mom, I got excited,” Jessica starts to apologize before Iris wraps her in a hug.

  “It’s okay, your power is tied to your emotions. We’ll work on it together,” Iris gives Jessica a squeeze, releases her, and grabs a towel.

  The children all groan and start drying off the room, except Tyler who laughs and claps at the idea of getting dessert before his siblings.

  Theo starts handing out towels to each of the waiting kids with a big grin and a small laugh. Kat doesn’t argue, she just grabs a towel and starts cleaning up the water with the rest of the kids.

  Theo’s laugh is infectious and, after a bit, everyone starts laughing about their “Firebug of a sister”. Kat just laughs it off.

  I love this place! I hope Kat’s okay though. Theo thinks to himself.

  Later that night, as Theo lies in bed, a thought crosses his mind before he drifts off to sleep.

  Who’s Jinlong?

  Deciding to ignore it Theo rolls over and falls asleep... and a moment later he finds himself in a classroom.

  Chapter 9: Earth Temple

  The classroom Theo awakens in is like no other that he has been in, gone are the modern digi-board and smart desks. Wood and stone desks and chairs, four of them to be precise, are all that adorn the floor of this classroom, Theo is seated in the front right desk. The fifth desk is floating a bit off the ground and looks to be there for a teacher to use, sitting on the floating desk is a small man with brownish-grey skin. There are no walls, just endless clouds in all directions.

  “Welcome, Theodore-gong, to the Earth Temple. I am happy to announce that you survived your Draconic Awakening! I will be your instructor here. You may call me Richter.” The small man beams as he speaks like he has been waiting for quite a while to give that little speech.

  “Gong? I’m no lord, you must be mistaken. Just call me Theo. Also, where the hell am I?” Theo asks, his tone growing increasingly panicked.

  Why do I know that Gong means lord? Theo has a brief moment of confusion before the panic takes over again.

  “Ah, you haven’t gained your ancestral memories yet, so this is not something you were expecting. Don’t worry Theodore-gong, with time this will be as natural as breathing for you.” Richter smiles even wider at this. “As to where you are, I already said, you are in the Earth Temple of the Great Golden Dragon. You are here because this place is your birthright.”

  Theo looks confused and starts to get up from the desk he is behind.

  “You might not want to do that Theodore-gong, you are not yet used to your newfound power, that desk helps to contain your might until you are ready to use it,” warns Richter. “If you’re not careful, you’ll fracture your bones by moving right now, the sleep you are in is something to protect you from yourself.”

  “How long am I going to be here? I have responsibilities! The kids depend on me during the weekend.” Theo yells at Richter with an accusatory tone, though he settles back into the desk.

  “Worry not Theodore-gong, every minute in your normal world is an hour here. In your eight normal hours of sleep, I will have 30 days to give you a crash course on how your powers work,” Richter supplies, not losing his grin.

  Theo gives Richter an incredulous look, “You’re telling me that somehow I’ll be here for 30 days and only eight hours will pass out there?” Theo indicates the space above him with vague gestures.

  “Yes, now for a bit of an explanation on the birthright part of my introduction.” Richter completely ignores Theo’s incredulous look and keeps on explaining. “You are a descendant of the Great Golden Dragon, all Caps if you are taking notes in the language you call English.”

  “I only know English,” Theo interrupts.

  “Not anymore, all descendants of the Great Golden Dragon understand, and are fluent in all languages spoken on Eart
h. Think of it as a small perk along with the other more fantastic powers.” Richter gets up and starts drawing on the wall behind the bigger desk, using a claw that appears on his hand. “So, your powers when you leave will include the following.”

  “All of the Great Golden Dragon’s descendants have a few beneficial traits, super strength is the easiest to explain. You are currently as strong as your teacher Kiloton, maybe a bit stronger. However, as you grow in strength, you’ll leave him far behind. All Children of the Dragon, as we refer to ourselves, have the ability to regenerate, that’s how your body survived ripping itself apart during your Awakening. You’ll always put yourself back together in perfect health given a long enough time. Now, I hesitate to tell you this, but you will regenerate as long as you are alive, from the brink of death to normal in 24 hours. You can also share this ability, but you lose access to it when doing that, so be careful.”

  Theo raises his hand.

  “Yes, Theodore-gong?” Richter replies promptly.

  “Two questions: One, do I glow when I regenerate?”

  Richter smiles. “Only in the most dire of circumstances, though if you share your healing, you will glow.”

  Theo nods. “Second question, I lost almost 100 lbs during my ‘Awakening’, is that normal?”

  A broad smile spreads across Richter’s face. “You were fortunate to have that excess fat, your body used it to fuel your initial regeneration, before you ignited your Draconic Soul. If you had been in the shape you are in now, you would have died. You have a gene that helps you take in more energy than most people can from food; it served you well during your Awakening and it will serve you well from this point on as well.”

  Theo’s jaw is hanging wide open. “I would have died if I wasn’t fat?”

  “Correct, either that or you would have needed to be in amazing shape. Fat is safer though, lots more energy to burn.”

  “Continue please, I have a lot to think about.”

  Richter bows. “Yes, Theodore-gong, I’ll continue now. Children of the Dragon only need to sleep a maximum of one night per week, though as you grow in power, you may not need to sleep at all. You can also run without stopping for a day straight. You are now fluent in all languages and alphabets, plus most ciphers that don’t use a key. You’ve always been smart, that was the part of your Draconic Ancestry that manifested itself before your Awakening, though from what I’ve seen, you’re exceptional in that regard, your new eidetic memory should prove especially useful. Last, but not least, you have a suit of scales that will deploy when you are in danger, don’t worry, it will happen when it needs to.”

  After finishing the last line of text on the board, Richter turns to Theo, “That does it for the general Children of the Dragon abilities. Do you have any additional questions before I move on to the abilities you will get from Awakening to Earth?”

  Chapter 10: Richter

  “There’s more? You must be joking, I’m starting to feel like the main character in some manga or anime right now.” Theo laughs and settles his head against the desk. “What is my life turning into?”

  A frown settles on Richter’s face. “I assure you Theodore-gong, I speak the truth. You will have powerful enemies, you will need all of these powers and more to survive until adulthood.”

  Theo’s head pops up. “What do you mean survive? I have all these powers and I’m still going to be in danger of dying? How is that possible?”

  “I’m sorry, Theodore-gong, I am prohibited from answering that question. I’ll move on to your Earth based powers now if that pleases you.”

  Theo settles into his seat. “Hit me, Richter, I’m ready to listen.”

  “Stone Skin is quite a useful power, your skin is now as tough as stone and is very resistant to physical attacks. It isn’t as useful against energy attacks though. You can turn it off if you want, but most Children choose to leave it on most, if not all, of the time. You will still be able to sense touch as normal with it on, but a sharp impact will trigger the toughening.” Richter grabs an earthenware mug from behind his desk and takes a sip. “Apologies.”

  “No worries, take your time.” Theo looks back at his desk and an earthenware mug is there. “Where did that come from?”

  “If you need it, I will provide it here. Worry not, I’m not at all like my more tempestuous contemporaries, Wood and Water.”

  Theo nods and takes a sip from his cup. “This is delicious, is it some kind of berry tea?”

  “It is indeed, raspberry and elderberry combined with a traditional white tea.” Richter smiles. “It was always my favorite.”

  “It’s probably my favorite drink now, I’d like you to know you ruined other teas for me now.” Theo takes a large sip and sighs.

  “When you leave, I’ll send the recipe back with you. Now, back to Earth powers. You will have the ability to condense dirt and dust into what your ancestors called a ‘Stone Shot,’ you should be able to shoot those stone projectiles as fast as a bullet. Are you familiar with the term Earth Gliding?”

  “You mean like Earth Elementals in D&D? If so, yeah, I am. They can move through dirt and stone pretty fast, though it’s a lot slower through worked materials like concrete and masonry. They can either leave a tunnel or close it behind them, it depends on the edition of the game. Why do you ask?”

  “I’m surprised how well informed you are about this, it must be a sign.”

  A sign that I play too many tabletop and video games maybe…

  “You can Earth Glide now, as easily as you can run, skimming the surface you should be able to go 200 li per hour or 62.137 miles per hour in your new measure of speed. Worked materials won’t survive you passing through them, but you can pass through them just fine. Also, you always leave a tunnel unless you slow down and close it behind you.”

  “Next you're going to tell me I have tremor sense or something right?” Theo asks jokingly.

  Richter stares at Theo. “Exactly that, how did you know? It’s how you’ll see while Earth Gliding.”

  “Same game, makes sense.” Theo sits in his desk quietly brooding. “Are you kidding me, all of that from some ancestor I don’t even know about? You must have the wrong person, I’m not special like that.”

  Out of nowhere, a bullet made of stone fires toward Theo. Before he can respond with his arms the stone bullet strikes him in the chest. He doesn’t feel it at all.

  “See, Stone Skin comes in handy, even against sneak attacks. One thousand pardons for the subterfuge Theodore-gong. I needed to show you how your powers worked subconsciously,” Richter says as he bows in half, still floating.

  Theo thinks for a moment and comes to a realization. “This is all real...I guess I should make the best of these 30 days. Give me your best Richter!”

  While eight hours pass on the prime material plane, Theo spends 30 days training to use, and hide the use of, his powers.

  On day ten Theo thinks to ask Richter a question while working on his Earth Gliding. “What happened to my ancestor?” Theo asks while scything through solid stone like a hot knife through butter and working on pulling himself through at the same time.

  “I was wondering when you would ask, Theo.” After the 50th time asking Richter to stop calling him Theodore-gong, Theo had told him that he was no longer allowed to call him anything other than Theo. “He was slain after an argument, and the ensuing battle, with Arcanatrix almost 10,000 years ago.” Richter shakes with rage at that, “She then proceeded to steal his blood essence, your inheritance. That’s why you don’t have your ancestral memories or…” Richter cuts himself off mid-sentence.

  “Or what, Richter?” Theo presses.

  “I am forbidden from speaking on this subject, we will be moving on to target practice with your Stone Shot now,” Richter replies.

  No matter how hard Theo presses, he doesn’t move on that topic, each time instead leading him to test his powers in new and more difficult ways.

  At the end of the 30th day Theo and Richte
r stand in the classroom, no longer just teacher and student, but a pair of friends.

  “Richter, I think I’m going to miss you, I wish you could come with me back to my world,” Theo says sadly, hugging Richter while doing so.

  Richter gives a wry smile. “It is not my place. I need to be here in case some other Child awakens to the ‘Earth’ rune. If you need me, all you need to do is wish to see me when going to sleep. Though you won’t be gifted with the slowing of time on that visit.”

  “Understood, I wish you luck!” Theo claps him on the back.

  Chapter 11: Draconic Physique

  Theo wakes up in his bed feeling a bit stiff. He groans, looks over at his alarm clock, and checks the time, it’s 5:45.

  It’s not even six and I feel amazing. Though my body aches like I’ve been sparring with Richter too long.

  His entire body aches, not from a bad night’s sleep, but from training! As he stands up and stretches he looks at his arms and abs, not flab, ABS! It looks like all of the training he did, coupled with his inheritance, has toned his body quite a bit.

  “I’m going to need to go shopping,” Theo mutters, looking at his clothes and then back at his newly toned body.

  ‘Want to go shopping after breakfast?’ Theo thinks over to Kat.

  ‘You hate shopping, are you feeling okay? Last night was pretty intense!’ Kat returns a few seconds later. ‘Also, yes. I need to stop in on Professor Tenzi to talk to her about my suit, the one I wear as Nightmare obviously.’

  ‘I know that much at least,’ Theo retorts. ‘I might need one of those myself.’

  ‘Oh??? We may need to talk in person,’ Kat sends as Theo’s door opens.

  “Really? Using your powers on that again?” Theo laughs after closing the door behind her.

  Theo is standing in basketball shorts with the RSCA Widows logo on the thigh, no shirt, looking Kat over. Kat is wearing a black mini dress and hightops.