Pieces

by Shannon Pemrick

  “Are you serious?” Ryoko screeched.

  “Eyes are rich in protein,” Raikidan defended. He looked at me again and tilted his head.

  “Sure.” I shifted the rabbit’s head and carved the remaining eye out. I handed it off to him and he took it gratefully. Glancing at Ryoko, he tossed the eye into his mouth and swallowed.

  “By the goddess, I think I’m going to be sick.” Ryoko tossed the book down on the couch and bolted to the bathroom.

  Raikidan and I looked at each other and laughed. Looking down at the carcass, I carved out some more meat and ate. Every now and then, I’d offer some to Raikidan, who would scarf it down as if he were starving. I watched in amazement. Where is it all going? Shaking my head, I went back to carving the rabbit. I needed to get it all done before the sun went down.

  I sat in the middle of my bed with photographs strewn about me. In my hand, I carefully held an old photograph. In it were two people, one of them being me.

  I wore a typical assassin military uniform before they had been modified and improved. Hard, but flexible, dark red and black metal protected my chest and neck—my stomach and a small patch above my chest the only parts of me left exposed. Thick, strong cloth covered a spot on both of my sides where the chest armor met. A wide belt wrapped around my waist and held my chest armor together.

  Metal pauldrons protected my shoulders and forearm guards covered my wrists. Black gauntlets covered my hands and half of my arm under my forearm guard. I wore black pants on my legs, and fitted to my feet were knee-high plated dark red and black metal boots. My hair was held up by my hairclip like I normally wore it, and my daggers were strapped to my arms and thighs. In my hands I held my assassin mask, and on my hips rested a gemmed dagger I hadn’t seen in a long time.

  A woman with an athletic build, long, aqua-colored hair and bright green eyes stood next to me in the photograph. A purple cloth was wrapped around her forehead, and a beautiful crystal hung from one ear. The uniform she wore was the style the assassin uniforms were changed to look like in the future at the time of this picture. The only difference was that hers had more bulletproof material due to how often she saw direct combat. A dagger also rested against her hip but the gemming was far different than the one I carried.

  The woman had her arm around my shoulder, and the two of us were smiling. I couldn’t help but smile as I looked at this. Seeing her did that to me. I was glad I hadn’t forgotten her face.

  “That picture must be important if you’re staring at it this intently.”

  I nearly jumped at Raikidan’s voice. After the two of us had finished off the rabbit, he had gone off to do something on his own while I cleaned the usable parts of the rabbit for later use. Shortly after, Ryoko gave me a photo album, and after some thought, I decided it couldn’t hurt to fill it with photographs I wasn’t worried others would see. By the time I had decided that, Raikidan had gone off to do something on his own.

  “How long have you been there?” I asked.

  “Long enough to know you’ve been staring at this one photo for some time instead of going on to the next one.”

  “I didn’t hear you come in.”

  He smirked. “I’m good like that.”

  I grunted and went back to looking at the photograph. I looked at Raikidan when I began bouncing on the bed, and watched him climb over to me, careful not to damage any of my photographs. Again, I hadn’t heard him move. “How do you do that?”

  “Do what?” he asked.

  “Move without even the slightest of sounds.”

  Raikidan shrugged. “I thought I was making plenty of noise. Maybe your hearing is going.” I snorted and looked at the photograph again. “She’s pretty.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, she is.”

  “Who is she?” he asked.

  “General Amara. My general,” I said.

  “You’re smiling in this.”

  “She had a way of doing that to me.”

  “I can tell you were close with her.”

  I nodded slowly. “She… was one of my favorite people…” I smiled and then began laughing when a memory came to me. This caught Raikidan by surprise. “Sorry. I just remembered when she pulled a prank on my mentor, Shyden, because she didn’t approve of his methods when I failed an assassin test. It wasn’t a horrible prank, but it did mess with his pride enough for him to learn his lesson.”

  Raikidan smiled. “Don’t be sorry. I like it when you laugh.”

  My cheeks warmed, as did my neck and chest, and I looked at my photograph so he wouldn’t see. Others have said that before to me, but never had it made me react like that. Why am I acting so oddly to what he said?

  Raikidan picked up a photograph and looked it over. “How old is this picture?”

  I took a look. Pictured was a young girl, no older than eight, with light skin, black hair, and bright blue eyes, with me kneeling next to her. “That was shortly after I joined the rebellion.”

  “Genesis hasn’t aged at all…”

  “Well, yeah. I told you she was the first successful nu-human experiment.”

  “I know, but what I’m saying, is that she hasn’t grown up into an adult in all this time that has passed. Why?”

  I shrugged. “We don’t know. Besides nu-human, we’re not even sure what she is, because there’s no way she’s only nu-human.”

  “Do any of you have any guesses?”

  “Argus proposed she may be demigod.”

  Raikidan tilted his head. “Would that be possible?”

  “Sure, if the humans who made her used DNA from a god. We may not know what a demigod’s limitations would be, but it’d be safe to assume if they weren’t immortal like their god parent, they’d at least live for a long time.”

  Raikidan rubbed his chin. “What god would offer their DNA?”

  I shook my head. “The only one I could think of would be Nazir. The type of god he is, it would make sense, along with her necromancy abilities, since he’s the god of death.”

  “Do you believe this is how she was made?”

  I shrugged. “I’m not really sure. There isn’t enough evidence to prove or disprove the theory for me.”

  He nodded. “Understandable.” He then picked up another photograph and raised an eyebrow. “What is Argus holding?”

  I looked at the tan and muscular man with green eyes, slicked-back brown hair and chinstrap. Around his neck and arms hung a large snake with white and light brown coloring. “Oh, that’s Argus’ pet. She’s a python with a rare queen bee pattern. Gave that to him as a gift shortly after defecting from the military.”

  “A pet? What’s that?”

  “A type of companion. The most common pets we humans have are dogs and cats.”

  He shook his head. “You humans are weird.”

  “In human lore, dragons were said to sometimes capture humans to keep as pets, especially young maidens who could sing.”

  “But that’s a human. They can at least hold conversation.”

  “The stories never said anything about keeping humans to talk to. If it was a maiden who could sing, she’d be forced to sing whenever told.”

  “And if it wasn’t a maiden?”

  I shrugged. “It was never said. The lore only spoke about dragons and maidens.”

  Raikidan shook his head. “You humans come up with weird stories.”

  I laughed and then grinned before pointing to the snake. “Shift into that. We’ll pull something on Ryoko.”

  His brow rose in question, but his curiosity got the better of him and he studied the creature before transforming. Once in his long, scaled form, I heaved him over my shoulders and grinned. “Hey, Ryoko, come in here a minute!”

  I listened as someone ran from the living room and burst through my door. Ryoko�
�s cheery face switched to sheer horror when she laid eyes on Raikidan. A scream erupted from her mouth. “Snake! Ew! Laz why would you do that to me? You know I hate snakes. They’re so gross!”

  She ran out of the room and slammed the door behind her. I burst out in a fit of laughter and Raikidan shifted back, also laughing. “Did that seriously happen?”

  I nodded. “She has an irrational fear of snakes. She was not happy when I gave Argus his pet.”

  My laughter was short lived when hot breath touched my lips. I froze up, my cheeks and body warming by the second. I stared at Raikidan, but he didn’t stare back—his eyes too unfocused. “R–Raikidan, w–what are you doing?”

  His eyes fluttered and then he pulled away quickly. Before I knew it, I was alone on my bed and he sat on the windowsill, staring at the floor. Confused wouldn’t come close to how I was feeling at the moment. One moment he was about to try for a kiss again, and then the next he was trying to stay as far away as possible.

  Finally finding the strength, I scooted to the foot of my bed. “Rai?”

  He continued to stare at the floor. “Sorry.”

  “I’d rather an explanation than an apology.”

  “I’d rather not.”

  I snorted. “You try to kiss me, when I chewed you out the other night telling you to never try to get one from me again, and then, before you try, you back off. You expect me to not want an explanation?”

  He sighed. “It’s… complicated…”

  “Try me.”

  He looked up at me and held my gaze. When I didn’t give in, he sighed. “It’s a dragon thing.” I waited for more. I wasn’t going to settle for that. He sighed again. He knew I was going to be stubborn. “You shared your food with me.”

  I raised an eyebrow in question. “Okay?”

  He scratched his head. “Dragons only share food with family or their mates, and I know for a fact you’re not family. Your offer… it… it’s confusing my instincts.” He rested his forehead in his hand. “It’s clouding my judgment.”

  “We’ve shared drinks before,” I said. “And we ate together at that restaurant and you’ve never acted like this before.”

  “Drinks are different. Liquid is a readily available resource and commonly shared, so it doesn’t have any pull. Food, on the other hand, isn’t readily available. Most dragons would rather fight over scraps than go hungry. We can also work together to hunt more game and split it evenly among those who participated in the hunt.

  “The time at the restaurant is different because of how the food was laid out, and how we were sitting and acting. It was more like we’d hunted together and feasted as comrades, making it okay. This time though…”

  “Was more intimate,” I finished.

  He nodded. “You made the hunt and allowed me to be close when you offered me part of your meal. Only family or a mate would ever do that.”

  I nodded. “Then I won’t do that again.”

  Raikidan look up at me. “What?”

  I moved back to my original spot on my bed and picked up another bone. “If I had known it was going to cause a problem, I wouldn’t have done it. I won’t do it again in the future.”

  “Eira, I don’t want you to be upset.”

  I looked up at him. “Who said I’m upset? You’re the one who’s getting all worked up over this. I’m just avoiding another problem before it starts.”

  “Oh… well… thanks.”

  I nodded and looked down at my photographs. A great deal of silence fell over us as I filed through more photographs. Then, Raikidan spoke. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Yeah, sure, what’s up?” I said.

  “How is it that you humans can keep pets?” he asked. “Most dragons by nature scare things, no matter which form they take. Humans and human-like creatures are the only things that don’t fear us in forms other than our natural ones.” He smirked. “Though there are some who are fearless, regardless.”

  I snickered. “I would suspect it has to do with the fact that dragons use draconic power and humans don’t. This resource is unique to dragons, and is raw and powerful, as I experienced firsthand when trying to take control of your fire. This resource is so foreign, creatures are afraid of it when they sense it. humans, on the other hand, rely on Lumaraeon’s energy, hence elementalists and shamans. This power is much more recognizable to creatures and are less likely to be afraid of something it understands.”

  “But then why aren’t humans and human-like creatures afraid of us?”

  “We lack the natural instinct to sense draconic power. Unless they teach themselves, they will never be able to sense your type of power.”

  His brow rose. “Really?”

  I nodded. “I actually had to train myself to sense it, but it took time and it’s still not easy for me to sense, unless I put some effort into it. Had I not known about draconic power because of our stories, I doubt I would be able to sense it now.”

  “That explains how you know about it and have your theory. I’m impressed. The theory is well thought out, and I’m struggling to think of any other possibility it could be.”

  I smiled. “Thanks.”

  “So, what other things do your stories tell?”

  “Different things, really. Possible legends you might have or possible things you guys can or can’t do. They’re all different, depending on who’s telling them.”

  “Tell me a legend your stories claim to know,” he said, interested in this topic.

  I looked up at the ceiling and thought for a moment. “I was told of a legend that sounds completely absurd. It talks about a dragon and a human becoming mates and having a child whose power is incredible and unmatched by many others. It was thought, depending on how that child was raised, it could do great things for Lumaraeon or destroy it.”

  Raikidan snorted. “That’s definitely a legend, and it’s a stupid one at that.”

  His comment intrigued me. “Go on.”

  “Nothing else much to say. A child like that coming into Lumaraeon is impossible. Dragons and humans aren’t compatible. There is no way a child like that could exist.”

  “It could exist if it were like us.”

  “It’s unnatural.” He blinked and then snapped his gaze on me. “Eira, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

  I waved him off. “Don’t even start, Rai. It’s okay. I know my existence is unnatural. I know I wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for someone creating me artificially. I’ve come to terms with that. We all do at some point in our lives.”

  “You shouldn’t have to.”

  “There’s only so long you can run from the truth. It always catches up to you in the end.”

  Raikidan opened his mouth to speak, but someone knocked on my door and then opened it. A tall young man with tan skin, white hair and goatee and heterochromic blue and gold eyes poked his head into the room.

  “Hey, Rylan, what’s up?” I asked.

  “We have an assignment. Genesis is about to brief us.”

  I nodded and piled my photograph together to be put away later. Raikidan and I then followed him into the living room to find out what was going down.

  Chapter 4

  My breath came steady and quiet as I peered around the wall of my hiding spot while the others moved into position. According to our intel, this outpost had information worth stealing. So that’s what we were here to do, except I wasn’t one of the people going in for once. At first I thought it strange for Genesis to assign me to lookout duty, but it made sense after she explained that only those in our house would be completing the assignment, and of those, Rylan and I were going to be the look outs.

  I held my bow tightly in my hand. This was the main reason I had been okay with taking this position. After Genesis had briefed us, she gave us time to pr
epare, and this had fallen out of my closet. I had forgotten about it, and decided to try to research all I could on it since Tla’lli had told me it’d help me one day. That was when I discovered the symbols on the bow had not only meaning, but purpose.

  The symbols allowed the user to use spiritual energy as a projectile in place of an arrow. The impact from such fast-moving energy would incapacitate the target by shutting it down. It wasn’t lethal, making it the perfect alternative to using arrows in this situation. Unfortunately, I hadn’t had a lot of time to practice. Until I did, I’d be unable to utilize the ability well, as I’d use up a lot of spiritual energy per shot. And thanks to my shaman training, I was going to need some of it to function.

  “We’re all in position,” Ryoko said through the communicator.

  “I’m also in position,” Rylan rang in.

  “Okay, good,” I said. “Everyone hold tight while Rylan and I clear this place out.”

  “Right,” Ryoko said.

  Keeping low, I slunk out of my hiding place and searched for soldiers who would get in the way. When I found one, I aimed my bow and drew back the string. But before I could muster up the spiritual energy needed, my head started to hurt.

  The wind, no more than a gentle breeze, was a welcome relief to the midsummer heat as I strolled through the forest. I walked the familiar path as I had so many times during the past years. But this time was different. This time I hadn’t tread this path for some time.

  “Not now,” I muttered. Bad time for my mind to start acting up, not that it was ever a good time.

  Del’karo walked beside me. He was grinning ear to ear, and I doubted anything could wipe the smile off his face. Not even Maka’shi and her foul attitude. His smile brought one to my face. I was the reason he was so happy. I was glad I was able to make him so proud.

  I took a deep breath and forced myself to focus before mustering up the energy needed to take down the soldier. But before I could do anything he twitched and then stumbled. I grumbled when he fell to the ground and I noticed the dart sticking out of his neck. Noting he was out, I searched for another soldier and found a female taking a break. I aimed my bow, but like with the first soldier, this one slumped over; a sleep dart sticking out of her neck.