The Blood of Dragons

by Victoria Mercier

  I focused, inhaling the flavors of magic around me.

  Too many students have gathered in front of the library. Their summed-up power camouflaged Elleria’s signature. She was a crafty bitch. Why didn’t you listen to me Flare? But then, who am I trying to fool? Flare is a hothead like Dramer. From the first moment, I knew there was something different about her. An irresistible pull toward her that day terrified me. First, Dramer, then Saaron. I was not going to lose my head for her too!

  Students who noticed me pushed away clearing an area around me. Most likely, they expected some kind of information about the events in the library. I had a feeling that whatever had happened there was only a smokescreen.

  Rebecca, where is Flare? I hissed in my mind.

  I… don’t… know… I lost a connection with her. It has been happening very often in the last weeks… as if her mind… Rebecca stuttered.

  Switched? I asked.

  Sort of.

  Fuck. But now thinking about it… Her behavior in the class didn’t match her profile. Unless she’s learned the Dual Mind spell. Stupid girl. Dipping fingers in the fairy and unicorn magic was never a good idea.

  But I still didn’t see the connection between Elleria stealing the Green Eye and teaching Flare the Dual Mind. The emerald enabled the Finger of Death’s secondary power, called the Second Origin. Did Elleria aim to use the Green Eye to unlock her Second Origin or was there something I was missing?

  “Demi-dragon, what’s going on?” questions poured from the tens of throats.

  “You should return to your rooms,” I said in composed but a decisive manner. Where are the rest of the teachers? Where is Saaron? Are they all inside the library?

  Ominous thoughts cut through my mind. The entire situation felt strangely off.

  “Everyone! Get back to your—”

  “Look! What’s that?”

  “Hey! Come see this!”

  A sudden flood of shouts drowned my words. A crowd control spell was in place. Elleria had put it here because she needed this area in the state of chaos. So, did it mean that Flare was here, too? Despite being significantly taller than other dragon students, I didn’t see Flare.

  I activated the spell on my forearm, I had to call Saaron. Only he could find Elleria in the Dragon House. As the Head of this House, he possessed a tracking spell that knew about the presence of every person in this section of the academy.

  “This. Is. Not. The. Time,” Saaron gritted. He was struggling with something.

  “I need your help, brother.”

  “Lotian. I… can’t help… now—”

  The call cut off.

  Seriously?

  Things took an ugly turn. Once more it came to me to sort out the mess.

  Chapter 22

  My knees hurt.

  I kneeled in the pool of a dark liquid. My head spun each time my body twitched. Where am I? What happened? No answer came forth. My memories were wiped… or wait a minute. I remembered something, now.

  Selene.

  The pony bitch assaulted me and tried to wipe my memories. I focused, trying to piece together my shattered mind. The whore overestimated herself and botched the job. It was the retaliation for Dramer. But in what context? I did nothing to him. I haven’t seen him since the unicorns forcedly put me into the academy. Oh yes, and they were trying to destroy my inner fire.

  I pushed my thoughts farther away, but the exertion caused my vision to swim. I fell on my side.

  Darkness surrounded me.

  Did she try to kill me? Why then am I alive? Didn’t something spook her? Ah fuck, I can’t remember details.

  The last memory swirled slowly like a petal of snow. Selene’s cold but beautiful gaze and her words that Dramer would never be mine. That alone was enough to fire up my rage.

  As the wild energy exploded inside me. My strength immediately returned. I jumped to my feet. Time to kill the bitch. For all the pain she’s inflicted on me and Dramer. Hasn’t he said that she messed with his head, too?

  I stood up in a wobbly fashion. Ten breaths later I found the center of my balance. Time to go, I thought as I spied the contour of the door, which I kicked smashing it to pieces. People shouted outside. They weren’t sounded like cries of shock. Rather the angry yells. No one noticed my savage entrance.

  Outside I saw students sieging the library. A few lone flashes of spells zapped in the air. A smell of burnt skin and clothes reached my nostrils. What the hell this lot was doing?

  “Fucking traitors!” A loud call came out of someone in the crowd. “They sold us to the unicorns.”

  That fired me up even more. I grabbed the closest girl’s shoulder and spun her with startling strength. She fell to the ground, groaning in pain. Since when I was so strong?

  No time for this.

  “What’s going on?”

  Her eye widened, but I didn’t care about her shock. I wanted an answer.

  “Unicorns attacked the Dragon House! And teacher of our own flesh and blood help them!” She babbled the words so quickly that it took me a moment to register their meaning. So, Selene’s assault on me was a part of something bigger. I see.

  “Where are the unicorns now?”

  “One with a silver hair and white dress appeared a few moments ago, and had wounded our beloved demi-dragon Lotian, then she fled!”

  “Selene…” I growled. “I’ll kill you.”

  Something snapped inside me. It could be under the unicorn’s spell to contain my true power or something else. I didn’t care. The bottom line was, the immense surge of magical power filled me now. I, literally, overflew with it. People around me had cried out suddenly then began running in all directions. I saw teachers’ attention on me. They shoved the students aside as if they were blades of grass.

  “You there, calm down your rage!” one of the teachers commanded. I didn’t even recognize him. His face was blurred, and his magical flavor stank of the unicorns. A traitor.

  Fireballs came out of my hands in a split of a second, the teacher blocked them with a counterspell, but from his pose I gauged that the impact surprised him.

  “We must subdue her, now,” the other one shouted. “She’s the one who demolished a dorm room four months ago.”

  “Everyone, run!” the teachers bellowed, but students ignored their commands.

  An ebony-haired teacher zigzagged toward me with uncommon agility. I smirked at his futile attempt. He was no match for me.

  My fire whipped and slashed at him.

  A scream of pain reverberated in the air, for a second, everyone halted. I didn’t kill the traitor, only incapacitated him. My first kill would be Selene.

  As the other teacher was suddenly attacked by the eager students who began losing their own control and raged, I approached the injured ebony-haired man.

  “Where is Selene?” I growled.

  The man was terrified. I saw my reflection in his brown eyes. My body was aflame. My gaze held no mercy. I was a death incarnated.

  “I don’t know… this is a misunderstanding… there is a spell—”

  My hand shot ahead and punched him in the face. His head smashed against the marbled floor cracking it.

  “You can kill the other one,” I whispered, not minding if they could hear me.

  There was no way that Selene has remained here. After wounding Lotian, she must have fled back to the Unicorn House. Finally, the traitorous creatures made their move. Now, it was time for the dragons to counterattack. I left the battling crowd and headed for the fifth floor. From there I would be able to find my way into the Unicorn House. The layout of the academy was messed up and I suspected it has been purposely built this way. The unicorns were the masters if it came to meddling with people’s minds. They were the worst. Dramer has repeated to her many times to stop messing with his head! She did something to me, too. That spell to contain my power. Who gave the bitch right to do that? She would pay for this, and once she dropped dead, Selene’s mother would join her.
The academy would finally be ridden off the pest.

  The entrance to the fifth floor was blocked by the spell. Though I could see the runes suspended in the air, I didn’t understand their meaning.

  Whatever, I smiled as my inner fire poured into the spell-weaving. No matter how complex the spell was, it couldn’t withstand a sheer magnitude of my power. Unraveling it? What a waste of time.

  Three seconds later the obstacle was gone. I entered the fifth floor.

  The large chamber looked deserted despite a few members of staff darting from my path. They couldn’t know about the assault, could they? I’d slowed down, then stopped by the middle of the chamber. A fountain next to me spurted cool water from countless nozzles. On the day of the review, my frayed nerves didn’t allow me to see the truth. The bronze fountain represented five entangled figures… or rather creatures. A lizard with wings, yes, this was a true form of a dragon. To its right stood a horse with a long intricately carved horn. A fucking unicorn. My fist clenched, electricity sparkled around it, containing enough power to turn this hideous thing to dust.

  “Disappear,” I murmured with dangerous intensity. My fist connected with the cold metal, faster than my eyes registered the motion. The thing didn’t shatter as I hoped. Instead, the impact was changed into reverberation and…

  A hit came from the fountain. I was sent into the air. The flare of pain quickly faded away, though. Only the raging fire remained. If Dramer called this feeling as being a god, then I was a goddess.

  “Flare,” a hateful voice said my name.

  I whirled around knowing well who I’d find.

  Selene.

  Bitch.

  She wore a gleaming silver armor that failed to cover her unnaturally long legs. Blue stockings and high heels. Was this how she showed up for the fight?

  You aren’t looking any better, Selene said in my mind.

  “Get the fuck out of my head,” I bellowed, whips of fire scarred the marbled floor all around me. “I’ve told you before, you’re an intruder. And do you have an idea what I do with the likes of you?”

  I tremble with anticipation to find out.

  I shut my eyes seeking a way to close my mind. Elleria has fucking promised to teach me a way to keep my head out of my enemies’ reach.

  Elleria.

  I didn’t forget about this. You’ve betrayed me too. You’ve left me!

  “But first, I must take down this bitch,” I growled. “You wounded Lotian and has taken away Dramer! You attacked and messed up my head! Now, die!”

  A single, but truly powerful sphere of fire erupted from my hands and darted toward the unicorn woman.

  She couldn’t survive this. It wasn’t a normal fire.

  “The Endless Fire of Dragons!” I shouted a second before it reached her.

  But then it stopped, and the chamber filled with hot steam. I noticed that my fireball was halted by an enormous wall of water.

  Rosa Watermane.

  So, the Elementals and the Unicorns worked together. Good. I could kill both of them at the same time.

  I extended my hands and the fireball turned into a huge bomb, the explosion engulfed the entire chamber. The alarms began ringing.

  A bit late for this now.

  Out of the billowing steaming clouds darted snakes made out of the water. My fire intercepted them, but more of them kept coming. The water whore thought she could overwhelm me with a sheer number?

  I laughed aloud.

  “Come at me with everything you have!” I shouted amused. More power raged inside me demanding to be released. I didn’t see a reason to hold it back anymore. “I’ll show you the true wrath of a dragoness!”

  Watermane reverted to use the droplets. They zapped all over me, but a shield wrapped around me and none of her puny attacks could touch me.

  Flare.

  Get out of my mind.

  Flare.

  I attempted a mental attack. Was such a thing even possible? I couldn’t say, but for a good moment, Selene’s presence wavered.

  “I have you now!” Waterman cried with a triumph.

  I spun to her, but it was too late. A sphere of water closed around me. Unbelievable pressure pushed at me. I was powerful as fuck, but this pressure was absurd.

  Anger exploded like a volcano and everything started to shine with white light.

  Stop it! You’ll kill yourself. You cannot breach this sphere! It’s called the Eternal Ocean for a reason! Flare, come to your senses!

  Knowing well that she was trying to distract me, I shoved her voice to the periphery of my mind and redirected my focus to battling the sphere of water. The Endless Ocean my ass.

  The second, I pushed onward, the pressure relented just slightly but didn’t disappear.

  We struggled, sending waves of power here and forth.

  And then my rage began wavering. No matter how hotly it blazed the water didn’t evaporate. And the longer it lasted, the weaker my anger was becoming. What the hell was happening to me? I can’t lose to some water elemental. With the last spark of anger, I pushed destructive energy forward, but it disappeared in the vortex of the cold water.

  Impossible…

  The moment my power failed. The pressure went away. It would crush me to a pulp, why did she call it back?

  I fell to my knees, which bled again.

  My entire body shivered. I had no energy left. How did it happen? I should not lose to a mere elemental and a unicorn.

  “This can’t be,” I murmured staring at the powerless hands.

  “I should kill her,” Watermane growled. “An attempt to destroy the Statue of Peace and an attempt to kill two Heads of the Houses. And god knows what else she has done on her way here.”

  Selene’s silver armor dissipated in a flash. She wore a silky silver dress that made even me jealous. She stepped in front of Watermane, who was barely wearing anything. Bra and panties made of bronze with flapping sheets of cloth. It neither was fashionable nor defensible. Tasteless hag.

  “No,” she said. “It is time to take her to my mother. I don’t know why she suddenly behaved as if she lost her mind.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Watermane hissed. “She crossed the line. Her reasons mean nothing.”

  Selene considered this course of action. So, now my life was in her hands?

  No chance I’d leave it like this.

  I staggered to my feet, but my gaze was steeled on Selene.

  “You almost killed me,” I growled at her. “But you botched a job by not finishing me off.”

  “That’s not the problem,” Watermane smirked. “I’ll finish it for her.”

  “Wait!” Selene snapped. An unusual outburst of emotions came from her. “Let me understand one thing. How did I almost kill you? When? Are you referring to the day when Dramer brought you to the city?”

  Was she stupid or what?

  “A half an hour ago, bitch! You lured me to the empty room and tortured me there, then your pathetic attempt to wipe my mind clean! Don’t deny it! My memories returned!”

  “No,” a new voice said.

  I knew right away it was Lotian, and my heart skipped a beat. Until this moment I feared that Selene had seriously hurt him, but if he came here… he should be alright.

  “Lotian… I found here. Help me kill her.”

  “Rosa, hold your horses,” Lotian said as his steps sounded closer. “Selene, I need you to do something for me.”

  “What’s going on, Lotian?” Watermane demanded in a harsh voice. “First, this pup wreaking havoc in the chamber and sputter bullshit about killing Selene. Now, you come down and say is all good?”

  “Easy, Rosa,” Lotian rasped, and I sensed pain in his voice. He was hurt after all. “Elleria is behind all this, she used the Dual Mind spell and… the Green Eye.”

  “WHAT?!” everyone present shouted at the same time.

  “There is no way she could lay her hands on the Green Eye. Shouldn’t it be locked away?” Watermane asked harsh
ly. She was still hellbent on killing me. I sensed a murderous intent radiating from her. This woman despised dragons.

  Lotian unsheathed a dagger with a large green emerald. I remembered it, somehow. That green light.

  “What is the meaning of this?!”

  “Why would my mother allow you to carry the Finger of Death?” Selene asked thoughtfully. “This artifact caused so much grief in the Titan wars. I wish they destroyed it.”

  I tried to follow the conversation, but my mind spun and whirled and… everything folded itself. The reality started wrapping itself and I knew this feeling somehow. Cold sweat ran down my spine. My mouth opened to call for help, but the back of my throat was parched. It couldn’t produce a single syllable.

  Flare we don’t have much time, Selene said.

  I looked around but couldn’t pinpoint the source of her voice.

  I’m suspecting what Elleria has done to you, and reversing it… well, it’ll be hard without the Green Eye. In this case, time is of utmost importance. You’ll have to work with me.

  You must have the nerve to say this to me. Do you think I’ll believe you? I hate you!

  The world around me wavered, the wall of the reality began crumbling away, and I felt Selene’s presence there. She was the one causing it. While, on the other side, the green light kept gluing it together.

  What’s the meaning of this? What are you doing? Stop destroying my mind! I shouted in my head. Where is Lotian?

  This isn’t your mind. It’s a construct crafted by Elleria with the use of the Green Eye. In other words, she implanted false memories.

  The revelation was such a shock that Selene gained an upper hand and the light lost its intensity. For a moment, I saw Elleria’s face in the empty room next to the library. She was telling me something, but I couldn’t hear her. As swiftly as the vision appeared it was gone, and the green light pulled together the shattered pieces of the reality.

  Flare, you must help me here. The Green Eye feeds on your mental power and it seems that you have plenty of it. I can’t breach this without your assistance. This is what Lotian asked me to do. If I let Elleria construct feed on you, it will eventually replace you with her implanted personality.