"Alcaeus Doukas…and Ginger."

The context in which the plump dragonling heard his name being called absolutely crushed him. At once, his mind turned numb, seeming to have preferred indulging in the endless agonizing over Reiss' uncharacteristic reservedness.

Surely… surely, he hadn't heard right. Right?

Unlike the previous times where the bulk of the crowd of teenage dragonlings was directed by the head turns of the few who knew the ones who had been called out, every single head snapped onto Ginger's location at once.

There was a price for infamy, and it was staring Ginger in the face.

The fact that he was the only First Year without a second name…well, and the fact that his first name was Ginger, made him very easy to recognize, not to mention his particularly… gifted build.

Amidst the suffocating attention, Ginger wasn't at all fazed, but that wasn't because he was easily able to handle the mixed-mannered stares. It was because the person he had been paired with was just as much of a nemesis as Vassilis.

Ginger looked at Professor Lyall who locked eyes with him.

He felt betrayed.

Why pair him with Alcaeus of all people?

This couldn't have been random, could it?

Was enmity the criteria for the pairings?

A bulging globe of heat that seemed to suddenly appear in Ginger's chest seared him from within, and he felt the torturous displeasure of it all the way to his temples.

He balled his hands into fists.

"You better go on," Caron said and lightly pushed him forward.

Caron's urging only served to fuel whatever organ was aflame in Ginger's body, and for a moment, he didn't move.

'Let's just get this over with,' he thought.

Finally, Ginger walked towards Professor Lyall, taking heavy steps along the way. His head reflexively turned to the other side of the cavern, and he saw Reiss still hanging his head, not even paying attention to the activity on this side.

The plump dragonling sucked in a deep breath in an attempt to drown his soul, which had a thing or two to yell at his friend.

"Halfling! Halfling! Halfling!"

Whatever Ginger intended to say almost spilled from his mouth when a mocking chant came from his side; from a group buried within the excessive clumps of First Years.

Fillys had rallied her snotty possie, and together they turned into a six-second cheerleading team with decent rhythm just as Ginger passed by.

The plump dragonling got the intense urge to rush up to Fillys and stuff her head deep into her Light Gear, but he knew better than to entertain her. It wouldn't do him any good. The several skirmishes he and the Doukas siblings had been in had taught him that much.

Ignoring Fillys, and the snickers he received on his way, Ginger reached Professor Lyall. Alcaeus was already waiting by her side, staring at him with a condescending grin.

What was worse than receiving such a look from someone who harbored ill intent towards you, was if said person had a gracious face that didn't fit well with it at all.

Ginger hoped every time that Alcaeus' face would somehow turn ugly when he wore such a disgusting visage, but his striking ocean blue eyes, high cheekbones, and smooth skin under the curtain of apple green hair were ever exquisite.

"Try not to be too spooked. You're safe. Just give it your all," Professor Lyall said, tearing Ginger and Alcaeus from their locked glares.

Both nodded and walked towards the arched gap.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

At once, the gnawing burn in Ginger's body was doused by a bucket of ice-cold fear that traveled through the air, the walls, and his bones.

There was something about staring into the inviting darkness before him that washed away all of his and Alcaeus' extraneous concerns.

They both stood straight as arrows, with Ginger holding his dagger tight and Alcaeus, his Qin Steel saber.

'Relax. Just breathe…' Ginger told himself and obeyed the narrative in his head.

Both boys gulped, however, because an ungodly degree of awareness settled back into them, along with their senses, and they walked forward half-briskly.

The general difference between them showed when they were swallowed by the darkness.

Ginger hunched a little and drew the hand that strangled the dagger close to his chest while leaning his torso forward.

Alcaeus merely steadied his steps, measuring his gait evenly as he moved. He brought his vacant left hand close to the hilt of his saber, prepared to unleash a full power swing at any moment. When he and Ginger sank into the black, his eyes darted everywhere sharply, scouring for the slightest sign of movement.

Ginger couldn't do the same. It was only now when he remembered that the slits all Cinder-Born had for pupils in the eye – even before their growth spurt – weren't just for show.

Dragons could see well in the dark.

Ginger, however, didn't have the same kind of eyes. He never had.

This abnormality – or perhaps normality – made sure that he was stuck seeing nothing for several seconds.

'Shunting Shamans…' the plump dragonling muttered within, his hearts beating fiercely. Not being able to see in such a dangerous place was fatal. What if he stepped on a Blighted's toe?

He heard Alcaeus pulling ahead and clicked his tongue in annoyance.

He had no choice but to follow behind him until he could see.

…And thus, he did.

The bulk of Ginger's mind was too tense to consider how Alcaeus would react if he caught on to him. Even then, the Doukas boy didn't have the luxury of laughing at Ginger for it. Probably.

'It's too quiet. I thought there would be something by now…' Ginger thought cautiously. He imagined that he would have seen the enemy or at least sensed a suffocating presence this far into the chamber.

Soon, his eyes adjusted to the darkness, and he was able to see the walls, which were as unimpressive as one would expect, same as those of the cavern outside.

Perhaps this was to direct all attention forward.

Going back to walking on Alcaeus' right, Ginger squinted, hoping to spot something.

But there was nothing…

Nothing?

Ginger's heart thumped vibrantly and he came to a stop immediately. Alcaeus drew a sharp breath and did the same.

There was something ahead.

It was too small to be a Blighted, but it was rather eerie.

'What… what is that?' Ginger thought.

Was it a who instead, perhaps?

There had been someone else here all this time?

In the left corner of the way ahead a few meters away, something was sticking close to the wall, mostly buried in darkness as though that was where it belonged. It was a spindly humanoid figure, very tall and very thin, leaning on its side.

The more Ginger looked at it, the more unnerved he became.

It was impossible to make out it details, and Ginger didn't try. Instead, he was drawn to the thing next to this figure, which moved.

It was a thick chain.

Ginger saw it whisk down silently. He couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw a hand yank it down,

The chain fell, disappearing into thickets of the surrounding black which Ginger's eyes couldn't fathom even when given an eternity.

Then, a sharp, circular, border-like glow softly appeared ahead. It covered a wide range. A very wide range.

It was bright, but it only lasted three seconds before vanishing from sight, allowing the darkness to settle back in where it had inhabited.

Ginger frowned. His vision had turned a little worse from that light.

'What was that?' he thought and looked to the left, where the spindly figure was.

It was gone.

"What is going on?" he asked with his voice trembling a little.

"How should I know?!" Alcaeus snapped at him, also having noticed the disappearance of the thin, tall entity.

None of this was making sense.

Weren't they here to fight Blighted? So where—

…

Ginger shook and froze.

He felt it.

He and Alcaeus finally felt it.

Where the glow just now had appeared and gone, a fierce wave of heat belatedly wafted in, tickling their skin hatefully.

They both heard a great breath, and a dull shimmer of reddish orange that illuminated the space brilliantly, bringing the attention of the two dragonlings to not one, not two, but three creatures before them!

Ginger's eyes, drowned in fear drank in the picture lit up by fire.

Three Blighted stood before the duo, summoned through whatever that circle of light was.

Two of them looked like overgrown versions of the Olarmanders Ginger had seen in the Pine, but that didn't mean they were any less terrifying.

They stood at nearly two meters tall, each with identical details to their frames. Both had thick, poison-green scales marked by countless scratches, scars, and cracks. They walked on four, tough, muscle-bound legs that looked like they could easily kick the Ample Forge into oblivion, each ending with razor-sharp black claws glinting with the same edge as Alcaeus' saber.

A row of curved, yellowish horns lined the top of their torsos to the ends of their long tails, twitching excitedly.

What best expressed the malicious glee in the two Blighted, however, was not their bulbous, golden eyes on either end of their globe-like heads, or even the flaring of their nostrils to exhume what might have been soot.

No.

It was the curled mouths on their faces, open wide to reveal stacked rows of pointed, brownish teeth dripping with a black substance that sizzled as it touched the ground.

Ginger gathered his wits as best as he could, but he, much like Alcaeus, wondered if the larger version of the two green Blighted standing further behind them, was truly necessary.