Chapter 12 – Dragon Glass
Lilianna POV
“Lilianna!”
My shoulders tense, only one voice could be both sweet and annoying at the same time, “Venia,” I sigh. You’d think I could evade her notice in the bustling streets of the Capital. But you’d be wrong.
She runs over to me with graceful strides, as beautiful as the forest, and perhaps just as deadly.
Like most, she towers over my short height, a full head taller than I. Accompanying sapphire eyes, her hair is a normal golden blonde, which I dream of having over my own strange, ever changing colours.
Even now, I felt my now green eyes flicker with blue specks, a sign that soon enough they would change. Not to mention my blood red hair has strands of white, signalling that soon enough I would have some form of odd pale hair.
Regardless of colour, these features were always strange, sometimes emitting a faint glow, other times taking on irregular shades of colour. Even now, my blue specked, green eyes had a faint glow, signalling to all that I was anything but normal.
Even despite this – or perhaps because of them – Venia was perhaps my closest friend, even if a slightly annoying one. A normal, gracious beauty, beside an exotic, crazed one. At least that was the rumour that always followed in our wake.
“I still can’t believe we made it into the Academy.” Venia mumbled.
“Is it really that shocking?” I replied, “Most humans know little, if any, true magic.” Which was true, we weren’t like Elves or Demons. Magic may play a part in our lives, but very few knew how to wield it from scratch.
“I guess. But it is still surprising nonetheless,” her tone was brittle and tame. A rare reprieve from her otherwise bubbly, obnoxious demeanour. “Dragon Glass Academy.” Her face scrunched up a little, a sure sign she was trying to puzzle over something, “Why Dragon Glass?”
“Seriously?” She was truly an idiot.
“What?!” She screeched, then examined my face before continuing, “Don’t look at me like I’m stupid, and answer the question.” She pouted, which of course caused me to burst into laughter.
It took me a full five minutes of laughing before I would answer, which earned me a large scowl from Venia.
Deciding it would be easier to show her, I simply stated, “You’ll see.”
Most would expect her to whine, but she knew I wouldn’t budge on an issue that was troubling to explain, “Fine.” She sighed, “You packed and ready?”
A rhetorical question of course, as she knew how lazy I was. So in response I just smiled.
She sighed again, “Come on, I’ll come help you.”
Venia started walking ahead, obviously expecting me to follow. Which I did willingly, if she was going to help, it is just less work for me.
After a good hour of walking, we arrived at my place. Following her lead, I descended down a small staircase beside a large burly blacksmith, who was still slaving away since the wee hours of the morning.
I gave him a small nod, to which he returned without even a pause in his work. I never spoke to him, but we both knew each other, and both acknowledged each other with mutual respect; and that is how we liked it.
I even went to watch him sometimes, merely content to marvel at both the power and accuracy of his strikes. Mesmerised by the sparks that signalled his strong hammer meeting hot metal. We had a weird relationship, and despite both this and the odd nodding, we still never spoke.
Venia, knew the man as well, and sometimes spoke to him, but she never questioned our refusal to speak. Yet another odd characteristic of my seemingly ‘normal’ friend.
We passed various tools, weapons, and smelted metal as we made our way to my home. Like one could guess from this mess, I lived within the storage of the blacksmith, first as a squatter, now as a tolerated resident.
The Blacksmith first took over his forge a few years ago, and subsequently stumbled upon me and my abode, yet as always he said nothing and gave a nod, before closing the door on me.
As Venia now opened said door and strolled in, I followed her. Without a word she opened the makeshift closet that held the various rough cloth, and leather outfits that I wore.
She grabbed them all and threw them onto the bed before stating, “Choose maybe two or three outfits you want to bring. We won’t be wearing much besides our school clothes when we get there.”
Without hesitation I did as told and assembled two outfits of cloth and leather as instructed. And then started helping Venia choose what I should bring.
After, about fifteen minutes – thanks to Venia’s help – we were finished packing everything I needed into a medium sized leather pack.
Suddenly a large booming bell could be heard from above, signalling the start of the afternoon.
I turned to Venia, “Well then, ready to go?”
She gave me a wide grin, “Let’s go and grab my things.” A short pause, “Then onto Dragon Glass Academy.”
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So now we stood in front of the Academy, and I could only say one thing, “Wow.”
While the Academy was huge, but what shocked me almost senseless was something much more interesting.
The grounds just inside the gate was littered with hundreds of people, but these people were not just humans. In fact, we made up a minority of the group, barely a handful among the mob.
I could see Demons, Elves, Giants and Beastmen all mixed throughout a section, obviously more comfortable in the presence of each other. But what I couldn’t place was the various other species filtered through the crowd.
They had a strange feel to them, magical to be sure, but not wild like the Beastmen. You would generally think they were more than one species from a glance, being as varied as they are. But no, their magic was too similar.
I gave up analysing them when a lithe man stepped from the enormous door of the main building. He wore nothing that would signal authority, but he held it all the same.
As such, everyone turned their gaze to meet him as he spoke, “All of you follow me.” That was all he said, and seemingly all he needed to say. Every one of us followed without question.
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Passing the large doors we were met with equally large, spacious hallways, so large in fact even the Giants seemed dwarfed in comparison.
And speaking of dwarves, I wonder why there are none among us. Odd, considering dwarves were more capable of magic than humans, regardless of their similarities. I had even met a few in the Capital.
I didn’t have long to ponder this, however. As what awaited me was the namesake of the Academy.
I heard Venia gasp beside me, but like everyone else she could not tear her eyes from the sight before us.
An enormous chunk of clear glass stood upon a podium, even larger than the giants. But what lay within it was the cause of such focus – A white dragon.
This dragon was enormous, yet not as large as in the tales. I would guess that when standing up, it was as tall as the Giants, who stood at four or five times my height.
Maybe it is a child? But why is it encased in glass? I thought.
Upon further examination the glass was anything but that. It shimmered in the light, distorting it into a strange rainbow as it passed through it. I would equate it more with a pure, undefinable gem. But I suppose calling it glass was easier to explain.
To my shock every Elf, Beastmen, Giant, and even the strange race, fell to a knee in the presence of the gem, or rather, the dragon.
I had heard stories of the Mystic Races, particularly their reverence of dragons, to which were believed to be a myth for thousands of years. Obviously both were more than just stories.
Before I could muse further, the same lithe man, appeared on the stage. Getting a better look at him, he was pretty young, barely 20. Looks can be deceiving however, especially in relation to magic.
He gestured to the gem with one arm, which elicited low growls from some of the more predatory Beastmen, “Welcome to Dragon Glass Academy.”
He was definitely deceiving, as his voice was ripe with magic. Something that very few people could notice, judging from the reactions of some of the Elves and Beastmen at least.
“I am Myrddin.” Another short line, which quieted the growls for some reason.
More magic within his words. The fact that he basically was breathing magic unnerved me, and more importantly angered me. I felt my hair start to grow more strands of white, and my eyes start to change completely blue.
The fact that he was so clearly powerful, and judging from a slight smile after he spoke, meant he was doing this on purpose. Perhaps doing so to see which of us could sense the power rolling off his tongue.
Earning me a few glances my hair turned completely white, and my blue eyes started to glow much brighter than my previous green coloured ones.
My hair often changed colour much faster when I was exposed to power, and always caused my own to ripple from my Magic Core.
However something unnerved me much more than this ‘Myrddin’, and that was the fact that my hair began to change colour again. Strands of jet black started flowing down each and every strand, and red flecks began swirling within the blue of my eyes.
Then it hit me, an enormous force of magic exploded into the room. Charging the room as if it were electricity. And that was a power everyone felt.
Eyes were no longer on the man on the podium. No, everyone eyes now flew to one sight: a large, white dragon, who was now very much awake.
Cracks began to form on the Gem, snaking apart all throughout, as the dragon’s magic was whipping throughout the room. Magic that was now wrapping around all our cores, suppressing our own power.
It felt wild, untrained, and almost unintentional. Almost as if one part of the power was panicking and the other was trying to minimize the damage.
Surely enough the gem was now filled with cracks as the dragon’s eyes darted around, pure panic reflected in pale, blue eyes.
Then suddenly the gem shattered, exploding out in every direction, but strangely enough dissolving in mid-air before it could reach any of us.
Just like dispelled magic, I noted.
Then came a roar, pure power, and fury meshed into the act. The dragon’s eyes continued darting around, taking in its surroundings. It scanned the new students, stopping briefly on the Elves and Beastmen, studying the Giants and then suddenly, stopping on one human – me.
The dragon’s eyes briefly widened, before returning to its panicked, state.
Abruptly, a large pack of wolves burst into the room. With a very strange Beastman girl riding atop of one.
Barely a child, she was tiny, and I believed if she were standing, she would barely reach my waist. She had long, white hair that reached just below her shoulders, each strand as stark as the dragon’s scales. She wore simple fur clothing, made from various white haired animals.
Although she appeared as if she were barely six years old, all Beastmen abruptly fell to one knee in her presence.
Ignoring their reverence she quickly turned to all of us and gave one sharp command, “Leave.”
Amber eyes that shone slightly signalled that she was far from a mere girl, and everyone obeyed her without question, even Myrddin. We all left, just as abruptly as she came. All wishing to get as far away from that dragon as possible.
As soon as all of us escaped, various snarls could be heard from within, both wolf and dragon alike.
“So, what the hell was all that?!” Venia asked.
“I have no idea,” I paused for a moment, “but things are about to get very interesting.”
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Author Note
Sorry for the late chapter.
But here it is.
Let me know if I have made any mistakes, and all that jazz. Or comment on how you all worship me, because let's face it. I am a spooky, scary skeleton, who wouldn't worship me.
Boom. Explosion. Done.