“Hraaa Hraaa!” Dragorna excitedly looked at a glowing effervescent orb that Marty held in his hands. It seemed special alright, but scouring his memory, the only treasures that glowed belonged to the gold rank of items. That meant that it was well above anything he could afford to give to Dragorna, lest he wanted to be a slave his entire life.

Silver Shells were the currency on the island., but the poor like him could barely get a dozen white shells a month if they were lucky. The rent to upgrade his shanty to something further down the shore was a measly 10 white shells, and yet he had to defeat a sun beast of the lowest rank in order to hope to garner such a wage. He felt rather perplexed that something worth a 1000 times that was right in front of him. A standard silver shell equaled 100 white shells, and 10 silver shells equated to one gold shell. This had to be worth at least 200 gold shells if it was a gold treasure! He didn’t know the formal name for it, but some called them epic items. Just like in video games, an epic item meant something well above what someone like him should possess. And yet… looking at the orb, he felt almost certain it was an epic class item!

“Is this a palace orb? Aren’t these incredibly rare?”

“You are on an elite team that no one is allowed to know about. Just have Dragorna eat it. If you like, once he’s done with it, you can eat the core. It will help increase your bond… Some say there is a chance it can help you develop magic of your own.”

Marty hesitated. He stared at the masked man. He wasn’t going to fall for it. He shook off the desire to give it to Dragorna. He wasn’t about to fall into debt.

“Sorry, I can’t… Are you guys trying to trick me and my mother and my sister into slavery?”

“Eat it or I cut off your pretty head!” He felt a cold feeling touch against his neck. A dagger. When did Mr. Harold have time to draw his blade? And then… he realized a beast had appeared on the blade, staring into his eyes with a small blade of its own. He started to tremble. He almost pissed himself. What kind of nightmare situation had he gotten himself into? He dropped the palatial orb onto the floor and shook even more.

“Please… please don’t kill me! I can’t accept it! Not until I know where I am… What team I’m on.”

“You’ll eat it or you won’t be on any team. And then we’ll really have to dispose of you.” The door opened, and the Asian secretary walked in to pick up the fruit. A young child stood behind her, at least a head smaller than him in height. When he looked closely, it was a girl. An pretty and yet young girl. Her body, wrapped in bandages, hid her black curly hair from escaping. She had a large shell on her forehead, dazzling with a golden light. It seemed to be eating something… The same orb he’d been given.

“Trust them… or they will kill you. Got it?”

“Good girl.” The secretary handed Marty the orb. “Now be a good boy. This is Penelope… She’s going to be on your team. Excuse her appearance. She’s been groomed into an assassin.”

“They are fairly nice to you if you listen to them…” Penelope sat down next to him and reached into her pocket… Marty took a deep breath and started to calm down. He looked at her thin yet pretty legs and looked for any signs of wounds. He’d seen abused children. He knew where to look for the places they hurt their young. And she seemed completely uninjured, perhaps even beautiful from that perspective… His eyes darted towards her face, and he looked at her glistening purple orbs… Wait, her eyes are purple?

“Are you… you a real girl?”

“I am… Now are you going to trust me, or do I have to execute you?”

“She did kill three young ones already,” Mr. Harold laughed. The two other assassins joined him in his merriment. “Now hurry the hell up and eat it. Two minutes until I have to cut your heart out from your chest.”

“Fine, Dragorna… here…” Marty tossed it up into the air. Dragorna happily opened its mouth and swallowed the entire fruit whole. In a second, he spit out the core, right at Marty and then happily closed its eyes. Its little suckers spun around its body and its purple skin started to torn a slight golden hue. He could tell it was the real deal. And with the provocative stare of Priscilla he didn’t hesitate either. He swallowed the core and felt it go down his throat. His body instantly felt a gentle warmth spread through it. The anxiety dissipated and his body stopped trembling. He even felt his muscles bulge a little bit. This… this was the feeling he’d always wanted to feel.

“Wooh! I Feel great.”

“Good acting Priscilla… how many people have you killed?”

“Zero… I think I hurt a fly once…” Priscilla smiled and started to unwrap the bandages on her head. “Haha, they got you bad!! I’m not training to be an assassin. I just thought I’d improvise… Allen said he’d give me another present if I could trick one of the new young idiots…”

“Well thanks… you tricked me..” Marty looked around the room, lockers everywhere, and some sort of fighting ring with flickering fluorescent lights above it. Posters of pin up girls everywhere… And then there was one cabinet with some sort of strange trophies in it. He’d check it out later. Now he had to figure out what to do to make sure nothing bad happened to him. “Congratulations… And you are supposed to be on my team?”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“She’s doing a good job fitting in here… And let me see Dragorna?” Mr. Harold leaned down and looked at its skin. “Wow, what a reaction. Go tell Allen about its scales. They’re turning gold like he thought! This is amazing!”

“What is?”

“You aren’t allowed to know.” Priscilla rolled her eyes. “Why the hell would you want to know? You want to know their secrets or you be like me. Do whatever the hell they want.” She crossed her arms and proudly turned away from him. “Now, how are you feeling? No indigestion.”

“Times up kids…” Mr. Harold looked at his watch. “You can be idiots some other time. Right now, it’s time for your first mission. Since you two are the first chosen, we got to give you something to do. Your other teammates are still in route. Some probably going to be killed on the way?”

“Are you serious?” Marty laughed. “Why would anyone kill a child?”

“Because we are special children,” Priscilla gently loosened the back of her shirt and a small eel crawled up towards the top of her head, going right into the conch shell. “This is an ice star eel… It’s pretty rare. Almost as rare as the dragon octopus you have.”

“This guy is pretty normal isn’t it?” Marty knew a lot about the aquatic beasts that fell from the sky onto his beach. Dragon octopus fell from disk clouds when the atmosphere formed enough lightning to dissipate the liquid nitrogen holding up the liquid clouds in the sky. Because their world had a strange atmosphere, some clouds contained water with different aquatic beasts in them. And because their island had a special current, it was common for beasts to fall at that one point onto the beach… well, that’s what he at least figured out from his science class… Nonetheless, getting back to the issue of aquatic beasts,, dragon octopus, though rare, fell from the magic clouds at least three times a year… He wasn’t that lucky.

“You know nothing of reading scales, boy… That requires an advanced degree…” Mr. Harold patted him on the shoulder. “You got one of those in your shanty?”

“No, just an encyclopedia… My mom got me one for my fifth birthday… I memorized it. I know all the sea beasts that fall onto this island… Out of the magic full clouds.”

“You know nothing…” Priscilla held out her gentle hand. “Here,” He got handed an envelope. “This is our first mission. We will be allowed to open it when they tell us to open up the car doors… And you aren’t scared of the dark are you?”

“Why?” Marty felt fearful instantly. Mr. Harold walked towards a closet and took out a duffel bag and began to slowly walk towards him. “Wait,” He stood up and patted Dragorna on the back. “Little buddy… Give me your magic!”

“Oh shush! We need to cover your face so no one sees you exit the back door. Algen… knock them down.”

“Dragorna shield!”

Swoosh!

A large golden shield appeared in front of Marty, protecting him from a streak of lightning that seemed to emerge from nowhere. It in fact came from the ceiling… And yet… it swerved right into Marty’s shield… And when it collided. Marty’s shield instantly cracked. He jumped back, his hands touching the cold floor. Dragorna was starting to panic along with him. And yet this wasn’t over.

“Dragorna… Water Steed!”

“Hold it! You defended that attack? How???”

Mr. Harold looked up at the ceiling and held out his hand. A blue tendril shot towards his arm, and a second later a snake crawled against his skin towards his head. “This is my weakest beast and yet it shot cold lighting at you. This is quite remarkable… Is your beast passed the normal stages yet?”

“Not with those scales.” Another assassin said. “No, it must be high in defense…”

“Very well… You get a prize… You get to put this bag on your head yourself..” Mr. Harold tossed the bag at Marty. “I have to go talk to Allen about you… Now you are going to go outside and do exactly what my associate Rennie says. If you don’t, she has permission to take you to the execution block. Got it?”

“This… this is too much,” Marty wanted to cry. “I’m just a kid! I’m not putting a duffle bag on my head.”

“I’ll go first,” Priscilla put the bag over her head and turned around. She gently smacked her butt and walked off. “See… not so bad. I can still move my hands and you can still see my ass…”

“Very funny.” Marty looked down at the bag. Seriously, I have to put this on? Am I nuts?” He stopped worrying and felt the fabric of the bag. Wait, if he wasn’t wrong, he should be able to see through it. He’d gotten caught in nets like this, when his mother went fishing. Worse case scenario, he could take it off instantly and try and bolt.

“Hmmm. I can still kind of see with it on.”

“We just want to hide you, not make you trip.” Rennie laughed. “Good, you can go now… Go towards the light. It’s where we take all the kids to die. Priscalla, how many times do you think we killed you?”

“I think this is my third time being killed… The reward was better my second death.”

“I’m going,” Marty walked towards the exit. He felt the comfort of Dragorna channeling his magic into his body. He even felt a cool sensation in his stomach. It made him feel like he really was okay. Maybe they really were telling the truth. He tried to think of why anyone Allen, with so many resources, would want a child like him as well.. Perhaps it was some secret organization meant to raise strong, hidden warriors. Perhaps what he heard about the hidden army was true… And if that was the case, perhaps he should try and stop fighting so much. But he had to confirm it. That these people were here because they were trying to help the Octet family defeat the sun beasts by using means others wouldn’t find ethical or moral. He figured he’d give it a day, and before he knew it, he took his first step with the hood on towards the exit

A cold breeze greeted him when he went outside, and after a few turns and strange staircases, he made it to another vehicle. This one, he was allowed to see. They took off the bag, and he looked at a large all terrain vehicle with a gigantic gatling gun on its roof.

“You can see now… see, I only stole your heart… nothing else,” Priscilla smiled.

“Thanks, wait, what do you mean by that?” Marty crossed his arms. “You didn’t cast a spell on me, did you?”

“She’s trying to flirt wtih you, idiot,” Renie laughed. “Haha, so cute… She was told to try and get you to like her. Is it working?”

“No,” Marty shook his head. “Why would I fall for someone like her? She’s pretty and all but her sense of humor sucks.”

“Oh,” Renee laughed. He didn’t realize but there was a woman behind one of the masks. She actually had very nice hips, kind of like a models, but he hadn’t bothered to look. She turned around, and he noticed the rest of her curves. He almost wanted to blush. She had on spandex. Too tight for any normal person to wear. He blushed and dropped his head.

“Oh, do you find me attractive?” Renee smiled. “Haha, I know this is too tight.”

“Get in,” Priscilla grabbed his hand. “You will sit next to me. When they say get out of the car, you do exactly what is on the card, got it?”

Marty nodded his head and got in the vehicle. He figured they must be going to fight sun beasts so he kind of got excited… But with this type of vehicle, it made him wonder if it might be to an even more dangerous place… somewhere he hadn’t heard about because the Octet family kept so many secrets from the general public… And then he got in the car and it started. He felt even more nervous than he did previously. And yet, looking out the tinted windows, he felt like he might want to get used to this. He picked up a water bottle and opened it before giving some to Dragorna..

“You okay little buddy?”

“Ha,, you give him water first? You’re good to him aren’t you?”

Priscilla did the same, fed some water to her eel,, and then took a sip herself. “Well, will you be good to me if I need you to?” She leaned her head on his shoulder. “I could really use someone nice.”

“Stop… I have a girlfriend.” He lied. She gave him the creeps. Well, maybe he found her attractive, but not in a safe way. Sh reminded him of one of the men her mother had to date. Someone controlling, married, and off limits. He didn’t want to be taken advantage of. He turned his head and squinted out the window. “Wait… where are we going… Isn’t this heading towards the Octet’s castle? Why are we heading this way…”

“Because we are about to do something very illegal,” Priscilla held the handle of the door. “Now… follow after me…” She pushed on the handle of the door. It shot open as the car spun quickly. He immediately felt a rush of air go down his throat. “Open the envelope and then do exactly what it tells you to do!”

Marty didn’t want to be he had no choice. He gulped. His hair blew over his head and then he watched in shock as Priscilla jumped out of the moving vehicle and rolled onto the ground. He hadn’t noticed she’d put a rope around his waist. He had no choice but to be thrown out of the car with her.