Burning Hope

Chapter 8: Making My Mark

Once we had finished eating, Jian insisted on taking Hazu back to her dorm for a little down time. I couldn't help but feeling sorry for her. What would it feel like to be so in love with someone, but have them feel absolutely nothing for you? This must have been an example of one of the false mates Luc had been talking about. If so, it was extremely heart-wrenching to witness, not only for her sake, but for anybody else who felt like this.

"What's wrong?"

Luc's voice snapped me out of my trance. I looked up at him, seeing his golden eyes filled with concern. I shook my head and sighed. "Nothing. I'm fine."

Luc rolled his eyes. "If you say so."

I smirked. "I do say so. Trust me, I'm fine. It's just Hazu."

Luc and I began walking towards the school through the courtyard. On the way, we saw many kids just talking, playing frisbee or listening to others playing music underneath the shade of the trees. As I looked around, I noticed one thing they all had in common: Either their hair, their eyes, or both were extremely vibrant and otherwise unnatural colors. Some were displaying their dragon powers, various hues surrounding them as they breathed fire, made things hover in the air, and even one kid removed his own head and played catch with a couple of his friends.

"Is that person okay?" I asked, pointing at the newly decapitated boy.

Luc looked to where I was pointing and grinned mischievously. "Yeah, he's fine. It's either an illusion, or he's split his soul into two separate halves so that his head and his body can function independently from one another."

"Huh?"

He turned his attention back to me. "Where do I start explaining this...There are eight main types of dragon magic: Sky, Flame, Water, Earth, Life, Body, Mind and Darkness. Each of them has three subcategories, but we're not going to go into that right now. What you're seeing is either Body magic or Mind magic. Body magic is based upon the principle of being able to control every aspect of your own, other, or sometimes both bodies. In addition to controlling things like speed, bone density and all that fun stuff. Some users of Body magic are so advanced in the art that they can sever their limbs and make them function separately, then reattach them any time.

"Mind magic is a little bit different. There's reality, dimension, and illusion magic. It can deal with the matter around you, harnessing the power of other dimensions, or messing with your perception. Using illusion magic, some users can kill you without even laying a finger on their opponents."

"How does that work?" I asked.

Luc pointed to his head. "Directly attacking the mind. Users of Mind magic can put their opponents in a trance to make them believe that they're actually dueling each other. In reality, the battle is only taking place in their opponent's mind. Mind magic users can attack the mind, and once the mind is dead, the body goes with it."

"Like the Matrix?"

Luc nodded. "Except it's an illusion and not a program created by machines to use humans as batteries."

I nodded. "So, how does this magic thing work? Can anyone use it?"

"It's a strict dragon thing, if that's what you mean." Luc explained, his hands moving as he spoke for emphasis. "Humans can't use it, due to the fact that they don't have Soul Gems, but Scale Children can use it even better than dragons can. Every student here at Eternal takes an AME, or an 'Attribute Matching Exam', to see where your magic lies. Every dragon has a different type of magic that is passed on to their children, so each kid has different abilities than any other. Once you find your type, they narrow it down to your attribute, then train your abilities from there."