Burning Hope

Chapter 13: Son of Darkness

Luckily, Xiao let me go from his office after making me swear not to tell anyone about my power. He said the only exception to that rule would be to my fellow heirs to the Crown.

"They deserve to know." Xiao had said. "They have spent quite a long time looking for you, ren flavia."

I was now sitting uncomfortably in the edge of my seat. How could this have happened? One day, my life was perfect. I could just sit comfortably on my couch eating potato chips, and the biggest thing I'd have to worry about was cleaning the apartment before Tracy got home, or remembering to do the dishes. Now, I was the most powerful kid on a campus full of kids that were half-dragon! How could this have happened? What did I do to deserve something like this? Literally nothing!

Now, half of my classes had been replaced with private tutoring lessons, including another meeting with Xiao. Even my weekends weren't free! Luckily, I still had some regular classes, three to be exact. Vistra, Magic Basics, and my current class, Dragonomy.

"Ms. Kaida!"

The sound of the teacher's—whose name was Mr. Zarskoff—voice snapped me out of my own little pity party. "Wha...?"

"I'd appreciate it if you'd pay attention." Mr Zarskoff snapped as he sipped some coffee out of a mug, continuing the lesson.

"Now, the Kingdom of Sciana is divided into twelve provinces: Ar'yana; Texanu; Gaem; Buzan; Kinala; Palu; Palo; Skazari; The Royal City of Eterna and the Shadow Realm, Orcen. Every province, save for Orcen and Eterna, have leaders of their lands, with three advisors for each of the tribes within each province—save for Texanu which has only had two for two thousand years since the last Ronkai ruled in the Crown. Eterna, as you know, is ruled by the Crown, and their dictation lies over all the other lands' leaders, save from Orcen which is left alone due to a peace treaty that the dragons signed with the shadow creatures three hundred years ago. We lived in harmony and coexistence, until one dragon took over." Mr. Zarskoff set down his mug after taking another sip, then began to pace back and forth across the front of the room.

"This dragon performed a coup d'etat, usurped the throne of Orcen from Emperor Xyne, and took over rule of all the shadow creatures, but that wasn't enough for this dragon. This dragon took over the Crown and committed a mass genocide of Scale Children that lived among the dragons, causing them to flee to the only place where this dragon wouldn't find them: the human world. This dragon is the reason that Eternal Academy's numbers have drastically grown in the past fifteen years, giving us so many new arrivals that needed homes that we had to build the dorms." He paused and looked at all of the students. "Now can anyone here tell me the name of this dragon?" All hands, including mine, shot up in the air except for Adrian's. Mr. Zarkskoff's eyes scanned over the crowd, but they lingered on one student. "Mr. Skalanias. Answer."

Adrian warily stood up, all eyes flying to him. He cleared his throat and looked straight at the front of the classroom. I watched him swallow before he spoke. "T-That dragon would be K-Kali, sir."

"That's correct." Mr. Zarskoff said. "Let me ask you, how did it feel helping your mother murder hundreds—maybe even thousands—of innocent Scale Children? Hm? How did it feel helping your mother take over the throne? How does it feel having every single one of your peers seeing you for what you truly are under that innocent facade?" Mr. Zarskoff got closer and closer with each sentence, until he was finally at Adrian's desk. He slammed his fist on the desk. "You are a monster, Mr. Skalanias!"

I winced. The way Mr. Zarskoff said Adrian's last name hurt like an arrow through the heart.

"No..." Adrian's eyes were full of fear. "I've changed! I'm not like that anymore! You have to believe me, Kali-"