The Rebirth of a Dragon: Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

      

   When he arrived on campus, Seth got the feeling that something was off and it was not the normal type of off that he always felt around the ''untouchables." For a while he just continued walking and ignoring that feeling until he caught some whispers and he came to the conclusion that the "off-feeling" was not because of the school, but was because of him. His classmates were eyeing him like he had grown an extra head and rumors and whispers that had his name attached were flying throughout the halls. He heard such phrases like, "Seth Drak is back, but I thought he got expelled for starting that fire" or "Didn't he run away to Europe after nearly blowing Kane Lupe to pieces?" As he walked he decided to ignore what was being said until he heard James call out his name. 

      He stopped and turned to greet his friend only to have a fist planted in his jaw. "What the hell," exclaimed a shocked Seth. James shook his hand out and said, "Jesus, what the fuck is your jaw made out of? That hurt like a son of a bitch. Oh, and for the record, I'm not sorry because you completely deserved it. Who would have ever thought that you of all people would have pulled a disappearing act for a whole month? Never mind, we're causing a scene. Meet me at the spot at lunch..." He started to walk away, but turned his head and said,"Oh and if you don't show up and explain where the fuck you've been,we are not friends anymore." When James left, Seth found that he was more confused than he'd ever been in his entire life which was saying something after the revelations that he'd hd. Just what did James mean when he said that Seth had been gone a month. He couldn't have been gone longer than two, maybe, three days tops. 

     His thoughts were put to an abrupt halt when he saw that everyone in the halls wasn't even pretending to not stare at the scene that just happened. Damn, didn't they all have anything better to do with their lives than gossip? This was his life, not theirs' so they should mind their own damn business. He knew that this was high school and once you were in the limelight, your life was all that was spoken of, but he didn't think that skipping a few days of school could put him in that annoying spot, but then again he supposed that ditching for a couple days after getting into a fight could cause this side-affect.

    He decided to ignore them and head to his class, but then he realized that his schedule was in the backpack he hadn't seen since the last time he saw his dad and that he wasn't sure if today was an even or odd day. Crap,where had his brain gone too? It wasn't like him to go to school ,or anywhere really, so completely unprepared. Even with everything that had happened, he couldn't believe that he could be so careless. Seth told himself to calm down and rationally think of a way out of his situation... That's it! He would just go to the office and say that he was dealing with some personal problems. He was an honor student with the highest GPA with no past discrepancies (if they forgot that fight) so they were bound to help him. Right?

     Seth decided that he couldn't afford to be doubtful so he made his way to the office and asked to speak with his assigned councilor. The elderly lady at the desk asked what his name was and he replied, "Seth Drak." After this, her personality took a turn from bored receptionist helping a student to adult dealing with the delinquent kid that you wish would just get expelled. She said, "Now why would you want to talk with your councilor? You cause anymore trouble while you were gone? Well, it always is the quiet ones that you should watch out for." It took a moment for her words to register because Seth had never been talked to like that by a member of the school's staff in his entire life. 

     Once the words had finally clicked, he said, "Excuse me, but have I done anything to offend you because I think that you've mistaken me for someone else Mrs...Lupe-crap." The old hag smiled and said, "Mr.Drak, your grades to me don't matter to me, but from what I hear you are on a full scholarship. I wonder what would happen if it got out that a scholarship student was that sort of boy." Irritating old hag! Seth clenched his fists and said, "I am sorry, but I meant you no disrespect." "Don't apologize to this bitch! She's blatantly goading you on! You owe her nothing," screamed a voice in Seth's head that was eerily similar to his own. It didn't even have a foreign feel to it like he would have expected a voice that screamed at him to have. 

    "Mr. Drak! Are you even listening," screeched the hag. To which Seth said, "Wha?" She said, "That's it! Principal's office! Now!" Seth reasoned, "With all due respect, I have not done anything to warrant this treatment and refuse to go there unless you can give me a plausible reason." "Idiot! Is that organ you call a brain just there for decoration," lectured the voice. Seth decided to fight back and thought, "Shut up! You have any better ideas? And who the hell are you anyway?" The voice said,"And for a second I thought that you'd grown half a brain, but your still an idiot. Listen, Because I'm only going to say this once. I am you and you are me. The only difference is that I'm your beastly side and your my wimpy mortal counterpart, but don't worry we'll work on getting rid of your cowardice later." 

      

The Rebirth of a Dragon: Chapter 18

   Chapter Eighteen

  The man sat and began to remember all that had brought him to his impending doom. He did so not because he particularly cared about where his brother's traitorous habits had sprung from, but because he was bored and could think of nothing better to do in his cell. So he thought back to when this had all started. Yes, now it was so clear. It must have been ten years ago. Back on the day that he had decided to break routine and tradition for the first time in-well now that he thought about it he couldn't really remember when he had done that before. Perhaps when he was going through his first century of life? No matter, it was too long ago to recall so he put that out of his mind and remembered.

     That day the man was bored. Winter had begun again and it had encased his city in white once more. He was very irritable that day and for the first time in what seemed to be forever he snapped at his councilmen. He remembered their shocked faces that someone who had an eternal pokerface could actually express real emotion. They surely must have thought him to have finally gone mad! And why not? Most others of his kind had already succumbed to  madness and been properly disposed of by their fifth or sixth millennia -the idiots- so why would it surprise them if the man who had lived well into his tenth millennia was also to succumb to that bothersome ailment? After such a political faux-pas, the man had decided that he would just drop everything and leave. He knew it was a rash decision, but if he had already made a fool of himself today, then what would it matter if he chose to spurn  tradition for the rest of the day? It was not as if anyone could ever hope to stop him. He was after all the oldest and most powerful of his kind.

    He decided to go into the mountains and take flight, not because there was any need, but just because he wanted to. It had been a while since he could do that and it was one of his few pleasures. Life rarely held any surprises for a man of his age. Even so, the one that never failed to surprise him, no matter how much time had passed, was the excitement and anticipation he felt at being able to shift. The feeling was complexly incomparable to anything else. Since he had decided to waste the day away, he didn't go to any of his usual mountains, but instead went to one that was a little out of the way. He first had to cross through the woods for a few hours and then hike up for another few hours to reach it. He supposed that if he was human it would have taken days to reach the summit, but he wasn't human. He never was and he never would be. Not as if it mattered. He never could understand what was so great about weaklings whose lives could flash by in the blink of an eye. Not that he'd ever harm them. Contrary to popular belief, he did follow some honor code. As if he would ever be stupid enough to let that fact be known.

    Looking back, he liked to think that it was fate. It was while he was lost in his thoughts that he heard a distant voice singing. The man had heard the beautiful voices of the eleven and fey in times past, but this voice was different than that. It was soft and mournful like a hymn, but the thing that surprised him the most was that even though the voice was surely not sung by either a skřítek or a víla the voice was singing in the old language of his birth.

      He remembered this song. It was about a mortal who was hated by other mortals for the death of her mother at her birth and in her loneliness took to wandering the forest and in her wanderings, she had met and befriended an elfí lad. The song started when they were children and spoke of how as the girl turned to a maid and the lad into a man their bond only grew stronger and then on a night when spirits and demons are said to roam free she heard her father speak of sending her away because there was  no need of such a child here and at the thought of leaving behind not only her elfí lad, but also her birth land, she fled into the forest and it was there that she heard a voice call to her from the river to jump in and end it all. Right before she was about to jump the elf she had befriended cast a spell to banish the water spirit and the maiden returned with the elf to spend the rest of her life with the elf and his clan.

     He had not realized it, but as he listened, the man began to approach the source of that voice and it was there that he saw her, perched on a branch of an old oak tree. A woman with eyes like the forest and hair as black as night, but the strangest thing of all was that even though this was a song of the children of the sun and moon, the singer in question was completely and utterly mortal.

     Seth awoke at this point with the feeling that he had dreamed something important and for a few moments the dream stayed with him, but then it disappeared. He tried to grasp on to whatever it was that he had dreamed, in case it seemed to have some real meaning, but gave up when he found his efforts to be in vain. Normally Seth would have never done something as pointless as trying to remember a dream that can't be remembered, but before Seth fell asleep, he had come to the decision that he would never again doubt another fairy tale, myth, or superstition again. 

    Since he was awake, Seth decided that he would ditch school again in favor of figuring out who the hell had sealed him and what would they have to gain from doing something like that. To do that, he'd have to find someone stupid enough to tell him how to find that Magi guy, but not able to figure out that he plans on pissing off the said magician, warlock, or whatever.

     He thought for a moment and went through a mental checklist. Jack. Would probably stop me because even though he hates my dad, he wouldn't let some kid do something that would send him to an early grave. Kane. Would say no just to spite me. Katrina. Would probably snitch on me to Jack, Kane, or both. James. Is probably human and would laugh at my face if I ever told him any of this. Dad. Would rather shoot myself than ask him for help. Mom. Love her, but she would stop me and tell dad what I was planning. He sat on the edge of the bed and pondered who else he knew that would be able to help him.

     All of a sudden, Seth knew who to ask. He made his way to school deciding that he wouldn't ditch today as he had planned, but would instead get the start of all his problems to help him. After all, that person wouldn't dare to rat him out after the hellhole that she had put him through in the span of only a couple of days.