Chapter 1
Love among humans is usually seen as a commitment, once they find a partner they expect to stay together forever. Dragons see it a little differently at times, leaning on their ancient feral nature. Some dragons stay with their mates for life, other times they split up to produce better offspring.
Like all sentient creatures with emotions, however, many times it takes a deadly experience to push one to admit they love someone.
~oOo~
Drake, Michigan. It wasn’t always an actual town, not since 2014 when everything changed one dragon’s life. Now, one year later, Trevor Williams stood staring at the newly rebuilt Voutneth Academy.
Drake and Voutneth have come very far since starting. The defeat of the Dragon Hunters brought many more dragons forward to start learning at the Academy, and now that Earth has finally connected with Dragoso, not just dragons were going to attend Voutneth, Dwarves, Elves, and so many other races have been invited to attend Voutneth as well.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Kathey asked Trevor from where she stood.
“Voutneth has been through a lot, but now with this huge upgrade it’s really deserved it. You deserve it, Kathey,” Trevor replied, smiling at her. The cold wind blew past them, Kathey shivered slightly.
December was upon Michigan now, which meant snow was already on the ground. The construction team had worked very hard in the snow since it fell in early November. A human and dragon team keeping the site clear of snow and the building done. With powerful Earth Dragons helping lift materials and Fire Dragons keeping the site clean and workers warm, the Academy was close to being finished in two months, just in time for the holidays to come around. Trevor heard that the Academy was almost finished and just had to pay his leader a visit.
The building itself as well as the stables for a variety of mounts were finished. Now it was just a matter of furnishing the Academy, bringing in the supplies for the stables, hiring more teachers, and getting a system set up for students enrolled and staff on the payroll.
“So what are all the races that are going to be attending?” Trevor questioned. “I’m sure at least what we’ve seen so far will be here. Vampire, Tenkkoa, Undead, Faunus, and with the Night Walkers here now, Elf, Rukmar, and Troll too?” Kathey nodded.
“Yup, as well as Dwarves, Goblins, Nagas, Orcs, Saurok, and Werewolves. The Academy is going to be a big deal now,” she replied. “Drake had to build the new fence and my parents assigned guards to help manage Dragoso residents and the flow of Earth residents in and out of Drake.” The wind blew again and Kathey breathed hot air into her hands. “Snow is coming tonight, it always gets colder before it snows.” Trevor hummed, looking up at the Academy.
“Have you always been in Michigan?”
“No, I was in Illinois for a good portion of my faux human life. Living with Kyrus and his family before... well lets just say I was living with his parents for about three years before ending up in a temporary home.” Kathey smiled a bit at the mention of the home. “A Fire Dragon had such a big house, she housed dragons who had no homes, teaching them to at least turn to human form. She is partially the reason I teach now. I helped her with so many dragons, and I was still really young too.”
“You grew up pretty fast then, huh?”
“You did too.” Kathey was right. When Henry left his family, Trevor had to be the man of the house, taking care of his siblings alongside his mother. She needed the help, especially with how young David and Aya were. Kathey knew all this too. Trevor knew she respected her team’s privacy, but she also tended to snoop around occasionally. Kathey knew his past, he wasn’t going to hide it though. Keeping secrets damages trust and he wasn’t going to do that.
“Yeah, but look where it’s gotten us now.” Trevor smiled and crossed his arms. He had a thermal shirt under his jersey and wore jeans and winter boots, but was hardly bothered by the cold, no doubt due to his dragon traits. Kathey may have had powers of multiple dragon breeds including Ice Dragons, but she was born a Flower Dragon and would always hold those traits.
“Gods I hate the cold, but it’s worth it in the end. They’re almost done refurbishing the Academy and Dryber is almost done setting up the new system. I was actually here to see how everything was going, maybe help out a bit before testing the system, Dryber was going to show it to me and work out any glitches that might pop up. Head back home to your family, I’m sure they have plans today.” Kathey smiled at Trevor and nodded to him.
“Thanks, Kathey. When are we due back?”
“Voutneth probably won’t be open until January. I can’t call students back in when Earth holidays are so close. I’ll call the team to the dojo if anything comes up. Have a safe flight, Trevor.” Trevor nodded, starting off the Academy grounds. He walked for a moment before he turned dragon and took off into the air.
Being a dragon made travel so much easier. Trevor couldn’t believe that just a few months prior, he was struggling to get himself off the ground and even stay in the air. He took the time to think about the past few months.
Trevor had been under Kathey’s wing for six months now. Not even that far into their training, they had fought to reclaim the Underworld for Deathbore after Brokenstar overthrew him with the power of Cenod, a shadow wyvern created by Agony, a member of the Council of the Underworld. Cenod wanted nothing more than to gain power and end the Compass Dragons.
Despite Cenod failing to keep the Underworld for Agony, he went to the next best thing to end the Compass Dragons, Kathey’s arch nemesis, Garrett Rayne, the leader of the Dragon Hunters. Garrett was known for being able to snap a dragon’s neck and yet despite his talents, Kathey managed to escape him, leaving a nasty series of scars from clawing him in the face. Garrett swore revenge on Kathey and Cenod attempted to use his rage to defeat her. Instead, Garrett and Cenod met their ends.
This in turn led to Agony summoning an army of Underworld creatures and even kidnapping Undead soldiers from Whedabra, the planet the Undead were from, possessing them, and using everything to fight the entire Voutneth Team. The team had killed off many of the creatures and even worked to save the Undead soldiers while Kathey fought Agony by herself, defeating him and claiming yet another victory for the good guys so to speak.
But that wasn’t the end of the whole Council after all, not by a long shot. In the short time Trevor had been learning under Kathey, he had also heard quite a few things about the Council and their master. Eight members of the Council, seven reflecting the seven deadly sins and the eighth being Agony to keep them in line. Everyone believed them to be nothing but a legend, at least until the Voutneth Team discovered that they were indeed real thanks to Cenod’s big mouth.
Agony had been defeated, but there was the matter of the others. Lust, Wrath, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Envy, and Pride. And their master.
Rakasa.
The Satan of Dragoso. Deathbore had told Trevor and his siblings that Rakasa wanted nothing more than to turn Dragoso and Earth into barren wastelands and rule over all dragons that worshipped Kaylano and the Gods. Trevor shuddered at the thought. The power Rakasa had was no doubt on par with the Gods, he was Satan after all. In a way that is, even if the word just meant opposer. Rakasa did live up to that term either way, he was against peace and life.
Trevor hoped that they would have the strength to fight and win against the Council so they were unable to summon Rakasa, else it would spell disaster for Earth and Dragoso. Not only did Trevor want to keep everyone safe from harm, but he also didn’t want his siblings and the new friends he made at Voutneth to be lost.
Of course, the Council succeeding in their mission and Rakasa carrying out his goal would only prove just how incompetent the Compass Dragons were. Should they fail and somehow regain control over peace, dragons, humans, all of Dragoso would doubt the Compass Dragons and thus lose the trust in their power and Kaylano’s choices in creating Life Dragons ever again. And there was nothing worse than losing faith in the Gods.
Trevor stopped in his flight abruptly, hovering in the air and listening carefully. Something caught his ear, he wasn’t sure what since he was thinking so hard about his experiences in the past five months. There it was again, it sounded like another dragon.
A dragon in distress!
Trevor flaps his wings and heads towards the sound of the dragon’s bellowing call for help. He was human raised, yes, but he had taken the time with Samual to learn dragon calls for help, assistance, and the like.
Trevor glided over trees, looking around hoping to spot the familiar shine of a dragon’s scales through broken tree branches perhaps. He hoped it hadn’t been hurt by a wayward hunter that didn’t answer to Garrett when he was still controlling the Dragon Hunters. The call echoed out again and Trevor dove through the trees, landing and running past the trees towards the sound.
Coming to a clearing, Trevor could see a purple and red dragon laying in the middle, calling out for help. He could see she was wounded greatly, her wings torn and bloody, possibly having a broken leg. Trevor approached slowly, circling around to get a better look at her, staying out of reach of her teeth or tail. She was more than just purple and red, she had light and dark purple, light and dark red, and even pink scales. Trevor had seen Toxic Dragons before, this wasn’t a Toxic Dragon, but he couldn’t be too careful.
“Oh thank goodness! Please, I need help,” the dragon pleaded.
“What happened to you?” Trevor questioned.
“I was attacked by another dragon, I don’t know what kind, it tore up my wings, I fell and broke my leg,” the dragon explained. Trevor looked to her wings again, noticing how large her wingspan was. “Please...” her voice was sweet and almost baby-like. Trevor took a step back from her.
It was nothing but lies. The tears in her wings? Looking closer, Trevor could see they weren’t from a dragon’s claws. Something smaller had gotten her. He didn’t see any broken tree branches anywhere during his flight to find her. The broken leg couldn’t be possible, he had fallen from higher heights and if anything sprained an ankle, not a broken leg. Dragons were much more durable than that. Trevor shook his head and snorted.
“Sorry, but you’re lying and or over reacting. A dragon didn’t hurt you. You would have bites on you as well, all dragons that ambush use their teeth and their claws. I’m not an idiot,” Trevor said. The dragon growled and got to her feet, it was clear she was faking now.
“Why must you yearlings be so feshing difficult?” She snapped and lunged at Trevor. He reared up to take the brute of her attack without losing an edge, but instead was met with a bite to his neck and sudden dizziness and nausea. The dragon backed off after biting him, licking her lips and revealing her longer fangs. Fangs that dragons with venom had.
“What the hell...? What are you?” Trevor questioned, stumbling a bit as the venom coursed through his body. Was this what being bitten by a venomous creature felt like? He expected a painful experience, not just feeling sick and dizzy. What was happening?
“Maybe next time you’ll think twice about saying no to a Toxic Valentine Dragon. And don’t think I’m stupid for revealing what I am. One, your pesky leader will know what I am. And two...” She smirked as Trevor lost his footing, falling onto his side. “You won’t live to tell the tale.” Trevor struggled to keep his eyes open before he was surrounded in darkness.
