"You are--"
"Damian, my queen. Your ever-loyal subject," the angel bowed. He had a relieved look on his face, tranquil, like all his problems had been solved. "I am your dragon."
"My what now??? Okay, start from the top. Lucas, Kiro, uhmmm… Damian?"
"I guess I'm the one best to talk, seeing as I'm an eccentric like you." Kiro responded. "I'll try to be as brief as possible. A couple of millennia ago, gods existed. We existed. Beings that could use the energy obtained from the Taqah. The Taqah were beings of raw energy and our predecessors were able to harness them. The more energy a god had, the stronger he/she was. There were five god factions, based on elements; fire, water, earth, lightning and air. The five factions spread across the earth, governing it. Each faction had a leader. You, Heress, Alice, was our leader."
"Now that's quite laughable," Alice chuckled.
"Funny as it might sound, it's true. The only god that was more powerful than you, was Roman, the lightning god. Also called, the hunter. I was Heron, a fire god like you. We were… quite close," Kiro said hesitantly and Alice was humored. Lucas frowned however, with Damian remaining completely silent.
"Now, that's even more laughable. We, close? With that attitude of yours?"
"Believe or not, I used to be quite jovial. Anyway, where was I? Yes. Dragons roamed the earth at that time, and each faction had dragons suited to their elements. Damian here was your dragon. There were also humans who had powers not linked to the Taqah. They were called the gifted. Auron is a reincarnation of the gifted Liana, your handmaiden. Gods aren't immortal, we never were. But our ageing is slower, compared to the humans. We age about three times slower, but we can die. The hunter had a plan to unify all the factions under his rule. To do that, he also sought immortality.
He became so much of a threat that the other factions had to come together to face him. But in the end, we all betrayed one another and the hunter was close to victory. Liana, together with the fire faction, activated a seal that had been passed down her bloodline for generations. The seal to end all supernaturals. And it worked. And somehow, we've been reincarnated in human form, the dragons too. We still don't know why it happened and why now, after so long? But we intend to solve this as quickly as possible, while keeping the humans out of it."
Alice was completely speechless. After a few seconds, she regained her composure. "I wouldn't have believed a word you said, if I hadn't gone through some pretty strange stuffs myself. So, what's this incident that was so important?"
"I wasn't as lucky as you when I awoke to my powers. Partly because I awoke as a mixed breed. A mixture of Heron and his dragon. I had issues for a long time. the funny thing is, nature always finds a way to protect itself. In their time, they had 'gifteds', for us, god killers. That's what Lucas and Erica are."
"Erica? The bully?" Alice asked in shock.
"Yeah. They're strong and fast enough to go toe to toe with us gods in combat. There was a group that investigated the existence of supernaturals. They were later called PRIDE; Projects for Research, Investigation and Destruction of Eccentrics, after we Eccentrics started coming to light. Eccentric was the name given to god reincarnates. I became so much of a threat that they had to take me out. Lucas and Auron wouldn't have it. But Erica betrayed us. She felt she was doing the right thing. And maybe she was. But she betrayed our trust.
Right when I was about to lose it, you saved me. Maybe out of respect for his leader but, Heron finally succumbed. And you took us out of PRIDE's radar with your ability before they could get us. Long enough for Auron to strike a deal with them."
"So that's why Erica hates me. I did what she couldn't. I believed in you, her friend. And she hates me because she hates herself for it too. She lost everything." Alice soliloquized. "So, what's the game now?" Alice asked.
"We'll discuss that later. When Auron shows up. But we really need to return to school now. We can't have too many suspicious eyes," Lucas replied.
"And you became the big three. That's funny actually. So, Auron is Liana… By the way Damian, why were you hovering above me when I was with Zora?"
"That was me actually," Kiro responded.
"Oh. Dragon and god. Wow."
"Yeah. I've never really liked Zora. But we need to screen him first before we can assume he's still on our side."
"I see. We'll talk later, I guess. I feel better now," Alice transported them back to the roof.
***
Kiro and Alice walked into class, a little too late. Her teacher had already started the class. Erica avoided their gazes as they walked into class. "You're late, get in quickly," Her teacher said calmly, much to Alice's surprise. Her teacher had never taken her lateness so calmly. Was it because of Kiro? "Erica mentioned there was an emergency you two needed to attend to. I was quite surprised myself to see her help you. Must have been serious. I hope everything is okay now?"
Alice and Kiro were dumbfounded. Erica helped them? Did she hit her head or something? "It's all good now, thanks." Alice hesitated. Erica still refused to meet her gaze, but Alice was grateful and it was well spelt on her face. She passed Erica on her way to her seat and whispered, "Thanks," But Erica still didn't respond. Throughout class, Alice kept on trying to see if Erica would look her way, but not once. It was as though she didn't know Alice existed, which was quite normal to her. But this time, it actually bothered her. As the final bell rang, Alice chased after Erica. "Erica, can we talk?" she said, as she caught up to Erica, who was already leaving.
"I knew this might happen. I'm not trying to be friends with you, Alice. That's not why I helped you. But I can't forgive you for---" Erica said before Alice cut in.
"You mean you can't forgive yourself, right? You tried so hard to help and you thought that was the best way. I get you. But they don't hate you. I don't hate you?"
"Even though you know the truth, you can't remember anything, can you? Why is that? How did you lose your memory in the first place?" Erica said before she left leaving Alice dazed.
"You're okay?" Kiro asked when he caught up with Alice. He noticed the strain on her face.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Let's go," Alice said. They walked home together and Alice couldn't help but feel serene. All through this time, Heress didn't say a word. She seemed to be enjoying the moment too. "Thanks. I appreciate the walk," Alice said, as they got to her house.
"Yeah, no problem. Stay safe," Kiro replied. He tried leaving but was pulled back. It was at that moment that Alice realized she was holding on to Kiro's hand. "You do know you have to let go for me to leave, right?"
"Right," Alice hesitated as she let go. "Later," She said. But as Kiro left, she felt his words meant more than what was apparent and a cloud of sadness took shelter above her. Or was she just sad to see him go? Then a memory played in her head. A scene of Heron leaving, with Heress's hand stretched out. And the sadness she felt. It was exactly the same. And then she started to wonder, if they were really just friends.
***
Later that night, Kiro walked down a street. His lax movements looked like he was stalling, which he was actually. Lucas had called him out earlier but he was yet to show. "Why didn't you tell her the whole truth?" a voice in the shadows said.
Kiro turned to see Lucas. "For her sake. I don't want her thinking she owes me something because of what Heron and Heress had."
"She deserves the truth though. Auron will still have to let her know what we did. It's not in our place to talk."
"Yeah. What did you really want to talk about? You could have just called."
"Kai has awoken. Auron wants us to be careful. And she found a Taqah buried beneath Roman."
Kiro was taken aback. He was visibly shaking. From a distance, a far cry was heard. It was Alice's voice. "That's Alice!" Kiro cried as he and Lucas ran towards her house. They were much faster than the average human, so running there wasn't much of a problem. But they got there little too late. From a short distance, Alice, together with her parents gasped for air as water had pushed them out their house. The entire area was flooded and the sirens of the emergency unit's ambulance grew closer. All Kiro and Lucas could do was watch from afar as they emergency unit's personnel tended to them. "What the hell just happened?" Kiro said.