"I get the feeling someone was watching us earlier, Dante." Drako drawled as he sprawled out in the lounge chair in the living room.
"I felt it too but couldn't quite put my finger on it."
"I sensed that the crystal was activated. It seems we can now track them without father's help." Dante said.
"Yes, it's time to strike the Larkins bloodline off the face of the earth." Drako smiled evilly.
Dante shuddered for a brief second. "Sometimes you give me the chills brother," Dante replied jokingly.
Drako, turned to look at his best friend with a sinister gleam in his eyes with a slight curve of his lips.
"Now that the tracker is active, maybe it's time to get rid of their seer," Dante added.
"I will do it myself," Drako said as he sat up in the chair and comb his fingers through his hair. Standing up he made his way out of the living room.
Dante watched as his best friend for over eleven years left the room. He felt sorry for anyone who got in Drako's way. He could be ruthless at times. There were rare occasions that he could be reasoned with. But once he gets an idea and becomes stubborn, you're either with him or against him. Most people chose to be with him, afraid of the repercussions. Sure he was Mondola's son, but Drako built a reputation for himself wherever he went. Unlike Mondola who was restricted to teleport to some dimensions, Drako and I were free to roam. There are times we do wreck havoc in other worlds and sometimes we leave our demons to continue if we got bored or realize there was no one worth fighting and would return here to relax or get lectured by Queen Zamora or Mondola.
He remembered the first time they met. They were four years old. His mother had brought him to Mondola, she was a close friend and didn't always see eye to eye with him. But as they grew up as childhood friends, she wanted the same for her son and Drako. Who was adopted by Mondola after he captured Benara who was given a choice to save Drako and use her seer powers for his benefit only or both her and the baby die together. After all he knows how to kill an immortal with ease. He had proved it by killing her former bosses. She didn't have a reason not to believe him. She chose to save them both. From that day, she was held in one of the darkest caves at the bottom of the castle. She was constantly tormented. She no longer cried when the pain was too much. She reserved her strength for what she knew was coming to her.
The screeching sound as something sharp scraping against a chalkboard. Then the sound of metal dragging on the floor.
Drako made his way through the North Gate, and down a narrow passage, then down a spiral brick staircase. At the end of the stairs, he dragged his nail along the wall. Then removing his sword from his side he dragged it along the metal cells that were now vacant except for the last one.
The stench there was nothing new, he was used to it. The last cell was equipped with a toilet, a bed and a table to eat or write, a small bookshelf along with a chair. It was a prison of sorts but with a little dignity for special guests. Benara was indeed special. She was a rare treasure but not someone to be taken lightly. She was a trained assassin. She had a weakness. A weakness that cost her her freedom and perhaps may soon cost her life. She was held by magical bracelets. She couldn't teleport to escape even if she wanted to. She could only see parts of her future and hoped it would change. Seeing your death repeatedly and being tortured for entertainment was enough to make a sane person become insane. But she still hoped in God. Her faith was keeping her sane and together when she felt she was on the verge of madness.
Mondola with the help of Zamora raised Drako from he was a baby and taught him how to kill and manipulate people and situations to be in his favour by the age of three.
Zamora got him a blackbird for his pet, which he named Fros when he was only one year old. Drako was a brilliant little boy that grasps thing some adults couldn't begin to understand. She taught him how to take care of it. He fed it and took it out to fly out of its cage. Fros and Drako became inseparable. They played together and seem to be able to communicate with one another easily.
Drako never imagined he would meet anyone else that he would be close to him until he met Dante. They now grew up like brothers when he turned four.
He now stood before the last cell. A smirk etched on his lips as he went down memory lane, looking at Benara in her cage. His eyes squinted as he stared into her mystical silver-green slanted eyes. She hadn't aged since the last time he saw her. She had told him that he was taken from her when she was a baby, but ofcourse he couldn't remember that. When he tried to search his memory banks for her face or anyone else she told him about, his mind would become muddy and blurry. Nothing came in clearly and believed she was trying to manipulate his mind. He soon built a mental blockage to prevent anyone from planting things that didn't belong there. It was such a pity he had to kill such a beautiful woman. He would become King of his father's domain one day and would need a strong woman to rule as queen by his side. He considered himself blessed to have a King and Queen as his parents who ruled their own dimension with an iron fist. She was very beautiful with a defiant facial expression. To him he viewed her as a prey ready for him and Fros to devour. He first met her when he was eight. He was exploring the vast castle. Mondola had warned him not to venture into the dungeons. "Don't go to the dungeons, you can go anywhere else, " he told his inquisitive son.
"Why, father?" Drako asked in his small voice.
"Son, there are some things that should be locked away forever for the sake of our existence and would pose a threat to you. I don't want anything to happen to my little boy. Future prince of this world and others to come," he explained.
His memory flashed to Mondola in his death garden.
"Come Drako and bring Fros with you." He happily ran to Mondola.
"Yes papa." He hugged his leg and watch as Fros flew above them in a circle.
"Do you know you can see through your bird's eye?" Mondola asked little Drako.
He shook his head and said, "How?" in a small voice.
"I'll show you," Mondola said. He lifted the little boy in his arms and teleported them to Earth Four. It has mostly animals ruling here. Humans had allowed war and factions to continue for centuries which led to their destruction, leaving only a handful behind. Those that showed signs of high intelligence were ordered to train other animals in order for them to communicate through speech, this caused an unexpected evolution that changed the natural laws.
Mondola took Drako to a secluded area in the mountains filled with lush trees. He placed him on the ground and said, "Release the bird and clear your mind and try to connect with your inner self. Then envision yourself flying in the body of your familiar."
Drako attempts to make the connection but his eyes just flutter, "I can't do it," he says. "Don't rush it!! Feel the connection, it's like a string, once you see it in your mind's eye take hold of it." Mondola replies. Drako then sits on the floor and closes his eyes, with a deep breath he begins to relax and then exhales slowly. After three breaths he begins to see a glimmer of a black string in front of him, reaching out he takes hold of it and begins to pull. As he pulled the thread his eyes opened with the sight of the bird filling his mind. He exclaims, "I DID IT, I DID IT... I CAN SEE CLEARLY!".
Mondola then instructs him to find a prey and try to kill it using the bird. After a brief moment, Drako decides on a possum that came into his field of vision but before going for the kill his connection with the bird wavered as he hesitated and said he couldn't do it.
"Love breeds sacrifice... which intern breeds hatred. Therefore, the greatest respect for life would be preventing hatred from consuming the world by preventing love from corrupting this perfect world. It is our job to cleanse the world of those that fight against us and protect what is ours."
Little Drako concentrated and used his bird to kill the possum. He tried to avert his eyes.
"No son, it is a sign of weakness. Once you commit to taking one's life, you must look them in the eyes and give them the respect they deserve."
Drako turned his head to view the gruesome scene. He silently watched as his bird pecked the possum to death. As the blood spilled so did his tears.
Mondola looked down at his adopted son and said. "To be strong, you don't show tears. Tears are for the weak." Do you want to be weak, boy?"
"No papa!" He gently wiped his tears away and stiffened his heart towards death.
He then returned to the present day. He smiled openly at Benara. He whistled for Fros and soon the bird came in view.