The 5am alarm rang as Trinity tossed and turned in bed, struggling to reach her phone to snooze it, but try as hard as she might; the mobile was far from reach.
Giving up, she rolled out of bed and went to her dresser, which held the device that played such annoying music. Switching it off, she went to the bathroom to freshen up. Looking at her hair, she decided that it was time for a new haircut. She put on her sports bra and sweatpants, and as she was tying her hair into a bun, someone knocked on her door. Opening it, she saw Stacey standing there, she too wearing her sports outfit.
"Ready?" Stacey asked, looking at her friend. "Ready," Trinity replied, tying her hair in a messy bun.
Both girls walked down to the gym, which was another arena, smaller than the battle arena. Since it was now 6am, there was a table full of fresh fruits and fruit juices and sandwiches. All the trainees were allowed to eat, but to a limit. A chart on the table showed the amount each dragon was supposed to eat according to their weight. There was a scale for those who didn't know how much they weighed.
Trinity dropped down her gym bag and jumped on the scale, 54 kilos. She was shocked as the last time she checked her weight, it was 57kg. A month in hospital, and her weight went down. She guessed that staying in coma for a week had its downside.
After checking her diet chart, she grabbed an apple, two egg sandwich, and a glass of pineapple juice and went to sit on the provided table. There was a lot to chatting as so many young dragons were there for training and, at this moment, were having their breakfast.
At 6.30am, a loud bell sounded, and everyone got up, put their plates and glasses away, and formed a line. "You'll be in the first line," Stacey told her before moving to the second line herself. Trinity stood behind a pink haired boy who was shorter than the other guys there.
"Welcome to your annual gym training classes," a deep voiced man said. "I welcome our new dragons and our older ones. I'm your coach, Mr Nash Lakestorm, a water breather. You belong to line one if you're totally new to my class; line two of this is your second year and so forth," he continued. "For the others, you know what you'll be doing, so you may go, while line one follow me."
He walked towards the center of the floor, which was mostly soil as there was no concrete or carpet. His students followed him obediently with their bags. Stopping at the center, Mr Nash turned to them, saying, "This is where you all will come daily and train to fight, fly, and kill. You all will be characterized into groups, group A, and group B, but before that, I need to know what you're good at. Since there's only ten of you, I'd like you to tell me your skills."
They all began saying things like, "I can jump high", "I can swim long distance", to some saying things like, "I'm a dancer" or "I don't really know". When it came for Trinity to tell her special skill, she simply said, "I'm an athlete. I can run long distances really fast."
"Well, we'll start off by jogging, doing planks, and learning how to use weapons," the coach said enthusiastically.
Half the day went by where Trinity and the other beginners were running, skipping, and sword fighting. Exercising was an annoyingly important task for Mr. Nash.
As the lunch bell rang, all the trainees were glad because it also meant the class was over. "Ok, young dragons, we'll meet here same time tomorrow," the tall guy with a six-pack abs told his students before dismissing them.
As Trinity wiped away her sweaty face, she noticed Tyrone speaking to a tall girl with beautiful blue hair and very pale skin. She guessed the girl was a water dragon because she had ocean blue eyes, and her skin looked a little slimy, just like Tyrones' skin sometimes looked.
Trinity's eyes were glued to them as she drank water. Stacey caught up to her and gave a little wave in front of her face to get her friends' attention. "Trinity?"
"Yeah? What's up?" Trinity said, finally looking at Stacey, who was now looking at Tyrone and the girl.
"I see someone's jealous," Stacey said, turning to face her friend.
"I'm not jealous, just wondering who she is," Trinity defended herself, taking another gulp of water.
"Don't worry, she's Emeralda Aqualane, Tyrones cousin," Stacey said, looking back and forth at the cousins and Trinity.
"Oh," was all Trinity could say before Tyrone walked up to her. "Tyrone, Hi," she said awkwardly.
"Hey, I want you to meet someone," Tyrone said before leading her towards the blue-eyed girl. "Em, she's Trinity, my mate, and Trinity, she's Emeralda, my cousin," Tyrone introduced both girls.
"Hi, it's nice to meet you. How are you? I heard you've been in hospital?" Emeralda greeted the brown eyed girl.
"Hi, I'm good. I got discharged yesterday," Trinity replied.
"It's good to hear that," she said, then turning to Tyrone continued, "Why don't the two of you join us for dinner tonight? I'm sure Mom and Dad will love to meet her."
"We'll try, but no promises," Tyrone replied. Trinity didn't know why he'd say that because she thought he'd say yes. Whatever the reason, she was glad he didn't just agree.
"Ok. Let me know if it's a yes so I can make preps. We'll be in our lake house," Emeralda said, a bit disappointed.
As Tyrone took their leave, he mindlinked Trinity, saying, 'I have a surprise'. She looked at him, and he smiled, saying, "Let's get you home and get you into something nicer than this." He looked at her seductively as she realized that she was only wearing her sports bra and sweatpants.
"Well, at least I know you think I look nice in this," she flirted back.
"Oh, you have no idea what's going on in my head," Tyrone whispered, looking at her chest.
"Pervert," Trinity said jokingly as she ran back to her bag, followed by her mate. She didn't know why, but she actually liked Tyrone flirting with her. Had this been said by any other guy, she'd have slapped him so hard that he'd have a tattoo of Trinity's palm on his cheeks for weeks. Maybe it's because of their mate bond, but she did feel a strange pull towards him, a pull that she couldn't explain.
After her shower, Trinity wore a green sundress, with sandals and a sun hat, given to her by Stacey and made her way through the maze to the door of the castle.
Waiting outside was Tyrone, wearing a brown vest, cargo pants, and sunglasses. As Trinity walked towards him, his mouth hung open. "Don't let the flies enter," she said as she got close.
"You look gorgeous," He said as they began to walk to a black sports car.
"You also look handsome," Trinity complimented him as Tyrone opened the door to let her in. "Thanks... Wait, I thought you had a van?," she asked curiously.
"I borrowed the van from a friend," the amber-eyed guy replied as he drove smoothly to their destination, which was five minutes away.
The car came to a stop at the top of a small hill, just outside of the castle compounds. As Trinity got out, she saw a mat spread out under a tree and a basket in the middle of it. "You did this?" she asked in awe.
"I did get some help."
"Who?"
"Drake. I was able to fly and get all this done in a matter of seconds."
"This looks amazing," Trinity said as she saw the view. All around them were greenery. The sky above was blue, with just a few scattered clouds that looked like white cotton candy. As she reached the mat, she held her breath as she saw a beautiful turquoise lake. Her eyes filled with tears as she remembered her home, but at the same time, she felt she was home. She truly belonged here. "Wow."
There were fries, chicken nuggets, burgers, fruits, and lemon juice in the basket, which also held two plates and glasses.
As they finished their lunch, Tyrone, holding Trinity's hand, whispered, "I want you to meet someone."
"Who?" Trinity asked, looking around.
Tyrone got up, stepped away from the mat, and looked at Trinity as his eyes turned from its amber color to a deep green. Within seconds, standing in front of her was a brown dragon towering way above the girl.
Trinity felt safe as Drake moved his face close to her. She could see each line on her mates face as his face looked relaxed. For the first time in all these years, she felt something trying to break free from within herself. His smell was intoxicating, and she just let herself relax as she closed her eyes.
Heat swallowed her as she felt a fire rage through her body. Her muscles began to grow as Dragonia escaped her prison, setting herself free. Trinity had never felt this way before; it was like every pain and suffering was gone; time stopped; passion raised inside her heart. She felt free.
"You're mine," Drake whispered in his deep voice.
"And you're mine," Dragonia whispered.
As if that was a queue, Drake slowly broke a scale from his chest. Dragonia followed. Though it was painful, she knew Drake was doing this for a reason, so she followed without question. He handed her the brown scale, and she handed him her orange one. They both blew on it and let it fly in the air.
It gave of such a bright light that every dragon could see it. Both scales came back down and attached itself on each other's mates, the brown one on Trinity's chest and the orange one on Tyrones' chest. Both dragons tilted their heads and let out a bellow, spraying the air above them with fire and water, which formed a beautiful orange-white cloud way above them. They both then flew upwards, in a beautiful circle, each facing the other.
"I've never felt this way before," Trinity said to Tyrone as they both returned to their human form. "What was that?"
"That was the mating ritual. We've marked each other," her mate replied, pulling his vest downwards, revealing a tattoo of an orange dragon on his chest.
Trinity also looked at her chest, which now had the tattoo of a brown dragon. She somehow felt stronger and more alive than she'd ever been. "So, where to now."
"Remember the dinner offer made by Em? What do you think, shall we agree?"
"I guess you can, at least I'll get a chance to meet your family."
"So, I'll pick you up at seven than?"
"Yep, I'll be ready."