Since that day, their friendship was official. For Corban, it was the first time he had felt happy since his mother's death. For Kyle, his new friend was someone he could trust.
As time passed, they got closer to the point they were already best friends. However, Corban was still feeling guilty, because he hadn't told Kyle the truth about himself. He was imagining how Kyle would react. Although they were best friends at that point, Kyle was someone important in politics, and the discover of a new element was something he couldn't leave alone, as it was his obligation as the Phoenix Family's heir. Corban imagined Kyle's face, full of pity, as he ordered his guards to put him in jail. While the Empire experimented and tortured him to get answers, the Phoenix Family would grow even stronger. Corban felt a chill ran down his spine.
'No, by any means, my secret mustn't be discovered. I am sorry Kyle, but this is the best for us both.' he thought.
Little did they know that their friendship wouldn't perdure much time. Because Corban wasn't the only one with a big dark secret.
*****
In the Grand Empire's Capital, within the Phoenix Mansion.
There were guards dressed in red armor and with an embroidery of a phoenix in their chest, proving they were part of the Phoenix Family, outside the stone wall that surrounded the mansion, and some inside the perimeter. In its garden, there were red roses and other red flowers, some of them even had petals made of fire. The mansion itself was red in color, and if one entered, instead of torches, there were fireballs that floated midair, iluminating the place. The walls were covered with paintings with the different leaders from the family, showing how old it was. Guards were placed in every corner. To add more, Fire Crystals were scattered troughout the mansion, wealth was clearly present and every decoration was elegant and very expensive. Inside what looked to be the dining room, two people were eating in the opposite of each other, both with serious faces. They just smallowed their food in silence. One of them was a boy with orange hair and eyes, Kyle. The other was an intimidating man with long red hair and dark orange eyes. Scars covered his entire body, and he was dressed in more elegant clothes than Kyle himself.
When they both finished, the man ordered the guards to step outside, and so did they, but before he had a chance to speak again Kyle said:
'What bussiness do you have with me... father?'
'What do you mean? Can't I have dinner with my own son without a reason?' The man known as Cyros Phoenix answered, with a smile that was anything but sincere.
'Drop the act and just tell me what you want' Kyle responded coldly.
'Haa. Okay, I won't beat around the bush. Why are you frecuenting that town?' Cyros said, changing his expression.
'What town?'
'Laren'
Absolute silence for a moment and then...
'I just thought it was peaceful, nothing more' Kyle said, trying to sound calm.
'Really? Because I heard from the guards that you have been meeting up with some supposed friend, is that right?' Cyros said, with an inculpatory gaze.
'What the... How did he find out?' Kyle thought 'I made sure to check they weren't following me.'
'Now, your tutor said that you haven't gotten better in Elemental Training and still you're visiting a no name town. You're supposed to lead the family one day, and even the Guard's Captain is more powerful than you!' Cyros said raising his tone, losing composture as he got up, heading towards his son.
SLAP!
Kyle was on the floor, covering his now red cheek. Drops of blood started to come out of his mouth as he stared at the floor, emotionless.
'You better hurry up. I won't allow any distractions. If you want to see your mother again, that is.' Cyros smiled coldly.
With the last words said, Kyle reacted.
'Please, anything but that.' his voice trembled as he said it.
'Then, listen to me. You won't see whoever is the person you're meeting with again and you will focus on your studies. Unless you want your mother and your new friend to die, like last time. What was her name again? Ah, now I remember, what a beautiful mum she had that's for sure, what a shame I had to kill her and the entire family because a certain boy decided to love a commoner, despite his father's warnings. What an irresponsable boy, and another friend of his will end up dead if he doesn't start complying with his reaponsabilities.' The red haired man smiled widely, but his words made it creepy.
Kyle gulped.
'Now, get out of my sight!' Cyros shouted.
Kyle listened and went to his bedroom. He sat on his bed and suddenly, he started crying.
'I am sorry mum' he mumbled.
Red scales started to grow in his arms, legs and face, his eyes started to turn yellow with small thin pupils, they were slightly glowing. One thing was clear, those weren't the eyes of a human.
Kyle panicked as he noticed, but he calmed down, and the scales dissappeared, so did the strange eyes.
Kyle stared at the books on his bookshelf. He started to read.
There are lot of powerful monsters out there. To clasify them, humans divided them into ten tiers. They were:
Basic
Uncommon
Rare
Unique
Deviant
Monarch
Legendary
Mythical
Saint
God
There is a big difference in power between the different tiers. At least 50 basic tier monsters are needed to defeat one Uncommon monster, and so on. The creatures clasiffied at god level are literally at the Seven Gods' level, there are only three of them, but luckily they don't interfere with the world, and their whereabouts are unknown. Now, there was a proud species in the Mythical tier, the Dragons. There were different types of them, Water Dragons, Fire Dragons Light Dragons, and so on. They had amazing abilities, transformation, elemental manipulation, communication, energy steal, energy share, the list was infinite.
However, they had a natural enemy: the basiliscs. These were serpents of grand size that had poisonous fangs, but their most lethal weapon was their eyes, they could kill instantly if the victim looked at them in the eyes directly. This affected all creatures, except gods of course, and it was the reason their species was in the Mythical tier.
Their war ended with both species going extint, if they still live, they haven't made an appeareance since, so no one can know.
Kyle closed the book and laid on his bed.
Kyle, he was different. Because he was half human... and half dragon. That's right, his mother was a dragon Cyros met in battle. She was one of the last of her species. However, instead of killing her, Cyros tried to do an experiment. He took her to his mansion pretended to be kind to her. Slowly, the dragon, that had been living transformed in a woman, fell in love with him. Martha was her name, and as a Fire dragon, the child born between them would surely be a talented Fire Carrier, and so, Kyle was born. Dragons could only have one child in their life, another reason they had gone extint. Basically, she was useless to Cyros right now, so he used her to blackmail his son.
'I wish I could break free, but then mum would die, and I can't allow that to happen. I sometimes wonder... would you understand me and console me if I told you everything Nabroc, would you try to help? Of course you would, because that's the type of person you are, that's what you hide under that cold demeanour. I know you are a kind person that has suffered so much already. I won't let you anyone because of my selfishness. Not again.' Kyle thought, as he stared at the glowing moon through the window.
*****
Two weeks later, Corban was walking through Laren, asking people if they had seen a boy with dark orange hair and eyes. They just stared at him with disgust and ignored his question, which meant no.
The sun was setting. And Corban was sitting beside the tree where Kyle and him used to hang out. He was sad. Tears dropped from his face.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not a letter, any type of message, nor warning, directly or indirectly. I thought, that I finally had someone who would support me and help me. But turns out you were no different from everyone else. I see, I was the only one who considered you as a friend, wasn't I? You just were curious about me, but since I turned out to be just a normal boy with social problems for you, you lost interest. Indeed, you just got tired and ended that false frienship I thought we had. I really was an idiot. I forgot for a moment what I really am, a being that wasn't supossed to exist, I am someone who just has to hide all my life, I mustn't aspire to anything, I mustn't achieve anything, I mustn't grow attached to anyone and, finally, I must die taking the darkness with me to the grave, so the world will continue as it is now' Corban thought and the tears turned into darkness, vanishing, while his face turned emotionless, but this time, it was the coldest, because, unlike before, he cut off all his emotions this time. Forever.
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I know it's boring, but if you have reached this point, read this.
Hi! Thanks for the 2.0k! I know a lot of them probably read the first chapter and then quitted but to the ones who have reached this point and read the chapters I posted so far, I really really thank you!! To most people, It doesn't mean much but to me it does. I really appreciate it. :)
And don't worry, the real story starts next chapter with all the action. This was more like an epilogue, to introduce the characters. The story will be complicated, so I wanted to explain a lot of things first.
Also, I will try to update more often. I started the novel as a hobby, because I have been imagining the story for a long time and I wanted to write it somewhere. However, seeing how far I have reached, (although it's still nothing grand I need self esteem, guys) keeps me more motivated to continue. So if you have read this boring text, please leave a comment. :)