Roan sprints through the streets of Varian, his feet hitting the ground in a rhythmic pattern, running towards the only guy in his life who Heather cannot get her hands on.
With his enhanced endurance and speed, he makes it to the edge of the floating city within a few minutes of leaving the party.
When he reaches the edge of Above, he does not stop nor does he think, he simply leaps headfirst.
The force of the wind pushes against him as he dives towards the ground, making it hard for Roan to see and forcing him to squint his eyes.
That is when she appears, a white scaled Wyvern. The webbing of her huge white wings are thin enough to see through in places. The larger, rougher, scales that start at her head trail down her back where they stop at the start of her tail before appearing again at the tip.
Her eyes are a cold, piercing, yellow and she has a pink scars cutting across one eye, her mouth and several other parts of her body which only add to her beauty instead of taking away.
She sweeps underneath Roan, catching him mid-air and flies off with him.
When they land, Roan jumps off her back but when he tries to leave but she circles him and blocks his path. "What are you doing?"
Roan moves one of his bangs out of his eyes so he can get a better look at her. "Go, fly away, before someone sees you." Roan does not get any response from her, which he is not surprised about but he can see she wants something from him.
He tries again, walking around her but she grabs his shirt with her teeth and pulls him back. "Hey, stop that!"
Roan jumps on a large, flat, boulder and starts leaping from one boulder to the next to get away but the Wyvern catches up to him easily and pushes him gently with her nose which causes Roan to lose his balance.
He falls, landing agilely on his hands. "Okay, you're really starting to annoy me." Roan tries to stand up but she pushes him down immediately and keeps doing this until Roan rolls backwards.
"Leave me alone."
When Roan uses Regnum on her, she loses patience with the boy and roars at him, showing her large teeth.
Roan roars back at her, the volume of his shout is lacklustre in comparison to the Wyvern's, whose roar shook his bones only a few moments ago.
She roars again, getting up close in Roan's face.
Roan feels his will power snap and a fire rises out of his bowls and rises through his vocal cords. His iris become two slits when they shift.
The roar that comes from Roan is animalistic and powerful. It echoes in his ears long after the initial sound and it shakes the earth they stand on. "Is that what you wanted?"
Isis stops growling at Roan and smiles at Roan's little display. Even though he is still young, there are no doubts left in her mind, that was a roar of a Black Dragon.
She looks up at the sky, takes one last look at Roan, before pushing off the ground and flying away.
Roan bangs on Victor's door several times to wake him. Roan hears shuffling behind the door and takes a step back. "Alright, I'm awake, I'm awake!" When Victor opens the door, he looks annoyed, but his expression immediately changes once he sees Roan standing outside his door. "Roan, what are you doing here, is everything alright?"
The anger that originally bought him here has fizzled out, making Roan question why he even came here at all. "Kiss me?"
+/+
Roan and Victor spend the morning afterwards lying in Victor's bed quietly whispering to each other. Admitidly, Roan mostly talked about all the delightful food Zarion brought with him from the outside world.
They spent hours talking until Roan asks Victor the wrong question. "Can we go outside?"
"What do you mean?" Victor asks, tilting his head to look over at Roan laying on his stomach.
"I want to see what it's like down here. Below, I want to see it all." Roan looks at Victor's ears, surprised to find out that they are not always covered in soot and grease.
Victor's smile fades and he props himself up, turning away from Roan. "I'm afraid we can't do that."
"Why not?" Roan copies Victor, sitting up also.
"Because" Victor turns around after putting his blue shirt on. "Below is a dangerous place. You think the Valsari are bad where you're from, down here they patrol the streets like rats searching for scraps. It's too dangerous for you to be down here. You should fly yourself out of here."
"I-I can't." Roan covers his face with his hand when he feels a headache coming on.
"You have to!" Victor pulls Roan's hand away from his face. "Hey, look at me."
"No!" Roan snaps at Victor and realizes too late that he has started to shift. "Close your eyes."
"I'm not afraid."
"You should be."
"Roan...your scales they're black." Victor moves Roan's hands out of the way and looks at the black scales appearing all over his body. "You're the one everyone has been looking for."
"Everyone?" Roan tilts his head, his reptilian eyes making loud sounds when he blinks. "Who is everyone?"
"The other Draven. There is a whole community of them living down here. They have a shelter for Draven, a sort of sanctuary but it's in danger of being found every day, I mean the walls are practically crumbling around them."
An entire community of people who are just like him. Roan let's Hope fill his soul and lull him into a false sense of security. "Take me to them."
"You sure?"
"Absolutely."
+/+
Roan hides inside a giant wooden cart, hiding him beneath a large pile of clothes that belonged to his sister. Victor pulls the cart through the grimy streets, sticking to alleyways and dark corners until he is forced to travel on a busy road. It is here that they run into a problem.
"Wait, you, stop." Victor freezes, not even daring to turn around. The voice that stopped him is familiar and is by far the worst person that they could have run into.
"Drop the cart." Adamar Valara, one of the five elven generals, and the only elf capable of controlling the Valsari soldiers in front of Victor.
Victor turns his head to look at the three Valsari warriors circling him and the cart, that makes five including the two standing behind the General. "Adamar."
"It's General Adamar Valara to you, Victor." he scowls.
"Doesn't matter how many titles they throw at you Adamar, I'll always know you as the little Valara boy my family took in when yours was taken from you."
Adamar turns his head and leans forward. "Well, those were different times, things change."
"I can see that." Victor looks at the expensive looking amour that the General wears. Everything from his golden belt buckle to the fur on his shoulder is expensive looking.
"What is in the cart?"
"They're clothes, I'm donating them."
"It has been years since your sisters died Victor, why now?"
"They didn't die, they were taken, because of you." When Victor takes a step towards Adamar, the nearest Valsari puts a blade to his throat and hovers it there.
Adamar waves a hand and the Valsari retreats, spitting on the ground in front of Victor. "He isn't strong enough to fight for what he believes in." Adamar and the Valsari leave Victor balling his fist, his nails digging into his skin.
"One day, I'll have my revenge. When your soul is mine, Adamar Valara, son of Falmus Valara, I shall cast it into the flames of Tartarus and watch you burn." Victor whispers before picking up the cart and continuing his journey.
+/+
Victor takes Roan to an abandoned-looking theatre. It isn't long before Roan realizes it is anything but abandoned.
There are elves everywhere, all scrambling about the place, handing out aid and food, others sitting on the floor with their children in their arms and others who just wonder aimlessly.
Victor takes him behind the curtain and tells him to wait for him there whilst he goes and finds someone called Firroth.
Roan adjusts the cloak he wears and notices an older woman standing in front of a table with lots of beautiful and exotic items sitting on a black piece of cloth. One of the items on the table catches Roan's eye. "May I?"
"Be my guest." Roan picks up a necklace looped through a silver ring of a dragon eating its own tail. The head of the dragon is golden whilst the rest of the body is silver. "Good choice." She tells him.
"My mom had one just like it." Roan tells her.
"Is your mother with us?" When Roan shakes his head, the old woman does the same. "It has been getting worse for our kind every year those Valarians stay in power. I'm afraid of what might come next for our kind." Roan tries to put the necklace down, but the old woman stops him. "Here, take it."
"Seriously?"
"It's no bother, really." she tells him before noticing the arrival of of the grey-haired Wyvern Prince. "Prince Firroth."
"Miora." he lets her bow her head before turning his attention to Roan. "Is this him?"
"Yes, this is Roan."
Roan turns around and sees Victor standing next to a man with amber glowing eyes and branding on the right side of his face that look like tribal markings. Although rugged looking, he doesn't look too old, leading Roan to assume this man to be in his forties.
"Roan, this is Prince Firroth."
"Are you really who you say you are? The Black Dragon we've all heard calling us in our dreams, the King? Are you him?"
"Am I him?" Roan repeats, the thought that all these people here have been waiting for him makes his head feel dizzy.
"Yes, are you a Black Dragon?"
With all eyes on Roan, he feels his hands sweating but he musters up enough will power to speak. "Yes."
"Well, prove it."
"How?"
"Show us your scales."
Roan lowers his head and looks down at his arm. "I don't know how I did it earlier...I haven't done it in years."
"The boys growth has been stunted much like the other younglings." Moira clicks her tongue. "They're being taught how not to transform instead of using their gift."
Firroth watches Roan closely and comes up with a solution. "If you are telling the truth than that makes you a born leader. Prove to me that you are who you say you are. If you cannot, then I'll be forced to pull your throat out with my teeth for wasting my time."
Roan gulps. This is not how he expected things would go.
"Don't you think that is a bit extreme?" Victor stands in front of Roan, blocking him from Firroth's view. "He is a Black Dragon, I've seen his scales and, come to think of it, I've seen him use Regnum before. Isn't my word enough?"
"In this matter, no, it is not. You are not Draven born, for all you know he could be using a chameleon ability."
Roan taps Victor's shoulder. "I can do this." he reassures him before turning to Firroth. "Shall we?"
+/+
Before going on stage, Roan puts the necklace he received from Miora on over his cloak. It sparkles nicely underneath the lights once he gets on the stage.
"What do you expect him to do, sing kumbaya up there to prove to you what we all already know to be true?" Firroth ignores Victor's complaints and continues watching Roan's every move as he gets on stage.
The low rumble of the room slowly dies down when people notice Roan standing up on the stage. They look up at him expectantly, waiting to hear what he has to offer. "Whilst we..." Roan stops, his voice is too quiet for anyone to hear him. Someone in the crowd coughs and another sneezes in silence.
"Whilst we suffer, our enemies pray to their patron. A goddess, whose sole purpose is to keep Balance...Harmony and Order." Roan takes a step forward as he starts getting into his stride. "I find that sentiment harder to believe each and every day I wake up."
Roan takes a moment to look at the faces of a few of the elves sitting in the front. "My mother used to tell me that Dragons were born to fly. That means that the skies belong to Dragon, not the elves, and though we have both flowing through our veins we are seen as the other by our oppressors. We are seen as dangerous, we are seen as imperfect creatures of nature, we are the monsters-"
Roan chokes on the tears in his eyes but he does not blink. "We are the monsters?" Roan's laugh is bitter and short. "Take a look around at what they do to us every day. We are being turned to ash and dust!"
A woman's voice comes from somewhere in the crowd, sounding sweet like holy and soft like silk. "What are we supposed to do about that?"
Roan takes a moment to think about what to say next. "The chain of order is broken. Dragons are not slaves, we are not submissive and we sure as all hell are not quite. We are the apex predators!"
Several dragon roars rip through the air, the sound grows louder as more join the symphony. "We...I. I cannot sit back anymore and watch another Draven be murder in front of my eyes whilst I do nothing. The Valsari and the Valarian Council are winning because they outnumber us."
"We must unite and fight together...protect each other because if we don't then no one will." Roan cannot help but think about Heather now and wonder what she would think if she heard him now.
"The Draven have never been able to unite under any one ruler. We have too many Wyverns playing the role of a king..." Isis steps out of the crowd, revealing herself.
She has blonde hair and grey looking blue eyes and high cheek bones. Roan senses something familiar in her when he meets her, but he is unsure. "We need a king; we need a Black Dragon."
Roan's cloak and his bangs have been able to hide his face and although he is comfortable with getting up on stage and speaking to a crowd of people, he is not ready to reveal his identity.
"I know you've all been waiting for your king to appear and save you, so I have to tell you now that he is not coming." Roan expects some protest from the people but instead a somber cloud settles over their heads instead. "But I am the Black Dragon you are all looking for."
Iris tilts her head. "Will you prove it to us?" It is when she smiles, a smile that conveys a sense of pity in its wielder, that Roan recognizes her as the white Wyvern princess from the day before.
Instead of starting by using his Regnum like he did when he first met Isis, he does something that his mother used to do when she would put him to sleep. She would trace three lines down the inside of his arm, starting just below the wrist and stopping halfway down. "Each mark represents the claw of a dragon. Pride, Power and Patience."
Roan raises his left hand and unclenches his fist, revealing three long talon claws. He raises right arm and slices his own flesh, leaving three bloody claw marks.
He digs deep within himself, deeper than he has ever dug within himself before and he lets out a roar that would start a revolution.
It does not just shake the bones of his people, but it makes visible cracks in the walls and shakes the lights above.
His people, the Draven, feel the power of his Regnum and rise, following by his example and marking their own wrists. "Pride, Power, Patience! Pride, Power, Patience! Pride, Power, Patience."
Isis smiles before receding back into the crowd, her job being done.
+/-
When Roan gets back to the school, he at once goes and takes a shower, knowing full well that Victor's scent still clings onto him.
On the way to his dorm room, he stops at an open window to stop and look at the man in the moon, never having seen a moon so bright before. "Sleep in the moon my one true love, making me an eternal maiden." Roan quotes one of his favourite poems about the goddess Artemis.
A creature of the night stalks him through the corridors. It follows the bittersweet scent across the campus until the beast finds Roan standing in front of a window. In the moonlight he looks almost unreal, like an apparition, a ghost.
"Hello, who is there, I can hear you?" When Roan turns around, he gasps as the beast creeps towards him with big red eyes. The creature looks to be seven feet tall but grows even taller the closer it gets. Roan does not spend much time thinking about it.
He runs, sliding around the corners. His heartbeat races when he hears the beast run into the wall behind him and quickly rebound off the wall down the corridor after him.
The beast is unnaturally agile for its size, getting on all four legs and running after Roan with incredible speed. It leaps and catches its prey.
Roan starts crying as he struggles underneath the weight of the beast. When he tries to cry out the creature growls into his ear, a lot of hot breath as the beast saliva drips onto Roan's face.
Everyone thinks that in the moment, they would say no, they would cry out for help, or scream or fight back.
However, when your face is being forced to lay flat on the freezing surface of the floor you walk in every day as the attacker's body crushes your body with his weight, you lock up as he cuts through you like a butter knife. You do not move, you play dead, you hope that after he is done, he goes far, far, away and leaves you alone.
The man in the moon lights up the wall in front of Roan, who focuses on the diamond shapes of the wallpaper.
He gets lost in the rhythm of his body jerking. Was he doing that? Had his shaking turned into violent tremors? Was this him inviting Chaos into his life?
When they collided....