~ Damien ~
I peeled my eyes open to the golden rays of sun, almost blinding myself until I averted my gaze from the glass wall to Ryan. He was still bare chested, clad in the same shorts from the previous night.
"You know, waking up early is one of the first steps in becoming a successful CEO", he said, combing a few fingers through his messy hair.
"It's too early", I groaned.
He sighed, approaching me with a tray, upon which a white teacup sat.
"Has anyone told you how loud you snore when you're sleep?"
"Here, drink up"
He smirked, handing me the cup which was full of a hot purple liquid. I scowled at the sight of such peculiar liquid which seemed odourless, flinging my confused gaze at him.
"What's this?", I asked.
"It's energy tea...you need it for what we're gonna face today"
"What are we gonna face? Do I really have to drink it?"
I stared at him with a frown.
He rubbed his forehead, staring at me with a raised brow;
"You ask a lot of questions, kid", he spat.
"I'd appreciate it if you stop calling me a kid... I'm 17"
"I'll stop it when you start behaving matured, but you should get used to it for now"
He turned away from me and fixed his gaze upon his watch, while I stared at the purple liquid for some time until I was ready to take just one sip. It had a surprisingly sweet taste, causing me to gulp all of it at once, not minding the fact that it was a bit hot.
"I'm done", I announced.
"Good, now freshen up... we're leaving in a few minutes' time"
*********
We arrived in front of a dome building after a few minutes of enduring the Sonic rider's death ride. Unlike in my imagination, the Sonic riders were black motorcycles which had high powered jet boosters as replacements for normal tires.
Gesturing at our Sonic riders, I asked, "Do we leave them here?"
"Yes, they're safe", Ryan responded.
As I averted my gaze from the parking lot which was strewn with various kinds of vehicles, I noticed two bald security guards standing in front of the building's main entrance. They were donned in the same outfits as us-- black tuxedos, but paired with very dark sunshades.
"Look alive...", Ryan whispered to me.
"Why are we here again?", I asked.
Ignoring me, Ryan took off his wristwatch and handed it over to the guard on the left. I silently watched as the guard took off his sun shade, beaming at the watch's screen with a red light from his eyes.
Turning to me, the guard on the right asked, "And you?"
"He's with me", Ryan cut in.
"Yeah, what he said", I added.
The glass doors swung open after the guards paved way, letting us into the building. My gaze was greeted by the elegantly polished black tiles, upon which strange symbols were embossed. On the right was a section where a couple of human-like persons sat behind a black marble counter. I looked up and saw the same blue human-like persons, all impeccably clad in the same black caped jumpsuits, trailing to and fro on the upper floor.
Enthralled by such view, I whispered in awe, "Whoa!"
Ryan and I both halted for a minute, allowing our gazes to swirl around the place before walking further until we took the left turn, meeting with an elevator.
"Where's this place again?", I asked, flinging my puzzled gaze at him.
"You sure do ask a lot of questions, kid", he grumbled.
"Well, I gotta ask cus I'm having a bad feeling about it"
He sighed and gave no response as we stepped into the elevator.
Ding!
We arrived in a small and shadowy room, walking towards the door until he suddenly halted and averted his gaze to me;
"No matter what happens in there, I need you to speak and act smart...keep your cool", he instructed.
"Got it?"
I nodded in response, shoving all the questions that popped into my mind aside. He turned to the door and we both took a deep breath before he squeezed the knob.
As we stepped into the silent and beaming room, I found myself gazing at seven persons, all donned in black tuxedos just like us. Turning to the room's left and right walls, my eyes met with two gigantic picture frames where pictures of these persons and my dad were being displayed.
A lady with white flowing hair whose face was blue, beamed a smile at us, gesturing us to join them at the long black table where they were seated. We both obeyed and sat upon the two empty chairs beside her.
"Irkma asha varghu", said a bald man who had a three eyes.
Leaning backwards, Ryan shot a brief gaze at me before turning to the man again;
"Ahris gerash engles", he said.
I widened my eyes as I shot a cornered gaze at him, wondering how he understood such bizzarre language and most especially, what they were saying.
"You only speak and understand English?",
asked a dark bald lady while staring at me.
"Well, I'm fluent in six other languages which include Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, French, Italian and Chinese...but no, I don't speak or nearly understand your language", I replied.
"Ah, I see...", said the white haired lady who sat beside me.
"We deeply apologize for the misunderstanding then", she added.
"Apology accepted", I beamed.
"I welcome you on behalf of the Inner board", said the bald man.
"Thanks"
I straightened up and remained silent while they kept on conversing about my dad and how he was killed. It seemed like they knew about the Serpent and everything her covert organization; but nothing they said was news to me, since Ryan had already told me all of it.
My ears flinched and I leaned forward on hearing Ryan's question;
"What about the dragon seed?"
Silence immediately engulfed the room, everyone staring at themselves in such weird manner. My gaze became fixed upon Ryan whose brows were cocked in a manner that depicted sheer confusion.
His gaze averted to a lady who had strange tattoo marks etched upon her face as she spoke:
"Well...um, the thing is--"
She became interrupted by a man whose left ear was adorned with gold earrings;
"What Hellexra is trying to say is that...we can't give you the seed"
Ryan's face pulled into a irked frown, causing me to wear the frown as well. I didn't understand what the dragon seed was, but it had to be very important since everyone looked so buzzed up once it was mentioned.
"I...I don't understand", Ryan said, forcing a smile.
"We can't give you the seed", replied the white haired lady.
Ryan gestured at me.
"But...this is the heir and he needs it to protect our world from the forthcoming threat"
The Hellexra lady sighed, shooting a frown at me.
"We don't trust you...and even though we were to give you the seed, we don't have here it with us..."
"We handed it over to Aia for safe keeping...", said the bald man.
Ryan sprang up from his seat, shooting his infuriated gaze at the white haired lady.
"But my boss trusted you...all of you!", he yelled.
Fear zipped through my spine when the bald man sprang up, pointing his hands which had now fused to assume a strange gun at Ryan.
"Your boss wanted the seed for himself...he always wanted the dragon's powers to protect his own world, but what of ours?"
Strange rings of light zipped from his hand gun, heading straight for Ryan; this caused everyone else, including me, to spring up. I couldn't shake off the intense feeling of fear which I experienced while everyone fastened their gaze upon me.
"You made him the king of this word...he always stood to defend this world", said Ryan after he seemingly dodged the attack.
"Let go of me!"
I cried as the Hellexra lady grabbed me from behind, crushing me with so much force. A smirk crawled upon the white haired lady's face when she turned to Ryan;
"Surrender or the heir dies"