Dragon Seekers

Chapter 15

"What?"

That was all that Jamie could say. Just "what". A Soul Statue? That's how Ash described his treasure.

"Everyone's given one the day they're born," Ash begins to explain, sitting down next to Jamie. "I'm not an expert, but I'll try to explain. The moment you're born, a Soul Statue will be given to you. As the name suggests, the soul of your future dragon partner is inside. When you turn ten, that's when you're able to get a dragon."

"Is every dragon partnered with a human?" Jamie asked, unable to stop himself from being curious.

"Nope. It's complicated to explain, but only a selected egg or clutch of eggs are chosen to become dragon partners," Ash shrugged. "But what I want to know is how you got one. I thought you said that your world doesn't have dragons."

"There isn't. I just assumed that someone left it behind after playing a game or something," Jamie said, feeling a new sense of anxiety creep into him suddenly.

"Let's see," Ash said, suddenly taking the statue from the confused boy. Jamie didn't protest it as she looked at the statue. She hummed a little as she examined it at the bottom of the base. After a couple, of seconds, she looked at Jamie with a perplexed look.

"Jamie, this Soul Statue is yours," she said, looking like she was unsure about what else she could say.

"What?!" exclaimed Jamie. With the shock of being sucked into a portal, encountering a monster made of magma and seeing real dragons, he thought that nothing could surprise him anymore. He thought that, when Ash said the statue was his, she meant that it was because he had found it. However, judging by the look on her face, that wasn't the case.

"Is that the word that you know?" Ash asked, not looking impressed. Jamie tried not to look upset as she said that. Ash shook her head a little as she showed Jamie what she meant. "See? It says your name." Jamie blinked in surprise, but looked at what Ash was showing him. He didn't notice it before, but right underneath the base, was an inscription of some kind. The only problem was that it wasn't in English. Or any language that he could recognise.

"Ash, I can't read this. We have a different literacy language," he explained, trying not to look sorry for himself.

"Really? Weird," Ash muttered to herself. She passed the statue back to Jamie. "But that is definitely yours, that I can promise." Jamie wanted to add to that, but he couldn't find the words to do it. He looked deeply at the statue, unknowingly making eye contact with it. It felt like something that was alive was staring right back at him. A feeling that he felt like he had always known but always ignored because of his own fears. Was this the sound of a dragon looking right back at him?

"I'm taking you to Nexus tomorrow. He'll help you out," Ash said, suddenly patting Jamie on the back. The action surprised Jamie, almost making him drop the statue.

"Who's Nexus?" he asked, not sure if he can take anymore information at this point.

"He's the oldest Dragon Seeker in the world. And he takes care of all the dragon eggs for potential Dragon Seekers or otherwise. He knows a lot of magic too, so who knows? Maybe he knows a way of getting you home," Ash smiled excitedly. As she said that, Cinder went back over to the two humans. She let out a huge yawn, showing off her sharpened fangs as Jamie could smell the meat on her hot breath. The smallest dragon then promptly laid down, curling up to sleep. Ash smiled as she patted her dragon's head. Jamie sat still, watching the scene calmly.

When it was finally time to settle down, Jamie couldn't sleep. He tried to, for the sake of getting his energy back and be ready for tomorrow. From how excited Ash was, it sounded like he was going to need it. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't do it. So much has happened all at once and his mind was just reprocessing everything over again. A new world where humans and dragons co-exist. A new world where people can live in environments such as this molten landscape. A new world that offered so many mysteries that Jamie didn't even know where to begin.

He stared hard at the statue in his hands, looking deep into its eyes. The feeling of it staring back at him returned, much stronger this time. The boy knew why that was. The soul of a dragon was staring right back at him. A dragon that could belong to him. Just thinking that reminded him of Jasmine freaking out at the sight of the seemingly innocent statue.

Did she know what it truly was?

She had to have done.

Suddenly feeling homesick again, Jamie placed the statue on the bedside table. As he once again tried to sleep, Jamie thought about finally going home to see his mum again and go back to normal.

Whatever normal was nowadays.