The Dragon Warrior

Chapter 4

A towering man stood before them, wearing the same style of clothes they did - combat - style pants and a black t- shirt with an army jacket. He had a broad chest and keys in his pocket. Noah was surprised when he looked down at them - his face was kindly and his blue - blue! - eyes sparkled in the morning sunlight.

Noah stared at him. Everything about their current situation suggested he was going to hurt them, but this man just stood there, looking at them intently. There was a silence only broken by the slight wind rattling against the window.

Emma stared back at the man patiently, but it took all of Noah's willpower not to say anything to this man. He couldn't resist any longer.

"Why are we here?" he asked the man harshly. Emma shot a glance at him, but he disregarded it. He could talk to his sister later. He could only talk to this stranger now.

"You are here because you have very special abilities. You were born into a family of Spoulubopuns, one of the last of your kind. You are being hunted. You must train with us, while you still can. You may possibly be prepared to enter the real world when you become adults."

Noah almost laughed out loud, but it didn't look like the man was joking. His eyes were no longer sparkling, but looking upon them with an urgency, definitely not humour.

All the same, Noah couldn't suppress a smile. Emma looked at him strangely. He gestured towards the man. "You don't believe him, right? It's ridiculous!"

She shrugged and creased her eyebrows. "While I admit it's crazy, it does make sense with everything that's been happening. Those men on the train. Your sword - fighting and my magic. The reason that until this man, we've never seen anyone with light eyes apart from ourselves." She turned away, towards the man. "Can you tell us anything more?"

The man looked pleased she believed him. He said, "Sarah and Daniel were my very good friends. We would have laid down our lives for each other." The man looked down, and didn't speak for several minutes. Noah and Emma remained silent. They knew how he felt.

Finally he cleared his throat and continued, "When they died, they were crossing the Ponsfata Bridge, which is dangerous to our kind. They were surrounded by the Movopare, and they died to protect you. You barely survived, but I got you out of there before they found you." He looked at the kids.

"You both have special powers because you - ah, well I'm not sure I should tell you just yet. You should get to training first."

Although Noah had been on the verge of finding out why the previous events had occurred, he was interested to know what training meant.

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Training required Noah and Emma to be separate from each other, as they excelled in different things. Noah went with the strange man to master all sorts of weaponry: swords, lances, javelins, spears, axes, archery, knives and daggers.

Emma was taken away by an African - American woman who looked down upon them with a look Emma couldn't quite identify. It wasn't the same as the matron, who looked at them with a sweet fondness. This woman was looking at them with something Emma couldn't quite put her finger on.

She continued towards the training centre and Emma followed, looking around. It was situated in the middle of a sandy desert, with some cacti growing here and there. The centre itself was large and curvy, like sheets of metal were being bent against one another. The woman smiled at her and said huskily, "My name is Damgatia. I shall help you control your magic and use it for the force of good, as well as teach you some basic weapon skills in order to prepare your body."