Dragon Seekers

Chapter 30

"She killed my dad," Ash finally spoke, causing Jamie to look at her in surprise. "Not directly, but I'm sure that she gave the order."

It had taken Ash a long time to calm down. She refused to talk as her throat had clenched every time she tried. Jamie had to help her up the slope as her crying drained her physically. They both sat down next to each other, with Cinder laying down with her head on Ash's lap. Jamie stayed silent, waiting for Ash to continue. It would be wrong for him to force her to speak.

"My dad was on a mission," Ash continued after taking a shaky breath. She stroked Cinder's head as the dragon whimpered a little. "Blaze wasn't an Island Leader at the time, so he went along. They were best friends. They were sent to protect a dragon that had been injured and attacked. But the reason for it was because of her. Or her commander at least. I'm pretty sure that she gave him an order to do what he did.

At first, they tried to negotiate, especially since that commander was out of his jurisdiction. But the commander forced them to fight. It's a Dragon Seeker's duty to protect all dragons. No matter what.

The commander wanted to kill the dragon, but my dad and Blaze weren't going to give up that easily. They fought hard until the commander pulled some cheap tricks. He made a sword appear from a tattoo on his arm. And then an axe. And other weapons when his previous ones were too damaged.

That's how Blaze lost his arm. He tried to defend the dragon when the commander tried to kill it. And my dad died protecting both of them. When back up arrived and chased the commander out, it was too late.

Cinder only hatched a day before it all happened."

Jamie couldn't speak. He didn't know what to say in all honesty. He heard stories of children losing family members who were in the Armed Forces, but because he never had any friends like that, he felt out of place. A part of him even felt like he somewhat forced Ash to talk about what had happened.

"The last thing my dad told me, was that he loved me, that he'll teach me more on how to fight, and that I need to be strong," Ash continued, looking like she felt the need to. "That's what he told me, and I'll always keep those words close to my heart."

As Ash spoke, she was looking at her spear, which was still jammed into the target. Jamie remembered Ash saying that her dad gave it to her. Did he give it to her the day he died? Maybe. But that wasn't the point. Ash lost someone that she cared about deeply. Though it wasn't recent, Ash was still broken about it. Her breakdown was proof of that.

"I'm really sorry, Ash," Jamie said, not sure what else to say.

"Don't. I heard enough of that frag over the years," Ash grumbled, but there was no bite in her words. She rubbed her still puffy eyes and gave Jamie a weak smile. "But, I'm glad that I talked to you about it. It felt good. For the first time ever. Thanks, Jamie."

Jamie smiled too. He finally cheered Ash up. She still looked sad, but she did look more uplifted. This made Jamie feel like he had accomplished what he'd set out to do.

Jamie happened to glance at Ash's spear again. He recalled how she would always have it with her. Because of how special it was to her and that her dad gave it to her. Then he remembered how she tried to attack Cassandra was responsible for what had happened. She must have caused so much pain foe so many people. The first one she hurt was apparently Jasmine.

That's when Jamie felt envy towards Ash. She grew up with her dad. She had amazing memories of him it seemed. He inspired her to become a Dragon Seeker when she gets older. He taught her some of her fighting skills. He gave her something that she treasured. The complete opposite of him. Because of Cassandra, he'll never experience any of he things that Ash did, painfully one thing especially.

The love of a dad.

"What is it?" Ash asked as she saw the look on Jamie's face. Jamie snapped out of the envy. He may as well come out with it, he planned to tell Ash anyway. Just under better circumstances.

"You're not the only one that she hurt. She killed my dad too," Jamie said as calmly as he could.

"What are you talking about? You're not from this world," Ash asked, looking confused and a little offended at the same time. She didn't seem to believe him. If we and her dad were as close as Jamie believes, maybe Ash's dad told her stories about his missions and Jasmine.

"Did your dad ever mention a woman named Jasmine?" Jamie asked.

"Jasmine...Jasmine...." Ash muttered, thinking deeply. Jamie waited patiently as she tried to remember all the stories her dad must have told her. "Yeah. When I was a little, my dad sometimes told me stories about her. I think that he might have had a crush on her before he met my mum. He'd gush over her, saying that she was the greatest Dragon Seeker ever."

Jamie smiled as he heard that. It felt good to her that his mum was that well respected. He wondered if he can hear some of those stories from Ash (depending on how much she remembers) or Nexus. He needs to hear as much as he can so he can remember a side of Jasmine that he never learned before.

"Why?" Ash asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You're looking at her son," Jamie smiled smugly. Cinder perked her head up as Ash had an odd look on her face. It took Jamie everything he had not to laugh as ever so slowly, Ash's face started to look like she was piecing it all together.

"Seriously?!" Ash exclaimed as she finally processed all of Jamie's words. His smile went brighter as he nodded his head. Ash ran her fingers through her hair as she put everything together like pieces of a puzzle. "This...Jamie, this changes things! Everything makes so much sense! Your Soul Statue, your egg, everything!"

Jamie laughed a little as Ash jumped to her feet and started pacing around the Training Ring. Cinder got up as well, looking equally as excited as her rider. Ash was glancing around the Training Ring as she was rambling about something. Was it about training?

Jamie wasn't sure as all of a sudden, he couldn't hear. It was like he was being submerged underwater. Whatever Ash was saying, he couldn't hear it clearly. There was also a vibrating in his ears, like a warning. His body started moving as he felt like something was trying to pull at him, like he was a puppet on strings. He turned towards the manor's direction. The vibration in his ears suddenly rang like an alarm bell. It was so strong that his skull might rip apart.

The egg. There was something wrong with it.

"Jamie? What's wrong?" Ash's voice suddenly called out. The feeling of being underwater and the ringing abruptly stopped.

"I need to get back to the house! Something's not right!" Jamie shouts, eyes wide in a panic. Ash's face turned from concern to serious. She raced over to her spear.

"Cinder!" she shouted, yanking her spear out of the target. Cinder harrumphed as she immediately flew towards Ash. Ash jumped up and scrambled to get on Cinder's back. Jamie was about to start running when Cinder flew towards him, Ash outstretching a hand. "Give me your hand!"

At that signal, Jamie jumped up as high as he could, stretching for Ash's hand. He grabbed it and was dragged up to the sky. Ash pulled him up behind her. Jamie sat down as he was brought up to her. He clung onto her with one thing in mind:

Get to his egg.