Hearts of Eternal Fahrenheit

Ch. 1: Wake Up

I lay in bed, staring at the slowly spinning fan on the ceiling.  I know I have school today, but I am really not feeling the whole 'get up' idea.  So, I decide to scream.

"Screw my life! Where's the scotch?" my mom screams back to me, but all I hear is a whisper.

"Life isn't always fair, Q.  Plus, if you want scotch from me, you're

going to have to hold that thought for three more years." I'll get her

back.

"DAMMIT, ANGELA!" I hear her bang her fists on the kitchen counter.  I brace myself for 40 lashes from the Mama Bear. 

"QUINN MICHAEL SPARROW, YOU CUT THE ATTITUDE AND TREAT ME WITH SOME RESPECT OR I SWEAR TO GOD, I WILL THROW YOU OUT OF THIS HOUSE!" when she says this, it booms through the whole house, shutting me up immediately.  I guess she has the last words with this one.

I get out of bed and walk into the bathroom.  I stop in front of the mirror to look myself over.  Same wavy, black hair, tanned skin, and blue eyes.  However, something new on my neck catches my eye: a patch of black iridescent scales.

"Damn..." I close my eyes and try to concentrate on my inner-aura.  It has been what feels like forever since my last Change, but finally I remember the ancient text to reverse it.  I recite it silently to myself. 

"Intierno mo bodilla entro nun Draligna." my eyes go fire-red and I wince slightly at the pin prick of pain that happens when I reverse the Change.  I look back to the mirror, satisfied to see the patch of scales gone. 

"Nothing.  Perfect." I smile more so a little tilt of my lips. 

I walk back into my bedroom and over to my closet, open it, and wait to see which set of clothes calls my name today.  I figure a pair of black skinny jeans, a white tee, and my gray and white VANS.  I get dressed, grab my lighter and pack of cigarettes, and bolt downstairs. 

I stop into the kitchen to grab a Pop-Tart and throw a quick jesting glance at my mom.  I pause in the doorway to look over into the living room to see my dad.  All I get is a blank stare.  I roll my eyes and slam the door behind me as I walk out, mumbling a few choice words as I do so. 

I'm walking to school when I just so happen to look over into the forest on the opposite side of the street.  I look straight into two glowing yellow eyes with slit pupils...  like a dragon. 

I feel the Change scratching at the surface of my skin, wanting to take over my body in the middle of the road.  I slowly start walking over, ready to generate scales at any given second when a human girl walks out onto the road in front of me. 

My god is she gorgeous. She walks out like she owns the world, tall, tanned, and thin.  Her hair is a vibrant halo of purple, her eyes turned back into a bright green, and then she just stops, hands on her perfectly curved hips.

"Wow, talk about impressive.  What is this, an episode of pranked? Where

are the cameras? 'Cuz certainly the modeling agency doesn't send their top girls just to recruit new male strippers." I wink and make a flowing gesture down my body with a boyish smile on my face, stretching from ear to ear.  I take a cigarette out of my pack and casually light it. 

"Petty lines like that don't work on grown women, Quinn." she takes her hands off her hips and slowly walks towards me. 

"I bet you're only about 12, tops.  And how the hell do you know my name, freaky stalker chick? Hot, but freaky," I throw back quickly.  I stare at her as her puts a look on to make it seem as though she is offended.  She stops a foot away from me and takes the cig out of my mouth, takes a few drags, and places it back between my lips, exhaling into the air. 

"I'm 17 for your information, reject.  And my name is Rhylea Elixier.  Glacial Dragon of the north, hence my magnificent violet hair." she flips her hair gloriously as I watch her in awe at how nonchalant she makes this whole thing seem.  Her eyes glow yellow and then quickly return back to their luscious green. 

"You never answered my question, Miss. Elixier," I say.  My muscles tense slightly at the total ignorance and my eyes go red.  Rhylea looks in shock and grabs my arm, rather tightly.  I am so confused.

"You're him? YOU'RE the Demon Dragon?!" Rhylea says, with a little bit of sarcasm. "Come on, handsome," she says with a cheeky smile as she pulls me into the woods, my lit cigarette falling to the pavement. 

I look around to see trees everywhere.  Perfect, now I can't even see the damn road.  I smirk to myself and say,

"Are you going to rape me? I know I'm good looking and all, but we really don't have to go THIS far into the woods.  I won't scream for help, no worries."

Rhylea stops and gives me a quick annoyed look before walking about 20 yards away.  She turns back to me and says,

"Prepare to be amazed, my dearest Quinn!" she looks down at the ground and whispers a familiar verse.  I can sense pure power flowing through her body.  That's when she starts to Change.

I watch as Rhylea's body begins to shift and form into the body of a dragon, from the looks of it, about 20 feet tall.  Light purple scales cover her body as her teeth and claws elongate and sharpen, turning transparent, like ice.  Her tail starts to grow, almost as long as she is tall, with clear spines forming on the end.

Her aura shines a vibrant purple as does the ice-cold flame she radiates from within her.  Lastly, giant wings with a span nearly as long as her body form, jutting from her spine, and are covered in steel-silver feathers.  She finishes the transformation with a booming roar that echoes through the forest. 

Rhylea looks down at me as she heaves with her great wings and takes flight into the morning sky, still lit with the last colors of sunrise.  She speaks to me through her mind and says,

"Well, are you going to join me or not?"  She winks one of her big, yellow eyes and takes off higher into the sky.  I lose sight of her in the clouds.  I smile to myself and being the Change. 

Iridescent black scales begin to appear all over my body as my bones stretch and pop into those of a 30 foot tall Nightstone Dragon.  My claws and teeth grow and sharpen with the strength and shine of diamonds.  My inner aura glows a dark black with specks of red, as does the electric flame that roars from my throat.  My tail grows and ends with several diamond-like shards. 

Finally, my wings form, taking the shape of a bat's wings, black as night.  A low growl bellows from within me and I fly into the clouds, aiming for the general direction that Rhylea flew. 

I'm flying for about five minutes when I see Rhylea a few hundred feet ahead of me.  I take off quickly towards her and call out her name mentally.  She hears me and turns her body around and begins to circle around me, calling my name over and over.  I look dead into her eyes and say,

"Fall." she stops and chuckles.  She quickly says back, "That would kill me.  Are you insane?" She shoots straight up.  I'm hurt by the fact that she doesn't trust me, after all, we all come from the same place don't we?  I follow her,

"Please.  Just, trust me.  I'm not going to let you fall.  I swear on my own life." I feel her hesitation, and then I physically feel a strong wind.  I look up and see Rhylea's body plummeting towards the earth.  I laugh and say,

"Tuck in your wings," and surprisingly, she listened. 

Rhylea's heart is quickly dropping to her stomach when she realizes that she's still falling.  She contemplates over opening her wings to try and catch the wind. 

"But, that would tear my wings, and that's a sure ride into the ground." A single shining tear rolls down her face as she gets ready to scream into my mind when her body slams into something warm and solid...  and scaled.