Water Touched - A Dragon Tribe Origin

Chapter Thirty-One - Darien

Darien slowly came to. His head throbbed like no other. What happened? The last thing he remembered was going for a walk with his father. They were talking. Connecting. Bonding. Getting along. For the first time, Darien not only felt respected by his father, but also needed. His father was recognizing him as an adult, which made him feel more like an adult, and that filled him with a new kind of confidence and purpose. Things felt like they were falling into place.

They'd entered the park together, and then his world went black.

He had every intention of standing, but he found his arms tied behind his back, binding him to a tree. Why am I tied up? Why does my head hurt so much?

His vision was just beginning to come around and return to normal. Instantly, he wished it hadn't, because the first thing he saw was his father being held captive. An Inero in his dragon form had his claws wrapped tightly around Orion's throat.

The Inero were small in size, but they made up for it in speed and agility. Their claws were razor sharp and they had several large teeth for tearing. Darien thought they looked cruder in person than they were in any pictures he had seen. He'd never actually seen one in in dragon form in the flesh.

"Let him go," Darien managed to grunt, but it was too quiet. They didn't even notice he was awake. He tried again, gathering every bit of strength he had. "Let him go!"

That got their attention. One turned to face him and smiled in the strange way only dragons could smile. His mouth opened slightly showing more of those large sharp teeth, and his eyes glistened. Then in one quick gesture, those razor claws were thrust through Orion's chest. Blood and gore spilled out at his feet.

"D-Dad?" This can't be happening. This isn't possible. It was all just some sort of a dream. He'd wake up any moment and he'd be back at home, in his bed, lying next to Tai, and everything would be exactly as it should. But it wasn't a dream, and as that reality started to settle inside of him, he began to struggle against the ropes holding him to the tree. If he could get free, he could do something to save his father, or at least try. He had to try. There was no way he could lose his father too.

There was five seconds of life left for Orion. Five seconds, and there was no shock or expression of pain. He knew--he had to have known because he looked far too peaceful. Tired, but peaceful. Darien just didn't understand. Orion moved his mouth, forming a word, and let out his last breath.

And the Inero laughed.

Hot tears of sadness and anger filled Darien's eyes. He was far too shocked to spill any, and as the shock passed, he started to shake from his rage that was now slowly building inside of him. They murdered his father. They were not going to get away with it. They would pay—and dearly.

"What should we do with this one?" One of the dragons asked, his voice drawing Darien out of his shock induced daze. He didn't have much time to act.

The leader of the group, the murderer with his father's blood on his claws, gazed over at Darien. "As far as I'm concerned, he can be an example as well."

All of the others gazed at their commander, and then at Darien.

They're going to kill me too. Darien realized. His eyes grew wide, and once more he struggled to get free with a new kind of fervor. The nearer they came to him, the more his fear intensified. He couldn't die. Not yet. Not when things were starting to sort themselves out. And if he died, who would tell the rest of his people about the Inero's deception?

That's when his magic took over. He was vaguely aware of a blue aura surrounding him. As he kicked and squirmed and rubbed the ropes against the tree, the glow began to intensify into an almost blinding light.

And then it became a flame. A fire so strong it engulfed him, and magic so pure it obeyed his command. It burned through the ropes binding him, but that was the only thing actually destroyed by his magic. While the small inferno surrounded the tree, and the grass, and even himself, nothing else burned. The fire obeyed his will, and as soon as he was free, his will said to destroy the Inero who killed his father.

Standing slowly, Darien never let his glare leave the Inero—especially the one who killed his father. The flames intensified around him and licked out toward the dragons threateningly.

The Inero faltered, stumbling back behind their leader, seeking him out for protection.

Again, the strange dragon smile played on their fearless leader's face, and he laughed. "You're going to be a fun one. Now I'll show you mine," he said, and then a mass of red fire erupted from his body, completely surrounding him and his small troop of warriors. Darien's own, blue fire, increased in volume and strength, and glowed so brightly it almost became white. It melted around him into a smooth, protective shell. When the light faded and Darien could once more see in the darkness, all of the Inero were gone. He was alone once again with his father.

His dead father.

"Darien! Please answer me! Tell me you're alive!" Tai was practically screaming in his head. She had been for a while, her voice being nothing but white noise until he was able to focus and process it.

"I'm here."

"Thank God! Are you okay?"

"I'm not injured," he said. He wasn't okay. He was anything but okay, but that's not what she wanted to know. Completely numb, and staring blankly in front of him, he picked up his cell phone and dialed the number of the first brother he could find on his speed dial.

"Darien? Are you okay? Tell me you're all right," Lance answered, and he sounded relieved. News must have traveled fast, and under normal circumstances that would have made Darien smile. Tai was genuinely worried about him if she was seeking out his family for help.

"I need your help," Darien whispered. "I'm at the city park around the block. Dad, he, he's..." He swallowed, not wanting to say it. But he had to. "He's dead."

"What?" Lance managed after a long period of silence.

"Can you guys please just come and help me? I can't take care of this on my own." Darien hung up, not wanting to speak anymore, and not being able. The instant his phone disconnected, he started to cry. Softly at first, and then the reality began to settle in as the pungent smell of blood filled his nostrils.

His father was dead, and only ten feet away from him with a gaping hole in his chest. Those realizations, along with the smell, and the sight of the gore of his entrails dripping outside of his body, how lifeless it was, made Darien's stomach turn. He soon found himself retching in the foliage that lined the sidewalk.

With weak legs, he somehow managed to walk to his father's body. There would be time for grieving later. He had to do something about the mess before any humans came by. The fact no one was running over to see about the magical surges that had just taken place was a miracle in and of itself. It was late, the section of the park they were in was often empty, but that didn't mean no one was able to notice or no one had. If someone was coming to investigate, he wanted to make sure they found nothing.

On autopilot, Darien didn't think about the fact that he was holding his father's lifeless body as he moved it to the tree where he had been bound only minutes ago. He was able to make Orion appear as though he were sleeping, propped up against the trunk, his arms folded across his chest. It almost had Darien convinced, so hopefully that meant it was realistic. Calling on what little magic he could focus on, he was able to wash the blood and gore from the pavement. Water poured from fingertips, and it sparkled with a slight blue glow under the moonlight.

Then he sat by his father and sobbed into his knees, as he waited for his brothers.