Dracia

Chapter 2: Blake

Blake was an orphan. Known by everybody, loved by none. He would roam the street by himself, nobody trusting him, him trusting nobody. His family had lived on Celesuna's Isle for many generations until, Well he wasn't exactly sure what happened. Each of the many foster homes he had resided in had given a new story. It was never the same story each time. He could get something simple like "they were in a car crash" to something as far fetched as "They were teleported to the Uneviver dimension" . Blake almost thought he could remember one person saying his parents were abducted by aliens. Each time he heard a new story he believed all of them less. His motto was "trust nobody but yourself" and it applied to every single person he met. Well it had applied to everyone but Callum. Callum was his closest friend. At least he was until a few years ago.

At that time Blake and Callum were closer than two clouds of vapour on a foggy day. They both had many similarities from their fiery temperament to their love of adventure. They were both quite reckless as well, rushing headfirst into things that even both of them could not understand. So one day when they were twelve, Callum, who was bored from not having any decent adventures in weeks, told Blake to meet with him in the Yintaie forest. The Yintaie forest, or Forest of Scars as it was known as because it was filled from the ancient roots to the infinite canopy of evergreen with territorial predators. Like griffons, Griffons would not hesitate to slaughter anything that came within an a meter of their territory. Despite this, Blake, thirsty for something exciting, agreed quicker than a bolt of lightning could hit a lightning rod in a storm.

So later that night, Blake snuck out of his current foster home, St. Algiesa and made his way for the Forest of Everlasting Night, as it was also known as. Although Blake had not been given an exact place to go once he got inside the forest, knowing Callum he assumed the very heart of the forest. Blake shuddered, the heart of the Yintaie forest was the only place on the Liyange or light continent where light never reached the ground. It was blacker than his ink black hair, as dark as the Soryinu or darkness continent. Even underground there was light where he lived, he had heard about vast caves of eerie glowing mushrooms. Blake stiffened, told himself to stop being a scaredy fox ( scaredy fox, not cat, Blake respected cats, they could fend for themselves. Foxes were too afraid to face things directly) and gingerly walked into the woods.

As he stepped into the world of darkness, he experienced an emotion that was new to him, fear. It wasn't nerves, nerves were a common part of his life. What he was experiencing right then was sheer terror. He didn't like it one bit. And he remembered it like it was yesterday. The fear, the hesitation, Blake felt a shiver run down his spine just recalling it. Once he entered the foreboding forest, Blake walked for what seemed like hours. After a while he wondered if anyone from St. Algiesa was looking for him at that moment. He decided that the odds were low, considering nobody really cared for him despite their motto, "every child is treated equally". As Blake got deeper into to the Yintaie forest, even with his excellent night vision, had trouble seeing in the pure darkness. If he got out of the forest alive he would tell everybody that his blazing amber eyes, which were dubbed liquid fire by some of the people at St. Algiesa did not in fact glow in the dark.

Blake appeared to be nearing the heart of the forest. His eyes were were becoming just as useful to him as if he was blind and the trees were, from what he could feel, getting as thick as whale blubber. It was as if the forest had a core. A pitch-black, wooden core devoid of anything except twilight. As the trees got thicker and Blake got more anxious he realized how lucky he was right then to be alive. All the creatures living in the forest were extremely territorial, especially griffons. He trembled at the mere theory of what would happen if he was attacked by one of the eagle-headed lions. Although Blake was grateful, he was still surprised nonetheless at the fact he hadn't been attacked yet. It was incredibly unlikely that he was walking on the only part of the dusky woods that had not been claimed by one of the various predators roaming the forest.

Blake was at the heart of the forest now he could feel it. He wasn't sure if he knew because the trees were about as thick as houses or the waves of unsettling energy radiating of the woods. As he pushed through the trees, something struck him. Callum never entered the forest.

Blake, who had been silent the whole journey, let out a cry as the fact hit him like an anvil to the stomach. Filled with rage, Blake's amber eyes truly started to glow. That was the moment the griffin attacked him.

If Blake had reacted any slower, the griffin would have struck him on the throat and he wouldn't of been able to relive the night. Fortunately, when you live half your life on the streets and half at an overcrowded foster home you acquire some very fast reflexes. As the griffin lunged at him he jumped to the side. The griffin hit him full force on the shoulder. The wound wasn't fatal but Blake felt hot tears fill his eyes as the talons of the powerful carnivore tore through the delicate flesh covering his shoulder blade. Blake blinked away his boiling tears and tried to get a better look at the creature trying to kill him. When he got a glance he realized he was looking at the mirror image of himself. The griffin was jet-black, just like his hair and had fierce amber eyes that echoed his. Blake hesitated. He couldn't find it in him to hurt such a beautiful creature creature, whether it was trying to kill him or not. It was in this moment of doubt when the griffin struck again, and this time the blow was too quick for Blake to dodge it.

It happened to everybody in Dracia at some point. It usually came at ages 10-13, sometimes earlier, sometimes later. Either way it always came when the person needed it most. It could be any of the - elements, water, fire, earth and air were the usuals but nature and lightning weren't too abnormal. It was invariably light or dark. Light elementals usually lived on the light continent and dark elementals on the dark continent. It was a fairly self-explanatory system but there were always exceptions. Like him.

As the griffin lunged at Blake an intense burst of amber light shot out of his hands searing the griffon's feathers. As the smell of smoke filled the forest, Blake felt some energy returning to him. Fire, it made sense to Blake. Fire fit his personality. He had a fiery temper and was very headstrong but was also clever, a quick thinker and was as passionate a forest fire, crackling with delight as it scorched the trees with its inferno and hissing with annoyance when confronted with a hose. It also explained why he hated swimming. What really threw Blake of was that he was dark. Few on the light continent of Liyange were dark and the few that were, almost always had a bad reputation. He didn't pickpocket as much as most of the others at St. Algiesa, but when they found out he was dark his dependability would almost certainly be questioned. Blake sulked. "It was not fair at all. It didn't help that he was orphaned but now he was subjected to glances of suspicion and curiosity as if he was a new exhibit at the museum. He would be gawked at everywhere he went and treated as if he were a piece of gum on the sidewalk, unwanted. If he wasn't subject to racist comments he might of liked being dark element. He would lose the ability to heal but fire elementals were not that great at healing things anyway, except for reviving dead plants which was kind of boring. Instead he could drain other's energy with his flames. It wouldn't be great to use when he was warming up on a winter day, but it was useful when an angry chicken cat was trying to kill him.

If the griffin was pissed of before, it was raging now. Blake saw the glint in its ignited irises, the muscles rippling under its inky coat. It was a graceful hunter and Blake was a skinny, exhausted boy. Blake was sure he wouldn't be lucky the third time so, agonizing shoulder aside he ran.

Blake was to that day, not sure how he ran for as long as he did. It took him at least 5 hours to reach the center of the woods and he didn't have a mangled shoulder and an oversized kitty chasing him. But he still managed to dash out of the forest, somehow dodging the gigantic trees and the razor sharp claws of the griffin behind him. Blake also didn't see how he outran the griffin. He could see the muscles bulge under the beast's hanches. It took elegant strides while he blindly stumbled over the thick roots of the ancient trees around him. Maybe it was a surge of adrenaline or possibly pure luck. Blake didn't know. But, what Blake did know was he never saw Callum after the events of the evening though he had heard rumors of him moving to the darkness continent. What he did know was he got two things from that night. A scar, and a grudge.