Dragon's Rage (Rewrite)

Chapter 8: May I have this dance?

My heart.

It always would beat slowly, I would rarely feel my pulse in my body. Despite my heart bursting into a powerful fiery in my most needed moments, I would never feel any kind of emotion. As if I was drained of everything that I have stood for.

I felt nothing.

It did not take long for my mother and I to arrive the party. The building stood tall with the structure of a castle. My eyes squinted as I exited the vehicle, staring up at the castle. My true reason of arriving to this 'party' is even unknown to me. Besides letting my mother having fun for a time, I knew I would end up disappearing to find something. Such a buzzkill, but I'm still true to my search. 

"Isn't it beautiful, Vipie?" My mother smiled brightly, her eyes shined brightly. She then dropped the smile into a sheepish one. "Oh, I should say your fake name. Hm, maybe not your real name either if anyone asks. Maybe you should come up with one if anyone asks." My mother held out her arm, which I linked with mine.

A small smile formed on my lips as I nodded. "I'll keep that in mind." The two of us put our masks on before entering the castle. My mother and I wore somewhat matching masks, but hers was much more cat-like. She preferred hers like that, which I was not sure why.

Inside the castle, we were immediately introduced by a large white and gold ballroom. There was already hundreds of people in the ballroom, and few were hanging on the sidelines. Many of them were chatting while others were dining. My attention was turned to the ceiling, as a large chandelier gave the ballroom light. There were pillars by the wall and on them had small torches, but far from the crowd. This atmosphere was familiar, but too modern to compare in medieval times. My eyes then turned to the ginormous stars in the far back of the ballroom, my eyes squinted at its view. 

"This is so exciting! Also, Ryan told us to meet with him. He must be around here." My mother removed her arms from mine and moved towards the crowd. Normally I would follow her, but I trusted her to be by herself for a while. Until then, I wandered into the crowd. Most of them were dancing, but the rest spoke and held each other close. I felt a slight discomfort as I walked through everyone. The dragon inside me was scratching at my surface, raging forward. I could barely hold it in, but taking deep breaths were a quick solution.

It wasn't long until my mother ran to me with Ryan, linked with each other. "There you are." Ryan stared down at me. Oddly, I didn't recognize him from the first second, but after seeing my mother with a large smile with the taller male, it was easy to guess. "You look different, it is nice to see that you have groomed yourself before you arrived. That goes to the both of you." He says, looking back slightly into the crowd. "Slicked back hair works for you, Viper. Hm.. I should not call you that here, should I?"

I gave him a nod, but changed the topic. "You look different as well. I didn't recognize you, not just because of the mask too." His mask took almost of his face, which was a reason. It held a golden look, and on the sides represented a thorny crown.

Ryan's hair was now a clean cut instead of the style that I have made mine. Though, he did not shave the start of his beard, he must have decided to keep it.

"It must be hard to notice, but do not worry. In these parties, it is better to keep your identity hidden." Ryan then took a closer look at my face then nodded. "You look like some that I have already seen in this party. They do not look too different, so if anything goes wrong, I would not worry about what happens. Just make sure you keep your mask on, do not remove it.

"Well of course, it is a masquerade party." My eyes trailed off back to the stairs, which he took notice. "And I won't. You know a bit about me, don't you?"