ᴍᴀɪᴅᴇɴ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅʀᴀɢᴏɴ (ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴏɴᴇ)

CHAPTER ONE

"Come on Sephora! Let's put on a show!"

I stood in the center of a training arena facing a young girl with short chestnut brown hair that was pulled back into a low ponytail. She watched me with a sly look, her chocolate colored eyes locked onto my emerald green colored ones.

"Alright Crystal," I said with a smirk crossing my pale face as I crouched low to ground to get ready to shift. "Let the show begin!" I shouted as I dashed towards Crystal, shifting mid run. In the place of my small form was a black colored dragon around the size of a full grown wolf.

Crystal rolled out of the way and then shifted herself. The brown haired girl turned into a large brown and gray wolf. The wolf crouched low and growled at me, challenging me.

I too crouched down and flicked my long forked tail as I watched Crystal's movements. Her ears flicked with every second in an attempt to hear the world around her. In my soul, a smirk crossed my face once again and I urged my dragon to make the first move.

Still in the weeds, I lowered myself even more and prepared to launch myself into the air at Crystal again. Though, the young Wolf Maiden seemed to be able to tell and raced off in a circle around me. Her speed was unmatched by anyone and I had to flick my own ears to try to keep up with her.

Then, I felt a presence behind me so I dashed out of my spot in the plants and turned to face Crystal. She had stopped running in a circle and crawled out of the weeds towards me.

"Do you give up yet, Sephora?" Crystal asked me in our thoughts. I shook my head and let out a laugh at the other young Maiden. Then, I growled at her in a challenge.

"Not a chance, Crystal," I tell her before lunging at her once more. This seemed to have caught her off guard and I managed to pin her to the ground. She bared her teeth at me in another challenge, but knowing this should end our little battle, I shook my head and placed a claw on her neck and roared loudly.

Crystal got the message and bared her neck in submission before shifting backs to her human form with her neck still bared to me. I moved to get off of her and shifted back as well. A smirk on my lips as I looked at Crystal who was sitting cross legged across from me on the sandy ground.

"I win," I shot at her before standing up and walking off out of the Training Arena. I heard footsteps behind me as Crystal raced to catch up to me. The smile was still on my face as I turned my head to look at her. She, in despite of losing, had a happy smile on her face as well.

"So, what's up with you and your brothers?" I asked her as we rounded the corner and walked into the white tiled locker room. The smell of shampoo and soap filled my nose as we entered the room. We walked over to our lockers and pulled out our bags before each of us going to take a shower

"Nothing much, just training ya know?" Crystal told me as we stepped into the shower stalls next to each other. I pulled out my strawberries and cream shampoo and began to wash my long, jet black hair. As the scent of my shampoo filled my senses, I let my thoughts wander to the upcoming battle in The Arena.

"Hey Crystal?" I asked her as we stepped out of the showers, each of us wrapped up in a semi scratchy white towel. She turned to look at me while pulling her white t-shirt over her head.

"Yeah?"

"When do you think we'll be picked for The Arena?" I asked her while pulling my black skinny jeans on and slipping my feet into my black colored dress flats. I looked up at her and saw her shaking her head at me. A strange look was on her face

"No Idea," and with that Crystal took off out of the locker room and off to wherever. I let out a sigh before gathering my bag and heading out myself. I walked down the pathway that led out of the Training Center and headed towards my house.

As I walked, I kept seeing little kids playing in the fields, each of them having so much fun in their little games. I let a small smile grace my lips as I remembered what that was like.

Enjoy it while you can little ones, for it goes away fast.

I turned my attention away from those thoughts as I reached the silver metal gate that separated my family's yard from public property. I slid the lock open and pushed the gate open with a loud creaking sound. My heightened sense of hearing had made me cringe from the volume of the noise.

Stepping through the gate, I barely had enough time to push it close before being tackled by a little mop of unruly black colored hair. A laugh escaped my lips as my younger brother pushed me onto the grass covered ground off to the side of the stone pathway.

"Well Damien," I started to say to the young one as I picked my younger brother up off of me and placed him next to me on the ground. "That's certainly one way to greet your big sister," my voice was laced with amusement and love as I spoke to him. He just beamed up at me and then raced to stand up.

"Come on! Mama wants us in the house!" He cried out as he came over to me and tugged on my hands, trying to pull me up off of the ground. With a smile on my lips, I lifted myself up and let him lead me towards the small white wooden sided house that made up our home.

When we reached the front door, Damien dropped my hand to push it open. He placed his tiny hands on the old, worn out gray colored wooden door and pushed with all of his might. Even despite this, he was having trouble getting it to open for him. Coming up behind him, I placed my own hands on the door and pushed it open. Damien looked up at me with a pout on his face.

"I could've opened it Seph!" He cried out before crossing his arms over his chest in a huff. I looked at him and then laughed. Then, I leaned down and gave him a peck on the cheek. This caused him to look up at me and smile, so I smiled back at him.

"I know you could've, but we shouldn't keep mama waiting too long, right?" I asked him as I took his hand in mine and led him into the house, shutting the door behind us. I saw a thoughtful expression cross his face and then he nodded.

"Right!" He cried out before running off deeper into the house. I gave a chuckle at him before taking my black bag off of my shoulder and hung it on a hook by the front door. My dark blue jean jacket followed the bag onto the hook before I slipped off my black Mary Jane shoes.

"Sephora?" I heard my mother's faint voice call out from the kitchen as I finished getting my things situated. A smile graced my lips once more as I turned away from the front door and walked across the old wooden oak floors, past the worn out couch and other living room furniture, and then into the kitchen. My mother was standing at the stove stirring a pot that was boiling.

"Hey mom," I said to her after I entered the room. At the sound of my voice, she turned to face me with a small smile on her own lips. She turned back to her pot a moment later, but before she did, I noticed that her smile had fallen.

"Something wring?" I asked her as I walked up behind her and stood off to her right. A frown had replaced her smile and that caused me to worry. She shook her head at me before turning towards me, a strained smile now on her lips as she looked at me.

"Nothing you need to worry about darling," she said to me. Her voice sounded as strained as her smile. I gave her a frown before I heard my brother come running into the room, he was babbling about something as he walked.

"You can always talk to me mom," I told her while putting a hand on her arm and giving her a comforting look. I then turned around and picked up my brother.

"Let's go set the table Dami!" I exclaimed as I made him 'fly' out of the kitchen and into the dining room, with him giggling and laughing the whole way. I heard my mom sigh before my brother blocked out all other noise with his babbling and singing.

We laid out the silverware and plates carefully, me only having to fix Damien's settings couple of times and we got the job fairly quickly, but most importantly we had some fun while doing it.

Whatever this is mom that is bothering you, I will always be there for you and Damien.