The Fire Dragon Kingdom's Heir

Chapter One

~TWENTY YEARS LATER~

I was hanging around with one of my school friends. It has been twenty years since I ran away from home. And so far things were still looking good. I thought everything was fine already.

Oh, how wrong was I.

"Hey, Ashley!" One of my friends named Caroline shouted. "Pizza's here! Come help me!"

"I'll be right there!" I went my way towards Caroline and said thank you to the delivery man as I reached out for our pizza. He was very young and charming I can tell you that. He seemed familiar. Like he was someone I knew from Dragon Land before. But I just can't assume stuff. He smiled and clarified our order,

"Four boxes of Hawaiian pizza?" he asked me. I nodded and he handed two of the boxes to Caroline and two to me. When I grazed my hand on his, I felt it. I looked at him with alarm and he looked shocked.

All my thoughts on about how familiar he was went away and replaced by alarm.

Caroline thank the delivery guy as we walked back to where the others were.

"What was that about?" Caroline asked me.

"What was that?" I asked trying to play dumb. She rolled her eyes.

"Don't play dumb on me, Ashley. I saw the look you two were giving each other. It was intense."

 I shrugged. "Hey. He was cute. Don't even try to deny you didn't think he was too."

"I know right! I've never seen someone look so charming before I mean sure I have but-" I didn't hear the rest she was saying. I was too lost in my own thoughts.

What if he was here to try and bring me back home? What will I do? Do I have what it takes to fight him? I was snapped out of my thoughts as a hand was waving in front of me.

"Hello? Ashley? Are you alright?" Caroline asked me frowning.

"I'm fine...actually I'm not. Look, something came up and I need to get going. Bye Carol!" I told her. She looked like she was about to protest but I was already on my way out before she managed to say it.

I managed to get at least 15 feet away from their house when a voice stopped me,

"So, I'm guessing you're the runaway heir the fire kingdom has been trying to desperately find these past twenty years?" the guy I was dreading to see, said somewhere behind me.

I was shocked. Not by the fact that he was suddenly behind me but because he knew that I was the runaway heir. Usually they would know I was a dragon but not that I was the heir!

"How did you know about that?" I asked as I turned to face him. He rolled his eyes and decided to tell me,

"Anyone would know. After I touched you a strong wave of power went over me. And of course I know that there would be no member of the royal family, that is in their right mind, would want to go to land. So I figure it was the runaway." he told me.

I sighed. Just when I thought everything was going perfect.

"Look..." I trailed of willing him to tell me his name.

"Trent" he told me. I nodded. That name sounds familiar too.

"Look Trent. First of all my name is Ashley Daniels. Second, what kingdom are you from? And third, can we talk about this in a more secluded place?" I asked him

"First of all, it's nice to meet you, princess. Second of all, I'm from the Fire Kingdom too. And third, sure. I would love too." I nodded so he was from the Fire Kingdom. Still, I can’t remember where I’ve seen him before. I led him towards a forest. We walked for a while till we reached a field that was hidden by the trees.

"So what brings my fellow member here?" I ask casually. "Oh, and there's no need to call me princess since I ran away and all." I told him.

"That's not possible. You may have run away from home. But the kingdom still treats you as royalty, princess. Plus, I'm supposed to. I am your personal royal guard." he smirked at me.

I froze. I looked at him, alarm evident on my face.

"So you are trying to get me to go home, aren't you?" I asked him warily.

Trent’s POV

I was glad to have found the princess. When she was still in the kingdom I was deeply in love with her. Sadly, I was not born a royal so I only had to watch her from afar.

I was devastated when I found out that the princess was missing. I swore my loyalty to the kingdom that I will try and find her no matter what it takes. I have been searching all my life for her. Of course I had to live too so I needed human money for it.

At first I thought it was a stupid job, delivering pizzas. But now I am glad to have took it since I have found her at last. I can’t even believe I am talking to her right now.

"So you are trying to get me to go home, aren't you?" she asked me warily.

“Actually, yes. Yes, I am. I’ve been searching for you for twenty years. The kingdom’s hired a lot of dragons to come look for you. “I told her.

 “I’m sorry but I don’t think you get the point here. I don’t want to come back. If you want me to come with you, you will have to fight me for it.” She told me in a menacing way. Damn! The kingdom told me this might happen and I trained for this day. But I’m sure as hell not winning against a royal.

I raised my hands in innocence.

“Look, princess. I don’t want to fight you and I’m not confident enough either. So let’s just calm down and talk about this.” I tried to tell her.

“I’m sorry but there is no other way around this.” She told me as she took out from her pocket a small crystal.

I know that crystal. You can buy it from the water dragons. It creates an invisible barrier around you and anyone outside the barrier will not be able to here you nor see you. They can walk past the barrier and not even know we were there. It’s handy for travelling.

She activated the crystal and soon we were in the barrier.

I was getting nervous now. I never expected this to happen. I never thought I would have to fight the person I love. But I have no choice. I have to fight.

I changed into my dragon form and prepared to fight. I looked around to see that the princess has changed too.

Don’t mistake us with your usual human dragons that have bat-like wings with hind legs and two clawy arms. No. We were your snake like dragons with no arms, legs, and wings. We can fly. Sure, no problem. But we don’t need wings for it.

In her case, she looked majestic with a hint of authority in her. She also looked…well…scary.

She was a lot bigger than me. Her chest scales are golden and her back scales were of bloody red. Spikes trailed down her spine until the middle of her form. Her ears were spiky and I can tell she can also use that as her weapon. She still had her golden eyes and her mouth was filled with sharp teeth.

She looked at me with pure menace and wrath. I can tell she will not hesitate to kill me.

She flew in the air and lunged at me. She bit me in my neck and I growled in pain. I used my fire breath on her but was overpowered when she did the same. I tried to tackle her but was only rendered useless when her spikes hit me.

How can I win this battle? Her fire over powers mine so long range battle was useless. Her spikes only hurt me when I try to tackle her so close range battle is useless. What do I do then?

“You made a mistake to try and challenge me.” She said in a low and dangerous voice. “No one has lived to tell the tale of when they have battled me.” She told me as she lunged and wrapped herself around me.

Since we are snakelike we can wrap ourselves around our opponent as a way to end them. But in her case, doing so would be suicide since she had spikes.

She tightened her grip on me and I knew I was a lost cause. So I said the one thing no regular dragons could say in their entire lives to a royal,

“I love you, Ashley.”