The Dragoso Series 2: Strength in Darkness
Chapter 5

Sylark and Kathey exchanged glances. The dragon was free of the parasite and hunter control.

“Before we answer anything, let’s have your name first,” Kathey demanded.

“Kafer,” the dragon replied. “And who are you?”

“Anna Dragon, Sylark Freeze, that’s Zoymey Earth over there, and this is Trevor Williams, a student of mine,” Kathey introduced, pointing out those she named before looking to Kafer. “What do you remember?”

“Well...I was hunting, to feed my family. The next thing I know, I’m being attacked by Hunters, thrown into a cage, and...er...what is the word...transportiert?”

“Transported?” Kathey offered.

“Danke, yes, transported to an outpost. Then they had a machine in my face. Everything is dark after that...” Kafer looked to Kathey. “Where am I?”

“The Voutneth Academy in Drake, Michigan,” Sylark replied.

“Michigan? In the United States?” They nodded. “Meine gotter, I’m a long way from home...”

“Can you turn human?” Kathey asked. Kafer glew a bright green before he became human. He had short brown hair, fair skin, and striking green eyes that matched his dragon breed. He wore a simple t-shirt, jeans, and hiking boots. “We should have you checked out, just to make sure you’re alright after dealing with...that.” Kathey nodded to Zoymey holding the capsule.

“What is that?” Kafer questioned.

“That would be a possession parasite belonging to Cenod, a wyvern of pure magic,” Kathey replied. Kafer repeated the name a few times under his breath as Kathey led him out, Trevor following behind them.

“That name sounds familiar...” Kafer mused before looking back at Trevor, slowing his pace to walk next to the yearling.

“What’s up?” Trevor greeted. Kafer chuckled.

“Judging by your manners and your tongue, you are human raised, no?”

Trevor nodded. “I’m the son of a Nixes Dragon, didn’t know until a couple months ago.”

“Are you adjusting well?”

Trevor shrugged. “As well as I can be given the circumstances.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well...” Trevor trailed off, looking at Kathey who nodded. “The Underworld was taken away from Deathbore when my siblings and I arrived. And now we have the hunters to deal with. We only just started learning how to be dragons and we’re already facing big threats.”

“Go big or go home, mein freund.” They shared a laugh and found themselves outside the Med Lab. Sereph looked up from her computer and her jaw dropped at the sight of Kafer.

“He’s free?” Sereph questioned, standing abruptly.

“Somehow, yes. Can you just make sure he’s alright?” Kathey requested and Sereph nodded, pulling on medical gloves and shooed Kathey and Trevor from the room. Trevor stood leaning against the wall nearby.

“She takes her job pretty seriously, huh?” Trevor asked and Kathey looked to him from her pacing.

“It’s all she’s ever known, really. I was still stationed at a temporary home when I met her, Gemini was still in the picture then,” Kathey replied.

“You were expecting Sandra and Sorren, weren’t you?” Kathey nodded.

“Energy Dragons have the ability to absorb the actual life from living things. She was the only one who had knowledge on the matter and she saved my life. She’s been by my side ever since and when I thought of the Academy, she got more than just a job taking care of pregnant females. She’s doing something she loves; helping others.”

“How much does she know about health?”

“Let’s just say she could get accepted for a job at any high-end medical facility and get a lot of money for it.” They looked up when the door opened to the Med Lab, Sereph standing there.

“You need to see this,” Sereph said and Trevor looked to Kathey before they walked into the Lab again and to where Kafer sat on an examination table. “I was checking his eyes and I’ve noticed something...abnormal.”

“More abnormal than yellow-green eyes?” Kathey asked and looked into Kafer’s eyes. Sereph handed her an ophthalmoscope and Kathey looked through it.

“Well, that is interesting.” Kathey turned to Trevor and handed it to him. “Take a look.”

Trevor moved to stand in front of Kafer and he looked through the lense. It looked as though Kafer had green grid lines in the iris of his human eyes.

“Is that...?” Trevor trailed off, looking to Kathey.

“Hunter controlled dragons usually have what we call black orb eyes with green grid lines. I wonder...Kafer, what year was it that you were captured?”

“Nineteen ninety-four...what year is it?”

“Kafer, I was born that year. It’s twenty fifteen,” Kathey replied.

“Scheisse...my family has probably forgotten me...”

Kathey shook her head. “I doubt it, please stay here at the Academy, we’ll help you replace your family.”

“How?”

“Technology has advanced a lot over the years. Plus I’m the daughter of Dusk and Dawn, I have the resources.”

“I thought the surname sounded familiar. It’s an honor to be in the presence of royalty.” Kafer bowed his head and Kathey shook her head.

“Don’t be formal, I’m merely of Royal Blood, nothing more. I plan on staying here and protecting the world.”

“Are you not the oldest daughter?”

“I have a twin sister, she was chosen to be the heir. If I take the throne, the world would be in more danger than if I remained where I’m at now.” Kafer nodded.

“I understand.”

After that exchange, Kathey gave Kafer the layout of the rules and led him to one of the boarding rooms while Trevor stayed behind to have his wounds checked. His back was still tender, if not more painful.

Sereph cut the bandages from his torso, pulling the medical tape that held the wads of gauze to the stitches. She looked them over while Trevor chewed his lip to keep from crying out in pain.

“Your wounds are oozing some kind of fluid. I’m gonna take a sample of this, see what it is,” Sereph explained. She took a culture swab and scooped the fluid onto it before putting it on a microscope slide and putting the slide under said microscope. “Just as I thought...”

“What’s that?” Trevor asked.

“Typical bacterial infection. The teeth from the arrows were chipped and cracked in some places for bacteria to hide in and considering Blood Dragons consume blood, they get loads of bacteria in their mouths.” Sereph stood and looked through her cabinets before coming up with a bottle of clear liquid. “I’m going to give you a booster to fight this infection.” Trevor exhaled and nodded. Sereph gave him the injection and wrapped his wounds again. Trevor grunted as he sat up and adjusted the gauze wrapped around his torso.

“Did you think it would be this bad?” Sereph hummed nearby as she washed her hands.

“When dealing with hunters, you expect the worst. At least the dragons have done their part in the past to prevent the hunters from getting a bigger edge on us.”

“You mean the Toxic Dragons, right?” Sereph dried her hands and turned to Trevor, nodding.

“The world is better off without them. I don’t understand it, but they were the closest thing to feral dragons than any other breed I’ve encountered or read about. Next to Wyverns that is.” Trevor raised an eyebrow.

“Wyverns are feral?”

“True Wyverns, not the magical hybrid that Cenod is. I’ve run into them in my medical studies, they’re not what they’re cracked up to be.” Sereph pulled a book from the top of the cabinets that lined the Med Lab and she flipped through it before moving next to Trevor, showing him the page.

It held drawings of a Wyvern as well as medical facts about the dragon subspecies as it was labeled. Trevor ran his hand over the drawing of its skeleton, noticing how its bone structure was similar to a dragon’s, but some key parts were different. Front legs were missing and its spine curved a different way to support the weight on just two legs.

“Just how dangerous are Wyverns?” Trevor asked. He looked up at Sereph who closed the book.

“Think of them as actual animals, constantly fighting anything that moves, even each other. I have yet to meet a real hybrid not created with magic. I can only imagine the mental stability, putting an animal mindset and a sentient mindset into one brain, there’s no telling.”

“Don’t we have that though?”

“We have ancient instinct that has been modified and trained over the generations, we only rely on little base instinct when it comes to that.” Trevor was silent as Sereph replaced the book and sat at her computer again. “Not only have I studied physical medication, I know about the mental and emotional studies too. If you need to talk, Trevor, my door is always open.” Trevor slipped off the table, stumbling slightly. “Take it easy for a while, I gave you the strongest antibiotics I had, they’ll mess with your strength for a bit.”

“Thanks...” Trevor grunted. He stumbled out and started for his room. He didn’t want to feel the effects of the drugs for the rest of the day. But of course, he wasn’t going to have it that easy, especially when he saw Kathey come around a corner in the hallway.

“My office, Trevor,” Kathey commanded. Trevor took a breath and followed her. Once in her office, Kathey shut the door and Trevor braced his hands on the chair in front of her desk. Kathey walked to her chair and sat down, gesturing to the chair Trevor had his hands on. “Sit.”

“I’ll stand, thanks. Back hurts too much,” Trevor remarked.

“And you have drugs in your body that make you loopy, now sit.” Trevor reluctantly sat down, and leaned forward, trying to ignore the pain.

“What do you want, Kathey?” Trevor rubbed his face. “You gonna punish me because I was overwhelmed by dragon hunters and got shot and stabbed in the back? Gonna send me home? You know my siblings aren’t gonna stay if I’m not here.” Kathey stared at him carefully, most likely searching his mind.

“No, I’m not going to punish you. You tried your best to save my kids, but the hunters are trained to overpower adult dragons, You’re lucky to still be alive, they meant for this to happen.” Kathey shifted to pull her hair from its ponytail and retie it. “Cenod is the biggest issue right now. If we fight dragons controlled by his parasites, we’ll take more blows than from normal hunter controlled dragons.”

“So, what? Train against a parasite controlled dragon?”

Kathey shook her head, dropping her hands and crossing her arms. “No, dragons have different combat styles, there’s no way to guarantee we get anything out of a single parasite controlled dragon and have the ability to apply it to others.” Kathey paused. “You know how I mentioned history is repeating itself?”

Trevor nodded.

“I encountered Cenod while I was mates with Gemini. Sometime after Sandra and Sorren were born, Cenod took them and the other kids. I had to search everywhere for my kids before ending up in some kind of shadowy dimension or realm or whatever you want to call it. That battle took a lot out of me, it’s probably why I didn’t remember him.”

“Didn’t Gemini help you?”

“No, he stayed home and protected the kids I rescued. Or so I had believed back then, honestly there was no telling what he was really doing.” Kathey shook her head. “I believed a lot of things in my youth, if that’s what you can even call it at this point. Dragons are considered adults once they reach fourteen. So, Trevor, what do you think about all this that’s happening?”

“Well, I think we need to really think before launch our attack, as you’ve mentioned before. If we don’t prepare to the fullest, we could very well lose our lives.”

“So?”

“So...I think we need more than twelve dragons and a vampire attacking the hunter headquarters.”

Kathey nodded and stood up. “Exactly what I had been thinking, thank you, Trevor. Now go rest before you pass out in my office.” Kathey laughed lightly and Trevor chuckled before standing and walking out.