The Dragon's Eye

Chikara landed on the port that was set in front of the school. Since the school was within the sky, dragon riders and their dragons had to fly up to it.

Chikara let his wings settle as Hana slid down the side of his belly. A mist formed over Chikara as Hana began walking towards the school.
When the mist faded, Chikara was now a male human, walking alongside Hana. He yawned and stretched.

“Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a dragon?” Chikara asked, putting his arms behind his head in a rather lazy-like way.

Hana smirked before shaking her head.

“No, not at all. I’d assume that it feels weird, not being able to use your hands like usual. And then having to eat with just your mouth...how can you stand it?” Hana looked over at Chikara.

“I was born into it, just like how you were born into being a human.” Chikara answered, pulling off a leaf that had caught itself onto his horns; in which were sticking out of his head.

Hana chuckled slightly when Chikara had pulled out the leaf. She looked ahead at the rather massive school, the crystal on it shimmering within the bright sunlight of the day.

“Isn’t it amazing, Chikara? We got into the most popular, magnificent school for dragons and riders in all of the world; if not the universe!” Hana’s eyes practically sparkled.

Chikara smirked at her as his hands returned behind his head.

“You’re way too excited, y’know?”

“I know, but how could I not be?”

The two continued walking along the marble path displayed below their feet. Wind blew in all directions from the various dragons flying around, low and high, and roars echoed throughout the sky.

“Just look at all of these dragons. All the various types. Hey, Chikara, do you think anyone else has that same ability you have?” Hana looked over to Chikara.

He thought for a moment before answering.

"The one where I can turn into a human? If you’re talking about that, my ability isn’t common, but it’s definitely rising in popularity.”

Hana turned and looked ahead once more.

“I hope we can find someone like that. And once we do find them, let’s hope they’re someone th-“ Hana was cut off when a quite large dragon landed in front of her.

She jumped back before the dragon would have landed on her, and she glared at the rider whom was riding it.The rider slid off, paying no mind to Chikara and Hana; even though she almost crushed them. The dragon that was with her had a mist form around him, and he transformed into a human; just like Chikara had done.

“Well, here’s another transformer.” Chikara said, walking up to them.

The rider, whose name was Kireina, turned around to them. She twirled her hair on her finger, sighed, and then said,

“You know, next time you should watch where you’re going. You could have been crushed for being so careless.” Kireina blew a bubble with the gum she had in her mouth, and then made it pop.

Hana rolled her eyes in slight disgust; she already knew whom this student was. Kireina was a rich brat that got just about anything she wanted, and she was the top student of the school. Her dragon, whose name was Hokori, makes her the top because of his strength. She’s the brilliance, and he’s the strength.

The relationship was just like theirs; with Chikara and Hana. Though, she treats him as someone less, unlike how Hana treats Chikara. Kireina always thinks she’s better than the person next to her, no matter who they are.

But this year, Hana has plans. She plans to show Kireina that she’s not the best; that Chikara is just as good as Horoki is, and Hana is just as good as Kireina. Though, she had just thought that she didn’t want to be ‘just as good’. She wanted to be better. So much better, even, that Kireina would change her ways after realizing that being the best isn’t everything.

“Yeah, sure, even though you were the one that was supposed to be watching for us, Kireina.” Hana replied, after a moment of thought to herself.

Hana then walked by the glaring eyes of Kireina, Chikara following behind her. Chikara had a smug look on his face as he walked.

“I know who you are, Hana. And don’t expect that you’ll be better than me.” Kireina said as Hana walked by.

“We’ll see about that.” Hana said back, smiling as she walked past.

Kireina was about to walk up to Hana when Horoki grabbed onto her wrist.

“Not now, Kireina. She’s less than you; there’s no point in fighting someone less.” Horoki told her.

“...I don’t need to fight her. But you need to fight Chikara. Something about him seems rather off...can you not feel it?” Kireina asked, turning to Horoki.

Horoki shook his head.

“I’ll fight him when it’s time to, like during practice, but there’s nothing special about him. He’s no better than the rest of the dragons here.” Horoki gave her a pat on her shoulders as he let go of her wrist.

Kireina stared at the ground for a moment before sighing. She then looked up, placing a smile on her face.

“You know what? You’re right, Horoki. I am Kireina, and you’re Horoki. Nothing and no one is better than us combined. I must have forgotten for a moment; how sad!” Kireina then put her hands on her hips, putting on her bratty and overconfident attitude once again.

--

Hana laughed as she was chatting away with her two friends, in which she had just met, Uchiki and Rubi. Uchiki was rather shy, and was quiet most moments. Though, he was a pretty strong dragon for Rubi; he was strong enough to protect Rubi if a situation were to occur. Fighting was something he wasn’t very good at, but his agility was through the roof, which was quite surprising.

At this moment, it was lunchtime, and the cafeteria had fell silent as Kireina and Horoki walked in.

“...why is everyone silent?” Hana asked, looking over at Uchiki and Rubi.

“Because Kireina thinks she deserves such respect, and she’ll make sure that she gets such.” Rubi rolled her eyes in annoyance.

Hana looked at the two as they went over to a table in the middle. When they had sat down, everyone began talking once more, but in a whisper.

“Are the superiors afraid of her too?” Hana asked. (Superiors are 12th graders; just given a fancy title.)

“Indeed they are.” Uchiki said, as he fiddled with his fingers.

“What’s so special about her?”

“She’s the daughter of the principal.”

“The principal?” Hana’s eyes widened slightly.

The principal was the strongest dragon rider Hana had ever known, and her dragon was even more powerful. Hana was quite nervous when around the two, for they had an aura that was quite terrifying, yet they weren’t prideful in their power. They noticed her nervousness, and they simply laughed as they pointed her out on it. Even though meeting the principal and her assistant was supposed to be something formal, or at least semi-formal, it was more like a normal greeting since Hana had known the two previously. Chikara was related to the assistant, in a way in which he won’t share how, but that’s how she’d gotten to know him.

The principal herself was very kind and respectful, unlike her daughter, and had authority in her voice and posture. So did the assistant, which made the greeting much more smoother than it was for other students, who seemed they wanted to faint from just being in front of the two.

“They have such a huge difference between each other that I would have never been able to tell until you told me.” Hana sighed.

“Mhm. Does her mother even know that she’s like that?” Chikara asked.

“Most likely not. Don’t you believe that she’d be punished if her mother had figured out?” Rubi pointed out.

“You make a good point.” Hana took a bite of her sub.

After a moment of silence between the few, Rubi held up her hand, and a holographic screen appeared in front of her.

“Our next period includes looking at the few artifacts that the school holds. One of the artifacts that we’ll be examining is completely amazing! Look at this!” She turned the screen with a twist of her hand, and an imagine of a gem that looked like a blue dragon eye appeared.

“It’s called exactly what it looks like. And it has amazing powers within it. Read this; it multiplies the user’s current power 2x as much as it would have been, and gives the user four new legendary abilities! Isn’t that amazing?” Rubi’s eyes sparkled.

“With such an artifact like that, how in the world has that thing not been stolen?” Uchiki looked at Rubi for an answer.

Rubi made the screen scroll down, and she began reading it.

“It says here-“ She started, her eyes scanning over the lines of words.

“that those whom tried to steal the artifact were melted upon even approaching the artifact. Apparently, it has a mind of its own, and can see through people and their intentions. Also, it seems that it chooses whom it wants to carry it.”

“That makes sense.” Chikara said.

“How old is the artifact?” Hana asked.

Rubi scrolled down once again.

“Way more than a million years old.”

“It must be a very picky artifact.”

“Yeah. It hasn’t chosen a user ever since it was created.”

They continued to talk about the artifact and to munch on their lunch until the bell had rung. Rubi turned off her screen by simply sliding her hand down, and they walked out of the lunchroom.

--

Chikara was getting bored as the teacher was explaining each artifact. A staff with white crystals on it, a diamond that glows bright red whenever someone walks near it, a book that contained the legendary magic spells in an ancient and complicated language.

Hana nudged his arm.

“Hey, look, he’s going to explain the Dragon Eye next.” Hana pointed to the Dragon Eye artifact that was contained within a display case.

“I-“ Chikara paused for a moment.

“Chikara.” A voice brushed by his ear, sending a shiver down his spine.

“...someone just called my name.” Chikara said.

“What? I didn’t hear anything.”

Chikara raised his head, trying to listen for the voice once again.

“Chikara.”

He paid attention to where he was hearing it from, and he stared straight in the direction in which he heard it.

The Dragon’s Eye began to glow a bright blue as Chikara stared at it. This light was noticeable to everyone. When the instructor noticed that everyone was staring in one direction, he turned to look at what they were looking at. His eyes widened when he saw the light.

“In all my years...” He said.

“I have never seen the artifact in a state like this!”

Hana grabbed onto Chikara’s wrist when he took a step towards it.

“Chikara, what are you doing? Don’t you think you should stand back? It almost looks as if that thing wants to explode...” Hana said, staring at the continuously glowing artifact.

Chikara got out of her grip with a small yank of his arm, and he walked up to the artifact.

“Chikara…I have chosen you. You will need me.” A female voice echoed throughout Chikara’s head.

Chikara raised an eyebrow, and Hana went to reach for him, but then, suddenly, the bright light of the artifact grew ever brighter, completely blinding everyone.

Everyone screamed, terrified and confused on what had happened. The sound of glass shattering filled the room, and the light began to fade a few seconds after it came. After another few seconds, the light had completely faded from their eyes.

A few were standing; others had fallen over in fear. Hana rubbed her eyes, and she looked over at Chikara, whom was laying on the floor.

“Chikara?!” Hana rushed over to Chikara’s side, and she gave him a shake.

He had no response. Worried that he might be dead, Hana put her ear down onto his chest to listen for a heartbeat. But, something blocked her ear from going to his chest. She sat up quickly, confused on what was blocking her. When she realized what it was, her eyes opened more in surprise.

The Dragon’s Eye was now on Chikara’s chest. Hana tried to pull at it, but it didn’t budge in the slightest, and the more she tried, the more Chikara had groaned. She assumed that it was causing him pain, so she stopped pulling at it. The instructor walked up to them, and he stared down at Chikara.

“Oh goodness...what am I supposed to tell his father?” The instructor sighed heavily, shaking his head.

“He’s not dead, sir.” Hana said, glancing back at him.

“Oh, I know that. It’s just...nevermind. Carry him to the nurse’s office, will you?” The instructor asked.

“Of course, sir.” Hana said, and she lifted up Chikara.

A small pain was within her heart, for she knew that whatever was going on was, most likely, not going to be good. An ancient artifact has attached itself to her friend; what good could that bring? When people hear about this, or when the witnessing students tell their parents, and their parents tell their friends, wouldn’t this make him a target?

Hana shook that thought away, and she walked out of the room, keeping her head low as she took Chikara to the nurse’s office.

Something told her that, from here on out, things were going to change.