Chapter 14

Timeline: 1st July 2008
 

Different. Peculiar. Weird. Strange. Alien.

All those words best described him and he had heard them at least a million times ever since he was born.

He was a curse to the family. Everyone placed the blame on him, saying that he was the one bringing all the bad luck to the family. What had he done to deserve this? Maybe in his past life, he had treated someone else like that before?

He knew he was different since birth. His parents made sure of that and they also ensured that he knew he was unwanted in the family. Every one of his family members discriminated him like he was worse than dirt on the ground and their actions were obvious to the world.

At the age of a few days old, his mother had cooed over him and coddled him close to her, holding on to the thought that he was a special kid. She was the only one to care for him as the others looked at him with disdain.

At a few months old, his mother began to distance herself from him. He was abandoned most of the time, to play by himself in a quiet corner but sometimes, she was kind enough to leave him alone with the neighbours.

His sister would always try to snatch his toys away from him with every chance she got and snapping at him to shut up when he cried big fat tears. No one stopped her when she hit him and pinched him, marking his smooth baby skin with ugly purplish bruises.

His mother stopped showering him with butterfly kisses and acted as it he was no longer there. He concluded that everyone else had brainwashed her into thinking he was filth and deserved to be treated as one.

A few years later, she started treating him like a slave. She hated his guts and ordered him to do this and that like a maid. It reminded him of Cinderella in one of the fairy tales in his sister's book. He had took a peek at her book before she came in and ruined everything. She screamed for their father and his father had hit him with a club on the back without a thought. He gagged, feeling hopeless as his father hit him repeatedly.

With his newly-discovered Healing ability, he slowly healed the wounds in his own small bedroom, for fear that his family would use him to their own advantage or sell him off if they ever saw him.

At the age of 10, he no longer felt that he belong. Whatever he touched at home, they would throw it out as if his touch would contaminate the stuff in the house or his disease would spread to them.

After so many years of feeling alone, pathetic and weak, he wondered if being suicidal would solve any of his problems. In the kitchen, he brought a knife to his wrist and slit it. He watched in fascination as the wound healed by itself in mere seconds. So, something was stopping him from bleeding to death. Suicidal was not an option then.

Why? Why did it had to be him? Why was he born with a womb like a woman's? He even had cramps even though he never bleed like his sister. In addition, he had that Healing ability which made him more of a freak. There was no one he could turn to ask for help. What was wrong with him?

If only there was someone, anyone, to hear his prayers to find him.

Fourteen years of loneliness, he finally had it. He packed a few of his valuable things, not that he had many, into his school bag.

He had to find a perfect timing where everyone was not home.

That evening was his chance to escape. His family had gone to a birthday party without him, saying that he was a shame to the family. He allowed those words to soak in, no longer feeling shameful about his female parts and his Healing ability. It was a gift from the Goddess. She had chosen him to bear this and he will bear it.

Checking that his bag contained a few clothes and some food, he shut the front door and left that house. They would be happier without him.

He walked for minutes or hours and soon, got too tired to continue his adventure. Sliding down a wall to take a rest, he took out some bread to consume. Where should he go? Where was the best place to survive? The forest? It would provide him with food and water but not shelter.

After eating, he stood up, his bag on his back, and wiped his hands on his pants. As he walked past a dark alley leading to the forest, a dark creature slipped into the shadows of the night. His heart thundering against his chest loudly, he moved away from the scene as quietly as possible.

Lady Luck was not on his side today, it seemed, as the creature opened its large mouth, showing its rows of sharp glinting teeth a few centimetres away from his face. With bated breath, he waited for it to move.

He closed his eyes, half praying hard for The Goddess to help him and the other half waiting for it to engulf him like he was a tasty meal.

The creature snarled loudly, breathing fire from its snout, the fierce fire reaching inches from his face. The fire illuminated the night and what he saw made him froze. It was a dragon. A beautiful one. A fiery red dragon with mesmerising emerald green eyes. And it was injured badly. If he were a girl, he would have fainted right at that spot.

His Healing instincts , he took slow steps towards the dragon, holding out his hands as if to show he surrendered to it. The creature bowed to him and allowed him to get closer to it. Lay summoned his Healing ability and applied it to the dragon's scaly arm. The wound began healing itself and new scales grew on that very spot. The boy smiled as he appreciated the gift the Goddess gave him.

Just then, the creature thanked him in its own way and turned away from him. What was it up to now?

When Lay made no movement to follow it into the alley, the dragon pushed him forward, urging him to follow it into the forest.

His heart pumped thrice as quickly as usual as he stepped into the eerie forest. The dragon did not run or fly but strode in front of him, making sure that he was following closely behind it.

They walked and walked deeper and deeper into the forest which made Lay doubt that the dragon was not going to make him its meal for the night.

When he got too tired to walk anymore, the dragon lied down on the ground, signalling him to climb on it. He obeyed and the two of them moved on in the peaceful night.

When had they come to a stop? Lay had asked himself after waking up to the bright sunshine. They had reached somewhere totally unfamiliar to Lay like it was the other part of the world.

"Where is this place?" He directed his question to the dragon.

The dragon snorted before allowing Lay to get down. He stepped out of the forest and arrived at a huge house, seeing kids his age running about and laughing joyfully. The dragon stayed where it was, hiding behind the trees.

A tall blonde towering over him by at least a head, strolled towards him with a cold expression.

Lay stared at the kid, thinking that this must be the coolest person he had ever met on earth. This boy looked like he ruled the whole area. The kid stopped beside him, his eyes twinkling as he studied Lay. The shorter boy gulped, hoping that he had not made him mad.

The blonde held out his hand. "Hi, I'm Kris."

His deep voice was simply melodious to Lay. His words lingered in Lay's body like poison.

"H-hi. M-my name is Lay." Poor Lay stuttered when he did not mean to but Kris looked so intimidating that Lay wanted to cower in fear.

Kris looked past him into the forest and his eyes locked with the dragon's. He nodded for the dragon to stay in position.

He watched the other kids playing far away from them before pulling Lay back into the forest.

"I see you've met with Lucas. He's an exotic creature, isn't he?"

Lay nodded slowly in agreement as he watched Kris caressed the dragon's head. Lucas whined like a puppy which was a funny sight.

"You Cheeky One! You're heavy." Kris said affectionately as the creature rested its head on his shoulder.

"He's my familiar. To be able to see him, you must be special. He does not take a liking to anybody but me. To allow you to notice his presence, he must have accepted you. Tell me, you do have a special ability, don't you?" asked Kris.

Lay opened his mouth to speak but closed it back abruptly. Could this person be trusted?

In the end, he decided to tell him after the small internal conflict inside his brain whether to tell or not to tell this new kid.

"Yes. I can heal."

Kris' eyes opened as wide as saucers as he contemplated Lay's words.

"I see. So, Lucas likes you because you're the Healing One. He has been dying to meet you."

"Really?" Lay blushed while the dragon grinned. Well, if showing his rows of white teeth with his mouth curving upwards like in the Colgate advertisement was any indication that he was really grinning. He nudged Lay with his snout to pat him too.

Lay reached out a hesitant hand and pat it awkwardly.

"There are other kids in the orphanage like us who were bestowed on with special gifts by the Goddess. You'll meet them as I introduce each and every one of them to you. As of today, you'll be joining our little group of ten-soon-to-be-eleven."

Lay stared at him, trying to understand his words.

"Now I want you to promise me, not to let anyone know about Lucas. They'll fear him and Lucas would be very upset. Not even the kids with abilities like us. Just tell no one. One day, I'll tell everybody else in our group about Lucas once they're old enough. When they grow older, I hope that they'll be able to summon such a fine familiar like mine. And you too."

"M-me? Will I be able to? Summon one? A dragon like yours?"

"Yes, you'll be able to summon one, says Lucas but you might not get a dragon for a familiar because each familiars summoned would suit their master's personality best. Lucas says you're not ready to summon one yet. So, you'll have to wait like the others."

As they continued to talk about anything but their abilities and Kris' familiar, the sun had set fully and Lucas disappeared with a growl of affection.

"Come on in. It's dinner time. I'll introduce you to our Caretaker and our little group." Kris smiled warmly.

This tall blonde may looked cold but inside, he was a friendly person. Somehow, Lay found himself liking him more and more, possibly as more than a friend, which seemed absurd since they had just met only a few minutes ago.

To be continued...

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Although I promised it to be Kaisoo but I had to write this chapter first. Somehow, this chapter was urging me for it to be written.

Well, here it is. A hint of Kray to this chapter like cream as icing on a cake. Is the part about the cake even right? Whatever.

Thank you, my lovely readers, reviewers, subscribers and voters!