“Okay, first, I guess I need to show you this,” Donghae said as he took off his shirt. He indicated a rather large mark that was just above his belly button. It was like a crest, was almost round in shape and for the most part, looked like a circular row of sharp teeth. “There are only certain dragons who have marks like this. Basically, this indicates that you’re a clan lord.”

Then he ruefully put back his shirt on and Kyuhyun was thankful for that considering that it might get a little distracting later on.

Donghae bit his thumb, thinking how to proceed with his story then he cleared his throat and began again, “In Pendarak, there were originally five clans of dragons. White, black, red, blue and yellow. Then something happened, umm, let’s just say about 4,000 years ago in Earth years. Inter-world marriage was very rare that time and all the known worlds wanted a chance to unite with the Annunaki of Nibiru. Nibiru, if you didn’t know, is the First Known World. They were the ones who discovered other worlds and how to get to them through gates opened by individuals who have this capability, the Gatekeepers.”

Kyuhyun nodded, he knew this part. It was one of the first things Kangin taught him.

“They are the most sophisticated, advanced race and so when a time came that one of the Annunaki princes decided to marry someone from another world, the other worlds willingly offered their queens, princesses, ladies. But eventually, the prince picked the Queen of Hielo, Queen Heesica.”

Kyuhyun’s eyes widened. Wait, he heard about this. It was in the history lessons he took during the Gatekeeper’s meetings but surely there was something wrong in Donghae’s story? Because he remembered that Heesica…

“As it is, the Queen was to be escorted to Nibiru by a royal party composed of nobles from other worlds. It was to be like a show of unity, something like that. Anyway, in that party was the clan-lord of the Yellow Dragons, Lord Hankyung. And well, let’s just say that the Queen never got to Nibiru. She eloped with Lord Hankyung.” 

Okay, that was what Kyuhyun knew. That Heesica and Hankyung had the most famously known inter-world marriage in history. But the next part, he didn’t know.

“The Hielans were furious of course. They all blamed Lord Hankyung and said that he purposefully seduced their queen and sabotaged the arranged marriage. As compensation for their failed chance to be united with someone as illustrious as an Annunaki prince, they demanded two things from us dragons. One, that in every generation, a high-ranking dragon be sent to them and work as a sort of page in the Hielan court. It was to be a punishment meant to embarrass us.”

“Oh wait,” Kyuhyun interrupted, “I remember the first dragon I transported, Prince Taecyeon. He had a Hielan lady with him, Lady Jessica. Was he…?”

“Yes, he was our current tribute to Hielo and well, owing to what happened, dragon and Hielan relationships are frowned upon. But of course, things like that happen, it can’t be helped,” Donghae said. “But the Hielans weren’t just satisfied with that, they demanded for another, much greater punishment. So the second demand was, they wanted Lord Hankyung’s clan to be dissolved.”

“What?!” Zhou Mi gasped in outrage, “But that would be genocide!”

“Oh no, no,” Donghae hastily assured him, “it’s not what you think it means.”

Then Kangin interrupted to explain it more clearly, “Pendarak society is very different from what you have here in your world. For one, it’s much smaller and close-knitted. The division of dragon clans has to do more with logistics rather than loyalty to a certain governing body although of course, clans are devoted to their lords. The original clan-lords were brothers and so all clan-lords are in a sense, related to each other. When the Hielans demanded that Lord Hankyung’s clan, the yellow dragons, be dissolved, it simply meant that they were to disperse and join other clans ensuring that Hankyung wasn’t a clan-lord anymore.”

“Which wasn’t really necessary anyway since Lord Hankyung and Queen Heesica decided to live in this world. It was still primitive that time but it had enough resources and people which satisfied Heechul since he was used to being pampered,” Donghae said in amusement.

Kyuhyun was confused, “I’m sorry, who is Heechul and he’s a he?”

It was Kangin again who explained, “Remember I told you that other-world beings need to shift forms when they move from world to world? Well apparently, Queen Heesica assumed a male human form and Heechul was her- his human name. Hankyung also had one, it was Hangeng.”

“But was that okay with Lord Hankyung? That his queen preferred to be male?”

Kangin shrugged, “He was still the same person wasn’t he? It doesn’t matter what you are when you hop from world to world. You can assume any form, any gender and you’d still be you.”

Donghae continued, “Well quite recently, the High Council, after some pleadings from the dragon clans, decided that maybe it was about time that the yellow dragons be returned back their clan-lord. After all, surely, after all these millennia, the yellow dragons have been punished enough. Not that it was their fault anyway, it was actually nobody’s fault if you think about it. Besides that, we were still willing to continue sending a high-ranking dragon to work for them. So about three months ago, the High Council decided that the clan-lord be returned to the yellow dragons.” 

Then Donghae smiled shyly, “Lord Hangeng was my ancestor, my great-great-grand uncle, so I was to succeed as the clan-lord of the yellow dragons.”

“But?” Kyuhyun prompted when Donghae paused.

“Well, we dragons are very traditional creatures. We always do any important ceremony on auspicious times so we always rely on our star interpreters who read the heavens to tell us when to do it. For my coronation as clan-lord, it was found that it was best to do it during the full buck moon. There’s still a month left before that.”

Then Donghae clenched his fist as he remembered something painful, “And that’s when the assassination attempts started, after the reading. If it was just me, I was fine with it and I would have tried to stay alive on my own just until the ceremony but my advisers wouldn’t dream of it. Maybe if I had been more forceful, then three people wouldn’t be dead because of me.”

“Three?”

“Yes, my advisers decided to get me a decoy, another dragon who resembled me somewhat and he was killed. Speared through the chest.”

“How horrible!” Zhou Mi cried while Kyuhyun’s eyes opened wide.

“Of course this was in Pendarak and not one of us dragons believed that any of us would do such a thing. We had initially thought maybe it was the wyverns who were doing it but they have no motive at all aside from just being inherently malicious. But that’s not a strong reason to want to kill a prospective dragon clan-lord.” 

“Are there other-world beings in Pendarak?” Kyuhyun was curious.

“Oh yes, quite a number although not as many as here but still, there are many,” then at Kyuhyun’s silent question, Donghae added, “There are many Hielans there. They somehow find it amusing to visit and drop cruel remarks about Lord Hankyung’s deceit once in a while.” 

“Oh.”

“So the other clan-lords got together and thought about how they were to protect me. One of them, my half-brother actually, advised me to hide here in your world for the time being. And as added precaution, they got me another two decoys who resembled my human form. One was Amber, she was the great-granddaughter of a Gatekeeper who was a friend of my father and the other was Jonghyun. They volunteered actually and Jonghyun was actually doing this without the consent of his superiors. We couldn’t go to the Interpol officially for help because while this is a high-profile case, we have no evidence to support our claim that the suspects were from outside our world. And the Interpol will not touch any case that they consider to be domestic.”

“Then surely we must report this to the Interpol now! You said the poison is from Hielo.”

Kangin shook his head, “Sure it’s from there but who can prove that Hielans did it? And to report about a poison that can’t be traced? Besides we can’t, well at least not me and you. Gatekeepers and their guardians are supposed to be neutral in the affairs of other worlds.”

“Neutral? But Donghae is living with us right now!”

“He is, but it’s not like he’s an escaped fugitive that we’re hiding. He came to us for asylum which we can give. It’s the same with any other other-world beings as long as they’re not criminals.”

Then Donghae looked at Kyuhyun, he said quite seriously, “Don’t worry Kyuhyun, I don’t plan to stay here anymore. Now that my decoys are gone, they’ll now easily be able to track me and I’m not going to risk your life. I never intended for you to protect me but staying here was the best option then since no one was going to think that I’m actually staying with the human gatekeeper. Please believe me when I say that I was never going to use you as a shield. I’d rather you use me as one.”

Kyuhyun cleared his throat and willed away the colour rising in his cheeks at Donghae’s heartfelt speech and the way Zhou Mi and Kangin were looking at them interestedly, “Uh, don’t be absurd Donghae. This is a dangerous time for you, actually even more now. I’m not going to abandon you until you’re safely crowned as clan-lord.” 

“Are you serious about that?” Kangin suddenly asked, his eyes boring into him.

Kyuhyun was surprised at the question, “What? Of course I am!” 

Kangin nodded, apparently satisfied, “Good. Just wanted to make sure. I guess I can now teach you the Laws tomorrow.”

“Laws? What laws?”

“Something to help us. You won’t be of any use to Donghae the way you are now,” Kangin retorted while Kyuhyun scowled and Donghae protested that Kyuhyun was perfect the way he is now.

Kangin ignored them and announced, “Alright, let’s all sleep early tonight. We need to come up with a battle plan for the coming days ahead and we can think more clearly if we all have a good night’s sleep. Besides, I’m sure we all need the rest after this day’s events.”

*************

Kyuhyun was sure he’d be able to sleep quickly once his head touched his pillow but here he was wide-awake, staring at the ceiling. He unconsciously grasped the gold pendant on his chest and played with it. Looking down at it, he remembered that there was still something he needed to know.

“Kangin! Psst, Kangin!” he whispered through the dark, calling the daemon who was sleeping at the other side of the room.

“What?” Kangin asked grumpily, “I was already sleeping.”

“No you weren’t. You weren’t snoring so I knew you were awake.”

Kangin growled, “I do not snore! Anyway, what is it?” 

“I want you to answer me truthfully. This pendant you gave me, what exactly is this for?”

Kyuhyun could hear Kangin rising from his makeshift bed and he wasn’t surprised when he felt the daemon right beside his bed. It was dark but there was enough moonlight outside the windows for Kyuhyun to see his guardian’s face. Kangin was looking at him intently then he sighed, “I guess I can tell you now. What you decide to do about it is up to you.”

Then he continued, “Do you remember Donghae saying once that you were a dragon’s mate?” Kyuhyun nodded, “Well you are.”

Kyuhyun had an eyebrow raised in confusion, “Er, is that a good thing?”

Kangin smiled, “I told you, it’s up to you what you want to do about it. Anyway, that mark you have on your stomach like the one Donghae has? It isn’t a mark for gatekeepers. Gatekeepers don’t have identifying marks.”

“So you lied to me!”

His guardian ignored his remark and continued, “Donghae was right when he said only clan-lords have marks like his but he forgot to mention that dragon’s mates also have them.”

“So… I’m Donghae’s mate?” Kyuhyun asked hesitantly. He wasn’t sure what to feel about that.

“Not necessarily. You see dragon’s mates are born only for the highest-ranking dragons, usually the clan-lords. There aren’t always dragon’s mates born for every clan-lord but once there is, any of the clan-lords can stake their claim but usually a dragon’s mate when one is born, is already destined so to speak to a specific lord.”

“Well which clan-lord am I destined to? And why me? I’m not even a dragon.”

Kangin cocked his head to the side, surveying Kyuhyun, “So you also believe in destiny? It’s believed that when their world is in danger, a dragon’s mate is born outside Pendarak to help with this danger. There was a time when a dragon’s mate was from Bars-Lag and Pendarak was suffering from a mysterious plague that time. Anyway, the dragon’s mate was immune from the sickness and a cure was found and consequently, all future offspring were immune from the disease.” 

Kyuhyun smiled wryly, “Well that’s nice but unless the clan-lord is female, I’m not sure how I can contribute to the future offspring of Pendarak.”

Kangin coughed and said a little self-consciously, “I don’t want to embarrass both of us by explaining to you how dragons ually reproduce but all I can say is, it’s a lot different with humans. You will produce children even with a same- mate. Then again, you can also opt to assume a female dragon form when you’re in Pendarak.” 

Kyuhyun frowned in disapproval and Kangin would have loved to but he decided to defer that to another time and continue with his explanation, “Anyway, I guess the events leading to re-installing the Yellow Dragon’s clan lord is what made a dragon’s mate be born outside their world this time. Although I’m not sure what exactly you can contribute to their race. OW! Don’t hit me!”

Kyuhyun ignored him and said thoughtfully, “Is that why I got a heightened sense of smell like the dragons? Because I’m a dragon’s mate?” It surprised him a little that he can talk about being a dragon’s mate comfortably, but he supposed that encountering another murder that afternoon was more disturbing. He was sure that if he thought about being a dragon’s mate again tomorrow morning, he will go into proper hysterics. But for now… 

Kangin shrugged, “Maybe. Anyway, you’re a Gatekeeper, you were born to have an ability to sense other-world beings. That sense of smell may or may not be coincidental to you being a dragon’s mate.”

“You still haven’t explained to me why you gave me this gold pendant.”

“Oh that,” Kangin cleared his throat, “Well, uh, you see, I was supposed to be at your side even before you succeeded as the next gatekeeper, you know, to teach you what you should do.”

“Exactly! And if I remember correctly, you were late!”

“Yeah, well… But anyway, I also found out that you were also a dragon’s mate and the first other-world beings you were going to meet were high-ranking dragons and I haven’t warned you yet. Dragons are very fond of gold and to them, its smell is the most fragrant of all and very irresistible. Kinda like what a dragon’s mate would smell like. That day you found out you were a Gatekeeper was also the day you matured as a dragon’s mate, meaning you were emitting that scent. So I made you wear that pendant to confuse them.”

Kyuhyun narrowed his eyes at him, “So you mean if you had been late, I could have been by any dragon who found me first? God, if it had been a female dragon, she could be suing me now for child support!”

“Oh no, no! Dragons are very honourable creatures. They wouldn’t do such a thing. Besides, only high-ranking dragons would have the nerve to mark you.”

Kyuhyun just rolled his eyes and went back to staring at the ceiling. Honourable my foot, he thought as he remembered how Siwon and Donghae reacted when they first met him. Then he frowned, “Kangin? If I refuse to be claimed as a dragon’s mate, I can do that right?” 

“Yes of course. I mean just look at what you did to Dongha-… um, yeah that. Well, you can forgive him, he’s quite young. But anyway, as I told you, it’s up to you what you want to do about it.”

Kyuhyun then remained silent and after a while he heard Kangin grunt, acknowledging that he was dismissed and he felt his guardian patting his shoulder before going back to his bed.

Minutes passed and Kyuhyun could hear Kangin snoring softly and here he was still awake. He couldn’t tell Kangin of course what he couldn’t even admit himself. Only high-ranking dragons would have the nerve to mark you Kangin said. Donghae tried to but he stopped him but Siwon didn’t even try. Is it because he isn’t a clan-lord? 

Or maybe because he wasn’t “available” anymore just like he said?

Kyuhyun refused to be upset about that fact. He was so unbothered about it that he quietly rose from his bed and took something from his bedside table before going out his bedroom. He went to the kitchen and sat at one of the stools as he put down the thing he brought on the counter. It was the Gatekeeper’s manual and he flipped through the pages until he came to the page about the Pendarak dragons. He looked at the crests of each of the clans and saw the familiar image of the yellow dragon’s clan-lord’s mark, the one Donghae had.

“Oh I see, the crests depict parts of a dragon’s body,” Kyuhyun softly read. The yellow dragon’s was fangs, the red dragon’s was claws, the white dragon’s was wings, the black dragon’s was scales, and the blue dragon’s was the tail. 

The tail. Kyuhyun remembered his own mark which resembled a tail and he lifted his shirt to look down at it. It was a bit different from the blue dragon’s mark which was a longer tail and went round in a circle. Then he continued to read and found that only clan-lords were allowed to use their marks as signatures or put them anywhere on documents. I wonder what clan Siwon belongs to. Ugh, why am I even thinking about him!

Nevertheless, Kyuhyun managed to blush as he took out the dragon’s business card from his pocket. He was thankful no one was awake to know that he always has the darn card close to him. He looked at it intently before blowing hard on it.

Nothing happened.

Kyuhyun looked left and right and satisfied that no one saw the dumb thing he did, he gave a muffled curse. Damn you Siwon and all that talk about dragon’s breath! 

Wait, dragon’s breath. Kyuhyun remembered that the air was supposed to come from around the diaphragm and so he tried again.

And unfamiliar characters started to appear on the card, erasing the gold lettering that was there before.

Kyuhyun flipped again through the manual until he got to the syllabary of Draconese, the dragon’s language. He managed to identify the characters on the card and read it out, Siwon.

“Well great, as if it’s something I didn’t already know,” Kyuhyun muttered to himself and he remembered that Siwon expected him to know how to reveal his true name when he gave that card. He could have just told me at once. Donghae did.

Then he also remembered that Siwon didn’t try to mark him, just kissed him and he scowled. 
“Okay, first, I guess I need to show you this,” Donghae said as he took off his shirt. He indicated a rather large mark that was just above his belly button. It was like a crest, was almost round in shape and for the most part, looked like a circular row of sharp teeth. “There are only certain dragons who have marks like this. Basically, this indicates that you’re a clan lord.”

Then he ruefully put back his shirt on and Kyuhyun was thankful for that considering that it might get a little distracting later on.

Donghae bit his thumb, thinking how to proceed with his story then he cleared his throat and began again, “In Pendarak, there were originally five clans of dragons. White, black, red, blue and yellow. Then something happened, umm, let’s just say about 4,000 years ago in Earth years. Inter-world marriage was very rare that time and all the known worlds wanted a chance to unite with the Annunaki of Nibiru. Nibiru, if you didn’t know, is the First Known World. They were the ones who discovered other worlds and how to get to them through gates opened by individuals who have this capability, the Gatekeepers.”

Kyuhyun nodded, he knew this part. It was one of the first things Kangin taught him.

“They are the most sophisticated, advanced race and so when a time came that one of the Annunaki princes decided to marry someone from another world, the other worlds willingly offered their queens, princesses, ladies. But eventually, the prince picked the Queen of Hielo, Queen Heesica.”

Kyuhyun’s eyes widened. Wait, he heard about this. It was in the history lessons he took during the Gatekeeper’s meetings but surely there was something wrong in Donghae’s story? Because he remembered that Heesica…

“As it is, the Queen was to be escorted to Nibiru by a royal party composed of nobles from other worlds. It was to be like a show of unity, something like that. Anyway, in that party was the clan-lord of the Yellow Dragons, Lord Hankyung. And well, let’s just say that the Queen never got to Nibiru. She eloped with Lord Hankyung.” 

Okay, that was what Kyuhyun knew. That Heesica and Hankyung had the most famously known inter-world marriage in history. But the next part, he didn’t know.

“The Hielans were furious of course. They all blamed Lord Hankyung and said that he purposefully seduced their queen and sabotaged the arranged marriage. As compensation for their failed chance to be united with someone as illustrious as an Annunaki prince, they demanded two things from us dragons. One, that in every generation, a high-ranking dragon be sent to them and work as a sort of page in the Hielan court. It was to be a punishment meant to embarrass us.”

“Oh wait,” Kyuhyun interrupted, “I remember the first dragon I transported, Prince Taecyeon. He had a Hielan lady with him, Lady Jessica. Was he…?”

“Yes, he was our current tribute to Hielo and well, owing to what happened, dragon and Hielan relationships are frowned upon. But of course, things like that happen, it can’t be helped,” Donghae said. “But the Hielans weren’t just satisfied with that, they demanded for another, much greater punishment. So the second demand was, they wanted Lord Hankyung’s clan to be dissolved.”

“What?!” Zhou Mi gasped in outrage, “But that would be genocide!”

“Oh no, no,” Donghae hastily assured him, “it’s not what you think it means.”

Then Kangin interrupted to explain it more clearly, “Pendarak society is very different from what you have here in your world. For one, it’s much smaller and close-knitted. The division of dragon clans has to do more with logistics rather than loyalty to a certain governing body although of course, clans are devoted to their lords. The original clan-lords were brothers and so all clan-lords are in a sense, related to each other. When the Hielans demanded that Lord Hankyung’s clan, the yellow dragons, be dissolved, it simply meant that they were to disperse and join other clans ensuring that Hankyung wasn’t a clan-lord anymore.”

“Which wasn’t really necessary anyway since Lord Hankyung and Queen Heesica decided to live in this world. It was still primitive that time but it had enough resources and people which satisfied Heechul since he was used to being pampered,” Donghae said in amusement.

Kyuhyun was confused, “I’m sorry, who is Heechul and he’s a he?”

It was Kangin again who explained, “Remember I told you that other-world beings need to shift forms when they move from world to world? Well apparently, Queen Heesica assumed a male human form and Heechul was her- his human name. Hankyung also had one, it was Hangeng.”

“But was that okay with Lord Hankyung? That his queen preferred to be male?”

Kangin shrugged, “He was still the same person wasn’t he? It doesn’t matter what you are when you hop from world to world. You can assume any form, any gender and you’d still be you.”

Donghae continued, “Well quite recently, the High Council, after some pleadings from the dragon clans, decided that maybe it was about time that the yellow dragons be returned back their clan-lord. After all, surely, after all these millennia, the yellow dragons have been punished enough. Not that it was their fault anyway, it was actually nobody’s fault if you think about it. Besides that, we were still willing to continue sending a high-ranking dragon to work for them. So about three months ago, the High Council decided that the clan-lord be returned to the yellow dragons.” 

Then Donghae smiled shyly, “Lord Hangeng was my ancestor, my great-great-grand uncle, so I was to succeed as the clan-lord of the yellow dragons.”

“But?” Kyuhyun prompted when Donghae paused.

“Well, we dragons are very traditional creatures. We always do any important ceremony on auspicious times so we always rely on our star interpreters who read the heavens to tell us when to do it. For my coronation as clan-lord, it was found that it was best to do it during the full buck moon. There’s still a month left before that.”

Then Donghae clenched his fist as he remembered something painful, “And that’s when the assassination attempts started, after the reading. If it was just me, I was fine with it and I would have tried to stay alive on my own just until the ceremony but my advisers wouldn’t dream of it. Maybe if I had been more forceful, then three people wouldn’t be dead because of me.”

“Three?”

“Yes, my advisers decided to get me a decoy, another dragon who resembled me somewhat and he was killed. Speared through the chest.”

“How horrible!” Zhou Mi cried while Kyuhyun’s eyes opened wide.

“Of course this was in Pendarak and not one of us dragons believed that any of us would do such a thing. We had initially thought maybe it was the wyverns who were doing it but they have no motive at all aside from just being inherently malicious. But that’s not a strong reason to want to kill a prospective dragon clan-lord.” 

“Are there other-world beings in Pendarak?” Kyuhyun was curious.

“Oh yes, quite a number although not as many as here but still, there are many,” then at Kyuhyun’s silent question, Donghae added, “There are many Hielans there. They somehow find it amusing to visit and drop cruel remarks about Lord Hankyung’s deceit once in a while.” 

“Oh.”

“So the other clan-lords got together and thought about how they were to protect me. One of them, my half-brother actually, advised me to hide here in your world for the time being. And as added precaution, they got me another two decoys who resembled my human form. One was Amber, she was the great-granddaughter of a Gatekeeper who was a friend of my father and the other was Jonghyun. They volunteered actually and Jonghyun was actually doing this without the consent of his superiors. We couldn’t go to the Interpol officially for help because while this is a high-profile case, we have no evidence to support our claim that the suspects were from outside our world. And the Interpol will not touch any case that they consider to be domestic.”

“Then surely we must report this to the Interpol now! You said the poison is from Hielo.”

Kangin shook his head, “Sure it’s from there but who can prove that Hielans did it? And to report about a poison that can’t be traced? Besides we can’t, well at least not me and you. Gatekeepers and their guardians are supposed to be neutral in the affairs of other worlds.”

“Neutral? But Donghae is living with us right now!”

“He is, but it’s not like he’s an escaped fugitive that we’re hiding. He came to us for asylum which we can give. It’s the same with any other other-world beings as long as they’re not criminals.”

Then Donghae looked at Kyuhyun, he said quite seriously, “Don’t worry Kyuhyun, I don’t plan to stay here anymore. Now that my decoys are gone, they’ll now easily be able to track me and I’m not going to risk your life. I never intended for you to protect me but staying here was the best option then since no one was going to think that I’m actually staying with the human gatekeeper. Please believe me when I say that I was never going to use you as a shield. I’d rather you use me as one.”

Kyuhyun cleared his throat and willed away the colour rising in his cheeks at Donghae’s heartfelt speech and the way Zhou Mi and Kangin were looking at them interestedly, “Uh, don’t be absurd Donghae. This is a dangerous time for you, actually even more now. I’m not going to abandon you until you’re safely crowned as clan-lord.” 

“Are you serious about that?” Kangin suddenly asked, his eyes boring into him.

Kyuhyun was surprised at the question, “What? Of course I am!” 

Kangin nodded, apparently satisfied, “Good. Just wanted to make sure. I guess I can now teach you the Laws tomorrow.”

“Laws? What laws?”

“Something to help us. You won’t be of any use to Donghae the way you are now,” Kangin retorted while Kyuhyun scowled and Donghae protested that Kyuhyun was perfect the way he is now.

Kangin ignored them and announced, “Alright, let’s all sleep early tonight. We need to come up with a battle plan for the coming days ahead and we can think more clearly if we all have a good night’s sleep. Besides, I’m sure we all need the rest after this day’s events.”

*************

Kyuhyun was sure he’d be able to sleep quickly once his head touched his pillow but here he was wide-awake, staring at the ceiling. He unconsciously grasped the gold pendant on his chest and played with it. Looking down at it, he remembered that there was still something he needed to know.

“Kangin! Psst, Kangin!” he whispered through the dark, calling the daemon who was sleeping at the other side of the room.

“What?” Kangin asked grumpily, “I was already sleeping.”

“No you weren’t. You weren’t snoring so I knew you were awake.”

Kangin growled, “I do not snore! Anyway, what is it?” 

“I want you to answer me truthfully. This pendant you gave me, what exactly is this for?”

Kyuhyun could hear Kangin rising from his makeshift bed and he wasn’t surprised when he felt the daemon right beside his bed. It was dark but there was enough moonlight outside the windows for Kyuhyun to see his guardian’s face. Kangin was looking at him intently then he sighed, “I guess I can tell you now. What you decide to do about it is up to you.”

Then he continued, “Do you remember Donghae saying once that you were a dragon’s mate?” Kyuhyun nodded, “Well you are.”

Kyuhyun had an eyebrow raised in confusion, “Er, is that a good thing?”

Kangin smiled, “I told you, it’s up to you what you want to do about it. Anyway, that mark you have on your stomach like the one Donghae has? It isn’t a mark for gatekeepers. Gatekeepers don’t have identifying marks.”

“So you lied to me!”

His guardian ignored his remark and continued, “Donghae was right when he said only clan-lords have marks like his but he forgot to mention that dragon’s mates also have them.”

“So… I’m Donghae’s mate?” Kyuhyun asked hesitantly. He wasn’t sure what to feel about that.

“Not necessarily. You see dragon’s mates are born only for the highest-ranking dragons, usually the clan-lords. There aren’t always dragon’s mates born for every clan-lord but once there is, any of the clan-lords can stake their claim but usually a dragon’s mate when one is born, is already destined so to speak to a specific lord.”

“Well which clan-lord am I destined to? And why me? I’m not even a dragon.”

Kangin cocked his head to the side, surveying Kyuhyun, “So you also believe in destiny? It’s believed that when their world is in danger, a dragon’s mate is born outside Pendarak to help with this danger. There was a time when a dragon’s mate was from Bars-Lag and Pendarak was suffering from a mysterious plague that time. Anyway, the dragon’s mate was immune from the sickness and a cure was found and consequently, all future offspring were immune from the disease.” 

Kyuhyun smiled wryly, “Well that’s nice but unless the clan-lord is female, I’m not sure how I can contribute to the future offspring of Pendarak.”

Kangin coughed and said a little self-consciously, “I don’t want to embarrass both of us by explaining to you how dragons ually reproduce but all I can say is, it’s a lot different with humans. You will produce children even with a same- mate. Then again, you can also opt to assume a female dragon form when you’re in Pendarak.” 

Kyuhyun frowned in disapproval and Kangin would have loved to but he decided to defer that to another time and continue with his explanation, “Anyway, I guess the events leading to re-installing the Yellow Dragon’s clan lord is what made a dragon’s mate be born outside their world this time. Although I’m not sure what exactly you can contribute to their race. OW! Don’t hit me!”

Kyuhyun ignored him and said thoughtfully, “Is that why I got a heightened sense of smell like the dragons? Because I’m a dragon’s mate?” It surprised him a little that he can talk about being a dragon’s mate comfortably, but he supposed that encountering another murder that afternoon was more disturbing. He was sure that if he thought about being a dragon’s mate again tomorrow morning, he will go into proper hysterics. But for now… 

Kangin shrugged, “Maybe. Anyway, you’re a Gatekeeper, you were born to have an ability to sense other-world beings. That sense of smell may or may not be coincidental to you being a dragon’s mate.”

“You still haven’t explained to me why you gave me this gold pendant.”

“Oh that,” Kangin cleared his throat, “Well, uh, you see, I was supposed to be at your side even before you succeeded as the next gatekeeper, you know, to teach you what you should do.”

“Exactly! And if I remember correctly, you were late!”

“Yeah, well… But anyway, I also found out that you were also a dragon’s mate and the first other-world beings you were going to meet were high-ranking dragons and I haven’t warned you yet. Dragons are very fond of gold and to them, its smell is the most fragrant of all and very irresistible. Kinda like what a dragon’s mate would smell like. That day you found out you were a Gatekeeper was also the day you matured as a dragon’s mate, meaning you were emitting that scent. So I made you wear that pendant to confuse them.”

Kyuhyun narrowed his eyes at him, “So you mean if you had been late, I could have been by any dragon who found me first? God, if it had been a female dragon, she could be suing me now for child support!”

“Oh no, no! Dragons are very honourable creatures. They wouldn’t do such a thing. Besides, only high-ranking dragons would have the nerve to mark you.”

Kyuhyun just rolled his eyes and went back to staring at the ceiling. Honourable my foot, he thought as he remembered how Siwon and Donghae reacted when they first met him. Then he frowned, “Kangin? If I refuse to be claimed as a dragon’s mate, I can do that right?” 

“Yes of course. I mean just look at what you did to Dongha-… um, yeah that. Well, you can forgive him, he’s quite young. But anyway, as I told you, it’s up to you what you want to do about it.”

Kyuhyun then remained silent and after a while he heard Kangin grunt, acknowledging that he was dismissed and he felt his guardian patting his shoulder before going back to his bed.

Minutes passed and Kyuhyun could hear Kangin snoring softly and here he was still awake. He couldn’t tell Kangin of course what he couldn’t even admit himself. Only high-ranking dragons would have the nerve to mark you Kangin said. Donghae tried to but he stopped him but Siwon didn’t even try. Is it because he isn’t a clan-lord? 

Or maybe because he wasn’t “available” anymore just like he said?

Kyuhyun refused to be upset about that fact. He was so unbothered about it that he quietly rose from his bed and took something from his bedside table before going out his bedroom. He went to the kitchen and sat at one of the stools as he put down the thing he brought on the counter. It was the Gatekeeper’s manual and he flipped through the pages until he came to the page about the Pendarak dragons. He looked at the crests of each of the clans and saw the familiar image of the yellow dragon’s clan-lord’s mark, the one Donghae had.

“Oh I see, the crests depict parts of a dragon’s body,” Kyuhyun softly read. The yellow dragon’s was fangs, the red dragon’s was claws, the white dragon’s was wings, the black dragon’s was scales, and the blue dragon’s was the tail. 

The tail. Kyuhyun remembered his own mark which resembled a tail and he lifted his shirt to look down at it. It was a bit different from the blue dragon’s mark which was a longer tail and went round in a circle. Then he continued to read and found that only clan-lords were allowed to use their marks as signatures or put them anywhere on documents. I wonder what clan Siwon belongs to. Ugh, why am I even thinking about him!

Nevertheless, Kyuhyun managed to blush as he took out the dragon’s business card from his pocket. He was thankful no one was awake to know that he always has the darn card close to him. He looked at it intently before blowing hard on it.

Nothing happened.

Kyuhyun looked left and right and satisfied that no one saw the dumb thing he did, he gave a muffled curse. Damn you Siwon and all that talk about dragon’s breath! 

Wait, dragon’s breath. Kyuhyun remembered that the air was supposed to come from around the diaphragm and so he tried again.

And unfamiliar characters started to appear on the card, erasing the gold lettering that was there before.

Kyuhyun flipped again through the manual until he got to the syllabary of Draconese, the dragon’s language. He managed to identify the characters on the card and read it out, Siwon.

“Well great, as if it’s something I didn’t already know,” Kyuhyun muttered to himself and he remembered that Siwon expected him to know how to reveal his true name when he gave that card. He could have just told me at once. Donghae did.

Then he also remembered that Siwon didn’t try to mark him, just kissed him and he scowled. 

I bet he also did that to Bianca. Maybe he has a thing for gatekeepers. Annoying, erted dragon. To distract himself, he flipped over the card and blew on it, not really expecting anything to appear.

He was wrong though since something did appear. But it wasn’t Draconese syllables, it was a crest. Something that Kyuhyun had seen just some minutes before.

Kyuhyun as if in a daze, stood up. He pocketed the card and brought back the manual with him. He softly made his way back to his bed, returning the book to his bedside drawer. If he had trouble sleeping before, this time when his head touched the pillow, sleep overcame him.

If someone had asked why he was able to sleep now, Kyuhyun wouldn’t be able to answer but maybe, just maybe it was because he just found out that Siwon was the clan-lord of the Blue Dragons.
 

-----TBC