HEINA

Water pumped into every part of me, making me feel like I was going to combust. The taste of chlorine sat on my tongue like a deathly warning, and I flailed my arms desperately.

Laughter poured over me from above the water, sounding too distant to my ears that still rang with the fear of death.

I finally raised my head above the water, coughing painfully to dislodge the water I had involuntarily consumed. My glasses were so layered with water droplets that my vision was blurry.

"Aww... what piggy? Don't know how to swim?" Jocelyn taunted.

I could make out the faint outline of people as they started to record the incident with their phones.

Swimming away as fast as I could given the fact that I was in a floor-length dress that became heavier the more I stayed in the water, I tried to climb out of the water.

"Where do you think you're going, chubs? Come on, the fun was just getting started." She turned around and opened her arms wide. "Wasn't it, guys?"

A round of agreement followed. Jocelyn faced me again. "You heard them. We're just getting started."

With one hard shove, my head is pushed back underneath the water. I struggled against the hold she had on my hair, gulping down water as it invaded my nose and mouth. She didn't let go.

The laughter increased, the cheers too. I struggled to get free, feeling the life as it started to slip out of me. God, no.

I didn't know where my tears ended and the water began. My limbs were starting to get weak.

Suddenly, the laughter ebbed and silence descended over the crowd. Jocelyn immediately let go of my head, and I rushed to the surface, sputtering and coughing out water.

My eyes burned, and so did my lungs. I couldn't even look at them. All I wanted to do was get out of this water I was trapped in.

The dress had gotten so much heavier, and my limbs were now too jelly-like for me to be able to accomplish my task easily.

"Hi, handsome," I heard Jocelyn say.

My head perked upward, and sure enough, the twins from the other day were here in my house. Girls from school flocked around them, some touching in flirtatious invitation, others trying to get their attention with words. Some even took photos.

I didn't even understand why I was staring at them still, or more importantly, why they were staring at me like I was the piece to a very important puzzle.

Their unusual eyes studied me with an intensity that made my insides heat up. Jocelyn's eyes turned in my direction as she was once again ignored by them, and I swear I saw fire pour out from their depths.

The warning she gave me in the bathroom the other day made itself present in my mind, and I forced my eyes down. I concentrated hard on getting myself out of the water.

By the time I was on land, they had their backs to me; heading into the dining area of our house where Dad received them, and they got right down to a conversation.

I wrung water out of my dress as much as I could and decided to go over there to find out what it was they were talking about.

How did Dad know them?

Before anyone could stop me a second time, I hurried in the direction of the dining room. Through the glass door, I could see their lips moving, but it wasn't until I got to the door that I could finally hear what they were saying.

"Bold of you to assume any of this is for the issue of peace. You lost that right a long time ago." One of the twins spat out in a firm voice.

"You left our mother, your wife!, to die. What kind of monster does that to a woman they claim to love?" The second twin spoke up in an equally irritated voice.

The words rang in my head like a war song, and I gasped. To say that I was confused was putting it too mildly.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked, my voice shaking.

All three men turned to face me, surprised that I had overheard them, while Mom just stared at them like they had sprouted a new head.

No one spoke for a very long time. We all just stared at each other for what felt like an eternity.

"Dad. What are they talking about?" I asked again, unable to bear the silence any longer.

"Heina, this..." Dad started but then cut himself off with a shake of his head. "This isn't the time. Can we talk about this later?"

"No. This is... wait. They said you left their mother, who was your wife alone, to die. What does that mean? Were you cheating on Mom?"

Both boys didn't utter a single word, they just crossed their arms across their chest, staring at Dad expectantly.

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way, sweetie. But..." he exhaled a rough breath. "They are mine."

Tears started to walk down my face for the third time today. "What does that even mean?"

He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled another heavy sigh. "I'm not your biological father, Heina. But these are my sons."

My ears rang with disbelief, and I staggered backward, pain sticking through my chest quickly.

"What? Hold on... what?" My voice caught on a sob this time.

Dad took a single step forward, and I backed up. His face fell. "I didn't want you to find out like this, Heina. It doesn't matter if I am your biological father or not, you'd always be my little girl."

I couldn't believe my life was falling apart in this way. And on my birthday too. Nothing good ever came out of it.

Before I could think of something to say, the twins spoke up in unison, their harsh words slicing through the air.

"Get lost. Now!"

HEINA

My head swiveled around to face them, but they weren't looking at me. Their eyes were trained on Jocelyn as she leaned over beside the door, eavesdropping on a conversation that had nothing to do with her. The girl really had no limits when it came down to making my life hell.

She stood up, affronted. No one in Royal Ridge ever spoke to her like that. The unnamed twins were really breaking a lot of firsts when it came down to her.

Her mouth opened as if to say something, but their faces looked as hard as it would if it were carved from granite, eyes blazing with fury so intense I almost took a step back in fright.

She stomped off like a child denied candy, and the twins turned back to face us in the room.

"Do you have any intentions to keep that promise?" The topaz-eyed twin asked Dad.

Dad's face looked like it was dusted in guilt, but he said nothing.

"Zairo," Mom spoke up for the first time since the news came to light, her voice shaken with emotion. "What are you talking about?"

Dad's eyes filled with more remorse as he turned to face her. He simply shook his head, unready to give an answer.

Mom's voice broke as she yelled. "I deserve an answer, Zairo. Tell me what the hell is going on."

"I... It was a..."

The words were cut off as loud screams filled the air. Screams that were filled with terror raced through the air and forced us to move.

My eyes bulged, almost falling out of their sockets as the sight before me registered. Through the glass walls of our dining room, four huge creatures, reptile-like with wings that seemed to span the entirety of the sky, their body looked scaly even from this distance, and their eyes were small and glassy.

Dragons. Four mighty dragons were beating at the air and traveling in our direction.

What the hell?

All of a sudden, they decided the sky wasn't enough for them to play in, and they swooped down, wings beating off anything that stood in their path, and tails causing a lot more damage.

The walls of our house on the side that overlooked the pool fell off with a mighty chunk as a gray dragon flogged it off with its mighty tail.

The guests that were lounging at the pool screamed, running in every direction to avoid the rubbles that rained down.

My eyes got even wider, as half of the roof over my bedroom was knocked off. Dragons were real, and they were here, destroying my birthday party.

This couldn't be real. Maybe I was dreaming? Maybe this was all...

The thought came to an abrupt halt as a shiny green dragon flew in my direction, wings spanned wide as it hovered and released a breath. Fire raced in my direction, the heat of it flowing even through the barrier that sat between us.

"Heina, move!" One of the twins yelled.

But I couldn't move. My feet were rooted to the floor, shock planting me solidly as death approached me.

Just as the first flickers of the flame beat against the glass, a strong arm grabbed me and dragged me aside.

The glass gave way under the waves of fire that scorched everything in its path.

Oh.

My.

Gosh!

I was still struggling to make sense of what was happening, but Dad's enraged growl had my head snapping in his direction just in time to see his bones rearrange in ways that were downright impossible.

Huge black wings spanned out from where his hands usually stood, his head moving into a reptile monstrosity that flowed down into a fluid, scaly neck and traveled all the way down to a tail that was twice the size of a limousine.

The roof of the house gave way under his large frame, and he soared into the sky, tackling the green dragon that just spat fire at me.

I noticed the change happen twice more, to none other than the twins. Each one of them the perfect replica of their distinct eyes.

They soared into the air as well, the sounds of their wings as it beat the sky like the oncoming of a storm.

Mom didn't turn, but she wasn't as shocked as I was either. She was on her feet, legs braced apart as she spoke in a language I had never heard before, sparks of electricity dancing along the tips of her fingers.

"What the hell is going on?!" I screamed into the air, even though I somehow knew I wasn't going to get any answers.

Dad's black tail swooped into the side of the green dragon, sending its massive frame against the fence.

The other dragon recovered instantly, surging towards Dad in a powerful sweeping move that confused the hell out of me. Everything was happening too quickly for me to take note of.

Strong jaws locked around the throat of the black dragon, and a pained shout broke from my throat, piercing the air. I couldn't breathe as the green dragon shook Dad like a ragdoll, then with its spiky tail, plunged into Dad's underbelly.

He was hurt. God no!

I barely registered the sound of the wings as they flapped through the air before I was knocked into the wall on the other side.

A smaller green dragon had its talons aimed at me as it swooped around a second time. Mom released a blast of electricity that sent the dragon flying backward. But it was back in no time, scratching at Mom's stomach with a deathly blow that left her flesh open.

I cried out again, pain a new companion inside me. This couldn't be happening.

Her body hit the ground at the same time that another dull thud reached her ears. Dad. He was naked, and bleeding.

I started in their direction. I needed to help them.

A topaz-blue tail swung out in front of me, pushing me backward and onto the spanned sapphire wing that made a stairwell for me.

I struggled against their scaly hold, I couldn't leave my parents here to die. I wanted to help. I needed to.

But I was no match for them.

We lifted into the air in a surge, and I released another soul-piercing scream as my home and life started to get smaller. The other dragons circled around my house, and the last thing I remembered before I let the darkness in was the rings of fire their necks reared back to release.

No!!

HEINA

My eyes fluttered open, a groan rumbling from my dry, parched throat.

I rose myself to a sitting position to take in my environment. Everywhere was blurry. I couldn't see clearly. I wasn't wearing my glasses, I remembered, automatically reaching for a bedside drawer that wasn't there.

Panic set in. I was fifty percent blind, I couldn't do without my glasses. I felt around the bed I was on. Strangely, it didn't feel like mine.

The throbbing came on, slow and painful. Both sides of my temples.

"Hello." I cried - more like croaked - out, fear evident. "Who's there? Where am I?"

The pounding in my head was making it hard for me to remember anything beyond this minute. But after no response came and what seemed like a long time but was possibly few seconds, I remembered.

My birthday party. Bullies. Swimming pool. New students with piercing stares. Chaos. Dragons. Blood.

"No." I whimpered, seeing in my mind's eye how my parents had bled to death and I couldn't do anything to stop it.

The confusion that had set in. The pain. Crying for them to wake up.

Tears blurred my vision further, increasing blindness to eighty percent.

Despite my understandable meltdown, my ears picked up footsteps. When you were half blind, your other senses would help cover up for it.

Someone threw something at me, it landed on my lap. I felt for it and immediately grabbed it when I realized what it was.

I slipped it through my ears, on my face. My vision became clear.

It was them. Those boys from school. T-the o-ones that h-had turned into some fantastical d-dragon.

"Get up." One ordered.

I was temporarily torn between obeying them and staying put to mourn my parents.

"Didn't you hear him?" The cold, commanding voice jolted me up from the bed.

I stood before them, still clad in my birthday designer dress that was still wet and heavy. My head lowered in fear.

I shivered, not just from the cold amassed still dressed in a wet gown but also from fear and sorrow. My parents, I'd never see them again.

I struggled not to break down before them.

"You're cold." It was uttered in an emotionally detached tone. One of them had spoken.

"Raise your head." The second curtly ordered.

I lifted my head, strands of my auburn tresses straying from the beautiful French bun mom had made for me earlier today.

I blinked back tears, meeting their hard gazes.

"The maid will be here with some clothes for you. Change your dress and come downstairs." It wasn't a request. It was an order.

One I didn't dare challenge.

They left. Few minutes later, a maid walked in on me crying silently. "Here are your clothes, My Lady."

She dropped a heap of clothes on the chair nearby and began arranging them neatly in a wardrobe.

Wiping my eyes, I studied my surroundings, taking note of the modern merged with the medieval setting of the room.

This was probably where the boys' lived. They had flown me here. I was still finding it difficult to believe that dragons weren't mythical. They were real and I'd been flown in one. Had been raised by one.

Mom hadn't changed into some scaly creature with scarily big wings but she'd also possessed some kind of freak-ish powers.

"Their Royal Highnesses do not like to be kept waiting." The maid with beautiful black curls and small eyes strangely the shade of lavender reminded in a polite tone.

Quickly, she helped me change out of my dress and into another one. Surprisingly, it was my size. I wondered how they were able to get clothes my size on such short notice.

"Did you say Their Royal Highnesses?" I turned so she could help me zip up.

Due to my plus sized body, my arm couldn't reach the zipper.

"Yes. They are the rulers of our tribe."

"Tribe?" I quirked a brow, wondering if this was some highschool drama I was unconsciously a part of.

Tribes weren't a modern thing. Only in movies.

"Dragon tribe. Also known as Black Flame." She explained so calmly as though she'd been expecting those questions from me. "I'm your assigned hand maiden."

"What?" Hand maiden? Those still existed? In this twenty first century? I'd watched lots of old, historical movies and heard words like that but they were no longer in use.

"Go, My Lady. I'll tell you what you want to know later. Like I said, they do not like to be kept waiting."

"I do not know where they are. I'm not familiar with the environment."

"Come with me, My Lady."

My Lady? What was I? The Duchess of...of Jertrix?

Silently following, I let her show me the way. Nerves kicked in once I heard voices talking.

"There, My Lady. Take that corner, you'll see them." She gestured to a corner and left.

Taking a deep breath, I propelled my legs forward, they were suddenly as heavy as lead.

I saw them now. But it wasn't just two of them, there was another man. The boys sensed my presence before they even raised their heads. And when they did, the man followed their direction. His own gaze landing on me and roved my frame.

His mouth stretched in a kind yet strange smile. "Step forward, my child."

He would be same age with dad...or two to three years older. He talked strangely too.

Two pairs of blue eyes of different gem shade were intense on me as I slowly and uncomfortably made my way into the spacious living room.

"Hi." I greeted the man, a bit cautious and quite abashed.

"Nice to meet you, Heina." He extended his hand in a handshake.

He had eyes like snake - somewhat a mix of red and gray with visible slits in both orbs, they scared me and so did his unbelievably long silver white hair gathered in a ponytail - there was something mysterious and dangerous about those long strands.

Still, it would be assumed rude not to accept his handshake. Cautiously, I accepted his hand. As soon as contact was made, I felt a sharp tingle on the nape of my neck, his hair glowed and the dark slits in his eyes widened.

I let out a scared gasp and was ready to snatch my hand but he held firm.

Suddenly, it was his turn to gasp. Fear. Shock. Disbelief. I couldn't tell, but he released my hand like it was some poisonous object.

He turned away from me, towards the boys. "We are doomed. She will bring an end to us all."