Chapter Text
This was it. The day that decided my entire future. I could either pass and escape Tikany and the Fangs or fail and come crawling home, where the Importation Inspector was waiting for me on the aisle, liking his lips, eyeing my meat. I passed the test and sent my application for the Royal Dragon Academy of Sinegard. I was accepted but so were hundreds of teenagers who had the same aspirations as me. Only fifty people passed the official exam in the capital and I was going to be one of them.
Saying goodbye to the Fangs was strange but freeing, my little brother Kesegi kept hugging my leg, begging me to stay, to protect him from our Aunt. She was simply looking at me, smoking opio giving me a “you will come back” look. But I wasn’t, even if it meant die alone in Sinegard. I had no plan B, no money, just the dream, the rush, determination and Dragon...
Dragons… The only way to touch the sky, the only creatures who could fly freely without fear of failing and falling, and their masters, who could summon flames and lead armys to victory. I want to be just like that, General Fang Runin, but for now I was just Rin, a dark-skinned orphan from a village of farmers and Opio dealers. I had to prove myself twice as hard as the people born in “rich” Sinegard, those sons of Generals who already got "Dragon blood".
My heart was throbbing against my chest as the carriage left the endless landscape of mountains and begun to approach the capital. My eyes were glued to the fortress that was Sinegard. His days of glory were long gone but the walls built under the Red Emperor reign were still standing, protecting the city along thirteen miles.
“Wonderful isn’t it” said a raspy voice next to me. The other passenger on the carriage was a guy around his fifties, with grey hair, glasses and trembling fingers, it looked like the wind could blow him at any moment. “The city I mean” He coughed into his arm. “I used to live here back when the Triade was still in charge of things. It was hell, and probably still his” even after saying this I could see the fondness in his eyes while looking at the city.
“Do you miss it?” He furrowed his brows.
“Not really, I’m just here for business. My name is Feyrik, I'm a professor and yours?” he offered his hand. "Runin, Fang Runin but call me Rin" I took his hand carefully, even looking weak he had a tight grip. "I'll make sure to remember that, can I ask what brings you to Sinegard?" The professor seemed thrustworthy and I had no reason to lie so I said "I'm going to study in the Dragon Academy" "Oh" he seemed lost for a moment before turning to me again "That place is on the richer parts of the city, you need to be careful on your way there" he continued "This carriage will drop us near the gates and then you're on your own. If you don't watch where you're going you could get killed in seconds and no one will here from you ever again" he looked through his bag, and handed me a pocket knife. "You might want to cut your hair".
I touched my dark hair affectionately, it was flowing loose, the ends almost touching my ass. My hair was the only thing that I found pretty about my features, but if it cost me Sinegard it had to go. I took the knife, the professor was handing me and started cutting right below the ear. I held up the knife again and only stopped when there was a good amount of hair on my lap. I threw the remains of my femininity onto the road and watched turn in to a dot in the distance. As I was mourning my hair, the professor started talking again.
"You can keep the knife, you might need it, how much money do you have left?" I opened my bag, I had only one coin left. "That should be enough for a rickshaw, you must get one immediately and make him take you to the academy" He gave me a list of warnings. "Don't engage in small talk with anyone, if you see someone who seems like they're dying ignore them, they'll blame you for whatever happened to them and sue you or straight up stealing your money. Never eat the food selled from street vendors, do I need to explain myself? Just keep your head down and you'll be fine, don't relax until you're inside the Academy. Good luck, Rin" and with that he was silent again.
After a few minutes, we arrived at the gates and we were stopped by the guards. After exaching quick words with the conductor, they begun to inspect the carriage. One of the guards with blue uniform looked inside out compartiment and directly at me, his ice blue orbs peeking into my soul. Feyrik seemed unfazed to the guards weird stare and kept humming a melody. Finally they let us inside, opening the gates. The conductor dropped us off as soon as we got in the city. "That's it, remember my advice" Feyrik left smiling and humming and I was on my own in this monster of a city. I tried not to miss Feyrik, we hardly exchanged words until now, but he was a good company during the weeks that we spent on the carriage.
Taking a deep breath, I tried not to vomit, different smells came for me in all directions and the shouting of the vendors around me made it impossible to think straight. Someone tried to grab my ankle, but I quickly ran to the nearest rickshaw and pulled out my wallet giving the conductor some money.
"To the Academy, please" After the rickshaw started moving I tried to relax, but the view was agonizing, I could taste the suffering all around me, all the residents in this part of the city wanted money, they were pleading for it. The city was not at all what I imagined. It was just a larger version of Tikany, with walls around it and more movement. After a while the streets stopped being so loud. I assumed we were getting close to the richer parts of Sinegard, where the Academy was built in. The people here were whiter and talked like they didn't have time to finish sentences. I saw women walking around with an umbrella thing protecting them from the sun, their hair was shiny and looked like they putt eggs in it for that effect. The streets were cleaner, I didn't spot any beggar or poor-looking people, in fact all the people walking around here seemed to own money and their clothes were clean and tidy. Suddenly I became self-aware of my clothing and smelling condition. The trip to Sinegard took 3 weeks and I only changed clothes twice and didn't bath, because there was no time for it really. It would be humiliating if I arrived at the academy and they rejected me because of my bad smell and poor-looking condition. I tried to not feel too conscious about it and kept looking at the streets.
It was impossible to not notice the Academy. It was huge and took over the buildings nearby, even without looking at it, I could feel its presence. I couldn't look away even if I wanted to. The Academy was located on a hill and the 'rickshaw' left me on the very bottom. From there now I was on my own, the path to the Academy was a trail of stairs that went into the very top of the hill, thought there were buildings that belonged to the Academy around it. Wasting no time in getting out of my vehicle, I started sprinting towards the gate, which was not hard because I wasn't carrying anything heavy on me.
I arrived at the gates out of breath and looked around. There was a line of people getting checked in, a very bored twenty-year-old man was in charge of that duty, risking names on the list as each new student got in. Some entered accompanied by a servant that was carrying their belongings and others looked out of place and scared like I was, breathing heavier as my turn came closer. What if my name was not in the list? What if they kick me out just by looking at me assuming that I'm not Dragon or Sinegard material? And then what? I had no plan B. One more people left until it was my turn.
"Yin Nezha" said the boy in front of me. The other man didn't even glaze at the list of names in his hand, just let him inside with a touch on the shoulder. After this interaction (and the boy's arrogant attitude) I could tell that this Nezha belonged to an important family, his presence in this Academy was expected because he had 'Dragonblood', his ancestors were Dragon Maters too and soon his descendants will too. People who had 'Dragonblood' were usually more powerful than people who didn't have magic in their blood. Magic could be learned and mastered but I would never be like Nezha. I already knew I was going to get discriminated in this Academy for my accent and colour, but for the first time I became conscious of my disadvantage. I took one step forward and said my name to the man on the counter.
"Fang Runin". He sighed and looked through his papers. With every second that passed I imagined scenarios where I got kicked out and couldn't even cross the gates of the Academy after crossing all the country to get here, after burning myself while studying. All my efforts were insignificant now, reduced to a name on a piece of paper. Just as I was assuming the worst, he let me in and pointed to a group of people that were already inside. When I walked through that gate I forgot all about my past concerns. The poor girl that nobody wanted was left in Tikany, here I could be a new person and build a future where nobody could tell me what to and not to do. I headed to the group of people the man on the corner had pointed.
Some people were pacing around uncomfortably while others like Nezha were ready to rule this place. We were in an outside patio and in the middle of that patio was a dragon.