Draeyer Academy (Rewrite)

Chapter 8-Fateful Night

Alec stared up at the ceiling of his home, watching the light and shadows created by the flickering fire of the candle and fireplace. Like usual, sleep refused to engulf his mind, and he ended up tossing and turning on his bed before he settled for staring up at the ceiling. His thoughts drifted off to the two men who had tied him to his chair, more than a week ago.

The two had seemed to have believed him, but still sent one Ryder to observe him, or rather his drae, from afar. The Ryder had maintained his distance and hid his presence well. However, not well enough that Alec would not notice him. His drae had tried to confront the Ryder, but he stopped him. The poor guy was probably just following orders. Plus, Alec had nothing to hide, so he let him be.

From what he gathered, someone had stolen something from Draeyer Academy. It was important enough to warrant the attention of the Ryders. That someone also had happened to have ridden the red drae as a way to escape. But his drae had no star-shaped marks on his neck—the Bond marks—making him a wild Unbound drae. For an Unbound drae to let someone ride on its back, means that it must have a good relationship with it, same as Alec's relationship with his drae. But if the thief had a good relationship with the red drae, he would not have abandoned the creature easily. There was no sign of the red drae's previous rider for the entire month Alec had been with him.

He groaned in frustration, as he sat up and decided to find his drae. He put on his fur coat and pulled up his mask. He stepped out onto the porch after lacing up his boots. Once out, his eyes searched for the red Drae. His brows knit when he saw no signs of the creature. He went back into the house and strapped his largest dagger on his thigh.

Where the Blazen, did he fly off to this time? he thought. Stepping out into the snow, the cold wind lashed at him. With the only light coming from the currently waxing moons, he walked towards the forest. He stopped and tried to feel the presence of the Ryder, but felt nothing. Knowing that nobody was watching him, he continued with his search for the drae.

He looked for tracks in the snow but did not find anything. As he neared the tree line, he started to get worried. The drae had stayed within the vicinity of his house, always within Alec's sight from his bedroom window. It was the first time he had not seen the drae since he came into his life. When he entered the forest, he looked for signs of anything that moved about. There were none. As he walked further in, he found that the forest was silent. There weas no sound of birds, not even the few cold-resistant insects in Arktis. He paused. How strange, he thought.

Minutes passed as his worry continued to grow as he saw no sign of his drae and all the other animals. It felt like he was alone in the world at that moment. Could he have left me? He thought.

A roar broke him out of his thoughts.

Without thinking, his body moved in the direction of the sound. All he could think about was the pain within that familiar roar. His vision slowly started to narrow and darken, like it always did when his anger threatened to overtake him. He shook his head vigorously.

Keep calm. Keep calm. Remember what Alen taught you. Anger clouds your judgment. You can't make the same mistake as days ago with the Ryders.

Without him noticing, he arrived in a section of the forest near a cliff. His body crouched behind a rock and took in the sight before him.

The red drae lay on the snow, writhing in pain as a figure of a man stood in front of his head. The man held a glowing red gem towards the drae's forehead where a similar red gem glowed. Every time the gem grew brighter, the same happened with the ruby on the drae's forehead. The pain seemed to increase as the gem glowed brighter as well. Alec's fist clenched as he reached for the dagger on his thigh.