Shadow's Advent

Chapter Two

"Nope." 

"See how strong you are?" 

"Nuh-uh." 

"At least get registered in case you went bonkers?" 

She shook her head.  

Kytheran looked at her with disgust on his face. "And we are supposed to trust you? You aren't even registered! You don't know how strong you are!" 

"Oh, I am well aware of how powerful I am," she said, waving her hand flirtatiously.  

"And why wouldn't your mother allow you to see the Magi if they were so close to you? Why would she put her own daughter in so much danger?" he asked. 

"Well, my mother wasn't a humanoid." 

Kytheran cocked an eyebrow. "What?" 

"My mother was a dragon, like yours. She didn't want a tarhyn teaching me." Caraka ran her hand through her hair. 

"So, how did you learn magic?"  

"I was taught by my mum and my granny. Occasionally, my mum would ask for some help, especially with texts, from the Order, but otherwise, I guess you could say I was home schooled." She fiddled with her fingers, tensing them. 

"Oh, guess you can count higher than ten too?" he asked. 

She glared at him and threw a pebble at him. 

He snickered. "Just inquiring! I don't know what they teach at the Magi schools, no less the Magi home schools." 

Caraka nodded towards the sleeping Aaralynn. "Isn't she a magi?" 

Kytheran glanced at his friend. "She is actually more of a healer. I think she knows rudimentary elemental magic." He shrugged.  

Caraka raised an eyebrow. "You think?" 

He shrugged. "Magic isn't really my forte." 

"Oh? Then what is?" she asked. 

"War. Military." 

"Oh! So you are a soldier then? From Drecona, I presume?" 

"I was," he said sourly. "They don't take too kindly to our people, no matter how good we are." 

Caraka tilted her head. "And how good were you?" 

"Enough."  

She dragged a claw in the dirt. "So, I guess you must have fought in Alezarie then?" 

"Once or twice." He tensed, his lips twisted into a scowl. 

She blinked and raised an eyebrow. 

"Look, I was never a big fan of killing people. I was kind of forced into the family business, sort-to-speak. Sent to military school and everything," he said. 

Caraka raised her eyebrows. "Your family must be pretty wealthy if you went to military school." 

He stared at the fire, the light deepening the shadows on his face. "You could say that," he whispered. 

Caraka wrapped her arms around her shins and closed her eyes. Her head began to pound, the pain emanating behind her eyes. She started to massage her temples with her fingers. 

"Caraka? Are you all right?" asked Kytheran. 

She nodded. "I'm fine, just a headache." 

"Do you get those often?" 

"Sometimes." She linked her fingers behind her neck. 

"Must be from all that magic in you." 

Her lip twitched. Her head began to pound even more. She gritted her teeth and ran her fingers through her hair, grabbing and pulling at it. It felt as though her head was about to split in two...or melt.