orenda [leo valdez]

iv. Leo Tames a Fire-Breathing Dragon

She was standing in an unfamiliar room. It was dark and gloomy, crimson colored walls with black trim. There was no furniture except for a large throne, where a man sat, his head down. 

He was a god, Kira could tell that much. He had an aura surrounding him, one that made Kira almost double over with fear. He radiated anger, suffering, annoyance. Everything Kira despised. Everything in her body was screaming to run, but she held her ground, bowing her head. 

"Do you know who I am?" He asked, his voice booming against the small room's walls. 

Things seemed to start to click. The colors, the aura, the throne. The man was her father. 

"Yes," She stated simply, voice tight after a moment of silence. She managed to not have her voice break. 

"Then you must know why you are here, child," He said menacingly, looking up to meet eyes with the girl. She cast her gaze at the floor, not wanting to stare into his intense eyes. He scared her, very much. 

"I don't, father," She said, with more spite then was probably needed when speaking to a war god. She watched his jaw tighten, and his knuckles grew white. He didn't like to be disrespected. Kira was not in the mood to show any respect for her father. 

"You are about to embark on a quest, one that you most certainly have a high risk of dying," Kira's jaw clenched. She had back a snarky comment. "I want to know that you will use every inch of your powers,"

"I'll fight when I need to," Kira said, her annoyance not noticeable, and her voice sounded calm and level-headed.

"You will need to fight monsters, Kira. They will be inevitable, and you cannot die."

"What do you mean, I can't die? What about the others, why am I more important?"

"You will know more when you need to," Ares growled, annoyance growing. He most certainly didn't like being questioned. "You cannot escape fate, you must fight as a child of war."

Kira knew there was no way to convince Ares that not everything was the enemy, and she was quite tired of talking to him. So, she gave him a tight smile, and nodded. "Of course, Ares,"

Ares stood, a stolid two feet taller then the girl. He held a long staff, and she still refused to meet his eyes.

"Do not disappoint me."

"Kira!"

"Kira!"

"When do we get to dunk her head in the toilet?"

"She's only going to get herself killed, I say we let her sleep through this."

"Gods, I hate dragons."

Kira shot up, gasping of breath as she left her scaringly realistic dream with Ares. 

"Oh well, it was worth a shot," A girl said, shrugging and giving Kira a slightly disgusted look, as if she was a moldy tuna sandwich. 

Kira shot her a warm smile, and slung her bag over one shoulder to go discover what the commotion was about.

"Don't disrespect our cabin, runt," She heard on the way out. 

Stepping outside, she questioned for a second that she was still dreaming. 

Outside, sat a giant bronze dragon. It was sixty-foot-long, with steel talons and drill-bit teeth and glowing ruby eyes. It had bat-shaped wings twice its length that unfurled like metallic sails.