Waking Other Lives
The Drakon is Rising

Whew, they were gone! Nothing could describe the relief I felt, I simply collapsed on the chair, my knees giving in. That had been so close, yet mom was frowning with a perplexed look on her face, she still had no clue what had transpired in the room.

I had to replace Seth, I had so many things to tell him, the funny thing is I neither knew where he lived, nor his phone number. Our relationship had been forged in alternative universes, and our lives had been taken before we could discover something more between us in here. I decided to drive to the hospital to see Elvan, the probability of replaceing Dante there was also extremely high, which would mean he’d know how to reach Seth. Things had been too rushed, confusing, problematic since we’d both waken up, me replaceing I’d lost 1/3rd of my heart, Elvan replaceing herself in grandma’s body, him trying to compile a Drakon army, me replaceing myself sleeping all the time. All in all, we had had no time to normalize our lives, our relationship on earth. The fact that I had no idea how to reach him was a testimony to all the abnormality affecting our lives.

“Mom, please do not open the door to anyone,” I warned her as I was leaving.

“What, why?” she asked.

“Please, just do as I say mom,” I said, and left the house. “Promise me. You wouldn’t want to worry me with my heart condition, would you, now?” I said, playing my last card.

She nodded, and said, “I promise,” but confusion was written all over her expression.

That was good enough for me. At least, she would be alive. I drove to the hospital, hoping that, besides giving me the opportunity to see my friend, the visit would also be my ticket to replaceing Seth. I took the elevator, and I exclaimed in joy when I saw Dante reading to Elvan in bed.

“Sierra,” she said in joy. “How glad I am to see you, Dante is killing me with attention,” she complained. “I can’t breathe, either it is reading, or singing, or bringing me lots and lots of food. I’m sure it’s not healthy for me to eat so much at this age.”

“Well, I am trying to make sure you do not feel ignored, love,” he said, throwing a charming smile.

“Hmph... By the way, all the nurses are in love with him, they are asking me to be a matchmaker between them and him, whom they believe to be my grandson. It is extremely annoying.”

She slapped his face away when he tried to kiss her hand like a true gentleman. “Stop it,” she said.

I laughed, they had been a funny couple even before Elvan was in grandma’s body. And, now they were just too funny.

“Dante, I need to replace Seth. Would you know how to get in touch with him?” I asked.

It would be an understatement to say he was surprised. “Sure,” he said, taking out his phone, and dialing a number. “Hey, man. Your girl is here, wanting to speak to you.” He gave the phone to me, turning his attention back to Elvan.

“Sierra,” Seth said. “I’ve missed you since last night,” he said, with so much depth in his tone. “Way too much, I should have stayed,” he chuckled. But, we both knew he wouldn’t have, nor would he now. ” How are you?” he asked.

“Seth,” I said pausing. That was his cue to get worried, so much not what I was aiming for. He immediately asked what was wrong. “Well, can we meet?” I asked.

“Sure, where?” Seth prompted.

“How about Starbucks at Randolph street in an hour, can you make it?”

“I’m on my way, I’ll be there,” he said. “Are you sure you don’t want to tell me what this all about right now?” he asked, worried.

“Yep, it can wait till then,” I said, hoping it didn’t lack conviction. Randolph Street was a few streets away and I’d be fine getting there.

“Give the phone to Dante,” he said, and I did. Dante nodded, using affirmative words to whatever Seth was saying to him. I hanged around with Elvan, and Dante for forty-five minutes, and then stood up, anxious to be on my way to our meeting place with Seth. But, to my amazement, so did Dante.

“I’ll be escorting you there, instructions from the Drakon King,” he smiled.

“There is no need,” I objected, but it was useless, his face was set, resolved. I shrugged, I couldn’t deny that I appreciated having a built muscled guy by my side when Abby and her crew were trying to kill me.

Dante held me by the elbow, and walked as a bodyguard would, cautious, alert. After we passed two streets, he wrinkled his face in disappointment. “So much for wishes, we are being followed,” he stated.

“Shit, are you serious?” I asked. “It’s been only an hour since they last tried.”

“Last tried, what? Who are you talking about? Do you care to elaborate on that?” Dante asked as he increased the pace of our stride.

“Since Abby and Payal tried to kill me.”

“What, and you are telling me now?” Dante reprimanded. “Damn, he’ll be fuming mad, rightfully so.”

We were almost there, crossing the street to Starbucks when they circled us, the ones behind us and the ones which cut our way, and Dante and I found ourselves enclosed by several neutralizers. One of them took out a gun, and targeted it directly at me. It was Dietrich. Dante kicked the gun out of his hand, but all of them were soon on us. I saw Seth run from across the street, and I took a punch to my stomach as I viewed him from the corner of my eye. Unfortunately, I was not as energetic, strong as I’d been in Rawonia because I had only 1/3 of a heart, and I was punched a few more times before Seth joined the fight.

The neutralizers were fast, and strong, it was a wonder how I had not noticed before that Dietrich had special qualities. I guess, it was because neutralizers had fought against the Drakons, another gifted species, and not humans. I saw Dietrich avoid Dante’s punch by leaping and somersaulting in air to clear not only Dante, but Seth, to land just in front of me. How had he done that? Before I could even defend myself, or Seth could clear the two neutralizers he was fighting to help me, Dietrich was standing in front of me with a wicked grin, holding a knife to my chest. His bad smell, and ugly daunting face was too familiar from Rawonia. I felt the touch of the cold metal, even over the sweatshirt, and I knew what was next, I was seconds away from dying. Seth screamed, his shout of agony made me turn towards him despite Dietrich, and the knife pressing on my skin.

Things happened so fast, in the blink of an eye, and I watched, mesmerized, even as I lay so close on death’s bed. Seth’s neck and body elongated, two horns erupted from his head, his jaw widened, his eyes flashed red, his talons emerged, a green sheen covered his body, and scales erupted within every inch of his skin. I was so shocked with what was happening to Seth that I even failed to notice that the touch of the knife was gone, and Dietrich’s bulky figure was no longer engaging me, but somebody else who had appeared out of the shadows, someone like Dietrich, fast, and agile, someone who’d promised to protect me at all costs, even against his own kind just like Seth, someone whose past, present and future mingled with mine, someone whose name was Baran. Though I heard the sounds of punching, kicking, and the air whooshing in my ears as two neutralizers fought with one another in the background, my attention was solely riveted on Seth.

The large green dragon roared, pushing everyone back. It was like watching an action packed movie, too many things were happening simultaneously. The shot of the gun drew my attention back to the neutralizers, Dietrich’s bloody body was lying on the ground, with Baran standing above him with a gun in his hand. Our eyes met, and he nodded, greeting me before he took off. Seth handled the rest, his talons grabbing them in twos and threes, while Dante crossed his hands and watched with a smile. People were screaming, running away while a guy was videotaping the whole thing. Dante walked towards the guy whose fear pinned him where he stood, his hand holding the phone shaking like crazy. “I’ll take that,” Dante smiled, smashing the phone under his boots. “Now, go,” he said, shooing him away. The guy ran like he was in a race, screaming all the way until he disappeared from sight. We heard the sirens of the cops from afar, and Dante pushed me towards Seth’s dragon. There was nothing else to do but fly away, and soon we were doing exactly that with people crying over, screaming about the end of the world.

“Dinosaurs are real,” I heard someone say. “I always knew. They are not extinct. They will take over the world, and we’ll all die.” Too bad he could not differentiate between a dinosaur and a dragon, and he was ignorant about the real source of the danger. But, he’d learn, soon all would. The war had begun, and the Drakons were rising.