The Odd Dragon Out: Reckoning of the Cinder-Born

"Go somewhere else."

The tension thickened instantly, just because of these three words.

Somehow, the atmosphere Ginger had invoked by refusing to step aside, and how everyone reacted to it, made him feel... free. He didn't know what he was set free from, but as a wild rush of both excitement and fear so voluminous that it saturated his eyes with tears gushed through him, he felt energized.

Emboldened, even.

Fillys, the girl Ginger was standing closer to, didn't show as much of a shocked reaction as the plump boy had hoped. In fact, she seemed to smile, her lips curving rather sickeningly.

"Oh. Look at that dear brother," she said to her sibling who only raised a brow at Ginger, a strangely confident look on his face, as if he had expected Ginger to rebel.

Suddenly, Fillys' face turned to perfectly house a sneering look, and with a sort of satisfaction to it that made Ginger feel a dire sense of alarm.

"It's funny that someone like you, dirty, infected, scarf and all, someone that's—"

The girl had begun when the loud clip-clop of shoes rang inside the classroom, interrupting the heavy, juvenile mood. Without exception, the entire classroom turned to find a tall, thick woman with long ears taking impactful strides across the front of the class.

Like clockwork, all the students rushed to sit down and pretend as if nothing had been going on, but it wasn't as if it truly mattered, as the one they did it for didn't pay them any mind at all.

Fillys and Alcaeus, her brother, gave Ginger cross looks as they walked away, and took seats away from him. Ginger sucked in a deep breath and plopped back to his seat.

'That was scary! Why did I...? No, I must stand by it. I couldn't just let them do what they wanted, right? Or maybe...' Ginger struggled with what had just happened, but his thoughts were soon disrupted by the high-pitched voice of the new entrant.

"Good morning, students."

Ginger joined the chorus to reciprocate the greeting when he realized that he recognized the woman standing in front of the class.

Curly jet black hair, brown eyes, and those... those lips, shaped into a V.

It was the Professor who had given him a sharp look at the Assembly yesterday, though that wasn't at all an efficient way to mark her amidst all the others that gave him similar impressions.

The woman took a sweep around the classroom from over her round-rimmed glasses, and her lips stretched out. Ginger imagined that the wide V her lips spread into was probably a smile.

"My name is Professor Altha Lyall. I will be your Prime Instructor. If you do not know what that means – I pray for your soul if you do not – it means I will be presiding over all your activities, and will be responsible for all that you contribute to the school, whether in the form of trouble or triumph," the woman said with an emphasis on 'trouble', which made her 'smile' all the more ominous.

All the students shuddered, and Professor Lyall seemed delighted by the reaction.

"On top of this, I will be taking you for the most important course in your First Year, Dragon Biology and Kardia Studies. And I will have you know, that I am the perfect teacher for this course. If you fail, that will mean you chose to do so, and I certainly won't have it. Sadly, the school no longer allows those who flunk this course to be served to the Blighted, but we will arrange a fitting punishment."

For some reason that Ginger didn't know, more than a few of his classmates shook at the mention of the word 'Blighted'. How he didn't react like the rest nagged him furiously.

Why couldn't he know so that he could be scared too for Shamans' sake?

Professor Lyall did another sweep of the classroom, with her brown eyes, her slit-like pupils dilating at times. Ginger felt a strange floating sensation when her gaze passed by him.

Immediately, he understood that she was using Kardia.

A moment later, she raised her head.

"Before I go on, let's do a roll call, shall we?" she said, and she began to call out names.

"Evanthe Cirrilo."

"Helena Gataki."

"Kairos Fayer."

For some reason, Ginger's first heart beat faster as Professor Lyall called out each name. Perhaps it was because she did so with a curious amount of emphasis, her sharp eyes turning to look at who owned the name, and ensnaring the face deep into memory.

"Spiro Almon."

"Nikolas Onasis."

"Reiss Adel."

The face belonging to the last name attracted Ginger's attention.

It was the short boy he shared a bed with. That didn't sound right, but it was true.

"Konstantina Flohr."

"Caron Ester."

"Fillys Doukas"

"Alcaeus Doukas."

And then finally...

"Ginger."

"Here!" Ginger responded in a bit of a panic.

There was chatter and a bit of confusion. It appeared his name wasn't common around these parts, and worse yet, the fact that Ira didn't bother to plaster a last name for him in whatever way he used to insert Ginger into the school, was cause for attention.

But surprisingly, Professor Lyall only gave a lingering glance at Ginger before putting away the roll of paper she was reading from.

"Good. Now, until you leave this institute for good, I will know to attach your name to any face you wear," she said, her lips spreading wider.

The class gulped as a unit.

"The first thing you should know as young dragonlings is that whatever you will be taught here, any dragon out there that hasn't passed through this institute, or any other, can do it too. The only difference is, it takes decades to master naturally what we teach and provide in a mere five years here. At the same time, we encourage efficiency, so that before you pass your first growth spurt, you will be equipped with all you need."

And it was true.

Dragons had several growth spurts, and the first happened, on average, between the ages of 24 and 45, which is why...

"We make sure that as soon as your scales manifest on your body, normally at the age of 14, we feed you information that will allow your subsequent growth spurts to be beneficial to you. Taking millennia-long slumbers to cultivate strength is a thing of the past. Trust me, I'm fossil enough to know."

For the first time since Professor Lyall came in, the class hummed in subdued laughter, and from there, the thickly woman seemed to adopt a cooler presence as she explained several subjects.

First, was Kardia.

As Ginger heard, it was like a secondary life force that dragons had and was never to only be mistaken as only a weapon.

"Kardia is what differentiates us from other species. It elevates our form of existence, lengthens our lives, and ensures that we maintain our position. Of course, as First Years, this is hard to grasp, but soon, you will be very fond of that soft energy dancing in your stok," said Professor Lyall.

The stok was the sack that Ginger felt form in his chest during his first Burning, which held Kardia. He was happy to finally have a name for it.

Professor Lyall then went on to give an overview of everything the First Years would learn.

One thing that caught Ginger's ear, and almost everyone else's too, was of course...

"...to prepare for your Second Burning. The First did well to awaken a certain amount of Kardia within you all, but to learn to use it as First Years, you need to undergo the Second Burning. Here, we will ascertain the kind of Kardia you have, and whether it Collapses or Surges. We will do this in the next Stride. You will meet your new Professors and discuss surface-level topics in the meantime. I hope you will use the coming Breather well for it."

The Second Burning.

Ginger wasn't sure he was ready for the second after what had happened with the first.

At least there was some time before then, and it seemed like the Second Burning was going to have immediate effects on his strength.

How would the lanky stok holding his Kardia react?

Professor Lyall left the classroom soon after, leaving the students to their own devices – well to the devices of their timetables.

According to her, this class would only function as a proper setting for one course, and that was Expired Times and Diluted Histories, which, according to Ginger's sheet, wasn't until a while later.

For now...

"For now there's Mortal Conflict... and Instinct. Sounds interesting..." he said while looking at the sheet of paper from yesterday; his schedule. Everyone was already moving out of the class.

A harsh force suddenly bumped into Ginger as he rose to follow, causing him to stagger.

He heard a snigger and saw the two siblings he had gotten into a tiff with, pass by him, with Fillys giving him the stink eye. Her brother pulled on her, however, and Ginger heard him say, "Don't worry. We will..."

The rest was inaudible.

Tens of pairs of eyes looked at Ginger, but the glow of anticipation had died down. It was as if all the energy from before was a lie.

Ginger felt strangely upset because of it.

'Who cares what they think...' Ginger thought as he exited the classroom.

At least for now, he only had to worry about learning.

And a lot of that seemed to be coming up.

The next days were sure to turn into a blur.