The Odd Dragon Out: Reckoning of the Cinder-Born

Sadly, no miracle swooped down to deliver Ginger. Fotini, who seemed to have been assigned as the sole Monitor responsible for the First Years, either at random or by his insistence, arrived to fetch them all exactly one hour later.

The odd look he gave Ginger after the appreciative nods and smiles he gave the other smartly dressed students, caused the plump boy's stomach to churn.

Amid the neat pewter grey jerseys and trousers – along with different colored scarves – only he stood out with a faded black jacket, a dark brown scarf that had seen better days, and inflated pants.

Ginger heard sniggers and insults hurled his way for the umpteenth time. He didn't pay them much mind because first of all, he didn't get most of them and secondly, because he knew he had bigger problems.

Thankfully, Fotini's surprise didn't turn into ridicule too. He approached Ginger and wore a look of concern.

"Where is your uniform?" Fotini asked.

"I... I don't have one," Ginger replied.

"Don't have one? Why didn't your guardians order one from the school?" the Monitor was genuinely taken aback.

"Does he look like he has a guardian to you?" sneered one of the boys from a jesting squadron gathered to the side. They all burst out laughing.

Ginger felt a bit of fury burn through him, but he convinced himself it wasn't worth keeping. Ancor wouldn't have let such a shallow jibe to get to him, so why should he?

Taking a deep breath of the Mana Essence-rich air helped.

"They just couldn't get it," Ginger answered without looking at Fotini. To the Monitor, this spelled that Ginger was avoiding a sensitive subject, thus he didn't continue to pester.

"Well, you have to attend the Assembly. Dodging it is a serious offense. Your... current attire will have to do. Uniform sharing is forbidden, otherwise, I would have landed you one of my sets."

Fotini seemed determined to prove that his lack of assistance wasn't because he didn't want to, but because he couldn't. Ginger appreciated that. Unfortunately, he knew that there were a lot more horrible people than there were good ones...

Dragons were no exception.

The first trial Ginger had to face came when he left the doors of the First Year dormitory; it was a wide flock of older boys that appeared seemingly out of thin air.

A lot less laughter came from most of the students past the Second Year, but the disturbed and disgusted looks some of them gave Ginger were worse.

It seemed as though, silently, they were all repulsed by him as if his appearance sullied their proud collective. Even the short boy Ginger shared a bunk with didn't get as much attention, not to mention as many verbal pokes.

Ginger shrank.

He scratched frantically at his thigh.

If these people knew that he was from the Wild, and was a halfling too, they would probably chuck him out the window.

After Fotini led the hundreds of First Years from the tenth floor to the fourth though, where a sea of girls could be seen, some mature and others less so, all wearing their distinctive grey swaying pleaded skirts, Ginger almost thought to jump out the window himself.

Something about a female's thorough appraisal withered the heart, mind, and soul. Each of the demeaning gazes tore away at Ginger's confidence rapidly.

Nothing in the Wild, where humans lived anything but normal lives, could have prepared him for this.

To defend his esteem, Ginger took slow steps so that he would be buried amidst the hundreds of other boys he was walking amongst.

Tears threatened to leak out of Ginger's eyes while he blushed in embarrassment, but again, he thought he heard it...

'Tears only serve to water the weakness...'

Ginger's two hearts beating within his chest thrummed. He recovered a little and walked forward, feeling a soft ooze, which was the Kardia in his chest, soothe him more.

'Ancor told me to make a path for myself. I won't start like this. I might as well own this stupid look...' Ginger thought with fragile courage.

With that, he inflated his chest and followed where the other boys went, led by Fotini.

The fourth floor was home to the Feeding Hall and Gathering Hall.

Since there were only those two spaces on the entire floor, its corridors were wide and they guided all those who walked within them to either of the two Halls.

Obviously, all the students and staff were headed to the Gathering Hall at the moment and said Hall only had a great, wide arc to its doorway affording entry at all times.

Hundreds of young dragons entered a grand space so vast that it could accommodate thousands of versions of the ebony statue at the entrance to the school. The spotless silver of the walls made newcomers mutter verbal awes.

The floor had rough, dull ivory tiling that oddly matched the walls, and on the ceiling, was a massive mural of five, incredibly life-like dragons crafted with a material that gave the illusion that they were actually moving.

Ginger didn't express as much awe as he would have if he had a uniform like the rest. He didn't even have the strength to think too much about how the depicted dragons were the same ones with statues on the wall.

He kept his courage, ignoring the looks and laughs sent his way, but his defenses were whittled down continuously, leaving him to duck in between crowds while cursing, "Shunting Shamans!"

Thankfully for him, a better-than-nothing distraction soared his way.

Within the hall, five extremely long redwood tables stood parallel to one another.

Each was meant for the five groups of students at the school, categorized by their year of study.

Fotini and another female Monitor led the First Years to the leftmost table and helped them get seated. Most dragonlings avoided Ginger like a plague, which helped him more than it offended him. It also helped that as soon as they reached the Hall, most students found their seats and chatted away while taking measured glimpses at the sixth table, one that was laid perpendicularly to the others at the far front.

Ceremonial decor was slapped onto it, and tens of comfortable chairs were laid out neatly behind it, with the one placed at the center mark having a more distinguished design, not to mention a larger size.

Ginger had noticed it too after a while.

Seeing a few men and women dressed in long, navy blue coats with distinctive design traits, and the golden badges already seated on this table, Ginger was smitten by the hope that he would see Ira. If all staff was supposed to be here, then surely...

A notable clip clop rang throughout the walls as a notable individual walked in through the arched entrance.

It was a rather tall, thick woman who emphasized each step she made, as though every half a meter she covered was her destination.

She had thick, curly jet black hair and large brown eyes that peeked from the round-rimmed glasses she wore over her nose. Her rendition of the Professorial coat had silvery fuzzy tassels at all ends, and her exaggerated posture declared that she was proud of it.

She had a peculiar set of lips that arched into a perfect V shape, which Ginger thought meant she was smiling, but he couldn't be too sure. After all, her eyes spotted the black sheep that was he amidst the First Years, and her expression didn't change at all.

'I wish someone would just tell me off and be done with it...' Ginger thought depressingly.

Several more teachers streamed in and took their places at the table. Some looked a lot more odd than others, be it in terms of size, shape, or eccentric ornaments they added to their formal attire. Some even featured stranger inhuman features over their bodies.

Ginger had seen one Professor with a pair of horns growing on her forehead, around them lilac-colored scales. Another had nostrils like no human had. He just happened to sneeze, and a burst of orange fire streamed out, prompting the thick Professor with the V-shaped lips to give him a handkerchief.

At some point, Ginger saw Professor Mara walk into the Hall, but from one of the doors located behind the staff table. He, like almost all the other Professors, looked straight at him but kept an expressionless face.

Unfortunately for Ginger, Ira didn't show up, even when it seemed all the other members of staff had turned up, except for the owner of the great seat in the middle.

'Is he just as uncaring for rules as Ancor?' Ginger thought nervously.

While the plump boy was still hoping Ira would show, there was a brilliant glow that caught everyone off-guard.

The Hall turned silent.

The shrieking ball of red fire that spawned the immense light spotted fiery wings which it used to soar towards the middle seat and hover over it.

There was a loud crashing noise, and the fire dispersed, revealing the image of a mature beauty.

No one could stare into her gorgeous eyes, which seemed alight with flame, but as she sat down, everyone paid her the utmost attention.

Ginger gulped.

Since his Burning, he had started to recognize that the odd sensations he had been feeling around Ira and Professor Mara, for instance, were caused by how their Kardia, responding to their emotions, affected him.

When it came to this woman who had just entered, he didn't need to make any measured guesses. Whatever she expelled from her body whether willingly or not, pressed down on him like a boulder. He could tell everyone felt the same, but around him, the boys and girls his age seemed to be trembling with excitement.

They seemed to know who this woman was, and if not for her overbearing presence, they would have been losing their juvenile cool.

The striking beauty seated higher than everyone else wore a shallow smile for a moment before turning cold, her eyes silently scrolling over the hundreds of students.

Ginger looked down, afraid that he would find her sparing her scarce attention on him, but it didn't seem she knew he existed – thankfully.

At that moment, an ancient-looking dragon rose from her seat which was three placements to the beauty's right. She looked much like the hunchbacked Professor Alexandros; bones nearing the fragility of silt, and skin like crumbled, saggy paper.

She opened her mouth, and a shockingly vivid and youthful voice sprang out.

"Let me extend a fair welcome to all you students on behalf of the staff. The 303rd Tally of the Vermillion Dragon has begun in as graceful a fashion as could be."

"We are all very excited about the developments we will get to see this time around. Our mature Fifth Years on their way into the world as dominant Prides or faithful Squires. Our promising Fourth Years who will be learning how to Denature for the first time, and last but not least, our new batch of adorable First Years..."

As the old dragon directed her gaze to the First Year table, everyone followed suit.