The Odd Dragon Out: Reckoning of the Cinder-Born

The look of protest that instantly appeared on Ginger's face when he heard the end of Professor Mara's outrageous statement was comical.

'WHAT?!'

The universe decided to make the moment even more momentous than it already was for Ginger, by having the dozen or so First Years who were crowded beside the desk in the room turn to Professor Mara... and then to him.

Ginger's out-of-place streaks of orange hair seemed to droop, along with the little flashes of confidence he thought he had managed to summon after Professor Mara's 'encouraging' words minutes ago.

He gulped and bit his upper lip.

This time, he couldn't be bothered with self-awareness, as he began scratching violently at his upper thigh with a finger.

Why?

Why?!

He wasn't ready!

He didn't even know how this Burning worked!

His eyes turned hatefully to Professor Mara, but the tall man was preoccupied with waiting for the hunchbacked Professor's response.

The old man turned and narrowed his eyes.

"That is highly unprofessional, Noam. Couldn't your..." the old Professor turned to Ginger with an appraising squint and continued his sentence, "...student, wait his turn like the rest? Only a handful remain."

"I'm afraid I will have to insist," Professor Mara said with what he thought was a polite smile. Someone should have told him it barely counted as a frown instead.

Without waiting for the old Professor's response, he roughly pushed Ginger forward despite the boy's attempts at growing roots that dug deep into the floor.

Before he knew it, Ginger was standing in front of the numerous dragonlings his own age who were whispering about him. Only a fool would think the plump dragonling was a subject of praise in their discussions.

'What do I do? Do I just get in... and with my bag? Will I survive? If I do, will that glass thing show that I'm not worthy of enrolling in the school after all? Will Ira do something about it if that happens?' Ginger was hammered with all these questions as the golden flame grew closer in his sight.

He turned paler with each push he got from Professor Mara.

Ginger didn't know what to do. He was so nervous that he closed his eyes. Whatever happened would have to happen while acknowledging that he wasn't going to be watching.

At some point along his forced march though, Professor Mara pulled him to a stop.

What?

What was it now?

He was prepared for the worst but the stern man had suddenly grown a conscience instead?

Ginger opened his eyes slowly.

The student who had been standing forward, ready for her turn – a girl with extraordinarily bushy eyebrows – had leaped into the golden flame.

Before she backpedaled deeper into the hollow in the wall – further than the thin student had gone – and got obscured more by the ghostly flame, Ginger saw her look haughtily at him, hints of triumph showing from her eyes.

The first emotion he felt, was obviously great relief, but then...

'Why are you looking at me?' he asked himself.

It wasn't his fault that he had been about to steal her turn!

"Ohohoho. Looks like we have an eager one here," the hunchbacked Professor said with a hint of glee in his voice, barely hidden. "You can have your student go in AFTER, Noam."

The figure of the old dragon moved closer to the flame to inspect the bushy-browed girl, the little leap in his step telling of the fact that he was happy the girl had interrupted Professor Mara's vicious tempo.

Needless to say, Professor Mara wasn't pleased. He didn't show it on his face – as expected – but he certainly showed Ginger. His fingers bit into the boy's shoulder so hard, that he almost shrieked in pain.

"You've earned yourself a chance to learn, so please do so before your turn comes," Professor Mara said coldly.

Ginger nodded violently, hoping this would stop the biting pain in his shoulder. His hopes were actualized.

Soon, he had enough focus to render the hunchbacked Professor's words to the bushy-browed girl in the golden fire.

"I'm sure you know what to do by now. Just breathe. Relax. If you turn rigid, the flame will avoid you. Invite it in by behaving as you would outside it on a calm day," the old man said.

The girl in the flame, a dark silhouette of her being the only thing that could be seen at this point, seemed very relaxed.

Ginger didn't think he could so calmly do that. Especially if he had ended up being the one standing in the fire right now.

He saw wisps of the flame move, seeming to be pulled by the girl's audible slow breaths.

"Goodness! So calm..." the old Professor complimented the girl exaggeratedly, no doubt to encourage her.

A moment later, he urged the girl to come out quickly, and she did, wisps of smoke rising from her cute jacket and skirt.

"Yes, yes. Let's see how you do."

The girl placed her hands on the glass casing of the lantern. A moment passed, then another, and another. The smoke at the bottom lazily churned, as if reluctant to respond.

An uncertain look appeared on the girl's face.

"Don't fret. As I explained before, the smoke in the Othoni-Kardia thickens only to indicate how quickly your Kardia flows at this stage, and that is insignificant. Before now, you haven't had a single lick of Kardia in your body, so it is to be expected."

"What matters, is the strength of your Kardia, shown by the form the smoke takes – either by darkening thick smoke, light weak wisps, or small flames – and the amount of Kardia you can generate right now, of course, shown by those markers on the glass."

The bushy-browed girl relaxed a little.

Behind her, Ginger did as well. He finally learned something.

'Kardia... So, this fire helps me... awaken it?' Ginger thought.

Kardia.

Strange.

The word on its own meant 'heart.'

Before he could process more of this new knowledge, Ginger was pushed forward.

"Your turn."

Professor Mara was very motivated.

Ginger wanted to protest, but the look on the broad-shouldered Professor's face drowned all hopes that he would listen to the boy's suggestions. He wasn't even getting a chance to at least see how the bushy-browed girl turned out.

With a final, lucky peak, spurned by the old Professor's loud, "Oh fantastic!" Ginger saw the smoke in the large lantern turn to a dark shade of grey, but it didn't become a flame like it did when the thin boy touched it. However, the smoke rose to touch the marker at the halfway point of the lantern!

Several gasps sounded from the other First Years, which led Ginger to believe that that was something remarkable.

This was all he could think on this though, as soon, his face was illuminated by the golden flame barely a few centimeters from him.

This was it.

Ginger gripped his sling bag and scarf tight.

Then he was pushed into the fire.

....

Ginger expected the worst. Would this fire be kind to a half-breed like him? Maybe the human genes within him would cause the flame to fry him instantly.

Ginger could almost picture Professor Mara scoffing and walking away at the sight of his charred corpse.

Hmmm.

He was getting an awful lot of time to think well for someone who should be burning, wasn't he?

Ginger didn't feel the scorch of the fire. It was rather... warm actually, blissfully so.

Like the bushy-browed girl, he seemed to have gone in deep, as the faces of the people looking towards him were unclear.

"Whoa...." he murmured to himself. The fire. It was enticingly beautiful from within, and gentle.

Ginger relaxed.

'This isn't so bad.'

"Take a breath and be done with it," the scathing voice of Professor Mara came.

Ginger had expected the old man to take him through this experience, but oh well...

'Here goes,' he said, recalling what he had heard.

Behaving as you would on a calm day.

Ginger closed his eyes. He remembered his long trips with Ancor to weird places. They often turned horrible, but there was always that brief period where he and the clumsy Shaman would enjoy a soothing chat in a cursed prairie or a doomed valley.

That was his idea of calm.

Ginger took a breath.

He felt the warm flow of gold fire rush into his nostrils eagerly, invited in by his draw.

'Oh...'

Ginger felt a ticklish sensation quickly flow through his body, ignoring his windpipe, and the organs associated, to move to the right side of his chest.

The golden flames were moving.

The sensation Ginger felt sauntered towards the back of his right lung, where a heart different from the one beating in his left side hung without motion.

That's right. All dragons were born with two hearts. One that facilitated blood circulation, and another whose purpose was to do nothing but wait patiently until it was jolted into action.

This was the moment.

The golden flames flowed into Ginger's second heart, and the boy felt a singular instance of pain that wasn't grand enough to warrant much of a reaction from him.

Then... he sensed it.

A heartbeat. His second heart thrummed into life, its slow beats contending with those coming from its counterpart.

Ginger smiled.

'Amazing...' he thought.

But the golden flames were not done. As he took in another breath, he felt them chart something odd; a path through his chest, between his lungs and hearts, and within his ribcage.

The flames seemed to create something there, or at least cut a path for said something to inhabit. This something was like a thin sack that hung from his throat... to reach his guts below.

'What... what is that? Is that supposed to happen?' he wondered.

Then, Ginger felt something cool start to pool into this sack. No, it was not cool. It was just so hot it felt cold to his organs.

This substance seemed to fit well in the sack he had just developed, having a rather mellow way to its movement. It actually felt like... smoke.

'Is this... Kardia?' Ginger thought, more than a little excited.

"Out," Ginger heard Professor Mara's command.

Right. This was probably what was supposed to happen.

It indeed was Kardia!

And it had to be tested using the lantern, the Othoni-Kardia.

A series of emotions driving him, most of them positive, Ginger was about to walk out of the fire when...

The mellow substance within his body which he was so proud of, suddenly grew in volume.

All of a sudden, Ginger felt bloated, and he stifled a scream.