FIVE

The Date

“Tomorrow morning at the Campus Café”

Argus remembered Clara’s words as he quickly showered and dressed after that disaster training session. Lucky it was so early in the morning that he still had about twenty minutes to get there.

“Master Argus, I highly recommend that you don’t attend this meeting. You are in danger, the Ninth has just died, you may be next big target,” Malec explained, trying to talk sense into him.

“No, Mal. Look, I know it might be dangerous, but not many people know that it was me exactly, all they may know from what you told me is that they know it’s a student that attends the academy. Come on Mal, it’s not a meeting its a date, I’ve had a crush on Clara since I was a child. I’m going to go!” Argus explained, gesticulation with his hands to indicate the seriousness of the situation. Malec sighed again. Clearly, they were getting nowhere in this argument.

“Fine, then you must take your personal contingent of enforcers,” Malec said in a way that brokered no argument.

Argus stared at him, “You mean the Blue Wolves!? Aren’t they the famous contingent that protected Heralia Watson throughout dangerous missions?”

“Precisely,” Malec answered.

“But Malec, I’m going for coffee, not war! Besides, it will draw too much attention. I don’t even know if Clara knows about me being the Heralia.”

“Excuse me, Master Argus, but the Clara you refer to is not Clara Dragonclaw, is it?” Malec asked, completely disregarding what Argus said.

“Yes, she is Mal, what about the guards!?” Argus reminded, getting agitated.

“Master Argus, I apologise but the Blue Wolves are non-negotiable, there is a threat to the Heralia’s life, and you cannot protect yourself yet. Also, being seen with the heiress to the Were Council can be a political disaster. The other councils may believe that you are choosing sides. There will be a parliament meeting with the heads of the councils and temples coming up soon. It is held for your formal introduction and this will be something they can use against you. Remember they do not fear you like they did the Ninth,” Malec explained.

“Mal, I don’t want the councils to dictate my life. Besides my best friend Arlo is the son of Spectra’s Vice Head Minister. I’ve known Uncle Vladimir since I was a child, surely, he will put in a good word to the Head of Spectra. Also, wouldn’t meeting with Clara make good connections between the Were council and the Heralia’s Estate,” Argus argued his defence to Malec.

“As long as you know about the consequences of this, I suppose you can go. However, with the Blue Wolves,” Malec negotiated.

“Can they be incognito?”

With a tick in his jaw, Malec stiffly nodded and walked away. Incognito? The brat wants some of Geas’ strongest men and women to go incognito!? Sigh.

***

The limo was bumping along, there was a tense silence in the cabin. It was a long road out of the Heralia Estate. The road would take us straight to Dawn City. Dawn City was the capital of Geas. He had grown up in the city. The Shifter Temple, Were Council and the Academy were all there. He never needed to leave. He’d visited other cities on school trips though, like Golgotha, the city where the Spectra Council was, and Arcadia, home of the Mana Council. But none of them felt like home, like Dawn. He thought of the memories he had here at the temple, of the school, the jobs he had worked at throughout town. He was well loved where ever he wen, if you don’t count the casual racist remarks he would get sometimes for being an orphan normie. Thinking of his jobs, what happened there? Would he have to quit? He wouldn’t mind quitting the coffee shop, he abhorred his manager Selena. But he liked working at the Dawn Library. His other job was being a librarian and it was one his favourite parts of the week when tended the quite library surrounded by the scent of old books. It gave him time to think. It was his happy place. A grunt from the driver’s seat broke him out of his reverie.

“My Heralia, we’ve arrived,” Argus looked out of the window, they were just outside of the academy as per his wishes. The plan was to get out before and walk in. The limo was way too recognisable but necessary as there were ten men and women in there with him. They were built people who looked like they had seen many fights in their lives. The Blue Wolves didn’t have names, they had codes; One, Two, Three and so on. One was their leader, he sat next to him, brooding the entire drive. Out of all of them he liked Four the most, she was the newest member, also the most inviting and had a mischievous glint in her eyes that called to Argus’ prankster side.

The Wolves got out of the limo first to ‘check the perimeter’ at a hidden parking lot near the cafe.

“Guys we’re fine! I’m also getting late for my date so I would like to get a move on please,” Argus scoffed and glared at One. Two guffawed and Four straight up giggled. Something that made Argus proud was that One was also developing a tic on his jaw, but it was on the other side to Malec’s.

“Heralia Argus, it is our job to keep you safe. Geas can’t lose you,” One said in a voice that could cut paper.

“Aww, you care,” Argus swooned, batting his eyelashes and smacking a kiss in One’s direction, this earned him choked laughs from all of them.

By Argus' urging, everyone left for the cafe. As he got further, Argus was getting nervous as he fidgeted with his hands. What if she didn't show? What if she found out and got spooked about him being the Heralia?

"It's going to be okay, you're a catch, " whispered Four, who was walking near him in a business suit and faux glasses, noticing his apprehension.

Yeah, it was all good, he was awesome. Saying that over and over in his head, giving a grateful nod to Four he opened the door to the Café.

***

Going inside, he looked around. Campus Café was usually bustling with students and faculty, but since the exams finished yesterday the cafe was considerably quiet. The lights of the café were dim, and the walls were a dark brown, that mainly catered to Spectra students that attended the academy as some preferred the dark. The walls were lined with EBA, extrasensory blocking agent, that blocks the abilities of paras’ like Vampires and Psychics to invade another customers’ privacy. This was a common agent applied to most public areas by the Parliament of the Councils.

“Hey, Argus!” Argus heard a shout from somewhere in the café. He swivelled his head at the voice’s direction and there she was, Clara Dragonclaw. She was sitting next to a stained window at the far-left corner. Argus was taken aback by her shy smile. Going up he noticed her emerald eyes sparkling and her dark red hair that was made up in a messy bun. In his mind, her hair perfectly complemented his violet-blue curls. He had to pinch himself to let it sink in that his childhood crush was talking to him.

“Hi, um, hey Clara!” Argus winced at his squeaky tone, dammit he was the Heralia, he should start to act like it.

Clara giggled, she found Argus adorable. Something about him just called to her Dragon. It always has, but she was too anxious that she would scare him away to make a move. Her dad was the great Rufus Dragonclaw, he was ancient and fought ruthlessly to get his position as head of the Were council together with his Erosgape, Adriana Dragonclaw, her mother, he held one of the highest positions for paras and were unstoppable. Because her parents had found each other, their Erosgape, or soul mate, she was born as a pure blooded mythical shifter, making her stronger than her parents.

Most shifters were normal animals from ancient Earth, like the jaguar, or a bear, these shifters had a size twice as big as their ancestors and gain enhanced strength and senses. Mythical shifters were different. They could use the unique magics of their other half and also shapeshift. Their abilities solely depended on their creature’s. She was one of those rare mythical Weres, a Dragon. This made her apprehensive and detached in her everyday life. Sooner or later her baggage would run any love interest away, she wondered if she would be lucky enough to find her Erosgape like her parents, they were sickeningly in love and it all started from the Imprinting. She knew so many people never imprinted on their Erosgape. They married instead. Clara always held out hope though, she just hoped that if she did ever Imprinted, he would accept her.

Argus sheepishly sat down and saw a coffee in front of him, this was from the menu that non-paras usually ordered from. He saw Clara herself had gotten a Jagra, which was basically a shifter’s version of a coffee, it was a viscous red liquid that smelled like ash. His heart warmed at the thoughtfulness of his date, most para-girls didn’t date non-paras as a rule. He wondered if when his powers awakened if he would like the taste of coffee anymore? Realising he was in his head he turned his attention back to his childhood crush.

“Thanks for the coffee.” Argus gushed like an idiot.

“Your welcome,” Clara replied with a smile.

Thinking of any conversation starters, Argus ventured; “So your exams went okay?”

That brought a sparkle to Clara’s eyes as she animatedly told him about her exams and her subjects. It was so easy to fall into rhythm with her.

“So how was your psychology exam yesterday?” Clara asked, directing the conversation towards Argus, before giving time for Argus to reply, she continued;

“I heard from daddy, that a student was blessed as Oram’s Tenth Heralia around about when it was on, did you see who it was?” Clara rushed, feeling comfortable to just talk with Argus.

Argus side eyed the Wolves which were all sitting on nearby tables like civilians. Well, that answers the question of whether the news of his identity was leaked. He had no doubt that the councils were trying to uncover his life history as they speak. Whatever the situation was, one thing was for certain he didn’t want to stop the easy banter that had developed between them by outing himself. All he was thinking was for her to get to know him better before he dumped this Heralia stuff in her.

“Yeah, the psychology exam went awesome, I’ve always liked psychology. Also, as for the awakening …BANG” Argus was stopped by a violent explosion that made his ears ring. His head was throbbing and glass was everywhere, he looked away from the window, head still ringing to see the Blue Wolves all gathering in a war formation and barking orders for backup and they ran towards Argus to shield him from another magical attack.

“…fire bullet from a sniper fire mage”, he heard One bark as a female, he thinks was Four shifted into a cat, no, fox-like human form with lighting coming out of her fingers protecting him with her body.

Argus didn’t know where to look as he felt blood trickle down from his head from the glass debris.

Clara, his mind suddenly screamed as he shoved Eight, who was in front of him to the side. Then he saw it, her. The fire-bullet had hit her. There was a large hole in her left shoulder, and he could see the flesh that was around the wound charring and smoking.

Something clicked then. He felt a tick in head mind, similar to when Elder Xander was nudging his beast, but different, this originated by itself. The tick in the few following seconds felt like someone was banging his head with a rock. He couldn’t help but let out a guttural scream that reverberated throughout his bones. He could vaguely hear One shouting at him, but he couldn’t make out the words, he felt Four’s electricity zapping anything that moved close by.

Then it stopped. Silence.

Little did he know it was the calm before the storm when a golden mist oozed out of his pores. He could hear the cracking sounds of his insides trying to burst out of his skin.

“…Take him outside, his creature is coming!” he could hear someone in the distance say. They could be shouting from Arcadia for all he knew. He felt hands on him pick him up as his violent seizures continued.

**

One was terrified. This was his first day with the Tenth and it wasn’t going well. He had seen some shifter kids awakening on their own, but that was always before the age of 10. At that age, the awakening went smoothly as their muscles and bones were adaptable. Never had he seen a twenty-year-old awaken their creature. That’s why he figured it out so late. He let the team know what was happening and proceeded to take him outside. Argus’ creature could be anything, from the notes he got from the Head Enforcer. He just knew that the creature would be mature as Argus, twenty. If his creature was large in size, he could very well collapse the entire building. One had sent the other wolves after the sniper and ordered Four, Eight and Ten to help him tend to Argus.

As they took Argus out, a crowd had formed outside, drawn to the noise. This wasn’t the best place to have a unique awakening, especially the Heralia’s, One grimaced. The golden fog got more and more pronounced as it covered the entire academy grounds. One turned and saw back up arriving as trucks from the Estate roared into the academy’s grounds, which were luckily right in front of the café. He saw the Head Enforcer jump out, stomping his way, with a look that earned him a wide berth from surrounding civilians and enforcers alike.

“What’s the situation!” Malec barked as he side-eyed some paramedics that were tending to Clara goddamn Dragonclaw. Dammit. Grumbling about early retirement and grey hairs under his breath, he stopped next to One looking at the same direction he was. The massive freaking deep golden fog encasing the entirety of the sky above the academy’s athletics and magic-training grounds.

“Sir, there was an assassination attempt on Heralia Argus. I presume it was the sudden danger to his life that sparked his creature’s awakening,” One proficiently relayed his analysis.

Malec was about to reply as there was a deafening screech, echoing out of the fog. Malec shielded his ears with his combat magic then looked around to see lesser avian shifters on the ground, partially shifted against their will. Malec was contemplating this as everyone’s heads jerked upwards. When Malec followed he saw a massive shadow blocking out the sun. The grounds of Dawn Academy went dark as the massive shadow in the sky screeched again. The cry felt like it was commanding the air itself.

“What the hell is he?!” Malec wondered slack-jawed. He was obviously looking at a mythical shifter. Something that he hadn’t ever seen before.

The golden fog suddenly parted as a gigantic bird swooped out as if laying claim to the skies. Its head and body were larger than a dragon, and it looked like a phoenix, which was weird because there was no fire. It had golden-silvery scales on its belly that was as big as a bus. But what caught everyone’s attention was the sharp-looking violet metallic feathers with turned blue when the sun shone on them. The creature was majestic.

“Kunpeng!” a female whisper-shouted in disbelief somewhere behind him. Looking behind him, he saw one of the Blue Wolves, Four, the Kitsune.