Burning Hope

Chapter 26: The Wings of An Angel

There was a silence between Luc and I as we walked away from the little band hideout. He kept looking at me with those beautiful, warm golden eyes that were surely going to be the death of me one of these days. I would stare into them for hours, and time would just fly by. I mentally chided myself. I must have looked like such a dork.

Luc may have been silent, but his actions spoke volumes. The quickening of his pulse told me that he was nervous, and the slight shakiness of his breath told me that he was excited. I wondered what kind of gift would get Luc so worked up like this. It must have been important, or something that he had put a lot of time into.

He cleared his throat and looked me in the eyes again. "So...Scarlett,"

"Yeah?" I replied.

He took a deep breath. "I want to show you a place that's kind of important to me. I don't want you to laugh at it or anything...okay?"

I nodded. "Of course not."

He breathed a sigh of relief and put his arm around my shoulder. He led me through a winding trail that led through the trees in the courtyard, worn from many years of being walked upon. It must have been there a long time before Eternal was built. I looked up to him.

"How old is this property?" I asked Luc.

He gave me a warm smile. "Actually, while Eternal was officially founded fifteen years ago, this area had been sacred to dragons and humankind alike for centuries. It was originally used as a sacred area of worship to the Eternal Flame. There's still an old temple that still is here on campus. The shrine, however, was as big as a regular mansion. About a hundred years ago, Xiao was sent here by the former Oracle Mironas after he received a vision that ancestors of a dragon bloodline would need tutors to guide them."

I felt my eyes widen. "So you're saying Xiao is over a century old?"

"A century and a half to be exact. Dragons can live up to 500 years, while Scale Children can live up to 300, but we're getting off track." Luc said. "Xiao originally opened this place as Eternal Summer Camp, which was open strictly to Scale Children. When there were too many kids and not enough cabins, Xiao and the founding dragons started to build the campuses around you. It was finished in the 1940's, and officially became a school a few years later. The founding dragons figured it would be better to help Scale Children if they could stay year-round. It's existence was made public shortly after Kali attacked Sciana, so that Scale Children would know where they could hide."

He stopped walking for a bit and pointed to my left. "Do you see those?"

I looked over in the direction he was pointing. I saw seven statues, each about ten feet tall and carved completely out of precious gems. One was made of sapphire, another of amethyst, another of onyx and another of yellow topaz. "Yeah." I said.

"Those are the seven founding dragons that helped Xiao create this place. The one made of sapphire was Kiyana, the Ice dragoness. The dragon made of diamond is Zephyrus, the Air dragon. There was also Aros, the Ground dragon; Roxiana, the Fauna dragoness, Morik, the Illusion dragon; Eroma, the Shadow dragoness; and Tilani, the ash dragoness."

I stood, looking in awe as the light from the sun shone through each of the statues, casting shadows of vibrant colors. "They're beautiful, Luc."

He smirked. "And they're not even the best part of this little trip." He took my hand, interlacing his fingers through mine. "Come on. I'll show you what the real surprise is."

I laughed nervously. What did he mean by real surprise? I wondered what this big gift was. Honestly, I didn't really care. I wasn't that hard to impress. Just get me a bag of bite-sized candies and a plastic rose and I would be content. Something gave me the feeling that it wouldn't be as stereotypical.