Draeyer Academy (Rewrite)

Peek: A long time ago...

This has been sitting on my computer for months now. I decided to just turn it into a Peek Chapter. 

Meet BABY ALEC and out eouno, Alen.

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Eight-year-old Alec followed after his brother, who handed over three poachers to men wearing the emblems of the Wildlife Protection Bureau. When Alec reached them, the men and the poachers got into a carriage and set off.

Alen was teaching him how to hunt larger game using traps, when he suddenly picked him up and shoved him into a tree hole, and shushed him. His brother had disappeared for a few minutes. He nearly cried when his brother came back but stopped himself and clung to Alen's neck without letting go. He only let go after an hour had passed and the officials from the Bureau arrived.

"Eouno, why must you always capture poachers and traffickers?" he said. "You could get hurt. Especially since you're always alone."

Alen smiled and knelt on one knee in front of him. "Then, my little drae should grow up quickly. That way, I'd have someone to trust my back to, won't I?"

Alec made a little frown and pouted. His brother was trying to change the subject again. "I'm serious, eouno."

His older brother sighed before picking him up in his arms. In that position, he started walking towards the closest town from the forest they were hunting in. "As hunters, it is part of our jobs to help the bureau with capturing poachers and traffickers. Do you remember what these kinds of people do?"

"They like to capture and kill animals for fun and profit, without caring about what happens to the environment. They don't do it for sustenance and helping balance out animal populations as we do."

Alen ruffled his hair. "Then, what happens if no one stops them?"

"The balance gets ruined, and food chains would get disrupted. Animals and plants would slowly die out."

"That is correct, in a way," he said. "Then, if that happened, what would happen to the draes?"

Alec's brows scrunched up again at the sudden mention of draes. "The draes would slowly lose their food and environment. They'll slowly die out too."

"And can you remember what draes did that was so important for everyone?"

Alec hated it when his brother questioned him like this so he could answer his own questions. He was a smart child, but he was young his brain had physical limits for thinking! It made him tired!

Nevertheless, he tried to remember what he was taught and quickly answered. "Draes have what we call Antenier. Draeyers, who are the only people who can see Antenier, describe it as being a silver energy that would come out from draes. They see Antenier at the start of every quarter of the year, during the night we call Preservene. According to them, this energy combines and spreads into a large dome that surrounds the skylands—Oh, I get it now."

Alen laughed and stroked his forehead. He did not say anything and allowed him to continue.

"The Antenier that comes from draes is the energy that keeps the skylands from plunging into the Infinite Sky. If the draes disappear, the skylands would start to slowly sink beneath the sea of clouds."

"That's right," Alen said. "There are people who don't believe that, but out in the Infinite Sky, the tops of some sunken skylands could be seen. People found that these skylands had no drae population, which is why they sunk."

"So poachers and traffickers are more than bad, they are really really bad."

Alen let out a deep and warm laugh as he nuzzled his face with his nose. "We need to work on your vocabulary," he said. "Poachers and traffickers can't single-handily sink the skylands, but they are one of the factors that could push the sinking to happen. Which is why us hunters..."

"We must do our part."

"Well done, my little drae."

Alec preened at his brother's praise, and wrapped his arms around him, burying his face on his neck. They fell into a comfortable silence after that, which made him sleepy. But there was something he was always curious about, but never got the interest to ask before.

He raised his head and looked at Alen. "Eouno, why do you call me 'little drae'? And don't make me think again! I'm tired!"

Alen looked like he was about to laugh again, but coughed instead. He cupped the side of his face and rubbed at his baby cheeks with his thumb. "Just like how draes keep the skylands afloat, you keep me from sinking into the dark abyss, Alec."

Alec tilted his head. His older brother had that smile again. The smile looked both happy and very sad at the same time. He wanted to know what made his brother smile like that and make it disappear so Alen would always be smiling happily.

Alen placed his forehead on Alec's and whispered. "I love you, little drae. Don't forget that."

Alec, though confused, answered back. "I love you, too, Eouno."

Little did he know how much this conversation would affect him in the coming years.

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So...we are getting more Alen content in this version than in the first. I always regretted making Alen a dead character. Setting Alec aside, he's my favorite after Gael.