Leaving Cavaro's office, I head back into the elevator and scan my thumb on a finger scanner beside the buttons. With that action, all the buttons light up red and I am taken to the lab hidden within the basement of the building. When the elevator doors open, the smell of chemicals burns my nostrils. Choking on the smell, I cough my way into the lab and to Dr. Freyr's side. His white hair shines bright against the already bright room. "Good morning Father,” I say giving him a hug from behind.

"You can sit here," he says pointing to an empty seat beside him. As I make my way to sit down, I ask. “What are you so focused on?” Still focusing on his present project, he says "Behind you." Looking back, I see a man tied to a chair with a cloth inside his mouth. His face was covered in bruises and his once fancy suit disheveled and covered in red. Blood gushes from his missing nails and other deep cuts that decorate his body. "Shadow did that, didn’t she?" I ask in a low voice. Turning around to have a look, Dr. Freyr smiles. "Oh yes, though she did get a little carried away." With that being said, my stomach starts having sharp pains. You would think after the number of times I’ve seen things like this, I would be used to it by now.

Turning away, I look to Dr. Freyr, “Was that all really necessary?”

“Well from the looks of it, it was. I’m sure she was just getting acquainted with her new toys like always. Might as well play with it while it's still able to scream right?” I turn my head. Suddenly feeling a sharp pain again, I run to a nearby trash can and throw up this morning's breakfast and last night's booze. He sighs, "This again?" Not responding, I only rinse out my mouth and sit back down in the chair. "How many times must I remind you that you aren’t human anymore? How many times must you throw up to realize that?” He yells, slamming his hands on the desk. Taking a deep breath, in a low voice he continues, “I’m starting to think it was the wrong choice to take you in that night. Do you think I’m right?”

“No father, I’m sorry. I will not do it again.”

“Good, because it would be terrible for all those years of work to go to waste.”

Suddenly the memory of screams fills my head as a room is stained with red. My limp body lying on the cold concrete floor burning from the inside out as I begged for mercy. That was the last time I ever prayed to Isa.

“It won’t be a waste, I promise you,” I say clenching my fist

“Good to know,” he says adjusting his glasses. “This is all to protect you after all."

"Yes sir," I say a little above a whisper. Dr. Freyr drops what he was doing and focuses his four-eyed gaze on me. Sticking out my arm, he grabs an elastic band and ties it around my arm. Grabbing a syringe, he draws blood from my vein. After two needles are full, he ejects the blood into two separate vials. "You can get up now," he says while setting the two vials onto a rack with the words B.M., written on the side. Turning back towards the desk he picks up a bullet and examines its blue-colored substance. “I am finally finished. Now time to test it out”

“What is that?”

“These my dear are special bullets I designed from dragon scales.”

I look into the man's yellow eyes. A trait that is common among half-blood dragons. Though, every time I see them, I am reminded of those fearsome yellow eyes emerging from a wall of smoke. Staring deep into my trembling soul with a look of superiority. Suddenly, my thoughts are interpreted by the sound of a gun firing. I turn to see Dr. Freyr shooting the man. Muffled screams fill the room, as I watch bullet after bullet pass through his once impenetrable scales. I watch as a grin forms across Dr. Freyr's lips as he stares with such intensity. Blood spurts out of him, but he isn't dead. He wasn't shot in vital areas, but it was just enough to see if the bullets could actually penetrate a dragon's skin. Now we see that it can. After shooting him several times, Dr. Freyr puts the gun down and puts on rubber gloves. With the man crying and screaming in pain, Dr. Freyr bends over with a flashlight in his hand, he pulls up the man's shirt and examines the areas where the bullets went. "Amazing. The bullets not only went through the skin but it seems the longer it is inside the body, the more the toxins spread. This is exactly what we needed. Now humans can kill dragons without having to become… something else." He says while looking at me. Back at the man's skin, I could see his wound start to turn black. Taking a syringe from a nearby table, he draws the man's blood and puts it into a vial, with the initials T.1. "Well, you can have him now. I have what I want, now I just need to test the rest of the effects on other candidates. "Staring at the man's face one more time, his eyes grow weary. Only the scales around the edges of his face sparkle. Moving behind him, I softly whisper "I'm sorry." Then I sink my now fangs into his neck. Warmblood starts washing down my throat like waves on a beach. Slowly with each wave of warmth, is a memory. The memories of my victim, his thoughts, his fears, all seep into my body as if they were my own. The word "Monster" echoes throughout his blood and into my mind. His final thoughts being those of his one-year-old human daughter being held in his arms. Him kissing his human wife goodbye for the last time as he heads off to work. On the way there, his car flips over and he falls unconscious. Next thing he knows, he is tied to this chair, and a neutralizing agent is forced into his eyes to revert them back to their natural color, yellow. So he was using Chroma to blend in with humans? He had a human family? When he woke up, sitting in front of him was a pale-skinned girl with long jet-black hair, and a dragon tattoo covering her left leg. Suddenly, all he can remember is the stink of whips, knives as they cut through his skin, and a dark dream that played on his fear. His family being killed right in front of him, and it was played over and over and over again until he had mentally gone insane. With no crime being committed but him being what he was, a dragon. When I'm done, I softly apologize, before the light leaves his eyes. As I walk over to Dr. Freyr, he stares at me. "Never have I created something so beautiful. The blood really brings out the color of your eyes." Looking at the mirror across the room, my eyes are glowing a fiery red, matching the crimson blood that is now dripping down my face. Only one word comes to my mind, Monster.

Rinsing the blood off my face, my eyes have gone back to their usual brown. Then the elevator door opens, and I see Shadow and Garlum walk into the room. "We finished our mission sir," Shadow says with Garlum following closely behind. When Shadow notices me, she smirks. "Hello, Crimson. Aren't you famous nowadays?" she says in a sarcastic tone. "Seems like everyone is just dying to meet you. Though, most just want to see you dead."

"Well. Too bad I can't accommodate everyone," I say.

"Sadly no."

She sits down to have her blood taken, and I make my way to the elevator. "Say hello to your brother for me." Pausing where I stand, I leave the elevator and I stand above her. As Dr. Freyr finishes taking her blood, she crosses her arms and looks up at me. "Don't you ever talk about my brother? I won't warn you again."

"And what will you do if I don't? You're going to kill me?" Throwing a punch at her, she quickly disappears into the shadows of the room and reappears with a knife at my throat. In my ear, she whispers, "You must have forgotten. I'm not weak like your other victims. Unlike you, I don't need to bleed to kill.” She says playing with the knife around my neck. “You may be popular now, but everyone will see that you are nothing but a fly craving attention."

"Let's see about that then," I say with a knife now at the heel of my shoe.

"That is enough ladies. You didn't get your powers just so that you can kill each other." Dr. Freyr says. As she removes the knife from my throat, I look at Garlum. He stands quietly to the side. "As quiet as ever I see," I say before going up the elevator and heading home.

When I arrive home, I finish showering and get ready for bed. Taking sleeping pills to help me sleep, I hear a knock on the door. Looking through the surveillance camera panel, Garlum stands at the door waiting for me to open up. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see my favorite person."

"Quit the bull and get to the point."

"Well can I get a drink first?" he says while leaning against the wall. Letting out an exhausted sigh, I pour a cup of alcohol for both of us. "So what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"First, I want to say that. Father can truly work miracles. To think he could create such a wonderful beer is truly remarkable.”

“Are you really here to gush about Father or do you actually have something important to say”

“Okay, Okay. Buzz kill for one. Anyways, it's about the plan.” His face grows serious. “Do you really have no reservations against doing any of this?"

"Why would you ask that?"

"Myra. You know that you and Shadow are family to me. I just want to make sure that you're all in."

"And what makes you think I'm not?"

"You didn't get into this for the same reason the rest of us got into it. Your battle is with the queen and the queen alone. I know you don't want to hurt anyone."

"Aren't you thirteen years too late to be saying that?"

"Your right, but this is different. We are starting a war." For a second, I pause. The words "I know that," slowly leaving my lips. Putting his arm around me, he kisses my forehead. "I just don't want you to have more bodies than you can bear.” It goes silent. “Well, it's time for me to go. Thanks for the drink, it was great. Next time we should invite Shadow," he says smirking as he puts the glass down.

"Hell no." Laughing, he quickly leaves. In the now silent room, I whisper "You're wrong. I do want this."

Scrolling through my watch, I find the latest news while laying in bed. One article talks about Falcone’s murder and the effects on the people in district Maranna. Others state how Mrs. Falcone has given a death threat to the murderer and some conspiracy theorists discussing the possibility of a human killing Falcone if this was a fair world. Slowly closing my eyes they only open again, but I am not in my room anymore. Instead, I am on the ice-cold ground with waves of heat hitting my back. Getting up off the ground, I turn around to see a burning building. "No. Not again! Taren!" Limping to onlookers with bruises scattered around my body, I cry for help. Begging and pleading for someone, anyone to help. Though all they do is turn away. I run back toward the building, but it blows up in front of me and I am shot into the air. Never in my life had I felt such heat. My skin scolds in the flames dancing around my body. When I hit the ground, my vision begins to blur. The only thing I could do was look to the sky and pray to Isa, but I only noticed bright yellow eyes emerging from the heavy smoke. Its white scales are so easy to see as well as it's small but lightly shining taaffeite necklace. It looked down on me with a piercing gaze. Then, I slowly lost consciousness.