A horrifying shriek filled the air, causing me to flinch and look up. I squinted as I tried to get a look at what produced the horror, which didn’t sound anything close to a bird, nor did it sound terrestrial. In the sky, I could barely make out three winged shadows, one of which was rapidly descending.

I quickly darted to the side to avoid being flattened. As the massive red-scaled body dropped, it sprayed a massive cloud of sand everywhere. Another screech resonated through the air, causing me to flinch again and cover my ears. I looked back up and saw the other two creatures diving down, as opposed to the first one that dropped limply from the sky.

“Stay out of the way, bro.” a voice from on top of the creature’s back said.

I turned in the direction of the voice, blocking the sun with a hand to see who it came from. It was a boy who looked around my age, who was extremely tall with his shirt in burnt tatters, revealing a lean, muscular body. He smirked at the sight of the two creatures dive-bombing.

“This is what I’m talking about!” he cheered. “Double or nothing!”

The boy clasped his hands together and above his head, and two holograms appeared. The first was a red four with heart patterns scattered throughout the inside. The second was a black six with clover patterns.

As the two creatures landed, my suspicions were confirmed. They were definitely dragons, and they were pissed. The two massive lizards circled the boy, liquid gasoline dripping from their mouths, fire burning within. I wrinkled my nose uncomfortably at the smell, and then nearly gagged when I got a whiff of the stench they were giving off.

I decided there wasn’t much I could do between the hologram boy and the two dragons, so I hid under the wing of the dead dragon, despite how badly the stench made me want to vomit. Despite being terrified, I made sure to peek my head out from underneath the wing to make sure I could watch what was happening.

“Come at me!” the boy challenged, stomping towards the dragons. 

One of the two rushed him as the other continued to circle, barrelling towards him with flames spouting from its mouth. The boy somersaulted out of the way before spinning around with a vicious backfist, pushing the dragon to the side a little. My jaw dropped at the display of strength, which had caused the dragon to let out a grunt of some sort and shake its head as if it was stunned. 

Another hologram appeared above the boy’s head, this time a capital J with spades. The boy grimaced.

“That’s no good,” he said as he clicked his tongue, jumping out of the way of the other dragon, charging him, and vaulting onto its back.

The dragon flew up and began attempting to throw him off, bucking back and forth violently as the boy struggled to hold on. The other dragon, now recovered from its concussion, tackled the first dragon to knock the boy off.

Both of the dragons flew towards the boy with their mouths open, ready to chomp into him and savor the taste of a fresh teenage boy, but the boy grabbed both of their mouths and slammed them into each other.

Two more holograms appeared; a ten of diamonds and an ace of hearts.

“I feel it! Let’s go! Give me a King and Queen!” he yelled, pointing to the ground as if he was a boxer gesturing to fight toe-to-toe.

Once again, both of the dragons charged him mindlessly, taunted by the gesturing of the boy. He jumped towards them and did the splits mid-air, kicking both of them to opposite sides. As his foot connected with them, two more holograms appeared before fizzling out shortly after; a seven of spades and eight of diamonds.

“Oh no,” was all the boy muttered before being slapped by the tail of one of the dragons, causing him to land face-first in the sand next to me. 

The boy lifted his head and spat out some sand.

“Are you kidding me?” he complained. “What are the odds I get a high card twice in a row?”

Before I could ask about anything, the boy turned to me and asked, “So what’s your cetana? Can it get us out of here alive?”

“My what?” I asked. “I have no clue what’s going on. A few minutes ago, I was with my dad trying not to get killed by some lunatic who looked like me! I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

As I was trying to take it all in and make sense of the situation, my eyes began to burn, the salty taste of tears dripping into my mouth. The boy next to me groaned. It was such an unexpected response that it snapped me back to reality to stare at him. I wasn’t exactly expecting comforting words, but straight-up groaning seemed a bit harsh.

The boy had mid-length wavy blonde hair and looked like he belonged on the cover of Vogue. His face was almost perfectly symmetrical, with a defined jawline, high cheekbones, and a high nose bridge, all of which served to make him look like a stereotypical jock. The only imperfection on his face was the scar that ran from his right cheekbone through the right corner of his lip. I really wanted to punch him but held back out of fear of being discovered by the dragons.

“Damn it,” the boy sighed as he sat down. “I really didn’t want to end on a loss. While we’re waiting here, I may as well ask. What are you doing here? And how are you able to see myths?”

I chose not to respond, gesturing towards the two dragons pacing back and forth, sniffing the ground for any traces of us. 

“They can’t find us as long as we don’t move from here or throw anything at them. Dragons are notoriously stupid and trust their nose more than any of their other senses,” the boy explained.

“Can they not smell us?” I asked.

“Under this guy’s musk? Probably not,” he answered, prodding the dragon’s body with his elbow.

Reminded of the stench, I accidentally breathed in through my nose, once again taking in the horrible combination of wet dog, gasoline, and rotten eggs. I gagged a few times before finally vomiting for the second time today. 

“Ah,” the boy deadpanned. “Great. Vomit. Just what I needed. Are you gonna answer my question?

“I don’t know anything about what’s happening. All I know is that I was at home when my dad woke me up and said we needed to leave. And then some psycho named Erebus showed up and tried to kill my dad. That’s when my dad set up a court with rules that he had to follow, before changing one of the rules to teleport me to some guy named Alistair. That wouldn’t happen to be you, would it?”

“Your dad made rules that Erebus had to follow? Is your dad— Actually, never mind that. I’m Byron, Byron Adamson.” the boy introduced himself. “If you were teleported to Alistair, then I’m sure we’ll be fine. He should be close.”

“Byron!” a feminine voice shrieked, followed by a string of cuss words. “You teleported off without us again!”

Byron and I both popped our heads out to look at the newcomer, a super cute black-haired girl. The two dragons screeched at her and she fell back in shock as they sprinted toward her.

“Aelia!” Byron yelled, climbing out from our hiding spot, ready to jump off the back of the dead dragon to try and save her.

“I’ve got you,” a man who bore an uncanny resemblance to my father said.

He raised his left hand with his palm facing up and then folded his pointer finger under his thumb, the remaining three fingers pointed at the dragons. A blast of multicolored energy which looked like a light ray going through a kaleidoscope blasted the two dragons into nothingness, and the other dragon faded away too.

“Never seen a horde of only three dragons before,” Byron commented. “Man, Teach, they really gotta give you a higher grade. Who’s ever heard of a B grade effortlessly dispelling a dragon horde?”

“Nice try. I’m still not showing you my cetana.” the man chuckled.

“Worth a sh- Ow!” Byron was interrupted by Aelia bringing her fist down on his head. “Damn, that hurt!”

“You deserved it,” Aelia spat. “You could get yourself killed out here! You aren’t Olwen, and you’re barely a B grade, so don’t get cocky.”

She turned toward me and looked me up and down. “Who’s this?”

“Oh! That’s—” Byron paused, realizing he didn’t know my name. “Uh, who are you?”

“Wynter, right?” Not-Gunther said. 

“Y-yeah, how did you know?” I asked.

Looking at the man who resembled my dad hurt. In my mind, he was likely dead, and seeing someone with the same face reminded me that it was my fault. I took a closer look and noticed the difference between the two. While they both had brown hair, my dad’s was a lot redder in color, and his beard was more of a stubble and less viking-y. Besides that, my dad was a lot burlier and slightly taller than whoever this man was, more lumberjack than track athlete.

“I met you once when my brother first found you. I suppose you don’t remember much from back then though. It’s Alistair, by the way.” His blue eyes bore into me as if they were looking right through me.

“Is he alive? Is my dad alive?” I asked, my heart rate speeding up. 

Alistair shook his head and put a hand on my shoulder. I felt my heart drop. My knees gave out and I collapsed face-first into the sand, my fragile hope shattered once again.