There are some people in the world who are just special, you know?
And other people who become special by being around those special people.
Of course, I am one of the latter. I didn't ask for it. I guess no one really asks to become special, after all, it is all circumstances and fate.
We were friends, Paz and I. Best friends. And to everyone's eyes, completely normal. Paz looked completely normal to me as well, and I certainly didn't feel anything when I was around her. I always felt the need to be liked by everyone I met, but most people aren't like that, and some people are like Paz – unwilling to be close friends with more than a few people. Or in her specific case, just one person – me.
I never knew what could make me special enough to be someone's chosen friend, and certainly not the only friend of such a quiet, kind soul. Paz was never mean to anyone, even though she didn't exactly make friends. She was happy to simply watch me throw myself at any potential new friendship, and she'd laugh at me for it.
On the outside, there was nothing that made her special, nothing that made our friendship special, but Paz told me that as our bond built up over time, the power just naturally came with it.
Paz and I were standing outside the university gates. It was a warm evening in the summer and there weren't so many people around – classes were over, and the regular nightlife at the campus bar hadn't quite begun yet. A lone figure made her way out of the bushes across the road. She was tall and blonde and muscular, and was wearing some kind of leather armor. It was strange, to be sure, but it wasn't so uncommon to see people doing strange things on a university campus.
What was less strange and more distressing, was when she stared directly at us and pulled out a sword.
"Found you, dragon!" She screamed. "After all of this time in hiding, you will be removed from this world!"
"What makes you call out "dragon"?" Paz called back calmly in an effort to defuse the situation.
"We have our ways of finding your kind," the woman spat back, crossing the deserted road slowly to approach us. "We have already exposed you."
"But you have no reinforcements," Paz said. "How do you expect to battle what you call a dragon?"
"Your sly words aren't going to fool me. You and I both know what you are, and we both know how I can fight you." She held the sword out in front of her. "You're going to die here, and it will be easy for me."
Paz sighed. "What are you going to do with the innocent bystander, then?"
"Obviously, she can't be left alone now she has seen one of the order of dragon killers. I'll remove her after I have dealt with you."
Paz's demeanor changed. "You would kill an innocent just for being with me?" she growled. "Why must you people always be so evil, bringing your war even to this world when all I desire is a peaceful life?"
"You don't deserve to flee to this world and live a peaceful life. Dragons deserve only death. Now transform and fight me."
I had no idea what was going on, and certainly had no idea what to do when Paz grabbed my arm. "We're going to run," she hissed.
And we did. I had no idea how we got so far away from the gates in just a moment. In the blink of an eye, we were in the middle of the campus. I took long, deep breaths, though I didn't seem to be out of breath at all. Paz looked around warily at the surrounding buildings as the fading light created shadows around them.
"What's going on?" I asked.
Paz didn't look at me, her eyes still scanning the campus. "Even though it's only one dragon killer, she's still a challenging foe. I'm not sure how to protect you when I fight."
"She's a dragon killer? She wasn't lying? What does that have to do with us? With you?"
Paz turned her face to me and sighed. "I'm sorry that I haven't been honest with you all these years. We've been together since school, and yet I've never felt that there was a time when I could discuss my old world with you. My old life, as a dragon." She looked away from me again, still on alert.
"As a dragon?" Now I found it hard to control my breathing. "That doesn't make any sense."
The woman with the sword – the dragon killer – emerged from between two buildings and walked calmly towards us.
"What are you just waiting out in the open for?" she asked. "I was wanted you to run further and corner yourself to make it easier for me."
Paz grinned, but her confidence was so fake even I could see she was nervous. "I'm not so stupid as to try running from a dragon killer I can't see."
The dragon killer brandished her sword. "No matter, I can kill you just as easily out in the open." She rushed forward, but in the blink of an eye, Paz was in front of her. She held onto the wrist holding the sword.
"Go! Run away now!" She yelled without looking back at me.
I didn't know what to do. I knew what I was told to do, what was logical. But being told your best friend is a dragon from another world is not a logical way to start a night in the first place, and all other logic seemed to have been thrown out in a similar fashion. I met the dragon killer's eye and she smiled at me. There was a struggle between the two women for control of the weapon, and suddenly I was face-to-face with the crazy woman with a sword. She was panting in my face, and I couldn't move, I could only stare at the faint lines of scars that travelled up her neck in an effort not to look into her eyes.
"Armor!" Paz yelled out at me. "Envision Envision armor!" She ran at me, slower than she had been before. As the sword swung down at me, all I could do was raise my arm and imagine armor covered it.
There was a clang of metal-on-metal, and I opened my eyes though I hadn't realized I'd closed them, and saw sword had been stopped by gleaming armor on my forearm. The sword was knocked away as Paz threw a punch at the dragon killer's face. She retreated a few steps in shock.
"Dragon knight!" she exclaimed. "Who ... how ...?"
"This isn't just some girl who I happened to be with tonight. She has been my best friend for years. Of course she has the potential to be a dragon knight."
I looked at the armor that had mysteriously appeared. Magic. It was magical armor. Paz had done something magical, and now I had protection.
"You have to envision your whole body covered with your armor. And hurry, I don't want you to get hurt." Paz pleaded.
It was at those words that I finally had my own moment of clarity. I gripped Paz's arm. "I don't want you to get hurt," I told her. "How can we get out of this together? How can we fight her?"
Paz took a deep breath. Without taking her eyes off her opponent, she clutched her hands to her chest. She exhaled for a long moment, her blonde hair seeming to change to white as she did so, and when she yanked her hands away, she holding onto a sword.
The dragon killer was already watching warily. When Paz had mentioned a dragon knight, she had been seriously spooked. But as Paz handed the sword to me, her eyes glowing with a white light, the dragon killer backed much further away.
"Dragon Soul," she murmured, her voice still audible at our distance in the quiet of the evening.
It was then that a new figure emerged from the gathering shadows at her side. A woman with blazing red hair and her own sword jumped seemingly out of nowhere and swung her weapon at the dragon killer. The dragon killer barely had time to put up her own sword in defense. She fell to the ground.
"Dragon killers aren't welcome in this world," the newcomer growled. She stabbed the sword through the chest of the dragon killer. "Leave this world." She stood up straight and mumbled some words, then slashed her sword in the air, creating the vague outline of a rectangle around the stabbed woman, and a shimmering hole opened up in the concrete.
The dragon killer fell through the hole in the ground. There was no sign that she had ever been there.
The new woman looked up at us sharply, and I gripped Paz's sword in anxious anticipation, waiting for her to explain what she wanted from us. This woman had killed without hesitation, and now she had turned her attention to us.
She approached with confidence, but Paz didn't seem phased, so I stood my ground, too. "This is a new dragon knight?" she asked, peering at me. Her hazel eyes were intense, and filled with tiny red flecks that seemed to take over all of her eyes as I stared at them. "She doesn't look like much."
Paz held out her hand to her. "Thank you for saving us."
The woman gave a short laugh in my face and turned her attention to Paz. She bowed her head. "Of course I'd save a dragon. That is why a dragon knight exists."
The woman then turned back to me. “And as for you, now that you are a dragon knight, you will need training. I believe I shall train you. This modern world makes it difficult, but not impossible for you to learn. We will see what you will become.”
“Who are you?” I asked tensely.
“A dragon knight. My name is Jade.” She replied.
Paz responded first. “I’m Paz, dragon shifter. Sheltering on Earth in this dimension and just trying to live a regular life.”
“My name is Juliet.” I revealed. “Paz is my best friend. We attend classes together.”
“You should be safe for now. Head to your home and I will find you tomorrow.” And with no further answers, Jade was gone.
“Now what?” I turned to Paz.
“Now we go home. And I owe you an explanation.” Paz sighed. “I’m sorry I dragged you into all of this Juliet. I thought I could live safely here as a human. I didn’t think any of this would happen.”
“A regular sword?” I stammered. “Do you think we’re going to be in danger a lot?”
“It’s complicated.” Paz said as we began to walk home. “More dragon slayers might show up. And there are other dangers as well. I’ll explain fully once we get home. I just wish we could be safe.”
“Well, let’s hurry home so I can get some answers.” I said. “This is a lot to take in and I feel like I just got tossed into the deep end of a pool.”
Paz just looked uncomfortable as we continued to walk home. She said nothing else until we were inside.
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