Two dragons

Thnk

"Stop whining, damn brats!"

The man kicked the cage as his eyebrows made a frown. He had an evil and sinister smile on his face.

The child covered his siblings' eyes while trembling slightly. He couldn't think straight.

'How long...'

The kid thought as he tried to cling onto another kid. They were inside the cage that the man just kicked.

'Have we been here for...?'

He tried shielding the head of the other kid. His small arms had a lot bruises on them.

"Tsk... I will make sure you fetch me some good money."

The man clicked his tongue and walked away. The kids watched him leave while trembling.

There were no sounds aside from the kids whispering to each other now. Their voices were as faint as ever.

"Are you fine, Lilia?"

The boy asked as he held the girl's hand in his. Grabbing it firmly, he looked at her.

"I'm fine, Lyle."

Lilia smiled at the boy, who had an identical face. Their hair covered their eyes. They were twins.

"This is happening because you didn't listen to our father."

She said this while taking her hand away from the boy's grasp. Slowly grabbing his ears with her fingers, Lilia tightened her grip.

"Ouch-"

The boy titled his head and cried out in pain. Lyle was shorter in height than Lilia.

"I get it. I get it. Let go of my ear."

Lyle tried struggling around to make Lilia loosen her grip. But it was of no use. Her grip was to strong for him to make her let go off his ear using force.

Lyle's groan made her flinch when he finally managed to get his ear free from Lilia's hand. He sat down quietly.

"What will we do now?"

Both kids had no idea. They simply stared at each other's faces.

"If we didn't have our power sealed, we would've gotten out of this place..."

Lilia sighed, saying this. She looked at Lyle's face. He was trying his best not to cry.

"It wasn't your fault. We just wanted to meet our mother. Father is the bad person for sealing our powers."

She tried comforting Lyle. Maybe because she was the older sibling, she could hold herself back from crying.

"Calm down, Lyle. I have a plan."

Lyle looked at Lilia with a bright smile as soon as he heard these words. His cheerful and hopeful voice fell on her ears.

"What is it? What is it?"

He crouched closer to Lilia while on his knees. Seeing his expectant eyes, she giggled lightly before speaking.

"They are going to sell us to someone."

Lilia was smart enough to understand what the man from earlier meant. And as the man left them alone, she began planning what to do next.

"That will be our chance."

Lilia moved her finger on the ground of the cage. The dust on it was thick enough that she could draw on it.

"Even with sealed powers, a dragon is a drag-"

As she was speaking, Lyle put his hands on her mouth. He made her stop speaking.

"Stop. Don't say it. If they find out about that, we will be in more trouble."

Lyle had made sure to act like human children and hide their true identities. Lilia was merely following the instructions that Lyle had given her.

Both stayed quiet. Taking his hand off Lilia's mouth, Lyle sat down with his back facing Lilia.

Tap tap tap

"You were lucky enough till now."

The man came back and said this to the kids while having a smile on his face. It wasn't a smile that anyone would like to see.

"Now that will end."

He said this as he put a small red curtain above the cage. Covered with a cloth, the cage was being pushed. They were being taken somewhere.

-"The last items for today are two young slaves."

The voice fell on the kids ears. They tried breaking the cage. But it was of no use. They held each other and stood quietly inside the cage.

-"Eighty thousand gold coins is the highest. Is no one going to bid anymore?"

Hearing the prices people bid, Lyle held Lilia close to him. At that time, Lyle was deeply regretting his actions. Had he not sneaked out, they wouldn't have been caught in this mess. 

"Five hundred thousand gold coins."

Everyone fell silent upon hearing that voice. Lyle's face grew pale.

"One million gold coins! I bid one million gold coins!"

A fat man with an evil smile on his face had bid a huge amount of money on them. And they couldn't do anything but tremble at the sight of the person's face.

"Twenty million gold coins."

Seeing people say their prices out loud, Lyle could feel an urge within him to kill every human at once. 

'I see what Father meant when he said that humans can't be trusted.'

Lilia grabbed Lyle's hand. She moved close to him.

"Don't. Hold back."

She whispered in his ears. Lyle, who was about to try breaking the cage, managed to hold himself back because of her.

Hearing all the announcements, Lyle thought calmly. He was trying to find a solution for their predicament.

"For now, we have no choice. We will go on with the person who bought us."

Lyle whispered in Lilia's ears. She nodded in response. Looking towards the woman who purchased them, Lilia opened her mouth.

"Lyle, she isn't an ordinary person. We need to be careful."

Lilia had sweat on her palms. Lyle was grabbing onto her right hand.

"I know."

He paused for a while just to smile at her. Then he continued speaking.

"We aren't ordinary either."

------------------

"Dragon? You mean 'those' dragons?"

Jaden was astonished to hear that. There were no dragons that appeared throughout his novel. And back on earth, dragons were only fantasy beings.

"Yes. 'Those' dargons."

Aliana was going towards the office room. She wanted to leave the auction house as soon as possible.

"Brace yourself, Jaden."

Aliana said this as they approached the office room. Jaden could tell something serious was about to happen.

He didn't say anything but followed Aliana with his mouth shut. He would've very much liked to ask questions, but he felt like it wasn't the right time.

Snap

Aliana snapped her fingers, to which a few sparks flew across the walls. It was a wooden building.

The fuel was already prepared for Aliana to light a fire. Her voice sounded kind of cold when the screams of people fell on Jaden's ears.

"We are taking this building down. They've crossed a line they shouldn't have."

Aliana said as flames began burning the building little by little. Jaden stuck close to Aliana and kept quiet.

"... What about everyone here-?"

Jaden was worried that innocent lives would've been caught up in all of this. He had not realised his one and only mistake.

"You think they are innocent people? Get it clear, Jaden. They were the very people who tried placing prices on a living being."

Aliana was angry. She stated facts that Jaden couldn't deny, but think deeply while following Aliana.

'Does that justify us taking lives?'

He knew that it didn't. There was no way that killing a living being was something someone should do. Jaden opened his mouth.

"That doesn't justify-"

Craccckkk

Aliana broke a wall using her magic. The sparks of fire became more brighter as the flames ran rampant.

The smoke that covered her face flowed away as she made her way in a certain direction. Her voice was clear amidst all the commotion.

"So what? I'm a villainess. I don't need to justify anything."

She smiled as she continued spreading flames. The sounds of the explosions due to burning of explosives stored by the auction house were loud.

Bangggg

She opened the door to the office along with the sounds of the blasts. Kids were there inside the cage, trembling with fear.

'What an immense amount of mana.'

Dragons were beings who could sense the mana of beings nearby. Lyle could sense mana within Aliana's body.

Aliana looked at them with a cold gaze. She moved her hand forward and melted the iron bars of the cage.

"It will be fine now."

Aliana said this as she held up Lyle. Giving him to Jaden, she picked up Lilia too.

"Let's get out of here first."

Aliana walked over to the nearby window and said this as she watched the flames obstruct the escape.

Crackk

She broke the windowpane and looked towards Jaden. Her eyes scanned their situation.

Lyle and Lilia had passed out from inhaling smoke. Jaden was barely able to stay conscious. He was trying to hold his breath again and again.

"Let's go."

The window was quite large, so both Jaden and Aliana were able to jump together. It was on the ground floor, so they wouldn't have to worry about getting hurt.

Snap

Aliana snapped her fingers again. This time, a weird bubble appeared in front of them.

"Follow me."

Saying this, Aliana walked into the bubble and vanished. Jaden was confused. He bit his lips in frustration.

'Just what are you hiding... Why did you know about the dragon's children appearing here... Who exactly are you, Aliana Rosenstein?'

He had a lot of questions, but he bottled them up. He walked into the bubble that distortedthe background.

Swish

As he heard the sound, in a blink of an eye, Jaden was standing in an alleyway. His ears had gone numb making him unable to hear anything.

He used his index fingers of his both hands, he poked the holes of both ears. After that, he was able to hear a bit.

"With this, we are safe."

That was the first thing he heard as his hearing sense became clearer. It was just to flinch at Aliana's words.

Tink

The bubble disappeared. But the horror within Jaden's mind didn't. He had witnessed people dying for the first time.

"Give him to me."

Aliana kept Lilia on the ground. Taking Lyle from Jaden's hand, she placed him next to Lilia.

"Heal."

Aliana mumbled this as she held the kid's hands. Jaden was angry because a lot of unexpected and unexplained things were happening. He watched Aliana quietly.

"Ugh..."

Lyle let out a sound and tried to sit up. Lilia was also coming back to her senses.

"Where...?"

Lyle tried to brush off the dust in his eyes. His field of vision was blurry, but some shadows were visible to him.

"Who...?"

His eyes had regained their senses as he tried to discern who was standing in front of him. The shadows were actually of two individuals rather than one.

He looked towards the two people wearing masks. And one of them felt familiar to him as if he had seen that person before.

"...!"

He swiftly jumped back while trying to cover Lilia. Looking at Jaden and Aliana with rage filling his eyes, Lyle exposed his teeth.

His voice was a bit cold to them, for he had determined them to be his foes. He could feel his throat burning up.

"What do you plan to do with us?"

Aliana stared at him for a bit. Then, slowly bending down, she took off her mask. She was exposing her face to them.

"I will let you go. Lyle."

Despite hearing those wprds, Lyle continued to glare at them with his eyes full of distrust.

Then something hit his head lightly from behind. He flinched upon seeing Lilia, who had just woken up.

"Lyle. Stand down. She is the one who paid that huge amount of money for us."

Lilia grabbed Lyle by his shoulder and walked ahead. She actually pushed him a bit backward.

The black hair that was covering their eyes moved because of the breeze, and their odd colored eyes became visible. One red and other purple.

"As I said... I will unseal your powers and let you go."

Lyle and Lilia didn't believe her words. It was humans who had betrayed them in the first place.

They were captured by a merchant thanks to some people who fooled them. The hatred for humans had been imprinted in their minds.

"We won't believe humans anymore. Stay away from us!"

Lyle said this loudly while letting out killing intent towards Aliana. But that wasn't of use.

"Won't believe humans, eh..."

Aliana said this while putting her hand on her mouth. A smile formed on her lips.

Snap

This snap of Aliana's finger made Jaden unable to hear things as they were. He could only hear what Aliana wanted him to hear.

That's the kind of magic she had used. Looking into Lyle's eyes, Aliana pursed her lips just to break the silence.

"Do I look like... someone who would lie... to you?"

Jaden quietly observed Aliana. Lyle and Lilia could feel difficulty breathing just by looking into Aliana's eyes at this time.

"F-fine. Unseal our powers first. We shall trust you after that."

Tsrrrk Tsrrk

Some sparks appeared around Lyle and Lilia's bodies as soon as they said that. Aliana was moving her magic towards them forcefully.

"Remember to pay me back later on."

Aliana said as she smirked. Her magic began to fade forming a transparent white smoke.

Tshhhh

The spark disappeared before they even noticed it. Jaden was still in his place.

Snap

Aliana snapped her fingers again. Turning towards Jaden, she walked past him.

"Let's go now. They will go their way."

Aliana smiled at Jaden. He looked at her back and stood in one place. He turned around to look at Lyle and Lilia, who had disappeared into thin air.

'... Aliana knows everything. I should ask her right now.'

Jaden swiftly moved towards Aliana. As he was about to open his mouth, a red mist covered his body, making his voice not come out.

"Jaden? Let's go bac-"

As she spun around with her eyes seeking for Jaden, the empty space became clear. Jaden had disappeared without any signs.

-3 hours left for the birthday banquet