Long Lei (Apollo)

In a very faraway place...

The weather was suddenly very bad that day, thunderstorms and hurricanes formed on empty lands. The night seemed like a day with all the flashes of lightning.

A tall and handsome man wearing a western suit, holding a small suitcase in his hands, stepped out of a Rolls-Royce, and entered a mansion which looked very deserted and about to fall anytime. But strangely, he did not seem to mind his surroundings.

He entered the mansion gate and walked inside, taking turns with great familiarity. At the end of a long hall, he entered a room. The room was very modern, and looked worlds apart from the other parts of the mansion.

He walked to the waiting old man wearing a butler's uniform.

"Mr. Finn, you called so late, did something happen to Apollo?"

"Dr. Blaze, Sir Apollo is in estrus. But, he seems to be somewhat agitated emotionally."

Estrus of a dragon was a mating urge a dragon would get in every 6 months.

During the estrus, the dragons were fragile as they desperately wanted the comfort of their partners. The estrus would last for two weeks each time and the lone dragons would feel horrible at that time.

Apollo was a powerful dragon so he had long stopped feeling uncomfortable during the estrus. Such emotional problems this time were too worrying.

"Oh? Is it happening for the first time?"

"No. This is for the fourth time. Sir told me not to think much about it the first few times, and I also thought that it would pass eventually. But, this time the situation aggravated too much. We also had to bind him with chains."

"Does he have strange dreams? Like seeing someone else?"

"Ah?...Yes, I remember! I think once he muttered to himself about a child. The voice was so small that I thought I misheard."

Hearing this, the doctor got an envious expression on his face.

"Don't worry. This is good news. These lucky brothers struck it big. How can a complication turn into a god thing for both of them!"

The old man was in daze for a minute. Then, he suddenly realized something and reacted.

"Ah?!… What do you mean, Dr. Blaze? Eldest young master Leo is also suffering in his estrus like this? And why are you calling it good news?"

The young doctor chuckled and replied to the question, his voice filled with an envious undertone.

"Yes, Leo has been suffering from this for the last 4 years. It's good news because they both finally found their mates. During estrus, they feel the emotions of their other halves. Maybe their wives were suffering due to something. So this made them agitated."

The old butler trembled as he took in the news.

.

.

Inside the room.

A young man, who could only be called 'godly handsome' was sitting next to the wall. His dark blue eyes, toned muscles, and beautiful black hair falling on his shoulders, could captivate anyone to lose their soul.

He was sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall. His arms and legs were tied to thick, hard chains. These chains were made of a very hard material that could take months to melt or break with the help of modern technology. This man knew that he could easily break them off with the shake of a hand. But he doesn't, because these chains keep him sane and remind him of his situation.

This young man was Apollo, or Long Lei.

At this time, beads of sweat were dripping from the young man's face. He was having a bad dream… just like he had in the last two years. He saw a very small, about three year old boy crying. Big beads of tears fell from his eyes, those tears seem to pierce his heart. He desperately wanted to go there and comfort the child.

Since the last two years, he had been having dreams of this child whenever he was in his estrus. He didn't understand why he was having such dreams, and thought that those dreams would stop with time. But they didn't, instead the images became clearer and clearer. He saw the boy getting hurt, falling on the ground, vomiting, etc. Each time, his heart would ache and longing would fill him.

This time, he saw the boy clearly, that cute face, those big eyes, enchanting him within them.

But, those eyes were filled with a horrified emotion this time, and that cute face had a scared expression. He was crying so loudly that his throat had strained.

Apollo suddenly felt those feelings wash over him too. His heart broke, thinking that why should such a little boy suffer like this?

He was never an emotional person except his family. But, this unknown boy made him experience so many emotions in just 2 years, so much that his emotional changes in the last two years were more than the cumulative of the emotional changes in the last 100 years of his life.

He could not understand why he was having so much intense emotions for someone unknown.

But then, he heard the talk of his butler and his good friend Blaze.

'Mate.'

Mate was so much an important existence for dragons that a dragon could be called lucky if he or she found their mate earlier. Young mate pairs were said to be fated. Some people called them cursed, because the bond between the mated pairs was so strong that if one of the couple died, the other person would also die from sadness. Mates could also feel their other half's happiness or sadness.

Most of the dragons would search for early mates because mating increased the magic power of the dragons.

Earlier the two become mates, more will the power be increased. Mated dragons could almost double their magic power after the marking process, which was said to be the sacred ritual of dragons.

There were some cases when even before mating, the dragons would increase their magic. History books said that this would only happen in desperate circumstances when a dragon would use maximum of his willpower for his or her mate. Many magical situations had happened like this.

At this time, there was only one dragon family on Earth - The Long Family. The heads of the Long Family, and they were Long Lei's parents. All other dragons, other than the Long family, had left Earth a long time ago in order to search for a new secluded habitat after the humans became more and more rampant on Earth.

The Long ancestors didn't leave because one of the old dragons ancestors had predicted that the Long Family would get their mates only if they live on Earth. Otherwise, their family will dwindle and end.

And the prediction was correct for each following generation of dragons in the Long Family.

.

At this time, Long Lei was also in his estrus. He never had much complications during the estrus because of his powerful magic ability. But since the last two years, he had been very tormented at this time. He always had urges to go to the little boy in his dreams but he never knew his location. He was confused too about why he was feeling so complex.

But the word 'Mate' broke him into reality. He immediately understood that the human boy was his mate. And he strangely felt a different kind of euphoric happiness after learning this.

'Mate...mate...mate'

He kept muttering unconsciously.

Suddenly, he felt very dark emotions of horror and sadness wash over him and he saw a scene of his mate being choked by a woman.

"No… no, no-one can harm my mate, no-one!!!"

He thundered. This shocked the Butler and the young man inside. But, instead of going towards the man, they ran oppositely as fast as they could. Because they knew that dragons were very hard to control during estrus once they became desperate, and Apollo was the strongest of the dragons.

As soon as the young man, Dr. Blaze got out of the mansion, he transformed into a blue dragon and flew away. Butler Finn also entered the Rolls-Royce and stepped on the accelerator hard.

Apollo was still muttering. 'N-no one will ever harm my mate. I want to kill that woman!!!'

Sadly, he didn't know the location of his mate. Desperate, he tried to use magic in order to find a way. But he couldn't do anything.

He felt his mate losing his air and his head spinning.

Apollo shouted loud, using all the powers he had to find anything he could about his mate. His magic got finished but he was still squeezing it through his veins. He wanted to now die with his mate.

"Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh-....."

Suddenly, he felt a huge power coursing through his body. All the magic in him was full and even in a large quantity.

He heard a voice crying in a hidden part of his mind. He went there and tried to console him desperately. He could also feel his mate's emotions more realistically.

"Darling, don't cry, don't cry… I am here. Can you hear me? Darling please stop crying!!!! Or I will die. Your Lei is here, waiting for you to grow up. Darling, darling,..."

Apollo started sobbing while saying this. Oh~ how much he wanted his mate. He did not shy from crying when he felt sad because the person he was crying for was an existence he wouldn't even hesitate to kneel to. His mate.

Suddenly, he heard a soft sound and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Lei…"