7 | Before They Collide

The crowd is already cheering for Zarion when Heather and Roan arrive, like thunder their clapping creates a low rumble in the ground that send shivers up their legs.

Heather scans the crowd and finds seats for the two of them. "This should be fun; I don't come to these games much." Heather tells Roan, holding a vanilla flavoured ice-cream in her hand.

"Yeah, me neither." he replies, scanning the field until he catches sight of Zarion.

Heather looks around blindly trying to do the same but all these boys in sports gear look the same to her. "Do you see him?"

Roan points to where Zarion is, unconsciously squinting his eyes. "There, number ten." Roan slowly opens his eyes when Zarion waves.

"He has quite a charming smile." Heather coos.

Roan lowers his hand and looks away when he feels his ears getting hot, no doubt getting redder by the second. "Really, I never noticed."

Just then Roan feels something small hit him in the back of the head. He turns around and sees a single rose just below his seat. He looks up and sees two guys sitting further up from where he and Heather are sitting. Roan takes the flower and hands it to Heather. "I think this is for you."

Heather takes a bite out of her cone. "A rose, what for?" she asks, looking over at him.

Roan shrugs. "I don't know, those guys want you to have it."

"Which guys?" Heather turns around and sees the two elves Roan is talking about. "Hi." She shouts, looking at them as the crowd gets louder.

"Thanks for the flower." She holds up the rose before turning around.

This was the usual for Heather, people giving her gifts for her beauty and her being too kind to tell them she did not want any of it, the attention or the gifts, it was always too much.

"Who do you think I'd be if I wasn't pretty?" Heather asks Roan once the crowd settles down again.

"You'd still be Heather."

"I don't know." Heather hums. "I think I'd be the villain."

"And why is that?"

Heather hair starts flying everywhere as a gust of wind washes over the field but even that cannot ruin her beauty. In one smooth swoop she slides her hair out of her eyes. "Because the blonde is always the villain."

Before Roan even gets the chance to digest what Heather just said, Roan tastes the metallic sting of blood on the tip of his tongue. The Valsari!

The air that they carry with them comes from the west, smelling like what Roan can only image as death! Roan can feel the bones beneath his skin itching to snap so that his wings may fly him to the moon. He bites down on his tongue and grips the edge of his seat to stop himself as one by one, the creatures of the shadows emerge.

Roan looks down at his lap when he feels his eyes start to shift and pulls down his shirt over his wrist where rouge scales have started appearing on his arms. He hears his heartbeat threaten to burst out of his chest with each beat and he feels sweat dripping from every pore on his body.

"Roan, are you okay?" Roan tries to open his mouth but feels like vomiting before any sounds can leave his mouth. His transformations have never been this bad before, especially when out in public. "Roan, hey, are you okay?" Heather repeats, putting a hand on Roan's left arm.

Roan can feel the scales crawling up his back, slowly climbing towards his ears. When he looks up, he shares eye contact with someone else in the crowd, a girl, with big sapphire coloured eyes and dark hair. She, just like Roan, is going through a transformation. She stands up slowly, her legs wobbling as she finds the strength and courage to do what is needed of her. Roan shakes his head, the look in her eyes telling him everything he needs to know.

She is going to run.

I am glad I got to see you in person. I heard the rumours, and I didn't...I didn't think you were real but ...you are real...and It was an honour.

Roan feels hot tears brimming in his eyes. Don't do it!

Roan drops his head, seeing the feet of a Valsari warrior through the curtain of his hair. He holds his breath as the thing stops in front of him. 'This is it, isn't it...the end?" he thinks.

Heather shakes his shoulder lightly. "Roan, do you need the Healers?"

Roan watches the feet of the Valsari warrior continue to walk past before letting go of the breath he was holding, his body is no longer trying to shift, his bones no longer threatening to snap and reform, his heartbeat slowly beginning to settle.

Roan chokes on his saliva when he tries to speak and shakes his head when Heather tries to offer him some water. "No, I'm fine." he manages to say.

"Are you sure?"

Roan nods his head. "Yeah I'm-" Roan cuts off when he looks at the field and sees a navy blue Wyrm, a type of dragon who has no legs and has an exceptionally long tail, wreaking havoc.

The game has stopped, and the players have moved off to one side of the field to give room for the Valsari to approach. The Wyrm's roar shatters a few of the nearby windows and each time she moves her tail, her rough scales dig up parts of the field, exposing the soil underneath.

"No..." When the Valsari start attacking the dragon, the crowd continues their cheering. They celebrate each slash the shadow demons do, saliva practically drooling out of their mouths at the sight of crimson blood, each roar they echo back.

Roan stands up, the crowd's noise dampening like his head is under water. Everything slows down, the rain, the crowd, the Valsari. Roan walks down the steps without looking, his eyes glued to the battle as they swarm her like ants.

He almost drops halfway down the steps is forced to grab onto the railing to keep his balance. A moment ago, everything was noisy but now the only thing Roan can hear is the raspy sound of his breathing, like a winter's draft blowing through an open window.

Roan limps out onto the field and watches them tear her apart, watches as she fights back, crushing the nearest warrior in her jaws, watches the destruction, the gore, the chaos. "No..." he whispers, glancing back at the cheering crowd.

He cannot hear them anymore, only the sound of the rain hitting the ground like bullets. Looking at their faces as they watch the brutal attack, Roan feels his stomach churn.

"If you starve the people of chaos, they become blood thirsty." Roan never understood his father that well, but this saying was the truest thing he had ever heard.

"Hey, what are you doing, get off the field it's dangerous." Zarion's voice slices through the silence as he grabs Roan's arm just above his elbow, and drags him off the field. "What the hell are you doing roomie?"

Roan feels slightly disoriented and blinks several times but cannot think of what to say, his mind murky after being dragged out of the water too quickly. "I-"

Zarion takes him to the tunnel, slamming him against the hard brick wall, still holding on to his arm. "You could have gotten hurt out there, what were you doing?"

"I was thinking-"

Zarion's eyes glow, his iris the shade of ruby red. "No, you weren't thinking!" When Zarion punches the wall next to Roan's head, the brick crumbles like sand.

Roan has read the books where the main character gets thrown against the wall with her bad boy love interest looming over her like some sort of watchdog. She often loses her breath or cannot help but be captivated by his mysterious eyes.

In real life, this situation is not steamy, there is no sexual tension, it is terrifying. The person in front of him has a beast hiding just below the surface, a creature capable of snapping Roan's neck in an instant.

The sudden injection of fear breaks through Roan's cloudiness. "Get your hands off me." The venom in Roan's command is enough to get Zarion to back away and cool down.

Zarion's glowing eyes fade quickly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"But you did."

"I know, I'm sorry, it won't happen again." The two of them stand in silence and listen to the spontaneous cheers coming from the field just outside the tunnel. "You want to get out of here?"

Roan nods his head, avoiding eye contact with Zarion. His arm has started to ache a little where Zarion had grabbed him earlier. "Please."