Chapter 34: Demonstration

Drac came off a sideway roll, his balance was wonky. He strafed to his right. Balls of fire explode where he ran. With a zig and zag, Drac dodged fire, nearly charring his jacket. He cuts a v in the air, slicing two fireballs. 

Drac sprints in. With levitation lessening his weight, Aura strengthening his legs, and Ventus pushing the air aside, he moves across the grass field with incredible speed. With his trusty sword - Heilong- Drac used the momentum to lunge at the target. A blue wall was erected before the tip of his blade. Drac jumped, four Metres high and above the Murus. Reaching the apex of his jump, Drac creates a small circle foothold of blue. Leaping over the target's wall, He holds his sword in two hands. Levitation brings him down with added force. Metal hits metal with a loud clang. The target windstands the blow with Vambraces. Impressed, changed his approach. He makes his grip weak - letting his sword slip as he lands softly on the grass. Too fast for the target to react, Drac pats her stomach with the blunt side of the blade.

"You're dead." Drac sheathes his sword, a large grin grows on his face. 

"Fuck!" Marina shouts. 

"Language, please. Kids are around." Drac said. About fifty children are sitting on the far end of the park by the school, Maki watches over them and the fight. They looked at the spectacle with amazement and childish glee. 

"Ain't no way they heard." Marina looks a bit nervous.

"With your loud mouth? Certainly."

"Uuhh… I'll apologise." Marina skips back the children. They crowd around her, asking questions and imitating the moves.

This place…. It's still the same after all these years.

Drac looks in the distance. The school sat in a field of cut grass, Flowers grown in pots around the white wooden walls, feelings of nostalgia filled his heart with warmth.

You study here.

Yes. For one year. After being on the road for years, travelling from city to city, hideout to hideout. It was the first time I stood still. The first time I could absorb the atmosphere of a city and its people. The first time I walked like a person rather than a rat with walls and tunnels. 

Your fervour and brashness were influencing me because you wanted to protect Foushire and its people. 

No. I don't give a damn. But they are Maki's people. I will protect who she protects and help who she helps. 

She helped you.

So I help her. Hood pauses for moments. 

Our skin colour hasn't been an advantage in this country. And outsider for all to see. The hood and mask are not just for the cold. So when I finally got the chance to take root in this city, I tossed aside the mask. I walked in the daylight, strange dark skin not hidden away by fabric. Their eyes stared wherever I went. I paid no mind. I could finally go onto the street in the daytime with no handler to hold me back. 

I wanted to go to school. Gove advised not to go. But a naive child never thinks their elder right. Stubbornly, I attended this school. Tried making friends and soon found out I was an outcast there as well. That was when Maki - an assistant to a priest tutor - tried to introduce me to the other children. Bit by bit walls of discrimination were chipped away until the barrier between me and my fellow students was shattered. I was laughing by the swings like these kids. However, the parents found out. Disgusted that their children played with a strange child. Using their superstitions as a reason to kick me out. And kicked out I was. An outcast again. 

Hood watches Maki push a child on the swing. Her smile was wide.

One night at Gove's, Maki appeared at my door, carrying several books. From then on for the rest of the time I spent in Foushire, she spent every night teaching me. The reason she gave? Her mother was like me, A stranger from the east. With Her father's help, she went from a wanderer to an elite. She wanted to be like Gove. A guide. 

Drac walks back to the school.

Well hood, seems you already have a family. 

Drac can feel Hood smiling contentedly. 

Drac took his mask and hood off his dark smooth skin shone in the sun. His coily hair has grown an inch. Full lips sport a smile. He meets Maki and Marina as they run after the kids. All stop to look at Drac.

"Apologised yet?"

A young man sits at a messy desk. Paper scrunched up, empty glasses and bottles of top-shelf wine lay spilt on the floor. He grabs his brown hair with both hands, mumbling to himself. 

A knock at the door frightens the skinny man.

"It's me, your Grace." Says someone from behind the door. 

"C-come in."

A Viscount walks in with a letter. 

"Oh no…"

"Yes. your Grace. It's them."

The young duke slams his fist on the table, breaking it into chips. Aura surrounds him.

"First that fat fucker Toren. My slaves, stolen. My dear cousin, dishonourably slain. Now he comes to MY city to cause more hell?!"

He flared his aura more. The butler backs away.

"I shouldn't have left it to dirty commoners. I will do it the noble way. Frederick! Order the City Guards. Go through the slums and bring that rat out of hiding!"