Chapter 6: New Home

A few hours later Karlyle had already made all of the arrangement and the three teens were well on their way towards the Karnage mansion located on the outskirts of Elysium.

It was a long drive and the little doll-face girl, named Kloeye, had already claimed Alythia's lap as her official pillow for most of it.

While she was stroking the child's head she began to wonder what exactly happened that any man – even a deranged one – would want to hurt such a harmless girl.

Karlyle, as if she spoke her troubling thoughts out loud, responded to them. "That man wanted a crest. That's why he attacked my sister – to lure me out"

Now the reader might be wondering what exactly a crest was.

Well, so was our protagonist. Luckily an observant Karlyle saw the absolute confusion the girl's face was practically drowning in and went on to clarify.

"A crest is the gem etched within a Dragon Familiar's chest. It's quite valuable on the black market. Dragon Familiars are fairly rare so their jewels fetch up a hefty price"

"But why target Kloeye? Is she a drag---"

"Of course not" Karlyle interrupted. "Kloeye's eyes aren't black. They were originally targeting me only – there was a whole group of them. Kloeye got separated from me as I was fighting them off. After I got rid of most of them I heard someone fly through a window nearby and rushed towards the sound. That man you fought probably tried to hurt Kloeye in order to agitate me"

Alythia stared at him with furrowed brows. She could not understand why anyone would want to purposefully provoke a Dragon.

Let the reader take note that the reason our protagonist thought this way was because a Dragon Familiar's immense power is a well known fact. Alythia remembered reading that Dragons were easily able to demolish entire buildings with the whisk of a tail; blow apart entire cities with the flap of their wings. She shuddered at the thought. Aren't they an absolutely terrifying thing?

Karlyle saw the girl's wrinkled brows and chuckled. It was as if he was watching an incredibly adorable little mouse trying with utmost effort to solve a difficult maze of some sort.

"My crest is only visible when I take on my dragon form. Those men were fools but desperate men generally are – foolish enough to try and awaken something that is best left unstirred"

Alythia thought over his words. It made sense to her but she still thought it strange that he did not go on a rampage in the end – especially after seeing his sister's body practically lying lifeless on the ground.

"I almost did" Karlyle corrected her thoughts and she felt his intense gaze on her soften.

"If it wasn't for you Miss Ashwrith, part of the city would probably be in ruins by now"

He reached out his hand and gently brushed the back of his fingers against her cheek. "Quite the blessing you turned out to be"

Alythia's eyes stretched wide as a deep bewilderment nested on her face.

Karlyle couldn't help but snickered before attempting to guide her out of her confused state. "When I saw how hard you tried to shield my sister, using the last little bit of strength you had left, how do I put it? I guess it softened my heart a bit, enough for me to regain my senses before I morphed".

By now a slight blush had begun to surface on the girls cheeks but she quickly glanced away. She was far too shy to look him in the eyes. All her life she had never received a compliment before, not even once.

As Alythia was unsure of how to react she clumsily tried to change the topic in an attempt to shift the focus away from her.

"So um... black eyes hahaha that's really interesting. Um I've never seen it before its really pretty like uh... space... and stuff"

'AAHHHHH why is it so hard to not be awkward!? 'Space', come on!! What am I some astronaut trying to write a love song???? Farewell respectability, I barely knew thee, toodeloo! ta-ta! Come again!'

However, Alythia's ranting thoughts on her own embarrassment were interrupted by a playful smile settling on the boy's face.

He leaned in closer, uncomfortably close, till their noses were about to touch.

"You think my eyes are pretty hm? What about the rest of me, is that also to the lady's liking?"

The faint pink blush still visible on Alythia's cheeks eagerly burst forth into dark crimson upon hearing his words.

"NO!! Ah I mean well yes, you're impressive to um... well look at... NOT THAT I WAS LOOKING... or anything like that... I mean I wasn't staring but um... you stand out so..."

The poor girl was overexerting her neck trying to look absolutely everywhere other than at Karlyle. Though he found her antics quite amusing, he did start to feel a tinge of guilt for teasing her a bit too much. Clearly she wasn't able to handle it well.

He decided to help her out of the ditch she had so carelessly dug for herself.

He pointed towards the approaching mansion "that's where we'll be staying. Your room is next to Kloeye's and across from mine"

'Eh? Across from...'

Alythia's frightened eyes slowly turned towards Karlyle.

He glanced down at her horrified expression before attempting to add somewhat of an explanation "Precaution – you'll both be safer if you stay close to me"

Alythia cautiously turned her head back towards the window, deciding to buy his 'explanation' for now. She continued staring at the giant house that was busy growing bigger and bigger as they drew neared to it.

The two-story building was magnificently built. The walls were made of dark-grey stones, artistically placed on top of each other, with cream coloured windows and door frames. There were also two cream coloured pillars positioned in front of the main entrance to support the balcony on the second floor. The front door was mahogany and the house had many windows of differing shapes and sizes.

It also had a beautiful front garden with many different kinds of flowers. The main driveway was also hemmed in by rose trees all around.

As soon as the car stopped the girl who was still comfortably positioned on Alythia's lap started stirring.

In a moment her eyes shot open and a burst of energy swept through her body causing her to practically leap out of the car, dragging Alythia along with her.

Kloeye led her through the main door into the hallway. The mansion's interior was equally magnificent.

It was mostly cream coloured with black railings along the stairs. There were two parallel stairways bending from the main hall up towards the second floor. The first floor had a kitchen, dining hall, library, lounge, and 4 bathrooms while the second floor held all the bedrooms and office rooms in the house. The servant's courters were also located on the first floor.

As Alythia walked up the stairs in a daze – since she had never seen such a large and luxuriously furnished house before – she bumped into a few people on their way down the stairs.

They looked a little strange.

Outwardly there was nothing really odd about them. But it was not their average appearance that Alythia found unnerving, it was their eyes – it held disdain.

As she came back to her senses, she quickly apologized to them before making room so they could pass.

When they were out of earshot Alythia leaned over to Kloeye and inquired about them.

"Ah, they're Commoners. You see, we have a lot of empty rooms in the house so my brother allows other people who are going through a rough time to live here for awhile until they get back on their feet"

Alythia wanted to ask if it doesn't inconvenience them to have so many different people live in their house when she noticed that she in fact was now also one of those people.

A deep humility rushed into her heart, followed by a sense of shame for thinking lowly of the other people Karlyle had allowed to stay with him.

'And I guess anything of real value is an inconvenience to give'

With that thought Alythia put the matter to rest and continued walking up the stairs towards her new bedroom.