Dragon of Legend: Destiny (Published)

Chapter 6

As soon as the door opened, a wave of noise hit Akira. The source was a large crowd of young riders. They filled the already large room to the brim. Though there were both boys and girls, Akira could see more of the latter.

Everybody seemed to be shouting, each trying to be heard over the other. They sat at wooden tables, which seemed to have been placed in the room at random. Before each teen was a bowl filled with some gooey green, porridge-like, food.

Akira saw a girl at one table wildly waving a wooden spoon through the air, caught up in the story she was telling. At another, a boy flicked a spoonful of the gooey green stuff through the air. When it hit a girl, she let out a shriek of horror. Leaping to her feet, she turned to find the culprit. Her glare almost instantly landed on the table where all the occupants were laughing.

To Akira's far right, a boy pulled out a knife and stabbed it on the table. He pinned down what Akira could only guess to be a cockroach. Akira, however, was more horrified by the fact that the boy had a knife on him than the act committed with it.

Seth seemed to be immune to all this as he walked forward. At first a few glances were shot in his directions and some 'hellos' were shouted. However, when Akira followed, there was a sudden hush that spread across the entire room. The girl, who been yelling at the boy who had flicked the goo at her, froze in midsentence as she turned to stare. One by one, others followed her lead. Akira froze as every eye in the room turned on her. Once again, she was the center of attention.

Uncomfortable, she shifted her position. Her eyes turned to the ground to avoid contact with anyone. The whole time she wished she could simply sink through the floor and disappear from the room altogether.

It was then that Seth spoke. "Everyone, this is Akira." He nudged Akira, obviously wanting her to respond somehow.

"H-hello," Akira stuttered shyly as she tried to find something to look at other than the sea of faces before her.

That was when the room burst into complete and utter chaos. The shouting from before was nothing to the noise as riders rushed to get up and come over. To Akira's dismay, they all crowded around her, shouting questions.

"Where are you from?"

"Where's your dragon?"

"How long are you here?"

More questions were yelled and yet there were too many at once for Akira to make them all out.

What's happening? Panic crept into her as the questions became louder, each person trying to be heard.

Seth, who must have seen the look in her eyes, grabbed Akira's hand and dragged her out of the crowd. Pushing past riders, he ignored them as they all tried to crowd closer. He led Akira over to a table where three guys and a girl sat. All four watched calmly, staying seated. They were one of the only teens in the room to do so.

The crowd followed, but Seth turned to them. "Ask questions later. She just got here. Besides, don't you all have classes to get ready for?" His voice had authority in it.

To Akira's surprise, the crowd listened to him and reluctantly began to disperse. Yet, as they did so, they still shot a mixture of excited and curious looks at Akira. Despite this, none stayed to bother her as they all returned to their seats and slowly turned their attention back to their conversations from before.

As Akira watched, it struck her that out of all of them, she was the only one wearing white. The other rider's all wore clothes in colors ranging from blue to red. Every color had at last two riders wearing it. Somehow, it made Akira stand out like a full grown dragon would among a group of draglins; visible to all.