Not Your Hero ✔

-17-

Planet Kaworie, Year 5

"Misty, look!" Mel said happily. She held up a beaded necklace, each bead shaped like an animal. "It's so pretty!" She exclaimed. She had made friends with the merchants' children, so Percy accompanied her every day so she can visit. Iggy went to school, and everyone there figures he's a weredragon. Brie stayed at the inn they'd been staying at for the past 2 and a half years, helping the elderly couple who took them in out during the day. She wouldn't allow anyone to stay and help, repeatedly saying 'I can handle it.' The elderly couple who brought us in were both werefoxes, and in their fox form, their red hair was speckled with gray.

"It is pretty, you want to put it on?" Percy asked. "I want you to put it on!" She said giggling. Percy chuckled. "Oh no, you don't. I'm more of a wolf type of guy." Percy said, chuckling. The chuckling died down after the memory of those snarling wolves that had chased Percy during his last years on earth. Earth. Percy couldn't bring himself to call it home.

"Aww please, Misty?" Mel begged. Percy was almost moved to put it on. Almost. "It would look so much prettier on you Mel. Try it on." Percy said. She looked at him unsure before she put it around her own neck. "I think it would look prettier on you." She said.

"No, I think you're prettier!" One of the merchants' daughter said. She had horns like a goat and hooved feet and goat legs just like a satyr. "No, I don't!" Mel said. "Yes, you do!" The girl said back.

Percy turned his attention to the large group of horses approaching the small marketing area. They had large riders, but each rider had armor on, which hid any possible animal features they might've had. They were galloping at full speed, but one horse stood out. And that was because it wasn't a horse in the first place.

It was a centaur, proudly standing on the front lines, and Percy saw a familiar symbol molded into his armor. 5 upside-down trees in a star formation.

As they got closer, people had to rush to get away so they wouldn't get trampled. But the armored riders raged on stabbing at the people with their spears and swords, even sliding one of their blades across the face of a young girl, making her cry out and possibly scarring her for life.

As they passed Percy, Mel, and her friend, they seemed to have gotten bored and had decided to actually attack. One of the riders slammed their sword down, and Percy raised an arm. A glove of ice formed just as the sword struck his arm, and before the rider could lift his sword, the ice froze it in place.

The man growled savagely as he stopped his horse in order to yank the sword from Percy's arm. The blade had struck flesh just as the ice caught it, and Percy felt a slow resounding throb spread through his arm. He melted the ice and brought his arm back, instantly sensing poison.

He felt the poison coursing through his veins, but nothing about it was fatal. It just hurt. A lot. When the ice melted, the man continued to pull, and he nearly toppled over and off of his steed. "Who do you think you are?" The rider said before letting out a string of... profanities? It was in another language, so if Percy was being insulted, he couldn't really tell.

The man stopped when the centaur walked past, not saying a word, but his authority spoke volumes. The man who had struck Percy continued on his way without so much as a glare back at Percy.

Percy sat looked at Mel and her friend, who were both silently crying. "You two get home. I'll be back." Percy said. Mel looked at Percy as if planning to argue, but Percy had already started walking away.

~Time Skip~

Tucked away in the shadows, Percy followed the riders to what Percy figured to be the palace. It didn't look like a palace, except for the majestic thrones in the middle. Percy could compare it to an overgrown shack.