Adagio King's Shifting of the Flames

2. Jay.

Jay King was the only one who understood. He may have been my brother, but he was the closest thing to a friend I would ever have at that point in time.

He was only nine years old, and a bit small for his age. Like both my father and I, he had heterochromia (meaning that his eyes were two different colors), as well as thick blonde hair that was so light, it appeared to be almost white in color. Unlike me- who was pretty damn near emaciated- he was a reasonable weight, though still falling on the skinny side.

Jay would visit me nearly every day, by sneaking through the window. Despite being a very outgoing kid, he had few friends, which made it easier for him to stow away. We had both memorized Elle's footsteps, making it easier for him to process whether or not she was approaching to room and shapeshift into a small creature, in order to leave the room more efficiently without being caught. In the time that he spent with me, we would pass the hours simply just by talking. He would tell me about the outside world, I would tell him stories that I'd made up, and vice versa.

The world he described was a perfect world..one where birds chatted happily amongst the clouds, and crickets sung in harmony at nightfall. A world that I'd never gotten a chance to be a part of.

"Don't you ever think about breaking out of this place?" He had asked me one morning.

"Sometimes." I had responded, my arms propped up behind by head.

"Then why don't you just..do it?"

"Because I have responsibilities."

"Responsibilities? Adagio, all you do is stay locked up in here. Why don't you just shift? I'm sure that would make it easier to get out of them chains."

I lingered on the question for a moment, wondering why it had never occurred to me to try shifting.

Jay had broken the silence. "You can't shift..can you?"

"Not that I'd know. I've never tried."

"It's easy." He would then proceed to demonstrate shifting, by turning himself into a hawk of some sort.

I shook my head, chuckling. I knew he was just trying to help, but I was a lost cause. In standard shapeshifter tradition, I was to be taught the basics of shifting at the age of five. However, due to my unlucky circumstances in being born as a holder of the flames, being taught shapeshifting of any sort was absolutely forbidden.

Come nightfall, Jay had retreated back inside the house, where he belonged. I sighed as I lay on the cold, concrete floor, staring up at the blank ceiling, imagining that I was laying on a soft bed in a nicely furnished room. This was something I had done every night since I was a child, hoping that I'd wake up and everything had been a dream. But that was just reality. My reality.