Mystic Dragon Cadets

A woman was burning.

She could hear screams as fire wrapped around her like a blanket. There was blood and the smell of flesh as she was carried away from her mother. Cradling her was a doctor dressed in weird armour, he did not burn when she clung to him. She was put into a crib with a strange purple UVA light and it made her sleepy. The flames that engulfed her dimmed and then went out, doctors stood over her as muffled voices echoed.

"Thorne...Thorne...Tegan Thorne!"

It took a minute for her blurry grey eyes to adjust to the afternoon sunlight, the weather was cool and the leaves were changing colors. Tegan had her arms wrapped around her knees as a light breeze collided with her mocha skin, her short black braids were decorated with small gold jewels, and her nails were painted indigo. Her strategy teacher Professor Zephyr was scowling. Great, new nightmare achieved.

"I'm sorry if my lessons are boring you," Professor Zephyr spoke with a Scottish accent. "Maybe you could give us all a demonstration of your element?"

Tegan noticed her classmates watching her. She was gonna explain her condition to her teacher after class, but she should have expected this misunderstanding. Not wanting to make this more awkward she went to the front of the class and summoned her dragon. Patches was a cute fire dragon with red scales and gold eyes. Tegan signaled and her pet unleashed a fireball into the sky, she curled her fingers as the inferno danced in her hands. Patches stood beside her as her classmates clapped. Guess they were impressed? She waved her hands as the fire shifted into a weapon and shield.

"I'm Tegan Thorne and this is my dragon Patches," she introduced herself. "My element is fire."

"Very good," Professor Zephyr clapped. "But try and stay awake in class, life isn't carefree anymore."

3 hours later, Tegan ate her lunch by the harbour. Her snack was fish, rice, steamed cabbage and a piece of honey comb. She sat with her best friend Sloan Hendrix who was a chubby African American boy, they became friends when they met at Dior Summer Bootcamp.

"Did you hear about the Lava Omen that went on a rampage late last night?" Sloan asked excitingly.

Tegan nibbled on her honey comb as she gazed at the white Calamity Tower in the distance. "Yes, it was hard to ignore but I'd rather not think about it."

All calamity towers looked like giant metal crosses. These old and forgotten structures were renovated into towers to track unnatural disasters caused by pollution. Omens or UNnatural Disasters were the result of climate change and many people thought it was a hoax, until the monsters became a reality. She glanced at Patches and Calpurnia playing nearby as grey clouds rolled onto the clear blue horizon.