The Inheritance
Cypress wasn’t sure how he felt anymore. His emotions were everywhere and were a mix of many different ones. Though the ones at the forefront were grief and anger, oh so much grief. He couldn’t believe that Sirius was gone, even though he keeps seeing that same haunting scene over and over whenever he sleeps. He can’t help but see Sirius’s face nor his own twin brother’s face as Sirius fell into the veil. He couldn’t forget the pain and grief that encompassed both him and Harry or the scream they both let out. It still hurts to think about it as if it just happened even if it has been almost a month now.
It had been almost a month of also being stuck with the Dursleys and now was a day before his and Harry’s birthday, their sixteenth birthday. He was honestly surprised they made it this long with everything they have faced. From growing up with the Dursley’s and their treatment of them or the multiple attempts of Voldemort throughout their years at Hogwarts, they were surprised they made it this far but also he was relieved they did. He really did want to stay alive and actually live a life, one of his own. Not one that everyone around him deemed he lived. He wanted to love and be loved so badly and something in him ached at that thought. Even though he wanted that he knew he had things to do before that. Namely he couldn’t let his brother or his friends face Voldemort alone. He would be by their side to get rid of him permanently. Once he was gone he would find that love he wanted to give and receive.
It was now an hour until it would be his birthday and that feeling that he had been feeling for the last few days grew so much stronger. It was an itch to leave and escape like it was not safe to be here. It was too much and he needed to leave this place. He took a glance at Harry to see his twin staring off into space and made the decision to leave the place for the short bit of time. Maybe it would be nice to spend the time going into his sixteenth year by himself for once. He got out of the bed he was on and slowly crept towards the door. When he got to the door he took one last glance at his twin who had not even moved nor looked up at him as he went to the door and didn’t that make a twinge of pain go through him. He shook that feeling off though as that itch to leave was stronger than the twinge at the moment. He slowly and cautiously made his way through the house, easily going around places he knew would creak if stepped on them.
Once he made it outside through the back door he made the decision to head to the old abandoned playground. That felt like a safer option than staying here. As he made his way towards the park he took to the more shadowy areas to stay hidden. Oh he knew it was risky leaving that house but he couldn’t stay there the feeling to leave was better to follow. While he walked through the shadowy areas it almost felt like the shadows were protecting him and hiding him more than they would. He didn’t dwell on that though too long as he was almost to the park and the feeling to flee was almost gone now.
Cypress let out a sigh of relief as he made it into the park itself. He was finally away from that house and that feeling was gone. He looked around the park before spotting a hidden place to go rest in. It was off in an alcove of sorts and as he made his way inside of the alcove he saw a seating area made from wood. As he slumped into the wooden seat he looked at the watch that was on his wrist, an old thing he had found in a lost and found bin. The watch read ten minutes until midnight. He had ten minutes until he’d be sixteen. While watching the minutes tick down on the watch he couldn’t help but wish that he had family to be around. He longed so much to have family, ones that cared for him and his twin. He longed to have that familial love that he has only witnessed amongst his friends and their families. He wanted to have that for himself.
Before those thoughts could continue on the watch had struck midnight, it was officially his birthday, and just as soon as it did all he felt was agony. It felt like he was on fire from the inside out. The pain was so much and like nothing he had felt before, it was nothing like the cruciatus curse; it was so much more worse than that. All he could do is curl up in a ball on the ground, when did he end up on the ground? The only sounds he could make were just small whines and groans of pain. It was too much pain and just as he was about to pass out he saw a figure approaching him, though it didn’t feel like whoever this was meant him any harm. A few seconds before he fully fell into unconsciousness it felt like something in him shattered.
As he slowly came back into consciousness he noticed a few different things. The first was his body feels much better than it has in a long time. The second was that when he opened his eyes he could see much more clearly than before. Which also meant he very much could see the young male that was crouching nearby him. Although what confused him was that he wasn’t scared of this person who was a stranger to him. For all he knew this person could be a death eater, but that thought didn’t last long as he probably would have been in Voldemort's hands if this person was a death eater.
He made a move to sit up from the lying position he was in. As he moved into sitting he felt something move behind him and as he went to look at what moved he saw a pair of wings. Wings that held a silver undertone with peach swirled around the underside to make a mix of the two colors, though there seemed to be a small hint of light blue in it. Which also made him realize he had scales with the same silver and peach mixture. At this realization that he had wings and scales he let out a small shocked yelp which caused the wings on his back to flare out a bit, the movement of the wings caused a twinge of pain to shoot throughout them.
At the shocked yelp he had let out the young man that was still there, did he forget that the other male was there yes he did. Cypress turned to look at the laughing man to glare at him and promptly let out a small hiss of annoyance because how dare this stranger laugh at him for the shock of having dragon wings. When the older male stopped laughing he smiled at Cypress.
“My name is Alpine and I'm your assigned mentor”, The man, now known to be named Alpine, said kindly.
“What do you mean mentor? This shouldn’t be happening, I should have wings or scales attached to me. This isn’t normal”, Cypress managed to get out, talking hurt and everything was confusing and distressing to him. Not even noticing that with the distress he was feeling a few pieces of debris lifted off the ground around him.
“It is supposed to be happening and is completely normal. You are what is called a dragel. A humanoid dragon hybrid with elemental abilities. Dragels are given a mentor to help explain things to their mentees along with helping with managing their abilities.” Alpine informed Cypress softly, there was a patient looked to the man's light gray eyes. Which put Cypress at ease though he now had more questions to ask.
“You can ask a few questions before we need to leave.” Alpine told Cypress as he saw the teen begin to open his mouth before closing it.
“What element do I have? What do you mean by leave?” Cypress questioned, he was curious as to what element he would be able to use but also confused at being told they would need to leave. Why would they need to leave?
“You and I are nameless. Which means we have an ability other than the main or other secondary elements. The main being earth, fire, air, and water. The secondary elements are shadow, storm and of course nameless. I will explain these all more in depth later. How do I know that you are nameless like me? Well you lifted pieces of debris earlier which hints at you having telekinesis just as i do. Though i also have telepathy which you may have too or even something else we will know in time what it is. Another reason I know that you are also nameless is that each mentor and mentee have the same element or complementary abilities to help the mentee. The needing to leave is so we can go back to Nevarah, which is the dragel sanctuary realm and where I came from. It is a safe place and will allow me and my circle to help you understand what being a dragel is.” Alpine informed the younger dragel. He knew it was a lot of information but it was needed to be said and there would be more longer information sessions he was sure.
“Oh that makes sense. Wait I can’t leave, my brother is here he’s my twin I can’t leave him or my friends I-” Cypress cut off by whining in distress causing Alpine to let out a rumble to sooth him and moved so he was now hugging Cypress, it felt so nice to be held by someone else in such a caring embrace.
“If he is your twin then he would have also inherited and will have a mentor to help him. He will be just fine. Your friends will be okay too, I'm sure.” Alpine soothly said as he continued to hold Cypress.
“Okay” Cypress said shakily, “So we will go to Neverah and to your circle? What is a circle? Is there something I should call you?” Cypress questioned the older dragel.
“You can call me Oret, that is the male term for mentor for dragels and Oretta is the female version of mentor. A circle is a polyamours mateship of dragel with different ranks. I will explain this more later in depth to you. The basics of a circle are the main triad which is the alpha, beta and submissive. Submissives are the heart and soul of the circle; they are not lesser than the others in the circle and are equal to the alpha. We are both submissive dragels, which can be known by the silver and peach of your scales.” Alpine explained to Cypress in a firm but soft tone, it was harsh but made no room for an argument.
“We should be leaving now, It will be better to be back in Nevarah. Over time while there I shall explain more about what being a dragel is. So hold your questions until that time happens. Are you ready now or is there anything you need before we leave? While you are in Neverah we will be getting you new clothing” Alpine stated along with questioning the younger dragel. Really those clothes were not good for Cypress to be wearing at all, they clearly had seen better days Alpine thought.
Cypress thought about it for a minute. Was there anything he needed? No not really there wasn’t much that he had that he would want to take with him. Was he ready to leave? Not really but he knew he needed to go with his new mentor, something in him told him this would be a good thing.
“No, I'm ready to leave now” Cypress told the older dragel.
With that said Alpine gathered the younger to port back to his home in Nevarah. As Alpine whispered the words for the earth portal, Cypress couldn’t help but think that he made the right decision to go with him.