"Just because you have horns doesn't mean you are permitted to hit anyone with them," Miss Fiddleson's voice echoed loudly in the indifferent Drahon's ear, a teenage-looking boy.
They were in Miss Fiddleson's office, and a fat boy sat on a long chair behind the wall, holding his stomach with his hands.
They had engaged in a fight some minutes ago, Drahon using his horns to hit the fat boy by his stomach.
"Greg," Miss Fiddleson said. "You can go."
The boy stood up and slightly bowed in appreciation as he walked to the door.
Drahon was alarmed.
"He came at me first, abusing my horns and then wanting to beat me up," Drahon complained.
"Doesn't matter," Miss Fiddleson blurted. "You could have simply reported."
Drahon was slightly angered.
"The fuck you saying?! Anytime I report to you on any case of bullying, you ignore and sometimes when you interrogate the person in question, you believe their lies and shout at me to get out of your office."
Miss Fiddleson ignored him and said to Greg. "Meet the nurse, tell her to give you medicine or something."
Drahon wasn't the least surprised. Classic Miss Fiddleson, the head of the orphanage home who kind of hated him.
"How dare you talk to me in such a manner," Miss Fiddleson said. "Weren't you taught to respect your elders, didn't we teach you that?"
Drahon was silent.
Miss Fiddleson's voice was louder now, seemed she was shouting at Drahon.
"And again, how many goddamn times have I told you to stop using the F word. You know, you don't pay for anything here, you're basically here for free—"
"This is a government-owned orphanage," Drahon said and let out a mischievous grin, he just cooked there.
Miss Fiddleson, light-skinned with a red lip gloss on her mouth and a proud face that seemed to be perched towards the sky, was for once shocked.
"You know what?" she said. "Get out of my office this instant."
Drahon stood up and was about to leave when she added, "Go pick up all the litter in the building. You'll be the cleaner for today."
Drahon didn't protest, there was no need doing so.
---
Drahon was born with two little horns by his forehead and frankly, that was the reason he was given the name 'Dra hon'. Meaning Dragon horn.
At first, his father had wanted to name him 'Horny', but then, Horny had a not-so-pleasant-sounding meaning.
And so, his mother named him Drahon. At least that was the name they gave the orphanage home they left him at.
Growing up wasn't so pleasant for Drahon, even in an orphanage home, he was constantly taunted and abused because of his horns.
Some called him a monster and others called him a freak, and so, he didn't have any friends growing up. He was also in a sort of emotional pain, watching humans without horns, looking at him and laughing. Some played football, others played throw the ball, while he watched in silence as they made fun of him.
He never really saw his parents and he couldn't quite understand why he was in an orphanage home since he wasn't an orphan.
One of the orphanage nurses had told him that he was dropped here in a basket by a man and a woman, and when they tried to protest, the man and the woman ran.
Drahon learnt of this at the tender age of six, but then it didn't quite leave his mind, it only made him know he had been abandoned and left all alone in this cruel orphanage.
The food they served wasn't so bad and also the people that took care of them. They also had a good school where he was educated, but then, the only problem was the students there.
They simply couldn't accept him for who he was. For someone with horns, someone who was different from the norms.
Drahon wasn't always sad, he kind of found a little bit of happiness in reading novels. The school had a lot of books, and that was the only thing he did to pass time.
There he explored worlds and his favorite novels were those with dragons.
Since he had horns, he did a bit of research on his name and even though he heard they were nothing like dragons, he still fancied them.
---
Picking the trash wasn't so interesting, but it was an act that made him explore the building without being asked where he was going or grounded for trespassing.
Anytime a Mistress asked, he would simply say he was on punishment to pick litters, and the person who asked would laugh.
Majority of the people here who were 'supposedly' taking care of them were females.
The only male he knew of was the security guard, someone who looked like a bodyguard.
After about half an hour of picking litter and putting it in a large basket with him, Drahon saw an egg the size of a watermelon.
It was at the corner of a building, the place leading to a rocky path.
As Drahon stared at it from afar, he was intrigued. He could have sworn he followed this same route yesterday and didn't see an egg the size of a watermelon. Why was one here?
Out of curiosity he walked towards it, dropping the basket he was holding.
He touched the surface of the egg. It felt magnetic and required a bit of a forceful pull to unstick from his hands.
He was curious, did a large bird just lay an egg? If so, then he would have to run so as not to be poked on the head by its beak.
But then this was too beautiful to be from a bird. Also, this was way too round and smooth and silk!
Drahon was about to start thinking when he saw a letter behind the egg. Picking it up, he read it aloud, though in a low voice:
"That is a dragon egg."
Drahon was in astonishment, so dragon eggs were real? He squinted his eyes and noticed the paper was golden in colour, a detail he didn't earlier notice.
But then, the words written on the paper started to rearrange, and soon, he was seeing another sentence entirely, a lengthy one actually.
There was also a symbol across the front, of a massive dragon's eye staring out from behind a cracked stone wall, with the words carved in glowing runes:
[YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO PARTICIPATE IN THE DRAGON GAME.]
[ Only the worthy enters.]
[Bond with Legendary Dragons]
[Battle with Primordial Monsters]
[Summon different Dragons]
[Build kingdoms and go to war]
Drahon was so stunned, he forgot to blink. Before he could further react, he heard a loud sibilant noise. Looking back, he saw a portal with golden edges, glowing brightly and vibrantly.
He was yet again stunned, so portals were real?
He looked at the paper in his hands, it now showed:
'It is the portal that leads to the Dragon Game.'
Drahon stared at the portal more keenly. He didn't know what he would encounter if he entered it, but then, at least he would leave the presence of this orphanage where he didn't feel belonged.
The portal was glowing more vibrantly now.
Drahon looked at the paper in his hands again.
'Take the Dragon Egg and enter the portal.'
Drahon hesitated for some seconds before shrugging.
He had nothing to lose anyway, and so he quickly picked up the dragon egg, which made a magnetic reaction to his hands, and stepped into the portal…