Chapter 9

Clark's heart thudded in his chest as he strode towards Dahlia's house. Even though he wasn't sure about her house, he felt he could easily locate either her house or Dahlia herself on the way, because of the way the city had been whittled of people.

He recalled the story that Joshua told him about the mayor evading the city alongside some people.

He stroked his chin as he reminisced about it, wondering how it wasn't enough to convince Joshua to leave the city.

Three Years Ago

Mayor Orson Esher stood at the podium at the city hall to deliver his presumed last speech before resigning.

His heart thudded dangerously against his rib cage as damp sweat trickled down his skin.

He had an encounter with the shadow beasts recently and was lucky to escape so he was callous to the fact that he might use some opprobrious language to express his speech.

Finally, a tug of reprieve etched succinctly in his heart because he knew what he wanted to announce was very pleasing.

"Please I urge you to leave the city, pack all your luggage and leave the city. It's not safe and it's been invaded by monsters!" He rumbled till he found himself yipping under his lungs.

"Mr Mayor," Theodore Bardot caveated to him about his emotions and he called himself to order.

Theodore was his assistant and understood him better than anyone else.

Even though he wasn't present when he was being attacked he was able to sympathise with him.

"So, I the mayor of this city would be leaving the city, and I urge you to do the same," Orson stroked his chin and exited the podium ignoring the cacophony from the crowd present.

It was a public meeting and he had spoken his mind. It would be wise of them to listen since most of them had been victims...

Where he sat in his office, Theodore waggled in with some documents.

Orson's jaw dropped as his head perked up in astonishment because he knew why Theodore came towards him.

"Theodore, no way! You are leaving this city with me alongside everyone!" Orson screeched.

"Mr Mayor, am sorry, but I have to stay. Someone has to stay back to check the city," Theodore stiffened.

Orson mulled over their friendship since he chose him to be the assistant mayor and felt bad for him.

Theodore's straightforward words broke all his resolve.

"Well, if you say so. You have a point, but I wish you stay safe," Orson mused and rose to give Theodore a handshake.

"Till we meet again," Theodore flashed a perfect smile and stiffened his face thereafter.

He knew that this meant that he would be taking over as the new mayor since he was the assistant and his duties would be more tedious, but he was determined to see to it...

Present Day

In a blur of shock, the horrendous being appeared before Clark and he froze, his eyes almost popping out.

He recoiled as he tried to regain composure.

He knew he had to recall how he was able to summon his dragon aura the other time since he had to deal with this task himself.

He observed the shadow beasts were scaly and one of them shifted back to a humanoid state.

Clark's shoulders quivered. He now understood a particular irrefutable fact which was that the shadow beasts were the same level as the shadow warriors which means all of them also had the same humanoid with the exception that most of them appeared on four legs as the beasts they appeared to be.

He observed that there were more than three that were trying to impugn him and subtly mused over what to do next.

He bobbed his eyes shut, wishing he had all the eighty shards to fully transform into his full dragon state.

One of them leapt at him and he muster up some gutsy to hold one of them by its tail and fling it with his supernatural strength.

He was flustered that he did so languidly and the beast was sent flying in mid-air.

He felt a wave of gushing energy within him that he couldn't explain and was excited.

He managed to dart his still inexperienced dragon aura at the other shadow beasts and the rest evaded from the scene.

He let out a low puff as he reminisced about what had just happened and gurgled with delight.

Finally, he stumbled at Dahlia heading towards her home and halted succinctly to watch her go inside.

He waggled following her behind and knocked on the locked door she had earlier entered.

"Hey! It's you, how did you know about my place?" Dahlia fluttered her eyelashes wide in astonishment.

"Ooh, about that, I saw you entering after I stumbled upon you," Clark stuttered massaging his temples dumbfounded.

"Ooh alright, come on in and let me introduce you to my mom," Dahlia said even though she found Clark's explanation a tad vague.

Clark's cheek reddened in anxiety as he didn't know how he would explain things to Dahlia.

Elizabeth's face beamed with delight as she shot an amicable piercing gaze at Clark.

"Nice meeting you, I guess it's good that Dahlia finally made friends," Elizabeth said and briskly rose to prepare meals for Clark.

Dahlia led Clark playfully to her room and Clark's jaw dropped.

"Come on in, don't be shy," She chuckled exposing her cute dimples.

"Okay," Clark stuttered as he waggled into her room.

"So, what's on your mind?" Dahlia and Clark sat aloof with each other on her bed.

"There is danger in this city and I don't want you to be a part of it," Clark felt a lump in his throat.

"Hmm, so what's this danger about," Dahlia's lips curved into a broad smile in disbelief at Clark's words.

"It's inexplicable at some point, but it's very irrefutable..." In a blur of shock, she kissed Clark on his lips.

Clark's eyes popped open as he was startled.

"Yes, I like you too, I mean that's definitely what you came to tell me instead of all these nosy ponies, I don't have time for," Dahlia Japed.

Her eyes shone and Clark realised how madly he was in love with her.

"Shit!" He exclaimed to himself as he kissed her back passionately undressing her and making love to her....