Mia

I woke up early the second day after the dragons descended from the skies. I lived in a house with two floors and two bedrooms that my father gave me to live in the world that I am supposed to study and learn about. I did not feel particularly happy about the ascension, knowing that there is now a deity that will smite me from the skies at any time is not a pleasant thought. However, I was happy about one thing, and that is Justin, and my friends do not have to leave in fear anymore. No longer do they have to worry about monsters around the corner, especially now that their new god no harm befall them from my kind.  

I went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, and then went downstairs and made myself some cereal. After that, I decided what to wear and proceeded to get my jacket to put over everything else and hide my wings. I jumped out of the window and climbed up to the roof. Then I started running along the rooftops to Justin's apartment. As I was sprinting, my gaze averted to the ground where people were strangely less in numbers. I stopped running and started contemplating the weird decrease in people roaming the streets.

I jumped down to street-level when I reached Justin's building. Once there, I spotted an older man, sitting on a plastic chair in front of his store, twiddling his thumbs. I recognized the guy as being one of the many people who decide to pay Justin to do their work. I decided to approach him and ask him about the situation.

"Um, sir? Where is everyone?" I asked. "Why is your shop so empty?"

"Hey there, kid." He said. "I'm glad you noticed." He did not even try to hide his aloof expression and did not bother to look at me either. 

"Well, I pass by your store most of the days. Usually, you'd have your hands full with customers, so I was going to notice eventually." I stated.

"Yes, that is true. And let me tell you, I was supposed to be pretty busy today as well," He replied.

I looked around me before looking inside his shop to confirm that there was indeed no one present. "So... where is everyone?" 

"Lemme ask you something, kid. Ever heard of the ascension prophecy?" He asked.

"Yes?"

"Well, it turns out it's true..." 

"I don't follow," I said, acting ignorant on purpose so that I can learn as much from this guy as I possibly can.

"Ah, I don't blame you young children for not being awake, since you do need that rest. So what happened is that the night before, the legendary dragons of yore descended from the heavens, granting the chosen one his powers and ascending him to godhood. And now that the king returned from his journey, everyone has gone to see him give a speech about it. As if he can do anything at this point. In the end, what is a king to a god?" He explained.

"Okay, then. Well, I guess I'll leave you to it, sir." I said as I began to walk away.

"Hey, if you see that friend of yours, tell him to come to the store as soon as possible. Everyone will be back in a few hours or so."

I opened the door to Justin's building and walked inside. It was as quiet as usual in this old rundown complex, despite being lived in by multiple tenants. I took the stairs to the top floor. I saw Justin's door and opened it. I walked inside and noticed that the house was oddly cleaner than usual. That was eerie since Justin does not spend his money on cleaning products, and is usually okay with just using soap and water. I usually do all the cleaning when he would be out running errands for the people of the town. 

'Did he hire a maid or something?'

I approached Justin's bed. Then I saw someone twisting and switching sides with a deep groan on the bed. That raised a massive red flag since Justin is not one to groan like that while asleep. At that moment, I started to get the feeling that there is something fishy happening. I stopped walking towards the bed and stood still, ready to either fight or run away.

"Uuh... Justin?" I said, unsure of the person's identity.

The person on the bed got up and looked at me with his pristine blue eyes that took my breath away at the mere sight of them. My eyes went wide with bewilderment. I stared at his bare chest and took in the meticulously sculpted abs. It took me a moment to take in the features and realize that the boy sleeping in the bed is indeed my friend, Justin. 

"Justin?" I asked while trying to register what I saw. 

"H-Hey, Mia. It's me." Justin said. He then jumped out of bed. Doing that, he was unintentionally showing his new muscular physique that I instantly took notice of, and making me stare at him, dumbfounded even more.

"Wha.... what happened to you?" I asked while pointing at him. "How?! What?!"

Justin started to scratch the back of his head. That is when I noticed the blonde hair...

"It's, uh... it is a long story." He stated.

"Where were you yesterday?! And the night before! I was looking for you everywhere, but no one saw you anywhere! I wanted to watch with you the ascension of the go-..." I cut myself off at the sudden realization. Justin was gone for two days. The first day was when the ascension happened, and it was his birthday. The second day, his majesty was also gone and Ethan did not show up. Putting the pieces together, I realized that the god of dragons, whose ascension I watched the day before, is standing right in front of me. 

There was silence for a while as tears went down my cheeks as both fear and sorrow consumed me. My first instinct was to turn around and bolt out of there and make it as far away from Justin as possible and never show my face again. But as soon as I reached the door to the bedroom, I felt a hand delicately grip my arm. 

"Wait!" Justin shouted. "Where are you going?!"

"Leave me alone! I cannot be your friend anymore!" I yelled at the god that is supposed to kill me.

"What? Why?!"

"It's you, isn't it?! You are the god of dragons, aren't you?!" I had hoped that I would never live to see the day where the dragon god would appear. However, the cruel reality had different plans and dealt me with the worst hand imaginable. I felt even more afraid than I was in the underworld, the place of my birth.

"Calm down, please!" 

"SAY IT! Come on! Tell me I'm right, Justin! SAY IT!" Tears poured from my eyes as the one who gave my life meaning is now destined to take it away from me.

"YES, I AM!" He yelled back at me, making me freeze in my place as it was the first time he ever did so. "Yes... I am."

"I am the god of dragons..." He said with his face staring at the floor.

"Then... We can't be friends." I said as I pulled away from his grasp. "I am sorry."

"WHY?!" He yelled.

"Because it is who I am! I am a demon, can't you see? My whole existence is to make your life miserable, and yours is to kill me..." I said before collapsing on my knees. "Yours is to kill me..."

I felt his hands grab me and lift me off the ground. He then pulled me into a hug. I couldn't help myself but hug him back. The warmth of his body made me forget for a moment about the cruel reality and my miserable existence.

"I never chose to be a god, nor have you chosen to be a demon. But does that mean that we should let that define us? Of course not." He was the last person I expected to blurt out words of wisdom, but there he was, comforting me with his soothing voice while holding me in his embrace.

My mind was conflicted between being afraid of Justin or comforted by him. "But it's my whole existence to oppose you," I stated with eyes that continued dripping tears.

"But is that what you want?" He asked. I stopped to think about it, realizing that he is right.

"No..." I replied with a cracking voice.

He wiped the tears off my face and looked at me with his breathtaking blue eyes that calmed me immediately. "And I can't see myself without you. So I beg of you... Stand by my side." Justin said. I started to feel a sense of safety as if I was being sheltered in his arms.

"I... Yes... I will."

After that entire ordeal, we decided to sit on the roof after he explains everything to me, starting from his new look to how the ascension happened from his point of view and what happened yesterday.

 "Yes, so Ethan was ordered by the king to guard me and train me to use the sword," Justin said.

I kept gawking at him in disbelief and admiration. He now has a new muscular physique that is not just amazing, but very attractive. As he kept explaining, I suppressed the urge to sit on his lap and kiss him. As a demonic entity, I did not adhere to the rules of human psychology. I did not have to wait for maturity to experience love and affection. When Justin first found me, I immediately felt attracted to the boy and stuck with him. I grew to see him as a friend, a brother, and as the one for me.

He explained how he got his powers, sword, how Ethan and the king are involved, and his upcoming adventure. I continued to stare at him dumbfounded, gawking on his entire physique and trying to stop myself from drooling. He noticed this and looked at me saying: "Are you gonna staring at me like this all day?", snapping me out of my lustful staring.

"Oh, what? Oh! I'm fine!" I said embarrassingly. He then looked at me with a smile.

"We should go to see our friends," He said. His voice spoke to me so refreshing, soft, and gentle, making me feel oddly safe and casting all my fears and worries away.

"But isn't that against the king's wishes?" I asked.

"I'll be fine. I'll text Ethan to bring Alex so we can all hang out," He replied.

"Don't forget to wear a shirt!" I said. Then I threw him his red and gold t-shirt after I looked inside his oddly clean closet, noticing how it was oddly clean. The clothes smelled nice and were neatly folded. I also noticed that there were considerably more clothes than last time.

"Oh yeah. A cleaning crew came by while I was gone," He informed. "They brought me new clothes, too."

He wore his top and motioned me to follow him out of the window. I nodded, smiling, and jumped after him. He climbed up to the roof and looked at me while I was still climbing outside the window. He said: "Come on, I'll race you!". Then he winked at me, making me blush.

"O-Okay!" I said. He then started running while I climbed up to the roof. "Hey! That's not fair!"

"Not my problem!" He shouted from his position. 

"Ugh!" I exclaimed and ran after him.

He kept running fast, and I was not able to catch him. He jumped from rooftop to rooftop with ease, not getting tired at all. I started to experience the feeling of being outmatched by a stronger person, something that I usually make him feel.

Then suddenly, he stopped due to a large open gap between the building we were on and the next one. I caught up with him and stopped right beside the boy. "Ha! So you can't cross this huge gap? Haha! Too bad, Justin the god!" I could make my way across with ease, and so I did. I took my jacket off before continuing and leaped high in the air, gliding to the other roof with my wings, and then looked back at Justin.

"Try to catch me, slowpoke!" I said after I reached the other side. Then I saw him taking a few steps back and getting ready to jump. "Oh, shoot." 

One huge leap and he was on the other building. He turned around to look at me with a gleeful smile on his face that warmed my heart. I realized that I started to get used to his new look fairly quickly.

"Oh my god..." I trailed off. "How can you do that?!" I asked as I approached him.

"My powers." He said, smiling. "Also you forgot this." He said, giving me back my jacket. I tried to grab it from him, but he pulled it away. I looked at him and then tried to grab my jacket back, but he pulled it away.

"Justin! Give it back!" I said.

"Just turn around for a sec." He replied. I did as I was told and turned to the other side, only for him to put the jacket on me, making me feel butterflies down my stomach and turning my cheeks redder than my hair.

"I want to tell you something..." he whispered.

"Uhuh..." I trailed off, unable to speak due to the extreme sense of happiness I felt. The way he treated me made me feel special and happy, despite our purposes being to fight one another in the future. 

"I'm still first!" He said before he took off running again.

"Oh, Justin! Did you have to do that?!" I whined. He didn't reply, but I could hear his laughter as he ran towards the destination. I ran after him again. This time, ultimately giving up on the race.

A few moments later, we arrived at the meeting spot, a rooftop near the entrance to this rusty suburb. I tried to sit on the roof, but then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around only to see Justin looking at me, smiling as he held a small box in his hand. He pulled it out and opened it for me. Inside it was one of the watches he and the other two boys wear.

"A-A-A watch?! You brought one for me too?" I asked while utterly shocked. I could not describe the joy I felt from being gifted something. It was the first time I ever got a gift from someone, other than Justin being the most cherished gift I ever got. I felt like bursting into tears any second and could not help myself but wrap my arms around him.

"I uh, his majesty the king gave me some money to work with, and I decided to buy this for you. Now we can finally talk to one another over long distances." He said with a smile on his face. I felt butterflies down my stomach and joy all over. Casting all fears and doubts out of my mind, I kissed his cheek, finally sharing a moment with the one I admire.

"Thank you!" I said, my voice starting to crack. "This is my first gift ever... Thank you..." 

Suddenly, a small tune started to play from Justin's watch. Justin quickly started to swipe on the screen to answer what seemingly is a call as I tried to put the thing on my wrist. 

"Hello?" He greeted.

"Justin? You're needed at the castle." Ethan's voice said, coming from the watch.

"Ethan? Is that you?" I said as I appeared in front of the watch camera.

"Oh, it's you, Mia! I guess Justin got you up to speed."

"Yes, he did. Although I still got a lot of questions."

"I'll answer all of them when you two arrive. A car will come to pick you up shortly."