Vistra is the traditional language of dragons, and the official language of Sciana. The class itself was as boring as watching paint dry but the language itself was extremely cool. At least, it sounded cool. I had no idea what anyone was saying, which may have been due to the fact that I transferred to this school a month before summer break. The teacher pulled me aside while my fellow peers talked about their weekend and told me that I didn't have to worry about passing this class. As long as I participated, the teacher told me that I'd get an easy A.

By the time the bell had rung, I'd only learned two phrases in Vistra. "E vorx Scarlett" means I am Scarlett, and "Rayen la" meant hello.

Kallan walked up to me and tapped my shoulder to get my attention. "Which class do you have next?"

"None." I replied. "I have to wait for Hazu. I have training with her today."

"Oh. Do you want me to go get her for you?"

"She's here?" I asked.

Kallan ignored my question and walked over to one of the desks. Sure enough, Hazu was seated down, sketching in a notebook with a look of concentration on her face. I followed close behind Kallan. I looked over Hazu's shoulder. She was drawing two cuddling dragons. One looked a lot like Hydronia, except younger and with blue eyes, and the other was white with horns that looked like miniature trees in bloom. The detail was amazing. You could almost feel the sense of contentment that the two dragons shared between each other.

"That's really pretty, Hazu." Kallan praised.

Hazu whipped her head around. Once she saw Kallan, her face flushed beet red and she shut the notebook closed. "K-Kallan-senpai!" She stuttered, trying to shove her things into her backpack as quick as possible. "It's n-nice to see you."

"Why'd you put your sketchbooks away?" Kallan asked. "You shouldn't be ashamed of your drawings. They're really good."

Hazu shoved her folder in her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. I tried to warn her that in her haste, she had forgotten to zip it shut and put it on upside down, but not before all of the contents came tumbling out. I rushed to try and help her, but Kallan beat me to it. Hazu blushed deeper as she frantically tried to collect all of her pens and pencils. As the two girls reached for a cell phone, their hands brushed, causing Hazu to squeal and dart her hand back. She hid her face behind her arms, refusing to meet Kallan's gaze.

"I'm sorry that I startled you." Kallan apologized. She handed the green iPhone to the pink-haired Japanese girl. "Here you go."

Hazu tentatively took the phone from Kallan's hands, as if disaster might occur if she made physical contact with her fellow student. Hazu took the phone and placed it in a pocket concealed within the folds of her pleated skirt. This time, she zipped her backpack shut once she had put away all of its contents.

I sensed something familiar about Hazu's reaction. I had a feeling that there was more to it than just her regular shyness.

"So I heard you're training Scarlett today." Kallan said, a smile on her face.

Hazu looked down at her feet and nodded.

Kallan's smile evolved into a frown. "Well, I hope you two have fun. Hey Hazu, are you going to come to my softball game on Saturday?"

Hazu began nervously playing with her braid. "Well, I-I have therapy with J-Jian that day, and then I have a big project I need to work on for E-Elements, and then I—"

"Oh, okay." Came Kallan, looking defeated. "I didn't know you were so busy. There's another game Monday if you want to watch that one. I hope you get done with all of your work." She walked off and waved goodbye.

I looked back at Hazu. "I know you were lying to Kallan." I told her. "Why don't you want to go to her softball game? Did you two have a falling out or something?"

Hazu brushed her bangs out of her hair. "I-I wasn't lying."

"I call bull." I said, crossing my arms. "It will be a whole lot easier if you just tell me the truth."

Hazu played with the ends of her skirt nervously. "Okay, I guess...maybe I can tell you. We need to get out of this classroom, though."

I nodded and followed her out of the classroom and down the hallways. I noticed how Hazu kept her head down, not wanting to meet my gaze. If she did, she'd look away and focus her eyes back on the ground again. My mind went back to Kallan's warning that one of the people I knew would betray me. I wondered if it was Hazu. She did have that whole crazy psychopathic side to her when she wasn't medicated. Maybe that part of her was loyally dedicated to Kali.

I scolded myself for thinking like that. I couldn't just jump to conclusions. That would make me no better than Mr. Zarskoff. I couldn't accuse anybody of anything until I had solid proof of who the traitor was.

I kept following Hazu until we came to a three-story glass building adjacent to the dormitories. She opened the door and I followed her in. I don't think I had ever seen so much green in my life.

She had led me to a greenhouse. Plants of every size, shape and color were all thriving under the glass roof. Hazu walked over to a big, moss covered camphor tree on the far end of the greenhouse. She waved her hand, causing a series of branches to grow out of the side of the trunk like steps. She climbed up and motioned for me to follow her.

I put my foot on one of the limbs to test its strength. It was pretty solid considering it had been grown only moments ago. I put more weight on the branch, expecting it to creak and groan under the pressure of holding a fifteen year old Scale Child, but it still remained intact, and didn't even make a single sound. This was so cool! I climbed up the limbs just like Hazu had done until they came to a stop. They ended at a big crack in the middle of the trunk. I looked around. Where could Hazu have gone? She couldn't have just disappeared...right?

"Just come down the hole."

"What?"

Hazu's head poked out of the hole. "T-Trust me. It's safe."

That suspicious part of my brain had once again been activated. This could have just been some elaborate plan to kill me. Who was to say once I stepped in, I wouldn't fall down the hole and into a pit of spikes?

Okay, now I was being ridiculous. I scolded myself again and walked into the crack. My foot came in contact with solid, non-spikey wood. So far, so good. I lit my hand on fire so I would be able to see better. Ahead of me was a carved tunnel that led downward. I followed the path by the firelight. How long had this been here?

Once I reached the end of the tunnel, I came to a room. The walls, ceiling and floor had all been carved out from the inside of the tree. It contained a few chairs, a table, a lamp, and a hammock that Hazu was sitting on.

"This is impossible." I breathed.

"I found this place shortly after I came to Eternal." Hazu explained. "T-The Flora type Scale Children created this room as a project for a class five years ago. W-When they graduated, they left it."

I sat down on one of the chairs. "It's nice."

"I come here a lot." Hazu said.

"I like it here."

Hazu gave a small smile. "Thanks."

"So..." I began, "About you and Kallan?"

She coughed, her cheeks becoming pink, and the air smelling like apple blossoms. "In order to explain that, I'd have to tell you my whole story."

I shrugged. "I don't mind."

Hazu played with her braid, took a deep breath, and began to talk. "I was eleven when it happened. I was coming home from art club with my friend, Hana. When I walked into my house, I witnessed something I will never forget. Okaa-san and Otou-san were lying on the floor, the blood drained out of their bodies and their skin shriveled like parchment. They were staring at me with lifeless, cold eyes. Over my mother was a kage no hito, a shadow person. They had blood all over their white face and knives for hands that were at work pulling my mother's organs out of her body. As you would expect, I screamed in absolute terror.

"I wanted to survive that day more than anything. I prayed to Kukunochi-no-Kami, the protector of the trees and patron of my family, to send someone to come and rescue me. I ran as far away from the creature as I could, but it kept up with me. It could run much faster than I could. Once it had cornered me in an ally and I had prepared to die. I felt nothing. No pain, no sense of fear. I raised my head to see a boy a few years older than I was with white hair and eyes that shone like twin suns. He was holding the creature, dead in his arms. I watched as the body crumbled to dust and the particles scattered to the wind.

"He spoke to me in what I knew was English, but I was to frightened to answer. I understood parts of what he was saying, but not everything. He told me his name was Lucian D'Ange, and that he was here to help me. I had been so happy that he had saved me that I hugged him, crying tears of joy. I swore that day on the Omori name that I would one day repay my debt to him.

"So I was soon brought to Eternal Academy. My days consisted mostly of learning English, trying to find my magic and talking to Luc through a third person as a translator. I remember one day, I was overcome with sadness. I hadn't wanted any of this to happen to me. I wanted to go back home to Kumamoto, even if there was nothing left there for me anymore. I ran from my room and heard a voice calling to me. I followed it, and it led me to this greenhouse. Eventually, I found this tree. He began to comfort me. I could hear his voice as clear as day, speaking in my native tongue. He told me that he was from my homeland, and he did not like to see me cry. He told me he would keep me company and would teach me how to get stronger if I would come and visit him often.

"That's when I finally discovered what my magic was; Flora. It made so much sense since I loved plants and playing around in nature. I not only talked to the tree, but I talked to the other plants as well. They were all so kind to me, and they loved it when I sang for them. They would also help me whenever I needed it. Once, I plummeted out of the sky while learning how to use my wings in my Scale Form. Instead of getting hurt, the branches of a few nearby willow trees created a net for me, then placed me safely on the ground. My lessons with this tree paid off. The more and more time I spent training with him, the stronger I got and the better my abilities became. They were so good that I caught the attention of Xiao and Luc. I was eventually sent off on a mission to help find more Scale Children to bring to Eternal.

"We were on our way to Canada, and everything seemed to be going well. That is, until we were attacked. It wasn't just one Shadow Creature that we could have just easily taken care of, but a couple dozen of them, and the one controlling them all was none other than Ender. He told me in my language that I needed to hand over Luc to him. I refused, of course. Luc fought off Ender while I used the power of the plants around me to defeat the Shadow Creatures. He fought as hard as he could against our adversary, but even Luc was no match for Kali's son. Ender left a huge scar across Luc's stomach, leaving him unable to continue fighting.

"I called on the plants to help me fight, but they refused. They told me that they sensed an innocent boy inside of Ender, a frightened Scale Child that was already being hurt enough by a dark force inside of him. I needed to save him; It was my duty to bring him back to Eternal. I told the pollen around me to enter his body and trap the malicious entity. They obliged, but told me that they wouldn't be able to hold onto it for very long. I acted on instinct, and once the dark presence was out of his body, I allowed the shadow to come within me. I learned that her name was 'Kage'.

"Kage immediately wanted to take control of my body, and succeeded, but it was worth the pain to see the boy was freed from the very torture I had taken from him. He said he had no name, that the only name he had ever known was 'it'. Luc gave him the name 'Adrian', and he immediately fell in love with it. I did all I could to suppress Kage until we arrived at Eternal once again.

"After a while, Kage began to form an obsession with Luc. She grew deeply infatuated with him. She wanted him for herself, and was willing to do so at any cost by any means necessary. She eventually took over my body and injected a lethal poison into my previous roommate, Mari, all because she asked him out to the Eternal Ball. Ever since then, the guilt has been eating me alive.

"Nobody treated me with any kindness after that. While my cousin, Jian, tried to look for a better solution for my situation, Luc was always uneasy around me. Whenever Kage took over, she would cling to him and act as if the two of them had been dating for a long time. I never told Luc that it was Kage doing this, for fear she might hurt me. So Luc avoided me and I didn't blame him. Even I never knew when Kage would pop up. The months that followed were long and awful.

"Then I met Kallan. I had been crying during lunch one day, and she had come over to hug me and asked me what was wrong. She was so pretty, popular, nice, and strong, it made me wonder why she would want to spend time with someone like me. I didn't have very many friends at all, and I was horrible at gym. I was a nobody. But Kallan didn't make me feel that way. When I told her I was possessed by a Shadow Creature, she didn't freak out or judge me for it. She just accepted it. We talked nearly every day after that. It was only natural that I started to wonder if maybe her and I could be more than just friends.

"Kage didn't like this idea. She flew into a rage. She told me that if I did anything to jeopardize her relationship with Luc, she'd kill Kallan in the same way my parents had died." Tears were now silently flowing down Hazu's cheeks. "I couldn't risk that, so I began avoiding her. I can't see her at her games, I'm not allowed to be partners in class with her, and I can't even risk touching her because I couldn't handle it if we were mates. I couldn't be with her if we were. It's a small price to pay to keep Kallan-senpai safe. The only time I get to see her is with multiple people."

Hazu wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I know she thinks that I hate her, but that's really not it at all. I like her a lot. I like how we get along so easily. I like how she has a geeky side to her that she doesn't like to show anybody else. I like how strong she is—not only physically, but emotionally. I like how nice she is, how she treats me like I'm actually worth something." Hazu began to bawl.

I was moved by her story. This girl was only fourteen years old, a year younger than I was, and had been through so much. It was heartbreaking. All because she showed a small act of kindness to Adrian, she now had to live with his burden. She couldn't even pursue the girl she liked. It was tragic.

I stayed silent for a bit, then walked over to Hazu. I hugged her and chuckled softly. "Hazu, I promise you that I am going to find a way to help you. Once I master this Dragon Soul thing, I'm going to kick Kali's butt and make her evict Kage from your body."

Hazu looked up at me with watery eyes. "Ohime-sama, you are a nice person."

I chuckled again. "I would hope so."

She wiped her eyes. "The reason I brought you to this tree is because I have nothing of value I can teach you. The center of Life magic is within your heart; compassion, understanding, and empathy." She touched my shoulder and smiled. "You have all three. The best way to learn how to master this magic is the same way I did; listen to the trees. Can you hear them? Close your eyes and listen."

I did so. "I can't hear anything."

"Listen with your soul, not your ears."

I opened up my soul, and I felt a soft whispery voice. It eventually grew louder until I could feel each and every vibration. I couldn't exactly make out the words, but it guided me through a series of motions. I held my hands together and slowly brought them up to my mouth. I then separated them in an arc over my head. I balanced with one foot on the inside of my thigh as I held out my hands on either side of me.

I was able to see even though my eyes were closed. The room around me was radiating with a deep green, flashes of brown pulsing through it every once in awhile. I saw the light around me. It was golden, flickering between orange and red on the outside. I turned my head in Hazu's direction. She had an aura that was a lighter green than that of the tree's aura. Around the edges, there was a dark black, just out of sight. You could easily miss it if you didn't look hard enough.

I opened my eyes and saw the world as I regularly did. Hazu was sitting on the hammock, smiling.

"Did you hear him?"

I nodded. "Yes. Thanks, Mr. Tree. This will definitely come in handy."

Hazu leaned to the side. "His name's Arlowe by the way."

"Sorry, Arlowe." I apologized to the tree. "My bad. I didn't quite catch your name beforehand." And now I was talking to a tree. I would have looked quite schizophrenic to the outside world.

Hazu nodded, as if she was listening to another conversation. "He says you're welcome, and that it's okay. He also says that you can stop here and train with him any time you want to. You're welcome here as the Prince of Sciana."

"I just might need to take him up on that offer."

I stayed and trained for eight hours straight, not keeping track of time until Hazu told me it was seven PM.

Whew! 18 chapters in, guys! That's definitely an accomplishment. Also, 987 reads and 112 votes...at this rate I may have to do a face reveal. Or, if you guys want, I can do a personal interview that I can post in the Guide to the World of Burning Hope based on questions that you guys ask. I've also noticed that the more you comment, the more the reads go up. This is because your followers and such get notifications whenever you vote on something or comment on something. This way, people can see books you read and may want to check them out. This is a great technique for getting more readers, and if your readers want, you can ask them to do this as well. Just don't vote for your own stuff, please. It looks really narcissistic and it bugs me so much.

Signing Off, Kiera Savage